Synopsis:

In this Lovecraftian tale of horror and espionage, Tomb of the Black Pharaoh follows Robert B. Danforth, a former Miskatonic University scholar still reeling from the horrific events At the Mountains of Madness. Now part of the newly formed Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI) – the predecessor of the famed Office of Strategic Services (OSS) – Danforth is dispatched to Cairo to thwart a Nazi plot to recover the Talisman of Nephren-ka, buried deep within the lost tomb of Black Pharaoh. Said to grant unspeakable power, the artifact could tip the scales of World War II in the Nazis’ favor. As Danforth delves into the ancient tomb, he faces cults devoted to Nephren-ka, Nazi occultists, and cosmic horrors that strain the limits of his sanity.

Danforth must battle not only the looming threat of the Nazis but also the terrifying implications of the Amulet’s power. As eldritch forces close in and the boundaries between reality and madness begin to crumble, Danforth realizes the cost of failure may be far greater than even the war—humanity itself may be at stake.

This heart-pounding mix of Lovecraftian horror and historical espionage will captivate fans of cosmic terror and WWII thrillers alike. It immerses readers in a world where ancient gods and modern warfare collide in a fight for ultimate power.

Review:

Lovecraft is an author I haven’t dabbled in much, but over the past year, I read At the Mountains of Madness to acquaint myself with the writer beloved by so many. Being familiar with that story—and its characters—was the perfect lead-in to Tomb of the Black Pharaoh by Christopher Michael.

This tale follows Robert B. Danforth, who survived the harrowing Antarctic expedition in At the Mountains of Madness. Though those events were both treacherous and horrifying, Danforth finds himself longing for more of the unknown. So when he’s sent to Egypt to uncover secrets of hidden, dangerous power, he accepts without question.

The most compelling aspect of Danforth’s character is the tension between his nobility and his obsession. While he is committed to doing the right thing, he’s also mesmerized—perhaps fatally so—by the eldritch horrors he encounters. That fascination consumes him, and his descent into obsession is both disturbing and deeply human.

The story moves at a strong pace, especially once the initial groundwork is laid. The action is tight and purposeful, and the characters Danforth meets are a blend of intriguing, informative, and, at times, utterly monstrous.

Where this story truly shines is in the way its world is rendered—rich in dread, thick with mystery, and painted with a thoroughly Lovecraftian brush. Each scene drips with decadent vocabulary and vivid atmosphere.

Christopher Michael masterfully weaves historical detail into the narrative without weighing it down. The backstory of Nephren-Ka, a figure borrowed from Lovecraft’s own mythos, is especially gripping. And, true to form, the story leaves readers with the central, haunting question that defines cosmic horror: Why?

Filled with the mythology, madness, and occultism that define Lovecraft’s legacy, Tomb of the Black Pharaoh is a harrowing continuation that fans of the genre will appreciate.

I had the pleasure of experiencing this book on audio, and narrator J.T. Verona brings the characters to life with impressive skill, delivering pitch-perfect accents, suspenseful monologues, and a voice that’s easy to listen to for hours. If you enjoy poetic horror, historical adventures, and obsessive journeys into the unknown, Tomb of the Black Pharaoh is a must-read (or must-listen).

Synopsis

Mystery and murder swirl around a dangerous doctor. One detective vows to unravel the truth.

A supernatural thriller blending history, mystery, and the unexplainable.

Liverpool, 1920. Detective Amelia Dei uncovers a string of unexplained comas in Liverpool’s most notorious workhouse infirmary. As she digs deeper, she faces a sinister psychiatrist and a truth darker than anything she’s imagined.

“‘Stranger in the Mind’ quickly draws you in and does not let you go till the last word.” Reader Views – ★★★★★ 5 stars

Review

First saw this in the Library section of the SFF Insiders Discord and really liked the cover. A huge thanks to James for the audible code! Liz May Brice did a great job with the narration. 

1920s Liverpool delivers a setting both familiar and different. Det. Amelia Dei must fight through gender roles, misogyny, and the supernatural in this murder mystery that feels both historical and fantastical. In a way it reminded me of Shadowseer: London by Morgan Rice in that it feels like a classic mystery meshed with an almost urban fantasy twist. Or Out on a Limb by Luis Paredes with its hints at a supernatural world beyond kind of a la Men in Black (although not alien). 

Amelia will stop at nothing to upend Dr. Knight and his string of mysterious coma patient deaths. Her superiors don’t believe in her, and are finding it hard to believe her when she says something suspect is going on, but she refuses to relent. Her partner, Det. Reed, is the only one to have her back as the mystery unfolds into swirling darkness. 

This is written well and feels cohesive. I found myself wondering where the two authors blended, becoming this unique voice. The two POVs (Amelia and Dr. Knight) worked well for me as I enjoy a glimpse into the dark and madness. The only hang up I had were the flashback memory scenes with young Knight. I understood their need, as it shows his coming into his power and experiencing his dark reality—the Umbra Mentis, but they also felt like attempting to humanize. As the story opens with him committing SA and reveling in it, I didn’t find him redeemable. 

This tackles themes of sexism, gender roles, mental illness, poverty, and sexual orientation rather well. Even in a reality that turns out to have an entirely exterior nightmarish world just beyond it, these things are still present and touched on throughout. The Umbra was creepy, intriguing in what the authors held back, and I wished to know more. The inspector finally backing Amelia, as well as hinting at his awareness of the supernatural, makes me feel like there could be an expansive series even beyond the Umbra!

I really liked the last names of Dei and Knight facing off against each other. I have to imagine it was purposeful, as they even chose spellings that were not so on the nose. As the Umbra is this kind of swirling mass of black and darkness, it really felt like Amelia was the day facing off against the night.

Synopsis

Having just graduated from college, Jason and Eddie are ready to let loose and embark on a cross-country road trip. After some killer partying at a rock music festival in Nevada, they head out into the desert with girls and adventure on their minds. Their situation takes a dark turn, however, when they lose direction and find themselves at the entrance of a ghost town in the bowels of the sprawling desert. The residents turn out to be . . . a little off.

Meanwhile, Carrie has just found herself in the depths of a murky lair. Quick reflexes aid in her concealment, but she soon discovers the utter horrors that lurk within the dark recesses. Survival ultimately depends on her strength and cunning.

Tensions escalate as Jason, Eddie, and Carrie come to grips with their new chilling realities. All the while, a dark evil begins to reveal itself. For within this stretch of desolate landscape exists a cannibal death cult, and they have an insatiable lust for blood.

It’s kill or be killed—and as the bloodshed intensifies, so does the fierce will to live.

Death Cult is splatterpunk: There are graphic scenes of gore and violence.

Review

Been meaning to read something from the author for a bit, so I grabbed a paperback to give it a go. 

Two new friends are taking a cross-country road trip. They foresee booze, laughs, and some time with the ladies. Unfortunately, they get lost and end up in a small town, one with a bit of a sinister twist. It seems as if everyone is trying to lure them somewhere, and the eerie atmosphere builds. When they try to help someone in need, things take a turn. The chaos that ensues is exactly what you’d expect, oh, except for those things you don’t see coming. And it’s nothing short of your favorite horror classics and horror tropes. 

To me this was like an epic amalgamation of horrors. The road trip, getting lost, the fateful warning that goes ignored, the car trouble. It’s The Descent meets Saw meets The Devil’s Rejects meets The Hills Have Eyes meets (very specifically) The Walking Dead S11E6 ‘On the Inside’ where there are feral humans living in the walls. Oh and on top of all that, it’s bringing you right into the heart of the good old 80s satanic panic. This was gruesome and gory, with some killer contraptions and traps, more cannibalism and ritualism. It also features a strong female fighting for survival, and two male best friends that give emotional beats to the piece. And although you hope for all three of them to escape together, they certainly end up having a devil of a time. 

This felt like coming home and popping a tape in the old VCR. Like catching an old favorite on cable—I could see myself watching the screen with all its low budget grainy goodness. Like the kind of thing that would be getting its own legacy sequel in theaters right now.

Synopsis

Spring Break, 1997. A group of college friends sets out for an unforgettable trip to Mexico, but their adventure takes a horrific turn when they are abducted by a satanic cult in the Tucson desert. Their captor? Zeena Graves—a strikingly beautiful yet merciless cult leader who commands her followers from the darkness of an abandoned church.

As midnight strikes on Easter night, she prepares to enact a ritual drenched in blood and terror that can only be completed After the Pink Moon. Bound by fear, surrounded by zealots, and with time slipping away, the captives must find a way to escape before they become unwilling participants in a nightmare beyond comprehension.

A relentless and unsettling descent into the horrors of the Satanic Panic era, After the Pink Moon is a gripping tale of faith corrupted, innocence shattered, and the terrifying price of belief.

Review

I’m pretty much on auto-buy here, so naturally had to get a physical copy of this new one. As I did cover reveals for some things that didn’t end up happening in 2024, I’m glad for a new story any which way…

This is a short satanic panic novel. It takes place kind on the tail-end/after the end of it in the nineties, but it has all the goodies you’d want. As always, Reyes really knows his horror, and that often bleeds and creeps into everything he gives us. In classic summer slasher style, a group of teens are planning a getaway to Mexico. Looking for nothing more than relaxation and alcohol in a hot place, is that so much to ask for? But when Zeena Graves’ perfect plan goes sideways, she needs to quickly switch lanes. Oh, and she just so happens to be the figurehead of a satanic cult, known for ritualistic murders all around Tuscan under the moniker of the Catalina Satanists. The accompanying news reports the author shared really made it feel not only real, but very on brand for Devil Terror. 

The house the cultists lived in felt very much so like the book’s references of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Which was fitting, but I was a little confused by the squalor, when Zeena had some high class donors. Maybe she was just using those donations elsewhere? (The author has since posted, stating that she was trying to be smart, hiding in plain sight! I think that makes sense.) The scenes of captivity felt real and weighted, and the violence was brutal and heavy handed. Zeena’s sycophants ran the whole gamut from following blindly to the naively deceived. The mixture of which, as well as some of the finale’s plot points, reminded me of the show Evil, but with less religion and much more murder. 

A release that stands well next to Reyes’ others.

Justice for Mary, who suffered her third-act final girl moment 100 pages too soon.

Synopsis

Ruined by scandal, Dennis Lange is hoping for a comeback. Selling the story of a cursed tree could make his future—if it doesn’t kill him—in this monstrous short story from New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.

Dennis awakens something evil when he removes a decades-old jackknife from the trunk of a gnarled old sycamore. Once pinned in place—now thoughtlessly freed—the tree returns to its roots. An act of vigilante justice took place under its boughs long ago. But its taste for blood has only grown stronger…

Joe Hill’s Jackknife is part of The Shivers, a collection of haunting stories that reveal the otherworldly terrors all around us. Once you know, there’s no going back. Read or listen to each story in one unsettling sitting.

Review

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the audio arc of this. As a fan of most of the stories in the AO short story series Forward Collection and Creature Feature Collection, I was really interested to crack into this one. 

This short follows Dennis, a rather detestable man. You see, he has been watching his world crumble. First getting caught being inappropriate with a student, his wife finding out, then the prospect of losing his career for his poor choices. The story doesn’t really follow someone you can root for, not even someone you can like. But also, I don’t really feel like it’s asking you to like him. I mean, he’s not even really remorseful, saying that he is being blamed for cheating and sleeping with a student when he never even got to…so yeah, that’s the kind of man he is. 

But of course, people like that always seem the victim, and Dennis is looking for a comeback. While taking a walk, he removes an old jackknife without thought from an old tree he passes, and suddenly his world begins to shift…or is it the tree that’s shifting? Danger-moving-vengeful Sycamore trees have to make for marketable stories though, right? 

Personally, I found this to be an okay story. The multiple threads set up with the student, her father finding out, Dennis’ wife, and the tree, felt like something that could have built into a pretty wild folklore-esque thriller third act. But with it being a short, and so short, it’s lacking all of that buildup in tension.

Synopsis

A terrifying tale of supernatural horror set in a cursed Louisiana bayou, from the minds of legendary director George Romero and bestselling author Daniel Kraus.

In 2019, while sifting through University of Pittsburgh Library System’s George A. Romero Archival Collection, novelist Daniel Kraus turned up a surprise: a half-finished novel called Pay the Piper, a project few had ever heard of. In the years since, Kraus has worked with Romero’s estate to bring this unfinished masterwork to light.

Alligator Point, Louisiana, population 141: Young Renée Pontiac has heard stories of “the Piper”—a murderous swamp entity haunting the bayou—her entire life. But now the legend feels horrifically real: children are being taken and gruesomely slain. To resist, Pontiac and the town’s desperate denizens will need to acknowledge the sins of their ancestors—the infamous slave traders, the Pirates Lafitte. If they don’t . . . it’s time to pay the piper.

Perfect for fans of George A. Romero’s pioneering horror movies or his previous collaboration with Daniel Kraus, The Living Dead, Pay the Piper is a thrilling taleof dark folklore, grisly murders, and the horrors that manifest when a community must confront its shadowy past. Readers looking for gothic horror books will enjoy the chilling supernatural elements and haunting Southern setting, and anyone who enjoys scary books for adults will appreciatethe chance to dive into this lost work by a celebrated horror icon

Review

Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the audio of this one!

Considering my deep love for all things zombies, I’m actually a bit embarrassed to admit this is my first read from the Father of the Zombie Film. But I do find it to be incredibly cool that Kraus found this half-finished manuscript in the archive and was able to give it public life. That must be a daunting thing, and even though he had already done so with The Living Dead, this was definitely different for both of them. 

In the Louisiana bayou, a supernatural entity known as the Piper has been disappearing children for generations. The slayings made me think of my own writing, and yet those delivered here are somehow more gruesome. This definitely made me wish I had included some of the young perspectives in my own novel. I really enjoyed the opening of the story, as I found the less I knew of the Piper made it eerie and almost nightmarish as it filtered through personas coming after a couple people. If those refusing to leave don’t accept the past, they may just end up paying the piper.

Now there was a scene between the Piper, cloaked as the school teacher and the young girl, Pontiac, that I found incredibly uncomfortable. But as a horror scene, it was certainly horrific, I just asked myself why—it did not really tie back into anything making it necessary. 

As others have pointed out, I did agree that the ending felt a bit rushed, or maybe that it could have gone a bit deeper. However, I found the buildup to be really strong, and from what I understand, the social commentary was something Romero was known for. Tying the supernatural entity back to the slave trade, the story takes on race and class and carrying the sins of the father. I also found the entire cast to be interesting and engaging, especially how they all interacted and clicked (or didn’t!) together. This one’s different but definitely worth checking out.

Synopsis:

“I’m gonna take that gold right from under them and disappear with what I have always deserved – the fortune we have always deserved…”

It’s the turn of the 20th century and times are getting harder for aging gunslinger John Arthur and his adopted daughter Bethany ‘The Blade’ Mason. After reuniting with an old friend they are offered an opportunity promising the haul of a lifetime but the unexpected is waiting in the small, strange town of Haddington.

Heist turns to horror as a battle for survival blurs the lines between law and outlaw.

Review:

I came into this novella on the back of a recent penchant for loving western style scenarios and settings for unusual genres. Be this fantasy, fantasy scifi or even Lovecraftian elements. It was a logical step to enter the realm of western horror, and I have been intrigued by author Lee Hall’s work for quite a while. I was not disappointed. Hall establishes a strong back story that emerges throughout the novella, leaving the denouement both satisfying and the reader eager to read the rest of the author’s work. The character of John Arthur, a world-weary outlaw with a huge responsibility on his shoulders, drags you through what starts as a heist and delves into creepy and later demonic horror. And the major side characters feel real, something difficult to achieve within such a short book. If you love westerns, horror and grizzled antiheroes, give this book a read.

Synopsis

“Todd Keisling is already a mainstay of modern horror, and this book proves why. A wildly original and unsettling tale, The Sundowner’s Dance is an unforgettable journey of grief, cosmic horror, and making the most of the time we’ve got left. Pick up a copy of this book immediately.” -Gwendolyn Kiste, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Reluctant Immortals and The Haunting of Velkwood

Jerry Campbell just wants to be left alone. Grief-stricken over the death of his wife Abigail, the elderly widower and recent retiree is desperate for a change of scenery. When his realtor suggests a new home in Fairview Acres, a retirement community in the Poconos, Jerry figures it will be a nice place to spend the rest of his days in solitude.

Until he moves in.

Weird neighbors. Nightly block parties. Strange noises across his rooftop at all hours. Worst of all is Arthur Peterson, chairman of the Fairview Acres Community Association, who seems obsessed with coaxing Jerry into participating in these neighborhood activities.

At first, Jerry shrugs off the incidents and eccentricities, telling himself he doesn’t want to be the guy who complains about everything-but that all changes one evening when Katherine Dunnally appears on his doorstep with an ominous warning: “You need to leave. The worms…they dance at nightfall…”

His neighbors all say Katherine suffers from a form of dementia called Sundowner’s Syndrome, but as the weeks progress and the strangeness mounts, Jerry begins to suspect there is something else going on in his neighborhood. Something that has to do with the huge stone in the community park…

Heartfelt and unsettling, Todd Keisling’s latest novel, The Sundowner’s Dance, propels readers through a terrifying exploration of grief, dementia, and perhaps the greatest horror of all: growing old.

“Todd Keisling’s The Sundowner’s Dance is a harrowing work of cosmic horror that masterfully inhabits a dark territory somewhere between John Langan and Bentley Little. Highly recommended.” -Brian Keene

Review

As always, my infinite thanks to Shortwave Media for the physical arc! And HAPPY RELEASE DAY!!!

A novel that tackles grief and aging as much as the terrors within the small town of Fairview Acres. Jerry Campbell is a recent widower. He hopes that the sale of his family home for a new and smaller location will help him with accepting the loss. But when his realtor notifies him that his offer was accepted almost simultaneously with a buyer wanting his old place, the strangeness just keeps stacking. Welcoming neighbors, but nightly parties that always seem to start after sundown and last through the night, strange noises across his roof as he tries to sleep, a mid night warning from Katherine Dunnally that may be more than dementia delusions, and worst of all, Arthur Peterson, the association lead, giving off almost Nosferatu-level weird vibes. 

This novel falls under what some may call “old people horror.” The lead is elderly, as is a majority of the cast, and it certainly contains the aches and pains of those getting on in years. I don’t have a slew of experience with this (if you’d call it) sub-genre, but it did bring to mind the likes of Mark Towse’s Nana, with its oddly over-aged community members and its cosmic twists. Sundowner’s is imbued with terror and heartfelt moments, like the tenderness that forms between Katherine and Jerry, and disfigured horrors that push cosmic into the realm of creature feature. With fantastic parallels that seamlessly blend the horrific nature of dementia with an alien withdrawal that mimics its memory losing effects. 

But what I truly loved the most about the novel was Jerry. A lead that appears to be a grumpy old loner, is actually just a grieving, socially awkward and anxious man. So used to having his wife with him as a salve, he’s unsure of how to tackle this last stage of life. Not only is he dealing with the loss, his aches and pains, his uprooted life, the attempted continuous communication from Arthur, but also the absolute preternatural atmosphere of the Fairview community. And while the novel delivers on the small town feel, there’s much bigger things happening to turn the wheels. I found Jerry to be incredibly grounding throughout the read because you too may be a little grumpy and standoffish if your entire new town was giving off funky vampiric vibes. I really appreciated how he was witty, intelligent, still strong, and a cohesive lead that broke a lot of the conventional elderly tropes. 

A first for me from the author, but I truly enjoyed it.

Synopsis:

Those fleeting glimpses that send shivers down our spines and goosebumps rippling over our skin. Those split-second freeze-frames where our minds picture something terrifying, impossible to comprehend. They last for fragments of a moment until our brains catch up and process what we’ve seen.

What if they were real?

Punching the clock as the sound guy on a haunted house documentary, and in the midst of a bitter divorce, Levon Stoll thought he’d hit rock bottom.

But the job he took to pay the bills might just end up being the last one he ever has. Ghosts and ghouls are nothing compared to the horror that lurks inside the Demon House.

Now he’s set in motion a series of events that not only puts himself and his loved ones at risk but could bring about the end times.

Hell has broken loose in the small town of New Scotland. Chaos rampages through the streets and terror reigns from a throne of blood.

The Devil’s face watches from the shadows, patiently waiting.

Can Lev stop this spiral towards Armageddon, or has that time already passed?

The next few hours will reveal all.

Review:

I don’t often read blurbs before diving into a book. Sure, the covers give me a general vibe. Sometimes, I hear things about them on social media. But I often jump in with both feet and very little information. I assumed this one would be a possession horror novel. I wasn’t wrong. But I was unprepared for the terrifying events or the characters I would fall in love with.

The Devil’s Face started with indescribable creepiness. The first few scenes seem unrelated to the story until much later, but they stuck in my head all the while. Imagine the worst thing that could happen to a family, and Artinian portrays it in the most deliciously gory of ways.

Lev and Anna are two strangers who end up on a job together. That job involves filming scenes in a notorious haunted house. When they experience actual supernatural events, Anna flees, and Lev is left to deal with the consequences.

The chapters between the horror are slower in pace, not in a way that diverts from the tension, but actually serves to build it. Lev’s backstory is further explained. The traumatic events that occurred in Anna’s childhood are revealed. Though Lev likes to present himself as a bit of a jerk, he’s a kind person just trying to survive like everyone else.

Regardless of what the characters are dealing with, one thing is for sure. There is something very wrong with that house.

While Lev is figuring out how he will get out of the town he’s found himself stuck in and enjoying the company of the local sheriff, Lev’s best friend fears for his safety. She works to uncover what kind of evil resides in the house in order to aid Lev. She consults someone who seems absolutely out of their mind, and this is where the lore gets interesting.

I assumed the possession was the result of something Satanic or religious. Instead, the explanation is intricate, thought-provoking, and downright scary.

The crescendo of this tale was absolutely bonkers. Everything in the town goes haywire, and I devoured the gruesome scenarios, the diabolical events, the cacophony of unholy incidents.

I highly recommend the audiobook as the narrator used a voice changer for some of the possession occurrences, and it sounded absolutely sinister. Kim Bretton did a fantastic job narrating different character voices and delivering tense scenes with fantastic pacing.

The Devil’s Face brings together excellent character work with an idea of possession that is unique and brilliantly twisted—a tale that kept me engaged at all times. For fans of haunted house romps or possession tales, this is a must-read. The characters that will win your heart over are the cherry on top.

Synopsis:

It’s the winter of 1975, and Duane Minor, back home in Portland, Oregon, after a tour in Vietnam, is struggling to quell his anger and keep his drinking in check, keep his young marriage intact, and keep the nightmares away. Things get even more complicated when his thirteen-year-old niece, Julia, is sent across the country to live with Duane and his wife, Heidi, after a tragedy. But slowly, carefully, guided by Heidi’s love and patience, the three of them are building a family.

Then Minor crosses the wrong man: John Varley, a criminal with a bloody history and a trail of bodies behind him. Varley, who sleeps during the day beneath loose drifts of earth and grows teeth in the light of the moon. In an act of brutal retaliation, Varley kills Heidi, leaving Minor broken with guilt and Julia filled with rage. The two of them are left united by only one thing: the desire for vengeance.

Review:

Not knowing what to expect from a Keith Rosson vampire novel, I ended up getting exactly what I would expect from a Keith Rosson vampire novel. Much like his brilliant duology of Fever House and Devil by Name, Coffin Moon injects a brutal, gritty magic into an otherwise realistic world, allows all hell to break loose, and offers us real, human characters, all facing the worst days of their lives.

I loved every second of it.

When we meet Duane Minor, it’s 1975, and the Vietnam vet is back home, working at his in-laws’ bar, clean and sober, parenting Julia, his thirteen-year-old niece. There’s a lot of anger in Duane, and that’s led to some bad decisions on his part, but at this moment, things are about as good as they can get. He’s madly in love with his wife, and Julia (who shares some of Duane’s anger issues) is starting to open up, starting to act like a regular kid.

Obviously, there’s nowhere to go but downhill.

Minor tries to do the right thing, kicking some drug-dealing bikers out of the bar, but that puts him up against John Varley, a spooky kind of criminal with his own anger issues. Trouble is, when Varley gets angry, people tend to die.

In a brutal act of revenge, Varley kills Minor’s wife and in-laws, leaving him and Julia alone and bereft. Minor’s pretty sure he’s hit the nadir, rock-bottom, but Rosson has other ideas.

As the unlikely pair set out to hunt John Varley and enact their own revenge, it becomes clear that Varley is more than just a dangerous man. He’s a powerful vampire with a long history of violent massacres.

More bad decisions are made, and soon we’re on a supernatural revenge roadtrip across the nation’s northern edges: two broken people with only one idea to keep them moving forward.

As you might have inferred from the above, Coffin Moon‘s universe is an angry one, where hurt people hurt people, taking place in a long series of dingy motel rooms and even dingier bars. Rage, and its capacity to destroy what is beautiful, is a bright red thread strung through this tale, but as in Rosson’s earlier work, so is love. Family bonds, even when tenuous to begin with, are central. Varley, who in many ways plays Minor’s foil, is different in just this way. He doesn’t understand love, so he can’t understand loss. It might be this fact that makes him truly monstrous.

There’s a little Salem’s Lot in Coffin Moon, with a dash of Let the Right One In, but Rosson creates a unique take, and his nocturnal Portland is a haunted place filled with nightmare children, labyrinthine houses, dark magic, and a whole lot of people just trying to get by. And in the end, it’s the relationship between Minor and Julia that carries Coffin Moon to its inevitably bloody conclusion.