#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 115: Novellas by Lee Mandelo and Carson Winter

After taking a break from the giveaway last week so that I could head to Disney World and watch my kid lead the marching band thought the Magic Kingdom, I am offering you all l2 books. 2 upcoming novellas, one from a major publisher and one from a smaller one, both good. Details below, but first, here are the details on 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 #114. Our winner was Crystal from Bear River [CA] Library. Now to this week's giveaway.

First up, a SF-Horror novella from Tor.Com by Lee Mandela whose novel, Summer Sons I really enjoyed in 2021. This new novella is entitled Feed Them Silence and it is chilling. From the cover copy:

Lee Mandelo dives into the minds of wolves in Feed Them Silence, a novella of the near future. 

What does it mean to "be-in-kind" with a nonhuman animal? Or in Dr. Sean Kell-Luddon’s case, to be in-kind with one of the last remaining wild wolves? Using a neurological interface to translate her animal subject’s perception through her own mind, Sean intends to chase both her scientific curiosity and her secret, lifelong desire to experience the intimacy and freedom of wolfishness. To see the world through animal eyes; smell the forest, thick with olfactory messages; even taste the blood and viscera of a fresh kill. And, above all, to feel the belonging of the pack.

Sean’s tireless research gives her a chance to fulfill that dream, but pursuing it has a terrible cost. Her obsession with work endangers her fraying relationship with her wife. Her research methods threaten her mind and body. And the attention of her VC funders could destroy her subject, the beautiful wild wolf whose mental world she’s invading.

My friend and colleague Anna Mickelsen reviewed Feed them Silence for Booklist here. From that review:

"Mandelo deftly illustrates the disintegration of a marriage while addressing serious questions: can a profit-driven company ever truly fund conservation? How much self-sabotage can a relationship sustain? Climate-fiction readers, Sarah Gailey fans, and folk-horror aficionados should all take note."

This is a great genre blend title by an upcoming author from the industry leader in speculative novellas. 

But wait, there's more.....

This past October, I featured a new and promising Horror Indie press during 31 Days of Horror, Tenebrous Press. You can click here to read more about them and their mission. 

They also have a SF-Horror novella coming later this month called Soft Targets by Carson Winter. This one is chilling both for the speculative aspects and because it feels way too real. Here is the cover copy:

You know that office bromance: two of a kind, always taking their lunch together, always wearing the same sly grin. Only ever a hair away from a cold joke about how spreadsheets are a living hell; about taking a bullet if it means going home early on Friday. Sometimes in these fantasies, they’re heroes being hauled out on a stretcher. 

Sometimes they’re the ones pulling the trigger. 

Now, say these guys discover a loophole that makes some days less real than others—less permanent—and start to act out their violent fantasies without fear of reprisal. Why shouldn’t they? Tomorrow, everything will go back to normal, with no one the wiser but them. 

They’ll always remember what it felt like to act on their basest impulses. They’ll know how it could feel to do it again. 

Maybe you don’t know these guys. Maybe you don’t want to. 

Soft Targets is a reality-bending novella about malignant malaise; the surrender to violence; and the addictive appeal of tragedy as entertainment. 

Contains graphic depictions of gun violence in the workplace; caution recommended.

Soft Targets is terrifying, a thought provoking title that takes our current reality and pushes it up just another notch to make it even more scary, which ultimately makes the world outside the book even more full of dread. You cannot read this book and not think about it. 

It has a Groundhog's Day feel, but more sinister. I would give this book to Blake Crouch fans without hesitation. That author readalike comp alone is why you should buy this book and have it for all of your Crouch fans. 

However, it's not just about the readalike, on its own this is a solid book. The direct narration makes the reader complicit in the story in a way that increases the terror, much like Anybody Home? by Michael Seidlinger (which I loved and am still thinking about the way it made me feel) or the upcoming Maeve Fly by CJ Leeds (for which I have a glowing review dropping in the April 2023 issue of LJ. 

Soft Targets is violent; the publisher has even included that content warning in the cover copy above. But it is also extremely thought-provoking. Like the very best SF-Horror combos, it keeps you hooked on the story while reading it, but then it makes you take a deeper look at your real present after.  

Get this book and Tenebrous Press on your radar. 

Enter to win this 2-Pack of SF-Horror novellas right now. And remember, you enter once and you are entered going forward. Good luck.