Title: The Rise – Five Tales From the Gulp

Author: Alan Baxter

Release date: February 13th, 2026

Back in 2021 & 2022, Alan Baxter gave us two memorable collections of novellas – first with 2021’s ‘The Gulp’ and ‘The Fall’ coming the following year. It introduced us to the odd and quicky (and mysterious) remote own of Gulpepper, Australia and the folks who inhabit it – some by choice, others involuntarily.

The stories of what took place within and around The Gulp were all fantastic, all cosmically charged and the mythos the Alan infused in each story made me want more. After finished ‘The Fall,’ I kind of assumed that Baxter was done (to a degree) with the world of ‘The Gulp,’ but then earlier in 2025, Alan messaged me to ask if I’d have time to beta read the third entry in the world. Unfortunately (and sadly on my end!), I simply didn’t have the time needed to devote what Alan would adequately need, as one doesn’t simply read the stories set in the world of The Gulp – insert Sean Bean meme here if you want – one lives and breathes them. And though I couldn’t beta read the collection of five new novellas, I preordered the Kindle edition and jumped in as soon as I could, once it loaded onto my e-reader.

What I liked: As mentioned, ‘The Rise’ contains five novellas of new stories taking place in The Gulp. This one is comprised of the first four being interconnected – both in location (duh!) and in narrative – before arriving at the fifth novella which combines everything that’s taken place and wraps up the insanity that built in the first four.

The first novella is ‘Strange Leaves,’ which was hands down my favorite of the batch, purely because it starts kind of hilariously and then goes bonkers. We follow two stoners, Adam and Neil, who accidentally kill the guy they buy pot from when they confront him over him selling them weed cut with junk. Not sure what to do, they decide to dispose of the man’s body in the middle of nowhere. Things take a turn when something happens to one of them and from there, The Gulp begins to unfurl its odd ways and Baxter kicks things off with a bang. This novella sets up the rest of the stories so very well, but is also a perfect opener to ease us readers back into the world and what awaits.

The next novella is ‘Sunlight on Clear Water,’ which was another very solid entry. This one atmospherically felt at the far other end of the spectrum from ‘Strange Leaves.’ This one follows Will, who is newish to living in Gulpepper. After answering an ad to come and be trained as a woodworking craftsman, he’s fallen head-over-heels with the owners daughter, Beverley. On this particular day, she takes him to an off-the-beaten-path reservoir to do a bit of skinny dipping and to enjoy a picnic basket. Of course, with this being The Gulp, some things are revealed and the true nature of what the job posting was all about takes a wild turn. This is a classic Baxter story.

The third novella is ‘Vitulinum’ and this specific one comes with some very pointed trigger warnings prior to it beginning. Should you choose to proceed, the story follows teen boy, Connor, who lives in an abusive household. His father’s a homophobic bigot and his mother’s no better. Between Connor’s older brother, Brendan and himself, they do their best to protect their little sister Serena from their father, Frank. As the abuse rockets ever worse, we get our first introduction to the strange suit wearing character known as Winterbourne. He offers Connor a decision and because of everything that’s been going on, it appears to be a lifeline. Connor’s best friend, Lauren, is there for him and the two of them have each others backs, though Lauren’s life is very, very different. It all comes to a head when the boys have to stand up one more time for Serena and Connor is forced to decide about Winterbourne’s offer.

This novella is powerful, grotesque and a sad reality when considering a lot of the world isn’t far off from how Frank and Lydia are.

The fourth novella is ‘The Gulpepper Institute of Health and Wellbeing,’ and if you’ve ever watched or read any horror in the past that involves anything with a title close-ish to this, you’ll know things are never going to be on the up-and-up.

The story follows international superstar musician Eevie Chill, who checks in to the newly opening institute to get help for their spiraling life. Within moments of being admitted, she realizes things are not what they seem and from there Baxter lets carnage and chaos reign. This was a lot of fun and when it ended, I wondered just where things could go from there.

And that brings us to the fifth and final novella in this collection. Simply titled ‘The Rise,’ we see everything that was building through the first four come together – both in Winterbourne’s plan, but also with Chrissy, the woman tasked with ensuring the strange energy and way of The Gulp is maintained and confined. We get a return of Blind Eye Moon, the famous band from The Gulp, and we see different characters from the first four novellas band together to protect the people and the place that is Gulpepper. Once again, Baxter does an amazing job of keeping all the moving pieces in order and tying it all together to see an epic finale come to a close.

The world that Baxter’s created within The Gulp and the mythos around it always feel fresh and familiar and always deliver the perfect amount of insanity us readers expect from stories focused on world’s such as these.

What I didn’t like: As mentioned, you may decide to bypass the ‘Vitulinum’ novella,  which considering the subject matter is understandable, but also does create a bit of a character plot issue when we get to the final novella. If you’ve skipped, you’ll not have much understanding about Lauren and what she brings to the table. It’s a tough one to truly navigate, because on one hand, that novella is very, very powerful. On the other hand, it wouldn’t have near the impact if it was PG13’d for readers and Connor’s decision would’ve been rather meh. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I also think you could sneak past that novella and be confident that Lauren is a resourceful character when she arrives in the final novella.

Why you should buy this: I think it goes without saying that if you read and enjoyed the first two entries into this world, getting the third is a no-brainer.

If you’ve not visited Gulpepper yet, this is your sign to grab all three and dive into a wonderfully weird and twisted world, where the sky is always swirling and the energy is palpably different. Baxter’s done the literary world such a huge favour by creating this world and these characters and continuing to deliver such richly rewarding stories. All while creeping us out with each and every entry.

Phenomenal. And fingers crossed a fourth set of stories is coming some time down the road.

Title: Driven

Author: Mason Coile

Release date: September 8th, 2026

*Huge thanks to Edelweiss & the publisher for a digital ARC of this one.*

‘I had found the dream I was meant to live, and it was the life I was already living. And then it was over.’

When’s a book not just a book?

It’s a question I’ve asked myself before, both internally and out loud to the wider world. It’s a question scholars have asked for hundreds of years. And it’s a question that’ll be pondered as long as we have books – in some form or another.

I imagine when Andrew wrote the short story and screenplay that became his first novel as Mason Coile, the wonderfully tech-savvy ‘William,’ that his intentions weren’t to write a trilogy that mapped out his final days metaphorically and with such aplomb.

No. I imagine back then, he was looking at writing what he called, ‘shorter, snappier thrillers.’

‘William’ kicked things off. And, I’ll admit with a bit of ‘for the record’ reader/reviewer/superfan pride, that after I posted my review of ‘William,’ not only did Andrew publicly confirm my theory of what that book was truly about, but we had several in depth conversations about that book itself.

While that book – on the surface at least – tells the story of a brilliant engineer with crippling agoraphobia who must confront his affliction when his AI creation goes off the walls, it was a metaphorical telling of Andrew’s world during the Covid-19 pandemic/lockdown.

Next up, we received the claustrophobic nightmare that was ‘Exiles.’ Again, when taken at face value, tells the story of astronauts sent to aide in the set up of the initial Mars colony, but when they arrive the three robots there are in the midst of a meltdown causing the base to be mostly destroyed. I’ve read the book three times now and had my suspicions this was another of Andrew’s metaphorical examinations. Diagnosed at this point with terminal cancer, the story maps out Andrew’s treatment journey, his body the base, the doctors and modalities the astronauts and robots, all ultimately failing to figure out a way to make things right and give us the happy ending we all so desperately hoped for.

Which brings us to his third novel as Mason Coile. ‘Driven.’ By all public accounts, this is the finale of the Mason Coile books. Andrew’s swan song with his pseudonym.

Yes, we got the final (with Andrew Pyper that is) Oracle audiobook, that release finished by the amazing Craig Davidson. And while I know of two other unpublished Pyper books – one stand alone and one co-written with Craig (though, I’m not sure if it’s under Craig’s name or as Nick Cutter) – those I’ve asked are unsure if they’ll ever see the light of publishing day.

I finished this one last night and I couldn’t sleep after. I made notes. I reread a few spots I’d marked. I wanted to email Andrew all my thoughts and questions and wanted confirmation about my theories.

If you’ve read any of my other reviews, understand this one’s going to take a different format. Let’s call it an examination, if you will. And hopefully I’ll do this book the justice it deserves in showcasing why you need to read it and why this three AI arc of books Andrew released as Mason are just as important as his arc of five books examining grief earlier in his career.

On the surface, ‘Driven’ tells the story of Jamie. Defeated and alone, he’s haunted. His wife and daughter have left him and his life around him has fallen apart. He’s moving from shit hole apartment to even shittier hole apartment, trying to outrun the terrifying ghoul that continuously pops up and chases him from each place. Home. That’s what he longs for but knows he can never find again. Not with his wife and daughter gone. Not with the ghoul always on his heels.

Hoping his haunting is purely quantified by four walls around him, he decides to buy a Lion, a fully autonomous car. He plans to live in the car, letting it drive him to wherever it wants to drive, so that he can get some sleep and hopefully some mileage between himself and the ghoul.

Of course, this is a horror novel, even with all the tech flashiness of the cover and hashtags and marketing that’ll accompany it, and things go sideways, leading us to several revelations. He buys the car from an odd, rich guy, one he knows to be untrustworthy. After waking, he discovers the hood of the car is dented and what appears to be blood on the windshield. From here it becomes a mix of what happened and what’s next. The pace increases, Jamie learns what happened and decides to make some of his own moves, in the hopes of making things from the past right. It turns into a surreal cyberpunk sleuth novel, where we get threats, actions, and an unlikely friendship.

But I can’t read this book purely on the surface. And I imagine if you know my love of Andrew’s work, and how much I cared for the man himself, you’ll know that I read this with my Pyper Superfan cap on. And for those of you who’ve been reading Andrew since his first collection in 1996 came out, you’ll understand just what Andrew was doing within this book.

You see, Andrew was saying goodbye to us all.

And he was saying goodbye to his family.

Within this book are Easter eggs to each of his previous books. Knowing how cerebral Andrew was with his meticulous plotting and connecting the dots, I’m confident this isn’t me searching for things that weren’t there. No, as the book went on, I found myself grinning frequently, when little details popped up.

I’m going to do my best to remain spoiler free here, but no promises.

The biggest connection throughout his books and this one, is the ghoul-type figure that haunts Jamie. A ghoul-type figure is mentioned in all but two of Andrew’s novels in his career, something that became a bit of a staple in his writing.

For his 1999 debut, we get a ‘Lost Girls’ connection with Jamie having been a lawyer before his life spiraled, harkening back to when Bartholomew Crane arrived on the literary scene. Of course, this wouldn’t be an Andrew book without it being set in Toronto, which ties into almost every of his other books. We see a connection to ‘The Damned’ with a scene between Jamie and his mom. We get noted ‘The Killing Circle’ and ‘The Guardians’ Easter eggs with some very specific locations. And of course we get the tie in of technology with ‘The Homecoming,’ ‘William,’ and ‘Exiles.’

But the book that we get the most connectivity with is ‘The Demonologist.’ We get Jamie going into a cellar, we get him longing to be reconnected with his daughter, we get a description of wall colors and most notably, we get what appears to be an ending that mirrors – though more defined – than what happens in ‘The Demonologist.’

Throughout this novel, Jamie is saying goodbye to his loved ones. And frankly, it was hard to read. Because I knew who was writing those words.

In my years of friendship with Andrew, nothing was more apparent than his love for his wife and kids. And within this book, that love is almost palpable on the pages. We read about the little moments between Jamie and his wife, Lauren, that reinforced his love and remained imbedded deep within his brain. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of those moments were from Andrew’s real life. We read about the small, tender moments with Jamie’s daughter, Olivia, and we’re reminded about how much Andrew loved being a father. And when the revelation of ‘why’ they’ve left arrives… it’s a hard section to get through.

If this is the finale of the Mason Coile AI-tech novels, Andrew has done a stellar job of showcasing the terror that can take place when AI begins to think for itself and stop listening to those who’ve created it, but also highlighting the dependency and intangible connections humans make with those devices. We’ve already started to see it in commercials, of people using smartphone AI options as though it was a real, living, breathing friend. And Andrew dissected the why and wrote three books about what happens when we allow it to get out of control.

At the end of the day, ‘Driven’ showcases everything that made Andrew’s books so special. It is the story of a man, trapped in a car, wondering what comes next. A story that mirrors Andrew at the end of his life. A man trapped in his body, losing control, desperately wanting to remain forever with his family. Desperately wanting to live a longer life at the place that means more to him than any other place ever could.

Home.

 

 

That’s right!

Kaiju Killers Pt I – the first of two novellas that act as sequels/companions to my novel Mastodon is NOW OUT!

The cover was designed by Geoff Parrell – thank you, Geoff! – who does fantastic work.

Available for KU/eBook/paperback right now – you can snag it at this universal link;

mybook.to/kaijuone

You can also order it from your favorite bookshops!

It’s on Goodreads as well – here’s the link;

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/247792086-kaiju-killers-pt-i

And of course – here is the synopsis!

What lurks deep within the remote Rocky Mountains, not far from Golden BC?

It’s time to return…

Iron Marshall has made a career out of going where nobody else will go. Off the books. Getting the job done. He’s been in the thick of things before, areas and events kept from the public eye.

But after being assigned to a secret complex near Ogre Peak, he begins to question what’s happening there and why.

As more strange occurrences take place, Iron struggles to maintain the façade of being ‘just a soldier.’

‘Kaiju Killers I’ takes you back to the basin, back to where things are never what they appear to be, and answers some of those burning questions asked in ‘Mastodon’ – while expanding upon that world and introducing much, much more…

 

Full paperback wrap below!

Title: A Dash of Demon (Achewillow #1)

Authors: J.-F. Dubeau & Amy Frost

Release date: June 16th, 2026

*Huge thanks to J.-F. for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*

I have to admit that I really don’t listen to any podcasts. I manage to fit in maybe one of The Ghost Story Guys podcasts a week when I can and same with Ronald McGillvray & Michael Shotter’s The Post Mortem Report. The biggest part of it, honestly, is that I just don’t have the time in the day to listen to something in any dedicated fashion. It’s also why I’ve listened to a total of three audiobooks in my life (and it probably wouldn’t surprise you to know they are the three audio only Andrew Pyper books!).

I was away of Dubeau and Frost’s ‘Achewillow’ podcast though, where Dubeau and Frost were writing this crazy world of mystery and creatures and Frost was narrating.

When it was announced that a book was being released for it, I was excited. I’m a huge fan of Dubeau’s loving both of the God in the Shed books as well as his sci-fi novel ‘The Life Engineered.’ I was intrigued and when he posted on FB about any reviewers interested, I reached out and he kindly sent me a digital copy. And he also mentioned that this wasn’t the traditional horror that I might be used to, when compared to his two (with a third coming) God in the Shed books. Fine by me! I was excited to see what they’d created and dove into this one with great anticipation.

What I liked: The novel opens with our main character, 20-something Miriam DuFour being kicked out of culinary school. On top of that, she’s living in her ex-boyfriend’s apartment, funds depleted and looking up from the very bitter bottom of her life. Then, she’s contacted out of the blue. Her grand aunt has passed away and left Miriam her coffee shop in a remote small town – Achewillow. Miriam’s never heard of this aunt, nor the town, but believing she can head there and sell the place and pocket the cash, she goes.

Dubeau and Frost set things up nicely. We immediately feel like we’ve known Miriam for our whole lives and we instantly want to see her succeed, see her catch any sort of break at all. Miriam hitches a ride with a burly truck driver, one that she’s unsure of, and when the man starts telling her that bodies have started to be found in Achewillow, she wonders what she’s even doing going to the town.

Once there, the authors quickly introduce us to a cavalcade of small town people, all folks who you’ve come across before in your life at some point, and we see Miriam thrust into the centre of the mystery. Who is killing these people? And was that a demon she saw walking near the shop?

The final half is a fun who-dunnit that morphs into a survival-against-huge-odds story, one where we see Miriam grow stronger and more confident while also realizing that maybe this strange place is where she wants to call home going forward.

What I didn’t like: For me, the only thing that I wished to be different, or rather that I noticed felt off, was that a body is found and Miriam is suspected to be involved almost immediately upon her arrival (technically during her first night there), and I wished it happened a day or two after, simply so that it could’ve given us a bit more time to see some of the ebbs and flows of the town. Saying that – with this being a podcast originally, that may have simply been a result of timing/ending of an episode, which would make sense based on the beats of when this happened.

Why you should buy this: I’m not overly familiar with the huge variety of sub-genres in the dark fiction world, but I have to believe this is bread-and-butter ‘comfort horror’ yeah? I imagine it’s what ‘Schitt’s Creek’ would be like if it was mixed with ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer.’ Or more accurately, this felt like when I watched The Kids in the Hall’s mini-series “Death Comes to Town.’

Quirky, tense, mysterious and ultimately heart-warming, this novel will be one I think will catch a lot of readers off guard, while also grabbing those same readers and not letting go.

What a wonderfully done novel, one that gives you light and dark in perfect mixture.

Pun intended.

 

Title: Scratch Moss

Author: David Barnett

Release date: September 1st, 2026

*Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC of this one!*

I’ll admit, this one wasn’t on my ‘absolutely need to read list,’ even after seeing Kealan Patrick Burke raving about it on one of his social media pages. As you probably know, I LOVE folklore and all that comes with it, but the description of this one, with the multiple timelines had me on the fence about reading it. That changed after I was messaging with All Star reviewer, Tony Jones, who told me I’d love it. I popped on Netgalley, saw it was still available and requested it. Amazingly, I was approved and hopped onto it shortly after.

Going in, I was really excited to feel the atmosphere this one suggested and was elated to find that it had exactly that and so much more.

What I liked: The story follows down-on-his-luck author Joe, who is returning to his childhood home in Scratch Moss, to attend his father’s funeral. Though his father is viewed as a hero to many, Joe’s memories of those early years are shrouded in trauma blocking and he doesn’t remember much of Scratch Moss, or why his father spent most of Joe’s life in prison.

Soon after arriving, his mother begins to act strangely and when Joe catches up with one of his first boyhood crushes, the past begins to return to him.

From here, Barnett gives us a descending timeline all the way back to 1905, then re-ascends back to present day, sharing how the events from over a century ago played out to the townsfolk over the years and even the town itself.

There’s a lot of connecting-the-dots that take place as the story reveals itself, and learning the history of Scratch Moss was a lot of fun – though obviously dark and twisted.

As we re-ascend to present day, the reality of what needs to happen is showcased front and center and I appreciated that Barnett didn’t find a way to weasel the story out of confronting things head on. The ending – though briefly described – still works to answer a lot of those burning questions you’ll have.

What I didn’t like: Though I really liked the book, I still wasn’t super onboard with the descending/ascending timeline layout of the book. I found by the time I got back to the present day at the end, I had to remind myself about what was happening as it’d been a bit since we’d been there. I think that would read differently if you’re able to sit and read this straight through in one or two sittings, but with my current reading, I wasn’t able to do that.

Secondly, there’s an epilogue of sorts that ties this book into Barnett’s other books and because I’d not read those, the big reveal moment of tying them together had no impact with me. So, for new readers who’ve not read any of his other stuff, Barnett does describe it a bit in the afterword, but I found it unnecessary after how solid the ending was.

Why you should buy this: If you love atmospherically dark folklore with tons of timeline building and following something causing chaos over the course of a hundred years, look no further. This was like wrapping a Kealan Patrick Burke novel into an A.M. Shine novel and then having Adam Nevill rewrite the whole thing.

Bleak, haunting and absolutely captivating.