Five for 2015

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December 21, 2015 by Laird

This isn’t a best-of list; I read too much good material in 2015 to boil it down to five. Consider this a Christmas list for fans of the weird.

Skein & Bone by V.H. Leslie. It’s a terrific, slow burn collection of Gothic and surreal horror stories. One of my favorite collections this year.

Painted Monsters & Other Strange Beasts by Orrin Grey is one of the best sophomore efforts I’ve read. Grey makes short work of ye old monster archetypes. This collection has me looking toward the next one.

Cassilda’s Song, edited by Joseph Pulver. An anthology dedicated to the King in Yellow. Pulver’s third major tribute anthology in recent days and probably the best. Selena Chambers, Maura McHugh, and S.P. Miskowski set the pace for a sleeper anthology of 2015.

The Ballad of Black Tom. Victor LaValle is serious business. This won’t debut for another couple of months, but it’s up for preorder and it’s a bad to the bone take on the Cthulhu Mythos.

A Head Full of Ghosts. Paul Tremblay has been out in the field plowing for a few years, doing the hard work that’s the backbone of our genre. Now he’s got a breakout novel of a family that doesn’t require demonic possession to be unhappy, but, hey, just in case.