A Head Full of Horror

Resurrection and horror fiction have a long history. It’s hard to keep a good theme buried. The longevity of Frankenstein along with certain writings of Poe, and subsequent famous resuscitations of “The Monkey’s Paw” such as Pet Sematary, demonstrate that bringing back the dead is in an everlasting state of revival. The Unkillable Frank Lightning by Josh Rountree is a hybrid riff on the Universal Studios movie interpretation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Like Rountree’s previous novel, The Legend of Charlie Fish, which was based on Universal’s Creature from the Black Lagoon, the narrative uses the Old West as a partial backdrop. The reckless violence of the locale and era works quite well atmospherically for a tale of gore and…

Digging into bookshelves is a bit like archaeology. There are treasures to be found among the double-rows of volumes. On the most recent excavation, I unearthed a jewel from the past: Dark Gods, a collection of four novellas by T.E.D. Klein. Klein’s prose is insightful and delightful. It delves into the basics of fear, that awareness of something terrifying lurking close by, while knowing that all the introspection in the world can’t keep it at bay. A jaundiced sense of humor, a witty riposte, a philosophical outlook, or an acknowledgement of the malevolent adversary are shabby temporary defenses. Excellently establishing mood is another Klein characteristic. Consider, for example, this atmospheric…

Writer Stephen Graham Jones has quite a following. He is highly regarded by reviewers and readers for his prose and application of his Native American background into his works. His novella Mapping the Interior helped to put him on the map, so to speak, courtesy of a Bram Stoker Award in the category of Long Fiction. First published in 2017, the Tor Publishing Group has just reissued it under its Nightfire banner. That gave me the opportunity to read the book for the first time and rectify a past omission. In its 96 pages, there is much psychological and sociological insight about American Indian culture. But at its heart, the…

White Line Fever by KC Jones is an ode to Stephen King. There are multiple references in the novel to several of King’s works, ranging from a vehicle referred to as “The Silver Bullet” to Stanley Kubrick’s film version of The Shining. Thematically, White Line Fever is primarily a love letter to King’s classic It, a book that focuses on a group of friends traumatized by events that happened in their youth. In Jones’s narrative, four gal pals in their thirties embark on a road trip aimed at bolstering the spirits of the brokenhearted protagonist. She carries the most emotional baggage, but each of the friends has unresolved personal demons.…

Recently, I saw two films that fall into the hybrid horror category. Both The Substance (2024) and Companion (2025) weave satire and searing social commentary into their very graphic over-the-top horror narratives. The novel Follow Me, written by Elizabeth Rose Quinn, reminded me of those movies. The book is similar in tone and snark. Its plot zeros in on the rabid desire to be a social media presence. The focus is on pressured young mothers, who feel isolated and undervalued, succumbing to the allure of being deemed an influencer. Like the two films I mentioned, things get taken to extremes. Author Quinn serves up so many quotable quips that it…

For those who have wondered about having a sensual tryst with a vampire, here’s a literary taste: “Along the contours of his ribs she felt knotted places, hollows — old healings, the tracks of time. The tension of his muscles under her touch and the sharp sound of his breathing stirred her. She lived the fantasy of having sex with an utter stranger; there was no one in the world so much a stranger as he. Yet there was no one who knew him as well as she did, either. If he was unique, so was she, and so was their confluence here.” That eloquently seductive prose is from Suzy…

Ambiguity in horror fiction must be handled deftly to be effective. If not, the narrative dissatisfies and frustrates. Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce mixes folk horror with a dollop of the supernatural in what is predominantly a character study. Mina, the novel’s first-person narrator, is a conflicted woman. She’s soon to marry to a man with whom she is not compatible. In contrast to her, he is highly organized and science oriented. When Mina expresses her belief that a person standing behind her in one of their vacation photos is her long dead brother, her fiancé strongly encourages her to resume attending grief counseling sessions. At the venue…