What I'm Reading: Stories from the Motel Sick Edited by Michael Allen Rose

I took a break from reviewing for about 6 weeks this FALL to concentrate on my own book release and tour. At the end of October I started reviewing again, but this meant I have no reviews in the print November issue of Booklist. I do however have one E-only review that just went up.
Stories from the Motel Sick
Edited by Michael Allen Rose

Nov. 2025. 386p. RoShamBo, paper, $15.99  (9798349320866); e-book (9798349320873). First published November 5, 2025 (Booklist Online).

Wonderland Award winner Rose is back (Fragile Anthology) with another cleverly themed anthology. This time, Rose puts his authors up for the night at a haunted hotel, which as Bridget D. Brave clearly lays out in the volume’s first story, “Motel Guest Waiver & Agreement,” requires readers to agree to not “piss off” “THE ENTITY” who runs the “VOID” they are about to enter. 20+ stories from room numbers from 4? to Infinity (and anything in between), follow from authors like Cynthia Pelayo, Jeff Strand, and John Skipp, detailing increasingly weird and dangerous situations, from which escape seems impossible. Rose skillfully unites the stories into a single volume with the inclusion of illustrations by Courtney Rader and asides such as the hotel’s  “In Case of Fire” policy and a Room Service Menu.” A great introduction to the Bizarro genre, the existentially terrifying, absurdist cousin to Horror, suggest to fans of darkly humorous Lovecraftian works like  John Dies at the End by Pargin and also to those enjoy immersive hotel terror like Travelers Rest by Morris and Cranberry Cove by Piper.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Bizzaro, Hotel Horror, Existentially Terrifying but with Humor

Further Appeal: A note on the number of stories first. I wasn't sure if I should count the asides, which are very good and not only add to the unease of the entire volume, but they make it a unified book. And they were fun. 

As an editor Rose does an excellent job of not only putting the stories in a good order for the reader. I also liked that the room numbers the authors used were not normal and not in order.

This one is worth you going out of your way to order.

Readalikes: The ones above are all a great place to start. But checkout more Wonderland Award winners if you think this book sounds good because it is for the very best of Bizarro and Rose has himself won it twice. Click here for more by Rose.

Please note, Gabino Iglesias is a former Bizarro winner for Coyote Songs.