Black Sheep, Rachel Harrison (Berkley 978-0-59354-585-0, $27.00, 304pp, hc) September 2023. Cover by Katie Anderson.

Horror, perhaps the best dancing partner when it comes to genre because it gets along very well with everyone else, can be a lot of things, and that includes hilarious. Rachel Harrison’s Black Sheep contains all the elements you’d expect from a horror novel – a creepy presence, dread, emotional turmoil, bloody sacrifices, Satan. However, ...Read More

What Kind of Mother, Clay McLeod Chapman (Quirk Books 978-1-68369-380-2, $21.99, 304pp, hc) September 2023.

Clay McLeod’s Chapman’s What Kind of Moth­er is a great horror novel in which creepiness and body horror take a back seat to grief and the horror it pushes people to do. A story that’s as harrowing as it is sad and strange, What Kind of Mother is a superb addition to McLeod’s catalog and ...Read More

The September House, Carissa Orlando (Berk­ley 978-0-59354-861-5, $27.00, 352pp, hc) Sep­tember 2023. Cover by Daniel Brount.

Books that can make you feel things are special, and Carissa Orlando’s The Sep­tember House will make readers feel a lot of different things. The September House is a strange horror novel in which the horror elements are mostly dealt with using the kind of nonchalance people display while waiting in line at the ...Read More

Dead Eleven, Jimmy Juliano (Dutton 978-0-59347-192-0, $27.00, 448pp, hc) June 2023.

Jimmy Juliano’s Dead Eleven is one of the most impressive debuts of 2023. The narrative, which follows a woman’s disappearance on a strange island, has a unique approach that makes it read like a found-footage film. It also mixes a lot of creepy lore, a secretive community stuck in the past in a strange island, and something stalking people ...Read More

Touched, Walter Mosley (Atlantic Monthly Press 978-0-80216-184-0, $29.99, 176pp, hc) October 2023.

Walter Mosley is one of the best-known crime writers out there. However, he’s a great story­teller whose skills aren’t tied to a single genre. In Touched, Mosley writes speculative fiction with the same aplomb he shows when delivering crime narratives. A strange tale of good versus evil with plenty of action, some big ideas, and Mosley’s ever-present ...Read More

Whalefall, Daniel Kraus (MTV Books 978-1-66591-816-9, $27.99, 336pp, hc) August 2023. Cover by Will Staehle.

Daniel Kraus’s Whalefall straddles the line between science and science fiction and pulls readers into a world that is at once familiar and completely alien. As full of action and gore as it is packed with science and emotional turmoil, Whalefall is a superb reimagining of Jo­nah’s tale as well as a narrative that cements ...Read More

The Deep Sky, Yume Kitasei (Flatiron 978-1-25087-533-4, $29.99, 416pp, hc) July 2023.

Yume Kitasei’s The Deep Sky is three books wrapped into one. At once a locked-room (locked ship, in this case) whodunit, an interstellar adven­ture that discusses a very plausible future, and a story that explores mother-daughter relationships as well as friendship, The Deep Sky is a very timely science fiction narrative that looks at some of the dark ...Read More

Camp Damascus, Chuck Tingle (Tor Nightfire 978-1-25087-462-7, $25.99, 256pp, hc) July 2023.

The mysterious Chuck Tingle built a career out of making all the right people angry. His work has always been out there, inclu­sive, and wildly entertaining; constantly pushing the boundaries while inhabiting a space between internet sensation and obscure indie writer. How­ever, despite being a two-time finalist for the Hugo Award, many people looked at Tingle’s titles – ...Read More

The Legend of Charlie Fish, Josh Rountree (Tachyon Publications 978-1-61696-394-1, $16.95, 192pp, hc) July 2023. Cover by John Coulthart.

One of the best things about reading and editing anthologies is that you’re exposed to the work of many talented writers who are new to you or new to writing in general. I remember reading Josh Rountree’s work here and there and then publishing his work in an anthology. Every ...Read More

Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey 978-0-59335-536-7, $28.00, 336pp, hc) July 2023. Cover by Fritz Metsch.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia seems to reinvent herself with every novel. Known for jumping around and mixing literary fiction, science fiction, crime, historical fiction, and horror, Moreno-Garcia, who has won numerous awards and built a huge readership that goes with her wherever she goes, obeys the demands of every narrative instead of sticking to the ...Read More

Mother Howl, Craig Clevenger (Datura 978-1-91552-303-7, $17.99, 300pp, pb) June 2023. Cover by Kyerin Tyler.

The Contortionist’s Handbook, published in 2002, and Dermaphoria, published in 2005, made Craig Clevenger a household name and both became huge cult hits. Then readers had to sit and wait for whatever Clevenger did next. That long wait came to an end this year with Mother Howl, and the wait was ...Read More

Lone Women, Victor LaValle (One World 978-0-52551-208-0, $27.00, 304pp, hc) March 2023.

Victor LaValle is an outstanding storyteller known for his gripping narratives and the elegant flair he brings to speculative fiction. In Lone Women, his latest novel, he mixes these elements with historical fiction and commentary on racial tensions in 1915 Montana to deliver his best novel yet.

The year is 1915, and Adelaide Henry is alone, ...Read More

The Puzzle Master, Danielle Trussoni (Random House 978-0-59359-529-9, $27.00, 384pp, hc) June 2023.

Right before the pandemic got really bad in March of 2020, I received a galley of Danielle Trussoni’s The Ancestor. I dug in two or three days before the first lockdown and spent the next two weeks deeply engrossed in that novel, which brought together the best elements of literary fiction and thrillers with a ...Read More

The Salt Grows Heavy, Cassandra Khaw (Tor Nightfire 978-1-25083-091-3, $21.99, 112pp, hc) May 2023. Cover by Morgan Sorensen.

Cassandra Khaw is one of the most dis­tinctive voices in contemporary fiction. From science fiction to horror and from literary fiction to surrealism, they can do it all, and their prose is always impeccable. With The Salt Grows Heavy, Khaw has pushed their work into new territory, and it’s a ...Read More