What I'm Reading: The Twisted Ones

Happy Friday the 13th! Do I have a great upcoming book for you. This one is super creepy, and it is based on a classic readers may not know about. More after the daft review, including readalikes you can read today.

The Twisted Ones 

Kingfisher, T. (author).
Oct. 2019. 385p. Simon &Schuster/Saga, paper, $16.99  (9781534429567); Simon & Schuster/Saga, $24.99 (9781534429574). 

First published September 15, 2019 (Booklist).

Mouse goes to rural North Carolina to clean out her grandmother’s house after the old, nasty woman died. What she finds at first is an unsettling, hoarder mess, but as she digs through the mounds of garbage, she stumbles upon her step-grandfather's journal, and with that discovery she enters a whole new level of horror, one that he has described in terrifying detail, one that Mouse and her dog also begin to experience, and one that they might not survive. Told with a “found book” frame and an intense first person narration, this folk horror novel begins with the unease of Mouse telling us how her life was forever tainted by the experience she is about to recount. It is a tale as tightly twisted and menacing as that carvings she finds in the woods. Readers will stand back in awe as it all unravels, slowly at first, and then with great and terrifying speed. While The Twisted Ones is a modern retelling of the seminal Weird Fiction tale, “The White People,” by Arthur Machen, a story cited as one of H.P. Lovecraft’s biggest influences, it can also be enjoyed on its own without that context. Kingfisher has done a great job bringing this story to a new generation so that they can experience and interpret the wonder and dread that has made this brand of horror so satisfying across a century, much like the popular and award-winning work of Caitlin Keirnan, Matt Ruff, and Paul La Farge.

Further Appeal: "Twisted" is the perfect word for this book. It is pervasively creepy and will burrow under your skin as it twists Mouse and the reader into an uncomfortable, claustrophobic, and completely disoriented state of mind.

This book is about Mouse, getting into her head space, and being trapped there. It is intense, but not bloody. The intensity is psychological, but it does lead to physical danger too. This is a book, while short, that you may need to put down for a bit, take a breather, and then return to. However, for fans of this type of horror story, they want that and will love it.

I cannot stress enough how closely this book is based on the Machen original. This will make some of the writing and plot devices seem odd to some readers at first, but Kingfisher is also able to make this story intriguing and compelling on her own. Retelling and reclaiming of Lovecraftian horror by people who he would have hated in real life [women, poc, LGBTQ] is also a huge trend.

This novel also embraces the folk horror trope which is very hot right now too, especially for those who have seen the popular movie Midsommar.

Three Words That Describe This Book: claustrophobic, psychologically intense, found book frame

Readalikes: Obviously you cannot read this book on Friday the 13th today, since it is not out yet. But, the links in the review above go to some very solid readalikes that you can get your hands on right now. Those three are going to be very true to the style and storytelling of the older texts they are based upon, just like The Twisted Ones. 

However, there are other works that are in not based off of these older texts that this novel reminded me of, specifically The Grip of It by Jac Jemc and The Motion of Puppets by Keith Donohue. Both are intensely creepy and claustrophobic, create a sense of disorientation in the characters and the reader, and have a touch of "the weird." Click on the linked titles to see even more readalikes. These are also both mainstream titles I know most libraries have already.

If you want to try a few more classic authors who inspired Lovecraft, I would also suggest Algernon Blackwood and Clark Ashton Smith to get started. Also if you want an introduction to Lovecraft, I highly suggest the Annotated Lovecraft series by Leslie Klinger, especially the brand new volume in the series with an introduction by Victor LaValle whose excellent The Ballad of Black Tom is an amazing Lovecraft retelling on its own [again by a black man, someone Lovercraft would have hated himself]. These books collect the stories of Lovecraft and include Klinger's award winning annotations that bring the text to life for the modern reader, including discussions of his influences, such as Machen.

Finally, if you are interested in finding out more about cosmic horror, old and new, I highly suggest you subscribe to the podcast, Cosmic Shenanigans, hosted by horror author and writing professor, Mary SanGiovanni. This weekly podcast focuses on a specific story, novel, movie, graphic novel, even video game in each episode. She either reads the work [if short enough] or describes it in detail and then discusses how and why it is in the "cosmic" horror subgenre. This podcast is especially good for those of you who aren't horror fans but want to understand the enduring appeal of Lovecraft and his work. You can browse the archives to find stories, authors, or artists that you would like to know more about.

I think this gives you plenty to fill your Friday the 13th with spooky reads.

What I'm Reading: a House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

A new issue of Booklist and another Horror review by Becky.

As usual, this is my draft review with bonus content by an author who is a library worker AND patron favorite. In fact, this title made the March 2023 LibraryReads list that published this week.

A House With Good Bones

By T. Kingfisher

Mar. 2023. 256p. Tor Nightfire, $26.99 (9781250829795). 
First published February 15, 2023 (Booklist).

Kingfisher presents a Southern Gothic with a twist, swapping out an isolated mansion for an unassuming tract home in a North Carolina subdivision. When her latest dig gets canceled, Sam, a 32 year-old archaeoentomologist--she studies bugs at archaeological sites– goes to stay with her mom in the home previously occupied by her abusive grandmother an realizes that her mom is acting strangely. She has changed the decor, is acting as if she is under surveillance, and there are vultures surrounding the house. Immediately unsettled, readers will quickly fall into Sam’s conversational narration, as she injects nerdy humor, worries about her mom, and shares facts about bugs, her grandmother’s rose bushes, and more. As each day passes, things get stranger and more dangerous, the unease gives way to palpable fear, and it becomes undeniably clear that something supernatural is at work, and then, the wild and witchy action packed final act is unleashed. For fans of stories that take the haunted house trope, driven by generation trauma, and overlay other occult themes like The Good House by Due and How To Sell a Haunted House by Hendrix.

Further Appeal: First, the elephant in the room, when I read this I noticed immediately that the themes and frame were eerily similar to the Hendrix title listed as a readalike in the review above. I read them within weeks of each other so it was very striking to me. Astute readers will notice, one of the titles got a star and the other didn't. Both are very good though.

I like how the book was organized by the days Sam was in the house. Sections were labeled, "The First Day," "The Second Day," and so on. It added to the overall unease of the story because it all manifested for Sam as monotony punctuated by odd occurrences. The tallying of the days was both marking the time slowly and making the reader realize just how quickly it was all spiraling. This may sound confusing, but trust me, when you read it, both feelings exist at the same time.

Sam is hilarious and super nerdy. The choice of her uber specific career and how fascinating it was to learn the things she knows about bugs was cool. It was also an important part of the book because it was her scientific bug knowledge that makes her begin to suspect that something is very wrong.

In fact, every bit of frame added here, not just Sam's job, matters. Especially the vultures. Oh my goodness, the vultures were great. But all of it. Every detail in the setting and background are important and play off. Characters too. No matter how small, they matter.

A great horror novel with wide appeal because it is scary, but not terrifying.

Three Words That Describe This Book: uneasy, family trauma, filled w/ interesting frame

Further Readalikes: Haunted houses colliding with family trauma are very popular now. More titles to check out include The Spite House by Johnny Compton, Mapping The Interior by Stephen Graham Jones, and The Grip of It by Jac Jemc

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Hugo and Nebula Awards Editions

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

Both of the major Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards announced their finalists in the last month or so. I know that many library workers confuse them and even blend them when promoting to readers, which for most of our purposes is fine. Simply knowing that these are award nominated titles in SF and FSY is enough to suggest them to readers.

Plus-- two similar awards means double the suggestions for us to supply confidently. I am posting them together to double the impact of each.

But there are differences, even when titles overlap. Today I will have the links to both and their backlist direct access as well. But before I get to that, remember to check the link at the top for the first post in this series and use these for displays, collection development, lists and more.

First up, the Nebula Awards are given out by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Their process is very similar to the Bram Stoker Awards as they are voted on by the active and lifetime members. From the 2025 announcement back in March:

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 60th Annual Nebula Awards®! Our congratulations go out to each and every finalist for the recognition of their excellent works published in 2024. 

Here are the Novel nominees:

Nebula Award for Novel

• Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory, Yaroslav Barsukov (Caezik SF & Fantasy)
• Rakesfall, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom; Solaris UK)
• Asunder, Kerstin Hall (Tordotcom)
• A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
• The Book of Love, Kelly Link (Random House; Ad Astra UK)
• Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia UK)

You can click here to see all of the nominees in 7 categories. 

SFWA offers two easy ways to search the backlist. Click here to search by year. Or, click here to search by award and add a year if you want to the search.

Second we have the Hugo Award Finalists. The Hugo Awards are based on those attending Worldcon each year. Here is the announcement for 2025; I have copied the intro so you understand the process on this one.

Seattle Worldcon 2025, the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention, is delighted to announce the finalists for the 2025 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and Astounding Award for Best New Writer.

1,338* valid electronic nominating ballots were received by the deadline of March 14 at 11:59 p.m. PDT and counted from the members of the 2024 and 2025 World Science Fiction Conventions for the 2025 Hugo Awards. ​​Unfortunately, two mailed ballots were received 2.5 weeks later on April 3 after the deadline of receipt. Voting on the final ballot will open during April 2025.

Only Seattle Worldcon 2025 WSFS members will be able to vote on the final ballot and choose the winners for the 2025 Awards. The 2025 Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award, and the Astounding Award will be presented on Saturday evening, August 16, 2025, at a formal ceremony at Seattle Worldcon 2025.

Questions about the Hugo Awards process may be directed to hugo-help@seattlein2025.org.

* Initial publication had an error of 1,738 ballots instead of the correct number of 1,338.

Because the Hugo process is more amorphous and the voting pool changes year to year,  

Best Novel

• Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK)
• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre)
• Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)
• Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW)
• A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor)
• The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, Hodderscape UK)

1078 ballots cast for 554 nominees, finalists range 90 to 157

You can click here to see all of the nominees in 21(!) categories, including a slew of categories for "fan" created works. 

Now the backlist access to the Hugos is less intuitive precisely because it ties to each year's convention, which is always at a different site. However, Locus Magazine has an excellent dataset of all speculative awards which they make searchable in numerous ways. Here is their page for the Hugos awards. Click here for access to the entire Locus Magazine Awards Database.

Interestingly, despite the widely different processes for niminating titles, two novels made both lists: Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW) and A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor). There is also overlap in other categories. You can use the links provided to see them all.

It is very common for there to be overlap. I like to look at these titles, where the fans and the writers agree, as the best place to begin with your suggestions to the average reader looking for something good and new in SF or FSY. Pay special attention to those works and make sure you have them ordered.

I would recommend that every library in America have, at the very least, each of the current slate of nominated novels for their collections. You should do this every year. It is the easiest way to make sure you have a vibrant and responsive collection in SF and FSY. 

And finally, award nomination time is also a great time to get up some displays featuring your Science Fiction and Fantasy. One of my favorite display ideas to put both together is to title is something fun like "Aliens vs Dragons" or "Robots vs Fairies." Something that makes it clear that they are different genres but also together.

Make sure you represent the breadth of each genre as well-- both in the subgenres covered and the identities of the authors who are witting them. And encourage all departments to put up a similar display. So in Youth, Teen, and Media. Use the same title throughout the library. Every department has titles to fill a display with SF and FSY. Show your patrons that you are one library, working together to highlight similar materials across your entire collection. Also when something is repeated, people pay more attention.

Now take your service up a notch and make the whole library experience interactive as well but getting your patrons involved in fun. Put up a voting box at each display, on every service desk, and encourage voting via comments in all of your online spaces (post pics of the displays with links to titles on Libby or to a list created in your catalog). Ask people to vote for SF or FSY. Even use the title of your display on a small paper ballot. You can use language like:

Join us at Smithville Public Library as we celebrate our Science Fiction and Fantasy offerings across all departments. Vote for the genre you prefer. Let your voice be heard:

    □ Aliens 

    □ Dragons

Have fun with it.  

And always remember-- awards lists are a great tool for you to use to not only help your readers, but also to create fun interactive displays and increase awareness on titles that are great but often get lost in the stacks and/or amidst the noise of whatever is shiny and new.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Locus Awards

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool. 

Every year I celebrate the Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List as the best resource for you to understand the best of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror for the widest audience.  Click here for my post about the 2023 titles (published in Feb 2024) and my 4 specific ways to use the list.

That longer list is used as the "long" list to create the 10 finalists in each category for the Locus Awards.  That list just came out here.

If you were overwhelmed by the longer Recommended Reading List, this one is way more manageable. 

But the advice I give on using the longer list as a resource works even better for these top 10 lists in each category. From that post:

First, take the list itself, and check your collections. Do you own these books? You should. These are some of the best titles in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror from 2023-- I personally review quite a few of them.

Second, use it to help readers who want books in these genres, but also, to help readers who want to give these genres a try-- especially the stories and novellas. These are proven winners, titles you  can suggest with ease as they were vetted by a group of experts. [see below for a list of those experts]

Third, especially in the collections, anthology, and all of the shorter fiction categories, pay attention to the authors producing these stories. Many will become the novelists whose books you will be clamoring to get soon. I know this because...

Fourth, they make this list every single year, so there is a great BACKLIST! You know I love the backlist. Seriously though, you need to assess your collection, you want a suggestion that is on the shelf, you want to discover a newer voices in the genres, you want to make a display? For all of these things and more, you need to look back more than just one year. Don't worry. I made it easy on you.

Okay now to the current list. You can click on the image or here to see all of the categories, but I have reposted the most relevant to you and have added the link to my review where appropriate. 

Click here for the full list

The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has announced the top ten finalists in each category of the 2024 Locus Awards. These results are from the February 1 to April 15 voting, done by readers on an open public ballot. Congratulations to all of the finalists!

The Locus Awards winners will be announced June 22, 2024, during the in-person Locus Awards Ceremony, held in the historic Nile Hall at Preservation Park in downtown Oakland, California. Join MC Henry Lien and special guest Connie Willis for an entertaining presentation of the awards, plus program items and a catered reception. Additional virtual events include author readings, panels with leading authors, and more. Buy your ticket today!

The top ten finalists in each category are:

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport, Samit Basu (Tordotcom)
• A Fire Born of Exile, Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz; JAB Books)
• Red Team Blues, Cory Doctorow (Tor; Ad Astra)
• Furious Heaven, Kate Elliott (Ad Astra; Tor)
• Translation State, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Terraformers, Annalee Newitz (Tor; Orbit UK)
• Starter Villain, John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK)
• Lords of Uncreation, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US; Tor UK)
• System Collapse, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
• The Road to Roswell, Connie Willis (Del Rey)

FANTASY NOVEL

• To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)
• The Keeper’s Six, Kate Elliott (Tordotcom)
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Heather Fawcett (Del Rey; Orbit UK)
• Dead Country, Max Gladstone (Tordotcom)
• The Water Outlaws, S.L. Huang (Tordotcom; Solaris UK)
• Paladin’s Faith, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
• He Who Drowned the World, Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor; Mantle)
• My Brother’s Keeper, Tim Powers (Baen; Ad Astra)
• City of Last Chances, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ad Astra)
• Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

HORROR NOVEL

• Vampires of El Norte, Isabel Cañas (Berkley) Becky's review
• The Reformatory, Tananarive Due (Saga; Titan UK) Becky's review
• A Haunting on the Hill, Elizabeth Hand (Mulholland; Sphere)
• Starling House, Alix E. Harrow (Tor; Tor UK)
• How to Sell a Haunted House, Grady Hendrix (Berkley; Titan UK) Becky's review
• Don’t Fear the Reaper, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK) Becky's review
• A House with Good Bones, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK) Becky's review
• Lone Women, Victor LaValle (One World) Becky's review
• Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher) Becky's review
• Black River Orchard, Chuck Wendig (Del Rey; Del Rey UK)

FIRST NOVEL

• Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Pantheon)
• The Strange, Nathan Ballingrud (Saga; Titan UK)
• The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
• Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulou (Razorbill; Penguin UK)
• These Burning Stars, Bethany Jacobs (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Godkiller, Hannah Kaner (Harper Voyager UK; Harper Voyager US)
• The Marigold, Andrew F. Sullivan (ECW)
• Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (DAW; Gollancz)
• Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh (Tordotcom; Orbit UK)
• Ink Blood Sister Scribe, Emma Törzs (Morrow; Century)

NOVELLA

• The Crane Husband, Kelly Barnhill (Tordotcom)
• The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar, Indra Das (Subterranean)
• “Linghun”, Ai Jiang (Linghun)
• The Salt Grows Heavy, Cassandra Khaw (Nightfire; Titan UK) Becky's review
• Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
• Rose/House, Arkady Martine (Subterranean)
• Lost in the Moment and Found, Seanan McGuire (Tor)
• The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older (Tordotcom)
• The Lies of the Ajungo, Moses Ose Utomi (Tordotcom)
• Mammoths at the Gates, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

ANTHOLOGY

• The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 7, Neil Clarke, ed. (Night Shade)
• Christmas and Other Horrors, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Titan UK) Becky's review
• The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2022), Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki & Eugen Bacon & Milton Davis, eds. (Caezic)
• Never Whistle at Night, Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., eds. (Vintage)
• The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023, R.F. Kuang & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner)
• Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Random House; Picador)
• New Suns 2, Nisi Shawl, ed. (Solaris UK)
• The Book of Witches, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
• Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi, ed. (Android)
• The Best of World SF: Volume 3, Lavie Tidhar, ed. (Ad Astra)

COLLECTION

• The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volumes 1 & 2, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon)
• Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance and Other Stories, Tobias S. Buckell (Apex)
• The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Tananarive Due (Akashic)
• White Cat, Black Dog, Kelly Link (Random House; Ad Astra)
• No One Will Come Back For Us, Premee Mohamed (Undertow) Becky's review
• Jackal, Jackal, Tobi Ogundiran (Undertow) Becky's review
• Skin Thief, Suzan Palumbo (Neon Hemlock)
• Lost Places, Sarah Pinsker (Small Beer)
• The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two, Michael Swanwick (Subterranean)
• The Best of Catherynne M. Valente, Volume One, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean)

NON-FICTION

• The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Alternate History, Jack Dann (Bloomsbury Academic)
• 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams, Kevin Jon Davies, ed. (Unbound UK)
• Wish I Was Here: An Anti-Memoir, M. John Harrison (Serpent’s Tail; Saga 2024)
• All These Worlds, Niall Harrison (Briardene)
• 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered, Sadie Hartmann (Page Street Publishing) Becky's review
• Space Crone, Ursula K. Le Guin (Silver)
• Ex Marginalia: Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction by Persons of Color, Chinelo Onwualu, ed. (Hydra House Books)
• A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller, Maureen Kincaid Speller (Academia Lunare)
• Owning the Unknown: A Science Fiction Writer Explores Atheism, Agnosticism, and the Idea of God, Robert Charles Wilson (Pitchstone)
• Being Michael Swanwick, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Fairwood)

Click here for all of the categories (including YA and Nonfiction) and check your collections. These are books you should be adding to your collections.