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Book Review: Shagging the Boss by Rebecca Rowland

Shagging the Boss by Rebecca Rowland
Filthy Loot, 2022
ISBN-13: 978-1088029046
Available: Paperback ( Bookshop.org )

 

Before anyone starts quoting Austin Powers in a bad accent, the shagging Rebecca Rowland refers to is quite different. The title does fit the novella though, yet I can’t divulge too much. It’s unique and a quick read, easy for one sitting but this story stuck to me like a great meal– more on that later.

 

Publishing is a bloody business. It makes strolling through hell feel like petting puppies in a field of flowers. It’s not for the weak-hearted or those who want validation. When the unnamed main character arrives at a book conference, fresh in the field and looking for bites, she’s looking for a foot in the door, something to break into a world that is full of monsters of the human kind. What she finds isn’t exactly what LinkedIn typically suggests. A strange man, Daniel, greets her at a book convention and invites her back to his hotel room, but the favor he offers isn’t exactly the sexist situation that too often occurs in the corporate world. It’s something much different. He makes her an offer after she awakes to find he took something from her– something physical– but reassures her all will be well, because of what he is, a boogeyman of sorts. To be specific, a yara-ma-yha-who, a creature of opportunity who consumes their prey, only to expel them– somehow changed. To say more would ruin the novella’s magic. The relationship and interplay between the apprentice and Daniel is pure fun to read. The book begs to be completed in one enjoyable sitting (yet I’ve gone through it twice and picked up on some cool nuances I missed the first time).

 

Rowland has been moving like a banshee, editing anthologies left and right (her Generation-Exed is perfect for the best group of people out there!), but this is my first time reading her prose. It won’t be the last. Comparisons are not necessary, yet one could be drawn between Elizabeth Massie and Joe R. Lansdale due to the smooth writing and easy dialogue.

 

Highly recommended, especially for anyone who is involved in the shark-infested world of writing and publishing.

 

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on December 17, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: The Bone Worms: The Expanded and Revised Edition by Keith Minnion

Cover art for The Bone Worms by Keith Minnion

The Bone Worms: The Expanded and Revised Edition by Keith Minnion

Cemetery Dance Press, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1587678547

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Cemetery Dance | Amazon..com )

 

The Bone Worms is one of the best horror novels of the past decade. That’s high praise, but well-earned. Keith Minnion has long been a force in the horror genre, both as an author and artist. He made his name as an illustrator for several magazines and publishers, most notably and recently for the Stephen King/Richard Chizmar novels Gwendy’s Button Box and Gwendy’s Magic Feather. His short stories have been making the rounds since 1979, and his two collections have garnered high praise.

 

This expanded and updated edition of Minnion’s earlier book The Bone Worms is immensely readable and well-written. It tears into ground that feels untrodden and fresh. These days, finding something that is both new and successful in execution is tough. This novel nails it on both counts. It is easily one of the strongest entries in the genre in the past ten years, a very strong time for dark novels. Just dive into the story with as little advance knowledge as possible

 

The sky holds secrets that man has yet to figure out: the boneyard exists somewhere above the clouds. To explain the bone worms and their lair would be akin to spilling the secrets of a macabre Santa. 

 

Back in 1921,  a six-year old is taken for a biplane ride for his birthday party. Something terrible happens up in the sky, in the boneyard, that will scar the boy and his friend for life. Many years later, in 1983, the boys, now senior citizens, hole up in an apartment together, one trying to keep the other safe from what’s been seeking them for decades.

 

Detective Frank Lomax searches Philadelphia for the killer who’s been flaying victims open all over town. Left behind are gruesome crime scenes– yet no bones. Fresh off a breakdown, he knows this case could make him, or shatter his psyche for good. The deeper he plunges into the world of the bone worms, the stranger the case becomes, and the edges of reality fray with each clue uncovered.

 

Part horror novel, part police procedural, part thriller, The Bone Worms will rattle readers’ bones, at least while they’re still inside the body. Easily one of the best reads of this year.

 

This gorgeous edition includes extras and artwork. Minnion also created the dazzling cover.

 

Recommended reading for fans of great storytelling.

 

Posted on December 12, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

cover art for House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2021

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593110348

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com )

 

 

House of Hollow was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Young Adult Fiction this year.

 

Ten years ago, Grey, Vivi, and Iris Hollow mysteriously disappeared, reappearing a month later without clothes, covered in strange white flowers, and with their hair and eye colors changed. Their father, shortly after, died by suicide. Grey, Vivi, and Iris all have the power to seduce people into doing what they want.

 

Grey is now a model and fashion designer, estranged from their mother. Vivi is a nomadic rock musician. Iris still lives at home and attends school. One day Vivi, Grey, and Iris arrange to meet and Grey never shows. It’s a sign that something is very wrong.

 

The body horror is strong in this. Girls coughing up decayed plants, flowers growing out of wounds, ants crawling from inside the skin, constant descriptions of rot and decay, flayed bodies. And yet it’s also very much a fairytale, with the girls walking through a portal and finding themselves in a lost place. It’s gruesome and yet also gorgeous, and a horrifying tribute to just how far sisters really will go for you.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on December 11, 2022 by , Reply
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