HERCULINE – Grace Byron

grimdarkdad1 Comment

Herculine’s narrator has demons. Sure, her life includes several hallmarks of the typical trans girl sob story—conversion therapy, a string of shitty low-paying jobs, and even shittier exes—but she also regularly debates sleep paralysis demons that turn to mist soon after she wakes and carries vials of holy oil in her purse. Nothing, though, prepares her for the new malevolent force stalking her through the streets of New York City, more powerful than any she’s ever encountered. Desperate to escape this ancient evil, she flees to rural Indiana, where her ex-girlfriend started an all-trans girl commune in the middle of the woods.

The secluded camp, named after 19th-century intersex memoirist Herculine Barbin, is a scrappy operation, but the shared sense of community among the girls is a welcome balm to the narrator’s growing isolation and paranoia. Still, something isn’t quite right at Herculine. Girls stop talking as soon as she enters the room, everyone seems to share a common secret, and the books lining the walls of the library harbor strange cryptograms. Soon what once looked like an escape becomes a trap all its own.

While trying to untangle the commune’s many mysteries, the narrator contends with disemboweled pigs, cultlike psychosexual rituals, and the horrors of communal breakfast. And before long, she discovers that her demons have followed her. And this time, they won’t be letting her go.
Continue reading “HERCULINE – Grace Byron” →

SCHRADER’S CHORD – Scott Leeds

grimdarkdad1 Comment

After his estranged father’s mysterious death, Charlie Remick returns to Seattle to help with the funeral. There, he discovers his father left him two parting gifts: the keys to the family record store and a strange black case containing four antique records that, according to legend, can open a gate to the land of the dead.

When Charlie, his sister, and their two friends play the records, they unwittingly open a floodgate of unspeakable horror. As the darkness descends, they are stalked by a relentless, malevolent force and see the dead everywhere they turn.

With time running out, the only person who can help them is Charlie’s resurrected father, who knows firsthand the awesome power the records have unleashed. But can they close the gate and silence Schrader’s Chord before it’s too late?
Continue reading “SCHRADER’S CHORD – Scott Leeds” →

HIDE AND SEEKER – Daka Hermon

grimdarkdadLeave a comment
Justin knows that something is wrong with his best friend. Zee went missing for a year. And when he came back, he was . . . different. Nobody knows what happened to him. At Zee’s welcome home party, Justin and the neighborhood crew play Hide and Seek. But it goes wrong. Very wrong. One by one, everyone who plays the game disappears, pulled into a world of nightmares come to life. Justin and his friends realize this horrible place is where Zee had been trapped. All they can do now is hide from the Seeker.
Continue reading “HIDE AND SEEKER – Daka Hermon” →

NOWHERE BURNING – Catriona Ward

grimdarkdad3 Comments

Riley and her brother Oliver set off in the pitch-black night, fleeing their troubled home. They are heading for Nowhere—an abandoned ranch, once the playground of its former eccentric movie-star owner, now a haven for runaways.

What awaits could be the freedom they crave.

But this mysterious clan guards dark secrets, and the scorched grounds hold the ghosts of the past. Riley quickly realizes that while she and Oliver may have escaped the devil they knew, something darker lurks in the burnt shell of Nowhere.

Something which asks a terrible price for sanctuary…
Continue reading “NOWHERE BURNING – Catriona Ward” →

THE NIGHTHOUSE KEEPER – Lora Senf

grimdarkdadLeave a comment

Evie Von Rathe has been home for only a few weeks from her adventure in the strange world of seven houses when Blight Harbor’s beloved ghosts begin to disappear. Did they leave without saying goodbye, or has something gone horribly wrong? Soon Evie is invited to a mysterious council meeting, where she learns about the Dark Sun Side and a terrible secret.

Yes, the ghosts have gone missing. And that means serious trouble.

With the help of an eleven-year-old (or 111-year-old, but who’s counting) ghost named Lark, trusty Bird, and a plump ghost spider, Evie must find a way to defeat the vicious Nighthouse Keeper responsible for the missing ghosts, save her otherworldly friends, and find her way home from the Dark Sun Side before she’s trapped there forever.
Continue reading “THE NIGHTHOUSE KEEPER – Lora Senf” →

A PARTICULARLY NASTY CASE – Adam Kay

grimdarkdad1 Comment

When his toxic medical director dies of a heart attack, fellow doctor Eitan Rose smells foul play. Nobody else does, though, including some quite crucial players like the police and the medical examiner. So Eitan vows to uncover the truth himself.

But Eitan’s own past and reputation are far from spotless, despite his budding relationship with Cole, a handsome hospital porter, and reluctant camaraderie with his office mate, Margaret-with-the-cats. As his colleagues become increasingly concerned about his mental health, Eitan’s investigation spirals out of control. Could a killer really be stalking the wards? Or is Eitan making a catastrophic mistake?
Continue reading “A PARTICULARLY NASTY CASE – Adam Kay” →

MAN, F*CK THIS HOUSE (AND OTHER DISASTERS) – Brian Asman

grimdarkdad2 Comments

In the titular Man, F*ck This House, Sabrina Haskins and her family have just moved into their dream home. At first glance, the house is perfect. But things aren’t what they seem. Sabrina is hearing odd noises, seeing strange visions. Their neighbors are odd or absent. And Sabrina’s already-fraught relationship with her son is about to be tested in a way no parent could ever imagine. Because while the Haskins family might be the newest owners of this house, they’re far from its only residents …
In “Beware the Hurlyburly,” a troubled teen loses his grip on reality after checking out the wrong internet meme …
In “In the Rushes,” a coastal cycling trip turns terrifying for a feuding mother and daughter …
Malevolent doppelgängers, bizarre murders, ancient evils, Western ghosts, mirror monsters, poisonous playthings, and more populate the pages of this brilliant—and petrifying—collection of stories.
Continue reading “MAN, F*CK THIS HOUSE (AND OTHER DISASTERS) – Brian Asman” →

BAT EATER AND OTHER NAMES FOR CORA ZENG – Kylie Lee Baker

grimdarkdad2 Comments

Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. But none of that seems so terrible when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister, Delilah, being pushed in front of a train.

Before fleeing the scene, the murderer shouted two words: bat eater.

So the bloody messes don’t really bother Cora—she’s more bothered by the germs on the subway railing, the bare hands of a stranger, the hidden viruses in every corner, and the bite marks on her coffee table. Of course, ever since Delilah was killed in front of her, Cora can’t be sure what’s real and what’s in her head.

She pushes away all feelings and ignores the advice of her aunt to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open. But she can’t ignore the dread in her stomach as she keeps finding bat carcasses at crime scenes, or the scary fact that all her recent cleanups have been the bodies of East Asian women.

As Cora will soon learn, you can’t just ignore hungry ghosts.
Continue reading “BAT EATER AND OTHER NAMES FOR CORA ZENG – Kylie Lee Baker” →

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT – Armando Muñoz

grimdarkdadLeave a comment

Christmas Eve, 1971… Five-year-old Billy Chapman witnessed his parents brutally murdered by a man disguised as Santa Claus, leaving him and his little brother to be raised in a strict Catholic orphanage ruled by the sadistic Mother Superior.

December, 1984… Eighteen and finally on his own, Billy sets out to live a normal life. Landing a job at the local toy store, he’s forced to play Santa Claus for the holiday season. Still in his red suit at the employee Christmas party, Billy snaps, going on a violent rampage, punishing all those he deems “naughty.”

Now, with one last gift to deliver, Billy makes his way back to the orphanage, where he has an axe to grind with Mother Superior.
Continue reading “SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT – Armando Muñoz” →

YOU WEREN’T MEANT TO BE HUMAN – Andrew Joseph White

grimdarkdadLeave a comment

Festering masses of worms and flies have taken root in dark corners across Appalachia. In exchange for unwavering loyalty and fresh corpses, these hives offer a few struggling humans salvation. A fresh start. It’s an offer that none refuse.

Crane is grateful. Among his hive’s followers, Crane has found a chance to transition, to never speak again, to live a life that won’t destroy him. He even met Levi: a handsome ex-Marine and brutal killer who treats him like a real man, mostly. But when Levi gets Crane pregnant—and the hive demands the child’s birth, no matter the cost—Crane’s desperation to make it stop will drive the community that saved him into a devastating spiral that can only end in blood.
Continue reading “YOU WEREN’T MEANT TO BE HUMAN – Andrew Joseph White” →