Santa Womble - The Fourth Stocking - Horror!
Helloooo!
Well you can argue thats all 2020 has been but this has been a glorious year for horror to show what it can do - poke fingers at society on issues such as colonialism, health care, capitalism and racism reminding us that these things still need to be tackled. This I think has seen some of the best novels across all the genres this year
Here are a few to have a look at
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix - A trip tot he 90’s where a family meets a vampire and is torn apart. Smartly exploring the constraints of motherhood and racism in the period and less sweet than the title suggests
Honeybones by Georgina Bruce - a truly unsettling tale of childhood and the different kind of monsters that can lie in wait - haunting.
Green Fingers by Dan Coxon - a unsettling collection that has a theme of nature striking back at us. Read it in your garden
The Watcher in The Woods by Charlotte Bond - In a similar vein a hugely impressive collection of tales that mix nature and folk horror wonderfully together.
Until Summer Comes Around by Glenn Rolfe - 80’s nostalgia and a twist of the Lost Boys arrive in this tale of love and vampires with metal soundtrack
Eden by Tim Lebbon - an unsettling tale in the near future that mixes SF, climate change and bad things happening to some explorers in paradise
Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay - one of the most disturbingly on point tales this year arrives with a tale of a pandemic out of control. It is brilliant, unsettling and you’ll be amazed what it gets right.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - This will be on many best of lists for the year and you are absolutely going to need this wonderful tale in your lives. One of the best authors out there steps up to a tale of creepy families, colonialism and unsettling houses.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones - For me also one of the best novels out this year. Horror that has a point exploring the lives of young men on an Indian reservation and what that means for people’s lives and futures. Bleak, powerful and yet finishes with hope.
Dracula's Child by J S Barnes - what happened to the surviving characters of Dracula? This gothic horror tale has an idea and it’s smart and has a subtle look at the UK being taken over by right wing nationalists (as if that could ever happen…)
The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher - one of the creepiest tales I’ve read yet one of the funniest narrators. A marvel how this story goes light and dark so easily. Brilliant
Petra's Ghost by C S O'Cinneide - perfect for a winter evening this tale of a unusual pilgrimage through Spain gets under the skin and explores guilt and forgiveness. Memorable
The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher - T Kingfisher had a double bill this year with a very different yet equally scary tale of a hidden world behind a wall. An author to catch up on
Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims - A portmanteau horror collection of a London Residential block of flats exploring rick and poor and who is pulling the strings…brilliant.
