#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: A Finished Copy of the Modern Queer Horror Classic RED X by David Demchuk

I am doing a cross post today with RA for All Horror because I am highlighting a title being released in a new edition that I need you all to know about. 

Also, the giveaway will be off next week, but I wanted to remind everyone that it happens most weeks and I am about to go into the busiest time when I have the most sought after ARCs. So you may want to follow the directions and get yourself entered.

Now to the post.

Today I have a treat. A finished copy of a book that was previously only available in Canada; a brand new edition with so many extras; a title that has gone on to become a Queer Horror Classic. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Last week's winner was Janet from OR. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

David Demchuk's Red X is a modern horror classic, full stop, but as a work of Queer Horror is seminal. Don't take my word for it. I have Eric LaRocca's words right here for you:

“When they speak of seminal works of queer literature a hundred years from now, David Demchuk’s RED X will most assuredly be included in that conversation. A tremendously influential novel so arresting, so brutal and yet so delicate that its labyrinthine complexity should be studied and praised. A merciless and truly daring masterpiece of queer fiction.” 

    —Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

This book was a NYPL Best Book of the Year, a CBC Books Pick for Best Canadian Fiction, and an Aurora Award Nominee for Best Novel. All of this was back in 2021 when it first came out. So why don't you have it or know about it? Because it was only published in Canada. 

This new edition will be available on June 30th here in America and it includes a foreword by Gretchen Felker-Martin. This book is also the reason I asked David to write an essay for my book. It is a literal masterpiece. Everyone should read it.

I have so much to say about this seminal work of queer and experimental horror. But first, here is the blurb:

Published solely in Canada in 2021, it didn’t take long for David Demchuk’s RED X to garner a cult following. It could be because it’s actually scary, a cursed marriage between supernatural elements and the real-life horrors that isolation and marginalization leave queer people vulnerable to. It could be because it’s formally interesting, punctuated by torn-up book pages, leaking trails of black ink, tiny Canadian history lessons, and personal stories from Demchuk’s own life. Or maybe it’s the emphasis on the power of queer communities as characters routinely show up for one another, even if it means putting themselves in danger. But most likely it’s a combination of all these things, which blend together to create a masterfully experimental narrative that is already being heralded as one of the greatest horror novels of the twenty-first century.

A terrifying supernatural entity haunts Toronto’s gay village in the ’80s in this gruesome, metatextual modern horror classic that spans decades of queer community and history. RED X is a masterful experimental work already heralded as one of the great horror novels of the twenty-first century, now reissued with deluxe materials, including a new introduction by Gretchen Felker-Martin and an essay by Anthony Oliveira.

 In 1984, a young gay man vanishes without a trace, leaving behind a community of friends and lovers desperate for answers. Instead, they face everything from casual indifference to outright prejudice. As decades pass, more men vanish, revealing a terrifying, centuries-old demonic presence at the heart of the disappearances.

Interspersed throughout, the author shares autobiographical vignettes: his earliest brushes with death and fear, his observations on queer culture and the horror genre, on representation and erasure, culminating in an elegiac and brilliantly woven narrative that blends fact and fiction, and has already been heralded as one of the great horror novels of the twenty-first century.

 RED X flickers between perspectives like a choir popcorning the disparate parts of a chamber piece. The conductor here is Demchuk himself, who uses his own autobiographical vignettes—his earliest brushes with death and fear, his observations on queer culture and the horror genre, on representation and erasure—to unite the parts into an elegiac and brilliantly eerie work that blends fact and fiction.

I cannot stress enough to all of you just how good this book is. Demchuk's conversational narration, experimental but accessible style, the brutally honest, bleak, creepy and intense tone, the well developed characters, thought-provoking plot, and visceral connection to the real world-- all of this makes RED X a must buy book for all library collections. 

If you have readers of the very best Horror today, the Queer and the Straight Horror, they need to read this book.

And thanks to Soho Press's Horror Imprint, Hell's Hundred, one of you is going to win a finished copy to add to your shelves today. 

The rest of you need to add it to your order carts now. Seriously. Stop what you are doing and get this book on order.

And if you live in the NYC area, there will be a launch event on June 15th at Twisted Spine. Details and registration links are here.

Enter now and you are entered going forward.

The giveaway will be off next week while I am at StokerCon, but after that I have many titles from the books I reviewed for the June issues of Booklist and Library Journal. Plus coming soon, giveaways of books by Rachel Harrison, Alma Katsu, and more. Enter now to be in it for a chance to win it.

Don't Miss But Won't I Miss Me by Tiffany Tsao

Yes the pun was intended in the title.

It is not very often that a book I know nothing about ends up completely blowing me away. The last time I can remember this happening in such a visceral way was in 2017 when I read In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson (click here for a discussion of that).

It is infrequent but it is glorious. It is a reader's high we all chase. 

A few months ago I had this experience again when I read But Won't I Miss Me by Tiffany Tsao for my April 2026 Horror Review Column in Library Journal. 

You all saw I gave it a star here, but that star was alongside books by Paul Tremblay and Nat Cassidy, so I worry that how great this book really is will get lost. So for a few weeks now, I have been planning to pair a post about this book here on the general blog with a giveaway of my ARC on the Horror blog to make sure more people see my full thoughts on this novel.

You all, I LOVED THIS BOOK. That title....read it carefully. It may seem awkward, but no, that word placement is intentional. And, as you read, you realize that and it is awesome. The plot is both on the realistic side of SF and totally horrifyingly out of this world. 

Here is the link to all of my notes with access to my draft LJ review via Goodreads. However, to make sure you actually read my thoughts and get this May 2026 release on order right now, I am posting it below as well:

This book is WOW! Great title too. Disorientation of the title, the confusion, is perfect for the story

Three Words That Describe This Book: maternal/body horror, slightly askew to our world, discomfiting

Other words: compelling from the first page, huge twist, visceral, original, thought provoking, intense, honest, "rebirth."

Draft Review: The very best speculative fiction takes readers out of their world, telling a story meant to help them grapple with the important questions staring them in their real world faces. Tsao demonstrates this in her alternative reality science fiction-body horror-thriller, asking readers to contemplate how society fails mothers, the horror of following the status quo, and most provocatively, what happens when you are your own victim? Vivi, a Chinese-Indonesian living in Australia lives in a world where human mothers not only birth a child, but they also experience their own visceral rebirth, an event that will shock and trouble readers, but here it is seen as necessary to give mothers the super human strength they need to raise children. Vivi’s rebirth had complications leaving her alone, exhausted, and with a baby to care for. Readers hang on every detail, falling easily into the world, and its complex, flawed, but sympathetic characters, never able to shake the unsettling tone set by the title, not even close to ready for the twist when it drops. A master class in storytelling that will leave readers, if not reborn, forever changed for the experience. 

Verdict: Tsao gives readers a terrifying, raw, and honest look at motherhood in the vein of horror titles like Tantrum by Rachel Eve Moutlon, Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase, The Push by Ashley Audrain.

Before I get to the set up and how the story is told I need to applaud the author and editors here. The author, for writing a story about postpartum life -- even if you don't sink to depression-- and how being a new mother is disorienting, how it changes your body, and how it can change who you are-- to yourself and others. 

The editor for NOT giving in to the urge to make this book easier on the reader. So many books I read have a "prologue" or let out key details too quickly because editors (and authors) do not trust readers to let the author tell the story and have the story come to you. This book withholds key details from the start, but they are doled out slowly. But there is always enough to keep the reader going here, even when they are not sure where the story is leading them.

This book has a huge and satisfying twist that is the level of mind-blow as Gone Girl was back in 2015 -- a different twist but on that level. And it allows everything to fall into place after.

There is a coda that the book needs. I saw it as a chance for Vivi's son to heal and understand, yes, but more importantly, for readers to also process everything they just read and all of their feelings about the book, the slightly askew world it presents, and how that makes you think about motherhood right now, in our world whether you are a child or a mother. You need a moment to reflect about everything in this book-- from the literal plot to everything it is saying about how the world treats mothers. Without that buffer/coda/space, this book would not land as well. I should be clear, it is not a sappy coda, and it DOES NOT tie up all the loose ends-- in fact it leave a huge one dangling-- but it is there to bring the reader back down and allow them to emotionally reset. Phew. Really brilliant.

Now as a horror novel-- wow! This takes the body horror of pregnancy and child birth to a whole new level of horror. 

The less you know about this book going in the better but know that this book is visceral and honest. It uses a speculative alternative reality to our world to 

It is all told from the perspective of Chinese- Indonesians who have emigrated to Australia. The cultures of all 3 are discussed. That frame was very specific and yet the story is universal. 

A great question here besides what do we owe mothers, how can we help them, how society fails them. Tsao also asks readers to contemplate-- What happens when you are your own victim? What is the price of blindly doing things the way every one does them? How hard it is to question the status quo.

Another brilliant thing about this book-- the main characters here-- none of them are all good or all bad. They are VERY morally gray and yet readers will sympathize with them all. That is hard to do.

The set up-- the less you know the better. This is an alternate reality to ours -- not near future-- parallel. In this world human mothers, after they give birth to a child, experience a rebirth. (But that rebirth is a horror story all onto its own.) The rebirth gives new mothers the super strength they need to raise new humans. They can do it all-- no sleep, no strollers. They can carry and juggle it all at once. Our protagonist and narrator Vivi well she had a "hitch" with her rebirth and it did not take. She is a disabled new mother and society has not time for that. She is our window into this world. We hear her story beginning when she leaves her husband and starts over with the help of an old family friend.

As we follow Vivi, details about this world and what she specifically went through are slowly doled out-- but not so slowly that you want to stop reading. Rather, it is just the right amount sot hat you get to know Vivi and her 2 year old son Cloud. Also it is the right speed of all of the details so that you have time to get settled into this world that is slightly family but not completely. We get flashbacks to gain more understanding. But even as things are explained, it doesn't feel 100% right. We are missing something. What is it? Ahh, once that info is dropped-- the rest of the book falls into place and you will race to the end to finish it.

I cannot stress enough how visceral and troubling the "rebirth" is both on a gross out level but also on a psychological and societal level. 

For readers of raw, visceral, physically and emotionally upsetting, thought provoking, and honest dark speculative fiction about motherhood such as Tantrum by Rachel Eve Moutlon, Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase, The Push by Ashley Audrain.

This are my thoughts on But I Won't Miss Me. Now head on over to the Horror blog and get yourself entered to win a copy of this book.

31 Days of Horror Has Begun on the Horror Blog

Cross posting today:

31 Days of Horror: Day 1-- Here We Go Again for the 15th Year and the First Giveaway

Today is October 1st and here we are again with 31 Days of Horror.

Each year 31 Days of Horror grows in readership. While some of you are here all year long, even when this blog is limited to my weekly #HorrorForLibraries giveaways, each year I get many new people joining in on the spooky blog-a-thon fun.

And this year, with Why I Love Horror: Essays in Horror Literature out in the world, I will have even more, and probably many more non library staff. But don't fear (pun intended), the audience for this blog-a-thon is still (and always will be) you, the library worker.

First things first, if you have never encountered 31 Days of Horror before well, I have been doing this event since 2011.

[Side note, it all began inauspiciously with this post. Nothing special, just a basic post about  the appeal of Horror, but I htinkit is important to acknowledge that inauspicious beginning.]

The entire idea of 31 Days of Horror, began as a way to help library workers during the time of year when they need the most help with Horror. However, I did not want this series to become a list of lists either. 

From that desire to give you something original and useful was born a concurrent series entitled Why I Love Horror. In this series, that runs mostly, but not only, during October, I reach out to people in the Horror world and invite them to contribute essays written for you-- the general library worker. These invited people are told to share why they love horror as a creator and fan in 1500 words or less. Once again,  I have quite an exciting lineup planned.

My goal with the "Why I Love Horror" series has always been to expose you to people you should know about AND give you even more context for appeal. I can give you all the examples in the world of why people enjoy feeling scared when they read, but until you hear from actual fans, fans who also create Horror, it is hard to understand, especially for the vast majority of you who don't enjoy Horror for yourselves. 

Over the years I have had many people contribute to the Why I Love Horror series from up and comers [some of whom have gone on to become big names] to firmly established authors to folks who love horror in the library world. 

You can click here to see them all. "Why I Love Horror" is also a searchable tag any time, just like 31 Days of Horror.

"Why I Love Horror" is an excellent resource to help you help readers, and it is a Horror RA resource you cannot find anywhere else. 

Click here to learn more

And  as I said above, Why I Love Horror is now a book that you can buy and make available for your patrons as well. 

However, it even with me on tour for the book all this month, Why I Love Horror content is not the only way you can use this blog as a resource now and all year long.

In the past few years, I also started another new series within his 31 day series, and that was to feature a small Horror press. This year it will be Creature Publications and I will have much more to say about them and their authors the week of the 13th. 

A few other notes about what to expect here.:

• I am going to move my links roundups to every Sunday. Mostly you will not see lists and posts from other places here on 31 Days of Horror as I tend to focus on original content, but I don't want those awesome lists and articles to get lost either. Expect those on 10/5, 12, 19, and 26.
• Giveaways will not only happen on Thursdays. During this month, giveaways can be offered on any day of the week, but all winners are pulled Friday after 5pm. But, if you want to be eligible to win, enter now. Click here for the rules. In fact, this opening day post will end with a giveaway!

But let's not get too ahead of ourselves on Day 1. Remember, this blog is not just about my October content. It stands as a resource on Horror, both as a free update to my textbook, and as the most comprehensive resource for working with Horror readers in libraries all year long.

I have more than tags for you to use to access content. If you look in the right gutter of the blog, under the cover of my book, there is a list of pages you can find on here. That list is on EVERY page, so you don't have to worry about a huge link tree to find them. Access is easy, intuitive, and FREE

The pages with their direct links are:

• Summer Scares Resources and FAQ
• Third Edition Bonus Content: More Subgenre Annotations
• Horror Resources 
• Best Independent Horror Publishers for Libraries
• Horror Awards
• Archive of Becky's Lists Articles and Presentations
• Summer Scares Archive [direct link but it is also on the FAQ page linked above]
• Horror Reviews Index

In the spirit of being THE Horror for Libraries resource, I make sure each page lists the last time it was updated in the title. I curate all of this information and stand behind it.

So while this October you may be more focused on my 31 Days of Horror daily posts and Why I love Horror content, please know those pages with links are there all year long to help you find, display, and promote horror.

This blog should be the first place you go for all of your Horror RA, Collection Development, and Programming needs. I get no extra money from you visiting here. I keep this blog up for me as much as all of you. It is a record of all of the information I am using to stay up to date too. However, if you want to support my efforts to keep doing this work for another, please consider buying a copy of my book for your library and/or hiring me to train your library staff on a variety of topics. 

So poke around the site today, later this month, in a few months, whenever you need it. We will have a lot of fun for the rest of October, but  just remember, I am always here for all of your Horror for Libraries needs

And remember.... your Horror loving patrons are not monsters; they just like to read about them.

Let me hold your hand as we explore the scariest genre together.

As promised, we begin with a giveaway. Actually it's 2 books for 2 winners. Both are finished copies of titles I was not able to review but they are both titles I want to make sure to let you know about so you can add them to your collections. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see last week's giveaway. Our winners were Stacey from NE and Rachel from TX.

Now on to this week's giveaway:

First up is If You Knew Me by S.P. Minkowski. From Goodreads:

In this twisted psychological thriller from acclaimed horror author S.P. Miskowski, a novice reporter walks a perilous tightrope between ambition and obsession.

Parker Dillon can’t win. Just as she’s trying to start her journalism career, her aunt sells the website where she works, and the new owner is keen to replace employees with AI. But her luck seems to turn when she discovers an intriguing cold pitch buried in her aunt’s files.

Ann Mason claims she did something terrible and never got caught. She’s also weirdly infatuated with a long-forgotten TV star. Desperate for a spectacular feature, Parker tracks Ann from Seattle to her home in Arizona. But as she interviews neighbors, coworkers, and friends, her quarry grows increasingly elusive, and her story turns deadlier than she ever imagined.

Parker can’t shake the feeling that she’s the subject, not the author, of this macabre piece—the prey, not the hunter. The more she learns about Ann’s obsessions and drives, the more it’s like looking in a cracked mirror. And Parker’s not sure she likes what she sees…

Second  I have The Burial Tide by Neil Sharpton. From Goodreads:

Drawing on the creatures and horrors of Irish folklore, The Burial Tide unearths our darkest truths: how far we’d go to win our freedom, and how quickly our desires can become monstrous.

A woman who can’t remember her death.

On an eerily quiet island off the coast of Ireland, a woman with no memory claws her way out of her grave and back to life. But not everyone welcomes the return of Mara Fitch.

An island with a terrible secret.

Inishbannock. Where strange misshapen figures watch from the trees and the roads are covered in teeth. Where two brothers gamble for nothing, the doctor only treats the dead, and the pub owner speaks in riddles. Where a poet loses and finds his soul. And a husband without a wife claims to know everything about Mara.

A past that refuses to stay buried. As Mara returns to her life on this upside-down island, her memories begin to leech their way back to the surface. The more she remembers, the more the village will do anything to stop her . . . 

 But the sea remembers it all.

Thank you to the publishers for these finished paperbacks. You can add these titles to your libraries ASAP if you win, but everyone should order these books now. Both came out in September.  

Enter now and you are entered going forward.

The winners will be drawn in the order the books are listed here. Good luck!

Now let's do this-- 31 Days of Horror has begun.

#HorrorForLIbraries Giveaway: 3 Books for 3 Winners (including a Signed HC of LaRocca's latest)

Because the #HorrorForLibraries giveaway was off for a few weeks (while I was on vacation) and to remind all of my readers that the October Horror Blog-A-Thon is almost upon us, I wanted to cross post this week's huge giveaway over here on the main blog. All of you can enter now. There are at least a dozen books to be given away in October and that is on top of the 3 today and the 4 more I have planned for the last 2 weeks of this month. Details below.

And Chicago peeps-- see below for the announcement of my last minute swap in to moderate Eric LaRocca's appearance here tomorrow.

After the giveaway was off for 2 weeks while I was on vacation, it is back and bigger than ever, Seriously. I am making it all worth your wait because today I have a signed, finished hardcover of a book I starred in Booklist, an ARC of a LibraryReads title I loved, and a story collection I included in my LJ Horror Genre Preview that is out next week and I am so excited for the rest of you to read. But I am spreading the wealth here. 3 books for 3 winners. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Stephanie from CT. Now on to today's giveaway.

I am not going to bury the lead here. I have a signed Hard Cover finished copy of Eric LaRocca's just released We Are Always Tender with Our Dead, the first book in his epic Burnt Sparrow trilogy. It is signed because-- and this is BREAKING NEWS-- tomorrow night I am stepping in for Daniel Kraus to host Eric LaRocca's Chicago appearance at Exile in Bookville. Details are here.

I have a starred review of this book in the July 2025 issue of Booklist and when I tell you it was a star, understand that if I could have given it more than a single star I would have. Read the details of my feelings about this book here. My three words that describe this book: transgressive, engrossing, epic

Book 2 in the 3 book giveaway is  Breathe in, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley. It came out earlier this month, made the September 2025 LibraryReads list, and I had a glowing review in the September issue of Booklist here. My three words that describe this book: cinematic, dark humor, health influencer horror.

This is a consciously meta slasher in the Scream style. McAuley delivers readers interesting and flawed but always sympathetic characters, cinematic storytelling, a brisk pace, a tone that combines the darkly humorous with introspection, and most importantly, kills that are creatively over-the-top. Your readers are going to love this. I am giving away the ARC I read for my review, so you cannot add this one to your collections, but you can absolutely use it for a Spooky Season giveaway. 

And last but certainly not least is a collection that you CANNOT miss. Order this for your libraries ASAP. It is Uncertain Son and Other Stories by Thomas Ha. It will be out next week from Undertow Publications, one of my favorite speculative small presses. And it is not just me. The press has won many awards and has published authors you know and whose books you own. I feel so strongly about the need for you to order this books for your library collection that I included it in my Horror Genre Preview in the July 2025 issue of LJ here. From the publisher:

Uncertain Sons is a startling and masterful collection exploring familial love and trauma; societal and technological anxieties; identity and class; and alternate near-future irrealities. Sharp, incisive, imaginative, and visionary, Thomas Ha's debut heralds the arrival of a vital new voice.

The winner of this title will receive an ARC but again, this book releases to the world next week! 

That is 3 books for 3 winners. I will give them out in the order they are listed here. But remember, everyone is a winner when you order these titles for your library so you and your patrons can enjoy them now and for years to come.

Enter now and you are entered going forward and forward is going to be fun because it is October and I have many books to give away and lots of fun posts planned. Stay tuned. And Good Luck!

ALA Annual 2025: Cli-Fi Panel Report With A Giveaway

Note: This post is part of my weekly #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway available on RA for All Horror. Since it also includes a report on the panel I moderated at ALA Annual, I am re-posting here. If you are interested, you may enter the giveaway, but please note, if you don'y win, you will stay in until you do and you may win a more general Horror giveaway. I will not be able to enter you only for this week.

Today I have the ARCs of the three books by the authors who appeared on a panel I moderated at ALA. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winners were Kristie from NJ, Ilyssa from NJ, Susan from MA, and Maggie from CO.

On Sunday during the ALA 2025 Conference, I had the opportunity to moderate this panel:

Cli-Fi Panel: Exciting Forthcoming Environmental Fiction: 

Join authors Anna North (BOG QUEEN, Bloomsbury), Wendy N. Wagner (GIRL IN THE CREEK, Tor Nightfire), and Yume Kitasei (SALTCROP, Flatiron), as they discuss their forthcoming novels, which explore environmental issues in bold new ways and through various genres, including literary fiction, eco-horror, and sci-fi. This panel will be moderated by librarian Becky Spratford, RA for All. After 30 minutes of discussion and Q&A, please join the authors for a 20-minute galley signing. 

During our 20 minute conversation we talked about how "Cli-Fi" is not a genre-- as these three books demonstrate. It is more of a frame. All three of these books have an environmental frame and add unsettling speculative elements to provide entertainment, yes, but also some fear about our very real climate.

We have titles here that would be most commonly cataloged as Historical Fiction (North), Horror (Wagner), and Science Fiction (Kitasei), and yet, they also a have clear "cli-fi" lens.

In this more general part of the conversation we talked about why they felt that this lens was so important to them and how it works I tandem with their genre elements. 

All three have a deep connection to the natural world and shared how they work it into everything they write. (So if you like these books or what I am sharing here, check out all of their books.)

We also talked about how they approached their novel so differently. We went back and forth about some more specifics of how their stories are told. Here is a summary of that part of the conversation:

• North's novel is a historical story going all the way back to ancient times and alternating with the present. And we talked about how the bog gets a voice as well. She talked about her research as well.
• Wagner talked about the overlap of true crime, being a hiker and things she has seen, and the narration of her fungus-- the strangeness. We talked about the animals having a voice and her love of trees.
• Kitasei shared stories about having three sisters herself, how the story is as much about a journey as it is about the environment, and how when she wrote it, she thought it would be way more SF, but now it feels to real.

It was a great chat and I highly recommend all three books for all libraries. I am giving these ARCs away together precisely because I love how they represent the broad range of what would have been considered "Cli-Fi," even just a few years ago. These are solid historical, horror, and science fiction novels with strong message about the problems of climate change.

These ARCs were went to me by the publishers before ALA so that I could read them to prepare. And now, they are being passed on to one of you.

Enter this week and you are entered going forward.

Good Luck!

A Giveaway We Can All Be Thankful For

This is a cross post with RA for All Horror:

It's almost Thanksgiving and to celebrate all we should be thankful for, I am offering one of the most anticipated titles of 2025. A book I already gave a star in Booklist and I am giving away the special package the publisher sent to me which has the ARC and more. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Grace. Now on to this week's giveaway.

STAR

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

By Grady Hendrix Jan. 2025. 432p. Berkley, $30 (9780593548981); paper, $19 (9780593818183). First published October 15, 2024 (Booklist).

Neva, fifteen and pregnant in 1970, is brought in secrecy to Florida and the Wellwood House, a maternity home by name, but a prison in practice, a stand-in for such homes that proliferated across the US and Canada between 1945 and 1973. Once admitted Neva is renamed Fern, to protect her from the shame she is reassured, ends after she gives birth. Abandoned, alone, and struggling to access information about what is happening to their bodies, angry at being told they alone must pay for their sins, Fern and her roommates– Zinnia, the only black girl, Rose, a hippie, and Holly, a molested 14 year old– are given a copy of “How to Be a Groovy Witch” by the bookmobile librarian and their lives are changed forever. Told from Fern’s perspective, this is an original and nuanced addition to the witch cannon. However, it is the clear, accurate, and intensely visceral body horror of pregnancy and birth laid bare, that may catch readers off guard. Another stellar novel from Hendrix, a story that has a strong emotional core, compelling plot, unforgettable characters, and 360 degrees of terror. For fans of Horror that empowers the powerless as written by Gwendolyn Kiste, Gabino Iglesias and The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. YA Statement: Teen horror readers will be invested in Fern, Holly, Zinnia, and Rose’s story which, despite taking place in 1970, is unfortunately still relevant today.

Three Words That Describe This Book: visceral, empowerment, intense

Please click through and read all of what I have to say about this book. It is so good and so accurate. I have given birth to 2 children and Hendrix got everything right. This is a story of female empowerment by a dude who understands that men, especially those with privilege, need to stand up and take a stand for all women. Oh, and it is an awesome story. 

Get multiple copies of this book on order now and get ready for a whole bunch of male readers to complain that this book is too gross. Joke's on them, all the "gross" parts are 100% real.

This giveaway is a special package for all of you. I have an unread ARC (I read a PDF) that Berkley sent me with a copy of "How to Be a Groovy Witch" and a bookmobile library card. All of this along with the regular RA for All swag already included in every winner's package is all going to one winner.

Enter now and you are entered going forward. 

What I'm Reading: Youthjuice by E.K. Sathue

I have been told that my review of Youthjuice by E.K. Sathue is in the June 2024 issue of Booklist. It is not up online yet, but since it is in print, I am posting it on the blog today.

The book came out two days ago and I also have my ARC to giveaway on the horror blog today as well. Click here to enter.

As always, here is my draft review with bonus appeal info.

Youthjuice

By E.K. Sathue

In this illicit, fast paced, and scathing satire of the beauty industry readers meet Sophia as she begins her dream job 3 months before her 30th birthday at Hebe, a women run lifestyle corporation, pushing “essential” products focused on allowing women to look as young as possible for as long as possible. When charismatic CEO Tree Whitestone asks Sophia to test their newest product, “Youthjuice,” the immediate and miraculous results suck her further into Tree’s orbit, even as their young interns are disappearing without a trace. Told exclusively from Sophia’s point of view in two time frames, at Hebe and in 2008, readers are able to see the skeletons in Sophia's past emerge, figuring out what is “going on” very quickly. But Sathue is not trying to obscure the twist here, rather she is laying bare the chilling truth, as readers sit with that knowledge, and watch the visceral Horrors unfold, without remorse. Fans of intensely unsettling stories about unlikable but captivating women such as in Gone Girl by Flynn and Maeve Fly by Leede will flock to this debut.

YA Statement: With its focus on “healthy lifestyles” and the corporate marketing machine behind it. Youthjuice will appeal to teen girls. They will recognize themselves in the dark, sardonic, and honest deep dive into their own complicated thoughts on and connections to the beauty industry.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Dark Satire, Chilling, Body Horror.

Further Appeal: The opening line I wanted but had to cut for word length: Sathue pulls no punches in this illicitly alluring, fast paced, scathing satire of the beauty industry, a story so terrifying it will make readers second guess their own skin case routines. That is the Sound bite to handsell this book.

A few reading notes because this book is about watching the horror all unfold, knowing it is going to get worse with every page turn, but NEEDING to keep watching it spiral:

• She is part of of the “Storytelling” team. This is interesting as well. Since she is telling us the story. So unreliable and yet she tells us from start that she is. Her job is spinning it all.
• The cover gives away the “twist” but there is a reason for that. It is almost more horrofic that the reader knows from the start what is happening. Ending is CHILLING.
• This is Body Horror in the most literal of ways– it is visceral by the end. That is important to note
• “Clean living” is the cover for it all. Pushing that lifestyle at all costs. The descriptions of the food they eat it is gross. It is supposed to be. The lengths they go to are extreme even before the most visceral and literal scenes.
• By following Sophia and furiously flipping the pages– the reader is implicated in the horrors. 
• Who is Hebe? The Greek Goddess of Youth. Tells you before the story begins. Gets you into the world immediately.
• Ending is chilling. Not for Sophia’s evil choices, but the doubling down on the need of these products. Not remorse, just finding a new way to make money off the keeping women looking as young as possible market. Nothing is going to change, NO lessons are learned, and it is actually getting worse.
• But the most chilling and terrifying thing about this book overall...it is not that far from reality.
• Try applying any lotion or skin care after reading this book without feeling icky…..you can’t. Even a boring moisturizer.
• Finally, it is important tot note that this is one of the first books from Soho Press's new Horror imprint-- Hell's Hundred

Readalikes: The two above but also clearly, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. A quote from this classic is an epigraph for the book, but even if you skipped that page, clearly it is an influence.

Also, I recently read and reviewed The Z Word by Lindsay King-Miller. Youthjuice is similar in what it says about the skin care industry to what The Z Word does for the corporate PRIDE machine, but Youthjuice is less laugh out loud funny and more chilling and dark. The Z Word is laugh out loud satirical. This novel, is way darker but the satire is there in spades.

Why I Love Horror by Horror Legend Gemma Files With Access to 6 Giveaways.

Over on 31 Days of Horror I have a 9 day series that began yesterday and features the clients of literary agent, Becky LeJeune. Click through (or see below) to read today's post featuring Horror Legend, Gemma Files and for the link to get in on the giveaways this week.

31 Days of Horror: Day 16-- Why I Love Horror Featuring Becky LeJeune Client and Horror Legend, Gemma Files

From October 15-23, I am bringing you 8 authors, and their agent as part of Why I Love Horror along with 6 giveaways all to be pulled on 10/20 after 5pm Eastern.

Now, longtime readers of this series know that each year I have spotlighted a small press during 31 Days. Well, this year I decided to try something different. I reached out to Becky LeJeune from Bond Literary Agency to see how we can work together to promote Horror authors. 

But why Becky LeJeune? That one is easy to answer. LeJeune has not only come to StokerCon the last few years, but also, she has made a point to come to Librarians' Day. I have gotten to know her over the last few years. I both trust her as a human and trust her to not represent a-holes.  

Look, I was honest with LeJeune and I will be honest with you, I have had pretty good luck with the small presses I have invited over the years (only one turned out to be shady), but with the number of bad actors out there and having exhausted the publishers I feel confident about, I am trying something new.

So for 9 days, we will meet a variety of authors from genre legends to up and comers and even a nonfiction writer. You will be exposed to a wide variety of horror practitioners, all of whom are great for your public library collections.

I know there are some aspiring writers who read this blog as well, so I also asked LeJeune to share what she is looking for in clients, and she said:

I am looking for authors who are passionate about their work but are also open to edits and discussions about how we can potentially improve the work for submission to editors.

I'll reopen to queries January 2024

Over the course of this series I will note which posts come with a chance to win a book. Please see the most recent giveaway for rules. Those rules apply here as well.

I will pull 6 separate winners over the weekend of 10/21. The winner of each book will be pulled in the order in which the titles are presented here on the blog. Also, note that the mailing of the titles will be orchestrated by LeJeune, so no RA for all pen and sticker for these 6 winners. But honestly, I would not have been able to give away this many books with my October schedule, so I think it is a fair tradeoff. More books, less RA of All swag. 

Today, it's Gemma Files, author of the modern Horror classic Experimental Film, and a brilliant multiple award winning author. I am not exaggerating when I say you should have everything she has written on your library shelves. 

Her latest release comes out in 2 days, Blood from the Air and Grimscribe, the publisher, is offer a copy to one of you as part of this series [see link above for giveaway rules]. 

I greatly appreciate Files agreeing to participate because I know she does not make many appearances. Her piece below, entitled, "Horror As Self Love" is a great example of the heart and emotion she puts into all of her work, her technical skill at telling a story, and her “Monster pride.”

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

HORROR AS SELF-LOVE

By Gemma Files 

There was a time when I knew I was, at base, unlovable. The world around me had been pretty clear on this point, almost since I could remember—received wisdom at its finest, hard-learned from personal experience, a lifetime of blundering through and failing to be anything like “normal” enough to pass, let alone thrive. My interests were narrow and hyper-specific, my marks either extremely high or extremely low. I had trouble understanding why I needed to excel at things I wasn't interested in, or keep on trying if I wasn't immediately gifted in some area. I had serial BFFs, until I inevitably lost them. And I was just too much, for everybody, even myself: Too angry, too horny, too lonely, too excited, too sad, too weird, too off-putting, too apt to talk only in monologues and cut no one any slack, or share, or be “fun.”

Oh yeah, I could lie for a while, pretend to be something I wasn't, but they always figured it out, eventually. And then things went right on back to the way they'd always been—me, alone, trying to tell myself I didn't care but caring anyhow, deeply. Always wondering what was wrong with me, exactly, aside from...fucking everything, apparently.

There was a diagnosis for what I was, I eventually discovered, but it hadn't been invented yet and was rarely applied to girls even once it was, so I never actually got one. I had to re-engineer it from scratch when, after my son was placed on the autism spectrum, I ran across a list of symptoms for what used to be called Asperger's Syndrome and thought: Holy shit, that's me. Of course, I'd been masking socially for more than thirty years at that point, and though I don't think I ever became super-good at concealing my true self's parameters, I'd at least figured out some of the basics, like how to hold a conversation (listen to the other person, express interest, ask questions but don't volunteer), how to keep a job (find something you like enough to become an authority on, learn and set standards, try not to be an asshole), how to make a family.

It was that last part was the part that taught me so much more than any other, only starting with showing me how nothing was ever “wrong” with me—how I wasn't either too much or not enough, just different, exactly like the boy I gave birth to. That I could be kinder and more patient than I'd ever given myself credit for being, now I finally knew how much of my rage had really been fear, and could be let go of. That I was very definitely not unlovable, especially by the one person on earth who matters most.

Throughout all of this, meanwhile, horror somehow became my emotional and creative safe space, long before that particular phrase was ever coined. I'd been making up stories since before I could read, and almost all of them tended towards the darkest side of whatever genre first caught my attention: first myths and fairytales, then comics, then fantasy and science fiction, then finally horror itself, straight from the vein. Dracula led to vampires, vampires led (through 'Salem's Lot) to Stephen King, Stephen King led to Peter Straub, and so on. Around the 1990s, when I was already reviewing movies for money, I discovered a brave new world of (then) female-identified authors who really made my gears shift: Kathe Koja, Poppy Z. Brite, Caitlin R. Kiernan. I'd already started writing stories, but now I started selling them, then teaching other people how to write them. I won an award, had my stuff adapted for television, wrote books, sold them, won some more awards.

After a lifetime's internal struggle against the burden of pretending to be the person I thought the world was telling me I “should” be, I evolved into who I am...what I was always meant to be: A horror writer, and proud of it.

People have always argued a lot about what horror is “good for,” or if it's good for anything at all. Good for letting off steam; good for playing out our fears in controllable ways; good for highlighting the underside lurking beneath a light, bright, perpetually “happy,” virtue-signalling world. Recently, both during and in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there's been a certain amount of recognition given to the thesis that in times of turmoil, threat and disturbance, horror provides confirmation that the illusion of universal safety was only ever that, so maybe we shouldn't spend so much time berating ourselves for our inability to simply buck up, keep calm and carry on in the face of immediate existential dread.

Another thing horror's always been good for, however, is for routinely skewing perspective away from the default towards the non-. As a genre founded by women, from stories of “raw-head and bloody bones” told by grandmothers over Christmas and Lady Cynthia Asquith's ghost story collections to the world-rocking narrative depth charge of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, its true roots have forever lain less in normativity than in derangement, in prising up the rock of received wisdom to watch what squirms out from beneath. Throughout cultural history, it's been consistently typified as abnormal, sick, Weird and queer and obsessed with things supposedly better left unexplored, unstated...and you know what? So it should be. So it should always be.

Partway through my own personal journey, creative and otherwise, I coined a phrase of my own that still means a lot to me: “Monster pride.” It means accepting the worst parts of yourself, all your most awful impulses, and choosing to love yourself anyways. To know who you are, right down to the blackest thoughts and bloodiest chunks of bone-marrow. To make a house for yourself out of those things, and call it home.

Because when your body and/or brain literally doesn't work the same way everyone else's seems to, you can absolutely grow up feeling like a freak, a weirdo, a monster. But then you start to find other monsters, ones you can identify with...monsters from myths and stories and songs, from books and TV and movies. And after a while, the similarities attract you as much as they scare you, so you become increasingly excited whenever something gives you that jolt, that sting, that electric shock of disgust and terror and existential dread, numinous awe, transportation. You start to want to break it down for parts and analyze them, learn how they work, how to use them, and be used by them—to become a shapeshifter, at least inside your own head. Become the thing that scares you most, speak with its voice, internalize its power. To make your own monsters.

And by “you,” of course, I mean me. But maybe you too, someday, if you're lucky.

Long story short: I love horror unabashedly, the same way I love my son, and for basically the same reasons. Because I never thought I could love myself, or be loved for myself, but I am. I always was.  

Horror taught me that.

New Book Alert with a Giveaway: 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered

Because I know some of you are too scared to click on the Horror blog outside of the month of October (and only then because you have to), I am cross-posting today's giveaway that is posted over there because it is VERY useful to every public library. In fact, I go as far to state below:

...this title is a perfect readalike for my book. They are a yin and yang. Hartmann's written for the reader, mine written for the library worker.

So please take a look and get your pre-orders in.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 132: 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered

This week I have an ARC of a book I told all of you to buy 2 copies of for your libraries back in the June issue of Library Journal. Details below, but first, here is how you enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #131. Our winner was Aubrey from Meadville [CO] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

Sadie Hartmann, otherwise known as Mother Horror has been a guest on this blog before. You can read her excellent, Why I Love Horror piece from back in 2019's 31 Days of Horror here or, even better, you can click here to see all the places where you can find her. 

On August 8th, here first book as an author (she co-edited this Bram Stoker Award Nominated anthology) comes out and it is PERFECT for all of your library collections. Here is the information from my Goodreads which also is the draft of my Library Journal review:

Rating is 4.5 out of 5

Review in the June 2023 Issue of Library Journal

Three Words That Describe This Book: Genre overview, participatory, conversational tone 

101 Horror Books To Read Before You’re Murdered by Sadie Hartmann 

 Draft Review: Horror’s most well known fan, Hartmann presents a volume for readers and library workers to rejoice over whether they are established fear fiends or terror newbies. An excellent introduction lays out Hartmann’s mission, to take you on a tour through Horror as a reader, while also explaining her organizational process and demonstrating how to use the icons that serve as guideposts throughout. Most of the book is focused on specific titles, organized into five overarching categories each capped off with an original essay by the genre’s hottest authors. Within each section, Hartmann presents her conversational review of the titles, each on a single page with a sidebar summarizing the book’s appeal. Fun quizzes, illustrations that enhance the book’s atmosphere and tone, and more lengthy author overviews are also sprinkled throughout. The result: a gorgeously creepy book, told with an engaging and authoritative voice, diverse in every possible way. This book can be enjoyed from cover to cover or as a choose your own spooky adventure, but either way, it will entice all who encounter it to seek out more Horror.

Verdict: Horror’s popularity is on the rise and this book provides the widest possible view of the genre as it stands today and there are no repeat authors. Libraries should consider buying two copies, one for reference and another to circulate, and make extra copies of the reading checklist in the back to hand out, especially during spooky season. 

I couldn't put this in the magazine, but this title is a perfect readalike for my book. They are a yin and yang. Hartmann's written for the reader, mine written for the library worker.

And thanks to Page Street Publishing, I have 1 full color ARC to give to one of you. It does not have the index or the forward by Josh Malerman, but it has all of the content, including that awesome checklist.

Enter now and you are entered going forward, but also, get this book ordered so you have at least one copy ASAP. Again, I would suggest purchasing two. Two print copies of this book is still less than 1 of mine.