October 2025 monthly read: Nadia Bulkin's Issues with Authority

[Bill]

Join us for our monthly book for the month of Halloween: Nadia Bulkin's new collection Issues With Authority!

A couple reviews:
https://theblogwithoutaface.com/2025/...
https://the-line-up.com/recent-horror...

Issues with Authority is available on paper and as an e-book. Let's start close to next weekend.

Footnote:
Bulkin's book won our October poll by a hair. Fans of Carson Winter or Alex Gonzalez, do feel free to start Buddy Reads. Or we can roll them over to November's poll.

[Vanessa]

I read the first story this morning. The narrator was fun, even though I thought it dragged a bit after the reveal. I did like the ending and all the cults. I'm predicting that it won't be my favorite of the three, but it was a fun way to start the collection.

[Bill]

I enjoyed the first novella ("Cop Car") as well. I tend to like fiction that's not so plot-driven, and the writing was a little chatty for my taste (though not inappropriate in context). But Bulkin does a good job, and it was pretty engaging.

Vanessa, I agree the narrator's voice was well executed, and I like how they kind of slip discreetly into the story. Also agree that things were a bit less interesting after the reveal. (It hardly seemed necessary?)

Of the stories in Bulkin's earlier collection, my favorites were the ones set in Indonesia, with plots rooted in its dark politics. "Cop Car" has a similar setting as well.