If you’ve read the Short Story of the Day series so far, you know I love stories about monstrous women and girls. I shared Carrie Vaughn’s take on Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” last year. Yesterday’s pick, Kelly Sandoval’s ‘What Sisters Take,” follows a teenager with a hidden twin who can only survive by killing her. Next up: “Sometimes Boys Don’t Know” by Donyae Coles.
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Hi hi, all. I’ve been woefully negligent about updating this blog this year, but there’s been a lot going on. I’ve had to fight with my homeowner’s insurance, weather a layoff, and come to terms with the progression of our senior cat’s terminal illness. Nevertheless, I need to write up a quick awards eligibility post, because it’s ✨nomination season✨. Links to my 2022 fiction—and a cat photo!—below.
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The Mountain Goats lead singer John Darnielle is back with another nostalgic horror novel. Universal Harvester, the unrelated follow-up to Wolf in White Van, pitches readers into a VHS rental store in Iowa, where someone is taping cryptic and appalling scenes over the cassettes. Continue reading
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Video game tie-in novels aren’t known for being big-L Literature, and you won’t spot B.K. Evenson‘s Dead Space, Martyr on any awards lists. That’s a shame, too, because Evenson’s novel is a unicorn — a visceral, horrific unicorn. Dead Space, Martyr is a damn good work of fiction that transcends franchise appeal. Continue reading
For writers who need to back fateful encounters with reason, cyclical evils hold strong allure. It’s easy when you make the Big Bad come knocking every 10, 20, or 250 years: you just have to stage your heroes correctly to make plot events look preordained. Any trope — especially a common one — can be misplayed, but don’t worry: David Mitchell sets up the Slade House dominoes to fall in perfect sequence. Continue reading