Have You Read This? The Bone Weaver's Orchard by Sarah Read

Fans of Harry Potter, as well as many young adult and juvenile books, may be familiar with the trope dealing with the transformative power of a new school/new environment. After living with his aunt and uncle who treat him like an afterthought at best and like a whipped dog at worst, Harry is whisked off to Hogwarts where he finds fame, friendship, and perhaps more importantly, acceptance. But Charley Wilson finds something altogether different in Sarah Read's The Bone Weaver's Orchard when he is sent off to school.
With his mother dead and his father serving in the military, Charley is sent to the Old Cross School for Boys. While Harry Potter enters Hogwarts a celebrity thanks to being "The Boy Who Lived," Charley enters the school as a boy struggling to find a place away from his family. He is able to confide in people like gardener Sam Forster and and motherly Matron Grace, but Charly is still regarded as a troublemaker by many of his teachers and fellow classmates. What purpose he does find begins when a potential friend winds up missing, leading Charley on a mystery involving dark, crumbling corridors, Gothic ruins, and ghastly secrets.
As I read this book, after I tried to stop comparing it to Harry Potter, it reminded me of Disney movies during the 70's and 80's that, before the animated era of talking crabs and blue genies, made live-action movies that terrified a generation. The book started out as something that could have been in the juvenile section of the library, particularly with the child protagonist struggling to solve a mystery that many of his peers and authority figures tell him to ignore. It soon became something genuinely frightening as the school does have some very dark and disturbing secrets, as violent and terrifying as anything dreamed up by Mary Shelley or Clive Barker. Once again going back to the Harry Potter analogy, Sarah Read offers up some real literary magic to combine so many influences from both children's and adult literature to create the story of a plucky, young hero who, while dealing with his own traumas, tries to survive what is waiting out in the burned, dilapidated halls of Old Cross, thus creating a book that serves as the perfect bridge for young adult horror readers who are looking for a genuinely terrifying and disturbing experience.

Fearsome Five: Five Books Coming Out in April

Hey, everyone. It's been a while. I've been hunkered down amidst the dark stacks, trying to stay safe, get some work done, and avoid any Wiki holes that will make me an expert on, say, Thundercats trivia and little else. It's the old paradox about having too much time, finding the best way to be the most productive. After stockpiling toilet paper and watching the entirety of Tiger King on Netflix, I figured it was high time to get back to talking about the genre that is near and dear to my pumping, gore-soaked heart. And what better way to reconnect (while maintaining social distancing, of course) is to look around and see five scary books that are coming out this April.
Eden by Tim Lebbon Horror with an ecological message is rare, but this entry offers up an interesting sci-fi premise. The world has gotten so polluted that humanity has literally given back to nature areas known as the Virgin Zones, which are allowed to flourish with exotic fauna and wildlife, essentially a replacement for the rainforest and other lands we've destroyed. These areas are typically untouched, until a group explores one of these zones, Eden, and discovers that what humanity gave up, nature will fiercely preserve with the weapons at its disposal.
The Wise Friend by Ramsey Campbell Fans of a more subtle brand of horror tend to gravitate toward Ramsey Campbell, and this title is sure not to disappoint. An English professor knows his beloved Aunt Thelma is a famous artist whose work had grown darker before she finally committed suicide. What he learns is that the occult and her visits to sites of magical power may have had a hand in her death. When his teenage son begins to follow in his aunt's footsteps, will the father be able to save the son? And himself?
Velocities: Stories by Kathe Koja How do you feel about short story collections? How about creepy dolls? Artists and their dark inspirations? Short story collections are like the buffets of fiction; gives you the ability to sample bite-sized examples of an artist's talent. This collection features 13 never before published stories that are all distinctly Kathe Koja, and you know you've made it when your own name becomes an adjective.
The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni A Gothic sci-fi tale that starts out like a dream come true, until it becomes a nightmare, of course. Alberta "Bert" Monroe discovers that she's inherited a noble title, a lot of cash, and a castle in Italy, she discovers a branch of her family tree that she never knew existed. But after indulging in the sudden fortune and fame, she discovers that belonging to the Montebianco family exerts a very high price that, despite her newfound wealth, she may be unable to pay.
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix Fans of Steel Magnolias and Fright Night will love this uniquely horrific mashup that is unquestionably Grady Hendrix (see what I did there?). Patricia Campbell is a harried housewife and mother whose idea of unwinding is talking true crime with her true crime book club. When a stranger moves into her neighborhood and children turn up missing, Patricia discovers something far more sinister that what Agatha Raisin deals with.

Have You Read This? The Deep by Alma Katsu

The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most notorious disasters in human history. It has permeated our collective consciousness so much that one could easily find several books about the disaster, a few dozen documentaries concerning the doomed ship, or Google the millions of times it has been referenced in popular culture, and that was even before Rose promised Jack that her heart would go on (I admit I never watched the entire Titanic movie). To take the well-known disaster and example of humanity's hubris and try to make it the backdrop of a novel is therefore a brave undertaking. How does the author avoid doing what has already been done before? Alma Katsu, pioneer of the historical horror genre, has managed to create something new and interesting with her latest book The Deep.
One of the things she does differently is add into the narrative Titanic's sister ship the Britannic, which was recommissioned as a sort of floating hospital and met a similar fate to her sister ship. Katsu's narrative not only jumps back and forth between the maiden voyage of the Titanic and the final voyage of the Britannic, there are also many characters that she reveals to the reader, from two boxers/grifters/starcrossed lovers to a woman whose relationship with her much older husband is more like a business merger than one born of love, to the stars of Katsu's drama, mysterious nurse Annie Hebley and Mark Fletcher, a father with a new baby girl and a dark secret.
Katsu's biggest strength as a writer is her ability to research. Stephen King once said that he needed just enough truth to lie convincingly when writing fiction, but Katsu gives plenty of facts, from people to early 20th century nautical trivia, to create a very real historical setting. Readers will come to the book knowing about the Titanic, which already creates a sense of looming disaster/tension from the first page, but Katsu's level of knowledge makes sure that readers can stay immersed in that setting for as long as they wish. Another strength on display in this book is Katsu's knack for character development. The book jumps around to different people and different perspectives but managed not to make them all feel one-dimensional. The two boxers Dai and Les were easily two of my favorites that I was honestly rooting for. Katsu managed to do this character juggling act throughout the whole book, right till the tragic ending of both ships. The perfect book for fans of historical horror who like a little of the fantastic, The Deep is a book into which you'll happily immerse yourself.

Screen to Scream: The Wind and The Hunger

Horror often involves isolation. If not specifically about isolation, then authors and story creators will put their protagonists in situations that cuts them off from their fellow humans, often physically separated by the environment. While the fact of our digitally connected world may stretch the believability of this isolation (how many places are too far away from cell towers?), this isolation is often internal as well. This is the case for two tales of people foolishly following manifest destiny: the movie The Wind: Demons of the Prairie as well as Alma Katsu's novel The Hunger.
Both movie and book take place on the American prairie and both are relatively understated horror (cannibalism and child death notwithstanding). Not exactly buckets of blood, but both have plenty of foreboding atmosphere. The Wind features Lizzy and her husband Isaac, settlers who have learned to survive the desolate landscape. Soon, they make the acquaintance of another couple Emma and Gideon, who have left a life of comfort behind. The four become friends, but Lizzy hears thing in the howling wind. She sees how what lurks out there affects Emma and it soon starts to affect Lizzie as well. She begins to have her own supernatural experiences while her husband is away and soon her trust in Isaac erodes. There are indeed demons on this prairie and those demons have infiltrated Lizzie's mind and work steadily to destroy her faith and the life she has built with her husband. Told in a non-chronological narrative, the story jumps around in places, meaning you'll have to pay attention to get the whole story, but even if you watch diligently, the movie may leave you with more questions than answers, particularly as to the reality of the events that took place.
The Hunger is a book similar in subject and tone to The Wind. Both books take place on the prairie and both books feel free to play with narrative structure. While The Wind jumps around from one part of the story to the next, Katsu's reimagining of the Donner Party pulls in a lot of epistolary examples from letters and journal entries to explore the lives of the party members before they made their fateful journey. Another similarity both book and movie share is the use of approaching tragedy to create tension. Even readers who haven't read about the Donner Party will have an idea what ultimately befell the settlers in The Hunger, and The Wind starts straight away with a blood-soaked Lizzy and a husband desperate to know what happened. Katsu's book also forces the reader to pay attention as she introduces many characters and backstories, many of which based on real people. However, this plethora of characters shouldn't dissuade readers from picking this book up after watching The Wind. Katsu is deft at not only fleshing out these different characters but tying up their tragic stories by the book's end.

New Arrival: The Garden of Bewitchment by Catherine Cavendish

As an undergraduate English major, I was introduced to many books that I otherwise would not have read. Even if I didn't really appreciate reading them at the time, the same way kids don't always appreciate the green vegetables they were forced to consume, I find that I am still a better writer and better librarian for it. This is especially true upon discovering Gothic classics like Wuthering Heights or Wieland, Or, The Transformation, or the expanded universe of Poe's writings beyond "The Tell-Tale Heart." I discovered these stories and still remember them fondly. In reading Catherine Cavendish's The Garden of Bewitchment, it was like a trip back to when I first discovered these stories and what made them special.
The story is set up like many Gothic page-turners: in 1893, two sisters Claire and Evelyn Wainwright have moved to a quiet cottage on the English countryside, but a mysterious game is waiting for them, a magical game called the Garden of Bewitchment. The game allows you to make your own garden, complete with house and with little cardboard people inside, but there are also things waiting for Claire and Evelyn in the house, and in the garden. What is waiting for them wants the sisters to stay awhile, possibly forever.
More fun than downright terrifying, this book often feels like a kitchen sink of Gothic and horror conventions, everything from mysterious but genial stranger Matthew Dixon to Bramwell Bronte, a specter who is also Claire's paramour, but these differing elements, from fantastical board games to serpentine Old World gods, come together in a fun and lively way. Even the sisters' love of Bronte's literature and their own writing endeavors show that Cavendish is well-versed in Gothic horror and doesn't mind addressing it in an almost meta way. Fans of classic stories from Poe, Hawthorne, Lovecraft, and Bronte, whether or not they discovered these writers in a college-level English course, will find something to love in this garden, which Catherine Cavendish has planted with an evident love for Gothic literature.

Have You Read This? Horde

Many people are familiar with the psychological phenomenon known as hoarding. Many are familiar with it because of shows like Hoarders, which reveals our morbid fascination with watching people whose lives are overtaken by their possessions. Objects can have meaning beyond their function, but becoming overly attached to so many things can pollute one's living space, to which the subjects on the show can attest. However, it's also surprising that very few horror stories have tackled this phenomenon since it involves both a psychological compulsion and an environment that slowly turns against its owner. An exception to this dearth of coverage, and a well-conceived one, is the new graphic novel Horde by Marguerite Bennett and Leila Leiz.
The story focuses on Ruby Ando, a young woman tasked with helping her mother Mia clear her hoarding house of its massive collection of treasures and trinkets that Mia seems to love more than her flesh and blood. Mia loves them so much, in fact, that these items become alive and very possessive of Mia. Of course, Ruby doesn't know this until she shows her anger toward the house and the house retaliates by pulling Ruby deeper into its clutches but also deeper into her Mother's mindscape, a literal maze full of monsters and memories that will either absorb Ruby into their ranks or simply dispose of her.
Bennett's story is rich in symbolism as she creates a fantasy world that not only keeps Mia trapped in memories of the past but actively tries to stop Ruby from freeing her. Ruby even has a dead cat that serves as her Virgil-like guide through the layers of her mother's psyche. Bennett has created a world that is fed by Mia's misguided love for her possessions while those possessions, given a semblance of life, allow Mia to avoid living beyond her collection, a symbiotic relationship that ensures Mia's imprisonment. I would also be remiss to not mention Leila Leiz's disturbing artwork, whether it involves furniture and household items becoming monsters or people becoming mere treasures themselves. Seeing someone become a vase has never been more horrifying as it is depicted in the book. My only critique of this book, if it is a critique in fact, is that it seemed too short. There seemed to be a much more developed world not yet explored, but Bennett does provide some emphatic resolution that prevents anything like a sequel from happening. That simply means, though, that I, as a reader, must resign myself to eagerly anticipating more collaborations from Bennett and Leiz.

Screen to Scream: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Since it is Women in Horror Month, I thought I'd look at a classic female author, one who has had a great influence on the horror genre as a whole. People might have been introduced to Shirley Jackson in school from her short story "The Lottery," which may have been their introduction to the twist ending. There are others who know her for The Haunting of Hill House, which birthed at least two movies and a crazy awesome Netflix series. However, I have recently discovered Jackson's last tale and, in my opinion, her most disturbing, We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I have also discovered a recently made movie adaptation featuring some well-known stars.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle invokes its terror in much the same way Hill House did: by having a unreliable narrator relay the story, but the audience only realizes how unreliable she is as the story progresses. Hill House's Eleanor Vance is seen for the most part as sheltered and awkward until the house tightens its grip on her. The narrator in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Merricat Blackwood, begins the novel by announcing she is 18 years old and is sadly not a werewolf. From there, the reader is introduced to her eccentric family, her doting sister Constance, and her invalid uncle Julian, who drifts in and out of the present while working on his true crime book involving the family. It is through interactions with these characters that the reader discovers that the rest of the Blackwood clan was poisoned. Their existence is an unusual one but structured, which is just how Merricat likes it. Then cousin Charles arrives and upends Merricat's orderly existence. Charles's increasingly boorish and domineering behavior, along with the festering resentment from the nearby village create a powderkeg that ultimately explodes, but like the title implies, Merricat remains, eternal, unknowable, a violent trap just waiting to be sprung.
The 2018 movie surprisingly follows the book with a few additions to the plot to tell this story visually. From American Horror Story's Taissa Farmiga and Baywatch's Alexandria Daddario to Winter Soldier Sebastian Stan and generally creepy dad Crispin Glover, this movie can actually be called star-studded. The direction and cinematography reminds me of many quirky directors, such as the title cards reminiscent of a Wes Anderson film and the Danny Elfman-sounding soundtrack that'd seem right at home in a Tim Burton film. The actors also portray their characters as slightly off, particularly Farmiga's twitchy and antisocial mannerism she gives to Merricat. Director Stacie Passon's tale and camera work reminded me of a darker version of the series Pushing Daisies, even as the story takes some dark turns. She also changes to the story that render Charles a much larger douchebag than in the book, and the ending though creepy ends up being more weird than horrifying. Jackson's original story is the more terrifying because it unfolds like a piece of origami, each section opening revealing another part of the whole story, another damaged fragment of Merricat's psyche, but what's really going on isn't revealed until the paper is completely unfolded. The movie is a passable and entertaining homage to Jackson's work but the original book remains a masterclass in storytelling, demonstrating how an unreliable narrator, in what they say and don't say, reveals so much about the story.