Book Blogger Recs: Bloggers to Follow for Horror Readers #BookBloggers

 

Hello bookworms!

Today I am back with one of my favorite features here on Cover2CoverMom: Book Blogger Recs!  It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, and I forgot how much I love this feature.

Book Blogger Recs is a feature where I highlight book bloggers based on a particular theme.  This will not just be a simple listing of blog recommendations, but a mini Q&A session with each blogger.  This way you can get to know the bloggers a little better before checking out their blogs for yourselves.

Since we are now in October, the month of all things HALLOWEEN, I thought it was time to feature book bloggers that have reading tastes on the darker end of the spectrum.

Here are a few book bloggers to follow for horror readers…

» Lilyn @Sci-Fi & Scary

Share your blog origin story…

My blog origin story is something that I actually share as my very first post on the site.  I read something about how much the average person reads (6 books a year) and was absolutely aghast.  That kicked off my desire to talk to people about books in a very down-to-earth way. No high-brow, in-depth analysis of the books I was talking about, but instead casual discussion style like I was talking to a friend.

Also, there was a friend who had never seriously read a book and was in her fifties.  I turned her on to reading, and just seeing her face light up as these new worlds were introduced to her was so gratifying.

What draws you to the horror genre?

Horror is a safe place to experience fears and worries.  I mean, I like being scared in horror books and movies because it is fun, but it is also a nice way to get some of those feelings out of your system.  If something comes at you in real life, you can’t always do something about it.  In a horror book or movie though? You can tackle that crap head on, and slay it.

Did you read horror books as a kid?  If so, which books/authors made the biggest impression on you?

Nope, not really.  At least not until I was in my late teens probably.  This may come as a surprise, but I actually cut my teeth on historical romance novels. (Let’s just say Mum never had to give me “The Talk”.  I learned everything about the birds and the bees in those books!) After that, I discovered Dean Koontz.  He was my gateway drug, honestly. 

What are your favorite horror books & authors?

My taste in horror lies pretty evenly in two camps.  Paranormal (think Possessions) horror, and creature feature horror.  Though whenever I can get my hands on some sci-fi horror I tend to be pretty happy.  Naming favorite authors is tricky for me, as I tend to judge on a by-the-book basis.  I will say that I’ve been pretty happy with everything that Danielle DeVor, Bill Schweigart, and Jeff Strand have put out, though.

Favorite individual books? Stone Cold Bastard by Jake Bible, Beneath Claire’s House by Corey J. Popp, Shutter by Courtney Alameda, Sorrow’s Point by Danielle DeVor, The Haunted Forest Tour by Jeff Strand.

What horror books are on your upcoming TBR list?

Ophelia Immune by Beth Mattson, Photogeist by J.K. Battaglia, Teeth of the Wolf by Lee Murray and Dan Rabarts, and The Toy Thief by D.W. Gillespie.  Though I should note that these are books that I have accepted for review.  My ‘want to’ TBR is mostly sci-fi.

What are your favorite horror films?

I love cheesy horror movies.  The “B”-er, the better in most cases.  So, The Nightmare on Elm Street series, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, etc. all put me in my happy spot.  I do like the more serious horror, but it’s hard to fall in love with those.  Recently I really enjoyed A Quiet Place and Hereditary.

Which horror books would you recommend to someone who doesn’t typically read within the horror genre?

Trick question!  The horror genre has so many sub-genres that I would need more information from the person before being able to answer it.

IF they were interested in YA – I’d say Shutter or Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda.

IF they loved lots of action and gore in their movies – I’d say Stone Cold Bastards by Jake Bible.

If they’re interested in strange/weird stuff – I’d say Puppet Skin by Danger Slater.

If they’re interested in ghosts and the like – I’d say Sorrow’s Point by Danielle Devo

Share your social media links!

https://www.twitter.com/scifiandscary

https://www.instagram.com/scifiandscary/

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» Char @Char’s Horror Corner

Share your blog origin story…

There’s nothing much to it, really.  I started reviewing on Goodreads in 2011 which was about a year after I got my first Kindle.  I started my blog about two-three years ago, just as a place to be able to speak more freely in my reviews (there isn’t any censorship on Booklikes), and then it grew from there.  Now I’m closing in on 30,000 page views and I’m pretty excited about it. 

What draws you to the horror genre?

When I was young my parents used to take me to the drive-in for horror movies and that’s where my love of horror began.  I’m not so much into horror films as I am books.  I love them because I love that adrenaline thrill I get from being afraid or nervous.  Also, I love the fact that horror is often about outsiders and/or loners, the bullied, the quiet people.  Unlike many other genres, in horror that quiet loner often wins the day and I love that too.

Did you read horror books as a kid?  If so, which books/authors made the biggest impression on you?

I did read horror as a kid and I think my first dark love was Edgar Allan Poe.  I also loved detective stories and read a lot of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot tales.  When I moved on to Stephen King, though, I knew I had found something special. 

What are your favorite horror books & authors?

There are too many to name, and many are the same as you would find on any horror book lover’s list, so instead I’ll try to name a few lesser known authors that I believe deserve more attention. Such as:

Michael McDowell’s The Elementals, Gilded Needles, or Cold Moon Over Babylon

Stephen Gregory’s The Cormorant

Tim Curran’s The Dead Sea, Deadlock, and Sow

Michael Rowe’s Enter, Night, or Wild Fell

Christopher Buehlman’s The Lesser Dead or The Suicide Motor Club or anything that he’s written, really.

Robert McCammon’s Boy’s Life (my favorite book of all time), and also The Listener, Usher’s Passing, and Gone South.

Brian Hodge’s I’ll Bring You the Birds From Out of the Sky

Michael Wehunt’s Greener Pastures

Mike Thorn’s Darkest Hours

What horror books are on your upcoming TBR list?

So many! Up next is:

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

And in the next month or so:

The Devil’s Fingers by Hunter Shea

Hark! The Herald Angels Scream edited by Christopher Golden

The Mansion by Ezekiel Boone

Driving to Geronimo’s Grave by Joe Lansdale

The Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Tom Ligotti

What are your favorite horror films?

Oldies but goodies! Halloween, Alien, Predator, The Thing, the original Night of the Living Dead, and the first Nightmare on Elm Street.

Which horror books would you recommend to someone who doesn’t typically read within the horror genre?

Pretty much anything by Michael McDowell, but most especially The Elementals.

King’s lighter stuff is also good – as are his short stories.  So maybe something like The Green Mile or one of his collections like Skeleton Crew. 

Also, I recommend Christopher Buehlman’s The Lesser Dead to just about everyone.  It’s THAT good.

Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon because even though it’s always listed as horror, it’s more of a coming of age mystery with a few horrific aspects.  It’s beautiful and magical and I recommend it to everyone incessantly. 

Share your social media links!

charlene.booklikes.com

Here I am on Goodreads: Char

On my Facebook page I often post Kindle book sales, reviews, and news of the horror genre that I find interesting. https://www.facebook.com/CharsHorrorCorner/

I help to moderate the largest horror book group on Goodreads, with over 14,000 members.  We feature guest authors every month to talk books with us and we also have many fun discussions and games.  All are welcome to join and it’s free: Horror Aficionados

Lastly, I am part of the awesome team of reviewers at Horror After Dark – Horror After Dark

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» Michael @High Fever Books

Share your blog origin story…

As part of a secret government experiment during World War II, my blog was injected with an experimental serum and —

No, wait, that’s not my blog’s origin story.  I wish it were though!  Mine isn’t anything quite so radical.  About ten years ago, I began reviewing graphic novels for the Graphic Novel Reporter website and did that for about three or four years on a freelance basis, alongside living life as a freelance journalist and photographer for local news outlets.  I’ve been blogging in some form or another for more than a decade, but it never quite stuck as a regular habit until I began reviewing books alongside writing and releasing horror and sci-fi stories of my own about five years ago.  Horror has been my go-to genre for quite a while, as both a reader and writer, and, as such, over the past couple of years my blog has become more and more focused on reviewing horror titles.  

What draws you to the horror genre?

I’m naturally drawn to darker works of fiction, and it’s the one genre that my tastes have never quite outgrown or gotten bored with.  There’s always an element of some surprise in horror for me and the genre as a whole just doesn’t get stale for me the way others have.  Admittedly, I do like the more lurid stuff, but there’s also a certain humanity and emotional resonance in the best works of horror that is unmatched elsewhere.  In some of my favorite works, while the horror elements are certainly prominent, it’s the characters that matter most and leave the most lasting impressions. 

Did you read horror books as a kid?  If so, which books/authors made the biggest impression on you?

I did!  There were a few Scholastic Books I recall ordering through school (although I don’t remember any particular authors or titles from that period), but the biggest and most lasting impression came in my early teens when I dived into Stephen King’s It.  That book made me a reader for life at a time when it felt like public school was trying to kill any interest I had in reading.  It seriously scared the hell out of me; even reading it in broad daylight game me a serious case of the willies.  I don’t think I’d ever been so creeped out, but also so emotionally engaged and interested in any book prior.  I devoured that thousand-page-plus book in only a few days, and over the course of reading it I felt like I was an honest-to-goodness member of The Loser’s Club.  I knew those kids; I was one of them, and it felt like King was writing about aspects of my own life in certain areas.  It made me a reader, but it also ignited my own fire as a writer and storyteller. 

What/who are your favorite horror books/authors?

Ha! You can probably guess one of them based on the above! I’ll read anything and everything Jonathan Janz and Hunter Shea release.  Ania Ahlborn, too, is an absolutely fantastic writer, and she made me a fan with The Shuddering but has only gotten better with each new release.  Kealan Patrick Burke is an astoundingly good wordsmith and if you haven’t read his Sour Candy or Blanky novellas, you need to check them out.  Adam Cesare always delivers seriously fun horror titles that oftentimes feel like a throwback to the heydays of 1980s video rentals, and the dude knows the horror genre inside and out.   Read his books and watch his YouTube channel and you’ll understand just how deeply this guy lives and breathes horror.  Then there’s the obvious ones, too, like Jack Ketchum and Brian Keene and, of course, Stephen King. 

What horror books are on your upcoming TBR list?

Since we’re going into the Halloween season, I’m eyeing a nice little stack of seasonally appropriate scares, many of which I’ve been meaning to read for quite a while.  I’ve got Bryan Smith’s All Hallow’s Dead and Norman Partridge’s Dark Harvest lined up, as well as the recently released The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories that Stephen Jones put together.  Non-Halloween horror, though, at the time of this writing I’ve got a couple ARCs of forthcoming Flame Tree Press titles from John Everson and D.W. Gillespie, Edward Lorn’s latest novel, The bedding of boys, Tim Meyer’s Kill Hill Carnage (his novella The Switch House was phenomenal!), and ARCs of upcoming releases from Gwendolyn Kiste, Gemma Files, and Ezekiel Boone.

What are your favorite horror films?

The Evil Dead flicks are always fun, including the 2013 reboot/remake.  I dug the Scream series, too.  Cabin in the Woods, Lifeforce, Halloween.  My hands-down, all-time favorite horror movie though is John Carpenter’s The Thing.  That one is just utterly fantastic. 

Which horror books would you recommend to someone who doesn’t typically read within the horror genre?

I’d probably start them off with one of Hunter Shea’s novellas, either from his Mail Order Massacres or One Size Eats Them All trilogies, or Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom. Ronald Malfi’s Bone White or the first few Charlie Parker novels from John Connolly would probably be really good places to start, too, particularly if I’m introducing a new reader to horror who is already a fan of mysteries.  If they like military thrillers like Vince Flynn’s stuff, I’d tell them to check out Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger books.  The horror genre is so diverse and overlaps with so many other genres that it’s not all that difficult to lure in open-minded readers.  If you’re already reading darker mysteries or true crime novels, you’re already 3/4 of the way there!

Share your social media links!

Sure thing!  My home base is my website, www.michaelpatrickhicks.com, where you can find my High Fever Books Blog and links to my writing.  You can also find me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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» Cat @Red Lace Reviews

Share your blog origin story…

The origins of Red Lace Reviews isn’t as extensive as I’d like, but let me start at the beginning.  I started properly reviewing books in 2011, and over the years I tried to blog once or twice and step away some from Goodreads.  My efforts unfortunately didn’t go anywhere – it was literally a dead space nobody visited, and the upkeep just burnt me out.  I felt that it was a waste of time, that I wasn’t cut out for it, and so I left those blogs behind.  Years later I decided to try again, and in December 2017 I set it up, ready for January of the new year.  This time I read how-to articles and posts about book blogging – I came to the conclusion that I should do it primarily for myself and stop trying to meet unrealistic standards.  I also build a network within the horror community and mad some lovely friends, which made the experience ten times more enjoyable.  I essentially put my all into it, and nearly a year later I’m content and happy with the content I’m putting out there.

What draws you to the horror genre?

There’s something about that creeping dread I experience with a good horror story.  Unlink the very real fears and stress that occurs in my day-to-day life, this feeling is equal measures rewarding and addictive.  It’s safe (certainly not for the characters though), and it has the potential to inflict a great deal of emotion – horror can include sprinkles of romance, action, and adventure, there’s the possibility of it being the whole package.  I can escape, and I can feel delight at the thought of other people out there sharing the same dark interests.

Did you read horror books as a kid?  If so, which books/authors made the biggest impression on you?

I didn’t read much horror as a child, but I do remember trying some of the old Goosebumps books and honestly not being all that interested.  Films were a different story – my parents often sat me in the front of the TV and put on movies such as The Omen, Alien, Dawn of the Dead, and Night of the Living Dead.  I quickly got used to horror on the screen, and I relished the hours talking with my father about all the grisly details.

What are your favorite horror books & authors?

My favourite horror books are easy to name off the top of my head, as I’m extremely picky about what I consider perfect.  In no particular order: the entire High Moor trilogy by Graeme Reynolds, Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, The Magic Cottage by James Herbert, NOS4R2 by Joe Hill, and John Dies at the End by David Wong.  As for specific authors I consider my favourites, well, there aren’t any yet.  I’m still relatively new to the genre, so I don’t want to jump the gun when I’ve still read so little. 

What horror books are on your upcoming TBR list?

There’s certain titles I’ve been meaning to read for a while now, such as Bird Box by Josh Malerman, The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay, Kill Creek by Scott Thomas, and Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke.  I keep promising myself to get around to them, but then my TBR list gets filled with ARCs and the likes.  Soon, though!

What are your favorite horror films?

Dog Soldiers, Ginger Snaps, Lost Boys, even The Brotherhood of the Wolf holds a place in my heart.  I tend to lean more toward vampires and werewolves in my movies, rather than ghosts and serial killers.

Which horror books would you recommend to someone who doesn’t typically read within the horror genre?

That’s a difficult one! There’s so many flavours that appeal to different people.  I’m just going to take the easy option – I’d recommend my favourites! Dark Matter and The Magic Cottage for some subtle goodness, High Moor for bloody carnage, John Dies at the End for a roller-coaster of bizarre, and NOS4R2 for, well, lengthy suspense!

Share your social media links!

Primary blog:  https://redlace.reviews

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/RedLaceReviews

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5483142-red-lace-reviews

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Huge thanks to Lilyn, Char, Michael, & Cat for participating in this feature and answering my questions!  If you are a fan of the horror genre, I highly encourage you to head over and follow their blogs.

Do you read within the horror genre?

If so, what are your favorite horror books? Favorite horror author?

If not, why do you not read horror?

Comment below & let me know 🙂