Summer Scares Resources

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Thursday, May 18, 2023

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 123: A Finished Copy of Jackal, Jackal

This week I have a finished copy of a collection that I have a glowing review to in Booklist, courtesy of an award winning small press. 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 #122. Our winner was Debbie from Helen Plum [IL] Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

On the May 1, issue of Booklist, I had this review:

Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark Fantastic
by Tobi Ogundiran July 2023. 317p. 
Undertow, paper, $18.99 (9781988964430). 
First published May 1, 2023 (Booklist). 

With award nominations piling up for stories scattered across the speculative fiction publishing landscape, Ogundrian thankfully has gathered 18 of his compelling tales of dark magic in one place. Clearly framed by the author’s Nigerian roots, but with a conscious nod to dark speculative tales from all over the world, the stories in this volume will captivate readers with their haunting atmosphere, confident voice, and immersive settings. The two original stories in this collection are a great example. “Jackal. Jackal,” expertly combines the animal masks as a form of haunting trope with a cautionary tale of what happens when you try to erase the past, injecting it all with new terror in just a few short pages, while “Midnight in Moscow,” riffs off of the well-known Slavic character of Baba Yaga to showcase the enduring power of folklore across cultures. A great introduction to an up-and-coming author, this book will appeal to readers of dark speculative fiction by marginalized voices who actively engage with the white western canon such as Stephen Graham Jones, Marlon James, and Cassandra Khaw.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Haunting, Immersive, Compelling

I have a lot more to say about the HUGE appeal of this excellent collection over on the general blog, including readlaikes for specific stories and more authors who you should check out.

This is a finished copy which Undertow sent to me after the book published. I gave my ARC away to a local library and am offering this book in hopes that you add it to your library immediately. But back to Undertow Publications, they have been awarded the 2022 Bram Stoker Award for Speciality Press. Click here for that announcement. Also they have a book up for a Bram Stoker Award as well, Breakable Things, which I gave a STAR review in the October 2022 issue of Library Journal.

This is a press and a book you want to keep on your radar for dark fiction collection development. As I said in that longer post when the review went live:

It is a great collection from a trusted small press. Totally worth an add, especially because he has that epic fantasy series coming. Get this on the shelf before Ogundiran's popularity explodes.

Enter now and you are entered going forward. Next week, I have a 2-fer: a cult Horror fav paired with an upcoming book by a mainstream author who is also the NYT Books Horror columnist. And then we are into June and the giveaway EXPLODES into the biggest titles of Summer and Fall coming at you all Summer long. In other words, get in on the giveaway sooner rather than later.

Good Luck!

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