My There Used to Be People Here review looks at Kennedy Cole’s debut, a sci-fi horror novel set in 1978 Mississippi. A Black detective and his temporary partner chase a strange death towards a crash that was not a plane. It is Southern noir horror with real heart, and one of the best debuts of the year.
Katherine Daniel’s debut is an Appalachian horror novel about two estranged siblings, a roadside store and a creature that feeds on guilty hearts. This When the Night Comes Knocking review explains why the siege horror novel earns four and a half stars, and why fans of books like The Mist should lock the doors and read it.
Horror film locations make terrible places to stay, so Ginger Nuts of Horror has written the guest reviews they never got, from one star to five. The Shining’s Overlook Hotel, the Bates Motel, Camp Crystal Lake, Amity Island from Jaws and the Slaughtered Lamb from An American Werewolf in London are all rated, with the stars handed out at random. Then comes the real question: why do horror fans keep booking the rooms?
Horror movies where the dog lives, picked by Casper and Molly, the two dogs on Ginger Nuts of Horror’s strictest review panel. Dog Soldiers, Gremlins, The Lost Boys and Good Boy are approved, while Halloween and The Conjuring are firmly rejected. It also asks why dogs in horror movies so rarely make it to the end.
Dan Coxon and Philip Fracassi’s Unearthed sends nineteen writers into tombs, temples and stone circles, and the best of them find that the dig is the scary part. Slatter, Castro and Jiang lead a Titan Books anthology about who owns the past, held back from full marks by one story that needed a content note.
