Thursday, June 27, 2019

Giveaway: House of Furies Series by Madeleine Roux

We are excited to partner with Wunderkind PR and HarperTeen to offer one lucky LOHF reader the entire House of Furies trilogy by Madeleine Roux!

Be sure to check out each of these books (including the final book in the series Tomb of Ancients!) as well as the details on how to enter the giveaway.

House of Furies (House of Furies #1)

House of Furies by Madeleine Roux

After escaping a harsh school where punishment was the lesson of the day, seventeen-year-old Louisa Ditton is thrilled to find employment as a maid at a boarding house. But soon after her arrival at Coldthistle House, Louisa begins to realize that the house’s mysterious owner, Mr. Morningside, is providing much more than lodging for his guests. Far from a place of rest, the house is a place of judgment, and Mr. Morningside and his unusual staff are meant to execute their own justice on those who are past being saved.

Louisa begins to fear for a young man named Lee who is not like the other guests. He is charismatic and kind, and Louisa knows that it may be up to her to save him from an untimely judgment. But in this house of distortions and lies, how can Louisa be sure whom to trust?

Court of Shadows (House of Furies #2)

Court of Shadows by Madeleine Roux

In this second book of Madeleine Roux’s expansive gothic horror series, illustrations from artist Iris Compiet and chilling photographs help bring to life a world where the line between monsters and men is ghostly thin.

After the frightful events of last autumn, seventeen-year-old Louisa Ditton has settled into her role as a maid at Coldthistle House, but she has not settled into what that means for her humanity.

As Louisa struggles to figure out whether she is worthy of redemption, the devilish Mr. Morningside plans a fete— one that will bring new guests to Coldthistle House. From wicked humans to Upworlders, angelic beings who look down upon Mr. Morningside’s monstrous staff, all are armed with their own brand of self-righteous justice.

Even a man claiming to be Louisa’s father has a role to play, though what his true motive is, Louisa cannot tell. The conflicts will eventually come to a head on the grounds of Coldthistle House—and the stakes include Louisa’s very soul.

Tomb of Ancients (House of Furies #3)

Tomb of Ancients by Madeleine Roux

The war between old gods and monsters comes to a thrilling climax in this final book in the “darkly delightful”* House of Furies series, from the New York Times bestselling author of Asylum. (*Publishers Weekly)

Free from the nightmares of Coldthistle House, Louisa and her friends have taken up a posh new London residence. But there’s no rest for the wicked. Religious zealots from the shepherd’s flock are gathering in the city, and ominous warnings are being left on Louisa’s doorstep. With the evil influence of her father’s spirit growing stronger—trying to take over—Louisa knows she will be forced to pick a side in the coming war between the old gods, whether she’d like to or not.

To save herself, Louisa is desperate enough to do whatever it takes—even if it means returning to Coldthistle House and striking another deal with Mr. Morningside. To uphold her end of the bargain, Louisa will have to rejoin his supernatural staff to venture to a gateway between worlds, a place of legend: the Tomb of Ancients. But, as always, there’s a catch…

Giveaway Information

The giveaway ends Sunday, June 30, 2019 at 11:59 p.m.
Open to US only. Must be over 18 to enter.

How to Enter

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below telling us you would like to be entered! We will randomly select one lucky winner to receive all three books.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

What We've Been Reading #10

Take a peek at what the Ladies of Horror Fiction crew have been reading!

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Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

For the lucky among us, life is what you make of it, but for Dixie Wheeler, the theme music for her story was chosen by another long ago, on the day her father butchered her mother and brothers and then slashed a knife across his own throat. Only one-year-old Dixie was left alive, infamously known as Baby Blue for the song left playing in the aftermath of the slaughter.

Twenty-five years later, Dixie is still desperate for a connection to the family she can’t remember, so when her childhood home goes up for sale, Dixie sets aside all reason and moves in, re-creating a macabre decor with her family’s salvaged furniture. But as the ghosts of her family seemingly begin to take up residence in the home that was once theirs, Dixie starts to question her own sanity and wonders if the evil force menacing her is that of her father, or a demon of her own making.

In order to make sense of her present, Dixie becomes determined to unravel the truth of her past and seeks out the detective who originally investigated the murders. But the more she learns, the more she opens up the uncomfortable possibility that the sins of her father may belong to another, and, perhaps most tragically, to Dixie herself. As bodies begin to pile up around her, Dixie must find a way to expose the lunacy behind her family’s massacre and redeem what little remains of her soul.

Amazon | Goodreads

Emily’s Review Teaser

This book is a fantastic blend of horror and thriller, and I would recommend it for fans of both.

Click here to see Emily’s full review at Goodreads

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Collision by J.S. Breukelaar

A collection of twelve of J.S. Breukelaar’s darkest, finest stories with four new works, including the uncanny new novella “Ripples on a Blank Shore.” Introduction by award-winning author, Angela Slatter. Relish the gothic strangeness of “Union Falls,” the alien horror of “Rogues Bay 3013,” the heartbreaking dystopia of “Glow,” the weird mythos of “Ava Rune,” and others. This collection from the author of American Monster and the internationally acclaimed and Aurealis Award finalist, Aletheia, announces a new and powerful voice in fantastical fiction.

Amazon | Better World Books | Goodreads

Jen’s Review Teaser

I loved these strange and wonderful stories. I felt like I was taking a trip into Breukelaar’s imagination.

Click here to see Jen’s full review at Book Den

Gretchen: A Thriller

Gretchen by Shannon Kirk

Ever since Lucy was two, she’s been on the run alongside her mother. She’s never understood the reason for a lifetime of paranoia, aliases, and lies. All she understands are the rules: never lock eyes with strangers, never let down your guard, and always be ready to move on.

Finally, after thirteen years and eleven states, their next hideaway seems perfect. An isolated, fortresslike place in the New Hampshire woods is the new home they share with its owner, a gentlemanly pianist, and his lonely daughter, Gretchen. She’s Lucy’s age and soon becomes Lucy’s first real friend.

But Gretchen and her father have secrets of their own—and an obsession with puzzles that draws Lucy into a terrifying new game of hide-and-seek. Lucy’s dark past is about to come calling. And this time, for her and her mother in the house on the hill, it might be too late to run.

Amazon | Goodreads

Tracy’s Review Teaser

I haven’t read Kirk before, a misstep I’m definitely regretting. GRETCHEN is a very dark suspense/thriller, chock full of female characters I loved, hated, and was terrified of.

Click here to see Tracy’s full review at Goodreads

What do you think, do you have any interest in picking these up? Please share your LOHF reads!

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

LOHF Presents Stories of Horror: Part 2 of Luella Miller by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

Join Toni as she tries to figure out what exactly Luella is. Will part 2 of Lydia Anderson’s story offer any more clues?

Our heroine Lydia Anderson was telling the story of Luella Miller. When we left off Luella’s husband and sister in law were dead and her aunt Mrs. Abby Mixter, was on death’s door. Lydia had sent for Aunt Abby’s daughter, Mrs. Sam Abbot, however, she is too late. And she begins to tell Luella Miller what she thinks of her. When Luella crash’s to the floor. This is where our story picks up.

Thank you for joining me for the Ladies of Horror FictionPresents. Next month I have the privilege of reading some stories that weresubmitted for the creature theme. Make sure you join me then. Also make surethat you pop over to the Ladies of Horror Fiction website we have somefantastic guest posts for the month.

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

The music for this episode is from Nicolas Gasparini atthedarkpiano.com

Friday, June 21, 2019

Ladies of Horror Fiction Pride Recommendations

Diversity in horror is extremely important. It allows stories from different walks of life to be told. This allows the genre to grow and evolve; allowing the genre to be more accessible to all fans. For readers and authors to see themselves reflected in the books they are reading is paramount. The Ladies of Horror Fiction put together a list of horror authors that are members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

  • Larissa Glasser

This is by no means a completely exhaustive list. If you have any recommendations make sure you leave them in the comments section!!

Thursday, June 20, 2019

LOHF Shelf Edition: Alex from Hey Little Thrifter

This month we’re talking with Alex from Hey Little Thrifter for the LOHF Shelf Edition! Alex is a reviewer, booktuber, and bookstagrammer. She is passionate about vintage books, and even has a blog and booktube review series just to talk about vintage horror by women called Nightmare Queens!

Do you have any recent favorite LOHF books?

Last year I read my first Kathe Koja novel, The Cipher, and it blew me away. I fell in love with her writing and it became an instant favourite! This year I followed it up with Bad Brains and that one was just as amazing, so even though I’m late to the Koja party she is definitely a new favourite author of mine. I’m desperate to read more of her work but I’m trying to pace myself!

Alex Shelfie #1

What LOHF books do you have on your TBR?

I am really looking forward to reading more vintage LOHF – I have a review series on my Booktube channel and blog called Nightmare Queens where I focus on horror from the 70s, 80s and 90s written by women. I’ve read some excellent ones so far such as The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons, and Wait and See by Ruby Jean Jensen. A few on my TBR are Somebody Come and Play by Clare McNally, The Making of a Monster by Gail Petersen, and The Auctioneer by Joan Samson.

Where do you find recommendations? Are there any LOHF books that have been recommended to you that you loved?

I typically find myself going down a rabbit hole of looking at secondhand books online and just seeing what takes my fancy! My wishlist is a mile long (and always growing lol)! Also, I’ve found some great books through recommendations on Goodreads, from other Bookstagrammers and Booktubers, and of course LOHF is an amazing resource.

Ania Ahlborn is an author that I have seen recommended by so many people (especially on Bookstagram!) I read Brother by her recently and it was excellent, so I’m glad I finally checked out her work and I look forward to reading more by her.

Several 80's & 90's classic horror novels

Where do you shop for books?

Most of my books are secondhand and I find the majority of them at thrift stores and library book sales. But a lot of the horror novels I find in the wild are by male authors so I spend time tracking down more by female authors online, at sites such as Abebooks and eBay.

Wait and See by Ruby Jean Jensen Book Cover

Are there any upcoming LOHF releases you’re excited about?

I am honestly pretty out of the loop on new releases so I don’t have anything specific on my radar. I get very excited about ‘new to me’ authors and books rather than necessarily just ‘new’!

Horror books & roses

Where can people find you on social media?

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr8VcOuuI9F0v6IogfTzCAg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heylittlethrifter/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeyLilThrifter

Blog: https://thenightmarequeens.blogspot.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/56572442-alex-hey-little-thrifter


Thank you so much for sharing with us, Alex! We loved seeing all of those classic horror novel covers. Readers, please let us know if you want to share your shelves, too!

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

What We've Been Reading #9

The Ladies of Horror Fiction have a few more books to recommend to you this week!

Her Dark Inheritance by Meg Hafdahl Book Cover

Her Dark Inheritance by Meg Hafdahl

On the day her mother died, Daphne Forrest learned the devastating truth. She’d never really known the women who raised her, not even her real name. Fueled to unravel the tragic mystery behind her mother’s secrets, Daphne abandons all she knows, traveling to the bucolic yet sinister town of Willoughby, Minnesota. 

Navigating through the memories of her own bloody legacy, Daphne throws herself into the insular and haunting small town of her ancestors. She investigates the murder that led to her mother’s shame, with the help of charming, yet tortured, local Edwin Monroe. Edwin has a unique understanding of the darkness in Willoughby, and how the town holds a lurking threat more foreboding than any unsolved murder.

As Daphne gets closer to the truth, Willoughby itself rebels against her. She bears witness to terrifying scenes from the past. Is her mother a murderer? Is this Daphne’s dark inheritance? Is she strong enough to battle an evil more frightening than her own past?

Amazon | Better World Books | Goodreads

Tracy’s Teaser Review

This was a pretty good read. The premise is interesting and the characters are decently developed.

Click here to see Tracy’s full review at Goodreads.

Teeth by Kelli Owen

Teeth by Kelli Owen

All myths have a kernel of truth. The truth is: vampires are real.

They’ve always been here, but only came out of hiding in the last century. They are not what Hollywood would have you believe. They are not what is written in lore or whispered by the superstitious.

They look and act like humans. They live and love and die like humans. Puberty is just a bit more stressful for those with the recessive gene. And while some teenagers worry about high school, others dread their next set of teeth.

Vampires are real, but in a social climate still struggling to accept that truth, do teeth alone make them monsters?

Amazon | Better World Books | Goodreads

Laurie’s Teaser Review

The writer sets up an intriguing world here and if she ever chooses to revisit it I’ll definitely be there to read more.

Click here to see Laurie’s full review at Horror After Dark.

Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics

Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics

When sixteen-year-old Amanda Verner’s family decides to move from their small mountain cabin to the vast prairie, she hopes it is her chance for a fresh start. She can leave behind the memory of the past winter; of her sickly ma giving birth to a baby sister who cries endlessly; of the terrifying visions she saw as her sanity began to slip, the victim of cabin fever; and most of all, the memories of the boy she has been secretly meeting with as a distraction from her pain. The boy whose baby she now carries.

When the Verners arrive at their new home, a large cabin abandoned by its previous owners, they discover the inside covered in blood. And as the days pass, it is obvious to Amanda that something isn’t right on the prairie. She’s heard stories of lands being tainted by evil, of men losing their minds and killing their families, and there is something strange about the doctor and his son who live in the woods on the edge of the prairie. But with the guilt and shame of her sins weighing on her, Amanda can’t be sure if the true evil lies in the land, or deep within her soul.

Goodreads | Harlequin Teen | Better World Books | Amazon

Alex’s Teaser Review

Amy Lukavics is an author that is slowly but positively seducing me and I am eager to choose the next book of hers that I will read!

Click here to see Alex’s full review at Finding Montauk.

That’s it for this week. In the meantime, please share your favorite LOHF reads in the comments. We’d hate to miss out on something spectacular!

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Episode 8 Diversity in Horror with Alice Collins

Book stack for the LOHF Podcast announcement

Join Toni as she talks to her special guest Alice Collins about the bury your gays trope and representation in the horror community.


Welcome to the Ladies of Horror Fiction podcast. I’m yourhost Toni with The Misadventures of a Reader. One of the main purposes of theLOHF has always been to promote diversity in horror every day. June is pridemonth and I have a special guest today we are going to be talking about thebury your gays trope and the inclusiveness of the horror community.

My special guest is Alice Collins who writes the trapped bygender column for Bloody disgusting. The LOHF recently published a guest postby Alice about the use of descriptors and how they define people.

Diversity in Horror

Over the last year or so I have seen the question Why is diversityimportant? If the authors were as good as a,b or c, wouldn’t we be seeing theirwork more often. Why do we need to have x,y and z characters in horror novels?The answer to this question is complex and I am not sure I am really qualifiedto give an answer. But I will tell you my thoughts.

Humans have the shared experience of being human. However, thereis more to a human’s life experience then just being human. They love, work andlive their day to day lives. Each person’s experience valid and offers a newand different perspective on the shared human experience. This is why diversityin any genre is so important. As a reader when you read a book that is written adiverse author you are getting a story that is told from a perspective that isdifferent than your own. Readers can learn something from that other perspectivethat may not have occurred to them before.

Diversity also allows a genre to grow and evolve. When thereare varied voices the genre itself will grow. Diversity will bring new readersto the genre. A reader who may not necessarily been a fan of horror may pick upa book and continue to read in the genre. This will allow more people to come tothe genre. Thus, in turn growing the reader base. Really a simple concept whenyou think about it. The evolution of the genre will allow for more interestingreading, more concepts to play with and mesh together. How could this not befor the betterment of the genre? Personally, it is a win/win all the wayaround.

The last point where diversity is very important is that of recognitionof yourself. For a long time in the horror genre to see a woman would be to seea victim. A victim who had been raped, tortured and put through some of the ghastliestthings imaginable.  However, this ischanging slowly. It is important for people to see themselves in the storiesthat they are reading. When you see someone like yourself in popular media thenyou have a feeling of belonging. Not the feeling of otherness that oftenaccompanies being different than the majority in a genre.

These are only my thoughts on diversity in horror. Lets keephorror inclusive and evolving for everyone.

If you would like more information about Alice’s article regarding the bury your gay’s trope can be found on Films and Fishnets by clicking here. The movies that Alice and I talked about on the podcast are listed in the article as well as her sources. If you would like to know more about Alice please check out her guest post on the LOHF site.

LOHF Pride Month Recommendations

  • Danvars: The Reckoning by Rebecca McNutt
  • Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
  • The Bloody Mary Series by Hillary Monahan
  • Grave Matter by Juno Dawson
  • City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
  • Fist of the Spider Woman edited by Amber Dawn
  • F4 by Larissa Elaine Glasser
  • The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
  • The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R Kiernan
  • Devil’s Call by J. Danielle Dorn

Em and Alex’s #pridehorrorthon goodreads group.

What I am currently reading

New Music for Old Rituals by Tracy Fahey

Synopsis: New Music for Old Rituals brings together a selectionof stories that illustrate the pervasive power of the past in the present.Together they present a strange yet familiar country where cautionary talesstill server a purpose: Where sacred sites of sea and forest, valley and fortshold power. Where old legends live and where new myths are born within thesepages. Bog bodies sleep, contagion rages, ancient rituals are enacted. Battles arefought, ghosts linger and time stutters. Fails and turns back on itself.

Diabhal By Kathleen Kaufman

Synopsis: Ceit Robertson, age ten, is the next Matrarc to the society, a cultish matriarchal group living in an inconspicuous cul-de-sac in Venice beach.  When Ceit’s mother is attacked by spirits from the old world a failed exorcism results in Ceit’s exile into the foster care system in Los Angeles. She eventually lands in the infamous MacLaren Hall, a very real and historically auspicious center for the disturbed and abandoned children in El Monte, CA. Diabhal is the sympathetic story of the devil in Los Angeles. The exploration of the true nature of evil and how intention colors what our definition of wickedness truly is. Ceit grows into a force of nature, as she contains the potential and the mythology of the darkest degree but discovers that perhaps the devil is not what we should truly fear.  Diabhal releases October 29th just in time for Halloween.

New Releases for June

The release that I am most looking forward to this month I WhenI arrived at The Castle By Emily Carroll and here is the synopsis:

“A castle, a killer, and prey all boundand blurred by lust and blood.”

Like many before her that have never come back,she’s made it to the Countess’ castle determined to snuff out the horror, butshe could never be prepared for what hides within its turrets; what unfurlsunder its fluttering flags. 

LOHF Community News

This month is Pride month. Make sure that you check out someof the amazing guest posts that we have for the month!!

LOHF Presents stories of horror is taking submissions forJuly. The theme of the month is Creature!! Make sure that you get yoursubmissions into LOHFPod@gmail.combefore July 1st.

Laurie has started our very own good reads group. Make surethat you join so that you can stay up on read alongs and our current reads.

We are now on Facebook as well. So make sure that you connectwith us there as well.

Horror Community News

Gingernuts of Horror has put together a horror blogger tribewith a badge. If you are a horror blogger make sure that you join the horrorblogger tribe.

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

The music for this episode is from Nicolas Gasparini atthedarkpiano.com

Monday, June 17, 2019

Guest Post: All Vampires are Gay, or: Why I Tried and Couldn't Write a Proper Queer Horror History Essay By J. Danielle Dorn

All Vampires are Gay, or: Why I Tried and Couldn’t Write a Proper Queer Horror History

By J. Danielle Dorn

Since I couldn’t find anything anyone else had written about the history of queer women in horror, I figured the old axiom about writing it myself would hold true for nonfiction same as it does for fiction.

It doesn’t. And as a non-binary gynesexual person, I should have known better.

Even when writing about queer horror, cisgendered white men are the majority of visibly queer authors, which in my opinion makes it even more crucial that we as readers seek out and celebrate authors who identify as queer and female. That said, we live in a world where, right now, laws against cross dressing are used to punish transgender people on the basis of their gender identity and expression [1]. In 77 countries, discriminatory laws criminalize private, consensual same-sex relationships, with at least five of those countries utilizing the death penalty [2]. Same-sex marriage is legal in 24 countries, with the Netherlands being the first in 2001. Trans rights haven’t even been on the table until recently, and the current U.S. administration is looking to eliminate what small progress we’ve made since 2015. It is not legal to be “out” in many places, so the literature we’re able to analyze from a historical perspective is coming from Western countries, within the last forty years.

That isn’t inclusive, to me. And that makes it hard to celebrate.

I want to shout about Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories as being the “actual” first lesbian vampire story every time I hear Sheridan Le Fanu’s name. Yeah, okay, Carmilla influenced Dracula, and Dracula is The Vampire Story. Technically, according to my research, Cora Linn Daniels wrote the first lesbian vampire story, but as far as I can tell Daniels didn’t identify as queer, and Sardia isn’t a horror story, so it doesn’t count for the purposes of this quickly-becoming-nonexistent post. The Gilda Stories wasn’t published until 1991, and I will still argue it did more for the genre than Carmilla did.

People died during the Stonewall riots in 1969, and people are still dying today. Many of those people are women, and many of those women are women of color, and many of those WOC are trans. As I am writing this, news broke about a transgender woman found dead in her cell on Rikers Island, and a group of men verbally and physically assaulted a female couple on a London night bus the night before. I don’t even want to type the words “Straight Pride Month” because of the bullshit that phrase might bring to this website’s traffic.

Living–hell, surviving, for some of us, means keeping quiet. And don’t even get me started on what sort of message major publishers send to queer writers trying to sell stories about queer characters.

When I was growing up, we only had the words “gay” and “lesbian” to work with. I started calling myself a “dyke” in my early twenties because it made the word armor instead of ammunition. Hearing complete strangers question whether I was a boy or a girl didn’t bother me, because I figured well, if those are the only two options they can think of, their lives must be pretty dull. “Queer!” wasn’t something anyone else ever called me for any good reason, and I’ve been called way worse. It still makes folks of a certain age flinch, and I understand why. It chafed me for a while, too. There’s a plus symbol in the LGBT acronym for a reason. There’s always room for improvement, and marginalized folks have always known how to spin gold from horrible shit. There’s celebrating, and then there’s continued work for those who aren’t there yet.

Looking at the history of queer horror, or rather scouring library and Internet archives for academic discourse on the subject, I can’t help thinking about all the voices we are never going to hear. How, in writing a post celebrating female and non-binary queer horror authors, I would either forget someone because they did not choose to identify themselves, or I would drag someone into the discussion who would have rather not been there.

Older than The Gilda Stories is Anne Rice’s first novel, The Interview with the Vampire. We’re not talking about lesbian vampires anymore. (Sad, I know.) It wasn’t until forty years after its publication that Rice went on record as saying “I feel like I’m gay.” Octavia L. Butler never went on record as saying much of anything regarding her sexual orientation, and scholars argue whether she might have been asexual since there’s no evidence of her having been heterosexual either. Does Butler belong on a list of queer horror ladies when Fledgling, a definite horror novel about definite vampires, definitely contains bisexual characters? Do I exclude Rice because she doesn’t definitely identify as queer, even though she’s said both she and her writing transcend gender? Where do I put The Haunting of Hill House? Do I put it anywhere when its author wasn’t queer (as far as I know) but the queer horror community has adopted it thanks to Theo and her definite queerness? Can I fit the word ‘definite’ in this paragraph one more time before I return to my point?

My point: queer horror is difficult to qualify because of an ever-evolving political climate and society’s overall reluctance to admit people who are on the margins. We have always been there, hearing our work isn’t “marketable,” that it “won’t sell” unless we rewrite it and tone ourselves down to be less “political.” We have the right to write without identifying ourselves, or without having queerness coded as political. It’s easy to draw up a list of queer horror films because that medium allows for visual representation of taboo topics. Monsters and monstrous people were obvious stand-ins for queer people during an era when it was still illegal to be queer.

Simply being queer and writing queer characters isn’t a political statement.

We, as readers, have the power to seek out and read those who can identify themselves as queer, which sends a message to publishers that well, actually, there is a market for queer stories. And any list I might have written wouldn’t have been definitive because I cannot identify people for them. I can only identify myself, and I’m simultaneously pissed off about the present and hopeful for the future.

Sources:

[1] UN Office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights

[2] International Lesbian, Gay, Trans and Intersex Association


About J. Danielle Dorn

J. Danielle Dorn was born in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, while their father was serving in the Air Force. After moving around a few times during their formative years, they graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Rochester, and moved around some more during their twenties. Publishers Weekly referred to their debut novel, “Devil’s Call,” as “a fast-paced, beautifully written revenge tale.” They currently live in Rochester, NY, where they continue to write short stories. One day you will be able to read their second novel.

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

What We’ve Been Reading #8

Here’s a little taste of what the Ladies of Horror Fiction have been reading lately.

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This House of Wounds by Georgina Bruce

The devastating debut short story collection from British Fantasy Award-winning author Georgina Bruce. Haunting and visceral tales for the lost and the lonely. An emotional and riveting debut.

Amazon | Better World Books | Goodreads

Emily’s Review Teaser

Georgina Bruce’s writing is so beautiful. Her descriptions are creative and haunting, and I would kill to read a book of poetry written by her.

Click here to see Emily’s full review at Goodreads

Tracy’s Review Teaser

Bruce definitely has the ability to paint a literary picture. I actually read this with a couple of friends, Emily and Audra, and one of the things that we all agreed on was that Bruce would definitely shine at poetry and/or flash fiction.

Click here to see Tracy’s full review at Goodreads.

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Spell on Wheels by Kate Leth, Megan Levens (Illustrator), Marissa Louise (Colorist), Jen Bartel (Cover Artist), Nate Piekos (Letterer)

A road trip story. A magical revenge fantasy. A sisters-over-misters tale of three witches out to get back what was taken fom them.

Andy, Jolene, and Claire aren’t your average twenty-somethings. They’re legacy witches making their way through a modern world. When a jealous nonmagical ex breaks into their home and steals a spell that could awaken potentials with magical powers, the witches plan their revenge. Traveling down the East Coast, they must retrieve their powerful stolen artifacts and strengthen their friendship… the big bad is even worse than they imagined.

Amazon | Better World Books | Goodreads

Emily’s Review Teaser

Spell on Wheels is a quick & fun graphic novel. I liked the characters and the story, and I would definitely read more if the series continues.

Click here to see Emily’s full review at Goodreads

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Second Lives by P.D. Cacek

When four patients unexpectedly wake after being declared dead, their families are ecstatic and the word “miracle” begins to be whispered throughout the hospital. But the jubilation is short lived when the patients don’t respond to their names and insist they are different people. It is suggested all four are suffering from fugue states until one of the doctors recognizes a name and verifies that he not only knew the girl but was there when she died in 1992. It soon becomes obvious that the bodies of the four patients are now inhabited by the souls of people long dead.

Amazon | Better World Books | Goodreads

Laurie’s Review Teaser

The characterization here is incredible and the author really excels at breathing life into all of her people.

Click here to see Laurie’s full review at Horror After Dark

Have you read any of these authors? Please share your thoughts on these and any LOHF you happen to be reading!

Stories of Horror: Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and Luella Miller

Book stack for the LOHF Podcast announcement

Join Toni as she travels back to 1800s New England and meets Lydia Anderson who has a strange story to tell about Luella Miller.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

Mary Ella Wilkins was born to Warren Edward Wilkins andEleanor Lothrop on October 31st, 1852 in Randolph Massachusetts.  She had one sibling Anna Wilkins. Due to financialhardship the family had to move to Battleboro, Vermont in 1867 when Mary was 15.

After the families move to Battleboro Warren opened a drygoods store but, by 1873 but the store failed to thrive. Due to financial hardshipthe Wilkins’s moved into the home of Reverend Thomas Taylor in order forEleanor to take a position as a housekeeper. When the family had been there forthree years Mary’s sister took ill and passed away.

Mary never fit into the mold set for women in the 1880s. Sheraged against the example that he mother set for her. She didn’t think thatwoman should be passive and only perform household duties. This rebellious streakcaused a lot of friction between herself and her mother. Many times, Mary wouldhave to be punished for reading instead of performing her household chores. Thisprobably frustrated Mary’s mother quite a bit because Anna was the exact oppositeof Mary. Mary was permitted to finish high school and even attend one year ofcollege at Holyoke Female Seminary school from 1870-1871. She had to returnhome due to an illness.

Mary did finish her college education at Glenwood Seminaryin West Battleboro. Once finished with her education, Mary wanted to help thefamily financially. She started to submit her stories for publication. Thefirst of Mary’s short stories to be published was a child’s story named The BeggarKing.

By 1883 Mary’s mother and father had both passed away,leaving her with no living relatives. She moves back to her home town where shemoved to the Wales family farm. It was during this time that Mary was excusedfrom any household duties to focus on her writing. During the 20 years that Marylived on the farm she was a prolific author. Publishing on a regular basis.

Mary met and married her husband Dr Charles M. Freeman when she was 49. After her marriage she moved to her husband’s home in Metchun, New Jersey.  Initially, her marriage was happy, but it quickly began to fall apart. Charles wasn’t the man that he presented to Mary when they met. He was an alcoholic philanderer who pushed Mary to write to support his vices. Between their marriage in 1902 and their legal separation in 1922 Mary had Charles committed a number of times for mental instability and alcoholism.

During her long and prolific career Mary published: 15volumes of short stories, 5 short stories not included in a collection, 14novels, 3 volumes of poetry, 3 plays and 8 children’s books and prose essays.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman passed away March 13th,1930 in Metchun, New Jersey of a heart attack.

As an aside, Mary wanted to honor her mother Eleanor after her death. She changed her middle name from Ella to Eleanor.

Monday, June 10, 2019

Guest Post: The Inherent Power of Words to Describe Oneself By Alice Collins

The Inherent Power of Words to Describe Oneself

By Alice Collins

Words are a powerfulthing. I’ve struggled with them a lot over the years. Especially with trying tofind the right descriptors. There’s lots of continued learning involved, it’s anatural part of language evolving. It takes a while for a new word to catch on,and even longer to find one that is descriptive enough to describe thepreviously indescribable. It’s very tricky finding appropriate words. Even whenyou do, you may find it changing some years down the line and that’s ok!However, there are many people that I’ve run into IRL and on the internetbemoaning the use of new words to refer to people. I’ve always been curious asto where the idea that language is somehow a static thing came from, ratherthan it being an ever-growing thing. Take a look at slang, how often do youhear people saying, “That’s the bees’ knees,” when it comes to describingsomething cool now in 2019? When it comes down to it nothing ever stays thesame, it continually changes. The most exciting part of this process is thefinding of new adjectives to describe oneself.

I think the first word I had for myself was, “weird.” It’s what I was called by many people, my parents included. I chose to see it as a good thing. I called myself weird so often that my second grade school teacher called my parents in for a meeting to discuss why I called myself that. I figured it was much better than the boring trappings of normalcy. I labeled myself as a weird geek because it was more fun. Yet, that still didn’t encompass everything, it was just a portion of me. So, I had to search out more words, and in a few cases wait for them to be created. It’s been a never-ending process and I suspect I’ll always be on the search to find new words to describe me as well as running from certain words that I’d rather not have attributed to me. Especially those that have been used to name-call, bully, harass, and marginalize me in the past.

I got called names a lotas a kid, I found other weirdos like me, they were few and far between, thosethat truly understood. Mainly they were my solace at sci-fi and horrorconventions. There wasn’t a whole lot that I was able to do socially except forgo to cons. They became my safe space. Everyone there was just another weirdoon the fringes of society, people of all types. I found that this wasn’t aplace where I would be called names. There were even panels discussingnomenclature and etymology of certain words, as well as gender, and sexuality.It was in these spaces that I felt most comfortable expressing myself and learninghow to be myself. I found other queerdos and talked with them. Some of thewords I learned at these conventions scared me, especially when thinking abouthow I could use them to describe myself. My brain was not ready to accept a lotof them. I was scared and downright terrified. I’d seen how pretty mucheveryone on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum was treated. Those were SCARY words. Deepdown I knew what I was but wasn’t ready to admit it to myself.

As I grew older, Ibecame more and more obsessed with the horror genre. I was brought into theworld loving horror, but it wasn’t until I was a pre-teen that I really gotinto it. I was quickly running out of good Sci-Fi to watch and it was aroundthis time that I discovered a small show on TNT called “Monstervision.” I’dalways been a fan of horror hosts, I loved what I’d seen of Elvira. “MysteryScience Theater 3000” during their original run started on my local cableaccess and stayed in production in MN throughout both the Comedy Central andSci-Fi Channel eras. I watched it all the time. So, moving on to Monstervisionwith Joe Bob Briggs was perfect for me growing up. He showed a bunch of horrormovies as well as some deep dive sci-fi classics that I never would’ve foundotherwise. It was my kind of show. To this day, he calls his die-hard fans his“Drive-In Mutants.” Something inside my brain clicked. I have spent a lot oftime at the Drive-In. Many of the other Mutants I met were just like me, goingto cons, chilling and watching cheesy and fun movies. They were just all-aroundfreaky weirdos with an undying love of the genre, and they had their own quirksas I had mine. They were absolutely wonderful and accepting. I’ve never beenattacked by a Mutant, only accepted. The only thing I’ve ever argued with aMutant over was an opinion on a movie. I can’t say that about any other kind ofperson I’ve run into. On top of being a Drive-In disciple I read a lot ofcomics growing up, my favorite being the X-Men. They were cool, they hadsuper-powers, AND they were mutants too. There’s no possible way it can be seenas anything but a positive for me.

So, I LATCHED ontoMutant immediately. It felt pretty descriptive enough to refer to every bit ofmy weirdness, my quirks, my kinks, my sexuality, my gender, and other things.Even though it’s a different word to most people, for me it’s the perfectdescriptor. Something that I can’t have used against me. The way I see the wordMutant as an all-encompassing word for myself is definitely not the norm. Inpolite company, I’d probably use some kind of combination of poly, kinky,queer, trans, lesbian, degenerate, and weird to describe myself. You can useany of these words to marginalize me and be a general jerk. Yet with Mutant,you can’t do that. My brain finds it impossible to see it as anything but apositive. It’s as if the word was meant to be used to describe me.

To this day over 20 years later, there are still things within me that I’m struggling to find the words to describe. Things that don’t yet have a word, or that I have to figure out still. Finding oneself is a lifelong process. Some people know right away how to describe themselves, others don’t. There isn’t a linear, easy to describe Point A to Point B for me, I’m all over the place. Mutant is still there as the only one that I feel adequately describes my brain meats and it satisfies that innate human need to label things for me. I’d say that it says everything you need to know about me, but to the public at large it most certainly is not enough. There’s so much context behind the word that I am really only able to use it with a certain group of people. So, I’ll continuing learning new words, listening to what is being tried out, and maybe I’ll find another word that I can use around normal people to describe me. Until then, please call me a Mutant.


About Alice Collins

Alice is first and foremost a horror fanatic but overall a fan of the “lesser” genres. Please give her your trash, your b-movies, your low budet/nobudget weird/kung fu/sci-fi/fantasty stuff. She’s also a writer, musician, Your Horror Tran, and an all around general weirdo.

You can find Alice on twitter at @VampAly. She is a staff writer for Infinite Frontiers, a columnist for Bloody Disgusting and a contributing author for Films and Fishnets as well as The Collinsport Historical Society.

Friday, June 7, 2019

Guest Post: The Intimacy of Monsters by Hailey Piper

The Intimacy of Monsters

By Hailey Piper

I adore cosmic horror, but it isn’t what Iusually write.  Don’t get me wrong, I’vepenned a couple, but I’m happier leaving that scale of world-ending dread toP.L. McMillan and Caitlin Kiernan.  Idon’t connect the entropic, inevitable death of all things in a fearfulway.  Cosmic horror delights me.

Personal horror gets under my skin.  The little, everyday injustices and horrorsthat are easy to miss.  They could behappening right next door.  And throughthose come the intimate monsters.

Personal ones.

When an intimate monster creeps into yourlife, sometimes you aren’t even aware of what you’ve met.  They might have been there all along.  And if they get you, the world keepsturning.  An intimate monster can shattera life and if you’re lucky, at best someone might stop and look for a momentbefore carrying on with theirs.

Those are the monsters I write, becausethey reflect my experiences. 

I remember reading an article, I don’tknow how long ago or where I found it, that talked about brainstorming monstersby mashing together human and animal parts, different aspects and sizes.  It reminded me of playing with the CreatureCreator in the 2007 PC game Spore.

Staring in confusion at my computerscreen, I said aloud, “What about the people who scare you?”

What about the boy at high school whotried to set my hair on fire?

What about the man who cornered me nearthe campus restrooms, his words praising me, his eyes and body language sayingother, scarier things?

What about my mother?  When she finished shouting at me and mysiblings once, she said that wasn’t her who’d been shouting, but another womanwho looked like her, a woman who would come into our house.  In the daylight, I rolled myeyes—excuses.  But at night, I worriedwhat would happen if that false mother came into our house while I slept.

The worst thing about intimate monsters iswhen no one takes them seriously.  Whenwe’re little, the monster under the bed is dismissed as imagination.  “You’re just tired.”  When we’re older, scary people are dismissedjust as easily.  The person you’re tryingto tell might smile, make a distracting joke, but press the point and they’llturn away.  They don’t want to know.  I think every horror fan identifies with theteenagers who try to warn parents or police about the Blob and Freddy Krueger,but if it goes beyond identifying, blossoms into outrage?  Then you’ve probably been there.

And if you insist, thencongratulations.  Now you’re theghost.  No one wants to see you if youonly want to tell them that polite, friendly person they know is actually amonster.  It reminds them that there ishorror happening everywhere.  Someone youlook to as background characters in your life could be the monster of someoneelse’s.

I don’t find the unstoppable force thatthreatens our species a touchable monster. Their carnage is too big.  I’veseen weak monsters with ugly hearts, the ones that find someone vulnerable andmake their life miserable.  Intimatemonsters; the ones I’ve met.

With Pride Month, I’m reminded howlistening and togetherness are the stakes and garlic and silver bullets againstintimate monsters.  They can do what theydo because they do it in secret and often to one isolated person.  When we’re open to each other, standtogether, intimate monsters have nothing.

For a while, I wasn’t sure anyone wantedto hear about my intimate monsters.  Ithought they would be seen as bothersome, the way bringing them up in real lifecan be seen.  I believed I was supposedto streamline what I wrote, and because I didn’t know how to do that, I spentyears not writing.

“Write what you know.”  I’ve seen this misconstrued as, “Only writeyour areas of expertise” when really it means, “Write who you are.”  There is no one else to tell thosestories.  I took a long time tounderstand that our every moment is a story, each memory a haunted house to beexplored.

It’s our personal horror that bringsauthenticity to the stories we tell.  Thebox must be opened.  I let out myintimate monsters, the ones who aren’t in my life anymore, the ones who changedinto better people, the ones who are fusions of various predators I’vemet.  There’s significance to baring yourheart on the page.  It’s been said thatno one else can write your weird; it’s all you.

I say the same of the intimate monsters.  If there is a monster who has only been a monster to one person, that is the person in the world who knows that story.  It’s one thing to face the dread that awaits us all, but it’s another to be personally haunted.  All the people in the world, but they spent their horror on you.  What could be more intimate than that?


About Hailey Piper

New York born and raised, now based in Maryland, Hailey Piper is a long-time writer and editor with a Bachelor’s in Literature and over a decade of experience as a professional proofreader and copy editor.  On this site, you can find information on Hailey’s latest projects as they become available.

Thursday, June 6, 2019

What We've Been Reading #7

Feast your eyes on what the Ladies of Horror Fiction Team have been reading as of late:

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Inside the Asylum by Mary SanGiovanni

Kathy has been hired to assess the threat of patient Henry Banks, an inmate at the Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane, the same hospital where her brother is housed. Her employers believe that Henry has the ability to open doors to other dimensions with his mind-making him one of the most dangerous men in modern history. Because unbeknownst to Kathy, her clients are affiliated with certain government organizations that investigate people like Henry-and the potential to weaponize such abilities.

What Kathy comes to understand in interviewing Henry, and in her unavoidable run-ins with her brother, is that Henry can indeed use his mind to create “Tulpas”-worlds, people, and creatures so vivid they come to actual life. But now they want life outside of Henry. And they’ll stop at nothing to complete their emancipation. It’s up to Kathy-with her brother’s help-to stop them, and if possible, to save Henry before the Tulpas take him over-and everything else around him.

Amazon | Goodreads

Lilyn’s Teaser Review

Inside the Asylum is a well-written story and a great entry into the Kathy Ryan series. I think it’s safe to say at this point that I look forward to upcoming entries from Mary SanGiovanni.

Click here to see Lilyn’s full review at Sci-Fi & Scary

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The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

Their lives would never be the same.

Colquitt and Walter Kennedy enjoyed a life of lazy weekends, gathering with the neighbors on their quiet, manicured street and sipping drinks on their patios. But when construction of a beautiful new home begins in the empty lot next door, their easy friendship and relaxed get-togethers are marred by strange accidents and inexplicable happenings.

Though Colquitt’s rational mind balks at the idea of a “haunted” house, she cannot ignore the tragedies associated with it. It is as if the house preys on its inhabitants’ weaknesses and slowly destroys the goodness in them — ultimately driving them to disgrace, madness and even death.

Amazon | Better World Books | Goodreads

Emily’s Review Teaser

I liked the concept of this book, and I think I would like to see it adapted as a modern movie.

Click here to see Emily’s full review at Goodreads

Jen’s Review Teaser

The House Next Door was not what I was expecting. Set in suburbia, it was a different take on the haunted house story.

Click here to see Jen’s full review at Book Den

Tracy’s Review Teaser

I loved LOVED the atmosphere that Siddons builds and the characters are believable. I either liked them or loved to hate them…sometimes both for the same character.

Click here to see Tracy’s full review at Goodreads

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I Miss The World by Violet LeVoit

Set in and around Hollywood Forever Cemetery, this tense and mind-bending noir is Violet LeVoit at her finest: an unnerving, unpredictable and comic journey through deep trauma and glitzy nostalgic insanity.

Amazon | Better World Books | Goodreads

Emily’s Review Teaser

I was so unsure about what was going on for most of I Miss the World, and then I loved when everything tied together. This is a unique story, and I enjoyed it.

Click here to see Emily’s full review at Goodreads

We’re interested in what our community has been reading lately, be sure to let us know!

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Episode 7 Horrific Motherhood

Join Toni as she discusses horror and the intersection with motherhood.

Motherhood and Horror

        Horror hasalways been used as vehicle for societal warnings. Parental warnings are nodifferent.  Being a parent is one of themost rewarding yet terrifying experiences that a human will go through. Being aparent can be downright terrifying. There are so many different primal fearsthat start swirling around. Are you raising them right, are they okay, will xyzexperience scar them for life?  It is nosurprise that horror fiction and films highlight the parent/child dynamic sooften. Even though being a parent is terrifying; motherhood is inherently scary.The terror begins with pregnancy.

Pregnancy is meant to be sacred and beautiful time.  But often times women find themselves scared. Thechange that women’s bodies goes through is absolutely incredible. At thebeginning the changes aren’t visible but over time these bodily changesprogress faster until there is a small human in the women’s arms. A women goesfrom having one human occupying space in her body. Her organs begin to move andher bones shift to allow for a second human.  It is body horror in real life and not betweenthe covers of a book. Women change they become something other than what theywere. In most cases, the woman goes from being an autonomous person to caring foranother’s daily needs.  Her needs are setaside to provide the day to day care for another that is unable to care forthemselves. As children grow and mature the role of the mother changes. You wouldthink that this would lessen the mother’s worries, but it only increases them.

Motherhood tends to be a time of reflection. Mothers arecontinually worrying whether their day to day decisions make them a good or badmother. While the notion of good of bad is deeply psychological and is due inlarge part to changes in social expectations of mothers. Mothers are told to bebetter or be punished. Instead of considering the individual experience ofmotherhood, the horror genre places mothers into two different buckets badmothers and good mothers.

We have all read a story or have seen a movie, where the mother is just horrible. As you are reading or watching the scene unfold you think to yourself how in the world did that woman become a mother? In the horror genre the bad mother is selfish and self-focused. Many times, the bad mother is a working mother or a single mother. Which means that her children do not seem to be her main priority. They might be left unattended for long periods of time, where she is unaware of what they are doing. She isn’t there to guide them through the temptations of growing up. When she finds out what horrors her children have been up to. There is the expectation that she will change in order to earn her redemption or her children’s redemption, but she doesn’t change. When she doesn’t change horrible things befall innocent people in her life.  

On the flip side you have the overbearing and controlling mother. She often smothers her child with her own fears and insecurities. She traps them in a web of protection which turns her children into monsters of her own making.  

We’ve talked a bit about the bad mother stereotype but what about the archetypal good mother.

Take for example the mother figure that we were all shown in ‘80s sitcoms. She baked cookies and sacrifices everything for her family. Her life is perfect.  Any conflict is talked through and in 30 mins all is fine again. The good mother doesn’t have any individuality she is a mother first and foremost. She has no outside interests besides that of taking care of her family. She is the ideal. She is the mother that everyone strives to be. Where does she fit in the horror genre? This mother has a particular place. As much as the bad mother is unaware of what her children are doing the good mother is hyper aware of her children’s activities. Many times she volunteers at their schools and knows all their friends. She is the mother that will sacrifice herself before anything bad will happen to her children. Here is the interesting thing as the story goes on her children will take on the same characteristics as herself. They are basically the anti-Damien. They take on the hero trope in the horror genre. The last person standing when the fight between good and evil is waged.

Both of the mother stereotypes are linked to the way that society views mothers and their roles in how their offspring will turn out. This links back to the nature vs. nurture debate that always seems to be raging when it comes to mothers. Do children turn into monsters due to their parenting or are they born that way.  There are never really cut and dry answers to this debate.

Motherhood is a period of time when women really begin to evaluate their lives as their children change. Pregnancy is a time of bodily change that can be horrifying and hopeful at the same time.  The horror genre is a perfect vehicle for dealing with the anxieties and pressures of motherhood. It allows the reader to confront their anxieties surrounding parenthood and pregnancy. It also allows a reader to explore motherhood tropes as fiction instead of reading a woman’s magazine which chides them for whatever decision they make as parents.  For women authors it allows them to write about their own fears. Put them out on paper and let them go. As parent’s we are always going to have some type of anxiety towards parenthood and horror is the perfect genre to explore all the different fears that we may have.

Horror Fiction Featuring Motherhood

Everything that's Underneath by Kristi DeMeester

Everything That’s Underneath, Kristi DeMeester’s debut powerful horror collection, is full of weird, unsettling tales that recalls the styles of such accomplished storytellers as Laird Barron and Tom Piccirilli.

Crawl across the earth and dig in the dirt. Feel it. Tearing at your nails, gritty between your teeth, filling your nostrils. Consume it until it has consumed you. For there you will find the voices that have called from the shadows, the ones that promise to cherish you only to rip your body to shreds.

In Everything That’s Underneath, Kristi DeMeester explores the dark places most people avoid. A hole in an abandoned lot, an illness twisting your loved one into someone you don’t recognize, lust that pushes you farther and farther until no one can hear yours cry for help. In these 18 stories the characters cannot escape the evil that is haunting them. They must make a choice: accept it and become part of what terrifies them the most or allow it to consume them and live in fear forever.

Beneath by Kristi Demeester

When reporter Cora Mayburn is assigned to cover a story about a snake-handling cult in rural Appalachia, she is dismayed, for the world of cruel fundamentalist stricture, repression, glossolalia, and abuse is something she has long since put behind her in favor of a more tolerant urban existence. But she accepts the assignment, dredging up long-buried memories as she seeks the truth.

As Cora begins to uncover the secrets concealed by a veneer of faith and tradition, something ancient and long concealed begins to awaken. What secrets do the townsfolk know? What might the handsome young pastor be hiding? What will happen when occulted horrors writhe to the surface, when pallid and forgotten things rise to reclaim the Earth?

Will Cora–and the earth–survive? The answers–and pure terror–can only be found in one place: Beneath.

Book cover for Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

Meet Hanna.

She’s the sweet-but-silent angel in the adoring eyes of her Daddy. He’s the only person who understands her, and all Hanna wants is to live happily ever after with him. But Mommy stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good.

Meet Suzette.

She loves her daughter, really, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. As Hanna’s tricks become increasingly sophisticated, and Suzette’s husband remains blind to the failing family dynamics, Suzette starts to fear that there’s something seriously wrong, and that maybe home isn’t the best place for their baby girl after all.

Book cover for: Monstrous Domesticity by R.J. Joseph

Warm and cozy feelings of the maternal and all things domestic. Closest to hearth and home…with only faint whispers of the dark and horrific underbelly. The things inside home that aren’t spoken of. Monstrous domesticity.

Pan Asian American Heritage Month

  • The Book of M by Peng Shepard
  • A Collection of Nightmares by Christina Sng
  • Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh

Latino Book Month

  • Maria the Wanted by Violet Castro
  • Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
  • Poems of My Night by Cynthia Pelayo
  • Five Midnights by Ann Dávila Cardinal
  • She Walks in Shadows by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

What I am Currently Reading

Releases for May

May release I am looking forward is

Kathy has been hired to assess the threat of patient Henry Banks, an inmate at the 
Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane, the same hospital where her brother is housed. Her employers believe that Henry has the ability to open doors to other dimensions with his mind—making him one of the most dangerous men in modern history. Because unbeknownst to Kathy, her clients are affiliated with certain government organizations that investigate people like Henry—and the potential to weaponize such abilities.
 
What Kathy comes to understand in interviewing Henry, and in her unavoidable run-ins with her brother, is that Henry can indeed use his mind to create “Tulpas”—worlds, people, and creatures so vivid they come to actual life. But now they want life outside of Henry. And they’ll stop at nothing to complete their emanicipation. It’s up to Kathy—with her brother’s help—to stop them, and if possible, to save Henry before the Tulpas take him over—and everything else around him.

LOHF News

The LOHF read along is getting ready to wrap up.  We all have really enjoyed The Winter People. Makesure that you check out the discussion posts. Even if you have already read thebook we want to hear what you have to say.

The LOHF has also started a Good Reads Group. Make sure you jointo stay up on what we are currently reading, reviews and discussions abouthorror books written by women.

The LOHF is currently accepting submissions for the LOHF awards. If you have a novel, short story, collection or novella. Please make sure you check out the LOHF awards submission post and get your story into us for consideration.

The LOHF is now taking submissions for the Ladies of Horror Fiction Presents Stories of Horror. July is going to be creature feature month. So, if you have a trunk story or an idea for a creature feature story please have a look at the submission post on the Our Podcast page for the submission criteria.

Horror Community News

The LOHF had a Skype group watch of the Stokers and there mayhave been some tears (Tracy) however, it was a fabulous time and we got tocheer along with everyone. The LOHF would like to congratulate:

Gwendolyn Kiste Superior Achievement in a First Novel for The Rust Maidens

Kiersten White Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel forThe Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein.

Rena Mason  Superior achievement in long fiction for The Devil’s Throat (Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror)

Jess Landry Superior Achievement in Short Fiction “Mutter” (Fantastic Tales of Terror) (Crystal Lake Publishing) and the Silver Hammer Award.

Meredith Averill Superior Achievement in a Screenplay for The Haunting of Hill House: The Bent-Neck Lady, Episode 01:05 (Amblin Television, Flanagan Film, Paramount Television),

Ellen Datlow – Superior Achievement in an Anthology for The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea

Sara Tantlinger- Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection for The Devil’s Dreamland (Strangehouse Books)

Specialty Press Award was presented to Jennifer Barnes and John Edward Lawson of Raw Dog Screaming Press!!

Ladies get yoursubmissions into Journalstone’s imprint Trepdatio publishing!!! Submissions openedJune 1st and will be closing July 31st.

The horror community has been sadden by news of the passing of Frank Errington. Frank wrote reviews for his own site as well as Cemetary Dance online. Our throughts are with Frank’s family during this time.


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

The music for this episode is from Nicolas Gasparini atthedarkpiano.com

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