Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #767
by muffy
Black Buck * * * (also available in downloadable eBook and audiobook) by Mateo Askaripour, a darkly comic novel, is “25.8% autobiographical”. (Check out Scott Simon’s interview with the author on NPR)
The title, derived from an old racial slur, is written as a sales manual, with hints and tips sprinkled throughout, intended to “help(ing) people…(b)lack and brown people that have been others, especially in the workplace. And this could be true for anyone that’s felt otherized, whether that’s due to sexual orientation, gender expression, religion, or race.” (Kirkus Reviews)
Once the valedictorian of Bronx Science, 22 year-old Darren Vender is a barista at a Midtown Starbucks. Living with his mother in a Bed-Stuy brownstone, and hanging out with his girlfriend, Soraya, he knows his lack of ambition is a disappointment to his mother. An inexplicable impulse to suggest a different drink for a customer changes all that.
Rhett Daniels, the silver-tongued CEO of Sumwun, NYC’s hottest tech startup, sees potential in Darren, and offers an invitation for Darren to join his elite sales team. Before grasping the nature of the company (a platform for virtual therapy sessions), Darren recreates himself as (Star)Buck, a ruthless deal-closer, and a super-salesman.
“While he tries to square his growing discomfort in his new role in this strange, morally dubious workplace with the expectations of his family and friends, tragedy strikes, and Darren secretly begins a rival start-up focusing not only on training people of color to enter the white world of elite sales but also to revolutionize the industry. Askaripour has created a skillfully written, biting, witty, and absurdist novel that sheds light on racism, start-up culture, corporate morality, media bias, gentrification, and many other timely, important themes. Askaripour is an author to watch.” (Booklist)
* * * = 3 starred reviews
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #766
by muffy
The Bad Muslim Discount * * by Syed Massod (also available in eBook and audiobook) is a well-observed and comic novel about two Muslim families from Pakistan and Iraq finding their way in contemporary America.
As Pakistan grows increasingly conservative and embraces Islamic fundamentalism, the Faris family moved from Karachi to Fremont (CA) looking for a fresh start. While his devout mother and model-Muslim older brother Aamir were quickly adopted by the local Muslim community, 14 year-old Anvar, rebellious and wisecracking was more interested in fitting in, even if it meant being a bad Muslim. In college, his irreverence made him an outcast with fellow Muslim students, including his (very secret) girlfriend Zuha. He transferred out East and eventually got a law degree.
In alternating chapters, Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America. Anvar and Safwa became neighbors in a SF apartment complex, at the largesse of a landlord who is happy to offer a “good Muslim discount” as long as you don’t mind the rundown, mold-infested units. Though Safwa, now called herself Azza, is engaged to a bully hand-picked by her abusive father, they fell into an easy relationship. When Zuha becomes engaged to Aamir, now a doctor; and Safwa’s desperate and poorly-conceived plan to gain her freedom attracts the attention of Homeland Security, their lives and that of their families are irrevocably transformed.
“A born storyteller, Masood has crafted a fast-paced page-turner with plenty of insightful commentary on religion, family, love, and national politics in this debut novel that is expertly written and a joy to read; highly recommended.” (Library Journal)
* * = 2 starred reviews
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #765, January Debut Thrillers
by muffy
The Push * * by Ashley Audrain.
A long chain of toxic mother-daughter dyads… “Feeling unloved by her mother, who left the family when Blythe was 11 and never looked back, Blythe fears having a daughter of her own. When she gives birth to Violet and is unable to bond with her, her fears multiply. While she fiercely loves the son born a few years later, her relationship with Violet remains fraught, and when a tragedy takes place, it cannot recover. Both an absorbing thriller and an intense, profound look at the heartbreaking ways motherhood can go wrong, this is sure to provoke discussion.” (Booklist)
“This is a sterling addition to the burgeoning canon of bad seed suspense, from an arrestingly original new voice.” (Publishers Weekly)
If I Disappear by Eliza Jane Brazier
Sera loves true crime podcasts and when Rachel, her favorite podcast host, goes missing, Sera sets out to investigate and plunges headfirst into the wild back-country of Northern California, following clues hidden in the episodes of Rachel's podcast to an isolated ranch. As Sera digs, she finds that Rachel is not the first woman to vanish from the ranch, and she won't be the last.
“Blending the true crime compulsion of Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark with the immersive creepy-craziness of Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects, Brazier creates a heady, pitch-dark cocktail all her own.” (Publishers Weekly)
The Wife Upstairs * * is YA author Rachel Hawkins’ first adult title, a Southern-gothic reboot of Jane Eyre, set in Alabama.
Jane, a recent transplant, walks dogs for the well-heeled residents of Thornfield Estates, people who won’t notice when items go missing here and there. Then she meets Eddie Rochester. The rich, brooding, and handsome widower could finally offer Jane the life she yearns for. As they prepare to marry, the death of Eddie's first wife, Bea, and her best friend, Blanche, in a boating accident continues to haunt them. When the police reopen their probe, an increasingly concerned Jane starts investigating Bea's fate and what part, if any, Eddie played.
“First-person narration by Jane allows for a slow reveal of her past, and occasional perspectives from other characters provide clues to their motivations. An altogether sinister novel that will make readers of Jennifer McMahon, Ruth Ware, and Donna Tartt shudder ” (Booklist)
People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd (the husband-and-wife writing team Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos), it probes the dark side of influencer culture, and explores our desperate need to be seen and the lengths we'll go to be liked by strangers.
Former fashion editor Emmy Jackson, aka @the_mamabare, Britain's most famous Instamum, claims to offer an unfiltered view of life raising a young family. Followed by millions, only her embittered, washed-up novelist of a husband knows just how creative Emmy can be with the truth. Then one of her followers becomes obsessed and stalks the Jackson family, clearly with malicious intent.
“ ...(a) well-timed story reminiscent of Gone Girl (2012) and Caroline Kepnes' You (2014)”. (Booklist)
The Woman Outside My Door by Rachel Ryan
When her seven-year-old son, Cody, tells her about “New Granny” he meets in the park, Georgina reasons that it is entirely understandable that Cody might have invented a "New Granny" to replace his beloved grandmother who recently passed away. It's only when Cody's imaginary friend starts leaving signs behind--candy wrappers, mysterious phone calls--does Georgina suspect that there could be something more sinister going on, or she is losing her mind.
“(F)irst-time author Ryan draws the reader into not only Georgina's terrifying journey to save her son, but also her marriage and her sanity… Seasoned mystery lovers will recognize similarities to B. A. Paris' The Breakdown (2017), Mary Kubica's The Other Mrs. (2020), and A. J. Finn's The Woman in the Window (2018).” (Booklist)
Pickard County Atlas by Chris Harding Thornton
Summer, 1978 Nebraska, Pickard County deputy sheriff Harley Jensen has to deal with an unresolved case involving the missing body of a murdered child, and the lingering sadness of his mother’s suicide. 18 year after Dell Jr. went missing and his body was never found, the Reddick family decides to lay a headstone. Paul, the youngest Reddick, a troublemaker and instigator and Pam Raddicks, married to Rick, is restless, and drawn to Harley’s dark history. Unfolding over six tense days, Pickard County Atlas sets Harley and the Reddicks on a collision course—propelling them toward an incendiary moment that will either redeem or destroy them.
“Thornton's debut rural noir is grim, with a foreboding atmosphere and a story that does not grow more hopeful. Fans of Laura McHugh's The Wolf Wants In may appreciate this dark book.” (Publishers Weekly)
* * = 2 starred reviews
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #764
by muffy
Detransition, Baby : A Novel * * (also available in downloadable eBook and audiobook) by Torrey Peters is described by Entertainment Weekly as “a tale of love, loss, and self-discovery as singular as it is universal, and all the sweeter for it.”
Reese, Ames and Katrina find themselves thrown together from an unexpected pregnancy. Trans woman Reese, a 30something Midwestern transplant in NYC, is entangled in an affair with a kinky, dominant, and married man she refers to as “the cowboy”, while desperately wishing for a child. Three years ago, she was in a loving relationship with Amy who has since detransitioned (returning to the gender assigned at birth after living as another gender) to Ames, and is romantically involved with his boss, Katrina. When Katrina, badly scarred in a divorce finds herself pregnant, she looks to Ames for support and reassurance that she won’t have to raise their child as a single parent.
While Ames cannot see himself as a father, he relishes being a parent. Knowing how much Reese wants a child, he proposes that the three form an unconventional family.
“There’s no question that there will be much that’s new here for a lot of readers, but the insider view Peters offers never feels voyeuristic, and the author does a terrific job of communicating cultural specificity while creating universal sympathy... Smart, funny, and bighearted.” (Kirkus Reviews)
Recently, the Rumpus talked with Torrey Peters (MFA, University of Iowa; Masters in Comparative Literature, Dartmouth). She shared that “(t)he title is a pun, but I also think of it as a condition, where the comma is a painful knife’s edge that you walk as a trans woman. I wanted to fall off in one of two directions: to one side, if I could have a baby, be a mother, I think I would have felt a kind of legitimacy. In the other direction, if I could have found out a way to live comfortably in some kind of detransitioned state. These two options are represented by the characters.”
* * = 2 starred reviews
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #763
by muffy
The Liar's Dictionary * by a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Eley Williams (also available in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is “simultaneously a love story, an office comedy, a sleuth mystery and a slice of gaslit late Victoriana…” (The Guardian)
Mallory, a young intern and the sole employee of the Swansby’s multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary is tasked by the current director, 70 year-old David Swansby to identify all the Mountweazel (n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference) in preparation for digitization of the second edition. In between, she spends her time memorizing stationary labels in the supply closet while eating her lunch, and fielding phone calls by somebody threatening to blow up the building.
And mountweazel she finds with the help of her “flatmate” (lover), Pip, lots of them. They were the work of Peter Winceworth, Victorian lexicographer, who, in 1899 was toiling away at the letter S for Swansby’s, “in bored anonymity, speaking with an affected lisp and infatuated with the fiancée of his coworker and archnemesis… Buried beneath the torrents of puns and linguistic riffing is a story about two people from different eras connected by the thread of language, free to invent and repurpose words as they please, but who are less adept at navigating that far more indefinable terrain: the human heart.” (Library Journal)
“The author combines a Nabokovian love of wordplay with an Ali Smith--like ability to create eccentric characters who will take up permanent residence in the reader's heart. This is a sheer delight for word lovers.”(Publishers Weekly)
* = Starred review
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #762, “Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.” ~ Oscar Wilde
by muffy
Among the Booklist’s Top 10 Romance Debuts are these 2 delightful historicals.
Mr. Malcolm's List * by Suzanne Allain, a screenwriter whose most memorable trip was to London where her script for Mr. Malcolm’s List: Overture (see trailer) was being filmed.
Spurned debutante Julia Thistlewaite learns through her brother that The Honourable Mr. Jeremy Malcolm, second son of the Earl of Kilbourne finds her lacking the many qualifications on his well-crafted list for a suitable wife. To exact revenge Julia invites her friend Selina Dalton, a vicar's daughter, to London, planning to tailor her to Jeremy's list, attract his attention, and then reject him for failing to meet the qualifications of her own list. Selina is reluctant to participate in Julia's scheme, especially after meeting the irresistible Mr. Malcolm, who appears to be very different from the arrogant scoundrel of Julia's description.
“By focusing on a few well-developed characters, screenwriter and debut romance writer Allain make it easy for readers to become emotionally engaged in the progress of these friendships and budding romantic relationships. She also provides a cheeky look at the different expectations placed on men versus women during the Regency Era, revealing the limitations society accords individuals in terms of their family connections and personal wealth and education.” (Library Journal)
“This effervescent love story is a charmer.” (Publishers Weekly)
To Have and to Hoax * * by Martha Waters (eBook, also available as downloadable audiobook) In this hilarious debut Regency rom-com, an estranged couple feign accidents and illness in an attempt to gain attention, and maybe just win each other back in the process.
After a whirlwind romance and a year of wedded bliss, Lady Violet Grey and Lord James Audley are reduced to cold detached politeness. When Violet learns James has been thrown from his horse, she rushes to their country estate, only to find him alive and well at a tavern. Wanting to teach her estranged husband a lesson, Violet decides to feign an illness of her own which James quickly sees through, but he decides to play along. “ What follows is a series of riotously funny mishaps, pranks, and misunderstandings as the feuding couple weaponize Regency manners for their own ends. Waters gently lampoons genre tropes without sacrificing genuine feeling. Self-aware and brimming with well-timed epiphanies, this joyful, elegant romp is sure to enchant.” (Publishers Weekly)
Perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory and Julia Quinn.
BONUS FEATURE:
A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby * (also available in downloadable eBook and audiobook) by Vanessa Riley - this multicultural historical Regency romance is the first in the Rogues & Remarkable Women Series, for fans of Beverly Jenkins, Evie Dunmore, and Alyssa Cole.
Romance burns slow and hot between a rakish war hero and a determined widow in this bewitching Regency series opener. When headstrong West Indian heiress Patience Jordan questioned her English husband Colin’s mysterious suicide, she lost everything: her newborn son, Lionel, her fortune—and her freedom. Hired by Lionel’s unsuspecting new guardian, Busick Strathmore, Duke of Repington, as his nanny, Patience all the while, is hatching a foolhardy plan to claim her trust documents and whisk her son to her homeland as soon as possible.
“Riley’s well-researched depiction of 1814 England tells a broad story of life in wartime, the lack of women’s rights, mental health, and suicide, while, with all the difficulties they face, Patience and Busick’s love story feels genuine and deep.” (Booklist)
If you just binged on Shonda Rhimes's Bridgerton, Vulture suggests trying these 10 Romance Novels to Read.
* * = 2 starred reviews
* = Starred review
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #761, Award-Winning Debut Short Story Collections in Celebration of Winter Solstice
by muffy
How to Pronounce Knife: Stories * * by Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa is the winner of the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize. “In sparse prose braced with disarming humor, Thammavongsa (born in a Laotian refugee camp) offers glimpses into the daily lives of immigrants and refugees in a nameless city, illuminating the desires, disappointments, and triumphs of those who so often go unseen..." (The Paris Review)
In these 14 stories (among them one short-listed for Commonwealth Short Story Prize and an O.Henry Award winner) we meet watchful children, wounded men, and restless women caught between cultures, languages, and values.
In the titular story a young school girl is embarrassed when she finds her father unable to pronounce simple English words. In the 2019 O. Henry-prized "Slingshot" a 70-year-old woman experiences a summer of sexual reawakening with her 32-year-old neighbor. Red, a chicken factory worker longs for a nose job so she would have a chance at the front office where everyone has “a thin nose that stuck out from her face and pointed upward.” In "Randy Travis," when her mother becomes obsessed with the country singer, a 7 year-old is made to write hundreds of love letters in her name.
“Cosmopolitan aficionados of pristine short fiction--think Paul Yoon, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Phil Klay--will want to read.” (Library Journal)
Winner of the 2019 C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize, and hailed by Lauren Groff as “fully committed to the truth no matter how dark or difficult or complicated it may be”, Sleepovers: Stories *, the debut short story collection by Ashleigh Bryant Phillips takes us to a forgotten corner of the rural South, full of cemeteries, soybean fields, fishing holes, and Duck Thru gas stations.
Each story focuses on individuals in the same rural, hardscrabble North Carolina town. In "Shania," a 7 year-old is awed by her friend named after the country music star. As blood sisters they know little about each other’s family circumstance, and their friendship is cut short after domestic violence erupts in Shania's decrepit house. In "The Locket" Shirley, a 60-year-old pool custodian with a painful childhood befriends Krystal, a teenage babysitter with an impressive dive, and offers up her only treasure, with devastating consequences.
"Phillips demonstrates an impressive ease at depicting transition, trauma, and loss, brilliantly evoking a close-knit world held together by the strength of friendship. This collection stands out in the field of current Southern fiction.” (Publishers Weekly)
In Memoriam
Anthony Veasna So, Author on the Brink of Stardom, Dies at 28. The author of crackling, kinetic and darkly comedic stories that made vivid the lives of first-generation Khmer-Americans. Death was sudden and unexpected. (The New York Times)
So’s first book, Afterparties: Stories (eBook), a collection of short stories have been described as a “history-haunted comedy of Cambodian-American manners,” is to be published by Ecco next August, after a fierce bidding war.
One of the stories in the collection (that first appeared in the literary journal n+1) “Superking Son Scores Again” is that of “hapless, hopeful and striving teenage skater boys, clad in too-large T-shirts, eager for heroes, even fallen ones like Superking Son.“ In “The Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts” which The New Yorker published in February, Mr. So writes of two sisters, Kayley and Tevy, typical preteen and teenage Cambodian-American children. They are working the night shift one summer with their mother at the family’s restaurant, chafing at the ever-present burden of their parents’ hideous past trauma, flicking it away with black humor.
* * = 2 starred reviews
* = Starred review
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #760, “A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face.” ~ Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter
by muffy
Translated (by Alison Watts) into English for the first time, Sweet Bean Paste, by former journalist/essayist Durian Sukegawa is a contemporary tale about the burden of the past and the redemptive power of friendship.
Once Sentaro Tsujii dreamed of being a writer but now, released from prison, estranged from his family, he fills his day making and selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste and his nights drinking to oblivion. But everything changes on a spring day during cherry blossom season. Into the tiny confectionery shop walks 76-year-old Tokue Yoshii, offering to work for pittance. As the two work together, a friendship develops though Tokue is evasive about herself and where she lives. Despite her disfigured hands, she teaches Sentaro the fine points in making the best sweet bean paste, and business flourishes.
Among the many customers who flock to the shop is Wakana, a lonely schoolgirl who befriends Tokue. But then, social pressures become impossible to escape and Tokue’s dark secret is revealed, with devastating consequences.
“Inspired by the 1996 repeal of Japanese legislation that for more than a century inhumanely confined patients with Hansen's Disease (leprosy), and their families, Sukegawa-enabled by Watts's lucid translation-tells an endearing, thoughtful tale about relationships and the everyday meaning of life.”(Library Journal)
“A bittersweet confection about prejudice and friendship.” (The Guardian)
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons (also available in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is a moving and joyous novel about an elderly woman ready to embrace death and the little girl who reminds her what it means to live.
85 year-old Eudora Honeysett is done enduring the pains, weakness, and indignities of old age. She becomes aware of an alternative from a chance meeting at the local hospital. After a life of grief, disappointments and missed opportunities, her end will be on her terms, with the help of a clinic in Switzerland.
Then she meets ten-year-old Rose Trewidney, her new neighbor - “a whirling, pint-sized rainbow of sparkling cheer” who, despite Eudora’s resistance, gamely insinuates herself into Eudora's daily routine, and soon, their twosome is joined by recently widowed Stanley Marcham in a series of adventures.
“British author Lyons builds a certain and compassionate case for why her protagonist wants to go through vibrant flashbacks that reveal the depth of Eudora's character and sources of despair. Teeming with curmudgeonly elders and precocious youngsters, Lyons' touching tale of intergenerational friendship is reminiscent of Frederik Backman's A Man Called Ove (2014). Despite the somber underlying subject, this is a thoroughly enchanting feel-good read.” (Booklist)
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #759, “Roommates are like a box of cheap fireworks, you never know what they will do next.” ~ Kilroy J. Oldster
by muffy
Here are 2 of the Top 10 Romance Debuts picked by Booklist.
The Roommate * * by American expat Rosie Danan (also available in downloadable eBook and audiobook)
Overeducated, underemployed Connecticut socialite Clara Wheaton takes an impulsive leap of faith moving cross-country to house-share with childhood crush Elliott Bloom, only to find herself unceremoniously deposited at Elliot’s doorstep as he speeds off to tour with his band. Disappointment becomes resentment when she finds Elliott has rented out his room for the summer. An internet search reveals that her new roommate is none other than heart-throb porn star Josh Darling.
Their easy rapport and budding friendship develops into a no-strings-attached relationship and a new business venture “somewhere between porn and sex-ed,” designed to teach women’s partners how to better please them in bed. “Danan makes this novel premise work with a charming, believable heroine; an offbeat hero with a heart of gold; and snappy, laugh-out-loud prose. Romance fans will especially appreciate that the steamy erotic scenes are used to further character development, rather than just for cheap thrills. This delectable rom-com is both red-hot and fiercely feminist.” (Publishers Weekly)
The Marriage Game * by Sara Desai (also available in downloadable eBook and audiobook).
When Layla Patel returns home to San Francisco jobless, homeless and in shame after a video of her reaction to finding her photographer boyfriend in bed with 2 of his models went viral, her father offers her the office above the family restaurant to start her own business, nevermind that he neglects to tell her that Sam Mehta, the CEO of a redundancy business is the current tenant. As neither of them will vacate, they reluctantly agree to share the space.
Then Layla discovers that her father has posted her marriage résumé on a Indian dating website. To avoid making the same mistakes from her past relationships, Layla agrees to meet the 10 men on her father's list. Sam, with reasons of his own, offers to be her chaperon until one of them wins the bet : if Layla finds a husband among the blind dates, she will surrender the office to Sam, if she doesn't, then Sam must leave the office.
“It's a blast to witness Sam and Layla exchange flirtatious barbs as their snarky chemistry blossoms into something real over the course of Layla's hilariously disastrous dates. Rom-com fans should take note of this fresh, fun offering.” (Publishers Weekly)
“This witty and delightful story about family, forgiveness, and letting go is utterly satisfying. Desai's first book will be a hit with fans of Sonya Lalli's The Matchmaker's List.” (Library Journal)
Bonus Feature: Unconventional Roommates
Memorial, * * * * a multiple award-winner by Bryan Washington (also available in eBook and audiobook, read by the author)
Ben(son) and Mike live together in the slowly gentrifying Third Ward of Houston. Ben is black and works as a day-care teacher, while Mike, of Japanese descent, is a cook in a Mexican restaurant. After 4 years together, sex is sporadic and things are rocky between them. Then Mike’s mother Mitsuko arrives from Japan for a visit, but upon hearing that his estranged father is dying, Mike promptly takes off for Osaka, leaving his mother with Ben who speaks no Japanese.
As unconventional roommates, Mitsuko and Benson try to make the best of an absurd domestic situation that ends up meaning more to each of them than they ever could have predicted. In the meantime in Osaka, Mike tries to get to know his father Eiju who abandoned the family decades ago. As they share a tiny apartment and Mike helps manage Eiju’s neighborhood bar, he gains a new perspective on their shared history, and a renewed sense of self.
“Tender, funny, and heartbreaking, this tale of family, food (Mike cooks for their Venezuelan neighbors; Mitsuko makes Ben congee), and growing apart feels intimate and expansive at the same time.” (Publishers Weekly)
"A subtle and moving exploration of love, family, race, and the long, frustrating search for home.” (Kirkus Reviews)
* * * * = 4 starred reviews
* * = 2 starred reviews
* = Starred review
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #758, In a dark, dark wood, there was a dark, dark house...
by muffy
You Let Me In * * by Norwegian Camilla Bruce (who grew up in an old forest, next to an Iron Age burial mound) is a thrilling Gothic tale that combines the sinister domestic atmosphere of Shirley Jackson, the haunting mystery of Gillian Flynn, and the otherworldly romanticism of Holly Black. The Guardian reviewer called it (a) “smart, creepy fairy story.”
74-year-old bestselling romance novelist Cassandra Tipp has been missing for a year now. Though there is no evidence of foul play, the Police is convinced she is dead, and suspects her disappearance must be linked to the mysterious disembowelment of her husband, Tommy Tipps for which Cassandra was tried; and the subsequent murder-suicide of her father and brother. To claim her massive fortune, her surviving heirs (nephew and niece) must come to her home in the woods, locate her final manuscript, and find a password and present it to the executor of her estate.
What they read is Cassandra’s story - fantastical and disturbing, dominated by the Pepper-Man, a sinister fairy with spindly, leathery hands who initiated her into the underworld. “Readers will find themselves engrossed on a wild trip to a parallel, earthly dimension as Bruce reveals the secrets hidden by the Tipp family's dysfunction. Remarkably, Bruce takes the fairy trope and squeezes every ounce of tweeness out of it; she also introduces ancient elements, akin to Celtic myths, without romanticizing or sanitizing them. The characterizations are masterful but don't take a back seat to an enthralling story, a genre-blender that perplexes us with its whodunit elements and the ongoing mystery as to what is in Cass' mind and what's real. Neil Gaiman fans are a ready audience for this superb debut...“ (Booklist)
Readers might not want to miss the latest from Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Mexican Gothic, currently being adapted by Hulu into a series, (also available in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror, set in 1950s Mexico.
After receiving a frantic plea from her newly-married cousin Catalina, glamorous debutante and college student Noemí Taboada travels from Mexico City to High Place, “(a) house...sick with rot, stinks of decay, brims with every single evil and cruel sentiment", where she finds Catalina bedridden from a mysterious illness, her new husband, the handsome Englishman Virgil Doyle menacing and alluring at the same time. Then she meets the dying patriarch Howard Doyle, head of a prominent English mining family that built their now-dwindling fortune on the backs of Indigenous laborers. Soon, Noemi finds herself plagued by horrifying dreams and visions, a peculiar fungus that grows everywhere. Before long, Noemi fears for her own life as well as Catalina's.
"In a novel that owes a considerable debt to the nightmarish horror and ornate language of H.P. Lovecraft, the situations in which Noemí attempts to prevail get wilder and stranger with every chapter, as High Place starts exhibiting a mind of its own... Readers who find the usual country house mystery too tame and languid won't have that problem here.” (Publishers Weekly)
“An inspired mash-up of Jane Eyre, Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, Dracula, Rebecca and that 1958 classic sci-fi movie, The Blob …Inventive and smart, [Mexican Gothic is] injecting the Gothic formula with some fresh blood.” (NPR’s Fresh Air)
BONUS FEATURE
Haunted Houses: Classic Stories of Doors That Should Never be Opened - Classic haunted house ghost stories curated by world-renowned filmmaker and horror genre expert John Landis. This beautifully presented, highly collectible anthology features ghost stories that have enthralled, terrified and inspired readers decade after decade. Some are relatively well known; others are long-lost treasures, awaiting rediscovery.
* * = 2 starred reviews