Saturday, October 31, 2020

Guest Post: The Authors to Blame if You Find Yourself Having Sex in a Cemetery by Jennifer Anne Gordon

Now, I think it’s safe to say that there are many types of people in the world, today I am going to be writing about one very specific type of person. The “Taphophile”, a word that stems from the Greek, meaning “to love graves”. PLEASE do not get this confused with “Necrophile” (being attracted to dead things) …these are two different types of fetishes.

Now, I guess my love affair with cemeteries started when I was young, you see, if I snuck out my back yard and walked just a few hundred blocks though my neighbor’s yard and past her very boisterous and barking Golden Retriever, Sandy, I was transported into another land. A land of quiet, rolling green hills and paths, a land of beautiful white stones all lined up like soldiers.

This cemetery became the meeting place for all the neighborhood misfit toys. The goth girls, the skate punks, the speed-walking, and jogging soccer moms, and the specific “cemetery picnicker”. Now you see, I alternated between the goth girl and the picnicker. The goth girl in me smoked her first cigarette in that cemetery, the goth girl would go to the cemetery with my friends during snowstorms and clear the graves and light the candles…we thought we were edgy, and spiritual, when truthfully we were probably just bored. 

My love of the cemetery picnic stemmed from my general love of picnicking. Proper Picnicking, and by that I mean cucumber sandwiches, no crusts, pales cheeses and crackers, thin slices of pale lemon cakes, lemon snap cookies (No ginger snaps here, I’m no heathen), white sparkling wine, proper silverware and glasses, and of course…poetry books.

A proper cemetery picnic needs people to be lounging on their blanket, under their parasols, while reading Tennyson. 

In fact, I am describing a very specific picnic that happened several years ago, in a Victorian Era Cemetery, somewhere in the wilds of Ohio. It was August, the heat, the wine,  and the sun perhaps were getting to us (my partner and I) and somewhere after reading Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” and before “The May Queen” … well, we of course had sex in the cemetery, in the middle of the day.

So that brings me to author #1 in my list of authors I blame for having sex in a cemetery.

  1. Alfred Lord Tennyson – maybe it was the dusty antique copy of his complete works that I had, or the ephemeral feel of the paper turning to dust under my fingers as I turned the pages. Perhaps it was all the “beautiful and doomed women” in his poetry that made me throw caution to the wind…but yes, Tennyson is to blame for cemetery sex. 
  1. Edgar Allen Poe – Annabelle Lee is basically pornography for Taphophilia! Tell me you don’t want to rip off your clothes or someone else’s when you read the last part of that poem! Honestly if there was a study done of all the people who have had sex in cemeteries, I think at least 47% of them are directly tied to this. I’m not good at math, or studies, so this is really just an educated guess.

 “And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling-my darling-my life

And my bride,

In her sepulchre there by the sea-

In her tomb by the sounding sea”

  1. Audrey Niffenegger – Now, most people will know her from her outstanding novel The Time Traveler’s Wife, but the reason why Audrey makes this list is because of Her Fearful Symmetry. A book so tender and beautiful, and her use of the location of Victorian Highgate Cemetery should almost be considered one of the main characters of that novel. Read that book for the cemetery but love that book for the strange and haunting love story that is at its center. It’s possible to fall in love with a ghost, it’s possible to be a ghost who feels passion, rage, regret, and longing. 
  1. Tracy Chevalier – Again, she is probably most well known for “The Girl With The Pearl Earring”, but instead my brain always goes to “Falling Angels” a book that explores the Victorian fascination with Death, and the burgeoning sexuality and changing social mores of the early Edwardian Era. The story focuses on the relationship of the two young daughters of families that have adjacent cemetery plots. This book is part exploration of the class system of the Victorian Era, and part silent song of prepressed sexuality. Honestly, just writing this makes me want to take off my pants!!
  1. Anne Rice– really, I can’t specifically tell you which of her books made me think that she needed to be on this list but, she needed to be on the list. Perhaps it is because I read the Lestat books when I was 17 and 18, and then all of the Sleeping Beauty reimagining’s, but I find Anne Rice’s language to be lurid, and enveloping, like the scent of a decaying orchid. Reading her work, you feel the energy of a night in New Orleans, you can almost feel the cemeteries calling out to you to make bad decisions. The graves call to you to leave offerings, light candles, leave memories.  I love it. 
  1. V.C Andrews – this is for her, the original, and all the ghostwriters since. Thank you whoever you all are, for making the weird girls all have unexplainable feelings, feelings best expressed, by sex in a cemetery!!

Hit me up on my author page on facebook and let me know what books or authors have made you want to have sex in a cemetery!! I will be interested in reading them.

 I will leave you with a short list of the things that are inspiring me today.

  1. Sculptures that capture the softness of fabric even when it is carved out of stone
  2. The way that jagged rocks can feel like hands underwater if you touch them.
  3. The way a bird’s back feels when you run your finger down it.
  4. Echoes down empty hallways.
  5. The milky color of the sky in the early morning. 

JenniferAuthor – Podcast Host – Artist


Biography

Jennifer Anne Gordon is a gothic horror novelist. Her work includes Beautiful, Frightening and Silent, which is a semi-finalist in the Kindle Book Review Awards (Horror/Suspense (2020), and From Daylight to Madness (The Hotel book 1), and coming out in November 2020, When the Sleeping Dead Still Talk (The Hotel book 2).

She had a collection of her mixed media artwork published during spring of 2020, entitled Victoriana: mixed media art of Jennifer Gordon

Jennifer is one of the hosts as well as the creator of Vox Vomitus, a video podcast on the Global Authors on the Air Network.

Jennifer is a pale curly haired ginger, obsessed with horror, ghosts, abandoned buildings, and her dog “Lord Tubby”.

She graduated from the New Hampshire Institute of Art, where she studied Acting. She also studied at the University of New Hampshire with a concentration in Art History and English. 

She has made her living as an actress, a magician’s assistant, a “gallerina”, a painter, and burlesque performer and for the past 10 years as an award-winning professional ballroom dancer, performer, instructor, and choreographer.

When not scribbling away (ok, typing frantically) she enjoys traveling with her fiancé and dance partner, teaching her dog ridiculous tricks (like ‘give me a kiss’ and ‘what hand is the treat in?’ ok these are not great tricks.) as well as taking photos of abandoned buildings and haunted locations.

She is a leo, so at the end of the day she just thinks about her hair.

For more information and benevolent stalking, please visit her website at www.JenniferAnneGordon.com

Amazon Author Page – amazon.com/author/jenniferannegordon

Facebook Author Page – https://www.facebook.com/JenniferAnneGordonAuthor/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jennifergenevievegordon/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/JenniferAnneGo5

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20063036.Jennifer_Gordon

Friday, October 30, 2020

#LOHFMovieNights: A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting

Every Friday night in October, we are watching horror movies directed by women.

Tonight at 8 PM EST we are hosting our next #LOHFMovieNights with A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting (2020) Directed by Rachel Talalay on Teleparty (formerly Netflix Party).

A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting

Recruited by a secret society of babysitters, a high schooler battles the Boogeyman and his monsters when they nab the boy she’s watching on Halloween.

Visit us on @lohfiction Twitter 15 minutes before the movie to get the link or DM @ladiesofhorrorfiction on Instagram.

Please note you must have an account on Netflix to join in. For more information on using Teleparty, visit the Teleparty site.

We hope to see you tonight!


Jen is one of our LOHF admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Ladies of Horror Fiction website. She also keeps a spotlight on middle grade and young adult horror each month.

You can also find Jen on her blog Book Den, Twitter as @bookden, Instagram as @bookdenjen, on Goodreads, and Letterboxd.

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Horror Adjacent: Apocalypse Fiction

I know we’re all living through a semi-apocalyptic event right now, but they do say fight fire with fire. So, reading books about the apocalypse or post-apocalypse could be just the ticket. Seeing how the worst did happen in these books and how people (mostly) made it out the other side makes me feel better and perhaps a bit more prepared—at least emotionally if not with a stockpile of toilet paper.

The apocalypse is definitely territory (terrortory?) well-populated by horror novels, but there is also a softer side to the apocalypse. These horror-adjacent apocalypse reads are less interested in zombies eating brains and more interested in ruminating on the nature of the end of the world—who or what is to blame and what’s next in rebuilding civilization?


Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Set in the (now) not-too-distant 2025, this spec fiction classic was originally published in 1993. In this book, the end of the world is due to global warming. Through journal entries, it follows Lauren, a young Black woman with a special ability as she navigates a post-apocalyptic America.

The book has been seeing boosts in sales this year—while it isn’t necessarily a horror novel, it is a scarily prescient read, especially in light of 2020. Fire and floods everywhere. Rampant designer drug use. People don’t trust the police. Oh, and a president who promises to dismantle the government and bring back jobs. Hmmm, I wonder how that will turn out.

Butler’s novel turns a sharp eye on real-world issues like unbalanced power structures and our abuse of the environment. Be sure to check out the sequel, and there’s also a graphic adaptation!

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Severance by Ling Ma

This brilliant book is best described as an apocalyptic coming-of-age novel for millennials.

This time, the end of the world comes about because of a virus that spreads from China, turning people into a type of lackadaisical zombie.

With themes of anti-consumerism, the immigrant experience, the meaninglessness of office jobs, and a darkly satirical tongue-in-cheek narrative style poking fun at the lackadaisical nature of our generation, Ling Ma manages to write a compelling story that still has a lot to say about the nature of our modern day society.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

Have you ever thought about what happens to animals during the zombie apocalypse? Welcome to their side of the story.

Shit Turd, a domesticated crow, and his dumb-but-loyal doggie companion Dennis take on the wider, wild world of Seattle after the downfall of humans in this dark comedy. Their goal? Free the domesticated animals who are trapped inside and find a way to stay alive in an increasingly strange world that is ruled by the animals.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

There certainly is something about our current state of social and political affairs that puts us in a bit of an apocalyptic state of mind, am I right or am I right?

In this narrative, the world begins ending when people start losing their shadows. It turns out that the shadow is connected to memory and without it, we forget everything—and I do mean everything. It’s not just our memories about our past and our families and how to tie our shoes. It’s things like: how animals don’t talk, that statues don’t get up and rove around, that lakes can’t appear and reappear on their own. And if you can’t remember the way things are supposed to work, things aren’t fixed and it turns out that just about anything is possible.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Cradle and Grave by Anya Ow

This story features a blasted wasteland of an apocalypse where the survivors have to fight to keep living. For a shorter read, this novella packs in some epic world-building. It’s a strange, bio-mechanical ruin of a world, and Ow’s stylistic economy of language brings this sci-fi/adventure/horror story to life.

What I appreciated the most is that Ow doesn’t hold the reader’s hand—she just writes the story, and the reader is along for the ride.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Afterland by Lauren Beukes

This one is for the fans of The Handmaid’s Tale—so, everyone, right? After a pandemic know as the Manfall, there are very few men left and the world is run by women. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a utopia.

The story follows a mother and her son, whom she fiercely protects, disguising him as a girl as they travel across the US. Beukes has already proved herself a versatile writer, her works often slipping into horror-adjacent. This fierce feminist tale is no exception.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Ghost Summer: Stories by Tananarive Due

Perhaps this is more straight horror than adjacent, but these stories are too good to pass up. This story collection by horror queen Tananarive Due features five apocalyptic stories, ones that felt unnervingly prescient as I read them over the summer.

The stories all appear in the “Carriers” section of the book, but even though this post is about apocalyptic reads, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not reading every single story. Due is a master of the short story (as well as the novel).

“Patient Zero” reads as a diary from a young boy who doesn’t quite realize that the world is crashing down around him. “Danger Word” is about a grandfather and grandson trying to survive when not all the people are people anymore. Then, there are three stories about Nayima and her experiences before, during, and after the end of the world. Put together, they read almost as a novella.

Audra

Audra and her horror hound, Ouija, help manage the Ladies of Horror Fiction Instagram page. When not ghost hunting or rollerskating, she also contributes articles and helps maintain the website.

You can find Audra on Instagram as @ouija.reads, Twitter as @audraudraudra, and Goodreads.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

What We're Reading #70

We have three recent reads to share with you today! We feature two graphic novels and a dark poetry collection that we think you will love.

We hope you find your new favorite book and don’t forget to click either tag above to find more good books ♥

The Night Silver River Run Red by Christine Morgan

Some things, according to Cody McCall, are worth risking a whipping. Such as, sneaking out with your friends after dark for a peek at the traveling show setting up just outside of town. Oddities, the signs promise. Marvels. Grotesqueries. Exotic attractions and mysterious magics.

Not as if they’d be allowed to attend otherwise, not with parents and preacher and schoolmarm all disapproving. But how often does a chance like this come along? There isn’t much else by way of excitement in quiet, peaceful Silver River, a once-prosperous boom town slowly gone bust.

Worth risking a whipping, sure. Worth risking life and limb, and maybe more? Worth risking being ripped to pieces by ravenous, inhuman brutes? Worth crossing paths with those strange, silent cult-folk from the high valley? Worth all the fire and bloodshed and horror and death?

Because something far worse than any ordinary traveling show has come to town, and one thing is for certain: those who survive, if any, will never forget The Night Silver River Run Red.

Fourth in the Splatter Western series from Death’s Head Press.

Amazon | Goodreads

Alex’s Teaser Review

Something about Morgan’s writing style kept me in a trance. Her descriptive imagery remains fresh throughout and her engaging and wildly entertaining dialogue are just two reasons this book flew by.

Read Alex’s entire review at Goodreads.

Daphne Byrne by Laura Marks

When grieving, support can come in many ways. For Daphne, it came as a demon.

Turn-of-the-century New York is a growing metropolis for many, but not for Daphne Byrne. After her father’s death, her mother is drawn to a spirtualistic group that claims to speak to the dead. Daphne sees through their act right away, but something from the other side sees her too. Or someone?

Daphne finds herself in new company, Brother. He offers support and encourages Daphne to stand up for herself…and to use the powers he has too.

Amazon | Goodreads

Audra’s Teaser Review

What I did love about this story was the strangeness and the hallucinatory quality of Daphne’s friend (who only she can see). The writing and art leans into the Gothic aesthetic, and I am a huge fan.

Read Audra’s entire review at Goodreads.

Burials by Jessica Drake-Thomas

What is buried can return. Those who are dead can still speak. A witch can be burned, but not silenced. When the abattoir is opened, the dead will rise. Burials is the narrative of those whose voices have been taken away-murdered women, witches, ghosts. It’s about speaking one’s truth, and using magic to heal or to banish, even from beyond the grave.

Amazon | Goodreads

Cassie’s Teaser Review

I think one of the biggest strengths of this collection is its accessibility – this isn’t just for lovers of horror or dark poetry. This is for any woman really who has struggled with a crappy relationship, with a situation she couldn’t control, with a betrayal from a loved one, with an attack on her character. It’s for mothers, daughters, sisters, friends – everyone, anyone! There are a little over 20 poems here, and I found so much to love in so many of them – I have no doubts that other readers will find that this vengeful, macabre collection resonates with them as well.

Read Cassie’s entire review at Let’s Get Galactic.

Audra’s Teaser Review

Burials is a dark poetry collection considering women whose voices and stories have been silenced—murdered women, ghosts, witches. I loved the opening poem, “Queen of Sticks,” which really sets up the atmosphere and intention of the poems. The poems come from a place of pain but also from a place of hardened strength and durability; these women aren’t going anywhere even when they are buried.

Read Audra’s entire review at Goodreads.


Thank you for joining us today! We hope you found something to add to your tbr list. Please share your recent reads with us in the comments below.

If you are a LOHF writer and have a book you’d like us to consider for a review please visit our review submission page here.


Laurie is one of our LOHF Admins. Laurie creates our review posts, coordinates review requests, oversees the Ladies of Horror Fiction directory, and manages our LOHF Goodreads group.

You can find Laurie on her blog Bark’s Book Nonsense, on Twitter as @barksbooks, on Instagram as @barksbooks, and on Goodreads.

Friday, October 23, 2020

#LOHFMovieNights: Rebecca

Tonight at 8 PM EST we are hosting our next #LOHFMovieNights with Rebecca (2020) on Netflix Party. Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca was the first book we selected for our readalongs, and we are excited to now watch the latest adaptation with you!

After a whirlwind romance with a wealthy widower, a naïve bride moves to his family estate but can’t escape the haunting shadow of his late wife.

Visit us on @lohfiction Twitter 15 minutes before the movie to get the link or DM @ladiesofhorrorfiction on Instagram.

Please note you must have an account on Netflix to join in. For more information on using Netflix Party, visit the Netflix Party site.

We hope to see you tonight!


Jen is one of our LOHF admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Ladies of Horror Fiction website. She also keeps a spotlight on middle grade and young adult horror each month.

You can also find Jen on her blog Book Den, Twitter as @bookden, Instagram as @bookdenjen, on Goodreads, and Letterboxd.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Horror Adjacent: Spooky Nonfiction

Another type of read I like to consider horror adjacent are nonfiction books that incorporate some aspect of the spooky, macabre, occult, weird—whatever floats your creepy red balloon. Everything from taxidermy to true crime fits under this label, and if we’re being honest, who isn’t interested to learn more about severed heads?

Here are some horror adjacent nonfiction reads to spook up your Halloween TBR!


Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton

What celebration of All Hallows Eve would be complete without learning about the history behind this mysterious event? From the Halloween queen herself, Trick or Treat takes you on a journey from the ancient origins to the modern day, tracking how this celebration has changed and morphed across the centuries. If you’d like to read more from Morton, she has an excellent story collection all about Halloween called The Samhanach and Other Halloween Treats as well as a new nonfiction book titled Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre edited by Alison Pierce

Of course, October is the time when everyone cozies up with horror movies, and if you’re interested to learn more about the film industry, this should be your pick. The first book-length study of women in horror by women in horror, this collection of essays re-evaluates existing histories of horror film; highlights women directors, writers, cinematographers, and more; and looks at horror throughout the world.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found by Frances Larson

Don’t let all this spooky stuff go to your head! Let an anthropologist guide you into the fascinating and macabre world of heads—from headhunting to decapitation to graverobbing to art and beyond. This book explores humanity’s strange fascination with heads—from the political to the cultural to the philosophical. Plus, it’s all described in great (sometimes grisly) detail—pictures included!

Goodreads | Amazon

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

The first of three books by Doughty, this memoir explores her introduction to the world of death when she worked at a crematory. With experiences from bizarre to gross, her writing is always humorous and extremely enlightening. These first experiences with both the dead and the living jumpstarted Doughty’s life’s work as a frontrunner of the death positive movement. Now, she is a “mortician, activist, and funeral industry rabble-rouser.” She is one of my personal heroes, and I can’t recommend all of her books enough.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife Mary Roach

If you haven’t previously been introduced to Mary Roach, you’re welcome. All of her books are a treat—tricks included. In her irreverent, inquisitive, and always humorous style, Spook is a thoroughly researched exploration of the most existential question of all: what happens after we die? From scientists to mediums to paranormal experts and everything in between, this book might not have all the answers, but it will take you on a great ride. If you’re looking for another book by Roach with a bit more body (honestly, I am so funny), you might try Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power by Sady Doyle

This book “takes readers on a tour of the female dark side. from the biblical Lilith to Dracula’s Lucy Westenra, from the T-Rex in Jurassic Park to the teen witches of The Craft.” The book looks at real women and fictional ones and the ways that these “bad” women have shaped our consciousness with a patriarchal fear of women. Anyone interested in horror and women’s history and feminism will definitely enjoy this book sitting right at that intersection.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

Audra

Audra and her horror hound, Ouija, help manage the Ladies of Horror Fiction Instagram page. When not ghost hunting or rollerskating, she also contributes articles and helps maintain the website.

You can find Audra on Instagram as @ouija.reads, Twitter as @audraudraudra, and Goodreads.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

What We're Reading #69

We have three recent reads to share with you today! A dark thrilling mystery, a graphic novel, and a story filled with the creepy atmosphere we all love best!

We hope you find your new favorite book and don’t forget to click either tag above to find more good books ♥

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along. But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for. Margot’s mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there? The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape.

Amazon | Goodreads

Alex’s Teaser Review

Rory Power has proven with her sophomoric novel that she knows how to write something unique, quirky, and weird. She can write something that takes all of those things and make it work. Burn Our Bodies Down is no different!

Read Alex’s entire review at Goodreads.

Laurie’s Teaser Review

I read Wilder Girls late last year and I thought it was a great slow burn of a book with some chilling organic body horror and very complicated relationships. Burn Our Bodies Down isn’t quite as horrorish as Wilder Girls but it’s still quite chilling especially when you learn all of its secrets!

Read Laurie’s entire review at Goodreads.

The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado

When your memories are stolen, what would you give to remember? Follow El and Vee as they search for answers to the questions everyone else forgot.

Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania, is plagued by a mysterious illness that eats away at the memories of those affected by it. El and Octavia are two best friends who find themselves the newest victims of this disease after waking up in a movie theater with no memory of the past few hours.

As El and Vee dive deeper into the mystery behind their lost memories, they realize the stories of their town hold more dark truth than they could’ve imagined. It’s up to El and Vee to keep their town from falling apart…to keep the world safe from Shudder-to-Think’s monsters.

Amazon | Goodreads

Audra’s Teaser Review

This is a part of Joe Hill’s Hill House Comics series, which is a set of five six-issue comic stories dedicated to horror. I’ve read two of them so far and I am definitely impressed.

Machado’s was the one I was really waiting for; I’m already a huge fan of her writing, from her short stories to her memoir. And she just keeps delivering! Machado is a skilled and unique storyteller no matter the medium or genre, and that’s no easy feat.

Read Audra’s entire review at Goodreads.

The Malan Witch by Catherine Cavendish

“Naught remained of their bodies to be buried, for the crows took back what was theirs.”

An idyllic coastal cottage near a sleepy village. What could be more perfect? For Robyn Crowe, borrowing her sister’s recently renovated holiday home for the summer seems just what she needs to deal with the grief of losing her beloved husband.

But behind those pretty walls lie many secrets, and legends of a malevolent sisterhood—two witches burned for their evil centuries earlier. Once, both their vile spirits were trapped there. Now, one has been released. One who is determined to find her sister. Only Robyn stands in her way.

And the crow has returned. 

Amazon | Goodreads

Cassie’s Teaser Review

I love atmospheric little seaside cottage locations in stories, and Catherine Cavendish is amazing at giving these salty, windy places the justice they deserve. The Malan Cottage gave me the creeps even before the spookiness really picked up the pace, and that’s because there’s just something so haunting to me about cliffside waves and choppy waters. And if the moodiness of the story’s setting isn’t enough to give you goosebumps, there’s a witch or two here that definitely will!

Read Cassie’s entire review at Let’s Get Galactic.

Thank you for joining us today! We hope you found something to add to your tbr list. Please share your recent reads with us in the comments below.

If you are a LOHF writer and have a book you’d like us to consider for a review please visit our review submission page here.

Laurie is one of our LOHF Admins. Laurie creates our review posts, coordinates review requests, oversees the Ladies of Horror Fiction directory, and manages our LOHF Goodreads group.

You can find Laurie on her blog Bark’s Book Nonsense, on Twitter as @barksbooks, on Instagram as @barksbooks, and on Goodreads.

Friday, October 16, 2020

#LOHFMovieNights: Nocturne

Every Friday night in October, we are watching horror movies directed by women.

Tonight at 8 PM EST we are hosting our next #LOHFMovieNights with Nocturne (2020) Directed by Zu Quirke Amazon Prime Video Watch Party.

The great reach their potential. The mad surpass it.

An incredibly gifted pianist makes a Faustian bargain to overtake her older sister at a prestigious institution for classical musicians.

Visit us on @lohfiction Twitter 15 minutes before the movie to get the link or DM @ladiesofhorrorfiction on Instagram.

Please note you must have an account on Prime to join in. For more information on using Amazon Prime Watch Party, visit Amazon’s Watch Party page.

We hope to see you tonight!


Jen is one of our LOHF admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Ladies of Horror Fiction website. She also keeps a spotlight on middle grade and young adult horror each month.

You can also find Jen on her blog Book Den, Twitter as @bookden, Instagram as @bookdenjen, on Goodreads, and Letterboxd.

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Celebration of Fantastic Fest 2020

Although 2020 has been a complete mess, a few good things have come out of it, and one of those good things is film festivals moving online. This year was supposed to be my first in-person film festival (Houston Horror Film Fest), but instead ended up attending my first online film festival – Celebration of Fantastic Fest, which is usually Fantastic Fest held in Austin. The event was free, and there were a lot of good movie offerings. I’m going to let you know about the three movies I watched that were directed by women so you can keep an eye out on these when they hopefully come to VOD one day. Thank you to Fantastic Fest for hosting this amazing online festival!

Bloodthirsty (2020) – dir. Amelia Moses, 82 min., Canada, world premiere 

SYNOPSIS: Grey is an indie singer who is having visions that she is a wolf. When she gets an invitation to work with notorious music producer Vaughn Daniels at his remote studio in the woods she begins to find out who she really is.

I’ve now seen two 2020 releases directed by Amelia Moses (another post on the other one coming soon since it was at a different festival), and she has a beautiful style for wintry atmospheric and minimalistic horror. I’m not usually a huge werewolf movie fan, but apparently I’m a queer werewolf pop star movie fan, so I need more movies like this, please. 

How to Deter a Robber (2020) – dir. Maria Bissell, 85 min., US, world premiere 

SYNOPSIS: In a desolate town in Northern Wisconsin, a stubborn young woman and her naïve boyfriend face off against a pair of amateur burglars. Hilarity ensues. One person dies.

How to Deter a Robber is a blast to watch. It’s a dark comedy set at Christmas, and there’s so much to love about it. It’s funny and entertaining. The cast was good, and the characters are likeable. I wish the ending wouldn’t have been so abrupt & that everything would have tied together a little more, but it worked well enough. Add How to Deter a Robber to your Christmas list!

The Stylist (2020) – dir. Jill Gevargizian, 105 min., US, world premiere 

SYNOPSIS: A lonely hair stylist becomes obsessed with the lives of her clients and descends into murderous madness.

I’ve followed Jill Gevargizian on Twitter for a bit, and was happy to see that she had a movie at Fantastic Fest. The Stylist is a full-length adaptation of Gevargizian’s short film from 2016 with the same title. The Stylist is a gorgeous slow burn movie, and it has some elements that are reminiscent of May and Maniac. It was promising, but there was a lack of depth that was needed for an intense character study. The pacing feels off at times. I liked the ending, but I wish there would have been a little more action leading up to it. Najarra Townsend was great as the main character.

Add these to your watchlist, and follow us on Letterboxd (link below) to see what we’re watching! We’re having LOHF Movie Nights every Friday in October, so check our previous posts for more info if you want to join in. 

https://letterboxd.com/lohfiction/

Emily is our resident Instagram expert! She also contributes content to the Ladies of Horror Fiction website.

You can also find Emily on her personal Instagram as @exorcismofemilyreed, on Twitter as @ExorcismEmily, on Letterbxd as @bookhappy, and on Goodreads.

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

What We're Reading #68

We have several new recent reads to share with you today! Are you ready for a creepy ghost story, a ghostly thriller and a Halloween collection? Of course you are!

We hope you find your new favorite book and don’t forget to click either tag above to find more good books ♥

Seeing Things by Sonora Taylor

Seeing Things by Sonora Taylor

Abby Gillman has discovered that with growing up, there comes a lot of blood. But nothing prepares her for the trail of blood she sees in the hallway after class – or the ghost she finds crammed inside an abandoned locker.

No one believes Abby, of course. She’s only seeing things. As much as Abby wants to be believed, what she wants more is to know why she can suddenly see the dead. Unfortunately, they won’t tell her. In fact, none of them will speak to her. At all.

Abby leaves for her annual summer visit to her uncle’s house with tons of questions. The visit will give her answers the ghosts won’t – but she may not like what she finds out.

Amazon | Goodreads

Cassie’s Teaser Review

One last thing I want to mention is how totally brutal some of the stuff in this story is! If you’re into your horror fiction having spooky ghosts and stomach-turning, gory imagery – look no further! SEEING THINGS knocks both of these and more way out of the park, and I’m very excited to see what home runs Sonora comes out with next!

Read Cassie’s entire review at Let’s Get Galactic.

Laurie’s Teaser Review

It’s the spooky season, well it’s always the spooky season around here, but now is the perfect time to curl up with a book about sinister ghosts and dastardly goings-on and this is a good one!

Read Laurie’s entire review at Goodreads.

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Something hasn’t been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why in this chilling new novel from the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.

Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt. 

Amazon | Goodreads

Alex’s Teaser Review

Hooooooooly Bible in a skeezy motel’s bedside table! WOW! The Sun Down Motel did not hold back and I absolutely loved it. This is the first book I have read from Simone St. James and I am already a fan. I will obviously be getting more of her stuff!

Read Alex’s entire review at Goodreads.

Laurie’s Teaser Review

This was an engrossing read. It’s more of a secret filled thriller type book (and I LOVE those) with some ghosties rounding things out. If you like dark fiction and long-buried secrets I think you’ll find a lot to enjoy here.

Read Laurie’s entire review at Goodreads.

Halloween Season by Lucy A. Snyder

Halloween is the most wonderful part of the year for many of us. For dedicated fans, the season begins when the leaves start turning autumn colors and doesn’t finish until Hallowtide ends in November. With it comes a whole lot of fun: scary movies and stories, haunted houses, seasonal sweets, spooky decorations, costume parties, and of course trick or treat. But Halloween is also a deeply spiritual time for some; it’s an opportunity to remember and honor loved ones who have passed on.

Master storyteller Lucy A. Snyder has filled her cauldron with everything that Halloween means to her and distilled it into a spell-binding volume of stories. Within these pages you’ll find thrills and chills, hilarity and horrors, the sweet and the naughty.

One of the best things about Halloween is you don’t have to be yourself. So go ahead and try on a new mask or two… you may discover hidden talents as a witch, a pirate, a space voyager, a zombie fighter, or even an elf. This is the perfect collection to celebrate the season of the dead or to summon those heady autumn vibes whenever you like. You may even find a couple of tales that evoke a certain winter holiday that keeps trying to crowd in on the fun.

In the worlds within this book, every day is Halloween!

Amazon | Goodreads

Audra’s Teaser Review

I was a fan of Snyder’s Garden of Eldritch Delights, so of course I needed to read this. These stories are much more lighthearted and magical than the dark cosmic horror of Garden. Another strength of the collection is that Snyder’s characters are immediately present on the page. They each have strong voices and you just know who they are with just a few sentences.

Read Audra’s entire review at Goodreads.


Thank you for joining us today! We hope you found something to add to your tbr list. Please share your recent reads with us in the comments below.

If you are a LOHF writer and have a book you’d like us to consider for a review please visit our review submission page here.

Laurie is one of our LOHF Admins. Laurie creates our review posts, coordinates review requests, oversees the Ladies of Horror Fiction directory, and manages our LOHF Goodreads group.

You can find Laurie on her blog Bark’s Book Nonsense, on Twitter as @barksbooks, on Instagram as @barksbooks, and on Goodreads.

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Horror Adjacent: Latinx Reads

Welcome to our horror adjacent curation station! What is horror adjacent, you ask? Well, I go into more detail about that here, but in all honesty, it’s different for everyone. Because what scares you is subjective—and that’s what makes horror such a diverse and fascinating genre to begin with! Horror-adjacent reads might not blow your pants off with the scare factor, but they are still interested in dark themes, difficult ideas, real-world issues, and pushing the envelope of what speculative fiction can be.

For this post, I’ve collected horror-adjacent reads by Latinx authors to celebrate Latinx Heritage Month (9/15–10/15). From a feminist story collection to coming-of-age tales to novels tackling issues like immigration, toxic masculinity, gender identity, and more, take a look at this list and fill up your TBRs!

The Children by Carolina Sanín

Set in Colombia, this novel is “a haunting fable of fantasy, mystery, and bureaucracy.” It follows Laura Romero, who finds a mysterious six-year-old boy, Fidel, outside her apartment one night. Focusing on themes of loneliness, motherhood, and the failure of governmental systems, this allegorical tale offers a poetic look at disquieting truths.

Goodreads | Amazon


Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado

This short story collection had a lot of horror fans sitting up and paying attention when it came out, and now Machado is an author whose books we anxiously await. From a reimagining of an uncanny classic tale about a woman with a ribbon around her throat to a piece about women slowing vanishing from sight to a story that ruminates on struggles with body image, Machado turns to the speculative to grapple with difficult real-life issues. Through stunning prose and incisive commentary, this is a queer, feminist, and thoroughly genuine collection. It asks difficult questions that there aren’t always clear answers to—but perhaps the answer is more in the willingness to ask the questions at all.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon


Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor

Melchor’s ferocious prose displays a huge talent, and one that she is using to open up a conversation about things that are generally kept in the dark. Violence against women, homophobia, police brutality, male privilege and toxic masculinity, rape, pedophilia, superstition, deep-seated prejudices, and more are confronted in these pages. Page after page, the reader is assaulted with a wall of text, unending dark thoughts and senseless violence. This barrage of language (a stunning feat of translation) only compounds the oppressive atmosphere created by the content. Yes, this book offers an uncomfortable reading experience, but that doesn’t mean it is one we should shy away from.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon


The Iliac Crest by Cristina Rivera Garza

This book is “a Gothic tale of destabilized male-female binaries and subverted literary tropes,” and if that doesn’t make you want it immediately, I don’t know what will! Exploring the shapeshifting nature of perspective and the meaning of reality, the story begins on the ubiquitous dark and stormy night “when two mysterious women invade an unnamed narrator’s house, where they proceed to ruthlessly question their host’s gender and identity. The increasingly frantic protagonist fails to defend his supposed masculinity and eventually finds himself in a sanatorium.”

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon


Itzá by Rios de la Luz

This debut novella is a dark coming-of-age story centering around two sisters, Marisol and Araceli, who are water witches living near the US–Mexico border. Team member Tracy says: “the author melds horrible life experiences like rape and racism with the strong and beautiful lives of these girls. The politics and trauma are there; they are an inextricable part of their lives and de la Luz shies away from none of it.”

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon


Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin

Samanta Schweblin is truly a writer who dances to the beat of her own drum. Little Eyes, a more straightforward tale than her novella Fever Dream, is about cute, fluffy electronic toys that look like pandas, bunnies, dragons, and more. They are called kentukis and they move around on their own just like a little pet. The catch? (Or maybe it’s the draw. . .) They are controlled by another person from somewhere in the world who can watch everything you do. The book explores voyeurism, drawing parallels to our modern obsession with social media, and how that can become less fun and more creepy.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon


Lobizona by Romina Garber

This YA novel (with a sequel already on the way!) follows Manuela, an undocumented immigrant living in Florida, hiding from her dead father’s Argentine crime–family. When she delves into her family’s history, she encounters “a world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf.” Offering an overlap of fantasy with reality, this novel isn’t afraid to discuss crucial topics like racial prejudice and immigration.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon


Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

This YA coming-of-age story riffs on Homer’s The Odyssey (with a side of “The Body” by Stephen King), but with a decided twist of Latinx sisterhood. It follows the four Garza sisters who find a dead body in the river and, with La Llorona as their guide, they set off across the border into Mexico with the goal to return him to his family. Though the story is lighthearted (as the title implies), the mix of Latinx lore and magical beasts like chupacabras with the real-life struggles the girls face will make this one appeal to the horror-adjacent reader.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon


Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

If you read Mexican Gothic, then you probably have the fever for Moreno-Garcia’s work. But did you know that she published another book this year? This coming-of-age crime thriller is set in Mexico, where Viridiana longs for the glamour of Hollywood. When three wealthy American tourists arrive, Viridiana gets mixed up in much more than she bargained for. This character-driven story proves that Moreno-Garcia can write in any genre—and she is more than happy to blend genre lines, making her books perfect for the speculative fiction fan.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon

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