#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: Celebrating Halfway to Halloween with Elizabeth Broadbent

Today I have a special giveaway to celebrate that we are Halfway to Halloween (give or take a few days). Author on the rise, Elizabeth Broadbent has offered 2 finished copies of her book, Ink Vine: A Gothic Sapphic Novella to 2 lucky winners. Not only will I have more about Broadbent and her book below, but I also asked her to be a part of my Why I Love Horror series to share her connection to the genre as well. More on that below, first here are the rules for the giveaway:

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 the previous giveaway. Our winner was Mike from North Canton [OH] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

As I mentioned above, over on RA for All I am celebrating Halfway to Halloween with a Why I Love Horror essay by Elizabeth Broadbent author of Ink Vine: A Gothic Sapphic Novella. And here on the #HorrorForLibraries giveaway, I have 2, finished copies provided by the author that will be sent out to 2 winners!

First, more about this book from Goodreads:

Sometimes, you just pick your poison and pray. Bisexual stripper Emmy has lived her whole life in a small Southern town with a few Listen to your mama; don’t kiss girls; and stay the hell out of the swamp. Sick of all three, she sneaks under the dark tree-canopy behind her family trailer, where she meets Zara—mysterious, elusive, tattooed Zara, the first girl she dares to kiss. 

But the small-town South hates a woman who dares to dance instead of plucking chickens for minimum wage, and as Emmy’s life falls apart, her relationship with Zara grows more tangled and bizarre. Zara’s offering something beautiful. But while Emmy’s slowly strangling, its price may be more than she’s willing to pay.

Shifting between the green-bright cypress cathedral and the dreamland of a dance club, Broadbent’s unforgettably-voiced debut confronts the brutal realities of poverty in the South, with a sapphic tale both sultry and sinister, gritty and gothic.

"Elizabeth Broadbent combines a steamy love story with important observations about desperation, fear, and acceptance. Ink Vine, with its elements of dark fantasy and botanical horror, reminded me of True Blood!"-Christi Nogle, author of the Bram Stoker Award winning first novel Beulah

Three Words That Describe This Book: strong sense of place, atmospheric, strong first person narration

This is a great example of a 21st Century Southern Gothic that will appeal to a wide audience. It is scary, fast paced, and immersive, but ultimately, it is full of love.

Check out more from Broadbent and why she loves horror on the main blog. 

Thanks to the author for providing these copies for me to giveaway.

Enter now and you are entered going forward. Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 50: The Death of Jane Lawrence

It's #HorrorForLibraries giveaway day and I have a major, upcoming release to giveaway to you today, but first, here is a refresher on the basic rules 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. 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 #49. Our winner was Kate from the Hennepin County Library [MN].

Now to this week. Today I have an ARC of Catlin Starling's upcoming novel, The Death of Jane Lawrence. My review of this book is in the current issue of Booklist. Here is what I wrote about this title on the general blog:

The Death of Jane Lawrence

by Caitlin Starling

Oct. 2021. 352p. St. Martin’s, $27.99 (9781250272584). 

First published July 2021 (Booklist).

Opening with a very creepy Rebecca vibe and set in a fictional world reminiscent of post WWII Europe, Starling introduces the very practical Jane as she proposes a business arrangement marriage to the local doctor, Augustine Lawrence, a brilliant and kind man, but an outsider who keeps to himself. Dr. Lawrence’s only rule for their marriage is that Jane sleeps at the office, his home in town, while he must return to the crumbling family manor home on the outskirts of town each evening. After a storm forces Jane to break this agreement on the very first night, what began as an uneasy story steadily builds to unrelenting tension, further enhanced by Jane’s intense first person narration. The reader is compelled to follow Jane as she discovers the truth at the manor home, unravels her husband’s lies, and battles horrors, be they real or imagined, but they will also thoroughly enjoy falling in this immersive and unsettling journey. A perfect choice for readers who enjoy how today’s writers are playing with the well trod Gothic trope to create something wholly new, utterly terrifying, and supremely satisfying such as Mexican Gothic by Moreno-Garcia or Now You’re One of Us by Nonami.

Further Appeal: First things first, shaking off that ominous title is impossible and I loved it. From that unsettling start, it all builds. And I am happy to report, the book resolves very well. Don't underestimate the skill here. To stick the landing on a book that has the protagonist's death in the tile, that is hard.

The world building here is excellent. It is not only the details of the magic, ghosts, and medical science, but it is also the unsettling almost recognizable setting. It is almost alternative history, but not quite. And the terror builds steadily and relentlessly without sacrificing the interesting world building.

Jane is a great heroine. Her backstory and details are assembled and revealed well and her motivations and growth are interesting to watch unfold.

Like Chizmar, Starling is also an author whose books are very different but her writing draws you in: Space Body Horror, Vampire novella, and now a twist on Gothic Horror. I have read and reviewed all of these and really enjoyed each. [She has more, but this is what I have read.]

Three Words That Describe This Book: intense tension, haunted house, trust no one

Readalikes: The Upstairs House by Fine, The Little Stranger by Waters and anything by Shirley Jackson. Crimson Peak [film] is in the publisher comps. I am not familiar enough with the movie to add that to my official review, but I am adding it here for those who do like it.

This feminist retelling of the Gothic novel, a modernization which gives much more agency to the women, is a huge trend right now. That's how you hand-sell this title-- Did you like Mexican Gothic? Shirley Jackson? Then read this. 

Just get it into people's hands ASAP.

Enter now. And good luck! 

31 Days of Horror: Day 15--Becky's Annual Take Over of the Library Journal Readers Shelf Column- WITH A GIVEAWAY!

Each year I have the honor of taking over Neal Wyatt's Readers' Shelf column on the second to last page of Library Journal. Wyatt is also my book editor and we have a great relationship. This means she allows me to pick the topic for this column. I have a linked list of past columns here, but this year I wanted to highlight some of the best books I had not had a chance to review elsewhere. Below [or here] you can find my column but first....

This week's giveaway announcement is also tied to the column. As a reminder, here are the basic rules followed by this week's giveaway.

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. 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.
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 double giveaway #21. Our winners were Glenda from Russell County [KY] Public Library and Stephanie from the Salt Lake City Library System.

This week I have 4 of the titles from the column [the actual copies are pictured] to give away to 1 luck winner. ALL ARE FINISHED COPIES and can be added to your library collections immediately. 

Good luck to all of the entrants. But please note, now that all of these books have been mentioned in Library Journal, you have no excuse not to order them for your collections. Also note the readalikes which are also must adds.

Click here for the full published column or see the draft version below.

Recent Horror You May Have Missed

Help your readers navigate the scariest season with a few recent, under the radar crowd pleasers.

Two of the hottest genres, horror and true crime, collide in THE REMAKING by Clay McLeod Chapman [will be new in paperback if you want to use that ISBN], a mobious strip of a novel that intertwines four related stories of murder and witchcraft across time and space. Beginning with an actual crime from 1931 involving the murder of two suspected witches, the narrative shifts to the 1970s, and the cult classic film about the murders, then moves to the details of a 90s movie remake, and finally into a 2016 podcast. The effect, both the characters and readers become trapped inside the web of menace and curses that the novel has spun. A disorienting and immersive read that anchors itself in history but stretches its terrifying tentacles into the present, producing intense chills. Read-alike: For another unconventional, character centered, unsettling tale framed by a cursed film try the cult classic, EXPERIMENTAL FILM by Gemma Files.

Ironically, TRUE CRIME by Samantha Kolesnik, is centered around a fictional crime spree, but one that is so realistically portrayed that the graphic horror is palpable with all of the readers’ senses. Suzy and Lim, siblings who have been terribly abused at home, escape, killing their mother and strike out on their own, leaving a trail of murder in their wake. The narrative told mostly from Suzy’s point of view, forces the reader to reckon with the physical and emotional damage of abuse with Suzy, in real time, as she struggles to live fully for the first time in her horrible life. It’s a eerily enchanting tale, sucking the reader in despite the horrors, short and fast paced, visceral and psychologically intense, yet also beautiful and hopeful at the same time. An honest tale about human monsters, and the truth that hides behind the headlines, one that will force readers to look deeply into their own souls. Read-alike: For another critically acclaimed short, visceral, and thought provoking horror-crime hybrid try ZERO SAINTS by Gabino Iglesias.

Unnerving Magazine has capitalized on the popularity of the horror novella, mixing in yet another huge genre trend-- nostalgia for the gore and camp of 1970s, 80s and 90s  horror films with their Rewind or Die series. Entry 8 in the series, HELL’S BELLS by Lisa Quigley, is a terrifying and humorous take on the “Satanic Panic” trope, featuring teen girls who mistakenly summon Satan in their suburban basement, but use rock n roll to save themselves and the world  at large. The characters jump off the page, the action and terror are perfectly realized, and the musical allusions are fun and frequent. Quigley is also a host of the award winning Ladies of the Fright podcast, so her name may ring a bell with patrons, despite this being her debut. The awesome cover art surrounding this tale, and every entry in the series, will help the book sell itself to patrons. Read-alike: The fourth entry in this series, CIRQUE BERSERK by Jessica Guess is another great choice. Both feature witless teens, slasher tropes, and are bunches of gory, fun to read.

Finding an awesome debut can feel like winning the lottery to the right reader, and this year’s Bram Stoker Award Best First Novel winner is no exception there. THE BONE WEAVER’S ORCHARD by Sarah Read is a engrossing Gothic tale set in North Yorkshire in the mid 1920s within the creepy walls of The Old Cross School for Boys. Charley, a young insect loving, misfit student knows there is something sinister going on in the tunnels under the building, but he has no idea just how far into the past, how deep, and yet also, how close to home the horrific truths are. This is a haunted house tale that begins like you have read before, filled with dark secrets and monsters hiding in plain sight, but it is also surprisingly original featuring a fresh voice telling a compelling, character driven, sympathetic story of friendship, bravery, and coming of age that is filled with nightmares and hope and Charley is a boy who will resonate with many readers. Read-alike: Fans of the new take on the old Gothic trope as seen in MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia with its escalating dread, sympathetic protagonist, and sinister family secrets will also enjoy Read’s lesser known novel.

Back in 1996, Owl Goingback won the Bram Stoker for Best First Novel himself for  CROTA, and then this past April, he won again, this time earning the Best Novel statue for the captivating, dark fantasy COYOTE RAGE. The story follows two parallel dimensions: our human world and one of the shapeshifters. A change at the top of the Great Council in Galun'lati gives Coyote an opening to destroy the human world, but some of the shapeshifters are committed to keeping the peace and will fight alongside humanity against Coyote. The mythology and world building are fantastic, the action scenes and pacing exciting, and the language is engaging, even poetic at times. This novel is so much more than it’s plot; it is thought provoking, engaging, and original. Readers will get so much more than they expect, and isn’t that why we are here, to introduce them to new voices they would have missed without us? Read-alike: For another award winning dark fantasy-horror hybrid that uses  shapeshifters, lyrical prose, and own voices mythology to craft a complex tale wrapped in an immersive world try BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF by Marlon James

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #17: Plain Bad Heroines and The Blade Between

First, a reminder that these giveaways will be running every week, on Thursdays, for the foreseeable future. And here is the best part, if you enter any week, you are eligible for ALL weeks.

The only rule is that you need to be affiliated with a public library in America or Canada. 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.

Okay now how to enter. 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.

Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm will be considered.

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.

Why I am doing this? Well, one of the parts of my job that has gone away for the time being is my visits to libraries, library conferences, and library systems to provide general RA training. On all of those visits, I would  fill my suitcase with giveaway titles and they were mostly horror. It not only gave me a chance to give away books as prizes, but it also allowed me the opportunity to book talk horror even if that wasn't on the agenda.

Now that my services have transferred to 100% virtual, for the time being, I have an overflow of books in my house and less of chance to promote horror to the unsuspecting masses of library workers.

And thus my #HorrorForLibraries giveaway is born. This will be going on indefinitely, so the sooner you enter the better your chances.

Click here to see giveaway #16. Our winner was Michael from Jessamine County [KY] Public Library.

This week I  am very excited to finally be able to giveaway my copies of two of the most hotly anticipated horror novels of the season. The Blade Between by Sam J. Miller and Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth [pictured, the already read ARCs, the actual giveaway copies]. 

Both have an LGBTQ frame which, while essential to the story, just is. This is the best kind of inclusive and diverse storytelling. Main characters are gay or have fluid sexuality, and while that matters in that it makes them who they are, neither is about "coming out." And most importantly, the horror is NOT related to their sexuality in any way. 

I enjoyed both of these books, but I LOVED Plain Bad Heroines. Here are snippets from the drafts I turned into Library Journal for my October Horror Review Column.

The Blade Between: Filled with intense dread and unease that permeates every page, well drawn, if flawed characters, social commentary, and a satisfying resolution, this is a great example of how, Cosmic Horror, a century old subgenre, can still speak directly to today’s readers. 

Plain Bad Heroines: At its heart, this is a novel that asks its reader to contemplate how all stories are told. Which horrors are real, which are imagined, and which are consciously constructed? With a pointed female focus, an unease constantly seeping in from the perimeter, spilling fear all over the page at key moments, and characters that leap off the page, this volume will be sure to inspire many fans. [Starred Review]

Enter now to win both. And thanks to Lainey from Harper Collins' Library Marketing Team for making sure I got print copies of each, despite the bad pandemic timing, precisely so after I read them for review, I could pass them on to one of you!

Good luck!

Reviews Index Update

Here is a list of the reviews I have recently added to the Horror Review Index:

• Davidson, Andy.  The Boatman's Daughter 
• Wendig, Chuck. Wanderers
• Starling, Caitlin. The Luminous Dead
• Kozeniewski, Stephen.  Skinwrapper
• Buxton, Kira Jane.  Hollow Kingdom 
• Hamill, Shaun.  A Cosmology of Monsters 
• O'Meara, Mallory. The Lady from the Black Lagoon
• Moulton, Rachel Eve.  Tinfoil Butterfly
• Chambers, James. On the Night Border: Stories

31 Days of Horror: Day 21- A Brief History of Gothic Horror via NYPL and More For You To Use To Help Your Patrons

Today I want to share with you a wonderful article with an annotated book list via the NYPL blog-- A  Brief History of Gothic Horror.

This is an example of serving your patrons all year long. Yes this article and annotated book list was published in October with the idea of capturing the largest possible audience, but, they also tagged it "horror," so that people could access it, and dozens of other lists about horror, from this year and year's past, with one simple click here, anytime.

Now, I know my readers, and the first thing many of you are going to say is something along the lines of:

"But Becky, I work at a tiny library and I don't have the resources [either money or staff] to create this level of content about anything; I am barely treading water as it is."

And to all of you I say:

"This is exactly why I posted these links. You don't have to do the work yourself in order to help your patrons. As I say in Rule 7 of Becky 10 Rules of Basic RA Service-- Use Resources. They are there to make your job easier; give you less you have to do on your own."

[side note: yes, I know I am talking to myself, but I will do anything to get you all to stop making excuses as to why you aren't helping your horror readers]

Don't tell me you don't have the staff like NYPL to put out this material. Who cares? Use theirs. It's what we do. Our profession is know for it. As my friend Steve Thomas of Circulating Ideas likes to say, Librarians don't know the answers to everything, we just know where to find them.

Well my friends, the answers to your lack of horror lists and info for your patrons lies in the work of others, others who are freely sharing it for all comers, like NYPL, like me. Now go forth and help some horror readers. Right now. No more excuses allowed.

Horror Review Index Update

I have updated the horror review index with two new titles:

• Abigale Hall by Lauren Forry
• Hekla's Children by James Brogden

Review: Broken Hours

The Broken Hours: A Novel of H.P. Lovecraft
Baker, Jacqueline
Apr. 2016. 320p. Sky horse/Talos, hardcover, $24.99 9781940456553). 
Review. First Published March 3, 2016 (Booklist Online).


Here is the draft of the review I turned in to Booklist:

The year is 1836 and Arthor Crandle, desperate for a job and needing space from his troubled homelife, accepts a temporary position in Providence working as the assistant for a reclusive and mysterious author. But all is not as it seems in this “novel of H.P. Lovecraft,” and Crandle is quickly thrust into a world where nightmares, ghosts, and giant tentacles are now a part of his everyday life. This novel is a homage to Lovecraft, his work, and his legacy, but told with only a hint of the terror found within the master’s own stories. Rather Baker’s intent is to authentically recreate the eerie atmosphere that surrounded Lovecraft, before wrapping the reader up in a compelling, Hitchcock-esque plot that keeps everyone on edge, constantly questioning the real versus the imagined, up to the final shocking pages. Lovecraft fans will delight in seeing the author’s biography unfold on the page, but, those with no previous attachment to the horror master will easily be drawn into this satisfying, Gothic tale on its own merit. Suggest to fans of last year’s historical, horror hit The Quick or backlist darling The Thirteenth Tale.

Three Words That Describe This Book: eerie, Gothic, biographical

Readalikes: Besides the two titles mentioned in the review-- to which I have added the links to my blog reviews that contain MANY more readalike options-- I would also suggest:

• Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel
• Anything by Shirley Jackson
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
• The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

Some may want to read Lovecraft after reading this novel. To those people I would suggest trying his stories from Weird Tales, the ones which are referred to throughout Broken Hours.