Friday, November 30, 2018

Love For Slaughter by Sara Tantlinger Review

Love For Slaughter Book Cover Poetry by Sara Tantlinger

Love For Slaughter Poetry by Sara Tantlinger

This debut collection of poetry from Sara Tantlinger takes a dark look at all the horrors of love, the pleasures of flesh, and the lust for blood. For discerning fans of romance and the macabre, look no further than Love For Slaughter.

Emily’s Teaser Review

This collection is full of love and passion artfully blended with dark obsession, murder, and body horror. I LOVED IT.

Click here to see the full review on Emily’s Goodreads

Toni’s Teaser Review

Tantlinger’s prose is beautiful and horrific at the same time. This is a poetess who can turn murder and bondage into a beautiful act of love or hate. There is so much to love about this poetry collection.

Click to see to see the full review on The Misadventures of a Reader

About Sara Tantlinger

Author Sara Tantlinger

Sara Tantlinger graduated from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA with a BA in English literature and creative writing, and later with an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction. Her love of horror started in middle school where she discovered the Fear Street and Goosebumps books. Some of her favorite, inspirational writers include: Edgar Allan Poe, William Blake, Kate Chopin, Stephen King, Sylvia Plath, Caroline Kepnes, Clive Barker, Gillian Flynn, Richard Siken, Sierra DeMulder, and Catherynne Valente.

When she’s not writing, reading, or researching, Sara enjoys coffee, music, movies, and is prone to over-attachment to fictional characters and cats. She also possesses a collection of sea glass and shark teeth fossils, which make her want to move to the seaside as soon as possible. She is a member of the SFPA, an active member of the HWA, an editor for the Oddville Press, a freelance editor, and a college instructor.

Stalk her here:
Twitter@sarajane524
Instagram@inkychaotics

Note: We can’t wait to post our review of Sara’s new work The Devil’s Dreamland: Poetry Inspired by H.H. Holmes! Stay tuned!

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Behind The Door by Mary SanGiovanni Review

behindthedoor
Clicking on cover brings you to Goodreads

Behind The Door

Occult specialist Kathy Ryan returns in this thrilling novel of paranormal horror from Mary SanGiovanni, the author of Chills.

Some doors should never be opened . . .

In the rural town of Zarepath, deep in the woods on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, stands the Door. No one knows where it came from, and no one knows where it leads. For generations, folks have come to the Door seeking solace or forgiveness. They deliver a handwritten letter asking for some emotional burden to be lifted, sealed with a mixture of wax and their own blood, and slide it beneath the Door. Three days later, their wish is answered for better or worse.

Kari is a single mother, grieving over the suicide of her teenage daughter. She made a terrible mistake, asking the powers beyond the Door to erase the memories of her lost child. And when she opened the Door to retrieve her letter, she unleashed every sin, secret, and spirit ever trapped on the other side.

Now, it falls to occultist Kathy Ryan to seal the door before Zarepath becomes hell on earth . . .

Alex’s Teaser Review

I really liked the main character, occult specialist, Kathy Ryan.  She was a strong lead and had a fun personality.

Click here to see the full review on FindingMontauk

Lilyn’s Teaser Review

Mary SanGiovanni’s ‘Behind the Door‘ has tentacles, mayhem, and mystery. If that line doesn’t interest you, then you’re not the right audience for the book.

Click to see to see the full review on Sci-fi and Scary.

About Mary SanGiovanni

marys

Mary SanGiovanni is the author of the THE HOLLOWER trilogy (the first of which was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award), THRALL, CHAOS, CHILLS, SAVAGE WOODS and the novellas FOR EMMY, POSSESSING AMY, THE FADING PLACE, and NO SONGS FOR THE STARS and the forthcoming INSIDE THE ASYLUM, as well as the collections UNDER COVER OF NIGHT, A DARKLING PLAIN, NIGHT MOVES and A WEIRDISH WILD SPACE. Her fiction has appeared in periodicals and anthologies for the last decade. She has a Masters degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, Pittsburgh, where she studied under genre greats. She is currently a member of The Authors Guild, The International Thriller Writers, and Penn Writers, and was previously an Active member in the Horror Writers Association.

Website: www.marysangiovanni.com

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Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Episode 4: Fairytales and Horror

Book stack for the LOHF Podcast announcement

Fairytales are the original horror stories. Join Toni as she talks fairytales and horror with her guest J. Lincoln Fenn.

The Evolution of Fairytales

The fairytales that we all grew up hearing evolved from the stories that were told to children over 300 years ago. So lets take a short trip through the evolution of Fairytales

 

Toni Chats Fairytales, Horror and The Nightmarchers with J. Lincoln Fenn

J Lincoln fennFenn began her horror career in the 7th grade when she entertained her friends at a sleepover by telling them the mysterious clanking noise (created by the baseboard heater) was in fact the ghost of a woman who had once lived in the farmhouse, forced to cannibalize her ten children during a particularly bad winter.

It was the last slumber party she was allowed to have.

The author grew up in New England, graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in English, and lives in Seattle with her family.

In 2013, POE won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror and became a #1 bestseller  in both Fantasy and Horror on Amazon.

 

Horror Books Written by Women that Have a Fairytale Element

LudmillaThere was once lived a Woman who tried to kill her neighbor’s baby: Scary Fairytales By Ludmilla Petrushvskaya

Vanishings and apparitions, nightmares and twists of fate, mysterious ailments and supernatural interventions haunt these stories by the Russian master Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, heir to the spellbinding tradition of Gogol and Poe. Blending the miraculous with the macabre, and leavened by a mischievous gallows humor, these bewitching tales are like nothing being written in Russia-or anywhere else in the world-today.

 

The Bloody Chamber By Angela Carter

The bloody chamberIn The Bloody Chamber – which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves – Carter spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition.

 

Little Dead Red By Mercedes M. Yardley

Little dead RedLITTLE DEAD RED is a realistic fairy tale that creeps in the dark with modern day wolves and those who hunt them.

 

 

 

 

Currently Reading

The Nightmarchers by J. Lincoln Fenn

The nightmarchersIn 1939, on a remote Pacific island, botanical researcher Irene Greer plunges off a waterfall to her death, convinced the spirits of her dead husband and daughter had joined the nightmarchers—ghosts of ancient warriors that rise from their burial sites on moonless nights. But was it suicide, or did a strange young missionary girl, Agnes, play a role in Irene’s deteriorating state of mind?

It all seems like ancient family history to Julia Greer, who has enough problems of her own. A struggling journalist, she’s recovering from a divorce and is barely able to make rent, let alone appeal the court’s decision to give sole custody of their daughter to her ex-husband. When her elderly great-aunt offers her an outrageously large sum to travel to this remote island and collect samples of a very special flower, as well as find out what really happened to her sister Irene all those years ago, Julia thinks her life might finally be on an upward swing. She’s also tasked to connect with the island’s Church of Eternal Light, which her great-aunt suspects knows more about Irene’s tragic death than they’ve said.

But Julia finds this place isn’t so quick to give up its secrets. The Church is tight-lipped about the deaths that have contributed to its oddly large cemetery, as well as Irene’s final fate. The only person who seems to know more is a fellow traveler, Noah Cooper, who thinks that Julia’s not the only one on a mission to find the rare flower…which, if the rumors are true, could have world-changing properties.

What Julia does know is that the longer she stays on the island, the more the thin line begins to blur between truth and lies, reality and the fantastical…until she finds herself face to face with the real reason why the island is taboo

 

Recently Finished

The Fiends in the Furrows edited by David T. Neal and Christine M. Scott

The fiends in the FurrowsThe Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror is a collection of nine short stories that hew both to the earthy traditions and blaze new trails in Folk Horror.

 

My full review will be on my blog and the LOHF site shortly.

New Releases

City of Spells (Haunted Florida #3) | Gaby Triana | Nov. 16 |

The Rust Maidens | Gwendolyn Kiste | Nov. 16 |

Fountain Dead | Theresa Braun | Nov. 20 |

The Blood in Guthrie | Kira McKinney | Nov. 26 |

The Dinosaur Tourist | Caitlin R. Kiernan | Nov. 30 |

LOHF News

Rebecca Read along: We are 3/4 of the way through our Rebecca readalong, and the secrets of Rebecca’s past have finally been revealed. We are having so much fun reading Rebecca with the community. If you’ve already read Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, be sure to stop by the ladies of horror fiction website this coming Sunday to share your thoughts. And stayed tuned – on the next episode, we will announce which book we’ve selected for our next readalong.

We have something new coming to your ears. Keep an eye out on our Twitter to end out what I am currently working on.

Horror Community News

No Horror Community news this week.

If you would like to reach out to the LOHFpodcast, our email address is LOHFPod@gmail.com. We would love to hear about new releases, news in the community, and suggestions for the podcast. You can find out more about the members of the Ladies of Horror Fiction via our website at www.ladiesofhorrorfiction.com.

The music for this episode is from Nicolas Gasparini at thedarkpiano.com

Monday, November 26, 2018

The "Short Stories" Recap

Ladies of Horror Fiction Instagram Challenge Weekly Recap Banner - it simply states "The LOHF Instagram Challenge Weekly Recap" on a background with a skull atop a stack of books imprinted to the left.

If you missed last’s week vampire prompt, be sure to check it out. There were a lot of great vamps including Anne Rice and more.

What qualifies as a short story? Our short story prompt generated a lot of discussion including what actually qualifies as a short story. We loved seeing the various short fiction posted on day 13, and below are some of our favorites.

Tamsparks shared this AMAZING cover of She Walks In Shadows, which is a brilliant collection that features authors Gemma Files, Jilly Dreadful, Arinn Dembo, Eugenia Mora, Ann K. Schwader, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and more!

“They emerge from the shadows, to claim the night ….

Women from around the world delve into Lovecraftian depths, penning and illustrating a variety of Weird horrors. The pale and secretive Lavinia wanders through the woods, Asenath is a precocious teenager with an attitude, and the Ancient Egyptian pharaoh Nitocris has found a new body in distant America. And do you have time to hear a word from our beloved mother Shub-Niggurath?

Defiant, destructive, terrifying, and harrowing, the women in She Walks in Shadows are monsters and mothers, heroes and devourers. Observe them in all their glory.”

Ouija.doodle.reads showed us that even adorable puppers love some horror short story collections! Here we get to see And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe by Gwendolyn Kiste. (Make sure and check out our guest spotlight and interview with Gwendolyn Kiste that we shared a while back if you missed it!)

“A murdered movie star reaches out to an unlikely fan. An orchard is bewitched with poison apples and would-be princesses. A pair of outcasts fail a questionnaire that measures who in their neighborhood will vanish next. Two sisters keep a grotesque secret hidden in a Victorian bathtub. A dearly departed best friend carries a grudge from beyond the grave.

In her debut collection, Gwendolyn Kiste delves into the gathering darkness where beauty embraces the monstrous, and where even the most tranquil worlds are not to be trusted. From fairy tale kingdoms and desolate carnivals, to wedding ceremonies and summer camps that aren’t as joyful as they seem, these fourteen tales of horror and dark fantasy explore death, rebirth, and illusion all through the eyes of those on the outside—the forgotten, the forsaken, the Other, none of whom will stay in the dark any longer.”

Joyce Carol Oates is recognized in multiple genres and even in the world of horror (she did win a Bram Stoker award, after all)! Shriekingviolets428 dazzled us with this stunning setup of her haunting collection, The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares.

“An incomparable master storyteller in all forms, in “The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares” Joyce Carol Oates spins six imaginative tales of suspense. The Corn Maiden is the gut-wrenching story of Marissa, a beautiful and sweet eleven-year-old girl with hair the color of corn silk. Taken by an older girl from her school who has told two friends in her thrall of the Indian legend of the Corn Maiden, in which a girl is sacrificed to ensure a good crop, Marissa is kept in a secluded basement and convinced that the world has ended. Marissa s seemingly inevitable fate becomes ever more terrifying as the older girl relishes her power, giving the tale unbearable tension with a shocking conclusion. In Helping Hands, published here for the first time, a lonely woman meets a man in the unlikely clutter of a dingy charity shop and extends friendship. She has no idea what kinds of doors she may be opening. The powerful stories in this extraordinary collection further enhance Joyce Carol Oates s standing as one of the world s greatest writers of suspense.”

And lastly for the short story recap we have this wonderful photo from grumplstiltskin where we get to see The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton. In this collection we see some of Wharton’s chilling stories from 1904 to 1937.

“These 11 spine-tingling tales of the supernatural bring to light the author’s interest in the traditional New England ghost story and her fascination with spirits, hauntings, and other phenomena. Fine line-drawings by Laszlo Kubinyi enhance the mysterious and sometimes chilling mood.”


What are some of your favorite horror short story collections? What do you consider a short story as opposed to a novella? Let us know your thoughts in the comments – we’d love to discuss! And make sure you check back the next post in our recap of our Instagram challenge where we will show highlights for “The Road.”

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Rebecca Readalong: Week 3

Rebecca Readalong Banner

We are now 75% through Daphne du Maurier’s classic novel Rebecca! If you are just joining us, be sure to check out the full readalong schedule.

This week we read chapters 16-21. Please be aware this post contains spoilers for the first 21 chapters of Rebecca.

The LOHF team has posted and answered some discussion questions below. We’d love to hear your thoughts as well!

Discussion

1. Why do you think the narrator decided to trust Mrs. Danvers and wear the costume she suggested to the fancy dress ball?

Lilyn: She is a twit. A brainless, naive twit.

Laurie: She is very insecure and has an undying desire to please and blindly trust people. Even wretched people. This is what I feel is behind her trusting Danvers with the costume idea.

Tracy: I think she’s grasping for acceptance however she can get it. Because of this, she’s apt to trust people too quickly. Side note: honestly, I thought maybe Danvers was softening towards her – oops.

Gracie: I think she was desperately hoping that Danvers had finally accepted her at last. She seemed even more concerned about Danvers’ approval sometimes even more than Maxim’s.

Toni: I think that she is too naive and that is why she is trusting Danvers.

Emily: She desperately wanted Maxim’s approval and attention – she felt that if she could show off with a costume, she might feel more like she fit in. Maybe a bit of wanting to be better than Rebecca, too.

Cat: Deceit was a foreign concept to her, apparently. In all seriousness, she relies upon acceptance, and she considers herself nothing until she gains the approval of those around her. She’d do well with a therapist.

2.How to you feel about the narrator’s choice to come back downstairs after discovering she chose the same costume as Rebecca?

Lilyn: She’s a twit who occasionally grows a pair.

Laurie: I feel the pressure was too much for her. The party was in her honor and it would’ve looked very bad on her and her marriage if she were a no show and she was very concerned about the thoughts of other people.

Tracy: Hats off to her. Because I would’ve grabbed a bottle of wine on the way up and locked the door behind me.

Gracie: Even though she basically did it to save face I did begrudgingly admire her for it. I think it helped that only a few people had seen what happened.

Toni: She was trying to make a point. Possibly trying to grow a pair to show that it didnt bother her.

Emily: It was a bold choice to come back downstairs. I probably would have stayed in my room pouting and drinking after the reaction.

Cat: Actually, I gave her credit for that. Probably the most ballsy thing she’s done so far.

3. Did you correctly guess what happened to Rebecca?

Lilyn: Nope.

Tracy: Yes! Kind of. I said he killed her accidentally and staged the drowning. Not so much an accident.

Jen: I thought Maxim’s temper was going to be a red herring. Nope, he was as awful as he sounded.

Toni: Nope.

Emily: HELL YES I CORRECTLY GUESSED WHAT HAPPENED TO REBECCA. It’s the only thing I have going for me right now.

Cat: No. I wasn’t even close.

4. With the truth coming to light, do you think the narrator’s reaction to Maxim’s grisly confession was realistic and true to her character?

Lilyn: Yes, because as I’ve already pointed out, she’s a twit.

Laurie: Yeah she was a naive young thing and blinded by love and she was so relieved that he didn’t love Rebecca that I don’t think she cared about the fact that he was a MURDERER!!

Gracie: As much as it creeps me out yes, I think it fit with her character very well.

Toni: Yes, she doesn’t care that he murdered his first wife. That would totally be a deal breaker.

Emily: Yes, I would say it’s true to her character because it was delusional and desperate. She made it about herself instead of actually being concerned about what he was saying.

Cat: I was actually surprised she so blatantly dismissed, and glossed over, the murder. I understand that love can blind, and I understand she has obsessive tendencies, but to kill another human being, premeditated at that, actually seemed to be beyond what her simple mind could conceive. Anger issues is one thing, Rebecca being a distasteful person is also one thing, but MURDER?

5. Do you think the narrator has officially grown a spine, or do you think she’s going to revert back to her old ways?

Lilyn: She’s a half-spined twit. As long as Maxim doesn’t say something vaguely not nice to her, she’ll be fine.

Laurie: It’s not in her nature to be strong. She will do whatever it takes to make Maxim happy. If that means taking charge and bossing people around, she’ll fake it till she makes it.

Toni: I think she is doing what Laurie said faking it till she makes it.

Emily: I want to hope she’s finally grown a spine, but I feel like she’ll probably revert back to her old ways. She has moments of boldness, but I don’t know if it can stick.

Cat: I don’t think she’s necessarily grown a spine. Her strength of character, and lack thereof, is wholly dependent on the man in her life. Now that she knows the truth – that Maxim didn’t love Rebecca, and that he murdered her – her self-worth has grown, or so she believes. It’s a toxic environment, to say the least.

Quotes

Here are some of our favorite quotes from chapters 16-21 of Rebecca:

“He knows she sees him, he knows she comes by night and watches him. And she doesn’t come kindly, not she, not my lady.” – Mrs. Danvers

I felt very much the same as I did the morning I was married. The same stifled feeling that I had gone too far now to turn back.

Manderley had come alive in a fashion I would not have believed possible. It was not the still, quiet Manderley I knew.

My own dull personality was submerged at last.

We had to endure it alone, we had to put up this show, this miserable, sham performance for the sake of all these people I did not know and did not want to see again.

It’s always Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca.

He knows she sees him, he knows she comes by night and watched him. And she doesn’t come kindly, not he, not my lady. She was never one to stand mute and still and be wronged.

She cared for nothing and no one. And then she was beaten in the end.

She’s the real Mrs. de Winter, not you. It’s you that’s the shadow and the ghost.

I belonged there, and Manderley belonged to me.

We’re not meant for happiness, you and I.

It doesn’t make for sanity, does it, living with the devil?

There were no shadows between us any more, and when we were silent it was because the silence came to us of our own asking.

I am afraid it does not concern me very much what Mrs. de Winter used to do…I am Mrs. de Winter now, you know.

It’s a universal instinct of the human species, isn’t it, that desire to dress up in some sort of disguise?

Do you have any favorite quotes from this section? We would love for you to share them!

Giveaway

Don’t forget we are hosting a giveaway for this readalong!

Prize: We will be giving away one copy of our next readalong selection (to be announced at the end of the Rebecca readalong!) to one randomly selected participant.

How to enter: Comment on our discussion posts throughout the Rebecca readalong to be entered into the giveaway. You will receive one entry each week you join in. In your comment, share your thoughts on the current week’s section of Rebecca, share your favorite quotes, or post a link where we can find your thoughts on the current week’s section.

Next Week

Next week we are reading the rest of Rebecca, and we’ll be posting our final set of discussion questions Sunday, December 2. We hope you’ve all enjoyed the book and/or the discussion so far.

 

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

A Shining In The Shadows by Beverley Lee Review

shiningshadows
Clicking on Cover Brings You to Goodreads

A Shining In The Shadows

Gabriel Davenport has been remade from darkness. Now, he must adapt to survive .

In a small seaside town, Gabriel’s maker unwittingly takes his wards into the throes of a deadly new game. There are rumblings on The Bloodvyne, the mental web of linked vampire consciousness. Whispers about a cleansing, about the ruling council hunting vampires with impure blood.

Gabriel finds himself thrust into a new nightmare, where the hunter becomes the hunted. When his maker is taken, he must battle to untangle the mystifying clues laid out in an uncovered labyrinth to find the only creature strong enough to fight against those that hunt his new-found family.

Gaze long into the darkness, and you’ll find old vampire foes out for revenge, new ones with their own agenda, and a witch who holds the key. But just who is the monster in the middle?

Emily’s Teaser Review

There were lots of good surprises in this book, and I enjoyed it the entire way through.

Click here to see the full review on Emily’s Goodreads

Alex’s Teaser Review

Lee’s writing style never disappoints and this is one of those books I hated putting down.

Click to see to see the full review on Alex’s Goodreads

About Beverley Lee

lee

From as far back as she can remember, Beverley Lee has always been in thrall to the written word. Her earliest memories are of books and how they made her feel. She spent most of her formative years with her nose between the pages, or at the local library, devouring books, and losing herself in the worlds of fantasy and adventure. She was that child who would always try to find Narnia at the back of any available wardrobe. Even now the smell of paper in a bookshop makes her feel like she is eight again.

Her writing journey began at the age of seven, when she created terrible, but enthusiastically written, cliché ridden pony stories, complete with illustrations, for her long suffering teacher. But she can’t remember a time when she didn’t make up stories in her head, even when there was no chance to write them down.

The closest thing to magic that she knows is creating characters and new worlds that never existed before. She loves the way the images and voices take form, and the way they take on a life of their own as the words spill out. Beverley is very much drawn to the darker side of fiction and the shadowy place between light and darkness where nothing is quite as it seems. She loves flawed characters – they have a depth and a tantalising wealth of possibility.

Inspiration comes in many forms – a snippet of conversation, a stranger on the street, a song lyric fleetingly heard. Life is inspiration. The very best story is the one you have to tell.

She is a people watcher, a dreamer, a lover of nature and simple things. She collects feathers, picks up seashells and likes to run her fingers over old stone. There’s history there. Stories just waiting to be discovered.

The best way to grow is to support other people and she is passionate about helping other writers as they begin their journey.

Website:  http://beverleylee.com/

 

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

The "Vampires" Recap

Ladies of Horror Fiction Instagram Challenge Weekly Recap Banner - it simply states "The LOHF Instagram Challenge Weekly Recap" on a background with a skull atop a stack of books imprinted to the left.

If you missed last week’s “branches” prompt, be sure to check out it. We selected some gorgeous photos!

Well, we suppose it was inevitable that this day would bring on a lot of Anne Rice. Yet again we tried to choose only one from her and spread the love to other vampire writers in the genre.

 

 

 

 

Amanda__reads kicks us off with The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. It’s hard to imagine a list of vampire books by female horrors authors and not have this one make an appearance!

“An international bestseller and beloved cultural touchstone, Anne Rice’s classic novel Interview with the Vampire starts “where Bram Stoker and the Hollywood versions leave off and penetrates directly to the true fascination of the myth” (Chicago Tribune). But that’s only the beginning. Over the course of twelve interwoven novels, Rice crafts a richly imagined, magnificently transporting epic around her chilling, charismatic antihero, Lestat. An aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France who lives to become a rock star in the demonic, shimmering 1980s, Lestat rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his eternal, terrifying existence.”

 

 

 

 

 

Booksinthefreezer showed us this incredible short story collection by Karen Russell titled Vampires in the Lemon Grove.

Within these pages, a community of girls held captive in a Japanese silk factory slowly transmute into human silkworms and plot revolution; a group of boys stumble upon a mutilated scarecrow that bears an uncanny resemblance to a missing classmate that they used to torment; a family’s disastrous quest for land in the American West has grave consequences; and in the marvelous title story, two vampires in a sun-drenched lemon grove try to slake their thirst for blood and come to terms with their immortal relationship.”

 

 

Our own findingmontauk1 paired Octavia Butler’s Fledgling with a hand-crafted Barlow voodoo doll.

Fledgling, Octavia Butler’s new novel after a seven year break, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly inhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted – and still wants – to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of “otherness” and questions what it means to be truly human.

 

 

 

Tarasbookaddiction gave us Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco. This is the sequel to the popular Stalking Jack the Ripper book. Isn’t that little Giles Funko Pop so fitting?!

“Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper’s true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe’s best schools of forensic medicine…and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life’s dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school’s forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.”

 

This stunning photo by dlgillis20 showed us The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

“To you, perceptive reader, I bequeath my history….Late one night, exploring her father’s library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. The letters are all addressed to “My dear and unfortunate successor,” and they plunge her into a world she never dreamed of, a labyrinth where the secrets of her father’s past and her mother’s mysterious fate connect to an inconceivable evil hidden in the depths of history.

The letters provide links to one of the darkest powers that humanity has ever known and to a centuries-long quest to find the source of that darkness and wipe it out. It is a quest for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the legend of Dracula. Generations of historians have risked their reputations, their sanity, and even their lives to learn the truth about Vlad the Impaler and Dracula. Now one young woman must decide whether to take up this quest herself–to follow her father in a hunt that nearly brought him to ruin years ago, when he was a vibrant young scholar and her mother was still alive. What does the legend of Vlad the Impaler have to do with the modern world? Is it possible that the Dracula of myth truly existed and that he has lived on, century after century, pursuing his own unknowable ends? The answers to these questions cross time and borders, as first the father and then the daughter search for clues, from dusty Ivy League libraries to Istanbul, Budapest, and the depths of Eastern Europe. In city after city, in monasteries and archives, in letters and in secret conversations, the horrible truth emerges about Vlad the Impaler’s dark reign and about a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive down through the ages.”


Are any of these amazing vampire books on your TBR? Tell us some of your favorites in the comments below! Make sure and check back next week when we give a recap for “Short Stories.”

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