Happy October!

Happy October!

The best month of the year!

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Book Review: How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend

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 I don't know I put off reading this for so long. Linda Addison's How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend is an excellent collection of horror prose and poetry. My favorite poems were the clever bookending pair of "How To Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend" and "How To Recognize Your Friend Has Become a Demon," as well as the beautiful "Demon Dance." "Land Sharks" was another favorite. The stories were all strong, but I had a few favorites among them as well. The collection's two longest stories, "The Power" and "Milez to Go," were companion pieces about two magically gifted cousins, and I could happily read many more stories about both of them. "Excerpts From the Unabridged Traveler's Guide as UFO's in Galaxy A.G.2" was one of the most creative and original stories in the book and made me chuckle more than a few times. Finally, "Boo" absolutely broke my heart. It's rar
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Book Review: The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories

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 I have been hearing rave reviews of Valancourt's collections for a long time, but only now got around to picking one up. I am well pleased with my experience and plan to dive into the other collections soon. The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, edited by Tara Moore, is the perfect book to get you into that spooky Christmas spirit. The collection starts off with Sir Walter Scott's "The Tapestried Chamber." I love Scott's work - Ivanhoe is one of my very favorite novels. His story here about an army general visiting his old friend's haunted estate turned out to be one of my favorites in the book. It also had one of the collection's few legitimately creepy (by modern standards) scenes. Another favorite was the second tale, Elizabeth Gaskell's "The Old Nurse's Story." Gaskell is an incredible writer who I've always meant to read more of, and this story of a vengeful ghostly child was both tragic and haunting. John B
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Book Review: Shirley Jackson's Dark Tales

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I just finished reading a collection of Shirley Jackson stories, Dark Tales . I have always been a fan of Shirley Jackson, ever since I first discovered  The Haunting of Hill House  years ago, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle is one of the most gleefully haunting and disturbing books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Needless to say, I was very excited when I discovered this recently compiled collection of some of her most macabre works. I can also say with certainty that I was not disappointed. Highlights include: "Paranoia" This story is slightly but delightfully mad, concerning a man on his way home from work who is slowly coming to the realization that he is being followed by someone with ill intentions and that there just might be a greater conspiracy at work, with multiple people out to do him harm. This story ratchets up the protagonist's paranoia, and reminds me of that saying, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're n
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