Susan Hill - The Woman In Black, A Subtle Scary Horror Story

Susan Hill is an awesome contemporary author - and many compares her to Jane Austen. However, Hill, fortunately, has a darker side as a writer.



Susan Hill's The Woman In Black starts like a romance from past centuries, and turns into an eerie ghost story.
Arthur Kipps, a Londoner attorney, comes to Crythin Gifford to arrange the legal affairs of an once client of his firm, the deceased Mrs. Drablow. He stays at her peculiar mansion, Eel Marsh House. He hears strange noises from the mist that descended around the house, and, naturally he finds out more than he initially wanted to know...

11/22/63 by Stephen King, An Awesome Suspense Novel from the Horror Master

Everybody knows Stephen King's name. That name is equated with contemporary horror genre and riveting, scary stories. King's newest 2011 novel, 11/22/63 is, however, not a horror fiction but a suspense thriller novel - which is a pity, I love King's chilling ideas. However, tension makes up for the lack of gore and cold fear.



11/22/63 was a sad day in American history: it was the day when Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated John F. Kennedy.
A high school English teacher, Jake Epping (of Lisbon Falls, Maine, a familiar place for King's fans) gets a chance to change history: he can go back in time. No matter how long he stays "over there", in this world, it is only two minutes. He gets a new identity - George Amberson - and travels back in time to save Kennedy...

Stephen King is obviously a left-wing supporter (I have a particular liking for him for THIS). You have been warned.

11/22/63 is, like King's earlier books Dead Zone or Misery, rather a supernatural thriller than hardcore horror. On the other hand, 11/22/63 is all that we ever expected from King: A gripping story, awesome characters (some of them also already known ones from earlier books), and a long book of tension.

John Harwood - The Seance, An Awesome Supernatural Horror Story

John Harwood is an award-winning, awesome Australian supernatural horror author an poet. The Seance is his second novel - a well-written and scary book.



The setting of The Seance is England in the Victorian era.
Wraxford Hall, a dilapidated, remote, and peculiar mansion somewhere in England, has an ill reputation. A family disappeared from here, and the woods around it are shunned by everyone - supposedly they are haunted. The new owner of the mansion is Constance Langston, a young lady who comes from a star-crossed family: Her sister died, thus her grieving mother's mental state deteriorated. Constance, to help her mother, lures her to a seance... however, things turns much worse. As a result, Constance inherits Wraxford Hall...
Highly recommended to every horror fan who loves well-composed, atmospheric books, haunted house stories like Stephen King's The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red or Adam Nevill's Apartment 16.

Hounded: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book One by Kevin Hearne

Kevin Hearne is an American fantasy author. The first instalment of his new fantasy series The Iron Druids Chronicles was released in May, 2011.



After several centuries of escape from pursuers, the last Druid, Atticus O'Sullivan has a peaceful life somewhere in Arizona. He has a small bookstore and a nice pet: Oberon, the wolfhound.
Atticus also has a magical sword, Fragarach (the Answerer). Bad luck is that a Celtic God wants the sword, too, and still pursues Atticus. On the other hand, the young (?) and nice-looking, tattooed Druid has his helpers, amongst others, a death Goddess who likes him.

Kill Alex Cross - A James Patterson Thriller Novel

Best-selling American thriller author James Patterson has just released his newest mystery thriller book, Kill Alex Cross.



Kill Alex Cross is a worthy (and riveting) follower of the previous Cross instalments.
Zoe and Ethan Coyle, the two teenage children of the American President slipped out of their elite school to smoke a cigarette - and someone abducts them and drives them away in a van; security men, although pursue the vehicle, cannot keep up with it and lose it. In the meanwhile a group of terrorists carries out attacks against Washington D.C. and are about to strike again. Alex Cross should stop them - and find the two teenagers...
Like Christmas presents, several parts of James Patterson are now available for free on the Internet - Kill Alex Cross is one of them.

Simon Bestwick - Tide of Souls, An Awesome Scary Zombie Horror Novel

Simon Bestwick is a British horror writer. His newest 2011 novel Tide of Souls is a delightful masterpiece of zombie horror genre.



Floods threaten several parts of Great Britain - and so do the hordes of zombies: Drowned people come to life and devour the alive throughout the chaos.
Robert McTarn, once a soldier and now enlisted again, is sent to find and save a scientist who stuck in an isolated village somewhere in Lancashire. He also finds another survivor on the run, a woman, Katja Wencewska, an immigrant who was held captive as a sex slave (and, due to her beloved father who was a member of Special Forces, she knows a bit about martial arts and handling weapons). The two of them, with the help of the scientist, Dr Benjamin Stiles, try to cut their way through the voracious zombies...

Necro Files: Two Decades of Extreme Horror - An Awesome Scary Gory Horror Anthology

Necro Files: Two Decades of Extreme Horror is (easy to guess) a new horror anthology from October, 2001. It contains short stories from twenty different authors: Their most peculiar works over a period of two decades.



Amongst the authors are the writer of the blockbuster fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin; horror genius Bentley Little; Edward Lee, a gifted modern Lovecraft fanatic; J. F. Gonzalez; and Graham Masterton.
The book has the subtitle "of Extreme Horror" for a reason, each story is blood-soaked, violent, and sick. Just remember Wrath James White's earlier works or Edward Lee's Lovecraftian nightmares. Some of the stories were banned (wow).

In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley

John Shirley is an award-winning American horror author. His disturbing scary stories are amongst the favourites of the genre's fans. Shirley is also known as the co-writer of The Crow (I have a weak spot for The Crow series since Chet Williamson).



In Extremis is a collection of John Shirley's short stories. More than twenty horror fictions - psychological horror, urban horror, dark fantasy, grotesquely funny, gripping, and, most of all, frightening. Highly recommended one who loves horror and authors like Stephen King or Neil Gaiman.

Reed Farrel Coleman - Innocent Monster, A Great Moe Prager Series Thriller Novel

Reed Farrel Coleman, once the executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America, is a Shamus Award and Anthony Award winning thriller author. His most known novels are the Moe Prager series.



Moe Prager, once a cop, has a tragic memory in his past - which comes into his life again when his estranged daughter Sarah ask him a favour: He should find Sashi, the eleven years old daughter of Sarah's old friend. Sashi, an exceedingly talented young artist was kidnapped from a beach near her home in Long Island. It seems the abductors wants one thing from the little girl: Gaining money from her talent. And an artist's works are the most valuable when the artist herself is already dead... Prager does his best to find Sashi, but he is afraid it will be too late.

Brian Keene - Take the Long Way Home, A Great Apocalyptic Horror Novel

Brian Keene is an awesome American horror fiction writer (known for novels like Urban Gothic which is my favourite book written by him). His 2011 horror story is Take the Long Way Home.



All of a sudden millions of people disappear all over the world. Chaos breaks loose: planes crash, cars and vehicles stop.
A handful of co-workers, on their way home, get stuck in the traffic jam, the driver of the car dies at once; the others need to face an apocalyptic world from which the good ones were saved and the remaining ones turn into savages.
Graphic details, tension, and fear are abundant - we do not expect any less from Brian Keene.

Nate Southard - Just Like Hell, An Awesome Scary Gory Horror Thriller Novel

Nate Southard is an American horror writer, his newest slasher novel, Just Like Hell, is a great horror story. Graphic violence and gore included.



Let me tell you I love the subject of Just Like Hell: gay rights. True that they are expressed in a way a horror author's mind works.
Dillion is a well-loved, successful boy at high school, a star of the football team - however, it turns out that he has a male lover, Randy. Their homophobic team-mates abduct both Dillion and his lover, and take them to a remote house in the woods, humiliate them, torture them - then murder one of them. The survivor avenges himself - and his lover - on their tormentors, one by one...

Edward Lee - Carnal Surgery, An Awesome Scary Horror Short Story Collection

Edward Lee, an American horror writer, is well-admired amongst horror fans for several reasons: His love for H. P. Lovecraft (we do share this love, right?), his gory graphic violence descriptions, his daring and painful sexual fantasies... His short story collection, Carnal Surgery, is a good example for that.




Carnal Surgery is brimmed with gore, sexual slaves, sadism, and nightmares of a twisted mind: That of Edward Lee. In the antology there are eleven short fictions, amongst others Death, She Said, Gut-Shot, and Please Let Me Out. All of the stories gives readers the creeps - the collection is a must-read to horror fans and Lee fans alike.

Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park, A Great Fantasy Science Fiction Classic

Michael Crichton is an American best-selling author and screenwriter. His fantasy sci-fi book Jurassic Park (just like the second part, The Lost World) was a great blockbuster back in the 1990's, both the novel and the movie adaptation. I have read that book as a child, and how I loved it!



Jurassic Park is a fast-paced action thriller fantasy, full of tension and some gore.
A scientist invents a new technique to reproduce clone dinosaurs in a desolate island; planning a theme park of them, named Jurassic Park. Some other scientists visit the place, and they are amazed and frightened to see that even Velociraptors and T-Rexes are there in his bizarre collection. Of course something goes awry and carnivore dinosaurs cause havoc on the island. The visitors needs to flee, but it is dubious whether they will survive...

Jeff Shelby - Liquid Smoke, A Crime Thriller Fiction Novel

Jeff Shelby is an American crime thriller author, his latest book, Liquid Smoke (published in May, 2011) is a gloomy, well-written, and gripping crime fiction.



Private Investigator Noah Braddock has a tangled web of family affairs which he seems to straight out at last: He has a stable relationship with Detective Liz Santangelo and, finally, gets along with his alcohol addicted mother. When he is asked to meet a convicted man who was found guilty in murdering two persons, it turns out that the supposed murderer is his unknown father...

Louise Penny - A Trick of the Light, A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

Louise Penny is an award-winning Canadian journalist and the author of New York Times best-selling novels, Chief Inspector Gamache series.



Clara Morrow is a middle-aged artist who, at last, has her big chance: her solo show for Musée d'Art Contemporain, in Montreal. However, things soon turn awry when, right after her gala, a corpse turns up in her home. The dead woman turns out to be Lillian Dyson, once Clara's best friend who betrayed her during their art school years. Chief Inspector Gamache investigates the case, and there are several suspects...

Susanne Clarke, Neil Gaiman - Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell

Susanne Clarke is a British fantasy fiction author. Her debut novel, Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell, is a New York Times best-selling book and also earned a Huigo Award for Clarke. The introduction is written by the award-winning Neil Gaiman - whom I love much.



The setting of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is England in the early 1800's - Napoleon defeats the English army. Things seems worse and worse for Great Britain until a withdrawn, odd scholar, Gilbert Norrell, discovers his own skills in practical magic. Soon a young aristocrat, Jonathan Strange, also shows signs of magical talent, and becomes Norrell's first pupil...

Joe Abercrombie - The Heroes, An Awesome British Fantasy Fiction

Joe Abercrombie is a British fantasy author and film editor. His newest fantasy book, The Heroes, is full of action and graphic violence.



The setting of The Heroes is familiar for Abercrombie’s readers: It is the grim and gritty world of his First Law trilogy. The main character is Lord Marshal Kroy, with a crew of less than talented helpers. The story is a three-day long, blood-soaked battle: near the frontiers, Northern highlanders occupy an important territory named The Heroes; and Southern Union soldiers (led by Marshal Kroy) intend to take it back…

James Lee Burke - Feast Day of Fools, A Great Crime Thriller Novel

James Lee Burke is an American crime thriller author, the writer of thirty great crime stories. His newest thriller novel, Feast Day of Fools, is already a best-selling book and was selected Amazon Best Books of the Month in September; which is no wonder, since it is has a great plot and a fine protagonist.



The setting of Feast Day of Fools is a small town in Texas, near the Mexican border. The main character, Sheriff Hackberry Holland, a troubled North Korea veteran, has lost his wife years ago. He has feelings for his colleague, Pam, who is much younger than him. However, soon he meets a stern Chinese lady Anton Ling who reminds him of his dead wife. Ling is known for her habit of hiding illegals, and is now a suspect of an ugly crime: Danny Boy Lorca, once a boxer and recently an alcoholic, has witnessed that a psychopath named Krill tormented, dismembered, and killed a man somewhere in the desert, Lorca has reported the case - and some proof points at Ling herself; perhaps she has to do something with the gruesome murder...

Zachary Rawlins - The Academy, The Central Series Fantasy Novel

Zachary Rawlins, a new American fantasy author, has come up with a great debut novel, The Academy. It is the first part of The Central Series which will consist of five instalments.



The main protagonist of The Academy is Alex Warner, a young man. He has no memories - all that turns out about his past is that his family died in a fire which he supposedly lit. Soon he meets a peculiar lady, Mitsuru, to find out that both Mitsuru and himself are the students of the Academy, a special school in a city called Central. The Academy is a school for youngsters with supernatural skills. There are rival cartels out there in Central which are after Alex...
Let me tell you the beginning of the storyline reminds me of that of the Harry Potter series. However, characters and writing manners make it original and exciting.

Brandon Sanderson - The Alloy of Law, A Mistborn Series Fantasy Novel

Brandon Sanderson (the American fantasy author who finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series) is known for his Mistborn series.



The Alloy of Law is his big return to Scadrial. We see Sanderson's fictional realms three hundred years after the end of the Mistborn trilogy. Scadrial is a modern day world this time, industrial and futuristic. The protagonists of the Mistborn trilogy appear as legendary cultic figures of religions. People in this modern world have hard time to get along and force some order onto the society: life is not easy in the Roughs which inhabitants are mostly outcasts...

The Year's Best Dark Fantasy And Horror, 2011 - An Awesome Horror Fantasy Anthology

This book is a collection of short stories written by the best authors of the genre.



According to Stephen King, short fictions are like kisses from a stranger in the dark. If so, then these stories are enjoyable kisses. Authors like award-winning, best-selling Neil Gaiman, Gene Wolfe, George R. R. Martin (known for his blockbuster A Song of Ice and Fire series), and Sarah Langan (Hellbound Hearts) never leaves fantasy-horror readers disappointed.

David Dalglish: A Dance of Cloaks, A Shadowdance Trilogy Novel of Dark Fantasy

David Dalglish, an American fantasy writer, has come up recently with a best-selling fantasy series, the Shadowdance Trilogy. The first instalment of the Shadowdance books is A Dance of Cloaks.



A Dance of Cloaks is a dark fantasy story, with heaps of action, bloody fighting, and violence (which I admire.)
The protagonist, Aaron, is a son of a famous assassin, Thren Felhorn, a tough, power-hungry leader of a secret group of outcasts. Aaron was trained from his early childhood to do his father's task. His newest mission is to kill the daughter of a priest. Instead, Aaron saves the girl's life.

Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World, A Wheel of Time Fantasy Novel

Robert Jordan is a great American fantasy author. His most well-known series, The Wheel of Time, is an evergreen classic epic for fantasy readers.



The Eye of the World, published in 1990, is the first instalment in the series – which is compared to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings (a good thing in itself): it is a colourful, alive, and diverse fantasy realm. Characters are great – and, unlike most fantasy books, features great and active female characters (another good thing). The plot is intriguing; the language fine. The Eye of the World is an awesome read for new and old Robert Jordan fans.

Sherrilyn Kenyon - The Guardian, A Dark Hunter Series Novel

Sherrilyn Kenyon is a best-selling American fantasy writer. The instalments of her Dark Hunter series are well-loved best-sellers, and righteously so. The Guardian is a new instalment of the series.


Lydia , a half Dream-Hunter, descends into the Nether Realm to find the god of dreams (by the way, her own father) who is badly tormented there. Seth, a guardian, once an Egyptian God, tortures Solin to find out a dangerous secret: the hiding place of the key of the Olympos. The prisoner has not said a word - yet. Lydia arrives to save her father – and the guardian outsmarts her and tries to lure her into helping him. Seth is also a victim of gory torture… As for pain and torture, there is plenty of those in this book, graphic, detailed violence, which I truly love! The Guardian is highly recommended for fantasy readers.

Debora Geary - A Modern Witch, A Modern Witch Series Novel

Debora Geary, a new American fantasy author, is mostly known about her A Modern Witch series. The first instalment of the series is a novel of the same title: A Modern Witch.



This title was what caught my attention at first. I have a weak spot for dark fantasy, gore, rituals. However, this book is not that one: this is a nice read for young adults (a bit too gentle for my taste, to be honest).
Lauren, an everyday girl in her late twenties, is a realtor in Chicago. One day she discovers that she has magical skills: she is a witch. Soon a good-looking male witch shows up…

Brandon Sanderson - The Well of Ascension, An Awesome Fantasy Novel of Mistborn Series

Brandon Sanderson is an American fantasy author. His new classic fantasy trilogy, Mistborn, gets more and more popular worldwide. The Well of Ascension is the second instalment of the Mistborn novels; a riveting story, full of twists and turns.



After defeating a fearsome tyrant, Vin (who happens to be the most powerful of the Mistborns) is about to build a new empire that will be better than the previous one. Her most important helper is her lover, Elend Venture, who becomes the new Lord Ruler (believe me I would prefer a Lady Ruler, only to see something truly original in a fantasy world: a female who rules YET is not a villain). As soon as they start this new beginning, three armies attack their city, Luthadel, one of them the father of Elend…