Category: Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Hush, Don’t Wake the Monster edited by Azzurra Nox

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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: Hush, Don’t Wake the Monster; Women in Horror Anthology
Editor: Azzurra Nox
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Twisted Wing Productions
Release Date: 3rd March, 2022

Synopsis: A collection of new and exclusive short stories inspired by and in tribute to, Stephen King.

Stephen King is a seminal writer of horror, whose influence transcends the literary sphere, having also taken the cinematic world by storm – and ultimately delivering nightmares to generations for almost five decades.

This fourth anthology of the Women in Horror series edited by Azzurra Nox brings together a diverse group of female writers who contribute their personal twist to the works of Stephen King.

Featured authors include: Andrea Teare, Rachel Bolton, Marnie Azzarelli, Lauri Christopher, Kay Hanifen, Hannah Brown, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, L. E. Daniels, Sealey Andrews, Christabel Simpson, Alisha Galvan, Rebecca Rowland, Cheryl Zaidan, Amy Grech, Jane Nightshade, Trish McKee, and Azzurra Nox.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Crime Scene poetry by Cynthia Pelayo

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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: Crime Scene
Author: Cynthia Pelayo
Publisher:  Raw Dog Screaming Press
Genre: Poetry, Crime, Thriller, 
Release Date: 13th October, 2022

Synopsis: Cynthia Pelayo sings a song for the least of us, the victim we want to forget as soon as possible, the one who disappeared before ever really appearing. With a fairy tale gaze and a heart bigger than the world, her siren song insinuates itself past our defenses, past the hardened calluses and apathy we’ve erected to protect ourselves from the everyday horror of another missing girl.

Pelayo relates the familiar story, poem by poem; a body is found, a brutal crime investigated, clues take us in circles, and lead us nowhere. We are on an epic journey, the hero’s journey, and it must play out to the end in all its painful, ticking moments. Pelayo imbues her hero, Agent K, with the entirety of our dedication and that crumb of hope we’ve been hiding, saving for later. We will need to save for years, for decades, if we want to come out the other side. The job takes its toll, the answers are never complete and whys fracture, crack and spread. Still there is no turning away. We must bear witness, though it changes and contorts us.

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Midnight Lullaby by Cheryl Low

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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: The Midnight Lullaby
Author: Cheryl Low
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Grinning Skull Press
Release Date: 10th July, 2020

Synopsis: Everybody has secrets…

For years, Benedict Lyon has been living a lie. Not even his family knows the truth he’s been keeping from the world. Only Emmeline knows his secret—and she’s dead.

…some are darker than others…

When the matriarch of the Lyon family passes away, Benedict is summoned home for the funeral. Emmeline urges Benedict not to go, certain that if he returns to that house, neither one of them will escape.

…but are they worth dying for?

Their presence in the family home causes the spirit of Gloria Lyon to become restless, and as the remaining members of the Lyon family attempt to put their mother to rest, long buried secrets, some deadlier than others, are unearthed. Who will survive…

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 14, ed. Ellen Datlow

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Title: The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 14
Author: Various, ed. Ellen Datlow
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Release Date: 15th November, 2022

Synopsis: For more than four decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror readers crave. Now, with the fourteenth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. Encompassed in the pages of The Best Horror of the Year have been such illustrious writers as: Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Stephen Graham Jones, Joyce Carol Oates, Laird Barron, Mira Grant, and many others.
With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows. It is a catalog of terror, fear, and unpleasantness as articulated by today’s most challenging and exciting writers.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Family Curse: Field Notebooks (1880-2020)

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Title: Family Curse: Field Notebooks (1880-2020)
Author: Tenacity Plys
Genre: LGBTQ+ Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Fantasy
Publisher: Bottlecap Press
Release Date: September, 2022

Synopsis: They say in town that every generation, fairies lure a member of Virgil’s family into the local woods, never to be seen again. Virgil doesn’t really care about that; they’re just squatting at their aunt’s vacant house during quarantine. But one night, they’re awoken by a knocking at the back door that leads them into a tangle of family secrets, and a mystery that’s as heartbreaking as it is chilling.

To avoid disappearing themself, Virgil has to piece together journal entries from three generations of their relatives, who all spent their lives wondering why their siblings were taken. If Virgil can solve the puzzle, they won’t just save themselves — they’ll put more than a hundred years’ worth of family history to rest. This story of a neurodivergent family’s struggle to understand themselves is by turns spooky, funny, sad, and hopeful despite everything.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Evil Whispers By: Owl Goingback

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Title: Evil Whispers
Author: Owl Goingback
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Cemetery Dance Publications
Release Date: June 5th, 2023

Synopsis: Robert and Janet Patterson and their young daughter, Krissy, went looking for the perfect getaway vacation spot. They found it in a backwoods Florida town. Far away from civilization. Quiet and peaceful. And terribly isolated.

 

Robert and Janet should have listened to the local legends. They should have heeded the warnings about the black water lagoons. And they should have listened to their daughter when she told them about the whispers in the woods. Because now, it’s too late. Krissy’s disappeared, and whatever took their little girl is coming back for more….

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Epeolatry Book Review: In The Scrape By James Newman & Mark Steensland

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Title: In the Scrape
Authors: James Newman & Mark Steensland
Publisher: Cemetery Dance Publications
Genre: Coming of Age
Release Date: January, 21st, 2023
Synopsis: Note: This is a re-release of ‘In the Scrape‘ from a new publisher. Be sure to also check out our original review for quite a different view of the release! 

Most kids dream about a new bike, a pair of top-dollar sneakers endorsed by their favorite athlete, or that totally awesome videogame everyone’s raving about. But thirteen-year-old Jake and his little brother Matthew want nothing more than to escape from their abusive father. As soon as possible, they plan to run away to California, where they will reunite with their mother and live happily ever after.

It won’t be easy, though. After a scuffle with a local bully puts Jake’s arch-nemesis in the hospital, Sheriff Theresa McLelland starts poking her nose into their feud. During a trip to the family cabin for the opening weekend of deer-hunting season, Jake and Matthew kick their plan into action, leaving Dad tied to a chair as they flee into the night. Meanwhile, the bully and his father have their own plans for revenge, and the events to follow will forever change the lives of everyone involved . . .

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Epeolatry Book Review: Dark Dweller by Gareth Worthington

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Title: Dark Dweller
Authors: Gareth Worthington
Publisher: Dropship Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi Horror
Release Date: 28th February, 2023
Synopsis:  Captain Kara Psomas was pronounced dead when her research vessel slammed into Jupiter. More than a century later, the crew of the Paralus, a helium mining freighter, find a pristine escape pod with a healthy young girl nestled inside. A girl who claims to be Kara—and she brings a message of doom.
She says she has been waiting in the dark for that exact moment. To be found by that particular crew. Because an ancient cosmic being has tasked her with a sacred responsibility. She claims she must alter the Fulcrum, a lever in time—no matter the cost to the people aboard—or condemn the rest of civilization to a very painful and drawn-out demise.
She sounds convincing. She appears brave. She might well be insane.  

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