Horror
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REVIEW: In the Arctic Sun by Rowan Hill
In the Arctic Sun is Rowan Hill’s debut novella that promises to mess with your head. I’ve had the pleasure of reading Hill’s short stories and have always been transfixed with the atmosphere her writing always creates. The story perfectly examines the emotional turmoil the body can go through when they are robbed of sleep. Sleep deprivation is a torture method for a reason! The Arctic sun. Alaskan setting. Oil digging disrupting the fabric of her peace. It’s a no-brainer. So, did In the Arctic Sun deliver? Does a bear shit in the woods? The prologue opens and gives the reader an immediate sense of place. You are in…
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REVIEW: The Dead Inside by Laurel Hightower & Sandra Ruttan
The Dead Inside is a horror anthology that tackles the sensitive subject of identity. Never have I read an anthology that so profoundly affected a part of my heart. I am secure in my identity, I know who I am, what I am meant to do in terms of my career, and how I project myself to others. However, I have close friends who aren’t secure in their identities. They struggle to accept their sexuality, and their gender, they deserve to feel this inner peace without persecution. It very rarely plays out this way and this anthology examines the horror of both the human psyche and the hurt it can…
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We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric LaRocca
We Can Never Leave This Place, I think probably I can’t. I’m trapped in a state of purgatory. How do you sum up a story that depicts such vivid imagery of neglect and trauma? I’m not going to lie; this book seems to be impossible to review with enough fervour to do it justice. It’s the kind of story that leaves you staring into space afterward. The musings playing around your consciousness like a never-ending loop. “When you’re given a gift, something else gets taken away.” Eric LaRocca is the king of trauma horror. Reading a story penned by this glorious author is always an experience. He leads you…
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REVIEW: Sundial by Catriona Ward
Sundial, much like its atmospheric veracity, blew me away. I stood in the desolated desert and allowed the dust and the sound of longing carried by the wind to scratch at my skin. I’ve never been one for extremes, especially the heat but this novel made it more claustrophobic, more suffocating, and felt myself clawing for the cool. Sundial had everything that I love in a horror story…oppressing sense of dread. A threat that is entirely human. A will to protect and survive. Horror isn’t exclusively about ghost stories, the supernatural, and things that go bump in the night. Horror examines just how the humanity (or lack thereof) of our…
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Deep Down There by Oli Jacobs
Deep Down There. Nothing good ever comes from big black holes, whether it’s from the horrific type in space or massive sinkholes that wreak their havoc on earth, nothing. good. ever. happens. Order this book right now. I started reading at approximately 1 pm and by 4 pm I had finished, like a marathon runner trying to outdo their personal best, I needed to find out the why, the where, and the how. DO IT! Oli Jacobs can’t write a bad story, like seriously, everything I have read I have loved. He can shut me up with his sharp, witty, and alluring stories of the human condition and terrifying situations,…
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REVIEW: The Marsh House by Zoë Somerville
The Marsh House seeps in atmospheric brilliance. It has the uncanny ability to remind you just how boring your life is. The novel tackles relationship breakdowns from multiple angles. A mother and daughter. A house in the country. Creepy diary entries. Personally, living in a cold, damp property in the middle of winter is a dead cert no for me but the protagonist had a story to unfold. It’s December 1963 and Malorie escapes to the country with her daughter, Franny. Her life is changing far quicker than she could have ever anticipated. Her relationship with Franny’s father, Tony has broken down. Partly due to his multiple infidelities and Malorie’s…
