#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #76: A Finished Hard Cover of Dark Stars!

Today I have a finished hardcover copy of an anthology featuring many of the biggest names in Horror. Details below, but first, how to enter: 

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #75. Our 2 winners were Emily from Arlington Heights [IL] Memorial Library and Kathy from Salem-South Lyon [MI] District Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

This one is super exciting. Back in October, I reviewed the anthology, Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror edited by John FD Taff and featuring a stellar list of authors: Chesya Burke, Ramsey Campbell, Gemma Files, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, Caroline Kepnes, John Langan, Livia Llewellyn, Josh Malerman, Usman T. Malik, Priya Sharma, and John F.D. Taff.

 It was supposed to come out that month, but it was pushed back to NOW! 

Nightfire sent me a finished hard cover and I want to give it to one of you to add to your collections. 

Click here for my full, glowing review, in which I say, "the stories take brilliant chances that will be worth the time investment; expect many to be up for major genre awards."

Three Words That Describe This Book: Epic, Imaginative, Genre Expanding

Finally, a scheduling note. I will be at PLA all next week and then on spring break the week after. As a result, no #HorrorForLibraries giveaways on the blog until April 7th. But I will be giving away 5 copies of The Fervor courtesy of Putnam at PLA on 3/22. Plus, my April column in LJ will be dropping and I have many of those titles to giveaway over the course of that month as well. 

You can keep entering though. That never stops. 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #75: 2 copies of the The Night Road by Kevin Lucia

Today I have 2 [!] copies of an upcoming book I recently reviewed for Booklist and they are coming straight from the publisher to you. Details below, but first, how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #74. Our winner was Katie from Fond du Lac [WI] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

In the February 15th issue of Booklist, I had a review of a short, compelling, and creepy book published by one of the top independent presses for Horror, Cemetery Dance. Before I get to the review, I want to make a general comment about Cemetery Dance and libraries: you should trust their releases. All are good for a general Horror audience and the books themselves are well made and stand up to multiple checkouts. 

Also they are a huge supporter of libraries. Take today's giveaway for example, Cemetery Dance is offering up 2 copies of The Night Road to 2 winners this week! Titles will be shipped directly from CD to the winners. 

Here is my review for you to see what you are entering to win.

The Night Road

By Kevin Lucia

Apr. 2022. 136p. illus. Cemetery Dance, paper, $14  (9781587678158); e-book, $2.99  (9781587678196). First published February 15, 2022 (Booklist).

Opening with an unsettling dream in which Grace is running on a path that feels familiar, but that she cannot remember, Lucia immediately sets the creepy tone, foreshadowing everything that is to follow. Grace has been spending her days alternating between sitting by the bedside of her catatonic sister, Lilly, or running. Readers follow along as Grace is sorting through her emotions, clearly holding back key information, as she tries to process what has happened to her family and what comes next. Mysterious events such as an encounter with a runner in black, her discovery of an abandoned village in the woods, and her sister’s locket which seems to have a mind of its own, as well as the ghostly black and white drawings scatter throughout, work in together to drive the tale and enhance the atmosphere, reminding all that while there are no clear or easy answers when faced the universal human dilemmas, there are still choices to be made. A heartbreakingly beautiful, thought provoking, and compelling read with an unforgettable protagonist, fans of the Gwendy’s Button Box series by Chizmar and King or The Wayward Children Series by Maguire will find much to like here.

Three Words That Describe This Book: creepy, compelling, folk horror

Readalikes: I list 2 solid series above, but anything that is a short, fast paced, dark fantasy with a strong coming of age theme but more geared to an adult reader than teen, would work.

Good luck and thanks to Cemetery Dance for the giveaway this week. 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #74: The Fervor by Alma Katsu

This week's #HorrorForLibraries giveaway features a book features an author who is getting lots of accolades and her upcoming title that got Stars in LJ and Booklist. Details below, but first, how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #73. Our winner was Rachel from La Porte County [IN] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

I have had my copy of Alma Katsu's THE FERVOR since the end of 2021 because I reviewed it for the January issue of Library Journal where I gave it an unequivocal star. 

Click here to read that review. 

But I have been holding on to the ARC for giveaway until this spring. Originally, I was holding on to it until closer to it's release [4/26] but this week just seemed like the perfect time to celebrate Katsu's awesomeness. Here is why:

• Katsu is the 2022 Summer Scares spokesperson and this week we released the Programming Guide.
• Katsu's spy novel Red Widow was just nominated for a Thriller Award for Best Hard Cover Novel. It also came out in paperback this week and a sequel is in the works.
• Katsu and I recorded a 25 minute discussion to be shown as part of the Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers 3 hour preconference I am doing for PLA. Details here. Anyone who signs up for that event [3/22, 2-5 pm] will be entered into a drawing for one of 5 ARCs of THE FERVOR. 
• And finally, did I mention I gave it an unequivocal star? Look The Hunger and The Deep were amazing. Both were finalists for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, but THE FERVOR is even better. 

Pre order THE FERVOR  and enter to win my copy. Remember, you enter once and you are entered going forward as well. And you want to be entered going forward as I have ARCs by Paul Tremblay, Daniel Kraus, Gabino Iglesias, an Ellen Datlow all original stories anthology, and more coming soon. 

2022 Summer Scares Programming Guide is Now Live!

  

Click here for the Summer Scares Resource Page
with archive access to past years.

Today, as promised, the Summer Scares 2022 Programming Guide, under the direction of Konrad Stump and the team at the Springfield-Green County [MO] Library District is live.

Click here to access it. 

Or go to the Summer Scares Resource page anytime to see everything we have prepared to help you work these books into your service to leisure readers of all ages.

I cannot stress enough how much this guide has elevated the Summer Scares Reading Program. With an overview of the program and then a page for each of the 9 books, we are able to offer you readalikes, programming suggestions, and book discussion questions for every single book. And it is FREE thanks to the wonderful staff at the Springfield-Green County [MO] Library District.

It is beautiful useful, and free to all at this link.

New for this year: 

• An article by Yaika Sabat, from NoveList, entitled "Connecting Summer Readers to Summer Scares," to kick off our official partnership with the database. There will now be extra Summer Scares content available to those who subscribe to NoveList. 
• Three program ideas [one for a book at each reading level] from our programming partner, Ben Rubin, Head of the Horror Studies Collection at the University of Pittsburgh.
• A back page [below] that promotes the upcoming releases by all 9 of our 2022 authors and all four of  our  spokespeople-- past and present.

Click here to enter the guide

Speaking of all 4 spokespeople, this is year 4 of the Summer Scares Program and year three of the Programming Guide. The past 2 years of programming guides are also a great resource for you to use to promote horror all year long. You can access the Summer Scares Resource page here, which has a link to the archive for past year's or click here to go to that archive page directly. 

No one says you cannot use those previous guides to work with your horror readers, in fact, I encourage you to use all three of them, them all year long. There is some excellent RA content there. Konrad and his colleagues did all the work, so 

Basically we give you no excuse NOT to try Horror titles as part of your Summer Reading strategies-- for all ages of readers.

And trust me, I make my living promoting this genre, you are mistaken if you don't think readers love to feel the fear. 

When you promote Horror with help from Summer Scares, you will have hordes of happy readers. We guarantee it.

Download the 2022 Summer Scares Programing Guide now!