Steve Stred's Blog, page 8

New Developments in the DarkLit/Marceau Publishing Fiasco

Today, the HWA emailed me to let me know Caitlin Marceau has filed a complaint against me, stating that I’ve harrassed them online. If you’ve followed along, you’ll know none of this is personal – purely business/contractual failings – & something we’ve been very upfront about. Caitlin has also previously labelled us misogynists, & at this time, we’ve still not received a public apology, nor has Yolanda received an apology for how she was treated or any update on the significant editorial fees owed to Austrian Spencer. This past weekend some royalties were paid out, though discrepancies & questions regarding those remain. I’m sharing the email I’ve received from the HWA (with the sender redacted) & my reply, as, from the beginning, we’ve been forthright with being transparent.

Email (with screenshots below);

“Steve,

I am contacting you with the consent of the HWA Board and copying the Executive Director. We received a troubling email from a member, Caitlin Marceau, complaining that you are harassing her online and defaming her character.

Now, to be clear, none of this happened in HWA spaces so we cannot intervene; however, as she is a member, we gave her advice and passed on the information about the Grievance Committee, which is there for members to settle business disputes.

Here is the page with that information: https://horror.org/grievance-committee/

Since you are a member, we felt that it was our responsibility to alert you to her formal complaint and give you the same advice. We also would like to encourage you to stop posting in public about your issues with her and her press and please utilize the grievance committee to adjudicate this issue. See above.

We let her know that you would be contacted as well.

We are here to help our members. We have formal processes especially for business disputes.

We urge you to take that route.

Please let us know if you have any questions.”

My reply;

“Morning (redacted)! I hope all is well and October looks promising for you!

Thank you so much for letting me know.
To be upfront, it’s not surprising, though the allegation of personal harassment, is at best, laughable, as everything I’ve posted online has been factual and accurate and is directed at Caitlin Marceau EiC of DarkLit Press and Hedone Press, while nothing is directed towards Caitlin Marceau the person.
I’m aware the HWA won’t be intervening into Caitlin and DarkLit’s publishing fiasco, which is where this issue is stemming from, nor that the HWA will intervene on the very real libel issue Caitlin has created by publicly labelling the group of authors seeking royalty compensation as misogynists. I’m unsure what role the grievance committee can play here, nor how they’d be involved, as what lies before us and Caitlin is both a legal financial issue and a legal libel issue.

If you have any further information you’re able to share with me, I’d be interested in seeing/hearing about it.

Thank you for your time and bringing this matter to my attention.
Take care,
Steve”

This is where we sit at the moment and I plan on submitting everything to the HWA, showing there’s been no shred of personal harassment towards Caitlin Marceau, while from the other end, there’s now been a misogyny claim still out there and now a false harassment claim.

As always, I’ll keep you posted.

Screenshots of the HWA email;

My reply;

The Ongoing DarkLit/Marceau Publishing Fiasco

Hey all.

Obviously, I’d rather be working on other things behind the scenes – writerly type stuff – but as September 24th, 2024 would’ve been the three month anniversary of when my novella “When I Look…” should’ve been released through DarkLit, I messaged a few folks from the former DarkLit family to ask if any progress had been made, and as none had, I decided it was a solid time to once again remind folks that the authors remained in the dark on a lot of things with what was actually happening behind the scenes. I posted a social media post – factual again, as that is key when dealing with issues of business – this isn’t, nor ever was a personal thing. The authors signed a contract with DarkLit to have their books published and as such would be compensated accordingly. With almost every author that I reached out to telling me they’ve still not received sales data, or any follow ups, I posted that. As well, a number of the DarkLit books were still listed for sale on Amazon and Ingram, which had many of us question just where were those royalties going for those books? There were still the ongoing questions regarding the refusal to pay Austrian Spencer his editing fees owed. The questions posed online about why Hedone had taken over the DarkLit Kickstarter. There was much unanswered and the piece that Publishers Weekly had originally posted – but was later edited with no posted notice of correction – changing the entirety of the piece – didn’t do anything to draw things to a conclusion.

So, on the 3-month date, I posted this;

Later that evening, Caitlin Marceau emailed some of the DarkLit authors. I read the email, messaged a few of the other authors to get their takes, and then formulated a reply, which I sent on the morning of September 25th, 2024. A few hours later, Caitlin emailed me back directly. Originally, I stated in my reply that I wouldn’t post the emails publicly. After reading Caitlin’s reply, I reached out to a few of the DarkLit authors again, and seeing as how there was still some factual inaccuracies within Caitlin’s reply to me, we took a vote and decided to post the entirety of the three emails – Caitlin’s first email to five or six of us, my reply, and Caitlin’s reply to me. As the screenshots are small, I’ve decided to copy and paste the text here, for ease of reading, but have included them at the bottom, so that full transparency can be seen that nothing between the emails and what was posted have been altered.

Caitlin’s email to the group;

Tue, Sep 24, 8:07 PM

‘Hello all,

It was brought to my attention that there was another post made on social media about DarkLit Press today. The post mentioned that there was a lack of transparency concerning important information pertaining to authors, despite this same information having been sent to everyone via Discord, mentioned in author meetings, flagged as an important announcement, and sent via email back in July during the rights reversal process for each of you. Despite this, I thought I would reiterate this information one final time.

As previously mentioned, the payout periods are once every three months to account for the payment delays from both KDP and Ingram (which are 60 and 90 days respectively). As the last royalty payment was made in early July, the next one is this October. If you didn’t receive a payment with a statement in July, then it’s because we had no sales information or royalties for your book at that time. This is either because there were no sales for your book or, a more likely scenario, because your book wasn’t released during the royalty period that had been paid out. (For example, if you were an author who had a book published in June and KDP takes 60 days to pay royalties out, while Ingram tkes 90 days to pay royalties out, then you wouldn’t have received anything in July.) Additionally, as the books were all taken down from KDP and Ingram at the end of June and July (depending on the title), the final payment for these royalties is this October.

Again, as mentioned several times across multiple channels, the KDP terms of service clearly state that any returned stock, pre-printed copies, or inventory they ordered from Ingram can be sold even after the title has been removed from all sales channels. Furthermore, Ingram has a legal obligation to fulfill any open orders from before the books were taken down and they have 180 days to continue displaying these titles in their catalogue (even if they’re not possible to be purchased). Again, unfortunately there is nothing we can do about these terms of service.

For anyone who is not sure what to do about the remaining stock being listed on Ingram, please know that I’m happy to call KDP to see if there’s any way for people to purchase the remaining copies of their work as author copies, or to see if there’s a way for them to discount the books to try and liquidate them. Again, because the books are being sold as limited stock by Amazon and NOT as print-on-demand titles available from DarkLit Press, there’s no guarantee that they will be able to accommodate these requests but I’m willing to call for anyone interested. But please know that beyond this, there’s nothing more that I can do to help.

I also wanted to mention that I know some of you have reached out in the last week or two to ask if we can remove DarkLit Press as the co-author on your books. Unfortunately, because the books are unpublished, any edits we make to their metadata won’t be reflected in the listings unless we republish the books themselves. And, understandably, that’s not an option I’m entertaining. Additionally, even when the books were actively being published we struggled to get the DLP co-author title removed despite changing things in KDP. I believe the best solution is to call Amazon Author Central and see if they can remove DarkLit Press as an author. It should be easy enough to prove that DLP was the former publisher of the work, not the co-author, and they should hopefully be able to make the necessary changes.

Lastly, I would like to remind everyone that Andrew is still the legal owner of DarkLit Press and responsible for all matters relating to your books. Despite resigning from my position as EiC back in July, I’ve remained available via email and made sure funds were paid out to authors despite no legal obligations to continue assisting with this publishing house. Please note that once the final payment has been made next month, I will no longer be responding to questions or requests pertaining to DarkLit Press and strongly encourage people to reach out to Andrew.

Regards,

Caitlin’

My reply;

Wed, Sept 25th, 2024, 10:08AM

‘Caitlin,
Your email arrived last night, which I read, and full disclosure – a few messages were sent around between those who received it and a DarkLit author who did not. As is often the case, especially on social media, there can be a knee-jerk, reactionary response and I work hard to not do that. I’ve seen it time and time again, where somebody flies off the handle and gets worked up, when really some communication would’ve resolved the matter far before flames were stoked.

Such is the case with the email that was sent.

I’d like to note a few things here, as I believe they’re worth noting, and stood out to myself as well as other authors who have echoed the same sentiments online, or as you called it ‘another post made on social media.’

I’ll actually begin at the end of your email for this one, where you state that Andrew is the legal owner and you won’t be responding after October 1st, and that you resigned as EiC.

I understand you don’t want to accept any accountability or responsibility in what’s happened, it’s evident from the few responses we’ve all received and the online posting. The reality is – there was a big, massive press release posted in Publishers Weekly and across social media that indicated Andrew had handed the reins over to you and that you and your team had taken over. Additionally, the KDP accounts and Ingram accounts were handed over to you and your team. That act there is enough to ensure that you are responsible for DarkLit. There’s no formal paperwork showing that Andrew ever legally made DarkLit a company or a corporation. If you have the monetary accounts and the publishing accounts – even if DarkLit is closed and you’ve decided to not publish any more books from DarkLit – if the funds are flowing to you, you are responsible, not Andrew. Just because you state one thing, doesn’t abscond you from your fiduciary duties and your legal liabilities.

Every single author that worked with DarkLit knows how KDP works. We know how Ingram works. It seems to be your go to with re-iterating how they work, and we get it, it fills up a word count and gives the email bulk, but the fact is – several authors have never seen a single statement about sales or page reads since you and your group took over. I understand there’s missing months from when Andrew handed things over to you. But since that date, which is either March, April or May, depending on which email we’re to believe or comment in the former Discord group, several authors – myself included – have asked to see reports of sales and nothing has been delivered. I can log onto KDP right now, see how many books I’ve sold today, yesterday, this month, last week, the last three months or a custom time period, and within seconds a number pops up. You can see why, when asked, some are upset that nothing is delivered, other than the cut and paste KDP policy which is posted in their FAQ section online.

I also understand that based on when my own book was released, I’ve not yet hit the royalty payment time. But others have and though you stated in your email about when they were paid out, there are still authors messaging myself, others and posting on social media about not being paid. I’ve seen you claim that you also were missing royalties, and in that case, that’s 100% on you for not doing your own due diligence before agreeing to take over EiC responsibilities. But the authors who signed a contract and within that contract it was stated when they’d be paid, still haven’t been paid, that still falls on you for responsibility, as you have the accounts. Not the author who has to chase after what’s rightfully theirs. Those contracts became your responsibility when you took over from Andrew.

From the beginning, a number of us have been openly frustrated at the lack of communication and lack of transparency. This was heightened even more by you, personally, blocking a significant amount of us across social media. While that is your prerogative, I would also hope you see it as an inflammatory reaction and why some of us would be frustrated.

Within your email, you didn’t address that, nor the accusations you made in a previous online post – which I only saw through screenshots because of you having blocked me – where you labelled a number of us misogynists, which is very, very, very far from the truth. This might have been a reactionary moment on your part (see above), but it is also slanderous and should warrant a public apology at the very least. A number of us have day jobs that have professional codes of conduct, codes of ethics we must abide by and are put in positions of trust with individuals at risk and/or youths. Statements like that, online and for the wider population to see, can have long-lasting, real-world consequences, when there’s not a single shred of proof to substantiate such baseless claims.

The email you sent was also incredibly condescending in tone and at a few parts downright rude, which truly speaks to the lack of professionalism we’ve been dealing with since we started to ask for transparency and straight forward answers. We are not children. We are adults, who have contracts, who are looking for answers and responses. To have you claim that after October 1st you’ll no longer communicate about any of these matters is simply another way of you trying to put distance between yourself and your responsibility for the DarkLit books.

Going forward, it would be prudent for you to, at the very least,
– Issue a public apology for your mishandling of this situation – including, but not limited to, the naming and attempted shaming of Yolanda Sfetsos.
– Issue a public apology for calling a number of us misogynists.
– Send out statements for each author showing how many of their books have sold through Ingram up to and including current date, how many KU page reads, ebooks and physical books have sold through KDP/Amazon, how many audiobooks have been purchased through ACX.
– Release a dedicated statement regarding the path forward, including how those DarkLit authors who’ve been too afraid to speak up and/or email can be in contact with someone to get the answers they’re looking for.

While you may consider this specifically as a ‘Steve being a jerk’ issue, I assure you, it is nothing personal, purely business, and a number of the items above were presented by fellow DarkLit authors who do not want to go public for fear of losing writing opportunities. I have no problem being considered the ‘face’ of this group, as somebody needs to speak up and make sure those who are unable to have their say have a voice.

Do know, while I won’t publicly post screenshots of this email, I will be sharing that you have sent an email, and a response has also been sent. Transparency is crucial to having this process come to a conclusion, and while the conclusion of it will be welcomed, much like the ChiZine incident, this will be something that isn’t soon forgotten by many.

Steve’

Caitlin’s reply;

Wed, Sept 25th, 2025, 12:21PM

‘Hello Steve,

I received your email and wanted to address the key issues you brought up in it.

Any author that has asked for a sales report has been given them or shown them, as per their request. Additionally, everyone who was paid during the first week of July was sent a report pertaining to their sales data. If there was any confusion as to why someone didn’t receive a report, it was mentioned in their email that it’s because no sales were made. I apologize for any confusion that may have caused.

When it comes to my responsibilities pertaining to the closure of DarkLit Press, I’m responsible for making sure that the books are removed from KDP and Ingram (which they have been since June/July, depending in the title) and ensuring that everyone is paid for works sold between May 26th and–for titles that remained active–July 31st. We have paid out all authors for royalties earned last quarter during the first week of July and, as previously mentioned, will be paying out the balance for this quarter by October 1st. I would also like to reiterate that none of the DarkLit Press authors have had to hunt the previous editorial team down to collect royalties, as we’ve been extremely clear about quarterly payout dates. Any royalties earned while DarkLit Press was solely operated by, and paid out to, Andrew are his responsibility to pay.

I would like to reiterate that all contracts with DarkLit Press were signed by Andrew and the parties involved. With the exception of a book contracted for Dark Sails, no contracts for DLP were signed by me. As I’m sure you remember from the Discord that Andrew was a part of, he acknowledged and claimed responsibility for missing royalties predating the KDP merger and all existing contracts.

You also mention in your email that you “know how KDP works,” yet continue to make inflammatory remarks on social media that we’re distributing your work without consent, despite me sending you proof via email on July 30th that your book was successfully removed from KDP as well as a followup email on July 31st confirming that the book was taken off of Ingram. You continue to make false claims about us knowingly selling paperback copies of your work via Amazon and so, as mentioned in my previous email, I would encourage you to review KDPs terms of service as they pertain to stock and returned manuscripts.

You mention wanting sales data for work sold through ACX. As mentioned repeatedly, we do not–nor have we ever–had access to DarkLit Press’ ACX account. Although you routinely mention the preemptive public announcement made by Andrew about the transfer of DLP’s ownership, no paperwork was ever signed to confirm this transfer of power and accounts that were needed to fulfill ownership–including that of ACX–were not sent. The only thing we were able to do on our end for authors impacted by this issue was confirm the reversal of rights so authors could request their audiobooks be removed. Regrettably, you will need to reach out to Andrew for all sales data, royalties, and additional information pertaining to work sold through ACX.

You mention a lack of communication and choosing to block select DarkLit Press authors in your email and I feel that it’s important to address this. Firstly, email communication was–and continues to be–made available to all DLP authors. As I’m sure you’re aware, I have a job in addition to editorial work, so while it may take a little time to reply to all queries, they have all been replied to. Secondly, the DarkLit Press Discord server was made immediately available to all authors so that we could efficiently communicate important information (such as payout dates, events, author meetings, etc.). To say that communication hasn’t been open and transparent is demonstrably false. Additionally, we were advised to hire a social media manager to filter content and alert us to important information, and we were also encouraged by a mental health professional to block anyone who made/shared/replied to inflammatory, false, and vitriolic posts about us online (including, but not limited to, people who created posts, engaged unknowingly with misleading posts, retweeted content, etc.). Lastly, I would like to stress that I’m allowed to set boundaries on how I interact with social media. This includes unfollowing and blocking accounts I do not feel comfortable engaging with or seeing in my feed.

Lastly, you’re correct. Please note that as of October 1st, I will no longer be communicating with authors about DarkLit Press as I will have fulfilled all of the responsibilities I took on as editor for works sold from May 26th to July 31st and will no longer have access to these accounts.

Regards,

Caitlin Marceau’

**

Throughout this, we’ve come to see a lack of accountability and responsibility, and this was on display in the email originally sent out and the email received in response to my reply. Still, no apologies have been made, no acceptance of responsibility and a continued passing of the buck while trying to control the narrative is taking place.

The labelling of being misogynistic hasn’t been addressed, nor has the missing reports, or the willingness to apologize.

Instead, it’s a continuation of Caitlin stating – I’m not responsible, I’m not in charge, you signed a contract with Andrew, not me, and I want nothing to do with my duties and liabilities that were handed over to me when I took on DarkLit.

If the frustration level we all collectively had was at a 100/10 previously, we’re now at a 1000/10.

Not a single thing any of us has stated since we publicly voiced our concerns has been false. I still have not seen a single report detailing any accounting of what my novella sold while with DarkLit.

It also appears at this stage that the HWA will not have any involvement in this, so we will continue looking into the legal actions available, as well as connecting with the Author’s Guild and Writer’s Beware.

At the time of writing this, most of the DarkLit books are now no longer available through Ingram. The disclosure that there was a social media manager being paid definitely raised some flags.

We still would like to see the following;

– Issue a public apology for your mishandling of this situation – including, but not limited to, the naming and attempted shaming of Yolanda Sfetsos.
– Issue a public apology for calling a number of us misogynists.
– Send out statements for each author showing how many of their books have sold through Ingram up to and including current date, how many KU page reads, ebooks and physical books have sold through KDP/Amazon, how many audiobooks have been purchased through ACX.
– Release a dedicated statement regarding the path forward, including how those DarkLit authors who’ve been too afraid to speak up and/or email can be in contact with someone to get the answers they’re looking for. An October 1st date to no longer deal with any of this is pure deflection and is instead a kid taking their ball and going home.

As for legal options – a lawyer within a cross Canada firm – who also has offices in Quebec – has been contacted and has informed me that this communication IE this blog post, suffices as fair warning to the involved parties. Due to the nature of the online content, as well as the contractual breaches, online defamation and cross-Canada/International locations of DarkLit as well as the authors involved, October 1st has been stated by Caitlin Marceau representing DarkLit as the royalties payout date. If said date and action is breached, the lawyer will instigate a class-action lawsuit, at which time information will be sent out to the DarkLit authors involved, as well as the acting parties for DarkLit. Access to the DarkLit accounts – both financially and including KDP/Ingram etc, will be subpoenaed to ensure that accurate remediation for each included author is met.I will add this – I take the misogyny statement/claim very seriously. A number of us work in professional jobs, in positions of trust, as I stated before. With that in mind, if Caitlin is unwilling to put forward a sincere, thorough apology, I will begin the process of having libel charges against Caitlin Marceau about the patently false defamation that was previous made online. That it wasn’t addressed in Caitlin’s email reply back shows there’s no concern on their part for the flippant nature of their accusations. But people need to remember there are consequences for actions, and in this case, it is not something lightly brushed aside.

*Screenshot showing one of two instances of misogyny being claimed in a public post by Caitlin Marceau*

Truth be told, myself, and the former DarkLit group of authors who’ve been discussing things behind the scenes feel that it is highly unlikely at this point.

As always, updates will come when we have them. If you’re a former DarkLit author or a current Hedone author who is struggling to speak publicly, please, feel free to DM me on any of my social media pages. If you are a Hedone author, you may want to read and re-read your contract thoroughly and know what your rights are going forward and when you’re payout dates and statement dates are, as those seem to be moving goalposts for the former DarkLit author group.

Screenshots;

Caitlin’s initial email;

My reply;

Caitlin’s email reply;

Book Review: Mischief Night Massacre: Ten Tales of Halloween by Jason Parent

Title: Mischief Night Massacre: Ten Tales of Halloween

Author: Jason Parent

Release date: September 24th, 2024

*Huge thanks to Jason Parent for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*

Ah, Halloween.

That wonderful time where spooks, ghosts and goblins get to dance around the neighborhood’s, get candy and pretend to be a regular kid doing regular kid things. And guess what? It’s only six weeks away! Well, at least it is, at the time of writing this!

And that also means two things will be happening in the horror literature world – a lot of exciting releases and many, exciting collections focused on the theme of Halloween. Jason Parent is one such author, but he smartly decided to get the book out in advance of Halloween, which frankly is prudent, as you don’t want to get lost in the deluge of releases.

I’m a huge fan of Jason’s work, whether it be short stories, novella’s or full-length releases, so when I saw this one was launching and he was looking for reviewers, I messaged ASAP.

What I liked: As mentioned, within this collection are ten short stories that deal specifically with Halloween. Parent does a wonderful job of mixing things up between kids, teens and adults and because of this, the stories don’t feel repetitive, nor recycled. I read this on a recent flight, while reading Garrett Boatman’s newest collection, so it was great to bounce back and forth between those two, as they were very differently themed.

Highlight for me were;

‘Easy Pickings’ – massive bully, Trevor, and his forced sidekick, Rascal, are on the prowl on Halloween night, stealing candy from the little kids. They’re having a blast until they run into Jack and his imaginary friend, Jacob. This story was fast-paced and had me on the edge of my seat. I knew something was going to be revealed, but when it was, wow! Parent went totally off the rails with this story.

‘Rain’ – crazy, heavy rain falls on Halloween, disappointing two young brothers who want to go Trick or Treating. To ease their sadness, their dad tells them a scary story, but nothing prepares them for a knock on the door and the ‘costumed’ folks standing on their porch. This felt like an X-Files episode that never aired. Amazing.

‘Black’ – an emotionally weighted story, this one followed a husband who recently had some heart issues, and his wife, while they go to a haunted theme park. He’s been cheating on her, but realizes he’s been an asshole and decides to make things right. Unbeknownst to him, his wife knows and she’s dealing out revenge in secret. The layers within this one were spot on and the anxiety that Jason created as our main character begins to fight for his life was unnerving.

‘Last Halloween’ – what starts as your standard story – two female friends want to Trick or Treat one last time before considering themselves too old – takes a turn when they run into two male friends and they decide to go to the woods and get drunk. Some odd noises begin and not long after, the darkness collects. Again, another highly unnerving story that had me absolutely captivated.

From start to finish, Parent gives us such solid characters to root for, characters we want to see survive, even when we know the story they’re in is unsurvivable.

What I didn’t like: A few stories felt a tad long, but that might be more that I was bouncing around between two different collections. Saying that, I noticed a dip in pacing a few times.

As well, though needed to showcase the deplorability of some of the characters, I did find a few specific words to be a bit off putting and wished a different word had been used.

Why you should buy this: Parent writes like a bat out of hell on the best of days, but when focused solely on the horror that can be conjured around Halloween, this collection rampaged within my Kindle in the best way possible. Every story had me glued to the screen/page and every story had me emotionally invested, which is always a highlight when dealing with a collection.

Another home run by an author that should be on everyone’s ‘must-read’ list!

5/5

Book Review: A Prisoner of Dreamland and Other Oneiric Terrors by Garrett Boatman

Title: A Prisoner of Dreamland and Other Oneiric Terrors

Author: Garrett Boatman

Release date: Unsure – though up for Preorder on Weird House Press’ website

*Huge thank to Garrett for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*

I’m a huge fan of everything that Weird House Press releases; phenomenal books with amazing art to a rabid fanbase of readers. It is very cool to see them stay the course, with limited signed editions and all that jazz. Saying that, much like Severed Press, I’ve found them to be frustrating for readers in that you never really know an actual release date, nor does the book get loaded onto Goodreads in advance, etc. etc. The stuff readers long to know, are rarely delivered well in advance, or in a timely manner, and I’ve often wondered if that shoots these releases in the foot.

I digress.

What I will say, is that hot off the heels of devouring Jason Parent’s fantastic collection from Weird Press last year, when Garrett reached out to me about this one, I jumped all over it. For those who don’t know, Garrett is the author of ‘Stage Fright,’ a prominent Paperback From Hell, and the ‘Floaters’ zombie novel, which I’ve seen people rave about.

Wanting to dive into this, I waited until I was flying out to a convention, where I devoured it (and coincidentally, a new Jason Parent collection) on the flight there.

What I liked: With every story within jumping off from dreams and how they play a pivotal role within, I was worried that the stories would begin to feel far too similar, too repetitive over and over, but thankfully, Boatman gives us enough variation to make the order of them flow smoothly and enjoyably.

No matter the length, some ranging from a dozen pages, up to a full on novella length, Boatman does a wonderful job of setting the stage, introducing the characters and then delivering some truly frightful chills.

Highlights for me were;

‘A Cure for Insomnia’ – in this story, a sister struggles with the death of her own sister. Because of this, she can’t sleep, that is, until she procures a mysterious powder from the local Apothecary, and her dreams begin to feel all too real.

‘Somniphobia’ – perhaps the shortest story in the collection is also one of the most terrifying short stories you’ll ever read. We arrive to find a woman, on a bus, in Bolivia. Suddenly, the bus crashes and goes into a ravine. Those who survive soon wish they hadn’t, as soul eaters descend and begin to devour.

‘Every Kid in Town’ – in this one, Boatman has us listen in, as a cop interviews an old man about events that happened when he was a kid. Mysteriously, all the kids in town begin to have the same dream, see their own Doppelgangers, and with those, some go missing, only to return not as themselves. This one was tight, unnerving, and begging to become a feature-length movie.

‘Mad Art’ – in this quick slab of terror, heinous murders have begun, and surprisingly, each scene has been painted – before even happening – by a man in an institution. The detective assigned to the case, tries to figure out how it happens, and soon we see the demonic beast that awakens each night in the artist’s dreams.

Over and over again, Boatman deftly gives us a solid story that infuses it with dreams directly forcing the stories narrative into new and exciting places.

What I didn’t like: While the repetition of dreams as a theme didn’t become tiresome, I would say that knowing dreams would play a role some how kind of dulled the impact of those dreams by the last few stories. I think I was able to limit my potential frustration by reading a novel and another collection at the same time, but I’m not totally sure if it would be smart to plow through these stories all in a singular, uninterrupted sitting.

Why you should buy this: Currently the signed and lettered deluxe hardcover is available for purchase, so if you’re a huge collector, or a massive fan of Garrett’s, definitely get on this. For those who’ll be waiting for the Kindle or Paperback edition, what you’ll find is a seasoned, masterful storyteller who pulls no punches and who delivers some phenomenal stories. You’ll even get a good smattering of Lovecraft-inspired/related stories, for those who love the Great Old One’s within that Cosmic Horror world.

A fantastic collection, and a must-read for short-story fans, Boatman continues Weird House Press’ run of hit collections.

5/5

Link to Weird House Press shop;

A Prisoner of Dreamland and Other Oneiric Terrors

Book Review: The Ascent by Ronald Malfi

Title: The Ascent

Author: Ronald Malfi

Release date: January 1st, 2010

Over the last number of years, I’ve read a number of Ronald Malfi’s books, but the one book that seemed most obvious of his that I’d read, I’d left floundering on my Kindle TBR. I LOVE wilderness books, mountain-based books, and that’s exactly what his novel, ‘The Ascent,’ is. I was so elated to see him mention ‘Into Thin Air’ in the afterword, as that novel from Krakauer remains an all-time fav (even with it being non-fiction) and the pacing and frenetic energy within this one felt like it had been ripped from those pages.

What I liked: Tim was a superstar in the art world, a sought-after sculptor, who seemed to have it all – talent, success, and the woman of his dreams. But after her death, he’s lost his ability to create art and wants to die.

Malfi opens the book up with just that, Tim somehow surviving a caving fall, lead to safety by the ghost of his dead wife. Shattered, he drinks himself stupid daily, until an old acquaintance appears and challenges him to join in in Nepal, in search of a place nobody has ever found, nor seen before.

From there, Malfi takes us on a edge-of-your-seat thrill ride, high up in the mountains of Nepal. The old acquaintance, Andrew, has assembled a rag-tag group of folks to come on the climb with Tim and himself. Each one is slowly introduced throughout the middle section, and, as this is a mountain climbing book, some don’t make it far, accidents occur, Sherpa’s refuse to continue on, and all the while, Malfi dangles the carrot of this mythical location in front of the readers faces. I was hooked. I wanted to know what was there. Why didn’t people manage to climb there? And why was Tim’s dead wife continuing to appear in fleeting glimpses.

Malfi is a masterful storyteller, and that is on full display here. Between pacing, character development and using the environment as a pseudo-antagonist, his ability to create classic stories is showcased and when we get to the very bitter end, all is revealed and shit hits the fan. Of every aspect of this novel, the final chaotic moments are perhaps the most fun, and most nerve-wracking.

I’ll also mention, though not a true epilogue, the final section acts as one, and it was wonderful to see what happens after the big, climatic moment. Often books end with a bang and then done, but not in this case, and I think that really worked to humanize Tim, and his experience even more.

What I didn’t like: If you’re unwilling to suspend belief at all, some parts are potentially going to drive you batty. The most glaring is this random group of people seemingly scaling an impenetrably mountain area with little to no obvious experience. Though Tim himself, is a climber, this is still an extreme undertaking. As well, there’s a moment where impossibly, someone seems to survive an un-survivable fall and returns. But if they didn’t return, where would the fun in that be?

Why you should buy this: Even fourteen years ago, Malfi was showing everyone why he’s one of the best ever, if not of all time, and ‘The Ascent’ is a phenomenal undertaking. As much a story of internal battles as it is external difficulties, we see the lengths characters will go to overcome personal issues, physical set backs and psychological trauma, in an attempt to achieve something they hope will be remembered forever. Or at least see something no one else has ever seen.

Malfi delivers a pulse-pounding novel, one that is a perfect example of why he’s a must-read author.

5/5

Book Review: The Vast by Matt Wildasin

Title: The Vast

Author: Matt Wildasin

Release date: May 24th, 2024

*Huge thanks to Matt for sending me a digital copy of this one!*

Over the last few years, I’ve read a number of Wildasin’s works and have grown to really enjoy the way he tells his stories. That’s always one thing I love about reading as widely as possible – discovering so many unique voices and cadences, so many ways of crafting prose and creating a story. Wildasin infuses his work with a world-weary drawl, a sense that just under the surface, things are tense, and with this one, ‘The Vast,’ it may very well be the most suffocating story he’s created yet.

What I liked: The authors note beforehand lays out what to expect. Real life’s not been easy for Wildasin and this book reflects just that. We then get thrown into the deep end, a man wakes in a room, a room he never wanted to return to, but is there regardless, and from that point on, the story details his fight to survive.

Wildasin has done a remarkable job of fictionalizing anxiety and depression. Of showcasing the internal fight many of us battle between our brains and what our eyes see. Our main character wants to live, but he doesn’t. He wants to do everything that it takes to put hardship behind, but he doesn’t know how and with each new setback, he feels the crushing weight of failure and darkness.

It’s a harrowing read, one that will connect with each reader in unique, individual ways, and one that chases hope. That was what kept me plugging away – the potential for hope that seemingly shines through the black.

The ending highlights that and I think, in this case, was a great way to wrap things up.

What I didn’t like: While the book reads with emotional context, one difficulty I had was the inability to tangible ground this somewhere. As the story unfolds (mostly within a mental context) there isn’t anything to solidly state “this is where the character is” and makes it tough to determine what events are real, if any, and what we should expect out of the environment and the characters.

Why you should buy this: Books that tackle mental health so specifically head-on can often be a tough sell, as many readers are looking for escape from their own struggles, but Wildasin turns that on its head and offers us a book that alludes to the mental health struggle while throwing the reader into a strange world where people from his past return in various forms. This one is heavy, but a heaviness that makes for a solid, engaging read.

4/5

Book Review: Cold Snap by Lindy Ryan

Title: Cold Snap

Author: Lindy Ryan

Release date: October 15th, 2024

*Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC of this one!*

How much do I sound like a broken record, when I mention that I love books that are set in the snow and involve creatures? Have you heard me say that before? If you haven’t, this must be the first review of mine that you’ve read! Because that’s every other book I read and every other book I write, ha!

And for those reasons, that’s precisely why I jumped at requesting this one on Netgalley and was super excited when I was actually approved! I’ve not read much of Lindy’s work, so I was looking forward to seeing what she’d conjured for this story of loss, coldness and isolation.

What I liked: The story follows Christine, and her fifteen-year-old son following the unexpected death of her husband, as they head to an isolated cabin. Her husband had booked the cabin for them for Christmas, prior to his death and Christine decides that they should still go there, and try to put some distance between them and the death and the house that no longer feels like home.

Ryan does a solid job of setting up the sorrow the duo feels, the trauma response Christine is having and just how remote and isolated the cabin is. She also sets up the guilt that Christine has coupled with the divide growing between her and her son perfectly. Christine believes her son hates her, and that he wished she’d died instead. And because of that, Christine plays the last moment of her husband’s life – before he slipped and fell from their roof – over and over in her head.

It takes a bit for the creature to appear, and when it does, Ryan takes a maybe it’s real, maybe it’s not approach. It makes for a very unnerving shadow aspect, one that you look forward to seeing again, and when the ending arrives, the true machination of its why is horribly revealed.

What I didn’t like: I’m firmly in the minority category on this one, but this novella says its for fans of The Babadook, and I actually didn’t mind the kid in that movie. I’m probably one of only a dozen in the world who can say that. So, when this story was linked to that one, I knew there’d be a similar aspect and in this case, it’s the fifteen-year-old. And while I didn’t mind that kid, the teenager here drove me bonkers with his constant grunts and non-responses. I know that it how many of them are – literally – but it made this reader scratch there head over why it needed to be so excessive.

As well, the ‘is she-isn’t she’ losing her mind aspect became a distraction quickly. Often it left me confused and wondering if something was actually happening or if Christine was imagining it, but not in a good way. In a way that had me constantly having to go back and reread the section previous, which completely reduced the propulsive story Ryan was trying to deliver.

And lastly, with this being marketed as a creature-feature, the actually page count featuring the creature was excruciatingly low, even considering this novella wasn’t a large page count to begin with.

Why you should buy this: Overall, I had fun with this one, but struggled to connect with it and have it hit home with me and I think part of that was the inability for the book to make up its mind whether it was a pure trauma response and grief exploration, or if it was, in fact, a creature-feature set in a snowy, isolated location. Ryan’s writing was great throughout, but the story didn’t feel as fleshed out as I was hoping for.

If you’re looking for a quick, solid blast of winter misery, this’ll be right up your alley.

3/5

Book Review: Errant Roots by Sonora Taylor

Title: Errant Roots

Author: Sonora Taylor

Release date: October 15th, 2024

*Huge thanks to RDSP for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*

If you’ve not seen, I’m a huge fan of Sonora’s work and I’m always excited to see her continued ascension within the writing world. I was first introduced to her work with her excellent ‘Without Condition,’ and from there, she’s continued to decimate her readers with a unique blend of emotions and chills.

When this novella was announced, I was over the moon, and given that we’ve already been blessed with a collection from Sonora earlier this year, I was filled to the brim with excitement over what she’d conjured with this one!

What I liked: The story follows Deirdre, a young woman who has just discovered she’s pregnant. She’s got a tentative relationship with her mom, she isn’t sure if Tom, the father of the child is husband material, and she has next to no relationship with her extended family. The pregnancy wasn’t planned, but when she reveals the news to her mom, she’s not only surprised her mom is excited, but also that her mom insists her and Tom take a trip out to Deirdre’s grandmother’s home and meet her extended family.

Taylor plays it relatively safe to this point, and you can see where this is going from a mile away, but it’s that anticipation that Sonora uses perfectly to absolutely coat this story with dread and tension. This is the long trip down a driveway where the crazy folks live in every movie. We know the family has something going on, we know something horrible is about to happen, and even when it does happen, you shake your head in disbelief that it’s ACTUALLY happening.

Sonora does a spot on job of laying out the why, the lore, the history and the reactions of those who know and who don’t are great, giving it an authentic feeling.

The ending is a satisfying fade-to-black moment.

What I didn’t like: Well, obviously, some folks are going to be annoyed that the story is, at least on the surface, a fairly straight-forward story. But if they can look past the ‘I know what’s going to happen,’ and let the atmosphere Sonora’s created take over, they’ll fall head over heels over the depravity that arrives.

As well, I wasn’t really on board with the format of the afterword. I assume it has to do with the series aspect of the RDSP release of these novella’s, but I’m not positive about that.

Why you should buy this: Sonora has carved out a fantastic style all of her own, where the characters feel real, the dirt gets between your toes and the emotions drive deep into the readers soul. Sonora’s delivered a fantastic novella here, one that long-time fans of hers will be giddy about and new readers will snap up her bibliography upon conclusion. A really great read from one of my fav authors.

5/5

Grab the book direct from RDSP here;

Errant Roots

Amazon link here;

Book Review: Mountain Fast by S.J. Shank

Title: Mountain Fast

Author: S.J. Shank

Release date: June 24th, 2024

Honestly, I thought this book was released last year, so it kind of stumped me when I saw it actually only came out in June of this year. I think part of it was maybe I’d seen the cover reveal earlier and just kind of assumed it was a book out? Who knows. Or, it could very well be that I’ve lost some semblance of how time operates. Either way, I snagged this book back in July and when I saw Tim McGregor raving about it, I knew I needed to bump it up the TBR and get on it. Even better – I saw Shank was Canadian and voila, Steve is all over this one.

From the vibe/atmosphere of the cover, the synopsis and the fact Tim was raving about it, I knew I was in for a historical type piece of fiction that would be dread-filled and eerie. Double that up with this being Shanks debut novel and I knew he’d be swinging for the fences.

What I liked: The story follows András, a messenger, who has a letter to deliver to a commander. It is Hungary, late 1400’s, and Religion plays a large role in everyone’s lives, but also the fear of death, sin and the unknown.

He accompanies a group of soldiers heading to Kuszkol, a remote mountain fortress that was abandoned sixty years prior, but has been used by soldiers recently, as a lookout for foreign troops marching towards them. But, mysteriously, the fortress has gone silent and so, a group sets out to make contact. At first, András is there to say goodbye to his deceased wife’s younger brother, Pal, who is joining the group. But he is then told to go along, deliver his letter and continue with his job.

It’s here that Shank really ramps things up. First at the approach, and then upon arrival. Throughout, we get growing tension between the men, a darkening of light around the edges of the prose and as we arrive and we discover the horses, Shank dims the light a bit more, drops the temperature and prepares to deliver his worst.

This feels exactly what a lot of the older storylines within Hellboy/BPRD was like. Remote settings, seclusion, horrible weather, and the always lingering notion that something sinister lurks around every corner.

But Shank doesn’t just deliver us a haunted, abandoned mountain fortress. No, we get a personal haunting story, a look at PTSD in the so-called ‘dark ages’ and what happens when something imagined just very well might be real.

What I didn’t like: I will say, based on setting and narrative necessity, there are a lot of slower, glacial-paced parts. It works to ramp up the grit and dirt that Shank is conjuring, but these moments do pause the flow and reduce some of the unnerving moments a touch. I found, when these moments hit, to just keep pushing onwards and they past soon enough, but if you require non-stop action, this one might be a miss for you.

As well, this is prime historical-horror fiction, so if that’s not usually your jam, I can’t see this one changing that.

Why you should buy this: If you like your horror to be the kind that makes you feel unwashed, frostbitten and starving to death with the hunger growing after each and every chapter, look no further. Shank’s delivered a dark, unforgiving story about remoteness, soullessness and the ache of losing a loved one, no matter how complicated that relationship ultimately was. And for a debut novel, this was really well done.

4/5

Book Review: Bad River by Ken Brosky

Title: Bad River

Author: Ken Brosky

Release date: July 31st, 2024

*Huge thanks to Ken for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*

Man, am I ever a sucker for a creature-in-the-woods story! I could be CLOSED for reviews permanently and if someone messaged me to see if I’d take a look at their upcoming CinW’s book, I’d be like ‘HELL TO THE YES!’ and off we’d go. As many of you know, to me, there is NOTHING and I repeat NOTHING more terrifying than something lurking in the darkness of the trees and with ‘Bad River,’ Brosky utilizes that aspect to magnify the situation a thousand-fold, and does so with gusto.

What I liked: The story is broken into two seemingly unrelated aspects that merge together perfectly. The first follows young farmer, Eli. His father has died, leaving him to run the farm – and somehow manage the overwhelming amount of debt left behind – by himself. His normal order of operations have started to come undone – the company that usually brings him calves hasn’t in months – and now they’re weeks behind in delivering hay. As if that’s not enough, he’s grown apart from his friends, his joys in life and now, it appears as though something has emerged from the forest and killed one of his cows.

The other aspect of this, is the discovery of dead animals and a few humans. A wildlife researcher is called in and, at first, Mackenzie isn’t so sure what they’re dealing with, but she’s certain it involves the disease she’s been focused on, a central nervous system wasting that takes over the animals brain and slowly erodes everything.

When the two cross paths and both begin to realize that it might be something more than a random black bear or a rogue wolf, they work together to try and discover what it is, all while Eli focuses on saving the farm and a massive storm begins to head directly towards them.

Brosky quickly introduces us to the main players and the secondary ones, having us feel like we’ve known these folks our entire lives right away. It makes us care for them and root for them as the shit hits the fan and the blood begins to spill. We also get introduced to the area, which gives us a great sense of the ‘where’ as the storm arrives and the river threatens to breach its banks. The inclusion of the local folklore sets things up nicely and when we get to a particular scene where Mackenzie’s phone pings as trail cams send her images is particularly unnerving and highlights the hold Brosky has on the reader.

The ending was spot on and gave us closure across almost every question Brosky had introduced. The singular few not answered are, in the epilogue, and in this case it is spot on and doesn’t feel forced.

What I didn’t like: Remaining spoiler free here, I didn’t fully see the connection between our massive beast and an apparition. It makes sense, don’t get me wrong, but for me, I just didn’t understand the ‘why’ of it and that connection. Sounds ridiculously vague, I know, but in order to not ruin anything, that’s all I can say!

Why you should buy this: Fans of wilderness, small town horror are in for a treat and, if you’re like me and what I said WAAAAAAAY back up at the top there, this is a really well done, and frantically paced CitW’s story.

Brosky has hit a home run here!

5/5