31 Days of Horror: Day 9-- Meet Lethe Press and Why I Love Horror by Steve Berman

Each year on 31 Days of Horror I pick a small press to spotlight. I work with the owner, ask them to organize the writers they would like to participate, and then I give that press about a week here on the blog.  

I take this annual invitation very seriously. I choose the press to give them a chance to stand out, of course, but I also am very careful to make sure that they are a press I can recommend in all instances with full confidence. If a press gets to have a spotlight during 31 Days of Horror, you can rest assured that I not only think they are worthy of your attention, but that I also stand behind their product. 

Lethe Press fits this bill unequivocally. I have reviewed titles by them in the past and worked with editor and owner, Steve Berman. But this year, as organized political groups are actively trying to erase the existence of LGBTQ people, their experiences, and their lives, especially with the banning of books that feature LGBTQ people, I knew I had to invite Berman.

Lethe Press's tagline is: We're queer and weird, and you better be okay with that! And below, Berman introduces the press, how it began, and his own work. It is a story of a gay writer looking for more representation and then making it happen himself. But it is also so much more.

So, today we have Berman. Then, 3 days of authors, all of who I have reviewed on the blog before. And we end with a giveaway. Enjoy the next 5 days of spotlight with Lethe Press, and please consider ordering some of their titles.

31 Day of Horror: Day 13-- #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 102-- Lethe Press Prize Pack

For the final day of my spotlight on Lethe Press I am offering new title by two of the authors as part of the giveaway this week. But also, spoiler alert, I will have three giveaways tomorrow and one on Sunday as well, so you may want to pay attention to these rules 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 #101. Our Winner was Laura from Algonquin Area [IL] Public Library. Now on to today's details.

Today I have a prize pack courtesy of Lethe press which contain BOTH Adam McOmber's Hound of the Baskervilles and H. Pueyo's A Study in Ugliness & Otras Historias. Both books will go to one winner.

And this wraps up my 5 day spotlight on Lethe Press. I hope you give their books a try by ordering a few for your collections.

Back tomorrow with a bonus giveaway. So enter NOW! You only have until 5pm central Friday to get in on all of this week's giveaways.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: A Lethe Press 4 book Prize Pack

Today I have a stack of books by one of my favorite small presses. 2 finished books and 2 ARCs-- all for 1 lucky winner. 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 Kim from OH. Now on to this week's giveaway.

Lethe Press is a trusted small press. Their tag line is: "We're Weird and Queer....and Unashamed!" Their website is easy to navigate and has lots of information about their books and how to order them. They put out quality titles with bin terms of the writing/editing and how well they stand up to multiple checkouts.

They put out books by well known authors and ups and comers. They regularly publish Philip Frassi, for example. That book got a star review from me! And in the stack I am giving away there are two author you need to know: James Bennett and Tyler Jones names you need to know.

Speaking of my stack, here it is:

Below I will list the titles and link to the Lethe Press site for more information, but because there are 4 titles, I will not have the entire plot description-- that would make this post absurdly long. But I am including a blurb so you know a bit before clicking through for more information. 

The titles are:

The Death of Mountain by Jordan Kurella (ARC- book coming March 31).

"Fans of folkloric fiction with a strong moral bent will find much to savor." - Publishers Weekly

Preaching to the Perverted by James Bennett (finished copy):

"I really loved this collection. It has great range - Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's fairy tale series, cosmic horror, noir, The Prestige, coming of age stories, the gothic of Mary Shelley - but there's nothing derivative about it. It's heartfelt and gutsy. Filled with beautiful horrors and heartbreaks. James Bennett is a superb writer." - Priya Sharma, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Pomegranates

Pushing Daisy by Christopher O'Halloran  (ARC- book coming May 2025)

Daisy did not get the life she deserved. Despite her compassion, nothing she did made a difference in the world. With her through it all was her selfish, bitter husband, working a job he hated while they lived off her income as a nurse. The peace Daisy has carried in life does not follow her to the grave. A dead, bloodshot eye glowers from a dark bathroom. Below it, her deranged smile. Daisy, a mad corpse, haunts their townhouse. She’s back and intent on punishing Roger Darling for his mistreatment. Her death shook him enough to brave his faults, but this improved man does her no good now. He can try to escape into the arms of others, but at the end of the day, we all return home. To keep his new friends and maintain his sanity, Roger must help Daisy move on before her violence touches everything he’s built. She won’t leave on her own. Not for a second time.

Burn the Plans by Tyler Jones (Finished copy of an Esquire "Best horror of the year.")

“Trust me: Get this collection. Tyler is an amazing storyteller and he will crush you with the weight of these stories.” – Sadie Hartmann “Mother Horror,” author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered

There it is! Four books going to one winner. What a great giveaway! Enter once and you are entered going forward. And I have a lot of the major titles for Spring and Summer in my possession ready to give away as soon as their reviews post. So you will want to get yourself entered now!

In the meantime, I have been enjoying focusing on smaller presses to get the word out about some great books you might not see covered other places.

Scheduling note: I am visiting family next week so there will be no giveaway. It will return on March 6th. But entries are always accepted.

Good luck. 

Bram Stoker Awards Finalists w/ review links

I am very excited to present the The 2021 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot. Below I have reprinted the entire ballot with the addition of my reviews where appropriate.

Now, I need to go figure out who I am going to vote for because this ballot is filled with some amazing choices.

The 2021 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot Announced

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2021 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see http://www.horror.org/) is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 1,800 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/) 

Works appearing on this Ballot are Bram Stoker Award® Nominees for Superior Achievement in their Category, e.g., Novel, and everyone may refer to them as such immediately after the announcement.

The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot. Notes about the voting process will appear after the ballot listing.

If your work appears on this ballot and you would like to offer it to voting members of the HWA in the Internet Mailer to be sent on or around February 25, please see important information following the ballot.
The 2021 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

Superior Achievement in a Novel
Castro, V. - The Queen of the Cicadas (Flame Tree Press)
Hendrix, Grady - The Final Girl Support Group (Berkley)
Jones, Stephen Graham - My Heart is a Chainsaw (Gallery/Saga Press)
Pelayo, Cynthia - Children of Chicago (Agora Books)
Wendig, Chuck - The Book of Accidents (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel*

• Martinez, S. Alessandro - Helminth (Omnium Gatherum)
• McQueen, LaTanya - When the Reckoning Comes (Harper Perennial)
• Miles, Terry - Rabbits (Del Rey)
• Piper, Hailey - Queen of Teeth (Strangehouse Books)
• Quigley, Lisa - The Forest (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)
• Willson, Nicole - Tidepool (The Parliament House)

*Due to a tie in fifth place, there are six nominees in this category.

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

• Ahmed, Saladin (author) and Kivelä, Sami (artist) - Abbott 1973 (BOOM! Studios)
• Garcia, Kami (author); Suayan, Mico (artist); Badower, Jason (artist); and Mayhew, Mike (artist) - Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity (DC Comics)
• Manzetti, Alessandro (author); Cardoselli, Stefano (author); and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist) - The Inhabitant of the Lake (Independent Legions Publishing)
• Morrison, Grant (author); Child, Alex (author); and Franquiz, Naomi (artist) - Proctor Valley Road (BOOM! Studios)
• Panosian, Dan (author) and Ignazzi, Marianna (artist) - An Unkindness of Ravens (BOOM! Studios)

 
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

• Blake, Kendare - All These Bodies (Quill Tree Books)
• Boyle, R.L. - The Book of the Baku (Titan Books )
• Lewis, Jessica - Bad Witch Burning (Delacorte Press)
• Sutherland, Krystal - House of Hollow (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
• Waters, Erica - The River Has Teeth (HarperTeen)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

• Castro, V. - Goddess of Filth (Creature Publishing, LLC)
• Khaw, Cassandra - Nothing But Blackened Teeth (Tor Nightfire)
• LaRocca, Eric - Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (Weirdpunk Books)
• Piper, Hailey - “Recitation of the First Feeding” (Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy) (The Seventh Terrace)
• Strand, Jeff - “Twentieth Anniversary Screening” (Slice and Dice) (Independently published)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

• Gyzander, Carol - “The Yellow Crown” (Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign) (Hippocampus Press)
• Murray, Lee - “Permanent Damage” (Attack From the ‘80s) (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• O’Quinn, Cindy - “A Gathering at the Mountain” (The Bad Book) (Bleeding Edge Books)
• Taborska, Anna -“Two Shakes Of A Dead Lamb's Tail”(Terror Tales of the Scottish Lowlands) (Telos Publishing)
• Ward, Kyla Lee - “A Whisper in the Death Pit” (Weirdbook #44) (Wildside Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

• Files, Gemma - In That Endlessness, Our End (Grimscribe Press)
• Fracassi, Philip - Beneath a Pale Sky (Lethe Press)
• Maberry, Jonathan - Empty Graves: Tales of the Living Dead (WordFire Press LLC)
• Tuttle, Lisa - The Dead Hours of Night (Valancourt Books)
• Wise, A.C. - The Ghost Sequences (Undertow Publications)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

• Chaisson, C. Henry; Antosca, Nick; and Cooper, Scott - Antlers (Searchlight Pictures)
• Dong-hyuk, Hwang - Squid Game, Season 1, Episode 1: "Red Light, Green Light" (Siren Pictures) 
• Flanagan, Mike; Flanagan, James; and Howard, Jeff - Midnight Mass, Season 1, Episode 6: "Book VI: Acts of the Apostles" (Intrepid Pictures)
• Graziadei, Phil and Janiak, Leigh - Fear Street: Part One - 1994 (Chernin Entertainment)
• Peele, Jordan; Rosenfeld, Win; and DaCosta, Nia - Candyman (Universal Pictures)

 
Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

• Lansdale, Joe R. - Apache Witch and Other Poetic Observations (Independent Legions Publishing)
• McHugh, Jessica - Strange Nests (Apokrupha)
• Simon, Marge and Turzillo, Mary - Victims (Weasel Press)
• Sng, Christina; Yuriko Smith, Angela; Murray, Lee; and Flynn, Geneve - Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. (Yuriko Publishing)
• Snyder, Lucy A. - Exposed Nerves (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

• Chambers, James - Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign (Hippocampus Press)
• Datlow, Ellen - When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (Titan Books) 
• French, Aaron J. and Landry, Jess - There is No Death, There are No Dead (Crystal Lake Publishing)
• Guignard, Eric J. - Professor Charlatan Bardot's Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World (Dark Moon Books)
• Johnson, Eugene - Attack From the 80’s (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

• Knost, Michael - Writers Workshop of Horror 2 (Hydra Publications)
• Olson, Danel - 9/11 Gothic: Decrypting Ghosts and Trauma in New York City’s Terrorism Novels (Lexington Books)
• Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew and Hansen, Regina M. - Giving the Devil His Due: Satan and 
• Cinema (Fordham University Press)
• Wetmore Jr., Kevin J. - Eaters of the Dead: Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters (Reaktion Books)
• Woofter, Kristopher - Shirley Jackson: A Companion (Peter Lang Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

• Ognjanović, Dejan - “The Three Paradigms of Horror” (Vastarien Vol. 4, Issue 2) (Grimscribe Press)
• O’Quinn, Cindy - “One and Done” (Were Tales: A Shapeshifter Anthology) (Brigids Gate Press)
• Verona, Emily Ruth - “A Horror Fan's Guide to Surviving Womanhood” (thefinalgirls.co.uk)  
• Wetmore Jr., Kevin J.  - “Devil's Advocates: The Conjuring” (Auteur Publishing/Liverpool University Press)
• Yuriko Smith, Angela - “Horror Writers: Architects of Hope” (The Sirens Call, Halloween 2021, Issue 55) (Sirens Call Publications)

Important Notes for those Appearing on the Final Ballot:

If your work appears on the Final Ballot (i.e., you are the author, agent, editor, publisher, or publicist) and you wish to provide a link allowing Voting Members to read the work, there will be a SPECIAL FINAL BALLOT INTERNET MAILER issued on or about February 25.

If your work was listed on the Special Preliminary Ballot Internet Mailer it will be relisted automatically with your previously provided links and you need not email or query.

If links to your work were not included on the Special Preliminary Ballot IM and you want to include them on the Special Final Ballot IM, please email the Internet Mailer editor at imailer@horror.org with the details as soon as you can, but no later than February 24 (links will not be accepted for this Special IM after February 25). You may offer to send electronic copies; provide reading copies on a website; or provide physical copies. Anyone validly representing a work appearing on the Final Ballot may submit via this method, whether or not they are HWA members (this includes the author, agent, editor, publisher, or publicist of the work).

Do NOT spam Voting Members; this is a severe breach of etiquette – Active and Lifetime (voting) members tend to notice such breaches and may consider them when determining which works to vote for on the Ballot.

You may also post the fact that your work is available to be read for Bram Stoker Award consideration ONCE and only once here: http://www.horrorwritersassociation.org/login-forum/  (Bram Stoker Eligible Work). If you had already posted your work here prior to the announcement of the Final Ballot you ARE entitled to post it once more. Note: Only members may post at this Forum, but members are encouraged to post on behalf of non-members who may appear on the Ballot.

February 28: Stoker Final ballot dispatched – please note only Active and Lifetime Members can vote. If you are an Active or Lifetime Member and do NOT receive your electronic ballot link by March 1, please first check your spam/junk mail filter, make sure your email address is updated in Wild Apricot, and then email Brad C. Hodson at admin@horror.org with a brief message about the issue. Note that Ballots are sent to the same email address as the Newsletter and the Internet Mailer. It is the responsibility of Members to keep their email address up to date in Wild Apricot or by advising the administrator of any issues with your membership account at admin@horror.org. Late Ballots cannot be accepted under any circumstances.

March 15: The Bram Stoker Awards final ballot closes at midnight U.S. Pacific Time. Any ballots received after this time will be discarded.

March 15: The 2022 Bram Stoker Recommendation sheet goes live and the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards Juries open to Submissions. Members should hold any Recommendations for works published in the calendar year 2022 until the Sheet is live.

Members wishing to submit work published in 2022 to the relevant Jury should read the information at the Bram Stoker Awards website before doing so here: http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/submissions/

May 14: The 2021 Bram Stoker Awards® announced during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet held during StokerCon™ 2022 in Denver, Colorado. 

Bookings and information at: http://stokercon.com. Note: Banquet Tickets are separate from the Convention Membership and should be purchased directly from https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stokercon-2022-tickets-102847690210. Click “Tickets” to see the Banquet option as an add-on to your existing registration or an option for a new registration.

Please direct any questions to: stokerchair@horror.org

Bram Stoker Awards® Committee

Bram Stoker Finalists

Hot off the presses. Congrats to all the nominees.  I am especially happy to see many of the authors I championed in the new book showing up here.  Also, remember that this is a great list for collection development at your library.  This is the consensus list of the best of the best in horror from 2011.  You should at least consider carrying these titles if you have horror readers.

So thanks to my membership in the HWA, here is the official press release:


Contact Lisa Morton, HWA Bram Stoker Awards Event Organizer
lisa@lisamorton.com

Horror Writers Association announces
2011 Bram Stoker Award™ Nominees

Each year, the Horror Writers Association presents the Bram Stoker
Awards™ for Superior Achievement in the field of horror writing, named in
honor of Bram Stoker, author of the seminal horror work Dracula. Since
1987, the approximately 700 members of the HWA have recommended, nominated
and voted on the greatest works of horror and dark fantasy of the previous
calendar year, making the Bram Stoker Awards the most prestigious award in
the field of horror literature. For the first time in 2011, half the
nominees were chosen by juries.

The awards are presented in eleven categories: Novel, First Novel, Young
Adult Novel, Graphic Novel, Long Fiction, Short Fiction, Screenplay,
Fiction Collection, Anthology, Non-fiction, and Poetry Collection. The
organization's Active and Lifetime members will select the winners from
this list of nominees; and the Awards will be presented at a gala banquet
on Saturday evening, March 31, at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake
City, Utah.

This year’s nominees in each category are:

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL

A Matrix Of Angels by Christopher Conlon (Creative Guy Publishing)
Cosmic Forces by Greg Lamberson (Medallion Press)
Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi (Medallion Press / Thunderstorm Books)
Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney (Pinnacle Books)
Not Fade Away by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)
The German by Lee Thomas (Lethe Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FIRST NOVEL

Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird (Dark Regions Press)
Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs (Night Shade Books)
The Lamplighters by Frazer Lee (Samhain Horror)
The Panama Laugh by Thomas Roche (Night Shade Books)
That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley (JournalStone)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Ghosts of Coronado Bay, A Maya Blair Mystery by J. G. Faherty
(JournalStone)
The Screaming Season by Nancy Holder (Razorbill)
Rotters by Daniel Kraus (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry (Simon & Schuster Books for Young
Readers)
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Candlewick / Walker)
This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor
Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Schuster / David Fickling Books)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A GRAPHIC NOVEL

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol (First Second)
Locke & Key Volume 4 by Joe Hill (IDW Publishing)
Green River Killer by Jeff Jensen (Dark Horse)
Marvel Universe vs. Wolverine by Jonathan Maberry (Marvel)
Baltimore Volume I: The Plague Ships by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
(Dark Horse)
Neonomicon by Alan Moore (Avatar Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN LONG FICTION

7 Brains by Michael Louis Calvillo (Burning Effigy Press)
“Roots and All” by Brian Hodge (A Book of Horrors)
“The Colliers’ Venus (1893)” by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Naked City: New
Tales of Urban Fantasy)
Ursa Major by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
Rusting Chickens by Gene O’Neill (Dark Regions Press)
“The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” by Peter Straub (Conjunctions: 56)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FICTION

“Her Husband’s Hands” by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine,
October 2011)
“Herman Wouk Is Still Alive” by Stephen King (The Atlantic Magazine,
May
2011)
“Graffiti Sonata” by Gene O’Neill (Dark Discoveries #18)
“X is for Xyx” by John Palisano (M is for Monster)
“Home” by George Saunders (The New Yorker Magazine, June 13, 2011)
“All You Can Do Is Breathe” by Kaaron Warren (Blood and Other Cravings)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A SCREENPLAY

True Blood, episode #44: “Spellbound” by Alan Ball (HBO)
The Walking Dead, episode #13: “Pretty Much Dead Already” by Scott M.
Gimple (AMC)
The Walking Dead, episode #9: “Save the Last One” by Scott M. Gimple
(AMC)
Priest by Cory Goodman (Screen Gems)
The Adjustment Bureau by George Nolfi (Universal Pictures)
American Horror Story, episode #12: “Afterbirth” by Jessica Sharzer
(20th Century Fox Television)


SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FICTION COLLECTION

Voices: Tales of Horror by Lawrence C. Connolly (Fantasist Enterprises)
Red Gloves by Christopher Fowler (PS Publishing)
Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan (Volume One) by
Caitlin R. Kiernan (Subterranean)
Monsters of L.A. by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious
Press)
Multiplex Fandango by Weston Ochse (Dark Regions Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ANTHOLOGY (EDITING)

NEHW Presents: Epitaphs edited by Tracy L. Carbone (NEHW)
Ghosts By Gaslight edited by Jack Dann and Nick Gevers (Harper Voyager)
Blood And Other Cravings edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Books)
Supernatural Noir edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse)
Tattered Souls 2 edited by Frank J. Hutton (Cutting Block Press)
Demons: Encounters with the Devil and his Minions, Fallen
Angels and the Possessed edited by John Skipp (Black Dog and Leventhal)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN NON-FICTION

Halloween Nation: Behind the Scenes of America’s
Fright Night by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne (Pelican Publishing)
Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu edited by Gary
William Crawford, Jim Rockhill and Brian J. Showers (Hippocampus Press)
Starve Better by Nick Mamatas (Apex Publications)
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies by Matt Mogk (Gallery
Books)
The Gothic Imagination by John C. Tibbetts (Palgrave Macmillan)
Stephen King: A Literary Companion by Rocky Wood (McFarland & Company,
Inc., Publishers)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A POETRY COLLECTION

How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend by Linda Addison (Necon
Ebooks)
At Louche Ends: Poetry for the Decadent, the Damned & the
Absinthe-Minded by Maria Alexander (Burning Effigy Press)
Surrealities by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions Press)
Shroud of Night by G. O. Clark (Dark Regions Press)
The Mad Hattery by Marge Simon (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)
Unearthly Delights by Marge Simon (Sam's Dot)


###


More information on the Horror Writers Association is at www.horror.org.
More information on the 25th Anniversary presentation of the Bram Stoker
Awards is at http://www.stokers2012.org

#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. 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #54: Ramsey Campbell Novel and a Steve Berman Collection

Today's giveaway includes the second book in Ramsey Campbell's epic and critically acclaimed  second book in his Three Births of Daoloth Trilogy and a new collection of queer horror by a well known small press owner.  And both have reviews to help you hand-sell these titles. But first, here is 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 #52. The winner was late to respond due to vacation, but it was Aaron from Altadena Library District [CA]. Click here to see giveaway #53. The winner was Miranda from Joliet Public Library [IL]. 

And now on to my latest giveaway.

Ramsey Campbell is Britain's great living horror author and also a genuinely nice human. [One of my fondest StokerCon memories is spending the dinner preceding the Bram Stoker Awards ceremony in Providence sandwiched between him and his wife and Caitlin Kiernan and their wife.] And of all the books he has written, published, and won awards for, his Three Births of Daoloth Trilogy is his most personal [and has won a bunch of awards]. The trilogy has already been published in England, and it is now being released by Flame Tree Press here in America. 

Last year I reviewed the first book in the series in Library Journal. Here is a snippet of that review:

The Searching Dead, a finalist in the Horror category for the British Fantasy Award, is a slow burn with a fantastic pay off, this intense and menacing story framed by superior world building is a good suggestion for fans of It by King or the African Immortals series by Due.

Born to the Dark is book two and as the reviews and as critics have proclaimed across the pond, this is a title worth your time. The Flame Tree Press paperback American releases of this seminal, coming of age, Horror series are an excellent addition to all public libraries. Thanks to the publisher for this ARC. 

And don't forget, Flame Tree Press is one of my top Horror independent presses for libraries. They are distributed by S&S and you can stay on top of their catalog and read e-ARCs via Edelweiss. In general, I suggest adding all of their titles. They are well edited, easy to procure through your normal methods, hold up to multiple checkouts, and represent the breadth of scares and frames that today's Horror offers readers. 

Now on to a smaller press title, but one that is worth your effort to obtain. Fit for Consumption: Stories Both Queer and Horrifying is a story collection by Steve Berman who is also the owner of Lethe Press whose tag line is, "we're queer and you better be okay with that."

My colleague Cody Daigle-Orians reviewed this collection in the current issue of Library Journal. Here is a snippet from that glowing review:

Appetite is everything in Berman’s (Lambda Literary Award winner for His Seed) lush collection of dark queer tales that map the territory between a body that craves and the one it hungers for. It’s a wide-ranging offering of stories, from flamboyant tales that bring to mind Poe and Lovecraft, to quieter, introspective ones that feel piercingly autobiographical.

VERDICT Readers hungry for something dark and queer will find much to chew on in Berman’s bold collection.

Thank you to Lethe Press for a copy of this book to giveaway to one lucky winner.

Enter today and you can win both of these excellent titles. And whether you win or not, I suggest adding them to your collections. Both are out this month!

Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman (and a bonus story collection)

Today on the giveaway I have two books for one winner, pairing a well known authors ARC with a story collection from a trusted small press. 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.

Last week's winner was Emily from NY. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

I cannot review every book, even if I really like the author, even if I really want to. Today's book is a great example of that. But thankfully, others are there to do the work as seen below with Chapman's upcoming novella and its starred review in LJ.

Bodies of Work by Clay McCleod Chapman

Library Journal review:

STAR Winston Kemper is alone in the world, working as a church janitor and living in a one-room apartment. In his home he is creating an epic work of words and pictures, written and drawn across the floors, walls, and a number of notebooks. The room is shared with the women Winston has murdered to take their voices. But the Butterfly Girls have found a way to speak to Winston and secretly plot their revenge. Their voices act as a chorus, providing commentary as they argue. These discussions become complicated and uncomfortable as Winston’s history is revealed. Chapman (Acquired Taste) never allows readers to make a simple judgment, and the book is filled with creepiness and unease from the start. Readers will fall into the book even as they sense the dreaminess is filled with nightmares and terrors. 

VERDICT Blurring between dreams and reality, this novella explores the world of a labyrinthine, disturbed mind. Chapman’s short fiction is an excellent introduction to his work, and this latest is another one of his excellent portrayals of complicated emotions in horror. Readers of Cynthia Pelayo’s “Chicago Saga” and her poetry collection Into the Forest and All the Way Through will especially find this book compelling. --Lila Denning

Bodies of Work comes out next week on April 7, 2026. Thank you to Titan Books for the giveaway copy of the ARC.

While I have your attention, I wanted to also let you know about an up and coming voice, and their story collection from a trusted small press.

Nothing Has Happened to You: Stories by Rory Say. From the book description on the Lethe Press site:

Nothing Has Happened to You is a collection of short stories where the ordinary twists into the uncanny and the familiar becomes strange. Memory, family, and grief blur with phantoms that may or may not exist, and the smallest moments—opening a door, telling a story, looking into the dark—carry the weight of dread.

A young girl confides in a silent companion no one else can see, who grows smaller each time he returns. A lover reveals she has been dead for years and will soon be forgotten. A tenant discovers his basement suite may not exist at all, except as an echo of guilt. Elsewhere, lost children, haunted objects, and voices from the grave stir quietly at the edges of daily life.

Rory Say, whose work has appeared in Weird Horror, Dark Recesses, Metastellar, The NoSleep Podcast, Tales to Terrify and more, writes with precision, lyricism, and an unshakable sense of unease. Each tale is self-contained, yet together they form a world where nothing is certain, and dread lingers long after the last page.

Nothing has Happened to You is already out and you can add it to your collections here. Thank you to Lethe Press for this copy to giveaway to one of you.

Enter once and you are entered going forward. In the coming weeks, I will be featuring books that I have reviewed in the April issues of LJ and Booklist. Stay tuned.

Good luck!

31 Days of Horror: Day 12-- Why I Love Horror by H. Pueyo

It's day 4 of my spotlight on Lethe Press and today I am featuring H. Pueyo. That name should be familiar to those of you who read the general blog, as I just reviewed her excellent, bilingual collection, put out by Lethe Press, A Study in Ugliness & Otras Historias, in the October 1, 2022 issue of Booklist.

Pueyo's piece is short but very powerful. It is about writing Horror when you are surrounded by violence. This one is a must read.

31 Days of Horror Day 10: Why I Love Horror by Philip Fracassi

 

Day 2 of my spotlight on Lethe Press includes their biggest name author, Philip Fracassi. Last year I reviewed his collection Beneath a Pale Sky which was put out by Lethe Press. It went on to be nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. I also have his upcoming novel Gothic in my queue for my January column and he also has a title coming from Nightfire in 2023 as well.

His is a name you should already know, but if not, today, I am fixing that for you.

31 Days of Horror: Day 11-- Why I Love Horror by Adam McOmber

Day 3 of my spotlight on Lethe Press features Adam McOmber. I have read, reviewed and greatly enjoyed many of his works. You can click here to see all of his books and here to see all of the ones I have reviewed. But I especially LOVED Jesus and John. Click here for that specific review [It's after Survivor Song in the post]. I also included it in this list of must read Psychological Horror.

But I am not alone, when it comes to the craft of writing, many experts, professors, and critic agree. A professor himself, McOmber is cited by others as their most used example for their students.

I often cite McOmber as proof when people say they cannot identify with stories that don't feature their experience. Take Jesus and John as an example. It is a story that is deeply steeped in Christianity and a gorgeous gay love story, as well as being disorienting and weird. [Read the review to see the details]. I am neither Christian nor a gay man but I was immersed in this story. I was in deep, totally invested in the characters and their plight, both the physical and metaphorical ones. After I finished it, I wanted to go start it over again.

McOmber's latest novel, Hound of the Baskervilles, is out this month from Lethe Press. Here is the description:

Acclaimed author Adam McOmber offers readers an erotic and subversive reimagining of one of literature's most thrilling tales, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. Dr. Watson arrives alone on the moors of the Baskerville estate to help solve the mystery of its scion's grim death and the murder’s connection to the spectral hound that plagues the ancestral home. Watson's understanding of his own history and queer desires is sorely tested when he discovers Baskerville Hall is rife with stimulation and horror. As this supernatural mystery unfolds and reality itself begins to bend and break, he must work against the clock to discover the truth and prevent whatever beast roams the grounds from claiming future victims.

This one will be VERY popular with library patrons. Especially those who love Sherlock Holmes fan fiction. And trust me, there are a lot of them. I personally know a few.

Today I am extremely happy to welcome Adam McOmber to the Why I Love Horror family. His essay is also one of my favorite examples of the series. All I tell the authors is to share why they love Horror in 1,500 words or less. I allow them to explore that prompt however they want. McOmber did his as a list, and just like his novels and stories it is immersive and emotional.

Shirley Jackson Award Finalists

As I have mentioned before here, the Shirley Jackson Awards are among my favorite in the world of dark fiction.  The 2010 nominees were just released, and I was happy to see some of my favorites.  Click here for the list and analysis from Rose Fox at PW's Genreville:


Novel:

• Dark Matter, Michelle Paver (Orion)
• A Dark Matter, Peter Straub (Doubleday)
• Feed, Mira Grant (Orbit)
• Mr. Shivers, Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit)
• The Reapers Are the Angels, Alden Bell (Holt)
• The Silent Land, Graham Joyce (Gollancz)

Novella:

• The Broken Man, Michael Byers (PS Publishing)
• Chasing the Dragon, Nicholas Kaufmann (Chizine Publications)
• “Mysterium Tremendum”, Laird Barron (Occultation, Night Shade)
• One Bloody Thing After Another, Joey Comeau (ECW Press)
• Subtle Bodies, Peter Dubé (Lethe Press)
• The Thief of Broken Toys, Tim Lebbon (Chizine Publications)

Novelette:

• “–30–,” Laird Barron (Occultation, Night Shade)
• “The Broadsword,” Laird Barron, (Black Wings, PS Publishing)
• “Holderhaven,” Richard Butner, (Crimewave 11: Ghosts)
• “The Redfield Girls,” Laird Barron (Haunted Legends, Tor)
• “Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains,” Neil Gaiman (Stories: All New Tales, William Morrow)

Short story:

• “As Red as Red,” by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Haunted Legends, Tor)
• “Booth’s Ghost,” Karen Joy Fowler (What I Didn’t See, Small Beer Press)
• “The Foxes,” Lily Hoang (Haunted Legends, Tor)
• “six six six,” Laird Barron (Occultation, Night Shade)
• “The Things,” Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, Issue 40)

Single-author collection:

• Occultation, Laird Barron (Night Shade)
• The Ones That Got Away, Stephen Graham Jones (Prime Books)
• The Third Bear, Jeff Vandermeer (Tachyon)
• What I Didn’t See, Karen Joy Fowler (Small Beer Press)
• What Will Come After, Scott Edelman (PS Publishing)

Edited anthology:

• Black Wings: Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, edited by S. T. Joshi (PS Publications)
• Haunted Legends, edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas (Tor)
• My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales, edited by Kate Bernheimer (Penguin)
• Stories: All New Tales, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio (William Morrow)
• Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders (Harper Voyager)