Outré even by the standards of supernatural horror fiction, DiLouie’s ostentatious, 1990s-set latest (after How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive) proposes that the Antichrist is the front man for a Pennsylvania art band and that the apocalypse he threatens can only be averted through the intervention of a punk pop group headed by his ex-girlfriend. Presented as an oral history, the tale unfolds through interviews mostly with members of the Shivers, a small-town ensemble whose seductive live shows, led by guitarists Lily Lawless and her charismatic partner, Drake Morgan, compel attendees to riot and kill. After Lily comes to suspect that Drake and his music are unholy and splits from him, Drake—who eventually admits to being less than human—goes on to found the infernal band Universal Priest, setting the stage for a showdown with the Shivers at the Armageddon Battle of the Bands, with the fate of the world on the line. DiLouie seeds the narrative with enough pop theology to undergird its tongue-in-cheek excesses, which include a cabal of rogue clergy wielding rocket launchers and a Universal Priest stage performance that unfolds like a mash-up of The Omen and This Is Spinal Tap. It’s a wild ride. (May)

Reviewed on 03/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

Expanded from a Writers of the Future Award–winning short story, Hankins’s fast-paced supernatural adventure and Grimsworld series launch balances the mythic and the mundane. On a routine pickup, the Grim Reaper is tricked into exchanging bodies with IRS auditor Frank Totmann. Now trapped in Frank’s failing middle-aged body while Frank runs off with his identity and scythe, Grim must find a way to reverse the process before Hell’s Auditor becomes aware of the mishap and comes to punish him. Ignorant of the ways of flesh, Grim contends with a mortal body’s embarrassing needs (cue the poop jokes), fumbles his way through Frank’s job, and desperately tries to make contact with the demon who inadvertently made the switch possible. Meanwhile, infernal forces move forward on a fiendish plot eons in the making, people stop dying with no one to collect their souls, and Grim runs into the ex he hasn’t seen in millennia. Flashbacks hint at a much larger scope to the setting and Grim’s complicated past as, in the present, he learns the hard way what it means to be human. The humor feels somewhat sitcomy, but the premise and subsequent mistaken identity hijinks are good fun. This is sure to entertain. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Wiesebron debuts with a remarkable high fantasy as thoroughly Slavic and delightfully alive as the building that lends it its name, an orange-shingled house on chicken legs. When orphaned Marisha comes upon the house in the Severny city square, it can only mean the koldun, or witch, Baba Zima is in town. What’s more, Zima is hiring an assistant for her apprentice, Olena. Though Marisha is fearful of koldunry, she’s desperate for work, so she applies. It’s not an easy job: Zima is full of tricks, as is her house, and Olena is cold and difficult. Still, Marisha is determined to stay, especially after learning that Olena is working on a cure for the strange sleeping plague that returns every 10 years, killing thousands, including Marisha’s parents. But the longer she stays in the house, surrounded by koldunry, digging into old rivalries between Zima and Olena, and touching the spirit world, the more she fears that she has caught the attention of something much more dangerous than plague: a strange, beaked man who haunts her dreams. Wiesebron weaves together multiple Slavic folk stories to power a plot full of intricate interpersonal drama and fantastically earthy magic, led by a cast of clever, thorny women who never back down. It’s an impressive feat. (June)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Rainey (The Monarchs) brings Lovecraftian horror to rural Virginia in this chilling tale. Sheriff Bryce Parrott serves Sylvan County, whose decades-old history of unexplained disappearances has led to it being labeled “the Cold Case Capital of the World.” He fears he has another unsolvable mystery on his hands when a man is found dead in his apartment, savaged as if by a wild animal and covered in a “glistening, transparent gel.” The coroner’s tests of this substance leave her baffled, and the puzzle deepens when the body completely dissolves, as do samples sent to the FBI for analysis. Meanwhile, psychology professor Martin Pritchett and his artist brother, Phil, stumble upon a decaying house near Sylvan County’s isolated Black Tooth Pond and are repeatedly compelled to return to the site, an impulse often accompanied by the haunting sound of a whippoorwill’s call. Rainey gradually ratchets up the tension as these plotlines converge, building to a finale that doesn’t pull any punches. Meanwhile, the grounded and believable characterization of his protagonists makes suspending disbelief easy. This is cosmic horror done right. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Lavin’s genre-bending debut merges autofiction, fantasy, and ecological science into an inspiring if sluggish call to action. Narrator Maud, whose biographical details all align with Lavin’s, meets a mermaid named Evelyn in Lake Michigan. The women bond over fashion, poetry, and their shared concern about pollution in the Great Lakes (and elsewhere), and decide to do something about it. Their journey into eco-activism puts them in touch with local Indigenous communities that have been working on these issues for years and takes them down rabbit holes of internet research, onto a blueberry farm for a summer, and beyond. The plot is slight and slow moving, often pausing to make room for exposition about the ecological issues Maud and Evelyn confront. Perhaps most frustratingly for fantasy fans, Evelyn’s identity as a mermaid goes largely unexplored. Still, this serves as a thoughtful climate manifesto. (May)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bestseller Gillig (the Shepherd King series) launches a new series with this uneven romantic fantasy. The Six Diviners confined to Aisling Cathedral, where they foretell futures through dreams and water rituals, are finally nearing the end of their 10-year service. Before they retire, the newly crowned king of Traum, Benedict Castor III, pays them a visit under the pretense of inquiring about his future, but really so he and his court can steal Aisling’s sacred spring water. Diviner Six, once called Sybil Delling, catches them but agrees not to report the crime to the gargoyles that guard the cathedral if king’s knight Rodrick “Rory” Myndacious will help her and her fellow Diviners sneak out for a night of fun. Upon returning to Aisling, however, the Diviners start to vanish one by one. Six, suspecting foul play, flees the cathedral with Rory’s help. As she reintegrates into the wider world and searches for her missing friends, she learns that everything she thought she knew about Aisling is a lie and develops feelings for Rory. The premise feels fresh and the worldbuilding is inventive, but the pace flags in the talky middle section and the relatively chaste romance arrives too late. Still, there’s plenty of promise to be explored in future installments. (May)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

O’Halloran debuts with an intimate horror story that masterfully combines psychological and supernatural terror. Nurse Daisy Darling was beloved by many but underappreciated by her neglectful husband, Roger, who finds her dead in front of their fireplace via self-inflicted wounds made with the broken shards of his dead dog’s urn. As he determinedly ignores both her sealed suicide note and her family’s bitter recriminations, he discovers an unexpected connection with his previously unknown but flirty neighbor Mei—and begins to see and hear increasingly aggressive signs of Daisy’s spirit lingering in the house. O’Halloran strikes a delightfully uneasy balance between probing Roger’s bad behavior, both in the present and through flashbacks to his life with Daisy, and capturing the stomach-turning intensity of a violent, broken, and clingy revenant Daisy who’s no longer willing to be ignored. The result is both a woman’s revenge fantasy and a portrait of caring sweetness turned monstrous, particularly when Daisy begins to come after Mei. Excellent pacing and a flair for slipping between mundane stressors and visceral dread make this unforgettable. (May)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Demons, star-crossed lovers, and weedy gardens fill this helter-skelter fantasy from Jarvis (A Portrait in Shadow). In the backwoods of 1920s Tennessee, 18-year-old Black girl Kate repeatedly has visions of a handsome white stranger. When she encounters her dream man, Oliver, in the flesh, the two bond over their unusual talents: Kate can see the future, while Oliver can see the dead, a gift he acquired after his best friend died in his arms in a WWI trench. A third narrator, Nora, is a schoolteacher recently dismissed from her post under suspicion of being a witch. Those accusations prove correct, and almost every other chapter is an account of her daily magic lessons with a traveling wizard. Kate and Oliver fall in love, but there’s little hope for this interracial bond—especially when Oliver is betrothed to a white girl who happens to be Nora’s flame. This heartbreak takes a dark turn after the trio’s powers call forth forces of evil. The chaotic climax pushes the underdeveloped real-life threats of racism and homophobia to the side in favor of 100-plus pages of nonstop demonic action, which feels distinctly out of whack with the leisurely Appalachian charm that oozes from the preceding pages. The result is a disjointed narrative that fails to stick the landing. (May)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Kennington sets her satisfying romantasy debut in the stratified Fjordlands country of Bhorglid, where the magically gifted godtouched look down upon the powerless godforsaken. As one of the latter, Princess Revna Thorunsdotter is despised by her family, useful only to be married off in a political alliance as part of the holy war against neighboring Kryllian. In a desperate gamble to evade this fate, Revna enters the Bloodshed Trials, a deathmatch against her brothers in which the last one standing claims the throne. During her preparations, she’s abducted by Kryllian’s general, the terrifying Hellbringer, who can kill with a single touch. To her surprise, however, his intention is to train her into a mighty warrior in hopes that her victory over her bloodthirsty relatives might bring an end to the war. As Revna hones her martial prowess, she and the aloof Hellbringer grow closer, discovering unexpected common ground. Kennington conjures a dangerous world populated by colorful characters and enhanced by an underlying tension—romantic and otherwise. Though the love story occasionally overshadows the political intrigue and familial drama, it’s undeniable that feisty Revna meshes well with her enigmatic and alluring captor. This is a promising start. Agent: Bethany Hendrix, Spencerhill Assoc. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bram Stoker Award winner Palisano (Night of 1,000 Beasts) puts a suspenseful twist on the classic sci-fi/horror trope of a space crew targeted by an unknown threat. In the 22nd century, an overcrowded Earth no longer has any available burial plots, a crisis the Vita Nova corporation capitalizes on with the launch of Eden, a satellite that serves as an orbital cemetery. In 2111, Eden’s operations are suspended following a system failure that causes toxic fluids to leak, creating a PR crisis for Vita Nova. The following year, with a backlog of bodies piling up, a select crew of five, “representing people from all walks of life and different cultures,” is sent to Eden to demonstrate that the problem has been resolved and reestablish public trust. The mission is led by Ava Duvay, who is grieving her missing spouse Roland, and includes star musician Tessa Nightingale, whose purpose is to “compose a new requiem for Eden and its tenants.” Upon arrival on Eden, the visitors are haunted by a disturbing entity, which threatens their sanity and survival. Palisano’s evocative prose makes the setting both eerie and enthralling. Fans of Event Horizon will be riveted. (May)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink