#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway This Week is Free to ALL

I am interrupting my weekly giveaway of a book to a single winner to offer you all something awesome.

The 2023 Summer Scares Programming Guide! You can click here to have full access to this beautiful, full color PDF courtesy of the Konrad Stump and his colleagues at the Springfield-Greene County Library District.

It is FREE. Every program idea, every book discussion question, each readalike, they are all FREE for you to use with your patrons all year long.

Click on the image below or here to enter the guide. You can also always find more information about Summer Scares at our Resource page here.

And finally, don't forget past year's program guides are just as awesome as this one. You can use any of them to promote Horror to all ages of readers today, tomorrow, this summer, next winter...all year long. We simply use summer as the hook, but these books and the programming ideas work any time of year. With 4 years of guides no available that is 36 titles, plus the 4 readalikes per title that gives you 144 titles vetted horror titles that you could use to build out a display tomorrow, one that will serve all ages of Horror fans. (And that doesn't even take into consideration other books by our chosen authors and the titles that are part of larger series). Links to past guides:

• 2022 Summer Scares programming Guide
• 2021 Summer Scares Programming Guide 
• 2020 Summer Scares Programming Guide

Horror is for all ages, anytime of year, and Summer Scares is here to help you suggest scary titles with confidence. Prepared book talks included.

If you have any questions or you want to book a Summer Scares author for a virtual visit to your library, email libraries at horror dot org.

Click here to access the guide

#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.

Bram Stoker Awards: 2022 Final Ballot

Last night, the HWA announced the final ballot for the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards. This is the only award I write about where I actually get to have a vote on who wins, so it holds a special place in my heart. 

I posted the entire ballot on the main blog here, including links to where I reviewed or gave away a title. You can also see it directly from the HWA here.

But first, I wanted to share a few observations about the ballot, since this is a genre and an award with which I am intimately aquatinted.

• I read and reviewed all 5 nominees in the Novel category and am on the record stating which I think is the best of the bunch. 
• I am so proud to have been a part of the first ever award in the category of Middle Grade. I do not have reviews for these titles because as a member of the jury, I did not want to go on the record about any of them; however, I can tell you with 100% certainty, all 5 of these titles is worthy of the haunted house statue. I also want to note that these 5 titles will forever be the first crop of nominees for this category, and that alone is a HUGE honor.
• Just saying, but back in May of 2022, I correctly predicted the nomination of one of the "long fiction" nominees here, in print, in Library Journal.
• I got to read Tiffany Jackson's The Weight of Blood (YA category) and interview the author on a panel for a Library Journal event. This book is GOOD.
• That stacked anthology category! 2 points here. First, every single nominee is a woman! Second, two of the editors were included in an article I wrote for The Lineup, "These Six Anthologists Are Masterful Curators of Terror." By the way, I have another article coming next month about the best Middle Grade Horror for adults. 

In terms of using this award for suggestions, displays, and as a CD tool, the HWA makes it as easy as possible because we have an entire website just for the Awards. Click through to get lists of every nominee and winner. You can even search by author and see every time and in which category they were nominated. It is a library worker's dream as a resource. 

Okay enough lead up. Click here to see the official nominees for the 2022 Bram Stoker Award. You can tune in on Saturday June 17, 2023 to see the winners announced live. Details closer to the event. You might even catch me up on the stage.

Click here to see the Final Ballot

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 114: The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

Today I am offering a bound manuscript copy of V. Castro's first Big 5 novel. I gave this book a STAR win the January 2023 issue of Library Journal. 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 #113. Our winner was Lauren from Rutherford [NY] Public Library. Now to this week's giveaway.

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro is terrifying, both as a Horror novel, but also because all of the "haunting" is written to feel so real. Yes some of that is because it is based on misogyny and colonialism which are very real horror. Yes because Alexandra's pain is not just from generations of haunting and trauma, it is grounded in reality as well. But there is more than that. The way Castro describes Alejandra's life and then seamlessly incorporates her ancestors issue  immersive and terrifying that I felt the terror as I was reading. That is remarkable.

Here is the link to my LJ Star review draft language via Goodreads:

Three Words That Describe This Book: utterly terrifying, generational trauma, engrossing 

Draft review: Alejandra has just moved with her husband and three children from Texas to Philadelphia only months after finally connecting with her birth mother, Cathy. Overwhelmed, lonely, and paralyzed by suicidal thoughts which are manifesting as violent and disquieting visions that seems too real to be only in her head, Alejandra is barely getting through each day. Told mostly from Alejandra’s point of view in the novel’s “present,” and enhanced by well placed and clearly marked flashbacks beginning in 1522 and moving forward in time, readers follow Alejandra and her ancestors,watching helpless as a demon stalks the women of this family for centuries, actively feeding off of and infecting each generation of women. Using the Mexican horror folklore of La Llorona as a frame and expertly updating it for a modern audience, this is a story of generational trauma, colonization, systemic oppression, and the horror at the heart of motherhood. Utterly terrifying and wholly immersive, readers will be wowed by this confident, unflinching, and powerful tale of a woman reclaiming her power, actively fighting to save both herself and the countless women who will come after her. 

Verdict: Castro’s Big 5 debut will bring her critically acclaimed, unflinchingly honest, sensual, and raw horror to a larger audience. Suggest far and wide to fans of unapologetically feminist, thought-provoking, and engrossing horror that gives voice to the voiceless such as works by Carmen Maria Machado or Gwendloyn Kiste.

The Haunting of Alejandra is out April 18th. It is from Del Rey, the same imprint with PRH who published Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Josh Malerman, and more. This book will introduce more readers to Castro and you should go back and make sure you have her other titles which are spread out across the publishing landscape.

Thanks to Del Rey who shared a bound manuscript (this is pre-ARC) with me for the review process and so that I could host this giveaway.

Enter now and you are entered going forward and "forward" includes 2 winners of Eric LaRocca's debut novel (coming in April) and more! Good luck.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 113: Piñata by Leopoldo Gout

Today I am offering an ARC of an upcoming Nightfire title that comes out 3/14/23. I reviewed this title in the January 2023 issue of Library Journal. 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 #112. Our winner was Jessikah from Syosset [NY] Public Library. Now to this week's giveaway.

I first read Leopoldo Gout back in 2009 when I listened to Ghost Radio [click here for my review from way back then]. That book, especially in audio, blew me away. I still suggest this title to readers. Although I will note from that review, I no longer list Dan Simmons as a readalike for anything because he is a horrible human being. 

Piñata is his return to adult fiction and horror (after success in YA). It is out March 14, 2023, from Nightfire (who you can thank for this giveaway copy). My review of Piñata appeared in the January issue of Library Journal. You can read my draft review here or below.

Piñata by Leopoldo Gout 

Three words That Describe This Book: vengeance is mine, horrors of colonialism, immersive dread

Draft review: A New York architect originally from Mexico, Carmen Sanchez has raised her family in the states, but when her firm needed someone to oversee the renovation of an old Mexican church into a hotel, Carmen jumped at the chance to bring her 11 and 16 year old daughters for the Summer. However, from the start of their trip, an angry force from ]seems drawn to Luna, the younger daughter. When the renovations open up a hidden room, revealing an ancient piñata, made of pottery and filled with viscera, part of the complex religious practices of the conquered Nahua, the wronged spirit is able to seep out into the modern world with very real consequences. A slow burn where the omniscient narration is spread around allowing the characters and historical details to realistically build and laying a strong foundation for the dread that permeates every page. Gout succeeds in presenting a thought-provoking, violent and immersive revenge horror story, but he excels in restoring the rich history of an erased people.

Verdict: A great choice for readers who enjoy novels where the true horrors of colonization and human rights atrocities are corrected in gruesomely riveting fashion while retaining the utmost respect to the victims as seen in the works of V. Castro, Stephen Graham Jones and Tananarive Due.

Enter today and stay entered until you win. If you are a past winner (and there are a LOT of you), as long as it has been a month since you won, you can enter again. Good luck.

Summer Scares 2023: Title Announcement Press Release

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is delighted to announce the fifth annual Summer Scares reading list, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and librarians and is designed to promote Horror as a great reading option for all ages and during any time of the year.

This year Summer Scares welcomes New York Times Bestselling author, Daniel Kraus as their 2023 spokesperson. "My love of reading began at a public library -- but I had to hunt for the horror,” said Kraus. “I would have been giddy to have a slate like our 2023 choices presented to me when I walked in. I am, in fact, giddy about it right now. It's a tremendously far-reaching group of titles that epitomizes the breadth of creativity going on in the genre." 

The goal of Summer Scares is to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. In addition to the annual list of recommended titles, the Summer Scares committee will release themed lists of even more “read-alike” titles libraries can suggest to readers. And, in order to help libraries forge stronger connections between books and readers, the Summer Scares committee will be working with both the recommended list authors and Horror authors from all over the country to provide free programming to libraries. 

Every year, three titles are selected in each of three categories: Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. For 2023 those selected titles are: 

Adult Selections: 

• Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom, 2020)
• Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas (Custom House, 2020)
• The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Daniel M. Lavery (Holt Paperbacks, 2018) 

Young Adult Selections: 

• In The Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters (Amulet Books, 2013) 
• Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle (illustrator) (Greenwillow Books, 2021)
• Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (illustrator) (Oni Press, 2019) 

Middle Grade Selections: 

• Small Spaces by Katharine Arden (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2018)
• Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories by Dan SaSuWeh Jones Weshoyot Alvitre (Illustrator) (Scholastic Nonfiction, 2021)
• A Small Zombie Problem by K.G. Campbell (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2019) 

The Summer Scares Programming Guide, created each year by the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library, and free for libraries anywhere to access, is back with the tools libraries need to connect with their communities.

“The 2023 guide is packed with ideas that library workers can use to engage their communities with these great titles, whether they're putting up book displays, hosting author events, or planning an entire Summer Scares program series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming guide. The guide will be available beginning March 15, 2023 on the Summer Scares Resource page at http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html

This year Summer Scares is excited to announce two new partnerships to join our existing partnerships with EBSCO’s NoveList database and the Horror Studies Collection of the University of Pittsburgh Library Systems. First, Summer Scares welcomes the Books in the Freezer podcast (https://booksinthefreezer.com/), which will be featuring Summer Scares committee members and authors beginning in March 2023 and continuing throughout 2023.

Second, Summer Scares is excited to join iRead, a summer reading program that has been adopted by nine states and across the globe by the Department of Defense for libraries on military bases. “While there is nothing scary about Summer Reading, there is no better time than summer to scare up some great books. iREAD is thrilled (and chilled!) to partner with Summer Scares to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that perfectly aligns with our mission to bridge the summer gap, while inspiring literacy and life-long learning,” shares incoming iREAD Content and Development Manager, Becca Boland. “We look forward to working with Summer Scares to help people find their voice - even if it is to scream!

You can help kick off Summer Scares 2023 at the HWA’s Librarians’ Day, taking place in person on June 16, 2023, in Pittsburgh as part of StokerCon. Details at: https://www.stokercon2023.com/librarian-s-day. Summer Scares content will also be available for free on the HWA’s YouTube page, including panels with all of this year’s selected authors.

The HWA is a non-profit organization of writers and publishing professionals, and the oldest organization dedicated to the horror/dark fiction genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of reading through extensive programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.

The 2023 Summer Scares program committee consists of author Daniel Kraus, HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump, as well as Academic Librarian Carolyn Ciesla, Book Riot Editor and YA specialist Kelly Jensen, and Booklist Editor and Middle Grade specialist Julia Smith.

For more information about the Summer Scares reading program, including committee member bios and how to obtain promotional materials and schedule events with the authors/committee members, please visit The Summer Scares Resource page: http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html or email HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump at libraries@horror.org.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 112: Destroyer of Worlds by Matt Ruff

Today I am offering a an ARC of a highly anticipated sequel that comes out on 2/21. I reviewed this title in the January 2023 issue of Library Journal. 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 #111. Our winner was Ken from Bath Township [MI] Library. Now to this week's giveaway.

On February 21st, fans can return to the world of Lovecraft Country with Matt Ruff's new book The Destroyer of Worlds. 

I reviewed it in the January 2023 issue of Library Journal and you can read a draft here or below. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: Reclaiming Lovecraft, intricately plotted, though provoking 

Draft Review: It is the summer of 1957, 3 years after the events of Lovecraft Country, and Montrose, Atticus, George, Hippolyta, Horace, Letitia, and Ruby are still having Lovecraftian inspired adventures tied to their family history and escalating racial tensions in America, but this time, they also have to grapple with the knowledge and consequences from their previous confrontations with Winthrop and Braithwhite. Readers can expect the same genre blending, dark humor, and creepy atmosphere from the first book, but this time, the storytelling style is different. Rather than laying out the action as distinct but linked episodes, Ruff presents the different characters and their compelling journeys in alternating chapters. As they overlap and come together, readers will be held captive until the thrilling conclusion, one that ties up loose ends but leaves room for another installment. A worthy sequel, but where this series excels is in how it continues to draw parallels between its pulpy plot and the entire Civil Rights Movement. Their cosmic dilemmas make for a great read, but the unease is amplified by readers’ knowledge that these Black characters are about to be thrust into a very real fight for freedom.

Verdict: The popularity of the Lovecraft Country television show means more readers will be eager for this return. A great suggestion for fans of titles that grapple with racism in stalwart horror tropes such as Ring Shout by Clark and Mexican Gothic by Moreno-Garcia

The copy of this highly anticipated book is courtesy of Harper. Enter to win today and you are entered going forward.

Good luck!