Final Women

Horror poetry. It's an aspect of the genre that does not get enough attention, and I admit to being largely ignorant of it myself. Sure, everyone knows Poe. He is at least as famous for his poetry as for his prose; "The Raven" is perhaps his most popular work, and I studied "Annabel Lee" at least twice in school. Lovecraft also wrote poetry, although not nearly (in my opinion) as well as Poe. Still, I'm ashamed to admit that I've been pretty oblivious to modern horror poetry, but then The Apocalyptic Mannequin by Stephanie M. Wytovich came along and changed all that. This collection has made me thirst for more, not just by this author, who has several more collections, but for horror poetry itself. Wytovich hooked me from the first lines or her opening poem, In the event of cigarettes lit by nuclear explosions, I will stand naked in my burning... Those two lines capture the raw beauty of all the poems to follow. These poems don't shy aw...

Happy New Year! For my first post of 2020, I want to review Jeffrey Ford's The Twilight Pariah . I've been wanting to check Ford out for a while and finally go around to picking Pariah up from the library a couple of weeks ago. I must say, this is a terrific book, and I can't wait to check out his other work. The story starts with high school friends Maggie, Russell, and Henry meeting up at the beginning of the summer before their senior year of college. Maggie has recently switched her major to archeology and gets the bright idea that they should excavate some ruins of a local abandoned mansion for practice. When they find the skeleton of a baby in the remains of the mansion's old outhouse, things take a turn for the sinister. Because this isn't any normal baby skeleton. This baby has horns, a ridged spine, and a tail. Soon, the friends find that something is stalking them, and people close to them begin to die in gruesome ways. It's all somehow connected to...

Want some good seasonal reading to get into the Halloween mood? Here are some of my top picks for October. Usher's Passing by Robert McCammon One of my absolute favorite novels, Usher's Passing tells the story of the Usher family, descendants of Poe's Ushers, as they prepare for the family patriarch's death. Sinister events begin occurring around the family's North Carolina estate, as the heirs to the family fortune (and curse) gather. McCammon's novel takes place in October and really captures the feel of the season. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazney A new favorite, A Night in the Lonesome October (illustrated by Gahan Wilson), is set in the Victorian era and features characters such as Jack the Ripper, Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, Larry Talbot, and Sherlock Holmes. The story is narrated by Jack's familiar, Snuff, a very good dog, who is helping his Master prepare to fight the attempted release of the Old Ones into ...

Check out my list of favorite horror novels here . I'll be adding lists of favorite single author collections and multi-author anthologies at some point too.

Hey guys, I've started another blog: https://ya-horror.com I'll be reviewing YA horror novels over there, while maintaining this page for horror movie and general horror fiction discussion. Enjoy!