horror – Page 2 – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones

My hand holds up a Kindle displaying the cover of The Only Good Indians--a mysterious pair of antlers in the dark. In the background, there is a huge and creepy old house, a condemned sign barely visible.

(Buy this book.) Listen. This horror novel has been out for two years now, so I’m just going to go ahead and start with a spoiler. The monster is an elk. If you’re like me and your initial response to that is to lean back and say “pfffft, LAME!”, then you should also read thisContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones”

[HEAR ME OUT] The New Interview With The Vampire Is Better Than The Original

Um, wow. I finally got a little time to watch the first three episodes of the new television adaptation of Anne Rice’s classic monster novel Interview With the Vampire and so far, it’s excellent. I’m a crabby, critical person and I give the episodes I’ve seen so far 10 out of 10, no question. ThisContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] The New Interview With The Vampire Is Better Than The Original”

[READING CHALLENGE] Diversity is Scary!

(Click here to jump[scare] straight to the booklist.) Welcome to October, fellow readers. With Halloween coming up, I think it’s a good time for spooky diverse reads. For much of modern horror history, difference often was the horror. Now, diverse writers are turning those tropes on their heads and giving us nuanced takes on fearContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Diversity is Scary!”

[REVIEW] Tender Is The Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Susan Moses

(Buy this book here.) (This book is one long content warning. If you’re sensitive to violence or gore, don’t read it or this review.) This book is disgusting. Let’s just start there. No, really. This Argentinian dystopian horror takes place in a very near future where it’s become impossible to eat animal meat due toContinue reading “[REVIEW] Tender Is The Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Susan Moses”

[REVIEW] Rootwork, by Tracy Cross

The ebook cover of Rootwork held above a tender new spring garden. The cover depicts a young black girl with soft lush hair, smiling enigmatically at the reader.

(Get more information about this book here.) (Full disclosure: Tracy and I were in the same master class at Under The Volcano this January, and she graciously sent me an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.) Something about Rootwork feels like it’s from another era. While I was reading, tendrils of theContinue reading “[REVIEW] Rootwork, by Tracy Cross”

[REVIEW] Fledgling, by Octavia Butler

(Buy this book here.) *Content warning* Not every written word ages well. Every author has something in their catalog that gives readers of the future the ick. Sometimes it’s the whole catalog. If they’re lucky, it’s just one book or part of a book. Octavia Butler got lucky. Fledgling has been called Butler’s vampire novel,Continue reading “[REVIEW] Fledgling, by Octavia Butler”

[REVIEW] Forty Acres, by Dwayne Alexander Smith

A Black woman's hand(my hand) holds a Kindle displaying the black and white cover of Forty Acres in front of a freshly chopped woodpile, complete with axe.

(Buy this on Bookshop) I had to think long and hard about what to say about this book and to be honest, I’m still not sure. Let’s start with the premise. (Warning: I’m going all in with the spoilers for this one.) Martin Grey is an up-and-coming, black and bougie New York attorney. When heContinue reading “[REVIEW] Forty Acres, by Dwayne Alexander Smith”

[REVIEW] The Taking of Jake Livingston, by Ryan Douglass

A tablet is held up by a pale, ghostly arm in a dark cityscape. It displays the cover of The Taking Of Jake Livingston, which shows a terrified teenage Black boy in a school uniform staring off into space.

(Buy it from Bookshop) 16 year old Jake Livingston can see ghosts–but that’s not the most interesting thing about this book. Jake is also at the intersection of a lot of difficult life positions, and like most YA protagonists, his main goal is to figure himself out. He’s one of only two Black kids atContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Taking of Jake Livingston, by Ryan Douglass”

[REVIEW] Girls of Might And Magic, An Anthology by Diverse Books With Magic

PHOTO ID: Black and white e-cover of Girls of Might and Magic displayed on a black Kindle. The device is on a wooden table, resting on a strip of red volcanic rocks and another strip of grass.

(This book is only available on Amazon, and y’all know how I feel about that. Still, as an indie, it gets the rare link-to-Amazon special–find it HERE.) Does anyone remember when it was “weird” for women to read fantasy? I distinctly remember getting into an argument with a total stranger who walked up and startedContinue reading “[REVIEW] Girls of Might And Magic, An Anthology by Diverse Books With Magic”