Tag: Horror

Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

It Was Her House First by Cherie Priest is a chilling ghost story with a smart, skeptical heroine—and a lesson in listening to your gut

Mandy Webster

Cherie Priest’s It Was Her House First is a fresh take on the haunted house novel, blending magical realism with classic ghost story suspense and a smart, wary heroine you can’t help but root for. When Ronnie Mitchell inherits enough money to finally buy her dream home, she snaps up a dilapidated cliffside mansion sight unseen—only to discover it comes with a terrible legacy and a very possessive spirit.

Get your copy of It Was Her House First from my independent online bookstore today!

That spirit is Venita Rost, a former silent film star who may look like a cat now, but still has claws—and a long memory. Venita’s fury radiates through the house, where she is eternally bound with her nemesis, Bartholomew Sloan, a ghost shackled by his own complicity. Their presence lingers not only in creaking floorboards and flickering lights, but also in eerie, unforgettable moments—like when a man named Hugh shows up at the back door to “work” on the house. Ronnie knows he’s not living. She also knows better than to pretend otherwise. The way Priest blends these surreal moments into the everyday is one of the book’s most magical and eerie strengths.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

What secrets lie behind the Midnight Door? Katrina Monroe’s haunting tale of sisterhood and trauma

Mandy Webster

What if the scariest thing isn’t what waits behind a mysterious door, but what happens when you never speak of it again? Katrina Monroe’s Through the Midnight Door is a genre-bending novel that slips between the psychological and the supernatural, the traumatic and the magical, all while anchoring itself in the emotionally raw terrain of sisterhood. It’s eerie and unsettling in the best way—but also heartbreakingly intimate.

Get your copy of Through the Midnight Door from my independent online bookstore today!

Years after the Finch sisters dared to unlock the doors in a seemingly impossible abandoned house in their dying hometown, the youngest, Claire, is found dead inside it. Her death pulls Meg and Esther—both estranged and damaged in different ways—back into each other’s lives. They’re not just grieving a sister; they’re unraveling what really happened that summer and what they never told each other.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Why you shouldn’t sleep on Jessica Johns’ Bad Cree: A chilling debut about family, grief, and survival

Mandy Webster

What begins with a severed crow’s head and a haunting dream evolves into something far more layered in Bad Cree, Jessica Johns’ eerie and powerful debut. This genre-blending novel offers readers a gripping supernatural mystery while also digging deep into themes of grief, intergenerational trauma, and the quiet, often unseen strength of women supporting one another through pain.

Get your copy of Bad Cree from my independent online bookstore today!

When Mackenzie wakes to find a crow’s head in her hands—only to have it vanish—she can no longer ignore the disturbing dreams that have been plaguing her. As her waking world becomes increasingly infected by her nightmares, she leaves Vancouver for her hometown in Alberta to reconnect with the family she left behind. At first, she fears the worst: her mother and sister are furious with her for skipping her sister Sabrina’s funeral. The stage is set for major emotional fallout—but instead of fracturing further, the women in Mackenzie’s family do something more surprising: they show up for each other.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

What if your dreams could incriminate you? A review of The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

Mandy Webster

Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel is one of the most urgent and unputdownable novels I’ve read in years. I devoured it in a single day, heart pounding and mind racing, both captivated by its story and shaken by how plausible it all feels. Set in a chillingly believable future where artificial intelligence and corporate surveillance have penetrated even our subconscious minds, the book offers a harrowing exploration of power, privacy, and resistance—especially for women.

Get your copy of The Dream Hotel from my independent online bookstore today!

When Sara returns home from an overseas trip, she’s abruptly detained by the Risk Assessment Administration and told that, based on an algorithm analyzing her dreams, she is likely to commit a violent crime against her husband. She’s placed in a detention center with other “dreamers,” all women, all accused not of what they’ve done, but of what they might do. With every misstep—real or perceived—their stay is extended, and their ability to prove their innocence slips further out of reach.

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Call for Submissions, Writing Prompts

Sharpen your skills: Why writers need regular exercises (Plus a 350-word prompt!)

Mandy Webster

Even the most seasoned authors need practice. Just like athletes train their bodies, writers must train their minds and creative muscles. Regular writing exercises aren’t just a warm-up—they’re essential for growth. Whether you’re working on a novel, poetry, or short fiction, small prompts can help you hone your voice, explore new ideas, and build confidence on the page.

Hey, writers! We want YOU to submit your writing to our upcoming Bad Moon on the Rise anthology! Learn more here!

One of the most valuable benefits of regular writing practice? It teaches you to write concisely. When you’re forced to distill a story down to its essence, every word matters. You learn to tighten your prose, heighten your stakes, and let your ideas breathe in a limited space. That’s a skill that serves you well whether you’re submitting to literary journals, writing query letters, or polishing your latest manuscript.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

I’ll Be Waiting is so creepy, I had to stop reading it at night!

Mandy Webster

Kelley Armstrong’s latest horror novel isn’t just chilling—it’s emotionally haunting in a way that lingers long after the lights are out. Most of my reading happens right before I go to bed, but I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong made that nearly impossible. Every chapter brims with tension so expertly crafted that I found myself burrowing into my comforter at night to hide every part of myself from whatever might lurk in the shadows. But beyond the scares—and there are plenty—it’s also a story about grief, illness, and the unexpected twists in a life already marked by limited time.

Get your copy of I’ll Be Waiting from my independent online bookstore today!

We meet Nicola Laughton in her thirties, a woman who was never supposed to live that long. Diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) as a child, she beat the odds thanks to medical advances. She even allowed herself to fall in love. Anton was her future—the person who taught her to hope for more than just survival. The two were married for only a couple of years before a car crash left Nicola widowed. Anton’s final words to his wife—“I’ll be waiting for you”—became both a deeply personal haunting and a viral social media curiosity.

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Call for Submissions

Under a dark sky: Elderfly Press announces open submissions for Bad Moon on the Rise

Mandy Webster

Something is stirring in the shadows—and Elderfly Press wants you to capture it.
Submissions are now open for Bad Moon on the Rise, a new anthology that delves into what it means to live under a dark sky—literally or metaphorically. Whether you’re drawn to haunted landscapes, personal reckonings, or the eerie quiet of things unraveling, this is your chance to contribute to a collection where strange winds and long-buried truths come to light.

What Elderfly Press is looking for:

This anthology invites a wide range of voices and forms:

  • Genre fiction: horror, speculative, gothic, dystopian, weird, sci-fi, supernatural—anything that chills, disturbs, or unsettles
  • Literary fiction: moody, shadowed, emotionally raw
  • Essays: on upheaval, transformation, liminality, or living through cultural shifts
  • Poetry: rooted in chaos, shadow, or change
  • Visual art: black-and-white pieces that evoke the mood of the anthology
Continue reading “Under a dark sky: Elderfly Press announces open submissions for Bad Moon on the Rise” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix – A feminist horror that fumbles the landing

Mandy Webster

I stopped reading books by straight white men a few years ago, but somehow, this one slipped through—and at first, I thought it might just prove me wrong.

Get your copy of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix from my online bookstore today!

I’ve made a conscious effort in recent years to diversify my reading list, moving away from the straight white male authors that had dominated my bookshelves for so long. It wasn’t until I pulled this book from the stack that was my last library haul that I realized Witchcraft for Wayward Girls was written by a white man. My knee-jerk reaction was to put it down, but it was my only unread book on hand, so I decided to give it a chance.

And at first? I was all in.

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Author Interview

Author interview with Amy L. Sauder, teller of introspective psychological stories

Mandy Webster

If introspective psychological stories are your thing, then author Amy L. Sauder has your next read! Sauder is a creative and author of such works as the Unfixed series and I Know You Like a Murder. She lives on the edge of an enchanted wood with her husband Josh and her mannequin Delilah. Read on to learn more!

Q: When did you first catch the writing bug? What drove you to persist?
A: I’ve dabbled in writing since I was a kid, but staunchly insisted and believed during my college years that I did NOT want to be a writer; I just wanted to study literature. [I know, insert sarcastic “Suuuure” here.] Finally in my last semester, I became honest with myself and others, that I wanted to be an author and was just terrified I wasn’t good enough. And that wasn’t a reason to stop, it was a reason to hunker down and get better. So I did, and here I am!

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Author Interview

Author interview with writer of the macabre, A.J. Humphreys

Mandy Webster

Today we welcome A.J. Humphreys, an emerging author of spooky thrillers, mysteries, and dreadful tales. The small-town serialized four-volume supernatural mystery saga, Season of The Monster served as his debut within the publishing world.

A member of the Horror Writers’ Association, AJ is also the founder, owner, and chief operating officer of Dark
Journeys Press.

AJ currently lives in Urbana, IL, working as a server part-time to support his dream of writing full-time.

Q: What is your approach to incorporating elements of diversity and inclusion in your writing?
A: The world is a diverse place, and I like for my stories to reflect that. So, I often incorporate all sorts of different characters with their own intricacies. That said, I don’t treat any character as a novelty to exploit their differences.

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