Horror DNA

We were too, we had to buy the books. I think this is why some books stay in print.

Listening to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. It is absolutely fantastic, made even better by Ray Porter's narration. I loved The Martian too. I'm not much of a sci/fi fan as far as books, but holy shit does Weir deliver.

If you've never read Weir, this short story/novella is a good place to start cheap. (Or you can watch The Martian with MATT DAMON.)

Knocked out Wounds for Wishes for review. Great book. Here's my review.

Getting into two for review:



Devil's Creek is actually a book, but it's being re-released in January, so there's no pre-order yet.

Still reading the above two (and really enjoying them), but I knocked out a few audiobooks:



Dawn of the Dead is the best amongst the three. Fantastic performance by the narrator and a great book all around. It complements the movie nicely by adding more developed characters and some different scenes.

Ronald Kelly's Dark Dixie: Tales of Southern Horror is a fun listen. The narrator's southern twang is absolutely perfect for Kelly's words.

Survivor's Guilt is the weakest of the bunch, but not because of its story. I actually really liked the story and probably would have liked it more if I had read it instead of listened. The narrator is virtually monotone throughout the read, showing little to no emotion, much less a variety of voices for different characters. I recommend the book, but no the audio book.

I think I forgot about this one. It was an absolute blast. My review.

Finished Devil's Creek. Really liked it (review coming soon).

Now I want to get back into Ghostwritten. I'm also reading Mack Bolan and Robert Ford's Larva Me Tender. I don't even know what Ford's is about yet. I just like his work and asked for a review copy.

Oh, started listening to this one yesterday. So far, so great.



Side note, if you have audible and regularly post reviews, there are tons of great, free codes here: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/

(Note, a lot you just request and you get them automatically, but if some require a manual release, and I noticed I get those more frequently after I started reviewing them.)

So, I'm finding my grove again. I've been really diving into audiobooks more and reading my kindle outside of them. It feels like I'm getting back to pre-pandemic days. (Pre-Covid, I was READING. For some reason, Covid just put that to a halt, and I have no idea what changed.)

ANYWAY, Audible had a pretty damn good sale, so I'm back into Ronald Malfi's Ghostwritten. One of the cool things about Audible being owned by Amazon is if I also have the Kindle version (which I do), I can listen in my car, then jump on my Kindle and pick right up where I left off. I don't do that though. I'm just saying it's neat.

I'm also closing out the vast amount of books I've started and not finished (most are anthologies or collections). So I'm reading Love and Other Wounds by Jordan Harper. It's sickening how good this guy is. A friend turned me on to his novel She Rides Shotgun and, honestly, it's probably one of the best books I've ever read. Love and Other Wounds is a collection of his short stories and is just dynamite. If you like the beat of Elmore Leonard, you would absolutely love Harper's work. It's just as good, but the violence is turned up to 11.

Clay McLeod Chapman's Whisper Down the Lane has been on my TBR forever, and come to find out, it is offered to Audible+ members to download for free. All in.

What a fantastic book. As I said on Twitter, there's a moment in the book that gave me that same feeling I had when it all-at-once hit me what was going on in The Sixth Sense when I first saw it. That's a very hard thing to duplicate, and Whisper Down the Lane has a moment just like that.

Chapman did his research on the Satanic Panic of the '80s (the book is heavily based on that), and you can easily tell who some of the characters are based on (like Geraldo Rivera and that fucking cunt psychiatrist who fucked the McMartins).

A really, really great book, especially if you have any interest in the Satanic Panic.

Currently listening to Driving to Gerinimo's Grave, a collection of Joe Lansdale's stories. Naturally it's great because it's Lansdale. Bonus! It's free to listen to for Audible+ members.

The title story is fanfuckingtastic, and the second one, Wrestling Jesus is phenomenal.

Driving to Gerinimo's Grave is fantastic, which is no surprise, with each story being a banger.

Now I'm listening to Dweller by Jeff Strand. At first, this reads like a YA book (which I'm cool with, a TON of great YA books out there), but then it takes a dark-as-fuck turn and I'm all, "Okay, definitely not YA."

Really, really good so far. I love all of Strand's work, and this is definitely a standout. He doesn't give one shit about my feelings and is taking me through the ringer.

I'm currently reading Kevin Lucia's upcoming The Horror at Pleasant Brook. It's my first time reading a full novel by Lucia and I'm all in. It sucked me in from the first page and I'm digging it thus far. (It's not out until September, so no linkage.)

Alien Redrum wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 2:30 pm Clay McLeod Chapman's Whisper Down the Lane has been on my TBR forever, and come to find out, it is offered to Audible+ members to download for free. All in.

What a fantastic book. As I said on Twitter, there's a moment in the book that gave me that same feeling I had when it all-at-once hit me what was going on in The Sixth Sense when I first saw it. That's a very hard thing to duplicate, and Whisper Down the Lane has a moment just like that.

Chapman did his research on the Satanic Panic of the '80s (the book is heavily based on that), and you can easily tell who some of the characters are based on (like Geraldo Rivera and that fucking cunt psychiatrist who fucked the McMartins).

A really, really great book, especially if you have any interest in the Satanic Panic.

This is only $1.99 right now. Definitely worth the price.

Finished Dweller, and damn, that book was fucked up in the best of ways. Still reading The Horror at Pleasant Brook and really digging it.

I'm also reading Ali Seay's Hysteria: Lolly & Lady Vanity and liking that A LOT as well. I'm not too far into it, but this woman just beat a pedophile to death, so that's fun.

I'm listening to Nights of the Living Dead, edited by Jonathan Maberry. This is the first zombie-themed novel I've read in a while because I've been so done with the genre. I figured an anthology of short stories was the best way to ease into it, and I'm enjoying it.

I'm also listening to Jeff Strand's An Apocalypse of Our Own. I'm not much of a fan of the narrator, but it's only a two-hour listen and I love Strand, so it's definitely listen-worthy.

I finished Harlan Coben's I Will Find You, and found it rather ho-hum. I like Coben's work, but this one was lacking and I can't quite put my finger on why.

After I get these knocked out, I'm going to read Zach Rosenberg's novels, The Long Shalom and Hungers as Old as This Land, then probably dive into the Splatter Westerns I got at Horror on Main.