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Hello, and welcome to the second installment of my Emilie Autumn write-up. (Per mod recommendation, new installments will be posted every two or three days – there are seven in total.)
Emilie Autumn is a singer-songwriter with an elaborate semi-fictional universe and a complicated relationship with her fanbase. I strongly recommend you check out Part 1 🔍 before reading.
In this installment, we dive into the drama surrounding the contents of The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls / TAFWVG – the half-autobiographical journal, half-historical fantasy that has defined EA's artistic output and fanbase lore for the past fifteen years. It's still more “Hobby History” than “Hobby Drama” proper, but trust me, it provides valuable context about the general vibes of the fandom.
Content Warning throughout this installment for themes of sexual and gender-based violence, including torture, sex trafficking and femicide, as well as attempted suicide, mental illness, hospitalization, and ableist discrimination; brief mention of Holocaust imagery. Oh, and obviously, spoiler alert for the whole book – but that's comprehensive investigative work for ya!
🪞 = picture / visual 🎵 = music / audio 📺 = video 📝 = primary source / receipt 🔍 = press article / write-up / further reading 🎤 = song lyrics 🐀 = anonymous fan confession 🦠 = reaction / meme

OVERVIEW: “A DOCUMENT IN MADNESS – THOUGHTS AND REMEMBRANCE FITTED” (LAERTES, ACT IV, SCENE 5)

...When the book was first released, I had only two aims - to explain myself to a growing audience that thought they knew me but didn't truly, and then to expose the corruption of the modern day mental health care system and educate in order to inspire at least a tiny bit of change. (EA answers a fan question on Goodreads, 2018 📝)

The Book begins with Emilie Autumn...
...Well, technically The Book begins with a malapropism. Wrong “foreword”, EA! 🪞 Which is our first clue that despite the myriad revised editions this book has gone through, it could probably have done with a little more initial editing, and perhaps a bit more room to reflect, between the events related and the publication of the first final draft.
Anyway, The Book begins with first-person narrator Emilie Autumn surviving a suicide attempt, stating this to her shrink over the phone soon after. Her shrink tells her that she is currently a danger to herself, and that he won't refill her prescriptions (the meds for her bipolar disorder) unless she immediately checks herself into inpatient care. And it all goes downhill from there.
The psych ward stay at an LA hospital lasts longer than the anticipated 72 hours, and proves overall more traumatic than therapeutic. An increasingly distressed Emilie suffers through the inappropriate comments of creepy doctors, the poor bedside manners and general cluelessness of emotionally numb nurses, the intimidating presence of armed guards around the hospital, being stripped of her belongings and privacy, the lack of transparency or actual care in the ward, her partner's indifference during the occasional phone call, the bad hospital food (I can see how that would suck in such a context), having to repeatedly fill out forms and questionnaires (okay, that's annoying too), a patient eating yoghurt in her vicinity (uh...) and staff members existing while fat (wait, what?). She documents the whole unpleasant experience in a journal that she has to turn in at bedtime.
One day, upon recovering her notebook in the morning, Emilie starts finding torn scraps of ancient wallpaper between the pages. They're scribbled with letters from a young woman named Emily, who is also locked up against her will in a psychiatric facility – namely, a women's insane asylum... in Victorian England. Awaiting each new time-traveling letter with bated breath, Emilie gradually learns that the Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls (yes, that's its actual name within the story) isn't so much a hospital as it is a dumping ground / torture dungeon. Women – who aren't so much “crazy” as unconventional and inconvenient to men – are kept in chains, subjected to leechings and ice baths, pimped out as human exhibits and sex slaves, and killed en masse in gruesome medical experiments by a psychopathic doctor who's like a Disney-villain take on Dr Mengele. “My life and hers are basically the same. Nothing has changed at all in mental healthcare,” thinks Emilie in the modern-day psych ward, as a nurse offensively tells her that it's time for art therapy.
Alright, that was a long summary, and I'm showing my bias a little bit. But the contents and tone of the book are relevant to this write-up – as are, of course, the common criticisms that arose in the years after its publication.

A (BI)POLARIZED RECEPTION

In the spirit of neutrality and historical accuracy, I will quote some 5-star Goodreads reviews that I think reflect the reasons why many people genuinely loved and continue to love the book...

I don't think I've ever read anything like TAFWVG. It is amazing, horrifying, and both a work of magical fiction and brutal honesty. I felt like for the first time I had found someone who could understand how I feel. I identified on so many levels with this book, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. I appreciate Emilie as an artist so much more now because I realize just how much of herself she puts into everything she does. (...)
What scares me is that it is so incredibly real and several times, I felt as if Emilie was speaking thoughts I've had myself. (...) So many of the things she expressed during states of depression for these characters make so much sense to me, though, and I greatly value how real and honest this is. (📝)
Having some of Emilie Autumn's actual handwriting in the book made it much more personal and made it seem much more like a journal than just any ordinary book. This is a must read for any "muffin" (Emilie Autumn fan). (📝)

...and some of the less scathing and more nuanced 1-star reviews, highlighting common complaints about the book's contents and tone:

The writing was not strong enough to handle the story being told and there were so many issues from how mental health was handled to the entitled behaviour of the main character to the treatment of all the other characters, I ended up giving up in frustration. It’s a shame as this could have been a really interesting exploration of the mental health system in America paralleled with that of the 1800s, but instead just turned into a lot of, in some cases offensive, ramblings. (📝)
I was shocked in the opening pages by the voice of the main character, and I don't think it was a technique to give her depth. It sounded like genuine elitism with the flavor of "I should be allowed to kill myself." Um. Ok??? (...) I wish the prose had been tolerable for me to get to the high concept journal entry stuff, but everything that the premise promises... from the quality of what I read, it falls very, very short. There are horrible elements to being inside an institution: it's scary, it's dehumanizing, it definitely isn't the "best" space for healing... but this author does not have the knowledge, expertise, or perspective to provide an adequate critique. (📝)
The torture and rape are mentioned as daily occurrences and, while I'm sure such things did occur in Victorian times, it was so overdone and hinted to with such macabre glee, I felt I was watching someone's sordid fantasy. (...) This is not a solemn look at mental illness from the inside. It is a glamorized, twisted, fetishist notion of mental illness and asylums which made me feel truly uncomfortable. (📝)

...I opted not to quote this one because it was too savage and not always fair, but it's a fun read.
In short, the people who enjoy the book tend to praise the engaging storyline, the witty and eloquent writing, the raw authenticity, the depths of insight, and getting to take a peek inside EA's brain. The people who don't, on the other hand, criticize the unbalanced structure, the overwrought and rambling style, the obvious distortions or straight-up fabrications (we'll get to that, all in good time), the acute main character syndrome, the seeming lack of self-awareness or appropriate research (despite claims of “historical accuracy”), the flippant and even dangerous claims about highly sensitive topics, and being made to read stuff that should probably have stayed firmly concealed inside EA's brain.
Many critics report being put off by EA's high opinion of her own intellect and booksmarts, as she routinely assumes staff members to be too dim-witted, uncultured and incompetent to be worth engaging with. (Which is a bit rich, coming from a self-tutored West Coaster who inaccurately claims to speak “the Queen's English” and misspells “in memoriam”.) She takes this disdain to... really mean places. Some readers were especially taken aback by a series of straight-up petty, out-of-left-field fatphobic jabs. 📝
Others cringed (and this is a serious problem for an author who claims to be an advocate) at EA's blatant disdain of any other form of mental illness besides her own. This mostly shines though callous and cruel descriptions of those she calls “the real crazies” – meaning the other patients. By callous, I mean she spends several paragraphs calling a detox patient cute nicknames like “the Duchess von Nutsberg”, “Miss Nuttersby” or “the Mayor of Cracktown” as she gleefully mocks her withdrawal meltdown – with a subtle dig at Courtney thrown in for good measure (second screenshot, end of first paragraph). It's one of the only instances when EA expresses sympathy for the staff; as she hears them brutalizing the problematic patient in the other room, she muses that, in their place, she would probably want to “bash [the woman's] head against the wall”. This is intended as comic relief from her own narrative.
But the most all-encompassing complaint is EA's perceived glamorization of mental anguish and extreme suffering. (Not the gross kind that's experienced by lowly crack addicts – the other kind, the refined kind.)
This complaint refers, in large part, to the book's apparent glorification of self-harm, and categorically negative depiction of psychiatric care. On top of the two main narratives, the book also included three pre-hospitalization journals – the “Cutting Diary”, the “Suicide Diary” and the “Drug Diary” – whose unfiltered, unapologetic contents (including high-contrast pictures of fresh self-harm cuts) were very polarizing.
I will note that EA herself, in interviews, has overtly stated that she's not anti-medication or therapy, and that physically hurting yourself is not a great strategy in the long run. But these nuancing statements are not present in the book. Some former fans have cited EA and her work as a reason why they delayed seeking medical help for their own self-harm and mental health issues.
The complaint also refers to the abundant depictions of tragically gorgeous women being subjected to the most odious abuse, and justifying their self-destructive tendencies as appropriate reactions to said abuse.
Mmh, what did that one Goodreads reviewer mean about “someone's sordid fantasy”...? CW for rape, torture, murder. This is the way... step inside! 🎵

PSYCHSPLOITATION EXTRAVAGANZA

Come see our girls! Crazy girls! If you're willing to be thrilled, this is a hell of a ride! Those girls! Crazy girls! They're hot! They're nuts! They're suicidal! (“Girls! Girls! Girls!”, 2012 📺🎵)

Many comparisons have been drawn with the video game Alice: Madness Returns and the movie Sucker Punch. (In fact, EA got thiiis close to accusing Zack Snyder of plagiarism📝, but wisely stopped short.) In my humble opinion, those similarities are essentially cosmetic, and don't really cut to the quick of what makes TAFWVG – and what makes it so familiar, yet so bizarre within its purported genre. So allow me to share my white-hot take on this self-published fantasy novel from the first Obama presidency.
You heard it here first, folks, and only fifteen years late: TAFWVG is basically a Sweeney Todd reskin of Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtues 🔍), by the infamous Marquis de Sade.
I'm doubtful that Sade was a conscious, direct influence on EA, and the two books are obviously very different in style and explicitness – but they have many, many tropes in common. Hear me out.
Both Emily-with-a-Y and Justine are virtuous, pure-hearted heroins of singular eloquence and beauty (or, for those familiar with literary parlance, “Mary-Sues”) who have The Absolute Worst Luck. Both grew up around wealth and sophistication, but abruptly found themselves poor and alone in the world as teenagers – though both are briefly reunited with a long-lost sister during the plot. (In both cases, one sister dies. Like I said, terrible luck!) Both find themselves in a world of sin and depravity that they vehemently reject, while almost all the other characters gleefully revel in base greed, power schemes, and pure sadism.
After fleeing her convent school to escape the indecent advances of a priest, Justine is entrapped by a gang of depraved aristocrats who use her as a sex slave before having her thrown in jail as a thief. A cold, unscrupulous older woman helps her escape, and forces her to join her gang of robbers. Soon, Justine falls in with a succession of colorful maniacs, such as a medical enthusiast who wants to vivisect his own daughter, a man who rapes women specifically to get them pregnant and kill their newborn babies, and an order of lurid monks who turned their convent into a private sex dungeon.
Compare with TAFWVG:
After being groomed by a human trafficking ring fronting as a music school, Emily is sold off to a depraved aristocrat who would use her as a sex slave – and who, we later learn, murdered one of his own daughters for fun during an orgy. She escapes, but is soon arrested and jailed as a thief for stealing a loaf of bread (I suspect that may draw on another classic of French literature 🎵📺). A cold, unscrupulous older woman bails Emily out, but only for a forcible transfer to the Asylum – which her doctor-son uses as an human experimentation lab and for-profit sex dungeon. When inmates inevitably get pregnant, they are forced to receive botched abortions and hysterectomies, and various other un-sedated mutilations, from a twisted surgeon who is implied to be (gasp!) a young Jack the Ripper.
(In both cases, I personally find that it's the sheer accumulation of impossibly sordid twists that makes the reading bearable, and possibly even fun, rather than just sickening. Each new misfortune is so fantastically awful that the whole thing becomes about as poignant and realistic as The Human Centipede.)
One last intriguing detail: not only were Justine and TAFWVG both written while “inside” (the Bastille and an LA hospital, respectively), both were also reworked by their author several times after publication. And both heroins' fates somehow got worse with every re-issue! Lest we forget: one narrative is a 2009 historical fiction that was meant to champion female empowerment, sisterhood, and more compassion in the treatment of mental illness. The other is 18th century non-con porn that was so brutally graphic, so outrageously deranged, that its author was deemed a menace to society and sentenced to live out his days... in an insane asylum. (Tangent: it's even more darkly funny when you know that 1. Sade was a legit monster, a repeat offender of heinous sexual crimes, but it was the freaking book that got him locked away for good, and 2. he was arrested while on his way to submit yet another version of the manuscript.)
What's interesting is that EA explicitly addresses – and ostensibly calls out! – the exact sort of exploitation and objectification, specifically of mentally ill women, which many readers feel she enacts in the book. It was a central theme in Opheliac: here's her discussing the erotic undertones in Romantic-era depictions of dying women. 🎤 In TAFWVG, the inmates are forcibly dressed with ethereal white gowns and flowers in their hair for a human exhibit / brothel that the doctors call “The Ophelia Gallery”. 🪞 Johns frequently pay to see the girls re-enact Ophelia's death in a bathtub; Emily deems this “madness at its most perverse”.
But then again, it's a time-honored tradition for exploitation media, both fiction and non-fiction – from Reefer Madness 🔍 to Cannibal Holocaust to Michelle Remembers – to cover its ass by clamoring that it's merely "raising awareness" and "showing the truth" of the horrors it depicts in exquisite, lurid detail.

”AFFLICTION, PASSION, HELL ITSELF, SHE TURNS TO FAVOUR AND TO PRETTINESS” (LAERTES, ACT IV SCENE 5): WINNERS OF THE 'MISS UNDERSTOOD' BEAUTY PAGEANT

A number of fans certainly raised an eyebrow at this darkly fetishistic aspect 🐀 📝 of the Asylum narrative, even when they couldn't quite put their finger on what didn't sit right with them. Some wrote it off as cathartic fantasy, like a lot of EA's work. Some expressed mild discomfort, and kindly called the book “paradoxical”. Others were outright disgusted by what they perceived as blatant hypocrisy and trauma-profiteering. The concept definitely hasn't aged very well; in fact, in recent years, there's been increasing pushback 🔍 against the “insane asylum” as a setting for horror fiction. Advocates find that those stories tend to reinforce harmful stereotypes against psych patients, trivialize medical brutality as entertainment, and make it even scarier for people to seek treatment when they need it.
But! For the book's first several years of existence, this discomfort was definitely not mainstream in the fandom. In fact, it was pretty marginal – underground, even; the general consensus was that the whole thing was awesome.
Let me illustrate. Soon after the book came out, EA got a tattoo on her right bicep that read “W14A” (Emily's assigned, tattooed number in the Asylum), to symbolize how she had been “branded for life” by her hospital stay. Over the following years, she started assigning “inmate numbers”, with a similar four-digit format, to fans who requested it online or during meet-and-greets. A number of Asylum forum members started using their unique number as a username or flair; to this day, some fans still use theirs to sign comments on EA's Instagram. A fair few also got their inmate number tattooed.
There are a few reasons for this years-long honeymoon period before the first waves of outrage. First of all, “years” is how long it took before a substantial portion of the active fanbase had actually read the book. On top of dispatching delays, the first and second editions were full-color hardbacks, selling in limited pressings at about $50 plus shipping, which a lot of youngepoorer fans could not readily afford: they had to rely on second-hand accounts from the ultra-fans who did manage to get their hands on a copy. And many such ultra-fans were also young people, who may have been led to EA by their own mental health struggles, a taste for the dramatic – and in many cases, sadly, a personal history of trauma that made it easy not to be phased. To a good part of EA's audience, the blunt violence and over-the-top edginess wasn't tacky or unsettling: it was unironically cool and genuinely relatable. Cool enough to overlook the bad takes and casual bigotry, if you picked up on them at all in the excitement.
Besides, EA pushed The Book so hard, as early as 2007, that before it was even officially released in late 2009, it had become the all-encompassing framework for the entire fan experience. From the music to the stage shows to the in-group slang and lore, everything was Asylum now. So I imagine that even if you hadn't read the book, or weren't all that into it, it was kind of a “tune in or else tune out” situation.
Anyway, that's about all I can think of to explain what possessed dozens, hundreds of fans, across continents, for years, to actually cosplay as “Wayward Victorian Girls” from the story (just to reiterate: mentally ill rape-and-torture victims who, by the end, are being killed in droves and either buried in mass graves or incinerated). I'm talking madwoman tousled hair, sleep-eludes-me smoky eyes, thigh-high black-and-white striped stockings, and virginal “hospital gowns” (white slip dresses), sometimes complete with fake blood splatter. Dressing up for EA shows, or public Muffin Meetups. Posing wistfully for artsy photoshoots in empty bathtubs or childhood bedrooms – or your local abandoned house, through the metal bars of a smashed ground floor window, so it looks like you're in jail. (No, I am not going to dig through DeviantArt for evidence of my claims. I'm assuming a number of the people in those pictures now have kids and stable jobs, and I'm afraid someone might put a hit on my head for causing their blunderyears to resurface.)
Look, I'm not clutching my pearls and saying that those dreamy-edgy visuals were all horrendously insensitive or caused any tangible harm. OR that there's no merit in “shocking” or “distasteful” art that takes a controversial approach to real-world horrors, including glamorizing them.
But even as an outspoken proponent of smut and an staunch cringe apologist, I do find it a bit surreal, looking back from the year 2024, how chill most of the fandom was with the core concept of LARPing as... survivors... of mass incarceration and torture... in striped uniforms... with numbers tattooed on their bodies...? Yeaaah, this feels more and more uncomfortable the longer I think about it. Your Honor, I plead collective insanity for this one. After all, as Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, “you are what you pretend to be.”
*
Ah, well. Art sure is complicated! We can at least take some comfort in the fact that the Offensively Titillating material is mainly contained within the obviously fictional part of the book. Can you imagine the mess if, like the autobiographical portions, the Bedlam Softcore bits featured actual people from EA's real life?!
I mean. Given enough time, that could get pretty awkward.
...We'll circle back to that in the next installment.

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No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere: I see Heaven's glories shine, And faith shines equal, arming me from Fear.
O God within my breast, Almighty, ever-present Deity! Life - that in me hast rest, As I - Undying Life- have power in Thee!
Vain are the thousand creeds That move men's hearts, unutterably vain; Worthless as withered weeds Or idlest froth amid the boundless main,
To waken doubt in one Holding so fast by Thine infinity; So surely anchored on The steadfast rock of immortality.
With wide-embracing love Thy Spirit animates eternal years, Pervades and broods above, Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates and rears
Though Earth and moon were gone, And suns and universes ceased to be, And Thou wert left alone, Every Existence would exist in Thee.
There is not room for Death, Nor atom that his might could render void: Thou - Thou art Being and Breath, And what Thou art may never be destroyed.
(It's said this poem was read at Emily Dickinson's funeral.)

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1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan, Robin Miles
Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
Release date: 06-13-17
4.5 out of 5 stars84,903 ratings
Regular price: $17.99
Table for Two Audiobook By Amor Towles cover art

1. Table for Two

Fictions
By: Amor Towles
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, J. Smith-Cameron
Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
4.5 out of 5 stars94 ratings
On Mystic Lake Audiobook By Kristin Hannah cover art

1. On Mystic Lake

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
Release date: 05-06-10
4.5 out of 5 stars3,032 ratings
The Way of Kings Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art

1. The Way of Kings

The Stormlight Archive, Book 1
By: Brandon Sanderson
Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
Series: The Stormlight Archive, Book 1
Length: 45 hrs and 30 mins
Release date: 08-31-10
5 out of 5 stars101,857 ratings
Regular price: $37.49
Children of Dune Audiobook By Frank Herbert cover art

1. Children of Dune

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Simon Vance
Series: Dune Saga, Book 14, Dune, Book 3
Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
Release date: 02-05-08
4.5 out of 5 stars16,624 ratings
Never Lie Audiobook By Freida McFadden cover art

1. Never Lie

Narrated by: Leslie Howard
Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
Release date: 11-08-22
4.5 out of 5 stars6,732 ratings
Regular price: $20.00
It Ends with Us Audiobook By Colleen Hoover cover art

1. It Ends with Us

By: Colleen Hoover
Narrated by: Olivia Song
Series: It Ends with Us, Book 1
Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
Release date: 08-02-16
4.5 out of 5 stars70,399 ratings
Regular price: $18.74
The Serpent and the Wings of Night Audiobook By Carissa Broadbent cover art

1. The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Crowns of Nyaxia, Book 1
By: Carissa Broadbent
Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb
Series: Crowns of Nyaxia, Book 1
Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
Release date: 08-15-23
4.5 out of 5 stars1,755 ratings
Regular price: $33.90
The Chronicles of Narnia Complete Audio Collection Audiobook By C. S. Lewis cover art

1. The Chronicles of Narnia Complete Audio Collection

By: C. S. Lewis
Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh, Alex Jennings, Michael York, Lynn Redgrave, Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Northam, Patrick Stewart
Series: The Chronicles of Narnia (Publication Order), Book 1-7, The Chronicles of Narnia (Author's Preferred Order), Book 1-7
Length: 33 hrs and 45 mins
Release date: 12-27-19
5 out of 5 stars15,105 ratings
Regular price: $46.79
Pretty Things Audiobook By Janelle Brown cover art

1. Pretty Things

By: Janelle Brown
Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Lauren Fortgang, Hillary Huber
Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
Release date: 04-21-20
4.5 out of 5 stars24,989 ratings
Shōgun, Part Two Audiobook By James Clavell cover art

1. Shōgun, Part Two

The Asian Saga, Book 1.2
Length: 29 hrs and 16 mins
5 out of 5 stars298 ratings
The Inmate Audiobook By Freida McFadden cover art

1. The Inmate

Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
Release date: 07-26-22
4.5 out of 5 stars5,805 ratings
Will Leave the Galaxy for Good Audiobook By Yahtzee Croshaw cover art

1. Will Leave the Galaxy for Good

Jacques McKeown, Book 3
By: Yahtzee Croshaw
Narrated by: Yahtzee Croshaw
Series: Jacques McKeown, Book 3
Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
Release date: 04-04-24
5 out of 5 stars168 ratings
Meditations Audiobook By Marcus Aurelius, George Long - translator, Duncan Steen - translator cover art

1. Meditations

By: Marcus Aurelius, George Long - translator, Duncan Steen - translator
Narrated by: Duncan Steen
Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
Release date: 01-07-11
4.5 out of 5 stars12,222 ratings
Regular price: $14.82
Point Nemo Audiobook By Jeremy Robinson cover art

1. Point Nemo

By: Jeremy Robinson
Narrated by: R.C. Bray
Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
5 out of 5 stars197 ratings
The Great Alone Audiobook By Kristin Hannah cover art

1. The Great Alone

Narrated by: Julia Whelan
Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
Release date: 02-06-18
4.5 out of 5 stars49,221 ratings
Fourth Wing (Part 1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Rebecca Yarros cover art

1. Fourth Wing (Part 1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation)

The Empyrean, Book 1
Narrated by: full cast, Scott McCormick, Troy Allan, Jessica Lauren Ball, Khaya Fraites, Gabriel Michael, Torian Brackett, Taylor Coan, LaMont Ridgell, Robb Moreira, Laura C. Harris, David Cui Cui
Series: Empyrean, Book Book 1, Part 1
Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
Release date: 12-27-23
4.5 out of 5 stars536 ratings
Hello Beautiful Audiobook By Ann Napolitano cover art

1. Hello Beautiful

By: Ann Napolitano
Narrated by: Maura Tierney
Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
Release date: 03-14-23
4.5 out of 5 stars4,639 ratings
Fairy Tale Audiobook By Stephen King cover art

1. Fairy Tale

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Seth Numrich, Stephen King
Length: 24 hrs and 6 mins
Release date: 09-06-22
4.5 out of 5 stars70,709 ratings
Regular price: $26.24
Part of Your World Audiobook By Abby Jimenez cover art

1. Part of Your World

By: Abby Jimenez
Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Zachary Webber
Series: Part of Your World, Book 1
Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
Release date: 04-19-22
5 out of 5 stars6,906 ratings
A Court of Mist and Fury (Part 1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Sarah J. Maas cover art

1. A Court of Mist and Fury (Part 1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation)

A Court of Thorns and Roses 2
Narrated by: Amanda Forstrom, Holly Adams, Nora Achrati, Anthony Palmini, Henry W. Kramer, Natalie Van Sistine, Megan Dominy, Gabriel Michael, Melody Muze, Shawn K. Jain, Jon Vertullo
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 2, Part 1 Dramatized Adaptation
Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
Release date: 06-01-22
5 out of 5 stars1,483 ratings

1. A Game of Thrones

A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1
By: George R.R. Martin
Narrated by: Roy Dotrice
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1
Length: 33 hrs and 46 mins
Release date: 12-09-03
5 out of 5 stars144,166 ratings
Regular price: $36.00
The Most Fun We Ever Had Audiobook By Claire Lombardo cover art

1. The Most Fun We Ever Had

By: Claire Lombardo
Narrated by: Emily Rankin
Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
Release date: 06-25-19
4.5 out of 5 stars3,886 ratings
Regular price: $24.75
Fourth Wing (Part 2 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Rebecca Yarros cover art

1. Fourth Wing (Part 2 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation)

Narrated by: full cast, Robb Moreira, Megan Poppy, James Konicek, Khaya Fraites, Gabriel Michael, LaMont Ridgell, Taylor Coan, Torian Brackett, Rob McFadyen, Laura C. Harris, Jessica Lauren Ball
Series: Empyrean, Book Book 1, Part 2
Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
Release date: 02-09-24
4.5 out of 5 stars283 ratings
Regular price: $21.49
Words of Radiance Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art

1. Words of Radiance

The Stormlight Archive, Book 2
Narrated by: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading
Series: The Stormlight Archive, Book 2
Length: 48 hrs and 13 mins
Release date: 03-04-14
5 out of 5 stars81,341 ratings
Mad Honey Audiobook By Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan cover art

1. Mad Honey

By: Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan
Narrated by: Carrie Coon, Key Taw, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finn
Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
Release date: 10-04-22
4.5 out of 5 stars13,271 ratings
The Penthouse Affair Audiobook By Kendall Ryan cover art

1. The Penthouse Affair

Complete Series
By: Kendall Ryan
Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Jacob Morgan
Series: Penthouse Affair
Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
Release date: 10-09-23
4.5 out of 5 stars305 ratings
Sale price: $6.99 (64% off)
Regular price: $19.95
Sale ends in 13d 15h 48m 43s
The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King Audiobook By Carissa Broadbent cover art

1. The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King

Crowns of Nyaxia, Book 2
Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb, Aiden Snow
Series: Crowns of Nyaxia, Book 2
Length: 19 hrs and 27 mins
Release date: 10-24-23
4.5 out of 5 stars768 ratings
Regular price: $44.99
A Court of Mist and Fury (Part 2 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Sarah J. Maas cover art

1. A Court of Mist and Fury (Part 2 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation)

A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 2
Narrated by: Amanda Forstrom, Dawn Ursula, Nora Achrati, Darius Johnson, Anthony Palmini, Henry W. Kramer, Natalie Van Sistine, Gabriel Michael, Melody Muze, Jon Vertullo, Mike Carnes
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 2, Part 2 Dramatized Adaptation
Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
Release date: 07-01-22
5 out of 5 stars1,281 ratings
The Ocean at the End of the Lane Audiobook By Neil Gaiman cover art

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane

By: Neil Gaiman
Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
Release date: 06-18-13
4.5 out of 5 stars24,576 ratings
Regular price: $19.79
The Berry Pickers Audiobook By Amanda Peters cover art

1. The Berry Pickers

By: Amanda Peters
Narrated by: Aaliya Warbus, Jordan Waunch
Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
Release date: 10-31-23
4.5 out of 5 stars515 ratings
Mark of the Fool 5 Audiobook By J.M. Clarke cover art

1. Mark of the Fool 5

By: J.M. Clarke
Narrated by: Travis Baldree
Series: Mark of the Fool, Book 5
Length: 18 hrs and 30 mins
Release date: 03-27-24
5 out of 5 stars1,205 ratings
Morning Star Audiobook By Pierce Brown cover art

1. Morning Star

Book III of the Red Rising Trilogy
By: Pierce Brown
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
Series: Red Rising, Book 3, Red Rising, Book 3
Length: 21 hrs and 50 mins
Release date: 02-09-16
5 out of 5 stars45,873 ratings
The Alchemist Audiobook By Paulo Coelho cover art

1. The Alchemist

A Fable About Following Your Dream
By: Paulo Coelho
Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
Length: 4 hrs
Release date: 12-26-04
4.5 out of 5 stars80,956 ratings
Regular price: $17.09
It Starts with Us Audiobook By Colleen Hoover cover art

1. It Starts with Us

Narrated by: Colin Donnell, Olivia Song
Series: It Ends with Us, Book 2
Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
4.5 out of 5 stars32,861 ratings
Things We Never Got Over Audiobook By Lucy Score cover art

1. Things We Never Got Over

By: Lucy Score
Narrated by: Lila Winters, Sebastian York
Series: Knockemout, Book 1
Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
Release date: 03-01-22
4.5 out of 5 stars12,796 ratings
Musashi Audiobook By Eiji Yoshikawa, Charles S. Terry - translator cover art

1. Musashi

By: Eiji Yoshikawa, Charles S. Terry - translator
Narrated by: Brian Nishii
Length: 53 hrs and 24 mins
Release date: 08-28-18
4.5 out of 5 stars4,582 ratings
A Gentleman in Moscow Audiobook By Amor Towles cover art

1. A Gentleman in Moscow

Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
Release date: 09-06-16
4.5 out of 5 stars44,406 ratings
The Complete Jaipur Trilogy Audiobook By Alka Joshi cover art

1. The Complete Jaipur Trilogy

The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, and The Perfumist of Paris
By: Alka Joshi
Narrated by: Sneha Mathan, Ariyan Kassam, Deepa Samuel
Series: The Jaipur Trilogy, Book 1-3
Length: 33 hrs and 44 mins
5 out of 5 stars64 ratings
Oathbringer Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art

1. Oathbringer

Series: The Stormlight Archive, Book 3
Length: 55 hrs and 5 mins
Release date: 11-14-17
5 out of 5 stars61,059 ratings
Regular price: $41.24
The Hobbit Audiobook By J. R. R. Tolkien cover art

1. The Hobbit

By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Andy Serkis
Series: The Lord of the Rings, Book 0.5
Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
Release date: 09-21-20
5 out of 5 stars21,492 ratings
A Court of Silver Flames (2 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Sarah J. Maas cover art

1. A Court of Silver Flames (2 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation)

A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 5
Narrated by: Colleen Delany, Shawn K. Jain, Wyn Delano, Natalie Van Sistine, Jon Vertullo, Aure Nash, Renee Dorian, Anthony Palmini, Melody Muze, Nora Achrati, Matthew Bassett
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 5 part 2, Dramatized Adaptation
Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
Release date: 10-30-23
5 out of 5 stars288 ratings
The Well of Ascension Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art

1. The Well of Ascension

Mistborn, Book 2
Narrated by: Michael Kramer
Series: The Mistborn Saga, Book 2
Length: 28 hrs and 56 mins
Release date: 12-28-08
5 out of 5 stars66,538 ratings
Regular price: $33.74
Dungeon Crawler Carl Audiobook By Matt Dinniman cover art

1. Dungeon Crawler Carl

A LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure
By: Matt Dinniman
Narrated by: Jeff Hays
Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 1
Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
Release date: 01-28-21
5 out of 5 stars16,955 ratings
The Husbands Audiobook By Holly Gramazio cover art

1. The Husbands

By: Holly Gramazio
Narrated by: Miranda Raison
Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
4.5 out of 5 stars99 ratings
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Audiobook By Douglas Adams cover art

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

By: Douglas Adams
Narrated by: Stephen Fry
Series: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Book 1
Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
Release date: 04-28-05
4.5 out of 5 stars54,119 ratings
Regular price: $13.50
To Kill a Mockingbird Audiobook By Harper Lee cover art

1. To Kill a Mockingbird

By: Harper Lee
Narrated by: Sissy Spacek
Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
Release date: 07-08-14
5 out of 5 stars46,534 ratings
The Fellowship of the Ring Audiobook By J. R. R. Tolkien cover art

1. The Fellowship of the Ring

Lord of the Rings, Book 1
Series: The Lord of the Rings, Book 1
Length: 22 hrs and 38 mins
Release date: 09-16-21
5 out of 5 stars16,383 ratings
Devolution Audiobook By Max Brooks cover art

1. Devolution

A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre
By: Max Brooks
Narrated by: Judy Greer, Max Brooks, Jeff Daniels, Nathan Fillion, Mira Furlan, Terry Gross, Kimberly Guerrero, Kate Mulgrew, Kai Ryssdal, Steven Weber
Release date: 06-16-20
4.5 out of 5 stars7,695 ratings
Regular price: $18.00
The Stand Audiobook By Stephen King cover art

1. The Stand

Narrated by: Grover Gardner
Length: 47 hrs and 47 mins
Release date: 02-14-12
4.5 out of 5 stars75,807 ratings
Regular price: $40.50
King of Wrath Audiobook By Ana Huang cover art

1. King of Wrath

Kings of Sin
By: Ana Huang
Narrated by: Jacob Morgan, Emily Woo Zeller
Series: Kings of Sin, Book 1
Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
Release date: 04-06-23
4.5 out of 5 stars1,822 ratings
Sale price: $6.99 (71% off)
Iron Gold Audiobook By Pierce Brown cover art

1. Iron Gold

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds, John Curless, Julian Elfer, Aedin Moloney
Series: Red Rising, Book 4, Red Rising, Book 4
Length: 23 hrs and 23 mins
Release date: 01-16-18
4.5 out of 5 stars20,505 ratings
The Swarm Audiobook By Frank Schatzing cover art

1. The Swarm

By: Frank Schatzing
Narrated by: George Weightman
Length: 37 hrs and 36 mins
Release date: 09-05-23
4 out of 5 stars27 ratings
Artemis Audiobook By Andy Weir cover art

1. Artemis

Narrated by: Rosario Dawson
4.5 out of 5 stars93,313 ratings
Sale price: $6.99 (76% off)
You Shouldn’t Have Come Here Audiobook By Jeneva Rose cover art

1. You Shouldn’t Have Come Here

By: Jeneva Rose
Narrated by: Andrew Eiden, Andi Arndt
Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
Release date: 04-25-23
4 out of 5 stars3,755 ratings
Expiration Dates Audiobook By Rebecca Serle cover art

1. Expiration Dates

By: Rebecca Serle
Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
4.5 out of 5 stars230 ratings
Own Me Audiobook By K. A. Tucker cover art

1. Own Me

Wolf Hotel, Book 5
By: K. A. Tucker
Narrated by: Avery Reid
Series: Wolf Hotel Series, Book 5
Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
5 out of 5 stars433 ratings
Rhythm of War Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art

1. Rhythm of War

Book Four of the Stormlight Archive
Series: The Stormlight Archive, Book 4
Length: 57 hrs and 26 mins
Release date: 11-17-20
5 out of 5 stars35,891 ratings
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow Audiobook By Gabrielle Zevin cover art

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

By: Gabrielle Zevin
Narrated by: Jennifer Kim, Julian Cihi
Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
Release date: 07-05-22
4.5 out of 5 stars12,931 ratings
The Guest Audiobook By B.A. Paris cover art

1. The Guest

By: B.A. Paris
Narrated by: Emily Joyce
Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
Release date: 02-20-24
4.5 out of 5 stars506 ratings
A Little Life Audiobook By Hanya Yanagihara cover art

1. A Little Life

By: Hanya Yanagihara
Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
Length: 32 hrs and 51 mins
Release date: 11-01-22
4.5 out of 5 stars1,814 ratings
Regular price: $31.50
Watchers Audiobook By Dean Koontz cover art

1. Watchers

By: Dean Koontz
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dean Koontz
Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
Release date: 05-15-18
4.5 out of 5 stars23,102 ratings
Sale price: $6.99 (72% off)
The Four Winds Audiobook By Kristin Hannah cover art

1. The Four Winds

Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
Release date: 02-02-21
4.5 out of 5 stars35,080 ratings
A Clash of Kings Audiobook By George R.R. Martin cover art

1. A Clash of Kings

A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2
Length: 37 hrs and 12 mins
Release date: 12-28-03
5 out of 5 stars88,974 ratings
Push Audiobook By Sapphire cover art

1. Push

By: Sapphire
Narrated by: Sapphire
Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
Release date: 08-29-08
4.5 out of 5 stars621 ratings
Regular price: $8.10
To Sir Phillip, with Love Audiobook By Julia Quinn cover art

1. To Sir Phillip, with Love

By: Julia Quinn
Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
Series: Bridgertons, Book 5
Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
Release date: 07-11-17
4.5 out of 5 stars6,376 ratings
The Hero of Ages Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art

1. The Hero of Ages

Mistborn, Book 3
Series: The Mistborn Saga, Book 3
Length: 27 hrs and 25 mins
Release date: 12-30-07
5 out of 5 stars67,164 ratings
The Two Towers Audiobook By J. R. R. Tolkien cover art

1. The Two Towers

Lord of the Rings, Book 2
Series: The Lord of the Rings, Book 2
Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
5 out of 5 stars10,639 ratings
A Deadly Education Audiobook By Naomi Novik cover art

1. A Deadly Education

A Novel (The Scholomance, Book 1)
By: Naomi Novik
Narrated by: Anisha Dadia
Series: Scholomance, Book 1
Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
Release date: 09-29-20
4.5 out of 5 stars5,605 ratings
The Only One Left Audiobook By Riley Sager cover art

1. The Only One Left

By: Riley Sager
Narrated by: Christine Lakin, Dawn Harvey
Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
Release date: 06-20-23
4.5 out of 5 stars3,989 ratings
He Who Fights with Monsters: A LitRPG Adventure Audiobook By Shirtaloon, Travis Deverell cover art

1. He Who Fights with Monsters: A LitRPG Adventure

He Who Fights with Monsters, Book 1
Series: He Who Fights with Monsters, Book 1
Release date: 03-09-21
5 out of 5 stars35,162 ratings

Estoy vendiendo todos estos libros que ya leí y no uso mas y me ocupan demasiado lugar!
Hay de todo tipo, la gran mayoria están en inglés y hay un par en castellano. Cualquier duda me pueden consultar, los precios también se pueden charlar y si llevan varios les puedo hacer un descuentito.
Soy de Boedo, CABA. Me puedo acercar por alrededores.

• Food & Cooking de Harold McGee $50.000
• Beautiful Disaster de Jamie McGuire $9.000
• Walking Disaster de Jamie McGuire $9.000
• Throne of Glass de Sarah J. Mass $9.000
• Crown of Midnight de Sarah J. Mass $9.000
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher´s Stone de J.K Rowling $12.000
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets de J.K Rowling $12.000
• Caraval de Stephanie Garber $14.000
• An Ember in the Ashes de Sabaa Tahir $9.000
• A Tale for the Time Being de Ruth Ozeki $8.000
• Origen de Dan Brown $10.000
• Middlesex de Jeffrey Eugenides $12.000
• I´ll Give you the Sun de Jandy Nelson $9.000
• It´s Kind of a Funny Story de Ned Vizzini $11.000
• The Song of Achilles de Madeline Miller $11.000
• This Savage Song de Victoria Schwab $14.000
• The Name of the Wind de Patrick Rothfuss $9.500
• Miss Peregrine´s Home for Peculiar Children de Ransom Riggs $9.500
• More than This de Patrick Ness $8.000
• Hija de Humo y Hueso de Laini Taylor $9.000
• The Final Empire de Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn 1) $12.000
• Killing Commendatore de Haruki Murakami $15.000
• 1Q84 (Trilogia Completa) de Haruki Murakami $17.000
• Tess of the dÚndervilles de Thomas Hardy $8.000
• Cumbres Borracosas de Emily Bronte $12.000
• Madame Bovary de Gustave Flaubert $8.000
• Sense and Sensibility de Jane Austen $10.000
• Tender is the Night & The Last Tycoon de F. Scott Fitzgrarld $8.000
• Flame in the Mist de Renee Ahdieh $10.000
• Falling Kingdoms de Morgan Rhodes $9.000
• Memoirs of a Geisha de Arthur Golden $7.000
• Fangirl de Rainbow Rowell $8.000
• Carry on de Rainbow Rowell $9.000
• All the Light We Cannot See de Anthony Doerr $12.000
• The Bronze Horseman de Paullina Simons $8.000
• Violin de Anne Rice $7.000
• Call Me By Your Name de Andre Aciman $9.000
• Ensayo sobre la Ceguera de Jose Saramago $9.000
• Vampire Academy de Richelle Mead $6.000
• Sangre Azul de Richelle Mead $6.000
• Last Sacrifice de Richelle Mead $7.000
• Blood Promise de Richelle Mead $8.000
• Shadow Kiss de Richelle Mead $7.000
• Spirit Bound de Richelle Mead $7.000
• Six of Crows de Leigh Bardugo $8.000
• Crooked Kingdom de Leigh Bardugo $9.000

Acá les dejo el link del google drive con mas detalles
LINK: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1C92z_B3_LMw8sQ8_slAHZi_9fzKdOhynOby9cCBvnXM/edit?usp=sharing

We humans have an endless amount of flaws.
We humans have an endless amount of flaws.
Yet perhaps one of our bigger ones is that even our own minds – our entire being, really – cannot be trusted.
Every thought is influenced by hundreds of factors, changing day by day. Every sense of remembrance is an echo of a memory that has changed through time. Even the way we see ourselves or others differs from moment to moment. It seems there’s very little certainty in that chaos of beliefs.
I guess that’s what made it so easy for them to influence us.
One day the news reports started, warning us that something has hidden among us – with no physical way for us to differentiate them from the people around us and no way of knowing how long it had been. We were told they look like any other person, perfectly normal in their uniqueness, but dangerous nonetheless – ready to take over once ready.
Even more horrifyingly, they were capable of making us believe they were actual familiars.
The neighbour you swear you’ve known for years, the colleague you’re sure you’ve had an ongoing prank wars with, the family member you’ve loved so deeply. They didn’t replace loved ones, but simply infiltrated in a way that made you so certain that they had always been there.
So, naturally, chaos ensued. Distrust grew, fear conquered rationality and soon the death toll began to rise until the bodies started piling up.
They had told us to try and remember, to conjure the memory of when you had met them – the one thing they supposedly couldn’t change, as it simply had never happened.
I tried to resist for a long time, reminding myself daily of some certainties; how much I love my wife, Sarah. How our youngest, Emily, is the embodiment of joy at three years old. How Elisa, my eldest, loves unicorns. How my only son is a mirror image of me when I was seven.
It didn’t take long for doubts to creep in though.
“Do you remember when Walter moved in next door?” I asked Sarah once. She went quiet for a minute, before saying she was certain she did, mentioning the pecan pie his wife had brought over.
A few days later she admitted she wasn’t sure. It only took mere hours for us to come up with a plan to kill him.
Our boy was next. It was Sarah’s mother who said she was certain we only had daughters, at some point. We tried to resist, but most of our family photos were lost to time. He was dead two days later. We made it quick, though… Just in case.
That was two weeks ago.
Now I’m lying here, pondering the fact that paranoia has been an even worse enemy than agression could be. That is, until my wife turns to me once more.
“I don’t remember Emily’s birth,” she spoke, unsure.
Neither did I, I thought to myself.
Did I?

Hi All, I have taken suggestions and put them to work. Please let me know how this version flies. I appreciate your time and attention in advance. Sincere thx.
Dear [Agent],
Terror has made me cruel -Emily Bronte.
When Linda wakes to discover her beloved pets have vanished in “The Great Animal Rapture”, she is driven into a dystopian landscape where all of earth’s creatures, except for mankind and their host of bacteria, have inexplicably disappeared. Complete at 70,000 words, THE INNOCENTS chronicles the evolution of Linda McMann, an empathic schoolteacher turned reluctant provider and ruthless protector of her fragile tribe as she navigates a world ravaged by the sudden absence of animal life. With no crickets to sing them to sleep and no bird song to wake them in the mornings, the void the animals have left behind is a constant heartache.
When the effects of the event ripple through Linda’s small Virginia town and across the globe, citizens flee the cities where mob rule has seized power. As society crumbles and food becomes scarce, Linda, nicknamed “Bean” for her hidden talent for marksmanship, shelters at her former school with her ailing mother and three young refugees. From her makeshift rooftop outpost, she becomes judge and executioner of suspicious travelers who wander into the trap they have made out of the local bar in order to acquire provisions. Carnivorous gangs are closing in and as the death toll climbs, Linda grapples with the erosion of her morals and unexpected alliances.
In this unique speculative landscape, Linda faces a terrible choice: cling to her compassion for the innocents under her care or give in to the pull of her own desires in the cold, new reality of a world gone mad. Her decisions will have readers questioning the true price of survival.
As a retired library assistant with a creative writing background, I have become an avid reader of all genres. My first love was Stephen King, and his work is still a favorite. My local writer’s group keeps me in check. My Pom Yogi, loves when I look up from my laptop to take a walk on our secluded Virginia road.
I am submitting my debut novel, THE INNOCENTS to you because of your unique interest in a character driven story inside of an original dystopian landscape. It is a dark thriller that intertwines the speculative depth reminiscent of The Death of Grass with complex characters facing impossible choices in an apocalyptic setting, much like Eve. A sequel is underway. I am looking forward to the possibility of working with you.

Hi guys! Since last year I've been making an effort to read! I was hoping someone could suggest me books that are somehow similar (but not the same; just similar vibe,setting,plot,dynamic etc) to the ones I've liked the most! For context I'm 22yo.
Books:
-My favorite books so far are : Wuthering heights by Emily Bronte , The secret history by Donna tarte , If we were villains by m. L. Rio, The night circus by Erin Morgesten , No longer human by Osamu Dazai
-I've read and also like: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen , Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller , The picture of Dorian gray by Oscar Wilde
-Would not re read: They both die at the end by Adam Silverado , If you're ready hit enter , paper towns by John green ,
-I couldn't finish: Ana Karenina by Tolstoy , Emma by Jane Austen ,

• I've watched the series of Harry Potter,Lotr and the Hunger games way too many times to read the books too.

-Genre: Dark Academia, Romance , Fantasy, Psychological fiction , Enemies to Lovers , (Murder) Mystery , Suspense , I like psychology , morally grey characters, sarcasm, rebels and books that make me re think my opinions after I read them
-No: No more than 500 pages No horror!!! No Coleen Hoover No overly complicated writing because my first language isn't english 😅
I either made it very easy or very difficult I'm sorry if it's the second one:(

Hi all, it's wonderful to be part of this group and read posts by likeminded Bronte fans! I hope it's ok to post this to let you know that last year I started a website dedicated to all things Emily Bronte here: https://emilybronte.com/ - it's still a work in progress and new blog content and resources will be added throughout the year, but I wanted to share in case anyone might like to stop by and have a browse. I'm always welcome to hearing suggestions and thoughts (positive and negative) in ways to improve the site and offer people more of what they'd like to see. Thanks and hope you like it!

“We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world — the company of those who have known suffering.” Helen Keller
Introduction: In the wake of devastating mass shootings that have plagued America, the shared grief experienced by individuals and communities takes on a profound and collective nature. Shared grief is a powerful force that binds us together, reminding us of our common humanity and resilience in the face of tragedy. I place before you ten meager offerings on my insights into shared grief due to the acts of violence we see far too often on news broadcasts. At the time of this writing, we are fifty days into 2024, and there have been fifty-four acts of mass violence. Mass violence is defined as an action with four or more victims. I also place before you the framework for community-shared grief and recovery. I encourage you to build your own responses and actions to any of the ten ways of coping with shared grief, as listed below. I encourage you to become the advocate and change agent for your community. I also included some inspirational quotes from historical sages and contemporary people who addressed mass trauma and violence in their own times. Unfortunately, we are not faced with a new paradigm.
Background on Shared Grief: Shared grief occurs when a traumatic event, such as a mass shooting, impacts multiple individuals or communities. It fosters a sense of unity and solidarity as people come together to mourn, support one another, and heal collectively. Unfortunately, the community gathers due to its shared grief.
Examples of Grief due to Mass Shootings:

1. Vigil for the Victims Coping Mechanism: Coming together for a candlelight vigil to honor the lives lost and find comfort in shared remembrance. Inspirational Quote: "Grief is the price we pay for love." – Queen Elizabeth II
   
2. Community Support Groups Coping Mechanism: Participating in support groups that provide a safe space for sharing feelings and receiving empathy from others who understand. Inspirational Quote: "The only cure for grief is action." – George Henry Lewes
   
   1. Art Therapy Workshops Coping Mechanism: Engaging in creative expression through art therapy to process emotions and find healing through artistic outlets. Inspirational Quote: "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." – Pablo Picasso
   2. Memorializing the Victims Coping Mechanism: Creating memorials or dedicating spaces to honor the memories of those lost, fostering a sense of legacy and remembrance. Inspirational Quote: "Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson
   3. Community Healing Circles Coping Mechanism: Participating in healing circles to share stories, offer support, and collectively work towards healing and resilience. Inspirational Quote: "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." – Helen Keller
   4. Mental Health Counseling Services Coping Mechanism: Seeking professional mental health counseling to process emotions, develop coping strategies, and navigate the grief journey. Inspirational Quote: "The pain passes, but the beauty remains." – Pierre-Auguste Renoir
   5. Acts of Kindness Campaigns Coping Mechanism: Engaging in acts of kindness and community service to spread positivity, uplift spirits, and bring hope to those affected by the tragedy. Inspirational Quote: "In the end, only kindness matters." – Jewel
   6. Physical Exercise and Movement Coping Mechanism: Engaging in physical exercise or movement activities to release pent-up emotions, reduce stress, and promote well-being. Inspirational Quote: "Exercise is therapy." – Anonymous
   7. Nature Walks and Reflection Coping Mechanism: Spending time in nature, taking walks, and reflecting on the beauty and tranquility of the natural world to find solace and peace. Inspirational Quote: "In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks." – John Muir
   8. Building Community Resilience Coping Mechanism: Working together as a community to enact change, advocate for gun violence prevention, and build resilience against future tragedies. Inspirational Quote: "Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before." – Elizabeth Edwards

Individuals and communities can navigate the complex terrain of shared grief with strength and unity by coming together, supporting one another, and embracing healing practices.
God of love and compassion,
We come before you with heavy hearts, grieving for all those affected by the senseless acts of violence that have ravaged our communities. We lift up in prayer the families, friends, and individuals who are suffering in the aftermath of these tragic mass shootings. May Your comforting presence surround them, bringing comfort and peace in their time of great sorrow.
Jesus, we ask for Your divine care and healing touch to be upon those struggling to make sense of the pain and loss they are experiencing. Grant them strength, courage, and resilience as they navigate the difficult journey of grief and mourning. Help them find comfort in knowing You are their rock and refuge in times of trouble.
Lord, we pray for unity rooted in our faith in You. May we unite as brothers and sisters, supporting and uplifting one another in love and compassion. Guide us to be beacons of light and hope, demonstrating Your unwavering love through our actions and words.
As we embark on this path of healing and restoration, we ask for Your blessings to pour upon our survivors, communities, and nation. May Your grace envelop them, bringing forth healing, reconciliation, and peace. May we stand together as a testament to Your unfailing love and mercy, showing the world the power of faith and unity in the face of adversity.
In Your holy name, we pray. Amen.
May God's blessings be upon all those impacted by tragedy, guiding them toward healing, strength, and hope. Amen.

In December, I posted my 2023 Recommended Reading List, consisting of all my favorite things that were published in 2023. But who’s to say I can’t do it again in February? I’m not Locus, there’s no rule against two recommendation lists.
An additional 77 reads of 2023-published work has brought me to a total of 29 novels, 19 novellas, 56 novelettes, and 299 short stories (50 of them flash length). For those who already read the first version of the list and don’t want to dig for new information, I’ve put the new items in italics while leaving everything in alphabetical order by author last name. While I only have one new entry each in the Novel and Novella sections, they are my favorite 2023 works in their respective categories, so please don’t miss those. I’ve added more to the shorter fiction categories.
As always, remember that I am just one reader, and while I read a lot of things, it’s only a drop in the bucket compared to what’s out there. And my tastes are idiosyncratic, so me not putting something on my favorites list doesn’t mean it won’t hit hard for other readers. But I read a lot of excellent fiction from 2023, and I hope this list helps others find new favorites.
There is another version of this post on my blog which has hyperlinks to full reviews and full texts of most of the short fiction.

Novels

I’m splitting up these categories using the Hugo Awards definitions, so the novel category consists of stories greater than 40,000 words in length.

• Blade of Dream by Daniel Abraham, published in July 2023 by Orbit. The sequel to Age of Ash tells the same epic story from the perspective of a barely-mentioned side character from the opener. A very slow build—even slower than Abraham’s usual—with a very personal focus, but a fascinating way to tell an epic, and an excellent book overall.
• Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah*, published in May 2023 by Pantheon. An absolutely brutal book that’s also the best thing I read in 2023. It’s the American prison system recast as a gladiatorial game, with a compelling main story and vibrant secondary perspectives covering everything from consumers to organizers to other prisoners. This is getting more play in litfic circles than sci-fi ones, but it’s undoubtedly sci-fi, and it’s excellent—for fans of death games, social commentary, and mosaic novels.*
• Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey, published in March 2023 by Orbit. The opener to a multiversal epic sci-fi trilogy does just what you’d hope: introduces three compelling characters and one series-spanning conflict, sets them on a collision course, and delivers enough plot progression to justify its existence as a novel instead of a prologue.
• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, published in February 2023 by Harper Voyager. It’s an adventure fantasy on the high seas with a stunning 12th century Arabian setting, a compelling older protagonist with meaningful commitments to family and religion, and an absolutely delightful narrative voice. Perfectly readable as a standalone and enough fun to win over my curmudgeonly anti-action heart.
• Three Grams of Elsewhere by Andy Giesler, published in May 2023 by Humble Quill. Speaking of my anti-action heart, this is a book that’s perfect for it. A series of murders provides the inciting incident and enough plot progression to give the book some shape, but it’s all about the theme and the narrative voice. The octogenarian Midwestern lead is captured perfectly, and the consistent focus on the value of empathy is refreshingly countercultural.
• Unraveller by Frances Hardinge, published in January 2023 by Amulet Books. Another theme-heavy book, this is a YA adventure with plenty of mystery to drive the plot, an uncanny forest setting, and some excellent reflections on trauma, recovery, guilt, punishment, and vengeance.
• Starling House by Alix E. Harrow, published in October 2023 by Tor. As I’d expect from Harrow, this delivers lovely prose and an engaging plot with suppressed history and some dastardly rich white men. A haunted house in a creepy Kentucky town set the mood while keeping the story much closer to Gothic fairy tale than to horror.
• Lone Women by Victor LaValle, published in January 2023 by One World. Another small-town Gothic novel, this one features a lone Black woman fleeing the death of her parents to homestead on the Montana frontier with only the clothes on her back and the monstrous contents of her steamer trunk. Deliciously tense and deeply thematic.
• He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan, published in August 2023 by Tor. Two self-loathing characters spiral deeper and deeper, with profound effects on the balance of power in Mongol-occupied China. Readers of She Who Became the Sun know to expect a lot of darkness, but it’s hard to look away from this conclusion to the duology.
• Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang, published in July 2023 by M.L. Wang. In some ways, this provides the counterpoint to Three Grams of Elsewhere, providing a stark picture of when empathy just isn’t enough. It’s a heart-pounding novel about a woman trying to break into the all-male elite in research magic and uncovering secrets that shock her to the core. The first twist isn’t too surprising, but it sets the table for a thrilling finish with intense themes.

Novellas

Using the Hugo definitions, the novella category includes works between 17,500 and 40,000 words.

• The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indra Das, published in June 2023 by Subterranean Press. At its heart, this is a literary-leaning coming of age story about the experience of an immigrant in a new land who barely remembers their parents’ home. But in this case, the parents’ home is a magical realm of dragon riders. A bit light on plot, but the lovely prose and characterization more than make up for it.
• Prompt by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, translated by Julia Meitov Hersey, published in November 2023 in The Digital Aesthete. An aspiring director gets accepted to stage a play for Prompt, the AI theater with a reputation for making or breaking careers. On the shorter end for a novella, but with a high-stakes intensity that begins in the opening paragraphs and never lets up.
• Nothing But the Rain by Naomi Salman*, published in March 2023 by Tordotcom. Imagine taking Piranesi, but replacing the naive wonderment and magical infinitude with a stubborn curmudgeon and a small town with an army blockade. And you know what, it works. This short novella is a must-read for fans of epistolary stories and unreliable memories, poignant and gripping from start to finish.*

Novelettes

Using the Hugo definitions, the novelette category includes works between 7,500 and 17,500 words. Links go to free copies of the stories, where available.

• The Weremouse of Millicent Bradley Middle School by Peter S. Beagle, published in the March/April 2023 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The story of an urban legend becoming all too real, with a witchy and vindictive math teacher terrorizing her students, who must either grovel or find a way to fight back. Sometimes a story just doesn’t have to break new ground to be an utter delight.
• A Short Biography of a Conscious Chair by Renan Bernardo, translated by Renan Bernardo, published in the February 2023 issue of Samovar. A slow-paced bit of magical realism, with a family drama played out from the perspective of sentient furniture. A quiet, but beautiful story that builds to a powerful emotional conclusion.
• Ernestine by Octavia Cade, published in the March/April 2023 issue of Asimov’s. It’s a girl and a ghost at the end of the world, only the ghost has a single-minded focus on making the girl grow potatoes so she won’t starve. A small-scale story, for all that it’s the end of the world, but a heartwarming one that's a lot of fun to read.
• Anais Gets a Turn by R.T. Ester, published in the January 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A simple story with an audacious premise: the world has become sentient and is causing chaos trying to beat itself at tic-tac-toe. One secret society is trying to hack the game to deliver a win and bring it all to an end. Throw in a compelling character backstory and a smooth narration and you have an all-around excellent story.
• Introduction to the 2181 Overture, Second Edition by Gu Shi, translated by Emily Jin, published in the February 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. Styled as the nonfiction introduction to an in-text book about cryosleep, it’s an idea-driven sci-fi that explores the costs and benefits of the hypothetical technology through a series of vignettes about individuals affected by its use. Plot-light, but still manages to generate heartfelt character moments.
• Your Great Mother Across the Salt Sea by Kelsey Hutton, published in the February 2023 issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. This is a story about the British Empire and the First Nations with the serial numbers filed off. But it’s a really good story, with the lead’s magical dress-making not enough to make her grievances heard. There’s magic, diplomacy, reflections on family and commitment, and plenty of dramatic tension.
• The Year Without Sunshine by Naomi Kritzer, published in the November 2023 issue of Uncanny. Near-future sci-fi with an uplifting bent, with a community in Minnesota learning to work together after disaster knocks out so many of the services they rely on. A great story for fans of problem-solving and community-building.
• Old Seeds by Owen Leddy, published as the January 2023 issue of GigaNotoSaurus. Simultaneously an intriguing puzzle story—the lead must figure out why terraforming AIs on a lonely planet are in dispute—and a heart-wrenching reflection on meaning, beauty, and what gets squeezed out in the pursuit of efficiency.
• The Passing of the Dragon by Ken Liu, published in September 2023 by Tordotcom. A beautiful and heartfelt story about an artist coming to grips with the world deeply misunderstanding their work. Lovely and thought-provoking.
• Reconciliation Dumplings and Other Recipes by Sara Norja, published as the December 2023 issue of GigaNotoSaurus. The story of uncovering forgotten history told via a series of family recipes and background anecdotes. Perfectly-paced, with enough plot movement to satisfy readers who want to see true growth, all wrapped in a delicious package perfect for fans of cozy fantasy.
• Down to the Root by Lisa Papademetriou, published in the October 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A story of spacefaring and encountering vastly different cultures, neglecting neither the quiet nor the dangerous moments in a beautiful and poignant tale with deeply personal stakes.
• An Ode to Stardust by R.P. Sand, published in the February 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. The Station Commander in a mining moon struggles to understand the enigmatic local species in a way that parallels her father’s difficulty understanding her chronic pain. Plenty of thematic depth and a devastating conclusion make for a story very much worth reading.
• Time Marked and Mended by Carrie Vaughn, published in January 2023 by Tor.com (now Reactor). A remarkably engaging bite-sized space opera, with a mystery that fits perfectly in the novelette form but hints at more adventures, both past and future.
• On the Fox Roads by Nghi Vo, published in October 2023 by Tor.com (now Reactor). A period piece about small-time bank robbers escaping pursuit using a shifting series of questionably-real pathways. As always, Vo’s facility with the language is exceptional, and this one is a ride from start to finish.
• Defective by Peter Watts, published in April 2023 in Life Beyond Us. A first contact story about creatures so alien that all communication breaks down, and the lead’s desperate attempt to avoid the military solution. A fascinating build with a hard-hitting ending.
• Deep Blue Jump by Dean Whitlock*, published in the SeptembeOctober 2023 issue of Asimov’s. A sci-fi child trafficking story that’s just as weighty as it should be, but offering a glimmer of hope in its focus on the relationship between the tween lead and the smallest child in her group of captives, as they focus on surviving both the present and the future.*

Short Stories

Let’s face it, using the Hugo definition of “less than 7,500 words,” short story is by far the most crowded category on the list.
If I were to judge short stories by the same measure as the other categories, my recommended list would be nearly 50 items long. That’s a totally reasonable number of favorites when I’ve read so many stories (arguably, it’s actually a bit low, but my struggle to engage with flash fiction affects the overall numbers), but even with bullet points and bolded titles, that would be a dizzying wall of text. And so I’ve broken this category into the best of the best and the honorable mentions.

Favorites

• Over Moonlit Clouds by Coda Audeguy-Pegon, published in the March 2023 issue of Apex Magazine. A story about airline passengers trapped with something dangerous, it’s a tragedy from the word “go,” with a response that’s worse than the initial danger and plenty of parallels to mundane, real-world evil. This would be a fantastic story from a veteran author, but it's absolutely stunning as a debut.
• Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont by P.A. Cornell, published in the October 2023 issue of Fantasy Magazine. There’s an apartment building in New York City full of weird time shenanigans. And yet the paradoxical elements of time travel are mostly backdrop to a touching interpersonal story and a shockingly rich portrait of a place that isn’t really in a time. Throw in a satisfying ending, and this one is truly excellent.
• Memories of Memories Lost by Mahmud El Sayed, published in October 2023 in khōréō. The story of alien invaders who tax memory is poignant and remarkable in its detail work–from how giving up a mediocre night of karaoke leads to losing a favorite band to the inability for anyone to remember anything meaningful about alien encounters. It’s a story that hooks the reader quickly with the setup and then builds tension as the lead wonders just what the giving up of a family heirloom will cost.
• Kɛrozin Lamp Kurfi by Victor Forna*, published in October 2023 in Apex Magazine. A very literal story about stories, as the narrator attempts to rescue a child trapped in a story. The shifts back and forth through reality and various changing narrators can be disorienting, but a reader who doesn’t mind a little confusion is treated to some fantastic storytelling with a strong central core and a powerful ending.*
• Window Boy by Thomas Ha, published in the August 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A pulse-pounding, horror-tinged dystopian tale written from the perspective of a sheltered rich kid who knows almost nothing about the world other than what is shared in polite company. His furtive nighttime conversations at his window with a boy from well outside his social circle give the barest glimmer of the world’s true horrors, tantalizing the reader with their own imagination to fill in the gaps, while putting the lead in position to make a decision whose enormity he can hardly grasp. An excellent story that demands a reread.
• Forever the Forest by Simone Heller, published in April 2023 in Life Beyond Us. It’s a first contact story written in second person from the perspective of trees. It’d be hard to find a description more my speed, and it’s executed wonderfully, with the narrator slowly coming to grasp the myriad miscommunication and building to a touching emotional climax.
• Any Percent by Andrew Dana Hudson, published as the May 2023 issue of GigaNotoSaurus. Part litRPG, part union story, this tells of a warehouse worker fleeing the hardship and tedium of real life by trying to speedrun his way to becoming the richest person in the world in a popular simulation game. It’s a fascinating story, with enough of a dive into game mechanics to help the reader understand the strategy behind the main character’s pursuit, while keeping a firm enough foot in the real world to maintain the feel of a truly character-driven piece, with thematic weight but without eschewing that vital glimmer of hope.
• The State Street Robot Factory by Claire Humphrey, published in the March 2023 issue of Apex Magazine. A small-scale, near-future sci-fi featuring a Chicago man selling miniature robots out of his apartment to pay for a functional set of legs. Very personal in scale and with a blend of frustration and hope that makes a tale feel real without just being depressing.
• Day Ten Thousand by Isabel J. Kim, published in the June 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. Nearly impossible to describe, but excellent in the sort of way that really demands a reread. It loops across multiple times and stories—from prehistoric single combat, to a college reporter processing the suicide of a classmate, to a young man in the far future learning he possesses some remarkable DNA. It’s meta and disorienting, telling the same stories over and over in various ways and from various angles, with reflections on storytelling interspersed and at least one line that’s lived rent free in my head for six months.
• Zeta-Epsilon by Isabel J. Kim, published in the March 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A heartfelt piece about a man raised from birth to provide a human bridge to the ineffable mind of a starship. It opens with a puzzle box—why did Zeta commit suicide, and why didn’t Epsilon prevent it?—before diving into Zeta’s childhood, his intense connection with the ship, and the aspects of his life that became untenable. It’s a fascinating story with emotional depth and even a pinch of humor. This one is the whole package.
• Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer, published in the May 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. The second time Kritzer appears on my favorites list doing uplifting near-future sci-fi, this is an “AI improves your life” story in the spirit of “Cat Pictures Please,” but one that feels truer to the complexities of the world in 2023.
• Off the Map by Dane Kuttler, published in the January/February 2023 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The heart-wrenching story of a single mother trying to support three children on her own, with an intrusive technostate constantly looking over her shoulder and judging her fitness, this has plenty to say about parenting and societal corruption, and it’s one of the most emotionally intense stories I read all year.
• LOL, Said the Scorpion by Rich Larson, published in the May 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A story about tourism in impoverished communities that literalizes the metaphor of the invisibility of the local population, to dramatic effect. This has been overshadowed by Better Living Through Algorithms and a Bot 9 novella sharing its table of contents, but it’s arguably the best of the bunch—not a happy story, but a hard-hitter.
• Kwong’s Bath by Angela Liu*, published in August 2023 in khōréō. The second khōréō piece that made my shortlist with a story of memory and diaspora, this one telling of a girl having received the ticket to a better life, but at the cost of the memories of her home and family, told in large part through a series of ghostly visits from ancestors and friends. Devastating and deeply personal.*
• Highway Requiem by T.R. Napper, published in the May/June 2023 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. A story about one of the last truckers in Australia after the industry has been mostly automated, it explores so many nuances of both the social benefits and harms that come out of the transformation of transportation, while still managing to be a deeply personal, emotionally affecting tale. It’s neither neat nor happy, but the worldbuilding is excellent, and the lead’s yearnings and anxieties come through the text in force.
• Serenity Prayer by Faith Merino, published in the July/August 2023 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I moved this one up from the honorable mentions in recognition of my own biases–of the nearly 50 flash fictions I read this year (thanks, F&SF), this was the only one I rated five stars. If something can hit me like that in a form I usually dislike, it deserves some recognition. There are echoes of Shirley Jackson’s famous “The Lottery,” with lovely prose and an incorporation of the title prayer that makes it feel thoroughly its own.
• If I Should Fall Behind by Douglas Smith, published in the SeptembeOctober 2023 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. This tale of a teenager with the ability to see possible futures is all about the narrative voice, with an idiosyncratic but compelling prose style that puts the reader right in the lead’s head. The plot—mostly being chased by people opposed to tampering with possible futures—is well-done, and the conclusion is satisfying, but the voice is what makes this one exceptional.
• Timothy: An Oral History by Michael Swanwick, published in the October 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. This takes an old trope that I thought had been played out for decades—what happens when a male enters an all-female society?—and breathes new life into it. The oral history format is wonderfully executed, providing little snapshots into various corners of a society that sees itself as utopian and yet maintains a toxic celebrity culture and has no real place for gender or sexual minorities. It’s a piece that asks more questions than it provides answers, but it’s a fascinating read that’s wonderfully structured, a throwback executed in such a way that it doesn’t feel old.
• To Carry You Inside You by Tia Tashiro, published in the November 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. The tale of a woman with a brain chip that allows her to upload other consciousnesses into her body, which—after anti-chip regulations destroy a promising acting career—she uses as a surrogate for the dead, using her body to house the consciousnesses of the departed for short meetings with their surviving family and friends. Covering one particularly fraught surrogacy job, interspersed with flashbacks and political background, it’s impressive how much ground this covers while maintaining its emotional core and never feeling overstuffed. It’s an extremely impressive story, and a shockingly impressive debut.
• The Rain Remembers What the Sky Forgets by Fran Wilde*, published in Uncanny in May 2023. The story of a funeral disrupted by an unnatural avian disturbance, told through a series of interviews and diary entries collected by a local newspaper. Simultaneously a fantasy, a family drama, and a period piece about the political battle over sustainable fashion, and successful on all fronts.*

Honorable Mentions

• The Invoker and Her Quartet by M.H. Ayinde, published in April 2023 in Kaleidotrope. This has such the feeling of a Beneath Ceaseless Skies piece that I had to double-check the publication–it’s a secondary world fantasy about a magical succession crisis, the rift it created within families, and how they moved forward. Plenty of flawed characters, but in a human way, and with hope of redemption.
• Piggyback Girl by M.H. Ayinde, published in the March/April 2023 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The Black Mirror-like premise involves an influencer signing a contract allowing her followers to literally see through her eyes. That sets the stage for some excellent social commentary and gripping tension as the lead sees the ways out closing and her panic levels rising, all leading to a devastating conclusion.
• Timelock by Davian Aw, published in the July 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. Told in second-person to one of the few natives left on a notorious party moon, it features a lead frequently caught on the fringes of a neighbor’s time-stopping parties. A reflective story that is always poignant and sometimes tragic, it’s a great read for fans of quieter sci-fi who don’t mind trying to wrap their heads around layers and layers of frozen time.
• The Dog Star Killer by Renan Bernardo, published in April 2023 in Life Beyond Us. A Brazilian grows up with single-minded focus on rescuing a mother who never returned from exploring a strange celestial phenomenon. But the rescue mission can’t consume an entire life, and it forces her to balance her long-standing goals and a burgeoning relationship. It’s a story that grabs the reader from the start and delivers the kind of deeply personal tale I so often love.
• Deep Blue Neon by Jana Bianchi*, published in April 2023 in Life Beyond Us. Another Life Beyond Us story by a B-named author about a single-minded Brazilian explorer. Look, I didn’t name them, but both stories are good. This is a compelling epistolary tale of the woman who made first contact, with all the risks and sacrifices along the way.*
• A Conjure-Horse in San Ouvido by Ferdistan Cayetano, published in the May/June 2023 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. A blend of African-American mythologies and complicated war stories, leaning into the mystical while delivering some intensely satisfying emotional beats.
• The Mub by Thomas Ha, published in the November 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A short and unsettling piece about an artist who picks up an unwanted traveling companion. The story never explicitly states whether these mubs are creatures of fantasy or science, but the way they prey on creativity is hard not to associate with the current AI discourse. It’s not a story that’s going to answer a lot of questions, but it’s gripping and unsettling, an excellent read for those who don’t mind some uncertainty.
• For However Long by Thomas Ha, published in July 2023 in khōréō. A quiet and beautiful piece about family and relocation, as the aging mother of a Martian immigrant reflecting on the distance between them, and how similar it feels to her own cross-country move decades earlier. The second-shortest piece on this list, but as someone living hundreds of miles from my own family, it hits home.
• The Laugh Machine by Auston Habershaw, published in November 2023 in The Digital Aesthete. A surprisingly poignant piece about an AI comedian, trained on the last generation of human comics, trying to figure out why one of the regulars keeps coming back if she isn’t going to laugh. It certainly brings a chuckle or two, but it’s the heart underneath that makes it worth the read.
• Secondhand Music by Aleksandra Hill, published in September 2023 in Analog. A talented young violinist recovering from the loss of her arm is given the opportunity to receive a life-changing prosthesis—but the gift comes with strings attached. A lovely story about art and setting your own path.
• The Secret History of the Greatest Discovery by Valentin D. Ivanov, translated by Valentin D. Ivanov, published in April 2023 in Life Beyond Us. I usually don’t go in for stories that are mostly science problems, but this does such a beautiful job of capturing the wonder of discovery, and the setting of a summer astronomy camp in 1980s Eastern Europe is bursting with life.
• The Narrative Implications of Your Untimely Death by Isabel J. Kim, published in the January 2023 issue of Lightspeed. This piece about a reality TV show with a longer-than-lifetime contract has just the right combination of very meta cultural observation and poignant emotional moments, tied together by a fascinating premise.
• The Five Remembrances, According to ST-319 by R.L. Meza, published in the September 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A classic “combat robot breaks from its programming and acts with heart” story that sucks the reader in from the beginning, despite the familiar premise. And it only gets better as it progresses from the throes of battle to the immediate aftermath to the long-term aftermath.
• Hermetic Kingdom by Ray Nayler, published in November 2023 in The Digital Aesthete. Set in the world of the acclaimed “Winter Timeshare,” but readable on its own, it’s a story about the consciousnesses of the dead working alongside bots to run virtual reality games and simulations, focusing on the human cogs in the machine and their efforts to make the best they can with the hands they’re dealt. It’s excellent.
• The Job at the End of the World by Ray Nayler, published in August 2023 by Tordotcom. A bittersweet, small-scale, near-future sci-fi in which we follow a professional rebuilder, traveling from fire to flood to storm to help put the pieces back together, all the while saving up for a life of his own. There’s a lot more reflection on life and the world than a true main plot, but it’s excellent nonetheless.
• Nairuko by Dennis Mugaa*, published in April 2023 in Fantasy Magazine. After their people were nearly wiped out, a small group of Kenyan survivors use the magic in their blood to profit from conflict but can never escape the guilt over the failures to save their families. An undoubtedly magical story, but at root a hard-hitting and emotional story about guilt and powerlessness, even in people with incredible powers.*
• Torso by H. Pueyo, published in November 2023 in The Digital Aesthete. A memorable and intense story of an abuse survivor working feelings of fear, anger, and shame into grotesquely beautiful ceramics, and the AI assistant trying to keep her from destroying them all.
• What Remains, the Echoes of a Flute Song by Alexandra Seidel, published in the July 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A post-human who communicates only in music wanders a post-apocalyptic landscape and happens upon an unmodified human waking from stasis. It’s not especially plotty, yet the characters, their attempts to communicate, and their dual separations from any who may have been their fellows are utterly engrossing. A beautiful and emotional piece.
• Going Time by Amal Singh, published in the February 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A simple concept wonderfully executed, with a dystopia that the reader can recognize in a heartbeat but that leaves the lead totally in the dark, with the whole story slowly building the tension while waiting for the other shoe to drop.
• Upgrade Day by RJ Taylor, published in the September 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. The tale of a man who signed his afterlife over to a tech company in exchange for funding of his career as an aspiring chef is sweet but far from easy, with a heartfelt family relationship and plenty of reflection on making difficult decisions while feeling the alternatives disappear by the year.
• Silicon Hearts by Adrian Tchaikovsky, published in November 2023 in The Digital Aesthete. A very topical story of humans fine-tuning language models to make as much money as possible writing fiction, it’s set apart by the humor suffusing the entire story, along with a clever ending that makes it something more than sheer satire.
• A Meal for Frederick by Nick Thomas, published in the July/August 2023 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Another small-scale, emotionally heavy piece with understated SFF elements, it starts with the ambiguously magical feeding of a plastic-bag-and-masking-tape homemade dragon, before finding its center as a story of hope and family amid bouts of ill-health, big and small. It’s beautiful and it’s touching.
• Vast and Trunkless Legs of Stone by Carrie Vaughn, published in the June 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. A first contact story that manages to stay small-scale and personal, as the extraterrestrial visitors demand to see a sole interlocutor, one without high political position, for a quiet conversation that may or may not be a test of an entire planet. This is exactly my speed, and Vaughn writes it wonderfully.
• Bird-Girl Builds a Machine by Hannah Yang, published in the November 2023 issue of Clarkesworld. This story draws the reader immediately into the strange relationship between a young girl and her mother, with the latter’s life focused almost entirely on building an elaborate and mysterious machine. That sense of strangeness and mystery is enough to easily sustain the tale’s scant 3,000 words, building to a finish with real emotional resonance and a sense of resolution that feels just perfect for the mystery at hand.
• Nextype by Sam Kyung Yoo, published in November 2023 in Strange Horizons. A young girl’s parents give her a neural implant to help her navigate a world with fierce competition for desirable careers, but it’s years later before she realizes just how much she’s lost. There’s a quality setup, a gut punch, and enough denouement to leave the reader with something to hang onto.
• Set Yourself on Fire by Sam Kyung Yoo, published in September 2023 in Fantasy Magazine. An abusive relationship tale with a fantasy twist, skillfully told in a heart-wrenching second-person narrative.
• The Haunted by Mathilda Zeller, published in the Fall 2023 issue of Irreantum. A ghost story that turns on Mormon theological distinctives is admittedly pretty niche, but it’s such a wonderfully heartfelt tale of growing up in a compelling but deeply flawed local religious community.

I've been thinking about starting a small little collection library. I've been living abroad for the past 15 years (in different places) so it hasn't been practical for me to collect books and then have to pay to ship them all over, so I've been reading primarily on Kindle (99%) though I have purchased a few collector's hard cover books if they were banned and therefore unavailable on Kindle.
So now that I am repatriating, I'm making plans to start a little collector's library. So I thought we could talk about the hard back books that you buy specifically to collect (and not just because you wanted to read them) and why you want to collect them.
I really like beautiful covers and the smell of new hard backs. That being said, I'm more practical that I mostly want to collect books I've read or possibly want to read in the future.
I'll go first:
Harry Potter Collector's edition simply because it's a memory from my younger years
Blood Ties series by AK Rose. This collector's series has BEAUTIFUL DESIGNED FOILED COVERS, SPRAYED EDGES, INTERIOR DESIGN, ILLUSTRATIONS BETWEEN CHAPTERS, ETC
The Hades x Persephone Saga series by Scarlett St. Clair
The Deliciously Dark Fairytales by KF Breene
Leveling Up series by KF Breene
Jane Austen Collectible
Emily Bronte Tenant of Wildfel Hall collectible
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What about you?
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[Please be nice to each other and not neg or frown at ppl's choice of genre, no one genre is better than the other. To each's reading pleasure their own.]

Dear Poetry Friends, we are past Valentine's Day, but I saved you something special for the day after that is less sweet than sensual.
A poet that is so familiar yet still so shrouded in mystery. We have a direct line from January's selection of odes from Elizabeth Barret Browning, as she hung a picture in her bedroom of "that Foreign Lady". A daughter of the native-born Concord Transcendentalism movement, which draws a straight line from the Romantic movement that bloomed in Germany and flowered in English art to the United States. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) counted her compatriots in poetry as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman and her inspirations were Charlotte Bronte and the aforementioned Barret Browning. She was a consummate reader and read from both sides of the Atlantic, including George Eliot and Nathanial Hawthorne.
A limited selection of her poetry was only published after her death but circulated widely in society. A complete volume didn't appear until 1955. And a complete volume that was true to her punctuation and spelling wasn't published until 1998.
Dickinson was a scholar, a lover of nature, a reclusive and a rebel. Close to family, she eventually disdained the required social visits and found a kindred soul in her sister-in-law, Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson, her friend, correspondent and intellectual audience until they grew apart. After shrugging off the Second Great Awakening, a religious revivalist fever that overtook Amherst, Massachusetts, she adopted the hymn meter in many of her poems. We can imagine how social visits were replaced with a rich set of correspondence, which allowed her to practice her craft while keeping the web of friendships and acquaintances fresh. There is much we do not know about the romantic side of her life, the "Master" letters- three such letters survived, and it is unclear if they were ever sent- and who knows what else was destroyed and censored by her siblings. But what we can know is the fervor of 19th- century friendships between women, especially those who got a taste of education and considered intellectual pursuits just as suitable, or indeed preferable to married life and who would soon turn to working on getting the vote and finding freedom outside tradition.
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Emily Dickinson writing to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a publisher of Atlantic Monthly, who published her work posthumously:
"Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?
The Mind is so near itself—it cannot see, distinctly—and I have none to ask—
Should you think it breathed—and had you the leisure to tell me, I should feel quick gratitude—
If I make the mistake—that you dared to tell me—would give me sincerer honor—toward you—
I enclose my name—asking you, if you please—Sir—to tell me what is true?"
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" Dickinson’s endings are frequently open. In this world of comparison, extremes are powerful. There are many negative definitions and sharp contrasts. While the emphasis on the outer limits of emotion may well be the most familiar form of the Dickinsonian extreme, it is not the only one." -(link)
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" Wild nights - Wild nights!"
by Emily Dickinson
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Wild nights-Wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
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Futile-the winds-
To a Heart in port-
Done with the Compass-
Done with the Chart!
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Rowing in Eden-
Ah-the Sea!
Might I but moor-tonight-
In thee!
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Dickinson poems are electronically reproduced courtesy of the publishers and the Trustees of Amherst College from THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON: VARIORUM EDITION, Ralph W. Franklin, ed., Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University of Press, Copyright © 1988 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Source: The Poems of Emily Dickinson Edited by R. W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999)
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Some things to discuss might be the feeling this poem gives you. Go ahead, read it out loud con accarezzevole. Savor the individual words and each line. Why are some words capitalized? Which images seem to jump out at you? Is there a contradiction in a wish for "wild nights", perhaps the danger of rowing at sea, at the same time there is a longed-for safe harbor? Who is the "I" and the "you"-what, if anything, can you draw about the subjects? We begin with "were I" and end with "might I"- all theoretical proposals or fantasies or conjectures or hopes of throwing the instruments of safety (charts, compass) and heading into a wild sea but also of finding a port where affections may find safety, where the winds have no effect. Are you familiar with Dickinson's poems? How does this compare to her other work, for example, the Bonus Poem below? It's clear she was ahead of time with her poetry, breaking with tradition and expressing herself through a revolutionary version of poetry that anticipated modernity in many ways.
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Bonus Poem: The Bustle in a House (1108)
Bonus Link #1: More on the Master Letters by R.W. Franklin (1986)
Bonus Link #2: More about the handmade booklets of her poems made by Emily Dickinson and found after her death, named the fascicles, dating 1850-1860.
Bonus Link #3: You can visit both the Dickinson family home, The Homestead, and the home next door, Evergreen, that belonged to her brother, Austin and his wife, Susan, which make up the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts in the USA.
Bonus Link #4: The "Amplitude and Awe" episode of the PoemTalk podcast , hosted by Al Filreis, that discusses two Emily Dickinson poems (including Wild Nights in the first half) with two other poets and artists.
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If you missed last month's poem, you can find it here.
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It’s the 90s. I’m a preschool child. My mom is watching BH. Soon, I’m watching BH with her. I’m in love with the show. It’s so good. I love Brenda. I love Brenda/Dylan. Uhg, Kelly. I hate her.
It’s the 2000s. I’m a high school student. A local channel is showing BH reruns. I’m excited. It’s the first show I ever watched and loved. I tune in. Omg, the show’s kinda corny and bad. Child me had really bad taste. Brenda is a brat. Kelly is a brat. Dylan is the biggest brat, even brat Branda and brat Kelly deserve better. I hate him. I hate everyone on this show. Ok, maybe I don’t Andrea hate completely? Sure, she has interesting stories never, but at least she’s a feminist (i.e. has a good head on her shoulders) and a poor Jewish girl (i.e. actually has real problems in her life). So, I guess at least that’s two redeeming/sympathetic qualities more than any of the rest of the cast has? Also, I'm kinda shipping Kelly/Brandon for some reason? I did not see that coming.
It’s the late 2010s. I’m in my early thirties. I get a sudden urge to revisit this show. I rewatch some episodes. I discover the AWT podcast. I love it. (+ I discover the podcast was made by the TWoP founders? That’s cool.) I’m enjoying the experience. I was too harsh on the show. Sure, it is corny and bad. But it’s the OG corny and bad teen drama. It literally invented that genre! And sure, Brenda is a brat, but I was a lot like her as a teen. The alt-y fashion, the artsy pretentiousness, the self-righteousness? That’s both Brenda and teen me! Also, I’d release animals being experimented on too. Bad on you show for portraying her as unreasonable for that! I love Brenda again! Kelly is a brat too, but the pretty privilege is working on me. She’s one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen on tv. Like a real life Barbie. If she borrowed some of Brenda’s outfits, she’s be an Alt Barbie and I’d be into that. But that wouldn’t be in character for her. Anyway, I’m pro Kelly now. Especially because she gets overhated by the fandom. I’m pro Dylan too, kinda. I mean the I-wanna-be-Byron shtick is cringe, but teens are cringe by default and I’m sure I wanted to be Emily Bronte at one point, so who am I to judge? And he’s not a bad kid, just a very messy one. He’s absolutely a bad boyfriend, though, and both Brenda and Kelly should run asap. He doesn’t need a girlfriend, he needs therapy. But I guess he at least has good chemistry with both, so at least that’s something. Poor Andrea was really done dirty by the writers and the style&hair department. I guess it wasn’t until Rory Gilmore that the smart feminist girl was treated right on a TV show. Jessie Spano was kinda just a punchline, wasn’t she?
It’s the early 2020s. I’m in my mid thirties. Should I rewatch this show and revisit the podcast? Maybe, maybe.

Basically just the title. I had a sudden urge to become well read, therefore I've been compiling a list of classic literature I want to read. What I most want to read is the essential American/European literature (Moby-Dick, Old man and the sea, war and peace) but I didn't want to limit my scope so I took basically any recommendation I was given. I would love some more recommendations, along the lines of classic literature or the kind of thing an English major would read. Also if anyone has feedback on the current list I would be more than happy to hear it. Current list (I had it in a google doc but I cant post the link)
Premodern
The Saga of the Volsungs (Penguin Classics) - Jesse L. Byock (Author, Translator), Anonymous (Author)
The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (Penguin Classics) - Anonymous (Author), Jesse L. Byock (Editor, Translator, Introduction)
Egil's Saga (Penguin Classics) - Anonymous (Author), Bernard Scudder (Translator), Svanhildur Oskarsdottir (Introduction)
The Epic of Gilgamesh - Anonymous (Author), N. K. Sandars (Translator)
The Aeneid (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) - Virgil (Author), Robert Fagles (Translator), Bernard Knox (Introduction)
The Odyssey - Homer
The Iliad - Homer
The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore - Snorri Sturluson
Beowulf - Translated by David Wright
Tales from 1,001 Nights - Translated by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons
African Myths of Origin - Stephen Belcher
The Secret History of the Mongols - Christopher P. Atwood
The Divine Comedy Inferno - Dante
Metamorphoses - Ovid
The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer
The Travels - Marco Polo
The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Analects - Confucius
The Pillow Book - Sei Shonagon
The Bhagavad Gita - Anonymous
The Art of War - Sun Tzu
Tao Te Ching - Laozi
Medea - Euripides
The Mahabharata - Vyasa
The Decameron - Giovanni Boccaccio
Modern
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne
The Ring of the Nibelung - Richard Wagner
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Oliver Twist - Dickens
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Dracula - Bram Stoker
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Jabberwocky and Other Nonsense - Lewis Carroll
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Jungle Books - Rudyard Kipling
Love and Freindship - Jane Austen
Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Paradise Lost - John Milton
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Don Quixote - Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
The Last of the Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper
Waiting for Godot - Beckett
The Souls of Black Folk - Du Bois
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
William Shakespeare Complete Works Second Edition - Shakespeare
The Crucible - Arthur Miller
Utopia - Thomas More
Not Without Laughter - Langston Hughes
The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories - Leo Tolstoy
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
Twelve Angry Men - Reginald Rose
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
The Castle - Franz Kafka
Metamorphosis and Other Stories - Kafka
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave - Frederick Douglass
Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup
America Is in the Heart - Carlos Bulosan
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
The Song of Roland - Anonymous
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
The Invisible Man - H G Wells
White Nights - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
The Time Machine - H G Wells
The Outsider - Camus
The Fall - Camus
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Ulysses - James Joyce
The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
The Call of the Wild - Jack London
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
For Whom The Bell Tolls - Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises - Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms - Hemingway
The Old Man and The Sea - Hemingway
Native Son - Richard Wright
The Complete Tales of H.P. Lovecraft
The Trial - Kafka
Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman
Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
The Republic - Plato
Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo - Plato
Aristotle's Ethics - Aristotle
The Myth of Sisyphus - Camus
Being and Nothingness - Sartre
Critique of Pure Reason - Kant
Beyond Good and Evil - Nietzche
The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann
All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
Pedro Páramo - Juan Rulfo
The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Dead Souls - Nikolai Gogol
Faust - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Honoré de Balzac - Pere Goriot
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
2001: a Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke

I really appreciate posts where people take the time to give a quick review of a load of books they've read, so I figured I'd do one for the roughly 40 horror (or horror adjacent) novels/short story collections I've read the last 2 years! I'll go lowest rated to highest and try to mention for each who I think may like the book (regardless of how much I did or didn't like it).
The Immeasurable Corpse of Nature - Christpher Slatsky - DNF
Man, I really did not like this book. It's my only DNF on this whole list. This is a short story collection and Slatsky is very much a student of Ligotti which definitely didn't help as Ligotti typically isn't for me. That wasn't my main issue here though. These stories were rather slow and felt very repetitive. On top of that there were a few stories that tried to tackle heavy topics which I felt didn't quite manage it with the deftness required. That being said, the writing is quite good and I really enjoyed the first story, Phantom Airfields. Anyone who likes Ligotti would likely enjoy this collection despite me loathing it.
Kill Creek - Scott Thomas - 2/5
While Immeasurable Corpse was my least liked book on this list, I would say Kill Creek is actually the worst book I read. I hate trashing a book because I know a lot goes into it, but this one really just falls flat on nearly all levels. The premise is cool, I'll give it that: Four famous horror authors are asked to spend the night in a haunted house, spookiness ensues, and the experience has now infected all of their ongoing writing projects. It's a neat concept that truly struggles with execution. The characters are extremely one-note (with the main character being incredibly boring and the female author being written egregiously), the story never really goes anywhere, the writing itself is just okay, but worst of all the pacing in this book is glacial. Even the climax. The climax of this book is a 50 page chase scene. A 50 PAGE CHASE SCENE. Honestly, this is the one book in this list I wouldn't really recommend to anyone. Maybe if you're a haunted house novel afficionado and have nothing else in your backlog.
Stonefish - Scott R. Jones - 2/5
I'm prepared to get some flak for this one because I've seen nothing but praise for Stonefish on this sub, but I'll be the dissenting voice here. A reporter goes in search of a missing tech genius and finds that the world is very much not what it seems. I'll cut to the chase, Stonefish isn't bad, but for me it read more like a philosophy lesson than a story. I don't mind my horror getting philosophical, adding depth like that is usually a good thing, my problem here was that this felt like the author just wanted to describe Gnosticism to the reader and decided to use some flimsy characters and a crazy concept to do it. I didn't feel any love for the characters, the world, or the story in this novel. The only bits that felt like they had some passion put into them were the bits describing Gnosticism. The whole thing was just too lacking in any story or characters to attach to so it didn't do it for me. That being said, if you're interested in a little philosophy with some wacky sci-fi/horror window dressing you'll likely enjoy this. And hey, I seem to be one of the few that didn't, so you may enjoy this one no matter what.
The Sun Down Motel - Simone St. James - 3/5
Carly begins working the night shift at a NY motel and soon finds herself embroiled with ghosts, dangerous strangers, and a mystery that connects back to the disappearance of her aunt 35 years ago. This book is a 3/5 in its purest form. It was enjoyable, had interesting characters, an engaging (but not terribly deep) story, and moves along at a good clip. It's more of a popcorn read and it achieves that very effectively. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a quick but effective mystery/thriller with a dose of ghosts.
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - 3/5
You know what book does NOT move at a quick pace though? Wuthering Heights. I debated whether to add this, but its still a gothic classic and I thought adding a few books that are horror-adjacent would keep things fresh. This one was weird for me. It follows the story of two families on a wealthy estate and cuts between past and present to slowly reveal how things have reached their "present day" state. I think this tends to be a novel that people either love or hate. Personally I really enjoyed the present day bits and felt the cuts to the past were a slog. Emily Bronte is a great writer, but here she is writing a cast of wholly unlikeable characters. It's very much intentional, and generational trauma is a central theme here, but for me it was still hard to care about many of the book's main characters. If you like classics you should definitely give this a shot though. Similarly if a grounded (by horror standards) story delving into generational trauma sounds interesting then give this a go.
Night Shift - Stephen King - 3/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.0)
Give me a moment while I put my flak jacket on again. There we are, alright, Night Shift! Honestly rating Night Shift a 3/5 may be a little bit harsh. There are some fantastic stories here. One For The Road and Last Rung On The Ladder were my personal favorites, but there are classics like Quitters, Inc., Children of the Corn, and The Boogeyman as well as some really unique stories like I Am The Doorway that hit the mark. So why only a 3/5? I've named 6 stories above, but there are 20 stories in this collection and of those, overwhelmingly, most were just okay to me with quite a few ambitiously tackling an inherently silly situation but not quite managing it. For the hits I felt there were an equal amount of misses and a lot that fell in the middle. Am I essentially punishing Night Shift for offering a ton of stories? A little, yes, but I would still recommend this collection to about anyone. What short stories work for one person can be very different from another and there is a lot on offer here that contains loads of variety which I think most people would really enjoy.
The Chestnut Man - Soren Sveistrup - 3/5
This one will be short and sweet. The Chestnut Man is a solid serial killer thriller that keeps things going at a fast pace. Not too memorable, but certainly not boring, give this one a shot if you want a good thriller that isn't quite as stupid as The Whisper Man (sorry Whisper Man lovers out there, that book drove me up a wall, but I read it awhile ago so it won't be making an appearance on this list).
The Gone World - Tom Sweterlitsch - 3.5/5
Kicking off our 3.5's we have The Gone World. I'm not even going to try to give a short synopsis of this one, you'll have to go check out the Goodreads page, but this is high concept sci-fi mystery with looming horror. The mystery is great, the overarching plot is gripping, the pacing is great, honestly this is just a really well executed idea from start to finish. The characters do enough to carry things along here, but really this book is all about the plot and figuring out what the heck is going on and how the Terminus, the end of humanity, can possibly be avoided. Many people would probably up this to a 4/5 (although that will likely be true of a lot of my 3.5's), I just tend to reserve my highest ratings for more character driven stories. If you want to dive into a mind-bendy sci-fi mystery with a strong injection of horror don't pass this one up.
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury - 3.5/5
A carnival comes into town by night, enthralling two young boys until they sneak around after dark and see more than they were meant to. This was tough for me to rate. On one hand I didn't read this as a kid and the story is targeted at a much younger audience than I expected. On the other, Bradbury's prose is poetry and while the story is a bit YA there is still tons of imagination and some great scenes in this coming of age classic. If you want some hardcore horror, avoid this. If you don't like flowery prose, avoid this. If you want a lighter horror dripping with small town nostalgia and evoking the feeling of Fall/Halloween as a child then give this a shot. It would be a great October read.
Swan Song - Robert McCammon - 3.5/5
Did you really like The Stand? Then read this. Do you like post-apocalyptic horror? Then read this. While I didn't enjoy this quite as much as The Stand it was still a solid read overall with great main characters.
The Haar - David Sodergren - 3.5/5
Muriel's seaside town she has lived in all her life is on its last legs as a wealthy property developer is completing his buyouts of its scant remaining residents. All hope to save Muriel's home seems lost until a mysterious creature appears from the sea. Despite this getting a respectable 3.5/5 this book was actually a bit of a let down for me. I had seen a lot of praise that lead me to believe this book would delve a bit deeper into its main character than it actually did. With a full on B-movie plot and a lot of bloody kills this is still a fun creature feature that is entertaining all the way through. Still, with the set up between Muriel and the creature I can't help but feel like there was the opportunity to explore more here and the book is a little less for not attempting it. Would still recommend if you're looking for a gory creature feature.
The Inconsolables - Michael Wehunt - 3.5/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.4)
The Inconsolables is Michael Wehunt's second collection of short stories (after Greener Pastures which will be making an appearance later on) and I felt was definitely the weaker of the two. This collection still feels very much like literary horror, similar to the first, but the stories here are by and large much slower and more melancholy. I liked most all of the 10 stories included and felt there were one or two standouts. All in all still a good short story collection and I would recommend it to anyone who liked Greener Pastures and is hungry for more Wehunt or would want to dig into some horror that is sad and introspective.
What Remains When The Stars Burn Out - P.L. McMillan - 3.5/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.3)
Another short story collection! This time with more sci-fi! This was a really fun collection honestly. With 12 stories, about half of which are sci-fi horror, this collection has a ton of variety and creative ideas at play. The most glaring area of weakness here is the writing itself. It isn't bad really, but being stacked up against Barron, Langan, King, Wehunt, Ballingrud, Fracassi, and Evenson is a tough hand to be dealt. While the writing quality wasn't distracting it was noticeably a notch below a lot of the other short story collections on this list. I do think the creativity more than made up for it though. As with most collections there were a couple standouts, but I didn't dislike a single story and even the weaker ones were interesting and engaging the whole way through. Definitely would recommend if you're looking for some sci-fi horror. Would also recommend if you're looking for a short story collection that is fast, interesting, and varied.
The Secret of Ventriloquism - Jon Padgett - 3.5/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.2)
Now we've made it to our second Ligottian (atleast that's what I'm calling it) short story collection, and I enjoyed this one MUCH more than Immeasurable Corpse of Nature. Most of the stories in this one, for me, sit at around a 3/5, but this is mostly because of my personal preferences rather than the quality of the stories. The stories here manage to keep that Ligotti edge while still being weird and varied and not overtreading the same ground. What I liked most about this collection though is the ties between all of these stories. Almost every story either takes place in or ties back to the very strange town that is the setting for much of this book. The idea is executed very well, slowly weaving together some of the history of the town and a few of its residents, and it really adds a lot to this collection. If you like Ligotti, absolutely give this a try. If you don't, but the above concept sounds interesting, then its still worth trying out. Also everyone do yourselves a favor and skip the story Organ Void. Jon Padgett I'll never forgive you for making me read a story about a woman shitting herself repeatedly.
Harvest Home - Thomas Tryon - 3.5/5
To escape the hustle and bustle of city life, Ned, Beth, and their daughter move to the quaint village of Cornwall Coombe. This book created the blueprint for the sinister small town. The trope may be familiar to many now, but there is a reason so many horror stories take inspiration from Harvest Home. It hits the right beats, the writing is good, the pacing is good, all in all its just a strong horror novel. If you are in the mood for a book in the same vein as The Wicker Man or Midsommar you can't pass this one up.
Books of Blood Volume 1 - Clive Barker - 3.5/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.3)
Now to get into some Clive Barker. I've clumped these all together as the Books of Blood will be rounding out the 3.5's and bridging us into the 4's. I'll get this out of the way early, I quite enjoyed these, but don't think I had the love for them that some do. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind. Barker is a strong writer and does a good job of grounding his stories despite their wild premises. Over the course of these 3 volumes Barker tackles some out there concepts and it keeps things refreshing even if some didn't quite land for me. As far as Vol 1 goes, The Yattering and Jack, which follows a demon trying rather unsuccessfully to haunt our hero Jack, might be my favorite story of these first three volumes. The Midnight Meat Train and In The Hills, The Cities are also strong stories that many adore and I can see why. Midnight Meat Train feels right out of an 80s horror movie while In The Hills, The Cities is just...just wild. I have no idea how he even conceived of this idea and then decided "yea, I can totally make this work".
Books of Blood Volume 2 - Clive Barker - 3.5/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.4)
In my opinion, Volume 2 is the weakest of this trio. The story average is only higher because this volume has 5 stories while Vol 1 had 6, so the math was a bit wonky. If I were ranking this in an actual order Vol 3 and 1 would be very close (with 3 just edging ahead) while Vol 2 lags a bit behind. That being said, the writing is still strong and I still liked most of these stories. The demon fueled brawl that is Skins of Our Fathers was definitely the stand out for me here. The rest were good, but not great (sorry Dread lovers. I know this one is a fan favorite, it just wasn't a me favorite).
Books of Blood Volume 3 - Clive Barker - 4/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.5/5)
Arriving at Vol 3 we are now cracking the 4/5 barrier. I'll caveat my thoughts here again, I think most people would tend to put Vol 3 as the weakest of the three. As a whole I think people who love these collections would consider my Books of Blood opinions a little controversial, so keep that in mind. This volume's quality had a pretty stark split for me. It contains two of my least favorite stories of these collections. Those were offset however by 3 of my favorites. Rawhead Rex is an action packed story about the rising of an ancient being, Human Remains might be the scariest story in the first 3 volumes, and Scape-Goats, for reasons I'm not even sure I could articulate, I just really enjoyed. Maybe it was a much needed breath of fresh air after Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud. All in all I would recommend Books of Blood to anyone looking for some great short stories. While I won't be touting them as some of my absolute favorite horror story collections, it isn't because they aren't good. Great writing and some truly imaginative scenarios make Books of Blood Vols 1-3 a truly fun and unique set of stories that any horror fan should take the time to read.
If This Books Exists, You're In The Wrong Universe - Jason Pargin - 4/5
Let's lighten things up here. This is the fourth installment in the horrocomedy series John Dies At The End. I'll be up front, I love this series and am absolutely biased. I grew up reading Cracked articles and the original John Dies At The End was one of my favorite books ever back when I first read it in like 8th grade. I have a boatload of nostalgia for this and just enjoy being able to read new things that have ties back to Cracked. Putting that all aside, I also legitimately think these are good books. They're funny, they're inventive, and most importantly they don't do things at the expense of the actual characters at the heart of this story. This is a series that will hit you with jokes one page then legitimate horror the next. For my money I liked this installment more than the 3rd and possibly more than the second. It felt like it had a real purpose in the overall narrative, it expanded the story, and it introduced some interesting concepts that challenged the whole cast. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a good horrocomedy or anyone who wants to find out whether or not John actually dies at the end. If you haven't picked this series up yet, I do suggest reading it in order. They're all a good time.
Cold Moon Over Babylon - Michael McDowell - 4/5
Michael McDowell is awesome. Nuff said.
Okay I'll say a bit more. Over the past two years I've delved into McDowell for the first time and I was instantly hooked, one of the best author finds I've ever had. His writing is phenomenal, the prose, the atmosphere, the characters, its all so polished. Cold Moon Over Babylon is the worst thing I've read by him so far and I loved it. A murder rocks the town of Babylon and threatens to destroy the loved ones left behind. As the deceased's grandmother and the town sheriff look for a culprit something else has begun stirring in the town of Babylon after nightfall. If a concoction of small town mystery, corruption, and things that go bump in the night sounds appealing to you then don't pass this up.
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier - 4/5
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
Rebecca is more horror-adjacent than true horror. It is a gothic story with plenty of creepy undertones. A timid woman finds she has caught the eye of the wealthy, recently widowed Maxim de Winter. As she travels back to his renowned estate of Manderley she is met with constant reminders of Rebecca, his late wife, whose presence still hangs heavy over the estate and all its inhabitants. How can she compare to someone so remarkable, and what is it that Maxim really sees in her? I adore Daphne du Maurier's writing and Rebecca is no exception. She has an incredible ability to breathe life and realness into characters as well as set mood and tone perfectly. If you want to dip your toe into some classic gothic tales this is a great starting point, it hits the classic gothic notes while still feeling a bit more modern and accessible.
A Night In Lonesome October - Roger Zelazny - 4/5
This book is a pure, fun, Halloween-y time. You follow Snuff, the dog of Jack the Ripper, as he and Jack prepare for a rite set to happen Halloween night. Each chapter is a day in October leading up to the rite and there are all manner of other participants preparing as well. The catch is that all participants aren't trying to achieve the same thing in this rite, and everyone is trying to suss out not just who is a potential player, but what they are trying to accomplish. This story manages to strike a balance of funny, genuinely intriguing, and actually creating some great characters that you become attached to. Its paced great, its exactly as long as it needs to be, its an incredibly enjoyable package and a must read for literally anyone. Add in the array of famous horror characters and the focus around Halloween itself and I dare say this is the perfect October read.
The Wendigo - Algernon Blackwood - 4/5
I'll keep this review as short as the story. A small group camping in the wilderness runs afoul of a native legend. Short, atmospheric, and strong writing make this a solid package. Recommended as a quick horror read on a snowy day.
There Is No Antimemetics Division - QNTM - 4/5
From the SCP universe comes a story about anti-memetic entities - beings whose very nature makes it impossible to share information about them. I really debated whether this should be a 3.5 or a 4. The writing here is noticeably weaker than nearly everything else on this list and at one or two points was almost distracting (knowing this story started as SCP entries on the wiki makes a lot of sense). Its characters are serviceable. They get the job done, but you won't be feeling overly attached. Why am I opting for a 4/5 then? In my opinion, the story itself really is impressive an interesting. I found the idea of facing creatures you can't even remember you are fighting to be very engaging and thought this book handled the concept very well. The narrative jumps around timelines and can get confusing at times, but personally I didn't mind. The book feels a bit like a puzzle and it just worked for me. In the end the writing was good enough to not distract from the story being told and I was able to set it aside and keep my focus on what the heck was going on. Would absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for an interesting monster, a bit of mental exercise, and willing to overlook some weaker writing.
The Wide, Carnivorous Sky - John Langan - 4/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.3)
Now it's time to go over a bunch of short story collections, and what better place to start than one of the most recommended collections I've seen on this sub. This one was weird for me to try and place. Like, really weird. Of the 9 stories in this collection I didn't care for 5 of them. Of the 4 I did like, 2 of them are some of the best short stories I've ever read. This collection had two 5/5's, which is incredibly rare for me, and then 5 stories I either didn't care for or actively didn't enjoy. So what to do? I've decided I have to give this collection at least a 4/5 on the merits of its strongest entries (and two other solid stories). I'd recommend this collection to literally anyone though. Langan is one of my favorite authors and his writing is top notch here. Lots of people love this whole collection, so anyone feeling open minded should just dive into this whole thing. Anyone feeling skeptical maybe try to nab this at the library or something and test the waters with the stories I've mentioned.
Children of the Fang - John Langan - 4/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.5)
Another entry by John Langan, and this time a much more balanced one in my opinion. This is a long collection of 21 stories that doesn't quite hit the heights of Wide Carnivorous Sky but stays well clear of the lows. I enjoyed almost all of these stories, with half of them being 3.5's, or higher for me. I felt this collection started a little slow, but things really get rolling once you hit With Max Berry in the Nearer Precincts. This collection leans heavily into the imaginative and fantastical. There are ancient lizard people, ghost t-rex's, instruments that call hell-steeds, things get pretty crazy and always in a good way. The tone starts to ground a bit more towards the last few stories and I felt To See, To Be Seen and Slippage were two great creepy stingers to round things out after a collection that really leaned in a dark fantasy direction. Again, I would recommend this to about anyone. If you're looking for stories to specifically deliver the creeps, start with Wide Carnivorous Sky. If you're looking for stories that are more interesting and fantastical across the board, start with Children of the Fang.
Beneath A Pale Sky - Philip Fracassi - 4/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.5)
This was an interesting one. There wasn't a stand out story in this collection for me (maybe Harvest or Fragile Dreams), but they were all solid. The writing is strong and these stories tend to have a heavy focus on character. Despite that I strangely found myself liking most of these stories but not loving any of them. I think although the writing was technically strong, it felt a bit rote. Like a singer who is technically proficient, but sings a bit mechanically, they're so focused on hitting all their notes that they've forgone singing with some emotion. Liking nearly every story of a collection is still an achievement though and there is a lot to enjoy here. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for some short stories that are more focused on the characters than the horror (not that there isn't any horror!).
A Collapse of Horses - Brian Evenson - 4/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.5)
You want short stories? I mean SHORT stories? Look no further. Brian here has the shortest stories in the game. With 17 stories and clocking in at just over 200 pages, these average about 10-12 pages a story. Evenson is certainly a minimalist in his writing and it can take some getting used to, but if you can get into it there are some great stories here. I particularly loved Black Bark, The Dust, Past Reno, and The Blood Drip, but there isn't a bad story in this collection, and aside from one or two standouts it is the sort of collection where different readers will have entirely different favorites. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants some extremely short stories or short stories that are a bit more on the surreal side.
Don't Look Now - Daphne du Maurier - 4/5 (Overall Story Average: 3.5)
I said it before and I'll say it again, I love Daphne du Maurier's writing. Honestly I found the premise of many of these stories a bit basic or predictable by today's standards, du Maurier setting up twists with glaring obviousness that felt like it was maybe more subtle back when these were first published, but I didn't care. Her writing is fantastic and had a way of pulling me into the story and characters so much that it didn't matter if I knew where a story was going, I just enjoyed the ride. Don't Look Now is by far the stand out in this collection and an excellent story that will keep you on your toes til the end. It also contains The Birds, the story that inspired Hitchcock's movie, and Kiss Me Again, Stranger, a personal favorite of mine.
Collected Ghost Stories - M.R. James - 4/5 (Overall Story Average 3.4)
This collection is entitled Collected Ghost Stories and make no mistake, these are ghost stories more so than horror stories. I make the delineation because this collection has a distinctly different feel to it that I had to adjust to after reading so many other short story collections. M.R. James used to write stories to tell his students at Cambridge as a Christmas tradition and those roots are on full display. These stories feel like something you would tell around a campfire. At 30 stories this is a monster collection, but it contains all of his best works. I felt the first half of this was very strong and then tapered off in the back half, but M.R. James is considered the master of ghost stories for a reason and most of these stories are still good while a handful are great. I'd recommend this to anyone in the mood for some campfire tales, but stories like The Mezzotint, Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad, Number 13, and The Ash Tree will make anyone's skin crawl.
A Lush And Seething Hell - John Hornor Jacobs - 4.5/5
Now we're really cooking. Some great books have already been covered in this list, but we're getting into my favorites, the absolute best horror books I've read in the last 2 years. John Hornor Jacobs starts us off strong with A Lush and Seething Hell. This is actually two novellas packaged together. The first, The Sea Dreams It Is The Sky, follows Isabel who has fled war torn Argentina to start a new life. She forms a friendship with a fellow Argentinian until he is delivered an enigmatic note that draws him back home. Isabel is left with the keys to his apartment, a mysterious book, and the task of grappling with her own conflicted emotions. When a similar note shows up for her will she also heed the call?
The second story, My Heart Struck Sorrow, has a split timeline but is chiefly about two men on a mission to document the musical stylings of the South by interviewing folks who have lived in the deep south their whole lives. As the trip progresses they stumble upon an infectious song that seems to have roots in many communities...
These stories are both fantastic, absolutely top notch horror. They pull you in, make you care, make you think, and creep you out. Deftly written, with depth and detail, I would whole-heartedly recommend these to anyone. My one caveat is that these are both slow burns. I found them to be compelling the whole way through, but if you are on the fence maybe jump into these when you know you are in the mood to let a story simmer. These are both stories of emerging dread rather than in your face horror (for the most part).
Negative Space - B.R. Yeager - 4.5/5
This will be an oddly conflicted review considering I'm giving this a 4.5. I think people tend to really vibe with Negative Space or absolutely hate it. It's a book I can absolutely see people not liking. It follows a group of teens trying to get by in a dead end town with a serious suicide epidemic. This is a bleak, bleak book with characters that are, on the whole, not very likeable. The story can seem to meander with hints as to what is going on in this town just showing up in the periphery. This is one of the only books I've ever read (maybe the only one?) where I actively had no idea whether I was liking it or not while I was reading. It certainly wasn't fun and it had a way of putting me a little off kilter that would linger even after I'd put the book away for the night. At the same time I felt for a lot of the characters in the story, rooting for them to break out of the total apathy that they lived in, and I was genuinely curious to figure out what in the hell was actually happening around this town. The more I read and the more I thought about the story and its presentation, the more I really liked this book. The atmosphere of it is downright oppressive and the fact that this book left me feeling off even after I had put it away is something I can't say many books achieve. Some of the major catalysts for what is happening around town are directly explained, but there is a lot Yeager doesn't explicitly tell you and opts rather to give you just enough detail to connect the likely dots, leading to several fringe horror moments. This is a book that left me thinking on it long after I had finished and it has only risen in my esteem over time. Who would I recommend this to though...that's a tough one. If you're interested in a book with a really unique and bleak atmosphere or a book you may not be able to shake once the pages are closed, don't pass this up. Just be warned it's a serious downer.
The Elementals - Michael McDowell - 4.5/5
Let's pick our mood up with a Michael McDowell double feature! First up, The Elementals. After the passing of Mariam Savage, her son Dauphin and family friends the McCrays go to spend the summer at Beldame, their private Alabama vacation spot where 3 large houses stand. One for the Savages, one for the McCrays, and one empty, steadily being reclaimed by the beach. Atleast people say its empty. This book rocks. McDowell nails every aspect of this story. Its weird, its interesting, its atmospheric, its scary, the characters are great, the writing is great, you name it and its done well. This is a popular recommendation on here so I won't be saying anything many people reading this don't already know, but if you haven't read this book before go do it. Right now. This is a great, well rounded story and I would recommend it to everyone.
Blackwater - Michael McDowell - 4.5/5
Second, let's talk about Blackwater. This southern horror epic may well be McDowell's magnum opus. Spanning several generations, it follows the Caskey's, a wealthy family from Perdido, Alabama. After Oscar Caskey finds a woman curiously stranded in town after a flood the trajectory of his family is forever changed. This book also rocks. Its important to know though that this is more of a southern drama epic than a horror. The Caskey family members and their personal lives are absolutely the focus here. The horror is there, and it is consequential, but it doesn't take center stage. It sneaks up on you just as you are settling into normalcy. Many of the same praises I sang for the Elementals is true here. The characters are exquisite and dripping with personality. The writing is top notch. The interweaving conflicts through generations of Caskey's (and others) will pull you in and just when you're thinking "this family drama is something else" the overarching supernatural plot of this saga strikes and reminds you there is more to think about than inter-family squabbles. Honestly this is just a fantastic book (6 books technically) that I would recommend to about anyone. If the length of this is daunting for you, maybe try The Elementals first to dip your toe into McDowell. If you like anything by McDowell and haven't read this, what are you waiting for? If you haven't read any McDowell at all and a long character driven epic interwoven with horror sounds interesting to you then absolutely pick this up.
Greener Pastures - Michael Wehunt - 4.5/5 (Overall Story Rating: 3.7)
This short story collection comes out of the gate swinging and hardly lets up. These stories are interesting, varied, and legitimately creepy. Wehunt's writing is strong and I think most people would categorize a lot of these stories as "literary horror". Is that notion at odds with one of the best stories in this collection being a found footage tale with strong Blair Witch vibes? Maybe. At the end of the day, with loads of range, scares, and variety, this is an incredibly satisfying collection with something to like for everyone.
The Imago Sequence - Laird Barron - 4.5/5 (Overall Story Rating: 3.8)
Starting at this point, the rest of this list is comprised of short story collections that are absurdly strong. Many collections before this point are fantastic, but these last 4 are on another level in terms of consistent quality. The Imago Sequence falls in a weird position where I count it in the ranks of the 3 collections that will come after, but I did personally like the following 3 more than Imago so I am keeping this at a 4.5. Its a personal decision, this collection has all the merits of a 5/5. Laird Barron gets touted frequently on here and after reading him for the first time last year I would say it is well deserved. His stories are absolutely dripping in atmosphere, depth, and world building. I see posts on this sub sometimes asking if horror stops being effective once you get older. Is there no way to capture that feeling of reading horror as a kid, of rekindling that terror? Laird Barron short stories at night, in the dark, get pretty darn close for me. They have a way of taking their time, building their characters, building their normalcy, and then introducing the scares in ways that work so effectively. These stories are typically longer though, and often take time to get going. If you want a quick injection of horror I would honestly avoid Barron's collections. These are stories you will most enjoy when you set aside 30-45 minutes to plug in and not rush. Even though these are "short" stories, similar to A Lush And Seething Hell, you need to be in the mood to take your time and let things simmer. Of the 10 stories in this collection, 8 of them were 4/5s for me. Craziness. The Royal Zoo Is Closed sucks though, sorry Laird.
The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All - Laird Barron - 5/5 (Overall Story Rating: 3.9)
There isn't much else to say here. This collection has all the same strengths mentioned above, except overall I enjoyed these stories even more than The Imago Sequence. I would also say if you're keen to take the above advice and curl up with some Laird Barron short stories at night to rekindle that childhood love of horror, then starting here would be my personal suggestion. The hits just keep coming with this collection and these stories are all so good that I think everyone's favorites will be different. There are 9 stories here and half of them were 4.5's for me. At the risk of hyping these collections up too much, while the Imago Sequence has a single story that brings it down, this one has two. Vastation single handedly cratered this collection's average out of the 4's, but was mercifully short. Barron went for something a little different here and it just didn't work for me. The final story, More Dark, is okay but won't make a lot of sense if you aren't well versed in other horror authors as the whole story is poking fun (maybe that's charitable) at one author in particular and the characters in the story are all stand ins for modern horror writers. Still one of the best collections I've ever read, 5/5.
North American Lake Monsters - Nathan Ballingrud - 5/5 (Overall Story Rating: 4.1)
With this collection Nathan Ballingrud has officially broken the 4/5 overall story rating barrier, something only achievable by your stories being a sea of 4's to 5's (okay there was one 3.5 in here for me). I'm trying to decide how I want to review this one though, because saying (almost) every story here was a 4 to 5 for me will definitely overhype it for some and I guarantee there are people who have read this and have no idea how I could rate all of these stories so highly. I'll try to level set here. This is not a fun book. This is a profoundly sad collection, every story. If you go into this excited for some scares you will be woefully disappointed. That's not to say there aren't any, but that's not what this book is about. These stories are examinations of broken people. These people are downtrodden in very real ways that anyone could be. The horror element of these stories is not the focus, it is only there to interact with the story in whatever way Ballingrud deems most effective. However, if you come into this with the right mindset it will pay you back tenfold. If you come into it with the wrong expectations you'll bounce right off. I don't think this collection is something everyone will enjoy, but if its for you it will be an all time favorite. If you want some top notch introspective horror pick this up. As a final note this collection also has one of my favorite werewolf stories and favorite vampire stories of all time.
Wounds - Nathan Ballingrud - 5/5 (Overall Story Rating: 4.2)
And now throw all that sad bologna out the window because Wounds is a thrill. This collection still does a fantastic job of building characters and having depth, but it makes sure you'll have a good time while it takes you on that journey. Wounds leans much more into horror fantasy, with many of its stories relating to the bleeding of hell into earth or visa versa. Every story here was a 4 or higher for me. People often praise the novella in this collection, The Butcher's Table, and rightfully so, but this entire collection is full of imagination and horror executed to the highest degree. It's a wild, sometimes brutal, sometimes sad, but always entertaining good time. I'd recommend this collection to anyone.