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Book Review: Blood Cypress (Selected Papers from the Consortium for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena #7) by Elizabeth Broadbent

Blood Cypress (Selected Papers from the Consortium of Anomalous Phenomena #7) by Elizabeth Broadbent

Blood Cypress Selected Papers from the Consortium for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena #7) by Elizabeth Broadbent.

Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1947879881

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Bookshop.org. |  Amazon.com

 

The swamp has always been a welcome setting for horror – and why wouldn’t it be? The sucking humidity, the stifling embrace of the flora, the mystery of what’s behind the next shadow as the sun is erased from its world… It’s home to many a southern gothic, and for good reason. Nobody knows what lies within, and those who have experienced it are often too frightened to speak of it.

 

In Lower Congeree, South Carolina, there’s a rule most people are wise enough to follow stay out of the swamp.

 

The Carson family is a reflection of the hard truths in many of our homes. The relationships are strained, although some semblance of love creeps through their the interactions. As a bisexual girl in a backwoods town that is a stronghold of repressed sensibilitiies, Lila struggles to survive in the backwoods town, and aches to break free.

 

Lila’s world twists like the tangled roots that grow in the swamp when her ten-year-old brother, Beau, vanishes. Nobody cares much about a neurodivergent boy who many believe is useless, especially a Carson. Lila is reminded quickly that ignorance in the town has more in common with the society of a hundred years ago than in the current day, from the sheriff to her delinquent mom to the townsfolk, and realizes that her journey will be a solo endeavor. She will have to break that cardinal rule if she is to find Beau alive.

 

Broadbent entered the horror fray with Ink Vine, a stunning entry into what hopefully will be a long career.  Her greatest strength is the ability to breathe life into the setting and listen to how it speaks to the characters and readers. She harnesses the dark magic of the swamp and lets it become a major character, one that is ambiguous, untrustworthy, and dangerous. Its embrace is sought by some but feared by most.

 

As a journalist, her words hit the mark. In the novella form, this works perfectly. Everything matters and she is able to succinctly capture the flavor of this rotted southern town with apparent ease.

 

At this length, Broadbent shines. It gives her just enough space to explore and resolve the multiple conflicts within the story: the inner family tension, the dynamics of small-town life, and the apathetic darkness of the swamp, and allows the misfit Carson family and their secrets to grow. It’s a claustrophobic but intriguing read.

 

Comparisons have been made to Flannery O’ Connor, but Elizabeth Broadbent has her own style. Think Darcy Coates by way of Crista Carmen and Michael McDowell.

 

Raw Dog Screaming Press always produces quality products that sidestep the typical trappings of genre. As the seventh installment in the Selected Papers from the Consortium for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena series, this is a highly recommended reading, and their decision to bring Broadbent into the stable works just right.

 

 

Reviewed by David Simms

 

Posted on May 19, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: Ghost Girls and Rabbits by Cassondra Windwalker

Ghost Girls and Rabbits by Cassondra Windwalker

Polymath Press, 2025

ISBN: 9781961827097

Available: ebook, paperback

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

Noni Begay, a young Athabascan woman, has just been elected as the United States senator for Alaska when she disappears. Her campaign manager, Mary Nelson, has a daughter, Ryska, who has been missing for 10 years, and thinks Noni’s disappearance, as a beautiful, popular politician from the powerful Athabascan tribe, can be used to bring renewed attention to Ryska’s case. She is certain Ryska is still alive, and as Noni’s campaign manager and friend she is able to keep media attention on them. But keeping Ryska’s story in the public eye means Noni can’t reappear until Ryska is found. Alaska’s a big state, though, and Mary has a cabin in the woods that is off the beaten track.

 

Mary tortures Noni, starting with burial alive, to prevent her from attempting escape, and dehumanizes her by thinking of her only as “the seal pup”.. Mary is compartmentalizing, still publicly playing the part of  Noni’s grieving friend and campaign manager and working as a political operative, but that can’t last forever, and slowly she crumbles inside, with only the “seal pup” and life in the cabin to comfort her. I’m not sure why Mary wasn’t questioned more after Noni’s disappearance or how she could have gone back and forth so frequently without notice. But maybe the lack of treatment for mental illness or support for grieving parents, and even the lack of notice of her trips back and forth, illustrate the invisibility of indigenous women.

 

Noni’s struggle to preserve her identity and sanity, and even plan for the future in the midst of isolation, uncertainty, terror, and Mary’s erratic behavior, plays with storytelling, imagination, language, and mythology. Windwalker’s poetic writing flows here.

 

Windwalker approached the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls from an unexpected angle, with one indigenous woman kidnapping and tormenting another to draw attention, as typically the crimes against these women are committed by white men. :This is not an easy read– unreliable narrators force the reader to question what’s going on, and it does get very dark at times– but it has moments of magic as well.  Highly recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on May 5, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: Sacrilege by Barbara Avon

Sacrilege by Barbara Avon

Self published, 2020

ISBN: 9798690309411

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:    Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

Sacrilege is a depressing psychological drama that takes you down, down, and further down.  There are no monsters or boogeymen in this one, just the mental demons that inhabit the characters.  It’s a pretty good read for those who prefer human interest/interaction stories.

 

Almost the entire story focuses on the two leads: wayward priest Cris Corelli, and Jules, the lady who owns the boarding house he stumbles into.  The author sets the tone right out of the gate: mentally, these two are trainwrecks, for various reasons.  As the story progresses, the death of someone close to both of them pushes Cris and Jules further down into depression.  They start drinking and drugging to numb the pain, only finding minimal comfort in each other.  However, it’s the best either of them can hope for, unless they somehow are able to use each other to pull out of their respective tailspins.

 

The stark manner in which the dialogue between Corelli and Jules is written is an unusual choice.  Often, books like this rely on fairly long and in-depth conversations, as a way to explain how the characters became, and where they are heading.  The author goes against the grain here, as most talks are fairly quick and clipped, not really revealing a lot about the characters.  Then again, maybe they don’t need to, the characters’ actions may speak louder than any lengthy dialogue in this case.  It’s an interesting choice for this type of book, and works reasonably well for the narrative, giving it a unique flavor.

 

I felt the “big reveal” at the end of the story was anticlimactic. You could tell it was supposed to be fairly important, due to Corelli’s actions after he discovered it, but it just didn’t seem like anything that should alter the story’s trajectory, or what the characters do for the rest of the book.

 

The bottom line is…this will appeal to a certain segment of readers.  If you enjoy depressing psychological dramas, this might work for you.  If your idea of horror is fast-paced, with monsters and supernatural craziness, then this probably isn’t your cup of black ichor.

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on February 3, 2025 by , Reply
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