Author: Holley Cornetto

Articles / Interviews

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WIHM 2022: An Interview With Editor Michelle River

In celebration of Women in Horror Month, we are continuing to highlight some of the amazing work that women have been doing compiling and editing magazines and anthologies in the horror industry. We’re continuing our Women Who Edit Interview series with Michelle River.

Could you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you?

Hello, my name is Michelle and I am the owner of Eerie River Publishing.

I have smart and feisty four year old daughter and fifteen month old son, so I pretty much survive on lukewarm coffee and determination these days. 

What is (or was) the most rewarding aspect of editing an anthology, magazine, or collection?
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Articles / Interviews

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WIHM 2022: An Interview With Editor S.H. Cooper

In celebration of Women in Horror Month, we wanted to highlight some of the amazing work that women have been doing compiling and editing magazines or collections in the horror industry. We’re kicking off our interview series by taking a few moments with S. H. Cooper. 

Could you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you?

My name is S.H. Cooper and I’m a horror and fantasy author. I’ve self-published a number of titles, including three short story collections, a YA fantasy novel entitled “The Knight’s Daughter”, and a cosmic horror novella, “The Festering Ones”. My gothic horror novella, “Inheriting Her Ghosts”, was the launching title for Sleepless Sanctuary Publishing. In addition to books, I’m also a contributing writer to the award-winning podcast, “The NoSleep Podcast”, and a co-creator, writer, and voice actor for the horror comedy podcast, “Calling Darkness”. The upcoming feminist horror anthology, “A Woman Built By Man”, was my first foray into working as an editor.
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Articles / Interviews

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WIHM 2022: An Interview With Editor Alex Woodroe

In celebration of Women in Horror Month, we are continuing to highlight some of the amazing work that women have been doing compiling and editing magazines and anthologies in the horror industry. We’re continuing our Women Who Edit Interview series with Alex Woodroe.

 

Could you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you?

My name is Alex Woodroe, and I’m a Romanian writer and editor of dark speculative fiction. I’m an aquiring editor for Tenebrous Press, a staff writer for the upcoming horror videogame Decarnation, and have acted as guest editor for Brigid’s Gate Press, as well as being engaged to do so in the near future for CatStone Books and Dark Matter Publications. 

I’ve had some short fiction and non-fiction published, and always strive to infuse my country’s spirit, history, and folklore in everything I do. I’m also a bit of a nomad, and love nature and the humans who inhabit it more than anything. 

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Articles / Interviews

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WIHM 2022: An Interview With Editor Rebecca Rowland

In celebration of Women in Horror Month, we are continuing to highlight some of the amazing work that women have been doing compiling and editing magazines and story collections in the horror industry. We’re continuing our Women Who Edit Interview series with Rebecca Rowland.

Could you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you?

Hi! My name is Rebecca Rowland, and I write and curate dark fiction. By day, I teach high school English in a large, urban district, and I really like my students. I like to think of my role as an author/ghostwriter/editor as my superhero identity: it’s not something I necessarily promote in my day life, but people seem intrigued (slash, surprised) when they do learn of it. Also, the wardrobe is much more comfortable than my day job’s. 😊

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Articles / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Generation X-Ed, ed. Rebecca Rowland

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Generation X-Ed
Author: Various, ed. Rebecca Rowland
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Dark Ink Books
Release Date: 26th January, 2022

Synopsis: Bestselling editor Rebecca Rowland (Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction) and Dark Ink Books (Savini, Unmasked: The True Life Story of the World’s Most Prolific Cinematic Killer) present a unique anthology of monster, folk, paranormal, and psychological horror as glimpsed through the lens of the latchkey generation. In this assortment of spine-chilling tales, twenty-two voices shine a strobe light on the cultural demons that lurked in the background while they came of age in the heyday of Satanic panic and slasher flicks, milk carton missing and music television, video rentals and riot grrrls.

These Gen-X storytellers once stayed out unsupervised until the streetlights came on, and what they brought home with them will terrify you.

Featuring brand new fiction from Kevin David Anderson, Glynn Owen Barrass, Matthew Barron, C.D. Brown, Matthew Chabin, L.E. Daniels, C.O. Davidson, Douglas Ford, Phil Ford, Holly Rae Garcia, Dale W. Glaser, Tim Jeffreys, Derek Austin Johnson, Eldon Litchfield, Adrian Ludens, Elaine Pascale, Erica Ruppert, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Rob Smales, Mark Towse, Thomas Vaughn, and Thomas K.S. Wake.

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Articles / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: In Somnio, ed. Alex Woodroe

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: In Somnio
Author: Various, ed. Alex Woodroe
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Tenebrous Press
Release Date: 1st November, 2021

Synopsis: Twenty-five women and non-binary writers from the worlds of Horror Fiction and Illustration form an unholy union and drag the blackened heart of Classic Gothic Horror into modern daylight! In the process, they have sculpted an altogether sleeker, more feral beast.

In the hands of Mary Shelley, Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson, Gothic Horror explored the bleak shadows of our homes; the darkest corners of the human mind; madness, personal transformation, the occult. IN SOMNIO recasts the legacy of the original Gothmothers in a chilling contemporary light.

Within the walls of an arcane modern art gallery; upon the shores of a hostile but compelling sea; into the blackest burrows of the animal kingdom; tableside at the world’s last restaurant on the eve of the apocalypse; from the deep deep South to a Lovecraftian Steampunk theatre, a cornucopia of disturbing vignettes await you.

Fans of twisted takes on the classics such as Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters; Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House/Bly Manor; moody, secretive novels like Night Film and A House at the Bottom of the Lake; and traditional Gothic Horror and ghost stories will all find something to chill their bones in IN SOMNIO.

This collection features eighteen vibrant, unique stories ranging from deeply intimate one-room settings to sprawling fantasy worlds; from the depths of darkness to comedy and adventure. Each story brings a new perspective to our inherent love of Gothic Horror and what those vital elements of terror still have to say today.

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Articles / Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Jedi Summer by John Boden

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Jedi Summer
Author: John Boden
Genre: Coming of Age Horror
Publisher: Silver Shamrock Publishing
Release Date: 31st August, 2021

Synopsis: A boy and his little brother wander through the loosely stitched summer of 1983. It was a magical one. Full of sun and surrealism, of lessons and loss, and of growing up and figuring it out.

Nestled in the mountains of Pennsylvania is a small town unlike any other. Things are strange here, always have been. People die but hang around, pets too. Everyone knows your name, and sometimes, a thing as simple as a movie coming to the local theatre is all it takes to keep you going.

Jedi Summer follows a pair of brothers one summer as they await the release of the year’s biggest blockbuster movie. Jedi Summer falls into the coming-of-age horror category, a sub-genre that I personally enjoy. According to the author, this work is at least semi-autobiographical. 

Boden does a great job establishing atmosphere. His setting provides a definite sense of time and place, and capitalizes on nostalgic vibes. 

Where the book falls short for this reader is on organization and presentation. Jedi Summer reads like a collection of loosely connected short stories or vignettes. No overarching element connects individual chapters, and certain seemingly interesting and important plot points fade into the background never to resurface again. 

The novel’s emotional climax centers around the passing of the main characters’ father, which lacked strong emotional resonance, since the majority of the story circled the siblings’ relationship to their mother and the difficulties of being raised by a single parent. The father only appears in a few scenes, and the reader never gets a chance to know him. 

The book is a quick and enjoyable read. Disjointedness of the chapters and lack of a central narrative holds it back from receiving a “5”. Despite those minor complaints, I recommend this if you enjoy coming-of-age horror and/or stories that capitalize on nostalgia.

out of 5 ravens.

Available from Amazon.

Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Daughters of Darkness II, ed. Stephanie Ellis & Alyson Faye

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Daughters of Darkness II
Author: Various, ed. Stephanie Ellis & Alyson Faye
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Black Angel Press
Release Date: 1st Oct, 2021

Synopsis: The Daughters are back! This time with a new quartet of women horror writers to thrill and scare you, in the latest anthology, Daughters of Darkness II, from the women-run indie horror press, Black Angel.
Within these shadowed pages you will journey into the depths of the myth-rich Scottish countryside, into the horrors of suburban life, where beneath the skin of Hummingbird Academy true macabreness ferments. You will encounter haunted girls and young men, with dark and deadly secrets, and travel into the Gothic heartlands, culminating in the hell of WW1 and encounter who or what comes home from the trenches.
These are four women horror writers at the top of their game, conjuring stories of quiet, skin-creeping terror.

In the book’s Foreword, Faye and Ellis write that Daughters of Darkness was born of “difficulty in finding suitable outlets for our style of quiet, psychological horror and also the fact that many outstanding female writers just couldn’t seem to break through.” The Daughters of Darkness anthologies are designed specifically to showcase horror written by female authors. Daughters of Darkness II is the second installment, and it did not disappoint. 

The publisher broke down each author into sections. Authors had a certain wordcount, and their contribution varied. This collection included short stories, connected shorts, and novellas. 

First author up—Beverley Lee. I’ve read Lee’s work in the past, and she creeped me out with her sinister and atmospheric piece. Lee has presented us with a collection of four stories. Her lead story, “A Whiteness of Swans” opens her section, and the collection as a whole. By far, one of my favorites in the entire book. 

I had not read anything by Lynn Love prior, so I appreciated the chance to read a new (to me) author. Phenomenal, describes Love’s entry into this book. Each “part” of the story read different enough to feel fresh and interesting, but the connecting thread kept the reader grounded in the story world. Using Jack Sprat and life at home in a large house with an absent family gave the opening section both a fairy tale and gothic feel. By the end, I wondered how the sections would come together, and Love pulled it off with a finale demonstrating her mastery by seamlessly tying up the ending. 

Next up—Catherine McCarthy’s “The Spider and the Stag.” This novella-length tale combined elements of mystery and folk horror. McCarthy masterfully crafted her characters, and they felt like real people. She depicted a grieving widow in such a beautiful and poignant way, and yet somehow still managed to balance the fear, which made the story terrifying.

T.C. Parker is another new (to me) author in this collection. Parker’s entry comes in the form of two connected stories. I liked this approach, and the stories pleasantly surprised me. I preferred the tint of weirdness in the horror of the second tale, but the first did a great job at showing off Parker’s characterization skills. I felt an immediate connection with Jodie that sustained me until the story’s end.

This was an outstanding collection. Very rarely do I love all of the stories in an anthology, but for this one, I can wholeheartedly recommend every tale and author included.

out of 5 ravens.

Available from amazon.