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Musings: Super Scary Haunted Homeschool, Episode 1: Vampire Geography by Grady Hendrix

Super Scary Haunted Homeschool, Episode 1: Vampire Geography by Grady Hendrix

Available: Spotify, Podcast Addict, Listen Notes, Podchaser, Deezer, RSS Feed

 

I don’t usually have the attention span for podcasts, but Grady Hendrix’s Super Scary Haunted Homeschool was recommended to me by someone I trust. In Episode 1, Hendrix gave a very entertaining travelogue on vampires around the world, with characteristics, legends, and historical descriptions of vampires through the years. He was funny enough to make me laugh out loud, but there was also some pretty gross stuff (complete with sound effects) and some horrific stories.  He’s a great storyteller, and even if you haven’t read his work, it’s easy to see that Hendrix is an effective writer.

The reason this podcast is getting a mention here, though, is because it did something remarkable in my house: it got my daughter, age 12, to sit down and listen. She wandered into the room about ten minutes in, and was fascinated by the history and the stories. In fact, she did not want me to turn it off. She is not a fan of horror at all, so this is remarkable. These days, grabbing her attention with anything for any amount of time is something special.

If you are looking for great, attention-getting storytelling, I highly recommend this. If it continues in the same manner, I think it will appeal to readers of historical fiction and nonfiction who aren’t typically interested in horror, and to tweens and young teens as well as fans of Hendrix and horror-related nonfiction.

For more information on Grady Hendrix, visit gradyhendrix.com.

Posted on May 14, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Gallery/Saga Press

ISBN-13: 978-1982136451

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio CD

 

The past year, for me, has been the year of menacing deer. After encountering the demonically controlled deer that trap unwitting victims in the Pennsylvania woods in Imaginary Friend and the unsettling antelope shapeshifters in The Antelope Wife,  the vengeful, shapeshifting elk out for blood shouldn’t have surprised me.  Stephen Graham Jones has given us his version of  I Know What You Did Last Summer, taking place on reservation land.

Ten years earlier, four stupid kids stampeded a herd of elk meant to be left in peace, and shot as many as they could. One of them was a pregnant mother. Unable to take advantage of the meat of all the elk they had killed, they left their slaughter behind. After the incident, the park ranger banned them from hunting. It’s a horrifying scene to read, and anger-inducing, but who, and how long, pays for sins like these? Is forgiveness even possible?

Two of the boys from that night escape the reservation and are gone for years, but the first evidently doesn’t go far enough– chased by some white guys looking to pick a fight, he encounters an elk that escalates the situation and is brutally killed. The second, Lewis,  returns to the reservation with his wife for the funeral, only to have things escalate as he enters a hallucinatory, murderous state. The remaining two, Gabe and Cassidy, who have stayed on the reservation, decide to hold a sweat in memory of their friend, which turns out to be a poor decision for everyone involved. It is up to Gabe’s teenage daughter, Denorah, to outrun the Elk Head Woman and resolve things.

I had to read this strange, supernatural slasher tale more than once to understand what was going on, but it was totally worth it. The character development is well-done, the unsettling aspect of the supernatural getting more and more entangled into the destruction of these men and their families really sinks in, and the reservation setting and its conflicts felt very real. It is kind of reality-bending to see an animal that I think of as being generally peaceful out for violent revenge. Yet Graham Jones makes it all work. Highly recommended.

 

Contains: violence, gore, murder, body horror.

 

 

Posted on May 5, 2020 by , 2 comments

Book Review: Betty Bites Back edited by Mindy McGinnis, Demitria Lunetta, and Kate Karyus Quinn

Betty Bites Back: Stories to Scare the Patriarchy edited by Mindy McGinnis, Demitria Lunetta, and Kate Karyus Quinn

Demitria Lunetta, 2019

ISBN-13: 9781733666749

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Betty Bites Back contains sixteen short stories and poems about girls and women who are done being held down, stepped on, and demeaned by a world that favours misogyny and the patriarchy. Stories include dark fantasy, body horror, murder mystery, and more. I found each of the stories in this anthology to be unique and well written. A few of my favourites are the following.

In “Vagina Dentata” by Mindy McGinnis, a woman talks with a plastic surgeon’s physician’s assistant about a unique opportunity.In  E.R. Griffin’s “What She Left Behind” a teenage girl discovers that the house she and her mother moved into is haunted by a girl whose trauma bridges the gap between them and pushes an act of violent revenge. In Jenna Lehne’s “@Theguardians1792”, a teenage girl is tired of being harassed by boys about her changing body and standing up for herself, leading to her getting punished for their actions. She discovers a group calling themselves @Theguardians1792 on social media, and boys in the area are found beaten, bloodied, or worse. In “The Whispers” by Lindsey Klingele, set during the time of the suffragettes fighting for the woman’s right to vote, a small community faces a boisterous, loud, and assertive group of young women, quite the scandal of the time. After they are silenced by a mysterious and ill-meaning doctor, murders of prominent community members occur, and women in white are seen around the edges of town.

There is a short author biography at the end of each of the stories, as well as a brief statement by the authors about their inspiration and influence for writing their particular tale. Though short, they provide a great insight into the authors’ processes, and other works that they have written for further reading. I highly recommend Betty Bites Back readers of feminist horror, especially indie horror.

 

Contains: blood, gore, misogyny, murder, racism, rape, sexual assault, sexual content, suicide

 

Highly recommended

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on May 3, 2020 by , Reply
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