Horror is a fairly broad genre. Suspense and gore fall under its umbrella, the subtle and the explicit. Monsters both human and non-human, with and without motive, inhabit its works, and the architects of its worlds seek quite the spectrum of responses. Are you unnerved, or actively nauseous? Do you check under the bed for …

All good things must come to an end. It’s a cliché because it’s true, but less cliché is the truth that not all good things come to a good end. Fantasy buffs know all too well the disappointment of loose ends and failed character arcs. Therefore, fantasy buffs—rejoice! For The Discord of Gods is an …

This is a difficult time of year. Not quite winter and not quite spring, there are few holidays to celebrate and precious little opportunity to adjust to Daylight Savings if you’re in the U.S. Plus, you know, the many ongoing crises of the world. No wonder more people are complaining about reading slumps! To help, …

There are a lot of books you can wax effusive about by saying that you stayed up too late, that you missed your subway stop, or that you forgot to adhere to some other daily tasks. I’ve done all of that and more for good books, but The Bone Orchard is the first book I read …

There’s horror—and then there’s horror. There’s gore and shock and dread and cosmic nothingness, all kinds of thrills and chills, all of them bounded between the beginning and end of a narrative and the physical covers of the book. And then there’s The Impossible Resurrection of Grief, which spills over its scant pages in all …

I’m not trying to be tautological when I say that history is written by the writers, cute as it may sound. And I’m not talking about historians. I’m not even professional writers, whether of fiction or journalism or what-have-you. I’m talking about writing history as it happens, taking control of a narrative that is still …

Road of Bones by veteran horror author Christopher Golden is a horror novel the way Resident Evil IV is a horror game. It’s scary, and it’s eerie, but in the end it’s all about the action. The isolation, the psychological elements, and the gore all feed the sense of dramatic forward motion, and not the …

You want a masterclass in worldbuilding? Look no further. Kate Elliott hasn’t been in the game for this long for nothing, and it’s clear from this brief novella that she has only grown in power. Servant Mage combines sharp insights, swift character work, and a magnificently complex world to make a story that feels both …

There are still WAY too many good books coming out for this list to be comprehensive, so here’s the second 1/3rd of my most anticipated books. The middle of the year is particularly bountiful since a lot of books had their release dates pushed back due to supply chain issues. It’s been another chaotic year, …

2022 is going to have some incredible books, and I’m especially looking forward to certain series continuing on or wrapping up entirely. There are too many to cover in a single article, so this is only the first 1/3rd of the year. And, as always, the best way to support authors is to preorder their …