#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: Angel Down by Daniel Kraus

 Today I have an ARC of a book which I gave an enthusiastic STAR to in the current issue of Booklist. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American 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 for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Jennifer from Ohio. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

Angel Down by Daniel Kraus is going to be one of the best and most original books you read in any genre this year. From the post where I wrote at length about my STAR review in Booklist:

Kraus’ latest is an unintentional sequel to Whalefall* in how it portrays its deeply emotional themes. Private Bagger has used his wits to stay alive in the trenches of WWI France as a latrine and grave digger, he and four other misfits are asked to stay behind, in order to “take care” of a suffering soldier laying in the dangerous no man's land between them and the Germans. However, it is not a soldier they find screaming, rather it is an angel fallen from heaven and stuck in barbed wire. As the men carry the angel enroute to rejoin their unit, each is mesmerized by her light and tempted by her power. She could save them all or lead to their death. Unfolding like a chant, in short paragraphs each beginning with the word “and,” readers quickly fall under Bagger’s narrative spell, as they see the visceral toll war takes on the entire planet. Is Bagger going to survive through a miracle or by luck? A brilliant novel that will encourage its readers to live their best life while alive, despite the horrors that surround them. For fans of The Militia House by Milas and thought-provoking tales which sow discomfort through story and narrative structure such as The Unworthy by Bazterrica.

*the same life affirming message also guilt and shame about his relationship with his father and survival despite it all. This statement gives away a lot of the appeal I had to leave out for word count.

Three words that describe this book: visceral, ambitious, reads like a chant.

I need all of you, whether you will enter the giveaway or not to click through and read everything I have to say about this amazing book here. There are no spoilers but my "Further Appeal" section will give you everything you need to book talk this to potential readers.

And who are those potential readers? Horror fans, historical fiction fans, people who like War fiction especially WWI, those who appreciate an original and captivating use of language that enhances the story. So many. Like The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Angel Down, is a sweet inspiring work of America fiction...full stop.

Enter for your chance to win an ARC today. And make sure you have a few copies on order for your patrons. It comes out July 29th.

Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: My Ex, The Antichrist

Today I have an ARC of a book which I have review of in the current issue of Booklist. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American 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 for the previous giveaway. Our winner was from Amy from WI. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

Craig DiLouie is a critically acclaimed Horror author. All of his books are perfect for a general library audience. This one is also good for any and all music fans.

From my ALA Booklist Draft review

My Ex, The Antichrist

By Craig DiLouie

Out July 2025. 

The Shivers were one of the biggest pop punk bands of the early 2000s, but their origin story holds a dark, apocalyptic secret, one with which front woman Lily Lawless can no longer bear to live. So begins DiLouie’s latest horror novel, unfolding on the page as an oral history of the band, as told by Lily, and others, as Lily sits in prison, for murder. Readers follow The Shivers, led by Lily and her boyfriend Drake Morgan,as they quickly garner attention for their unique sound and the violence that follows in the wake of their performances. Cheekily playing off of the age-old accusation that harder edged music is satanic, DiLouie spins a story that is fresh, entertaining, and intensely unsettling. Is Drake Morgan actually the Antichrist? The answer may existentially unmoor readers. An easy handsell for fans of We Sold Our Souls by Hendrix or Silver Nitrate by Moreno- Garcia, but don’t forget those who loved the discomforting verisimilitude of The Ghost That Ate Us by Kraus. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: Oral History Frame, Satanic, Intense Unease

Click here to read a lot more by me about this book.

And follow the directions above to enter to win this one.

Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: A Clash Prize Pack-- 3 Books for 1 winner

Today I want to feature a publisher-- Clash Books-- and three ARCs they sent me, including one which I have review of in the current issue of Booklist. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American 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 for the previous giveaway. Our winner was from Charissa from IL. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

As I mentioned above, I have three ARCs of books that are coming soon from Clash. Clash Books is a trusted small press who have full distribution with Ingram so you can easily get their books.

Clash is where high and low art meet to make something fresh, new, and exciting. They publishing literary Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, & Horror. Their mission is to publish awesome & engaging books that transcend label & break boundaries.

In other words, they have the stuff our readers who refuse to be defined want to read. And it is all to a high standard.

Click here to learn more about Clash Books.

As I said above, today I am giving away 3 ARCs from Clash to one winner, beginning with Below the Grand Hotel by Cat Scully. From my longer post about this book and my May 2025 Booklist here:

Mable wants nothing more than to be a Ziegfeld girl, but until her big break, she is living hand to mouth, robbing people to keep herself housed and fed. When she follows a wealthy woman wearing a diamond necklace into The Grand Hotel, Mable’s life changes forever. She is offered the chance to make all of her dreams come true. The price? Her soul. Scully convincingly re-creates the Great Gatsby-esque world of a lavish hotel in 1920s NYC. The glitz and the glamour,yes, but also the bleak, devastating hardship of those on the outside. Readers eagerly follow Mable, as she races against time, through the constantly shifting, alluring, awe-inspiring, but extremely sinister hallways of the hotel (a character here itself), to steal back her soul and hopefully, destroy the evil force at its foundation. Suggest to those who like tales of artists making dark deals in pursuit of their craft like Roses and Rot by Howard and fans of strong women kicking demon butt like Devils Kill Devils by Compton. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: strong sense of place, demons, struggle of artists

This book came out on 5/6. Click here for a lot more from me about Below the Grand Hotel.

I also have in my possession two more ARCs from Clash that I did not have time to review. 

First up I Can Fix Her by Rae Wilde coming 6/3:

This is How You Lose the Time War meets Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke in this fast-paced queer horror novel in which an obsessive woman stumbles upon a second-chance romance with her flighty paramour, but it quickly deteriorates into a dark spiral of destruction.

Johnny spots her ex, Alice, at the local cafe with a vague sense that she’s been there before. Though she’s still angry about their breakup and Alice’s subsequent ghosting, Johnny can’t resist the draw of a second shot at their relationship and accepts Alice’s invitation back to her apartment. Once there, promises are exchanged. There’s talk of wonder and change and dreams made real. But after spending the night together, they face a morning in which Alice is still Alice, Johnny is still Johnny, and the dog has doubled in size.

Over the course of a week, increasingly bizarre changes in the world around them force Johnny to consider whether the pair can change just as easily, if they can change at all. Or if both her relationship and the bounds of reality are destined to implode. The narrative of I Can Fix Her operates on nightmare logic, putting forth an irresistible tale in which the world, the narrator, and time itself are not to be trusted.

And the other Black Brane by Michael Cisco coming 6/22:

Weird fiction icon and award-winning author Michael Cisco's Black Brane, begins with the physical pain of a bad foot and later voyages into absurdity, mad science, occultism, and existential dread. 

A man lying in a bed of pain flees from physical torment into his own memories, and into speculations about life and reality. He was, once, employed by the Temporary Institute for the Study of Holes, a think tank pursuing research that ranges from occult studies to advanced physics, including black holes—or, as they are known in string theory, black branes. 

He meets and interacts with the various other members of the institute. Its founder, Dr. Marilyn Shitansky, a formerly homeless woman who claims to have a thinking hole in her brain; its resident occultist, the chain-smoking Daladara with his magic abacus; Ernie Allegre the engineer, who designed and built a decoherence reactor to power the institute; Dr. Liu, the string theorist; the linguist Dr. Corngholm, who can't sit still; and Dr. Shitansky's secretary, Renbrui, who seems to carry a mystery with her wherever she goes. 

In memory, the speaker finds them again, in a story of physical and emotional pain, of social and quantum entanglement, that turns comic, speculative, and nightmarish. Echoing the work of Blake Crouch and Thomas Ligotti, Michael Cisco shows in Black Brane why he’s beloved by weird fiction and horror readers.

All three books to one winner. 

Good luck! 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: The Butcher's Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs Lovett

Today I have an ARC of a book which I gave a glowing review to in Booklist. This one is great for a wide swath of readers, including those who usually don't read Horror. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American 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 for the previous giveaway. Our winner was from Brittany from SC. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

The Butcher’s Daughter: The Hitherto Untold story of Mrs. Lovett

By David Demchuk and Corinne Leigh Clark

May 2025. 418p. Hell’s Hundred, $27.95 (9781641296427); e-book (9781641296434). First published April 1, 2025 (Booklist).

It’s 1887 and London journalist Emily Gibson is missing. Police do find her dossier of papers all tied to Margaret Evans, the woman who Gibson is convinced is the “real” Mrs Lovett. Unveiled in a well paced, epistolary style, this clever and entertaining tale is Margaret’s life story as relayed in her correspondence with Gibson. Her voice is confident, her story filled with hardship, but it also features exciting twists as she uses her wits and strategically placed lies to find her footing. While readers know from the title that she will end up a villain, Demchuk and Clark imbue Margaret with sympathy throughout, even as murder victims are cut up and made into delicious pies. However, there is an even more shocking reveal in the novel’s final pages, a horror that will punch readers in the gut and reverberate off the page and into history. Those who enjoy being immersed in the gritty, visceral, and historically accurate world of Victorian London as seen in Victorian Psycho by Feito or From Hell by Moore will eagerly devour this tale.

Three Words That Describe This Book: strong sense of place, fiction about fictional characters, epistolary

Click through to read A LOT more about this book by me via the post on RA for ALL when the review first went live.

It comes out on Tuesday (5/6). Make sure you have it on pre-order. Also thanks to Hell's Hundred, the Horror only imprint from Soho who provided the ARC for me to giveaway and who are celebrating their 1 year anniversary this month.

Remember, enter once and you are entered going forward. Last week's winner first entered in 2023! I have books by Daniel Kraus, Craig DiLouie, Cass Khaw, Alma Katsu, Hailey Piper and more coming up soon.

Good Luck!