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Thursday, September 28, 2023

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 141: DarkLit Press Spotlight-- 2 winners

As promised, I am ending September with one more giveaway featuring books by another small press I recommend. 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 if you haven't won.
Click here to see giveaway #140. Our winner was from Cathy from Palm Harbor [FL] Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

As we have been leading up to October and my plethora of giveaways (I currently have 16 giveaways planned), I wanted to highlight a few smaller presses that I trust and recommend. 

Today it is DarkLit Press, who recently published Lacuna's Point by Tim Meyer, which I reviewed in Booklist here. DarkLit Press is committed to publishing quality Horror, that pushes boundaries and represents all voices.

Today I have 2 packages, going out to 2 winners courtesy of DarkLit Press. 

The first winner pulled will receive 2 books: a finished copy of Lacuna's Point by Tim Meyer. Click here to read my review and, if you win, add it to your collection. Even if you don't win, buy a copy for your collections. Also an ARC of Heavy Oceans by Tyler Jones which is releasing in December.

The second winner pulled will get 3 finished books all of which came out in 2023: 

Winners, please add the finished books to your collections. Everyone else, consider ordering all of these titles to your collections.

Enter now for this giveaway, and you are entered going forward for all giveaways in the future, until you win! I will have at least 16 unique winners in October. I have 80+ people in the giveaway spreadsheet and I am actively trying to clear as many people as possible. Some have been entered since 2020. I want more people to win and I have lots of books to giveaway. So your odds are beer than ever if you enter NOW!

Look for giveaways throughout October with drawings still happening on Fridays. 

Good luck all.

And see you back here on Sunday for he start of 31 Days of Horror 2023.



Thursday, September 21, 2023

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 140: 2 Clash Books ARCs and 1 Finished Copy

As promised, I am featuring books by another small press I highly recommend. 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 if you haven't won.
Click here to see giveaway #139.  Our winner was Lisa from Allegany County [MD] Library System. Now on to today's giveaway.

As we lead up to October and my plethora of giveaways which will be way more than 1 a week, I wanted to highlight a few smaller presses that I trust and eagerly recommend. Today it is a press that consistently puts out challenging and exceptional Horror-- Clash Books. Their stated goal is to publish awesome and engaging books that transcend labels & break boundaries.

Recently I have given STARS to two of their books: Anybody Home? by Michael Seidlinger and Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca.

Today I have 2 ARCs for you to consider for your collections and 1 finished copy that you can add immediately, just in time for the spooky season.


First that finished copy: The Black Tree Atop the Hill by Karla Yvette comes out next week, but I have a finished copy for you right now. From Goodreads
What came first in this Gothic Western, the ghosts or The Black Tree Atop the Hill ? Set in an alternate American old-west that is hauntingly familiar yet strangely off-putting, Marisol is the first to see the tree on the hill, but that’s only to be expected. As the witch of Jack Boyd’s ranch, her job is to notice threats, even amid a most disastrous calving season. It is up to Marisol and the ranch’s ghost to work together to stop mysteriously spreading trees from taking over their ranch, California, and the entirety of the country. But real magic requires sacrifice, and Marisol is not certain she is prepared to accept the consequences of what she must do to stop the trees’ advance. This is a story about believing in intuition against the rain, about the violence of nature and of those who inflict it. Gothic gardeners explore the question of nature’s home in a progressing world. Oozing with conflicting resolutions and twisty insides, this is a stunning debut by Portland artist Karla Yvette.

True to the publisher's mission, this book defies labels. This title is a Fantasy, Gothic, Western, Horror hybrid, but one that will appeal to fans of each of those genres. There is something for everyone here. Specifically, suggest to your current readers who are waiting for or just enjoyed Isabel CaƱas' Vampires of El Norte or Victor LaValle's Lone Women.

In the same giveaway today, I am also offering 2 ARCs. 

I Died Too, But They Haven't Buried Me Yet by Ross Jeffery. From Goodreads:

Henry was burying his again, but the thing is...she just won’t stay buried. Elsie, Henry’s daughter was fourteen when she went missing and he’s been burying pieces of her ever since, on the anniversary of her ‘death day.’ 
Each totem Henry places in the ground are memories of his daughter’s life he’s desperate to forget, attempting to do all he can to rid himself of his mistakes and his part in her disappearance and more than likely death. 
All is not lost though when a stranger appears at Henry’s grief counseling group with a dark and disturbing proposition for him. “Have you ever tried to make contact your daughter, to see if she’s passed?” What follows is a tale of deception and possession like no other. 
From the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of ‘Tome’ and ‘The Devil’s Pocketbook’ comes a new terrifying nightmare about the dangers and pitfalls of not seeing your child for the person they were born to be before it’s too late and how grief can climb inside us and make our heart its home.
And, Violent Faculties by Charlene Elsby. From Goodreads:

A philosophy professor tests the limits of the soul and body by performing dehumanizing experiments on unwilling subjects, after the department is closed due to budget cuts. Violent Faculties follows a philosophy professor influenced by Sade and Bataille. She is ejected by university administrators aiming to impose business strategies in the interest of profit over knowledge. She designs a series of experiments to demonstrate the value of philosophy as a discipline, not because of its potential for financial benefit, but because of its relevance to life and death. The corpses proliferate as her experiments yield theoretical results and ethical conundrums. She questions why it is wrong to kill humans, what is it about them that makes their lives sacred, and then attempts to find it in their bodies, their words, their thoughts, and their souls—seeking foundational truths with a knife in her home office.

Both Jeffrey and Elsby have written popular and critically acclaimed independent Horror. You probably don't have books by them on your shelves, but here is a good reason to take a closer look. Whether you win or not, take this post as reason to delve deeper into Clash's catalog and consider adding some titles.

I want to thank Christoph from Clash Books for the physical copies for me to pass on to one of you.

Next week I have so many books from the featured small press that I will have 2 winners! And then it's October where the giveaways will come at you fast and furious. The first one is going to be Hailey Piper's latest. And that's just to start the month! 

Enter now and you are entered going forward.

Good luck!

Thursday, September 14, 2023

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 139: Lethe Press 2-fer

Today I am featuring 2 books by another small press I highly recommend. 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 #138.  Our winner was Lois from Son-Isle [WA] Libraries. Now on to today's giveaway.

As we lead up to October and my plethora of giveaways which will be way more than 1 a week, I wanted to highlight a few smaller presses that I trust and eagerly recommend. Today it is the press that I gave a week long feature to last week, Lethe Press. You can use this link to read all of the posts in the spotlight, but I would begin with this one, from founder Steve Berman.

Today though, I have 2 of their more recent titles. Finished copies that you can add to your collections immediately, courtesy of Berman. 

First up, Monstrous Alterations, a story collection by Shirley Jackson award winner Christopher Barzak that came out on September 8th.
 
In this new collection from Shirley Jackson Award winning author Christopher Barzak, discover stories where fairy tales, gothic narratives, and classic monster stories are transformed into new wonders. A princess who yearns only for freedom dances her nights away at clubs in defiance of tradition. A young man plots revenge on his murderer from the underworld. Two friends discover a goblin market where they are offered the fruit of forbidden love. On the streets of London, a man destroys the life of a little girl in an instant. The caretaker for a woman confined to her room frees her from the circumstances that have bound her. A maid at an inn discovers the powerlessness and power of invisibility. A teenager, locked into Kensington Gardens after closing time, is brought face to face with the reality of a childhood icon. A man is born, grows up, and dies, all within the span of a day. A bank clerk determines to save himself and his friend from the destinies their overbearing fathers have made for them. From the Brothers Grimm to Kafka, Barzak imaginatively traverses the history of the dark and the fantastic, and returns with new tales for an ever-changing world.

Next we have Weather and Beasts and Growing Things out October 1st by Charlotte Suttee. 
In 2079, Stevven Pane (they/them) operates an unsanctioned GreenRoof, an urban garden atop a condemned apartment on the coast of South Carolina. The city seeks to evict Stevven, along with nine-year-old Eli, “Earther” Gino, gossip magazine journalist Barbara, and BluBerry, a sentient plant. When this motley crew is forced to navigate a neoliberal cyberpunk urban landscape, miles of abandoned highways riddled with oil cults and cannibals, and swamps of uncanny critters in the hopes of reaching a new home, the last place Stevven ever trusted is the University grounds nestled in the foothills of Tennessee.

Both of these are absolutely perfect for a general public library collection. They are also well constructed paperbacks with great covers. If you do not win, think about heading over to the Lethe Press website and buying these titles and others as well. I love their tagline: "We're queer and weird, and you better be okay with that!" I have enjoyed every book of theirs I have read, and I have reviewed more than a few for Booklist and Library Journal in the past.

If you haven't noticed, the goal of these posts is to highlight trusted small presses. It is great if you win, but hopefully, you can use these posts as a "review" to justify your purchase of titles that are worthy of being added to your collections.

Good Luck. For the next 2 weeks,  I will be continuing this month long focus on prize packs from small presses and then October the giveaway will EXPLODE. So enter now because when you enter once, you are entered going forward. 

Thursday, September 7, 2023

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 138: Tenebrous Press 2-fer

Today I am featuring 2 books by one of my favorite small presses. 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 #137.  Our winner was Kate from Loudoun County [VA] Public Library Now on to today's giveaway.

Over the next few weeks I am going to get us ready for October and my plethora of giveaways. I have lost track of how many I will have, but it is way more than 1 per week. But before we get there, I wanted I highlight a few smaller presses. This week, I have two titles by Tenebrous Press.

Before I ell you which titles, please take a moment to read my post entitled, "Meet Tenebrous Press," from 31 Days of Horror last year.

This week I am giving away 2 novellas and they are finished copies which you can add to your collections immediately.


As the world’s climate swings rapidly between oppressively hot and freezing cold, the remnants of civilization huddle in small communities to scrape together what they can to survive.

All except the Zhu family.

Yi has lived in her ancestral house her entire life, sheltered and safe from the scarcity that plagues her community. Her family enjoys a secret life of running water, electricity, and an abundance of food.

But as Yi seeks a way to share their fortune, she learns the terrible secret of the Zhu house.

DEHISCENT is an Eco-Horror tale of a future that has practically arrived, and the humanity that lurks in the most inhuman of places.

Second in this prize pack, The Black Lord by Colin Hinckley. From Goodreads:
There’s something knocking on the window. 
Eddie’s parents may be arguing about the disappearance of his infant brother Danny, but Eddie’s facing a terror all of his own. There’s a strange figure outside that claims it has Danny safe and sound—all Eddie needs to do to get his brother back is open that window.

All of Tenebrous Press' titles are good for library collections. They are well edited, stand up to multiple checkouts, and have great covers for displays. These novellas in particular can be added to your collections because they are finished copies.

An anthology I gave away on the blog previously, Your Body is Not Your Body, was nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award this year. See, it is not just me who thinks their books are good.

Whether you win this week or not, visit their website and order a few tiles for your collections. Maybe start with that anthology since it was nominated for a major award.

Your patrons will thank you.

And get your entries in because there will be many giveaways this October. I have over 80 people currently in the running. It will explode come October, so get in now. You enter once now, and you are entered until you win. Details above.

Good Luck!