This book isn't out until July, but it's so freaking good I just want to get the hype started! Well, what a wonderful surprise this novel was. Unquiet is the gorgeous, mysterious debut novel from E. Saxey, and is a gothic delight. Judith is rattling around in her family’s huge house in late nineteenth-century London. … Continue reading Review: Unquiet, by E. Saxey (Titan Books)
Review: Mothered, by Zoje Stage (Thomas and Mercer)
Zoje Stage is a vital part of the fiction community. Her books contain seemingly domestic mysteries, but contain just enough delicious weirdness to fit comfortably into the horror category. Mothered, Stage’s pandemic novel, is her most disorientating yet, and captures the uncertainty and strangeness of the period that many would rather forget. Hairstylist Grace finds … Continue reading Review: Mothered, by Zoje Stage (Thomas and Mercer)
Review: No One Will Come Back for Us, by Premee Mohamed (Undertow Publications)
Premee Mohamed is one of those writers I had often heard about, but I foolishly never made the time to explore her work. However, after reading her contribution to the upcoming dark Peter Pan anthology (The Other Side of Never, Titan Books), I could no longer ignore this force. No One Will Come Back for … Continue reading Review: No One Will Come Back for Us, by Premee Mohamed (Undertow Publications)
My Week in Books – April 7th, 2023
I WENT ON VACATION!! An actual vacation, with no commitment or plans at all. It was great. Zion National Park, since you asked. Cable Mountain Lodge, if you need a recommendation. I whacked through a few books, all of which were great. Click for my reviews. The Salt Grows Heavy, by Cassandra Khaw A House … Continue reading My Week in Books – April 7th, 2023
Review: A House with Good Bones, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan Audio)
In A House with Good Bones, Sam goes to stay with her mother, Edith, who is displaying dementia-like symptoms. Edith has redecorated her previously vibrant house with bland colors and questionable, racist photos. She also seems to be willfully rewriting her bleak family history, especially regarding her deceased mother and feared matriarch, Gran Mae. And … Continue reading Review: A House with Good Bones, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan Audio)
Review: Weyward, by Emilia Hart (St. Martin’s Press)
My late Grandma, Mary, used to proclaim that our family descended from “a long line of Lancashire witches”. It is thanks to her I have had a lifelong interest in the supernatural and otherworldly, but have always been keenly aware that my daughter and I are preceded by centuries of female oppression. So it is … Continue reading Review: Weyward, by Emilia Hart (St. Martin’s Press)
Review: Biography of X, by Catherine Lacey (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Catherine Lacey is on my auto-read list after I was blown away by her 2020 novel, Pew, an uncanny tale not too far removed from the The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Le Guin). Her latest, The Biography of X, is an incredibly impressive novel, in which a widow chronicles the life of her … Continue reading Review: Biography of X, by Catherine Lacey (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Review: The Other Side of Never, edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane (Titan)
Have there always been this many Peter Pan spin-offs around? Don’t get me wrong, I love it. Christina Henry’s phenomenal novel Lost Boy is the standard to which I hold every Neverland-adjacent story. And this dark collection definitely delivered the goods. Experly edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane, The Other Side of Never brings … Continue reading Review: The Other Side of Never, edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane (Titan)
My Week in Reading – March 15th, 2023
Not an awful lot to report this week, I'm afraid. I finished two great books, Such Pretty Flowers by K.L. Cerra, and The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller. I loved this great article on Kelly Link; a reminder that her new and flawless collection White Cat, Black Dog is release at the … Continue reading My Week in Reading – March 15th, 2023
Review: The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill, by Rowenna Miller (Redhook)
I’ve read enough fantasy, and met enough sneaky fairies to know that one should never strike a bargain with the Fae. Something always goes wrong and you end up with a pink hare instead of pink hair, or something much worse. The residents of Prospect Hill don’t have any such qualms. After a rare successful … Continue reading Review: The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill, by Rowenna Miller (Redhook)
California Reading 