I keep seeing their faces. Their eyes. Madness radiated from them. The damaged woman. The mother. The final girl. Her face was full of angry, terrifying joy. Her face was twisted by secrets. It's been a couple days since I saw Us, Jordan Peele's latest horror film, and I'm not sure which woman is haunting me more. Us is a story of families, of community, and class. It's also the story of two women and how dangerous they became when cornered, how they defended the life they'd created. Adelaide fights for her family. She clings to them, unwilling to give them[...]
Monthly Archives
March 2019
1 I recently finished reading Stephen King's latest novel The Outsider, which left an interesting thought crammed into the dark places of my mind. About the power of believing. The beginning of the book dwells in proof, in what could be touched and seen, in what must be true. No matter how wrong the reality of the evidence seemed, Detective Ralph Anderson would not let go, would not question reality. By the middle of the story, dear Ralph questions everything, but remains firm in his grip on evidence, on DNA, on fingerprints, on eyewitnesses. Though no[...]
I fell in love with horror fiction through short stories. The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe. NIGHT SHIFT, by Stephen King. My family car was littered with horror anthologies I found on bookstore racks and garage sale tables. As a writer, I love the tight structure and elegant story telling. As a reader, I love a small story that rips me apart and leaves me gasping. GUTTED: BEAUTIFUL HORROR STORIES, edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward, is a gorgeous collection. The stories delve into the dark, emotional connection we feel towards what we treasure[...]
When I first saw the gorgeous cover of When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry, I fell in love. In love with the swirling blue hues, gorgeous green font, in love with friends banding together, and in love with the sparkling spaceship in the center, ready to haul people up into it's beam. I love mysteries, cryptzoology, and aliens so this book was a perfect read. Huge thank you to the amazing Friya and my friends at Penguin Random House for letting me read this book a little early. First, a little about When the Sky Fell on Splendor. The Serpent King meets[...]
The Davis Girl (TDG): Everyone, I am overjoyed to welcome illustrator and author Eric Orchard. Hello, and good day sir. Eric Orchard (EO): Good morning! TDG: Yes. Good morning. Are you ready for this, Eric Orchard? EO: Yep! TDG: First, who is the awesome cat in your profile picture? It has a pipe and there's a moon and it's awesome. EO: Ohhhh! That’s a bat often mistaken for a cat! It’s Inky from Maddy Kettle. In the book he’s a bat who guides Maddy through the ancient bat kingdom under the Arizona desert to the Thimble Witch’s house on a Mesa[...]
Author Monica Kuebler started her Blood Magic series in 2012 with an online serial called Bleeder posted to Wattpad. The book ended up expanding into 4, and now has over 628K Reads on Wattpad. It’s obvious the horror/romance/paranormal/vampire YA series has touched a nerve with readers looking for a modern blood-soaked saga. Haven’t read any of the books in the series? You can start at the beginning by joining Monica as she hosts a read-along of Bleeder over the next few weeks. As Monica reads through the book that started it all, she will be sharing offi[...]
I came across Paul Tremblay's The Cabin at the End of the World during a recent search for Lovecraftian horror that introduced me to The Fisherman from John Langan (which I loved). And while I would not personally categorize The Cabin at the End of the World as overly Lovecraftian, it definitely is an apocalyptic tale that provides constant tension punctuated by some truly horrific moments. The Cabin at the End of the World starts out innocently enough, with a family vacation. A young girl named Wen and her fathers are enjoying a peaceful, lakeside cabin stay in[...]
It is time, once again, for Midnight Society Movie Night announcement. Horror movie friends, let's watch The Nun. Let's watch together huddled in the dark, tucked cozy under blankets. Who's bringing the cookies? Popcorn? I posted my thoughts on the 2018 film by James Wan and Gary Dauberman in my previous post. You can read it here! About how I ran to see this movie and left a bit disappointed, and then how I rewatched it (because The Conjuring universe is one of my favorites) and discovered pieces of the puzzle I had missed. So, I need to[...]
