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Grey Dog by Elliott Gish

Cover art for Grey Dog by Elliot Gish

Grey Dog by Elliott Gish

ECW Press, 2024

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1770417328

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio CD

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

In 1901 Canada,  Ada Byrd, fleeing from a sex scandal and escaping from under her father’s thumb, takes up a position as a school teacher in the small town of Lowry Bridge. Things go well at the beginning: she is welcomed by the families, and makes new friends, such as Agatha, the minister’s wife. Ada goes to church, helps organize picnics and plays, and freely dances at one of the town’s festivities. She follows the town’s rules and their suspicions of the wild child, Muriel, and the spinster, Mrs. Kinsley, who the town considers a witch.

 

The civilized life she leads is in contrast to the dark woods surrounding the town. To get from the schoolhouse to the home she shares with her host family, the Griers, she must pass eerie woods that seem to be watching her every move. Time goes on, and the ordered and civilized life she leads starts to fade, as her past life comes back to haunt her and the town starts to reveal its secrets. Ada slowly breaks away from the rigid conventions of the town, and feels drawn to the wildness of the woods. She starts spending more time with town outcasts, Muriel and Mrs. Kinsley, and rejects Agatha and Mrs. Grier, the more accepted members of society.

 

Ada writes in her journal that there are many ways to be a good man, but only one way to be a good woman. The pressure of women being forced into specific gender roles breaks Ada, and you see her slow descent into madness as she breaks the bonds of civility. She’s not just refusing to shave her legs or wearing white after Labor Day. The book is a slow burn but at the end, it revs up like The Shining. It goes from psychological and paranormal horror to a slasher.

 

Even though it has feminist themes, Ada herself is somewhat self-hating of women and seems to take her trauma out on the women in the book rather than the men who hurt her. Grey Dog is well-written, and Ada’s descent is reminiscent of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This novel had so many themes, such as trauma, sapphic love, rape, birth, death, gender roles, and yearning that it is a haunting read that will have you thinking about it and running online to find out what others thought of it. I recommend it, though the ending might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

 

Reviewed by Lucy Nguyen

 

Posted on April 4, 2026 by , Reply

Book Review: Slasher Films: An International Filmography, 1960 through 2001 by Kent Byron Armstrong

Slasher Films: An International Filmography, 1960 Through 2001

Editor’s note: We debated whether to publish this review. However, reviewer Lizzy Walker is an academic librarian, subject expert on the horror genre, and co-creator of a digital horror movie film index, all of which gives her a unique perspective and makes her an authority on a title like this. 

 

Slasher Films: An International Filmography, 1960 through 2001 by Kent Byron Armstrong

McFarland, 2009

ISBN-13: 9790786442317

Available: Paperback

 

 

This is a slasher filmography, complete with defined criteria, major cast and crew credits, a complete synopsis of each movie, and, at times, a short critique or film facts for each listing presented. To open the book, the author provides his criteria of what a slasher is, the history of the subgenre, and discusses the prototypical slasher film. The bulk of the text presents the slasher films, followed by appendices that include directors, actors and actresses, writers, and composers, as well as a comprehensive index.

 

There is no denying this book presents some valuable information, and includes a good number of slasher films. However, there are elements that need to be addressed that could have improved the text. Based on the summary from the publisher, the book boasts over 250 slasher films being showcased in this book. However, the final tally I counted was 175. Unless Armstrong is counting films mentioned throughout the book that are not slashers and merely included as film facts, there is a discrepancy between the actual content and what is advertised. The synopses were far too bogged down in details. Rather than providing a full synopsis of each film, the author would have served his readers better by providing a shorter synopsis with as few spoilers as possible, followed by an actual critique. While it is true that the films included are not new, they will be new to someone.

 

Something I noticed is that, while the author has no problem describing kills, he shies away from straight up stating that a couple has sex. If a couple is or has engaged in sexual activity, just say so. Also, the terms ‘female’ and ‘male’ are incredibly overused. Also, as the book is presented as an international bibliography, perhaps including the country of origin for each movie would be helpful for the reader.

 

The text overall could have been improved with another round of editing. A few factual errors slipped into the text, too. On page 143, a sewing needle is referenced as a weapon when it is a knitting needle. As the copy Monster Librarian received is a 2009 reprint of a 2003 text, there could have been time and effort devoted to an improved second edition instead.

Not recommended. 

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on April 4, 2026 by , Reply

They Drink Our Blood by Lucy Leitner

cover art for They Drink Our Blood by Lucy Leitner

They Drink Our Blood by Lucy Leitner
Blood Bound Books, 2025
ISBN: 9781940250700
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition
Buy: Amazon.com | Bookshop.org

 

They Drink Our Blood is another engrossing tale from this author, and it demonstrates yet another facet of her writing style.  Leitner has already proven adept at dystopian satire with Outrage Level 10 and Bad Vibrations, as well as detective stories featuring the lovable, bumbling private investigator Thor Cole in The Girl With The Lollipop Eyes.  However, They Drink Our Blood is a darker, grimmer tale of vampires, and a possibly confused reality.  After the reader is done, they likely still won’t be sure if the overarching narrative was as it was portrayed, or simply the protagonists twisting the evidence to fit their own version of reality.

 

Taking place entirely in a small, somewhat run-down section of Pittsburgh, it seems that vampires have been living in the USA for years, and are now starting to come out of the shadows, as a few grisly murders around the country seem to attest.  Lisa is a thirty-something, struggling artist living in Pittsburgh, and the murders inspire her to try to do something to protect the people of her neighborhood.  She’s a fascinating character, as we watch her transition from painter to crusader, which alters her whole perspective on her own life.  Before the vampires, she never really had any doubt about what she was doing, and her paintings were her entire reason for being. Once she perceives a threat to her town, her outlook alters substantially, as she finds she may have found her actual purpose.  That means confronting the possibility that all the paintings she did were pointless, despite her telling herself for years that people simply didn’t “get it” when it came to her work. There are a few very good monologues from Lisa throughout the book that help illustrate the character’s uncertainty home in terms of her career choice, and it gives the reader something to ponder over as well, when concerning the overall purpose of art.

 

Lisa’s few friends and bar buddies in her section of town eventually buy into the idea that the vampires are real and a threat, and decide they need to do something to fight back.  That’s the point where the real skill in the narration comes in, as the evidence for bloodsuckers is rather ambiguous.  Lisa has an Uber passenger and she can’t see his face in the mirror?  Good evidence, but it was dark and he was wearing a hoodie.  Murders with a torn throat, and maybe some bite marks?  Sure, but this is the USA, and there are some real weirdos out there, as we all know.  Besides, the bodies weren’t drained, were they?  Or maybe the cops didn’t reveal that part?  Garlic and silver, classic undead repellents, are suddenly hard to find in the neighborhood, but the author wisely does NOT say if the rest of the country is the same way.  She keeps the focus on one little area, which keeps the level of uncertainty for the reader at a high level, as well as making the story theme much more believable.

 

Eventually, the story does build to a messy climax, but true to form, it doesn’t resolve the big question: were vampires present and making their move for domination, or were Lisa and her friends part of some sort of mass psychosis, where they saw what they wanted to see?  Was it real, or all in their minds?  Did they just need a scapegoat for their own humdrum, unfulfilled lives?  That’s for the reader to decide, as Leitner plays her cards close right through the end, and never gives it away.  Another well-done tale from an author who is proving to be a chameleon when it comes to writing.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson.

Posted on April 2, 2026 by , Reply
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