#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 95: Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste

Today, I am giving away a copy of what I have predicted will become a go-to sure bet for a wide swatch of readers. More details below, but first a reminder 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 #94. Our winner was Jeremiah from St. Pete [FL] Library. Now on to today.

I am giving away a copy of Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste, which I wrote about here. And actually, in a slight twist on the normal routine, I am offering the giveaway but my friend and colleague, Lila Denning, is actually sending you her ARC which she received at Librarians' Day at StokerCon in Denver.

Click through to read my post from Tuesday, the day this book came out, where I talk about its wide appeal and give you a link to see me and Kiste at a free virtual bookstore event to chat about the book. There is a lot to read about this awesome book here.

I also wanted to pass on this excellent nonfiction article by Kiste from LitHub: "The Gothic Horror of a Post-Roe America Or, We're All Still Locked Away in Edward Rochester's Attic..."

Read the article, whether you want to enter the giveaway or not, and follow the directions above to enter to win. Remember, you enter once and you stay entered. I have a finished copy of a brand new title next week and ARCs by Daniel Kraus and Rachel Harrison coming in the next few weeks [and more].

Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 94: The Hollow Kind by Andy Davidson

Today 1 have am giving away of one of MY FAVORITE Horror novels of the year on the Horror Blog. This is for all of your readers who miss old school Stephen King, but set in the forests of Georgia. I gave it a star review in the current issue of Booklist already. More details below, but first a reminder 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 #93. Our winner was Tammy from Goffstown [NH] Public Library. Now on to today.

Today I gave the second of the two stars I gave books in the August 2022 issue of Booklist. More details on that SF/F/H Spotlight issue here and here. Now the details about today's giveaway book.

STAR REVIEW

The Hollow Kind by Andy Davidson

Oct. 2022. 448p. Farrar/MCD, $28 (9780374538569). 
First published August 2022 (Booklist).

With his third novel, Davidson plants his roots in Horror’s soil as one its most talented voices. Summer, 1989. Nellie leaves her abusive husband, 11 year-old son Max in tow, and heads to Empire Georgia to claim an inheritance from the grandfather barely knew–  Redfern Hill, 1,333 acres, and its abandoned turpentine mill. With only a few belongings, they move into the property’s long neglected but stately home with plans to start over. But, very quickly it becomes clear that they are not alone. Told mostly through two perfectly balanced timelines, over ten days in 1989 through Nellie and Max and another from 1917 to 1932 focusing on August Redfern, this is a character driven story of a place, the evil that has always lived there, and its ever tightening grip on the family. The steadily increasing dread bursts open at the one-third mark, as terror takes over, past and present merge, and the Redfern family comes together, across generations in an epic battle. With similarities to The Book of Accidents by Wendig, shades of T. Kingfisher, and a dash of The Ruins by Smith, this is a southern gothic epic that masterfully weaves elements of body, folk, and cosmic horror knitting it all together into something wholly new, immersive, terrifying, and utterly breathtaking.

YA Statement: With its 1980’s setting, combined with a storytelling style that is reminiscent of Stephen King from that era and Stranger Things, and a middle school protagonist, there are a plethora of reasons why Teens will love digging into this Southern Family Horror Epic. 

Further Appeal: This Book!!! I already love Davidson-- In the Valley of the Sun is one of my ALL TIME favorite Horror books-- but this is also STUNNING.

I am not sure I can take a walk in the woods again. Seriously. That’s a compliment.

This is THE Horror epic of the year.  Just buy multiple copies and hand it out freely. See my extended readalikes below to see just how wide an appeal this book will have. 

Also one of my favorite lines from the book, near the end [and I am cutting it short because it would give too much away to have the whole quote] “... humans always taste best.”

Three Words That Describe This Book: perfectly paced, strong sense of place, immersive terror.

More readalikes: I had so many readalikes I wanted to give. The three in the review above where what I settled on to give you the best overall snapshot of the appeal of the book.

Stephen King yes. Mexican Gothic because of the family curse and the growing evil in the basement– but I did not put it in the review because I wouldn’t be able to explain why and I think it matters here since Mexican Gothic is sometimes used as a comp title for other reasons.

The Toll by Priest, Jennifer McMahon– The Winter People and The Invited. Definitely Wonderland by Stage. Also, his character development is fantastic– reminds me of Brian Keene who I hold up as a master of character development in Horror. Both good and bad people– we get the full story without sacrificing the pacing.

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy, and now it could be yours! Good luck.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 93: Little Eve by Catriona Ward

This week I have a book that already has already proved itself but is now going to be widely available in America. A High-Demand author. I posted my STAR review on the main blog today as well.

More details below, but first a reminder 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 92. Our winners were Iggi from Springfield-Greene County [MO] Library District and Tessa from Graves County [KY] Public Library.

I have the next book by Catriona Ward to giveaway. Details on the book itself from RA for All:

STAR REVIEW

Little Eve
Catriona Ward
Oct. 2022. 288p. Tor Nightfire, $27.99 (9781250812650); e-book, $14.99 (9781250812667). 
First published August 2022 (Booklist).

Ward is back but this time she presents a proven winner, the American release for her 2018 Shirley Jackson Award winning novel. Readers are whisked away to 1921, to an island, just off the coast of Scotland, with high cliffs and a reclusive family, as Dinah recounts the winter morning when the local butcher found her entire family laid out in ritualistic style, all but her dead. Immediately, Dinah’s sister, Evelyn is identified as the killer, but she has gone missing. Atmospheric from those opening lines, this disquieting story is unveiled through intertwined threads with Dinah narrating the story’s present and Evelyn from 1917. For the first 70 pages, the reader will squirm as the discomfort, characters, and plot slowly emerge, but as the details begin to come into horrifying focus and the time frames begin to converge, it is impossible to look away. And when that inevitable twist comes it is an disturbing gut punch, not because of the shock, but from the deeply unsettling ramifications that ripple out from its center. While its ties to Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle are strong, this psychological horror gem will also appeal to fans of creepy, character driven cult stories like Mr Splitfoot by Hunt and other new, original takes on the traditional Gothic such as Mexican Gothic by Moreanu-Garcia.

Further appeal. Here is a note I took immediately after finishing this book: "An excellent, twisty, Gothic but Ward excels at how she unfolds the "truth for the reader." The "past" of the story [1917 and forward] and the "present" [1921 and forward]  slowly converge with two perspectives: Dinah and Evelyn. And of course there is a twist, this is a Ward novel. But it is not the twist that is the gut punch, it is the emotional, gut wrenching ramification that ripple out from the center of the twist that makes this a STAR review." 

This book was deeply unsettling. It took a little to get into it, to get the background details and the voices of the two narratives and to get settled into the place, but once I did, I could not stop reading.

Again, the "twist" is there, but that alone wasn't why it is good. What the twist as meant over the decades tat followed the main action, that is where the story has its emotional center. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: dual time frames, Gothic, atmospheric.

Readalikes: The three above in the review plus, The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed, The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling, A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay and really any Shirley Jackson nominee or winner. It is one of my favorite awards to use as a readalike resource. 

My ARC is going to one lucky winner, courtesy of Tor Nightfire.

Remember, you enter once and you are entered going forward. I have big tittles coming every week!

#Horror For Libraries Giveaway 92: The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias x2

Today, I have 2 copies of one of the hottest books of the year. I wrote about it on the main blog here Tuesday. I have 1 signed paperback ARC and 1 finished hardcover.

More details below, but first a reminder 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 91. Our winner was Liz from Lee County [FL] Library System. 

On to today. I gave over an entire day of the blog to the release day of The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias on 8/2. You can click through for the entire post, but here is the start of what I had to say:

I review books well in advance of their release, but sometimes there are books that I need to tell you about before they come out and then on release day. The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias, out today, is one of those books.

I cannot say enough superlative things about this book, but I am also aware that it is hard to read. There is serious violence here, but it is not gratuitous. In fact, everything brutal that happens has a reason in the story. And then there is the fact that it is a story about those who live on the margins-- literally. Life is hard and violent; thus, to portray these characters with any truth, it cannot be sunshine and roses.

I have much more to share in detail below from my detailed Goodreads review. It contains the draft of my LJ Star review, a link to that review, a link to an interview with Iglesias which I did for the June issue of the magazine, and more.

Before I repost all of that information, I need to say this. There are books that I read, often before anyone else, that I know are something special, and I am among the first to officially make note of it in print. This happened when I read The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. Both went on to win many awards, and not just Horror ones.

This year I have felt that about 2 books and only 2 books. The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay and this one, The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias. 

I am not saying this to brag about myself, rather to make you understand that I know what I am talking about when I tell you a book is going to be special.

I am sure many of you already pre-ordered The Devil Takes You Home, but I want you to promote it to the right readers. I am here to help with today's post, so you can know all about this hot book without having to read it yourself.

Click here to read the full post from Tuesday including a detailed review of this amazing book.

I think that post says all you need to know. And now you can enter now to win one of two copies. The first number I draw, that person gets the signed ARC and the second, the finished hardcover.

Thanks to Gabino for the signed ARC and Mulholland for the Hard Cover.

Enter now and you are entered going forward. And coming up....2 huge titles from the Booklist SF/F/H spotlight [August issue] that I gave STARS.

Good luck.

#Horror for Libraries Giveaway #91: One of Becky's Favorite Space Horror Titles Back in Print

Today, I have a new edition of one of my favorite space horror titles-- ever! You cannot miss this one. Details below, but first, 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 90. Our winner was Verónica from Robbins [MA] Library. 

The Hematophages by Steve Kozeniewski ranks right up there with The Luminous Dead by Starling and just ahead of Dead Silence by Barnes as my favorite space horror of this century. This is high praise I know, but  I am not exaggerating. It is fantastic!

Read my review here.

A new edition has just been released that not only contains the novel, but also has the prequel novella Skinwrapper [my review of that is here]

I asked the author to send me a paperback just so I could give it away to one of you. This is a finished copy that you can add to your collections, but I highly suggest ALL of you check out all of Kozeniewski's work here.

I want to make sure you know about this book and the author.

I also LOVED his original haunted house tale [co written with Wile E. Young] The Perfectly Fine House. I reviewed it for Library Journal [June 2020], but in case you missed it, here is my draft review.

Enter today to win this copy, and go to Amazon and order this book and others by Kozeniewski to add to your collection. 

Remember if you enter once you are entered going forward and NEXT WEEK I will have 2 copies of one of the hottest releases of summer. It comes out 8/2/22. I already gave it a star. And I have a Hard Cover and an ARC. I will have news on why the ARC is unique [info from the author himself]. So get in NOW!

Finally, if you want more space horror recs, click here.

#HorrorForLibraries giveaway 90: Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman

Today I have a huge fall release, a title I gave a star to in the latest issue of Booklist, a book you need, a book you can win now.  Details below, but first, 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 89. Our winner was Alexa from Amherst [NH] Town Library. 

Now on to today's giveaway courtesy of Quirk Books and it features current Summer Scares author, Clay McLeod Chapman's upcoming release. I have read and reviewed his 2 previous Horror novels and while I liked all of them, I did not give them stars. This one though, this one is all STARS. From RA for All earlier this week:

Ghost Eaters

Clay McLeod Chapman

Sept. 2022. 304p. Quirk, $21.99 (9781683692171); e-book, $12.99  (9781683692188). 
First published July 2022 (Booklist).

Erin, Silas, Tobias, and Amara are best friends living in Richmond, VA. While three of them have begun their adult lives, Silas, their ringleader and Erin’s on-again, off-again partner, has been in and out of rehab. After Silas is found dead of an overdose, the group learns that he discovered a drug that allowed him to see the dead. Erin, wanting one more chance to see Silas, takes the pill and begins a descent into a squirm inducing world filled with desperate souls, wandering ghosts, and inescapable nightmares. Told entirely from Erin’s point of view, this is an original story of being physically haunted, but it is also depicts the true horrors of addiction. Is Erin an addict or is she actually surrounded by ghosts who want a taste of the drug that is taking over her body? Either way, Chapman has created an experience so anxiety inducing, immersive, and intense that readers will feel like something is actually there, lurking over their shoulder, as they turn the pages. A great choice for fans of A Head Full of Ghosts by Tremblay, Mexican Gothic by Moreno-Garcia, and the addiction horror anthologies edited by Matthews.

Three Words That Describe this Book: high anxiety, addiction, original twist on haunting

Further Appeal: This is an intense book. Really intense, but in a good way if you like Horror. As I was finishing it up, I was contemplating if it would get a star or not, and then I realized as I was reading it, I felt like there were ghosts everywhere, surrounding me, the claustrophobia and anxiety of the story was intruding upon my real life. As I realized this, I was like, well if that doesn't merit a star nothing does.

This is the story of what it means to be haunted, how the ghosts haunt a person not a place. That is terrifying on its own, but it is also a realistic depiction of the horrors of addiction. You can take this book on reality based face value that Erin is an addict who is too deep into her dependence to stay connected to the real world OR you can take it as the "Ghost" drug she is addicted to really does allow her to see and attract the ghosts surrounding her, us, everywhere we go. Either way it works-- this is also why it is a star-- and why it reminds me a lot of Paul Tremblay's work because this is what he does with every novel.

Readlaikes: Besides Tremblay in general and the specific readalikes above, there is an awesome list of books Chapman read for this book-- lots of excellent and related fiction choices. This is not just a research list; he lists a lot of novels that inspired him. 

Enter now for your chance to win this advanced copy, but everyone, make sure you ordered at least 1 copy of this book for your collection. And I mean everyone. Libraries of any size need this book. 

The Vampire Chronicles: Experts Weigh in On Literature’s Best Vampires

I wanted to pass on this article, "The Vampire Chronicles: Experts Weigh in On Literature's Best Vampires" via Paste.

I love seeing academics tackle the Horror genre. Vampires, in particular, are important tropes across all of human storytelling and deserve to be studied more deeply.

Click here to read it in full.

While I LOVE seeing Bunnicula on this list, I also wanted to share the three titles I chose as "Becky's Picks" in the Vampires chapter of my book. These are 21st Century must reads. Links go to more information.

• In the Valley of the Sun, Andy Davidson
• The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix
• Certain Dark Things, Silvia Moreno-Garcia