Tag: Reading

Author Interview

Author interview: Emily J. Weisenberger on Beautiful and Terrifying, speculative fiction, and storytelling across worlds

Mandy Webster

In this contributor interview, speculative fiction author Emily J. Weisenberger discusses her short story “Marrying Age” in Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny, her early literary influences, and how anthropology shapes her approach to storytelling.

Emily J. Weisenberger writes speculative fiction that blends curiosity, humor, and sharp observation, creating stories that feel both imaginative and grounded in real human experience. Her short story, “Marrying Age,” featured in Beautiful and Terrifying, reflects her interest in exploring culture, identity, and the complexities of the worlds we build—both real and imagined. In this interview, she discusses the authors who shaped her early love of storytelling, how her background in anthropology informs her approach to character, and the balance of absurdity, heart, and insight that drives her work across genres for both children and adults.

Emily J. Weisenberger, speculative fiction author and contributor to Beautiful and Terrifying, whose story “Marrying Age” explores the complex boundaries between culture, identity, and imagination.

Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today?
A: Eva Ibbotson (Which Witch?, Island of the Aunts, Journey to the River Sea) and Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events) were authors I came back to again and again as a child and have continued to draw from as an adult. Their stories were so strange and so full of heart. Goodness persevered in Ibbotson’s books, while life was harsh but weatherable in Handler’s. Both gave me important and different ways to view the world, and lessons in how to capture young people’s sense of curiosity about life. These are still among my favorite books.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Until Death by Mary Berman is a darkly funny horror novel about how easily love can become a trap

Mandy Webster

There’s a moment in Until Death when it becomes clear that the real horror isn’t just the eerie chapel, the controlling future in-laws, or the increasingly sinister wedding planning. It’s the realization that Ophelia has slowly stopped trusting her own instincts. That loss of self feels far more unsettling than any supernatural element lurking in the background, and it’s what gives Mary Berman’s debut its sharpest edge.

Get your copy of Until Death from my independent online bookstore today!

The novel follows Ophelia Cohen, a woman who never intended to get married after watching her parents’ relationship sour her on the entire institution. But as her mother’s dementia worsens, Ophelia becomes consumed by the fear of ending up alone. When she meets Luke—a man who seems almost custom-built to satisfy both her emotional vulnerabilities and her mother’s wishes—marriage suddenly feels less impossible. From there, the story spirals into a chaotic blend of wedding horror, psychological manipulation, family pressure, and increasingly alarming red flags.

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Hunger by Choi Jin-young: A brutal, unforgettable descent into love, poverty, and desperation

Mandy Webster

There are books that entertain, and then there are books that settle somewhere in your body and refuse to move—Hunger by Choi Jin-young is firmly the latter, a slim novel that opens with a shocking act and only grows more unsettling from there. If the premise alone—compared to Parasite as a kind of dark, romantic counterpoint—sounds extreme, the reality is even harsher. This is, at its core, a tale of absolute misery. And it’s almost a relief that the book is so brief, because lingering in its world for too long would be difficult to bear.

Get your copy of Hunger from my independent online bookstore today!

The story begins with Gu’s death, though the cause is initially unknown. Dam, his lifelong counterpart in a relationship defined by separation and reunion, is inconsolable. The idea of losing him—not just emotionally, but physically through burial or cremation—is unbearable. So she makes a choice that is as horrifying as it is, in her mind, logical: she will consume him, ensuring they are never apart again.

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Ask the Author

Ask the author: Should authors review other authors’ books?

Mandy Webster

Dear Mandy,

Should authors review other authors’ books?

Short answer: Yes—but do it with intention, professionalism, and an awareness of the ecosystem you’re participating in.

Longer answer: I believe authors reviewing other authors’ work can be a genuinely good thing. We’re part of a shared creative community, and thoughtful engagement helps readers discover books while also raising the level of conversation around storytelling. That said, how you review matters just as much as whether you review.

An infographic that spells out the key points made by the article.
Thoughtful reviews don’t tear books down—they build better conversations.

On my own blog, I keep my literary criticism constructive. I talk about what worked for me and what didn’t, but I frame those “didn’t” moments as areas where something could have been stronger—not as the author doing something wrong. That distinction matters. It keeps the focus on craft rather than tearing down the person behind the work. If a book ultimately wasn’t for me, I’ll still highlight the kinds of readers who would connect with it, because every book has an audience—even when I’m not it.

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Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey: A hypnotic look at belonging, control, and the cost of transformation

Mandy Webster

What would you give up to finally belong somewhere—and would you recognize the moment it stopped being your choice? Make Me Better is an unsettling, slow-burn descent into the seductive promise of community, where healing and control blur until they’re indistinguishable. Fans of Wife Shaped Bodies, The Unworthy, or Sorrowland will find something deeply familiar—and deeply disturbing—here.

Get your copy of Make Me Better from my independent online bookstore today!

At the center of the story is Celia, a woman whose longing for connection overrides her sense of self-preservation. She doesn’t just develop crushes—she builds entire imagined lives around men she barely knows. When she recognizes how precarious that pattern is, she redirects that intensity toward the idea of motherhood. A baby, after all, would be hers in a way no one else ever has been. That same vulnerability makes her the perfect target for something like Kindred Cove.

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Author Interview

Author interview: William M. Chippich on Beautiful and Terrifying and Nevermore: The Heir, The Witch, and The Fool

Mandy Webster

In this contributor interview, William M. Chippich—author of the upcoming novel Nevermore: The Heir, The Witch, and The Fool and contributor to Beautiful and Terrifying—shares the literary influences, writing habits, and creative philosophy that shape his character-driven fiction.

William M. Chippich brings a deep love of character-driven storytelling to every page he writes, whether he’s crafting the darkly atmospheric short story “Three or Four Miles, Mostly Flat” for Beautiful and Terrifying:Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny or building the richly imagined world of his forthcoming novel, Nevermore: The Heir, The Witch, and The Fool. In this interview, he reflects on the writers who first shaped his imagination, the discipline and creativity behind his process, and the themes of love, hope, and the unknown that continue to guide his work. From comic book legends and literary classics to the quiet rituals of everyday writing life, Chippich offers thoughtful insight into what it means to tell stories that truly connect with readers.

William M. Chippich, contributor to Beautiful and Terrifying and author of the upcoming Nevermore: The Heir, The Witch, and The Fool is pictured at Dunnottar Castle in Scotland.

Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today.
A: My earliest influences were writers like Stan Lee, Chris Claremont and John Byrne of Marvel comics. The great comic book writers of that era are very overlooked. Stan Lee in particular made comic writing and stories legitimate. After that, everything from Mary Shelley to Steinbeck, Hemingway, and too many classics to name. Guys like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Christopher Moore are definitely stand outs for me as well. Every one of these great writers build amazing worlds, but I think the real influence on me were their characters. They make fantastic, fictional beings seem real to people. You love them, you hate them, you feel for them. That’s the real magic of these greats.

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Not Your Final Girl by Mikayla Randolph review: A slasher that can’t outrun its own past

Mandy Webster

Seven years after a prom night tragedy, a group of former friends reunites at a lakeside cabin—and quickly proves that time hasn’t made them wiser, kinder, or even remotely interested in leaving the past behind.

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In Not Your Final Girl, Mikayla Randolph builds a setup that feels immediately familiar: estranged high school friends, a remote cabin with no cell service, and a long-simmering grudge waiting to boil over. Darcy, weighed down by guilt and depression, and Ashley, whose controlling cruelty defines nearly every interaction, anchor the story’s emotional center—if it can be called that. Around them is a cast of characters who, quite frankly, seem to actively dislike one another. Trust is nonexistent, and affection feels like an afterthought.

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Mercy Hill by Hannah Thurman: A haunting portrait of family, control, and the quiet damage we call devotion

Mandy Webster

The most unsettling thing about Mercy Hill by Hannah Thurman is how easily it convinces you that everything happening might, in some warped way, be justified—right up until it isn’t.

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Set against the crumbling infrastructure of a state-run psychiatric hospital in North Carolina at the turn of the millennium, Thurman’s debut follows the four Cross sisters—JJ, Caro, Mimi, and Denise—who have grown up on the grounds of Mercy Hill under the rule of their formidable mother, Lisa Cross, head of psychiatry and self-appointed savior of the institution. From the outside, it’s a story about mental healthcare in America and the slow dismantling of public systems. From the inside, it’s something far more intimate and far more disturbing. Because what this novel is really about is a mother who conscripts her children into her life’s work.

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The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean review: A haunting gothic tale that asks who deserves forgiveness

Mandy Webster

The past doesn’t stay buried in The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean—it claws its way back, dripping with grief and unfinished business. Set against the shadowy sprawl of Hong Kong’s infamous Kowloon Walled City, this Gothic-tinged novel blends folklore, memory, and vengeance into a story that lingers long after the final page. With its May 5, 2026 release, Dean once again proves she’s operating in a space all her own.

Get your copy of The Girl With a Thousand Faces from my independent online bookstore today!

At the center of the novel is Mercy Chan, a woman with no past—or at least none she can remember. Washed ashore with nothing, she builds a life for herself in Kowloon as a ghost talker, mediating between the living and the dead. It’s a fascinating premise, but what makes it work is the texture of Mercy’s world. Despite the grime, the danger, and the ever-present spirits, there’s an unexpected sense of familiarity here—a kind of eerie coziness that settles in as Mercy navigates her routines among the haunted alleyways.

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Honey by Imani Thompson: A sharp, unsettling debut that turns rage into something intoxicating

Mandy Webster

There’s a moment early in Honey by Imani Thompson—out May 5, 2026—when a tiny, impulsive act spirals into something irreversible, and from that point on, the novel never loosens its grip. This is a dark, provocative debut that knows exactly what it’s doing, luring you in with something almost playful before revealing just how far it’s willing to go.

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Just like its title, this book is delicious. Yrsa’s first kill is so sweet in its construction—unplanned, quick, and disturbingly easy. What makes it even more compelling is that it’s not really the act itself that kills the man, but her decision not to intervene once things go wrong. It’s petty. It’s spiteful. And it’s chilling in the way Yrsa immediately recognizes the opportunity in front of her and simply… lets it happen. That moment sets the tone for everything that follows.

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