Today I have 2 e-reviews on Booklist Online. Why are the e-only? Well the reason matters to you, so I will share.
There are always going to be more books that deserve a review than can possibly be reviewed. There is not enough time or space in the trade magazines for every book. However, when I comes to Horror, I take my place as the library world's expert very seriously and work hard with my editors at both Booklist and Library Journal to get as many small press books into their review queues as possible.
Some of those titles I am able to take on to review for myself, but as it is I am averaging more than 1 review a week for the year, so...
Add to this issue the fact that many small presses do not have review copies ready, even in PDF, with enough lead time for us to get them into the print magazines.
I know that for many libraries, if there is no professional review of a book they cannot even consider it to be added to their collections. So I do everything I can to get reviews for titles I believe in.
Today you can see that in action as I have two books that I think are MUST BUYS for all public libraries. These are titles you need to ge on your shelves and get into the hands of reads right now. I did a quick turn around on these reviews, but they still could not make the print deadlines to be published before they released. They are, however, on Booklist Online as e reviews here, here, and below. This means, you have the documentation to support an order.
The first is an anthology that sells itself and includes MAJOR authors whose titles you own and whose books you pardons request, while the second will appeal greatly to fans of Clay McLeod Chapman's What Kind of Mother which is out in a few weeks. It's a great "While You Wait" option. I have even helped a NJ library book the two of them for a joint, in person event this fall.
Enough preamble. Here are my draft reviews with bonus appeal info.
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse: Tales from the Beginning of the EndEdited by Brandon Applegate
July 2023. 300p. Hungry Shadow, $28.99 (9798986920252); Hungry Shadow, paper, $14.999798986920245). First published August 31, 2023 (Booklist Online).
As Editor Applegate notes in the Forward to this terrifying anthology, the world is always ending, in big and small ways, and Horror provides a way to process that fact and the accompanying intense emotions at a safe distance. He leaves readers with that unsettling thought as they dive into 28 stories that each take widely different looks at those first moments of the end of the world. The stories are short, as the title hints at, but also, each is extremely immersive, as the dread, embedded in the title follows the reader from story to story. Do readers know what is causing the apocalypse in each tale? Sometimes. Do readers know what happens to the characters they are following once those first five minutes are over? Not really. Well known authors like V Castro and Gwendolyn Kiste present a violent Werewolf uprising or a macabre end of the world party. Lesser known voices like Carson Winter present a quieter, more private moment between a couple as they mourn the death of everyone they know and wait for their turn to die while Nick Bouchard’s blog post framed story, “Ten Totally Free Places to Watch the End of the World,” adds a note of hilarious dark humor. From nuclear war to unknowable supernatural forces, the breadth of ideas on how the world will end is as vast as the way the authors recount it. Not only will this book sell itself to readers by the title alone, but it will also introduce them to a wealth of strong voices in Horror.
Further Appeal: You don't actually need any. Just tell people the tile and they will either be super intrigued or completely repulsed. If they are intrigued, they will like it, I promise you.
Three Words That Describe This Book: dread, varied, intriguing
Readalikes: Books by Gwendolyn Kiste and V. Castro will be requested and you should own them. This World Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Horror Stories About Bugs, which I recently reviewed will also make a good fit.
And don't forget about the pre-apocalypse trilogy by Ben H. Winters, The Last Policeman. This would be a great time to promote that backlist gem.
By Tim Meyer
Aug. 2023. 371p. DarkLit, paper, $20 (9781998851096).
First published August 31, 2023 (Booklist Online).
Ellie and Mitch are connected by tragedy. 3 years ago their beloved daughters disappeared without a trace somewhere in Virginia. When Ellie receives a cryptic message appearing to be from her daughter’s canceled phone, however, the pair drop everything and head to the seaside, ghost town of Lacuna’s Point. Very shortly after arriving, they realize there is a sinister darkness not only controlling everything and everyone, but also, one that refuses to let anyone go. Meyer relays the original and intriguing plot through multiple points, allowing the pacing to stay fast, without sacrificing the necessary and nuanced development of each character and, especially, the place itself, a place that makes Twin Peaks look boring and safe, a place that is the most important character of all. While the unease is palabale on every page, there is also an existential dread that overlays it all, one anchored by the terror of being a someone who is driven by the need to create art at all costs. Utterly immersive and unapologetically visceral, this small press title will appeal to readers who embraced the weird, cosmic feel of This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno and both the parental and crab nightmares of What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman.
Further Appeal: Many points of view– allows the pacing to stay fast even though there is a lot of world building that needs to happen. It is never too many switches because they are necessary for the reader to understand the complexities of the situation and where each character is coming from. And each is built uniquely and with nuance.
Gives a whole new meaning to “ghost town” Like Twin Peaks– but way more deadly.
The entire novel is also a metaphor for how terrifying being a creative can be. The need and desire to write, paint, play music, etc… the overwhelming need to make art at all costs is at the heart of this entire book and the anchor for the terror.
A fast paced, immersive, and visceral pulp Horror tale that will leave you unsettled about your own choices long after you turn the final page.
Three Words That Describe This Book: multiple points of view, Weird, immersive
Readalikes: The two above and Twin Peaks plus I definitely thought about Chuck Wendig's Wanderers and Brian Keene's The Complex while reading this novel. The feel of both yes, but also how the stories are told with multiple points of view that allow for robust, nuanced, and emotionally satisfying character development.
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