#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 137: Schrader's Chord by Scott Leeds

Today I am featuring a title that comes out next week. Details below, but first, here is how you 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 #136. Our winner was Kelsey from W. Anne Gibson-Esmond Station Library [AZ]. Now on to today's giveaway.

Today I have the next title coming out from Nightfire, Schrader's Chord by Scott Leeds [9/5/23]. From Goodreads: 

Heart-Shaped Box meets The Haunting of Hill House in Schrader's Chord, Scott Leeds's chilling debut about cursed vinyl records that open a gateway to the land of the dead. 

I told you they were real.

After his estranged father’s mysterious death, Charlie Remick returns to Seattle to help with the funeral. There, he discovers his father left him two parting the keys to the family record store and a strange black case containing four antique records that, according to legend, can open a gate to the land of the dead.

When Charlie, his sister, and their two friends play the records, they unwittingly open a floodgate of unspeakable horror. As the darkness descends, they are stalked by a relentless, malevolent force and see the dead everywhere they turn.

With time running out, the only person who can help them is Charlie’s resurrected father, who knows firsthand the awesome power the records have unleashed. But can they close the gate and silence Schrader’s Chord before it’s too late?

I received this book courtesy of LibraryReads Executive Director Rebecca Vnuk. This will make a great prize for Spooky Season, which according to my calendar begins tomorrow, September 1.

You should already have it on order because it is published by Nightfire and, in my expert opinion, every title they release should an automatic buy for all public library collections. 

Enter once and you are entered going forward. I have a few prize packs of multiple small press books coming soon and then there will be MANY giveaways in October. Way more than 1 per week. If you don't want to miss out, you should use the above details to get yourself entered ASAP. And a reminder to previous winners, if it has been more than 1 month since you won, you  may enter again.

Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 136: Last To Leave The Room by Caitlin Starling

Today I am featuring another title that I just gave a STAR to in the August 2023 issue of Booklist; a book that will be in high demand this October. Details below, but first, here is how you 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 #135. Our winner was John from Irondequoit Public Library [NY]. Now on to today's giveaway.

In the annual Booklist Spotlight issue on SF/F/H I had 2 star reviews. I gave away the first of the two last week here. This week it is Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling. 

I LOVED this book and the reason I loved it is because it was so much more than the publisher cover copy would want you to think it is. Also, I am still thinking about some of the issues and concerns this book stirred up in me.

If you like Horror that centers existential dread, look no further. 

You can click here to read my draft review of this book with bonus appeal info.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Breathtakingly Original, Claustrophobic, Existential Dread

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the ARC. 

Good Luck!

And remember, when you enter once you are entered going forward. In fact, if you have entered previously and need to update your email from when you first entered, use the info above to contact me. Use the subject "#HorrorForLibraries email update"

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 135: The Dead Take The A Train by Kadrey and Khaw

Today I am featuring a title that I just gave a STAR to in the August 2023 issue of Booklist; a book that will be in high demand this October. Details below, but first, here is how you 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 #134. Our winner was Rachel from Reddick Library [IL]. Now on to today's giveaway.

Today, I have an ARC of The Dead Take the A Train,  the first in a duology by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Great characters, Action packed, Cosmic Horror

Click here to read my full review with bonus info.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire for the ARC. 

Good Luck!

And remember, when you enter once you are entered going forward. In fact, if you have entered previously and need to update your email from when you first entered, use the info above to contact me. The other day I pulled a winner ho entered in 2020 and it bounced back.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 134: Bride of the Tornado by James Kennedy

Today I am featuring a book coming our later this month, published by one of my favorite mainstream Horror publishers, a title that was featured at StokerCon Librarians' Day, and an author who I am going to see in person here in Chicago next week. Details below, but first, here is how you 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 #133. Our winner was Mike from Scottsdale [AZ] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

Founded in 2002, Quirk Books publishes a highly curated list of entertaining, enlightening, and strikingly unconventional books for adults and children in a number of genres and categories. They publish at lot of horror titles as part of this, both fiction and nonfiction. Click here to see their offerings. With all distribution handled by PRH, they are also easy to acquire for your libraries.

I am not exaggerating when I say this, but I recommend you buy every single Horror title they release. All are not only good to great, they appeal to a wide audience, always have great covers, and are well constructed to handle multiple checkouts.

This leads the today's book for giveaway, Bride of the Tornado by James Kennedy. This book comes out next week- August 15, 2023. To celebrate the release, Kennedy will be in Chicago in conversation with Cynthia Pelayo at Exile in Bookville and I will be there. It is free if you can join us. 

But this is about the book today. You can get an ARC courtesy of Quirk. From the back cover copy;

A young woman's secretive midwestern town is engulfed by a mysterious plague of tornadoes every generation–and she must escape it before it claims her.

Stephen King’s The Mist meets David Lynch’s Twin Peaks in this inventive, mind-bending horror-thriller.

In a small town tucked away in the midwestern corn fields, the adults whisper about Tornado Day. Our narrator, a high school sophomore, has never heard this phrase but she soon discovers its terrible meaning: a plague of sentient tornadoes is coming to destroy them. 

The only thing that stands between the town and total annihilation is a teen boy known as the tornado killer. Drawn to this enigmatic boy, our narrator senses an unnatural connection between them. But the adults are hiding a secret about the origins of the tornadoes and the true nature of the tornado killer—and our narrator must escape before the primeval power that binds them all comes to claim her.

Audaciously conceived and steeped in existential dread, this genre-defying novel reveals the mythbound madness at the heart of American life.

My copy of this book came from StokerCon Librarians Day where we had a giant table of books for the attendees and our Library Advisory Council Chair for the HWA, Emily Vinci. Here is my recap of StokerCon Librarians' Day which includes links to my Twitter threads (Only works if you have a login. Sorry, when I did them anyone could view Tweets, with or without a login) but it also has this pull out screen shot for then Bride of the Tornado was featured during the Book Buzz. 

Enter once, and you are entered going forward. Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 133: Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

This week I have an ARC of a book that is releasing on August 15th and is in HIGH demand. Details below, but first, here is how you 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 #132. Our winner was Susan from Grays Lake Area [IL] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

Isabel Cañas made a HUGE splash with her debut novel, The Hacienda. And now she is back with Vampires of El Norte. My full review is below, but if you like Historical Romance with commentary on colonialism, and some scary vampires as both a metaphor and actual vampires, this is the book for you. In other words, I cannot think of a public library in America how would not have an audience for this book. 

Here is my draft review from the June 2023 issue of Library Journal via Goodreads.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Lush, Romance, Historical Horror 

Draft Review: October, 1837 and young Nena, the daughter of a wealthy Mexican rancher and her best friend, Néstor, the child of her father’s workers, escape into the night to look for silver, but a mysterious creature attacks Nena. Néstor carries her lifeless body home and runs away. Nine years later, Néstor returns to the ranch to help defend it from the American army and is shocked to see his years of grief, pining for his lost love were unnecessary, as Nena is alive and working as a curandera, a healer, for her father’s ranch, trying to prove she is worth more to him than her bride price. However, Nena has spent the last nine years angry that Néstor abandoned her. Told with an alternating narration between Nena and Néstor in 1846, Cañas’ background as a historian is on full display, as readers get a rich, confident, and compelling story wrapped in an authentic and detailed frame, with a satisfying Romance. The inclusion of vampires, hinted at from the start and seamlessly worked into the story throughout, intensifies the unease and danger of life in this place and time. A title that will thrill and chill, while also showcasing a marginalized part of American history.

Verdict: Fans of The Hacienda, of which there are many, will be eager for Cañas’ second novel. For readers who enjoy the Venn Diagram of where Pride and Prejudice by Austen, In the Valley of the Sun by Davidson, and anything by Alma Katsu overlap.

Thank you to Berkely for the ARC for me to read for review and then giveaway to one of you. 

Remember, you enter once and you are entered going forward. 

Good luck!