This is my second "return" to Riffle. I am amazed at how much the automobile accident took out of me and how badly some of the drugs interacted with my system.
Heck, Oxycodone, (An opioid pain medication) which is experiencing nation wide abuse gave me a high that left me not caring about my job or the stuff that made my life fun such as reading books, making Riffle book lists or writing.
When my prescription ran out, I even suffered (very) mild withdrawal symptoms for a couple of days.
Right now I'm taking things one day at a time. I've done a lot of reading since January (which was a total loss reading-wise) and I've started working at least two hours on book lists at Riffle just to see if I can keep the commitment.
So far, so good.
In the meantime, you can check out the best new horror books for May 2017 and perhaps find a new story to read. Let me know in the discussion below if any book tickles your fancy.
To see additional Essential Horror Books lists, check out the links below:
"The White Road" by Sarah Lotz. Simon Newman seeks to save his website "Journey to the Dark Side" by indulging in dangerous adventures sure to gain clicks to his site. After a harrowing trip to the Cwm Pot caves, he decides to climb Mount Everest. However, when he finally reaches "the Death Zone" above the 8,000 foot mark, he discovers the truth behind a decades old tragedy that may spell his end.
"Mormama" by Kit Reed. Lane moves her son Theo, into her ancestor's crumbling home where her three widowed aunts live. However, they are not alone for in the basement is a squatter -- a man with no memory only the house address in his pocket and the long dead family matriarch Mormama who tries to warn Theo of the dangers of living in the house.
"The Only Child: A Novel" by Andrew Pyper. Dr. Lily Dominick is a New York forensic psychiatrist who has finally encountered a psychotic that stymies even her. Accused of a heinous crime, this inmate with no name claims to be over two hundred years old and the inspiration for the monsters written about by Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Robert Louis Stevenson -- and that he is Lily's father.
"Gwendy's Button Box" by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar. It is 1974 in Castle Rock, Maine and heavyset Gwendy finishes climbing a long staircase when a stranger named Richard Farris offers her a box with two levers and buttons on it. The levers give her chocolates which slim her down and add o her confidence...but what do the buttons do? It's doubtful they'll do anything good in this novella by King and Chizmar.
"Dark Cities" edited by Christopher Golden. Twenty authors contribute nineteen brand new tales of horror and dread in the big cities anywhere and everywhere. Here are terrors beyond the common tropes of vampires and werewolves -- here a monsters that lurk in the places every city dweller passes or spends time in. And not everyone in the big city will get out alive. . . .
"Skitter: A Novel" (The Hatching Series Book 2) by Ezekiel Boone. "The Hatching" ended with Dr. Melanie Guyer observing that the ancient, previously unknown and pernicious species of spider they'd been dealing with was only a colonizer, to pave the way for the next wave of "spiders". Now the next wave hatches and the world, still reeling from millions of deaths, have a new threat to deal with.
"Monstrous" (A Savage Novel #2) by Thomas E. Sniegoski. In the first book of the series, "Savage", Sidney Moore and her friends had to deal with a horrifying storm that somehow turned every animal on the island of Benediction into a weapon. Now the storm has reached the shore and the city of Boston lies vulnerable to the animal-affecting nightmare. Only Sidney and her friends can fight the storm and figure out where it came from.
"Only the Dead Know Brooklyn: A Novel" by Chris Vola. Ryan Driggs is a Brooklyn vampire, who falls in love with a Manhattanite woman named Jennifer, because Ryan cannot leave Brooklyn, his home for over one hundred years, because outside the borough he changes back into a deathly ill mortal. Then Jennifer is kidnapped by Manhattan vampires and Ryan becomes embroiled in a deadly conspiracy.
"Dreamfall" (The Dreamfall Duology #1) by Amy Plum. Seven insomniac teenagers agree to test an experimental new procedure that claims to help the find sleep again. A malfunction send them plunging into a shares dreamscape of their worst nightmares. they must work together to battle their deepest fears or never wake up again. This is a teen psychological horror novel but adults will like it too.
"House of Furies" (The Coldthistle House series #1) by Madeleine Roux. Seventeen-year-old Louisa is a new maid at a boarding house called Coldthistle. Soon, Louisa realizes that the proprietor, Mr. Morningside, and his staff judge the guests and execute their own "justice". When a handsome and charming Lee comes to Coldthistle, only Louisa can save him from a final judgement in this teen horror novel.
BONUS BOOK: "Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea" story by Mike Mignola and Gary Gianni, art by Gary Gianni. After leaving a deserted island, Hellboy is captured by the crew of the ghost ship, The Rebecca. The ship's captain wants to sell the talking abomination to a circus, but a woman on board wants Hellboy's help in tracking down a mysterious sea serpent.
BONUS BOOK: "The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant" by Simon Ward. Ridley Scott returns to the universe of the films "Alien" and "Prometheus" in his latest movie "Alien: Covenant". This official companion book introduces the reader to the movie's technology, planet's environments as well as interviews with cast and crew and movie artwork.
BONUS BOOK: "Horror Cinema" by Jonathan Penner and Steven Jay Schneider. Taschen brings you the revised and expanded book on horror movies. 640 pages of movies, brief commentary and photos, lots of movie photos. Includes a list of the top 50 best horror movies.
