Today’s guest is a fantastic author and is diving into the world of small press publisher as well! Red has been a super supportive and encouraging friend since we first connected and I think there will be a lot of folks out there who have a similar sentiment!

Super excited to have Red stop by today!

Welcome Red!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Red: I have this condition where if I stick to the same routine for more than a couple of weeks, my creative soul slowly begins to disintegrate. So I switch it up. Sometimes I do really well from 5-7am, and other times of the year I’m sitting in bed in my PJs, knocking out some words. I try not to focus so much on word count as I do hours. Sometimes 2 hours might yield a thousand words, or if it’s flowing easily, four thousand. Back in 2016, I developed some good writing habits by doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). It challenged me to hit about 1600 words a day or more, every day, for the entire month of November. And I did it. At the end, I had a 52,000 word manuscript. It was a hot mess, but it really taught me about dedicating time. If I can dedicate the time, fairly distraction-free, then the words will come.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Red: I think it would depend on the nature of the contents. Is this something that the author obviously never wanted to share? If so, I’d respect that. Or is this something I could give back to the family, if there is one? I’m probably putting way too much thought into this.

Ultimately, as long as it wasn’t some breech of privacy, I think I’d keep it all for myself for a week so I can read it first. And once my selfish heart feels satisfied, I’d then share it with the world.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Red: Nightmare Sky: Stories of Astronomical Horror, releases November 4, 2022. I’m a life-long lover of astronomy. A person who, whenever I step out my front door, my eyes are drawn up. I’m the friend who always spots the shooting stars, because I’m always looking up. The sky has always been a tether for me. When the world is spinning out of my control, the sky is my constant. It’s a comfort. But it’s also a great source of fear for so many. I’d been wanting to do an astronomy-horror collection, and I have plenty of my own night-sky themed stories that I could probably put one together. But I also had been wanting to dip my toes into editing an anthology. So, I combined my two desires, and now I have Nightmare Sky. There are 28 stories and poems, ranging from psychological to apocalyptic, from sci-fi to bizarre, from quiet to gruesome, and they all explore our awe-inspiring—and terrifying—human connection to the stars. There are a lot of new talented voices in horror in this anthology—people I think we as a community might want to keep an eye on.

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your super power?

Red: I am Word-Spewer. Any story I imagine doesn’t require sitting at a laptop for months in order to tell it. When the story feels completely imagined in my mind, I retch rhythmically like a cat about to puke and eject the entire story into a document. A polished, well-written hairball of a story, all ready to submit. This superpower is entirely self-serving—I don’t think I can be anyone’s hero with this power, other than my own.

That, or flying would be cool.

Awesome! Thank you so much, Red!

To find more of her work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B072K5XH4B

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RedLagoe

Website: https://redlagoe.com/

You know what I love? Seeing people get their debuts out into the world. Today’s guest, Mark MJ Green, was someone I connected with through his reviews and support.

Mark has always been super kind and continues to showcase all the exciting books he’s read and enjoyed. I’ve also loved connecting with Mark and exchanging some Christmas Cards between our kids. It shows you just how small social media has made the world.

Anyways, when I reached out to Mark, I was so excited he agreed to do a 3Q’s!

Please welcome Mark!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Mark: My writing time has been a sporadic mess as I try to juggle time with my family, writing reviews and recording and editing podcasts with my friend and fellow writer, Lee Richmond. Lately, though, I’ve been trying to get myself settled into a more set routine. On days when I manage to stick to it, I try and write for a few hours in the morning, break for a couple of hours to do some chores, walk the dog, or work on a few other things, and then; get back to writing for a few more hours in the afternoon, until it is time for me to pick my kids up from school.

On average, I get two thousand words down each session, but I don’t currently have an office or private writing space, so most of my work will be done sitting at the dinner table.

So far, I haven’t planned out any stories too much in advance. I have the title and a small paragraph outline of what it will be about, and then I write and see where it takes me.

For the story I am currently working on, I decided to set out with more of a plan in mind and made notes for the requirements I wanted to hit in each chapter. It seems to be working for me, so I am trying to stick with it.

I do find it difficult to keep to a strict schedule due to some brain-related issues, as I suffer from headaches and brain fog, so sometimes, I struggle to get into the necessary mindset, but once I get going, I love every part of it. Especially those unplanned moments. The ones where an idea filters from my brain and onto the keyboard almost effortlessly. I enjoy that feeling when something unplanned pops into my brain, and the story in my head truly evolves and takes shape.

I am new to all of this, so there is still experimentation with what works best for me, but I enjoy a relaxed approach to working. Writing should be a fun, enjoyable experience. Especially if I can throw in a subtle reference to another of my stories or kill off a character that I hope readers will have taken a liking to. On average, I think characters have a seventy per cent mortality rate in my work, and I like the unpredictability that makes anyone at risk. Due to my slightly haphazard way of approaching my work, even I don’t always know I am going to kill off a character until I have decided it mid-process.

Someone foolishly asked if they could be a character in my next book, and I am finding immense enjoyment in putting little things into it that will hopefully make them laugh and call me names at the same time.

Most people won’t even know it is there, but a few will, and I love that.

As long as I get enjoyment from writing, and someone somewhere enjoys reading it, then I have achieved what I set out to do.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Mark: Stories are supposed to be shared. That’s why we write. We have an idea, and a desire to tell it. We hope someone else might want to hear it, and we put it down onto the page.

Obviously, I would do the sensible thing of trying to contact the author’s family, getting the work to them, and letting them have the final word on the issue.

If that wasn’t an option, and there were no family members or even publishers that the author had worked with available, and the decision fell solely upon me, yeah, I would get it published. I wouldn’t want to make money from someone else’s work, so that would go to charity. But I would love to keep the original manuscript. Although my wife would probably say, ‘Not more books, don’t you have enough?’

If I die with incomplete or unpublished work, I would like to think someone would pick it up and finish/publish it.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Mark: My latest, and first solo release is titled Abortus. It was initially a short story I wrote as part of Medley of the Macabre, which is a collection of ten short stories. Five of them are by me, and five by Lee Richmond. It was the first time I had written or published anything.

I revisited and rewrote parts of Abortus after the awesome Nancy Sienna Sundquist added me to a reading challenge on one of Duncan Ralston’s Facebook pages.

Abortus is about Mel, a drug addict who sells her body for money and has found herself pregnant again. Rather than have another child born addicted to drugs and placed into care where she will never see it again, she decides to terminate the pregnancy herself. A drug dealer/client makes her a large cash offer to let him film her undertaking the procedure.

Why should someone read it? They probably shouldn’t. It’s nasty.

It’s only around forty pages, and I’ve had reviews stating how readers had to stop to take a breather or that it almost made them cry, so it’s not going to be for everyone.

I wanted to create an extreme tale that was more than just gore for gore’s sake, and I tried writing something that would impact the reader. It’s not just the fucked-up nature of the situation Mel has placed herself into but also the psychological damage to her mind driving the story.

Being a new writer and knowing readers have enjoyed something I created – well, it blows my tiny, little mind.

I’m currently writing a short story called Birdsong. It won’t be an extreme tale, although the psychological aspect will still be there as it deals with an elderly widow with dementia. That, admittedly, doesn’t give much away, nor does it sound particularly creepy, but the horror elements will certainly be present.

After that – who knows? I have multiple ideas written down; I just need to decide on which one will be next. Most likely, I’m going to write something with a more comedic aspect, if only to give myself a break from characters with psychological trauma.

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your superpower?

Mark: There is no way I am responsible enough to have superpowers of any kind. I’ll inevitably do something idiotic through laziness or boredom. My favourite comics have tended to lean more towards anti-heroes, so things like The Punisher, Lobo and Dredd have been my favourites.

The other day we were on a family trip to visit Sheffield Comicon, and my youngest (who’s eight) tends to become bored and grumpy on more than an hour’s drive. He began complaining about how he wished he had teleportation powers. So, I would pick teleportation to make that aspect of my life easier. Also, I would never have to use the postal service ever again. I could teleport to wherever I need my parcel to go and deliver it myself.

However, I’d probably waste it on inane tasks like transporting myself from the sofa to the fridge; or the toilet. Basically, I’d be like an overweight version of Nightcrawler from the X-men.

Thanks, Steve. I really appreciate you getting in touch with me to be part of 3Q’s.

Hey, awesome! Thanks so much, Mark! I appreciate you doing this!

To find all of his work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Green/e/B086MK7WYS/

Say what you will about my fandom of Andrew Pyper, but my joy and love of his work is directly responsible for my connecting with today’s 3Q’s guest. A few years back, I was either raving about one of his books or doing a giveaway, and it led to me and Tessa chatting a bit back and forth. We shared a mutual love of his work, an admiration for just how kind he was and through that, we’ve been supportive of each other! The book world and community is a wonderful place and I’m so glad to have connected. As well, I’ve super happy that she agreed to do a 3Q’s!

Please, do welcome Tessa!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?
Tessa: I would describe my writing process as frenetic. I work best under pressure, so I tend to overcommit and overschedule myself, which means fitting the writing in wherever and however I can. I try to carve out a few solid hours a day to make sure I hit my word count, which at the moment is 1-2k because I’m currently drafting, but I usually end up writing while waiting outside my daughter’s school, at my son’s hockey practice, after midnight, and every free second in between.

Steve: You decide to host a writer’s retreat. One weekend in a luxury house on an island. What three other authors do you invite to come along?
Tessa: I would bring fellow mystery author Sarah Stewart Taylor because our series – both of which feature female investigators – have lined up book for book, and she’d make an excellent critique partner. I would love to invite Louise Penny in the hope that she’d reveal what’s next for Inspector Gamache. Tana French, whom I would ply with drinks and encourage to tell me dark stories, would definitely make the cut.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
Tessa: My next book is called THE KIND TO KILL, and it’s part small-town mystery, part serial killer thriller set (like all of the Shana Merchant novels) in the Thousand Islands. This is a book that I had meticulously mapped out, only to introduce a big twist at the eleventh hour, just two days before my deadline. It surprised the heck out of me, so I think it will surprise readers, too. It’s about a tourist who goes missing during a pirate-themed street festival, and the impact of true crime stories not only on a victim’s relatives but her killer’s own family.

Steve: Bonus Question! You receive an invitation in the mail from one of these two people. The invitation invites you to have dinner and spend the night in their home. Do you accept the invitation from Victor Frankenstein or Dracula and why?
Tessa: I happen to own a first-edition copy of Dracula given to me by my librarian mother, so I’d be eager to chat with the monster himself and find out what’s fact versus fiction.

Wowsa! That is amazing!

Thank you so much for doing this Tessa and best of luck with the book release!

To find more of her work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tessa-Wegert/e/B084KHG6VM

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tessawegert

Website: https://www.tessawegert.com/

Another fun one today here at 3Q’s!

Hot off the recent release of her collection, ‘Tales My Grandmother Told Me: Thirteen Unsettling Tales,’ Heather Miller was kind enough to stop by and share a bit about her process. Heather is someone who has helped a lot of writers throughout the years and remains a positive and encouraging force to this day!

Please do welcome Heather!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Heather: I do try to write at the same time each day, but which time of day that is varies depending on what I’m writing.  With my first book, Knock Knock, which took place almost exclusively during the nighttime/early morning hours, I did every bit of the writing between four and seven in the morning.  I generally write during whatever time of day the story I’m currently working on is set in.  It helps me get in the right mood.  I write for an hour or two at a time, which usually means somewhere between 1500-2000 words, depending on how many times my kids interrupt me!

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Heather: Oh, come on.  Of course you send that story out into the world.  Share the stories, share the love. Well, unless there’s some note on the manuscript that says, “NEVER TO BE PUBLISHED” or something.  Hmm.  That sounds like a story idea itself…

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Heather: My newest release is a short story collection titled TALES MY GRANDMOTHER TOLD ME.  In it are thirteen tales, most of which are based on stories or songs that my grandma used to tell us.  She was quite the character and she loved a good scary story.  She would scare us absolutely silly with creepy voices and the most awful facial expressions.  I’ve taken her tales and expanded on them a bit so that they read more like literary tales and not just oral retellings, but also still tried to maintain that creepy-spooky campfire tale feeling.  Some of the stories deal with the supernatural and some focus on the man-made horrors of real life.  There may even be a bit of humor hidden away in there somewhere.  The book is written for adults and has a sense of nostalgia about it that I think will strike a chord with most horror lovers.  It’s also “clean” horror so is perfectly appropriate for teens or even pre-teens who like to be scared (aside from a brief and non-detailed scene in the story “Cries from the Attic”, which portrays a sexual assault and may not be suitable for the younger end of that spectrum).

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your super power?

Heather: Well, my favorite characters are Jean Gray and Scarlet Witch.  So basically as long as I can be a red-haired femme fatale with the power to destroy the world, but with an eternal internal conflict as to whether or not I should, I’ll be happy.

Great choice! Thank you so much, Heather!

To find all of her work, take a look at the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Heather-Miller/e/B095YT8HRC/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HMillerHorror

Website: https://heathermillerhorror.com/

Got a fun one today for 3Q’s. Nick Roberts latest book, The Exorcist’s House, has stormed out of the gates and captivated readers from page one! Nick has been grinding it out for a few years now, so it’s always exciting to see when a book strikes reader gold!

I’m super happy to have Nick stop by today!

Welcome Nick!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Nick: My writing time varies throughout the year. With my first two novels, Anathema and The Exorcist’s House, I wrote them over my summer break from teaching. My routine was to wake up, exercise, and then have my butt in that computer chair at 10 AM every day. I wasn’t allowed to get up until I hit at least 1,000 words. Some days were easier than others, but I never sat there staring at a blank screen for more than a few minutes.

This past summer, I finished my dissertation for my doctorate, so that consumed all of my writing time. I’m finished with school now, but I’m back to work in the classroom. The novel I’m currently working on is coming along slower than usual because I have less time to work on it. I’m writing most of it at night (which is new for me), and I make time every other day rather than daily. Other than the fact that I’m not trying to burn myself out with work, family life, and writing, I have also increased my reading time. I have found that it’s essential to always be reading. It’s improved my writing and brought me closer to other authors in the horror community.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Nick: If I were to end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript by an author that I love, I would keep it to myself rather than share it with the world. This might sound like a selfish answer initially, but I promise I’d do it for honorable reasons. As an author myself, I would be mortified if a piece of my writing was published before I was ready to release it. Stories get edited and polished so many times that I wouldn’t want to share something unfinished without the author’s permission. This is, of course, assuming the author was not a total dick-bag in real life. (If I find an H.P. Lovecraft manuscript, you bet your ass I’m capitalizing off that guy.)

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Nick: I’m currently working on a dark horror novel that takes place in West Virginia—shocker, I know. This novel has nothing to do with my previous two. My main goal with this one was to write the scariest story imaginable. Yes, I wanted my first two novels to be scary, but I also had separate motivations with those. Anathema was written to depict a character in recovery who can live a normal life, no matter what horrors are thrown her way.

After dealing with more mature themes in Anathema, I was ready to have some fun with The Exorcist’s House. The Exorcist’s House is a roller-coaster ride through Hell with lovable characters that you actually root for. It’s a bit lighter in tone than Anathema, though equally as terrifying.

I’m a little over halfway through with the third one. This one is written primarily to unsettle even the most desensitized horror fan. It’s inspired by films like The Strangers and It Follows as well as books such as Stolen Tongues and Pet Sematary. It’s coming together nicely and will hopefully be out next year.

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your super power?

Nick: If I wake up in a comic book, I would be a dark vigilante in the vein of Rorschach, Batman, The Punisher, and Dexter. I’d have a creepy mask, lurk in the shadows, and strike unmercifully at evildoers. Like the characters previously mentioned, my only “superpowers” would be my mind, personality, ingenuity, and skills in hand-to-hand combat.

Ha! Very cool! Great answer! Thank you so much, Nick!

To find more of his work, please do check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Nick-Roberts/e/B084QG2HB4

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nroberts9859

Website: https://www.nickrobertsauthor.com/

Title: Mandate: Thirteen

Author: Joseph J. Dowling

Released date: January 10th, 2023

Since Tim McWhorter launched Manta Press, I’ve loved seeing the variety of phenomenal books that have been released. Spanning a wide scope of genres, Manta Press has quickly established themselves as a ‘must-read’ small press and one that you’re guaranteed to experience solid storytelling with lots of heart.

Case in point – Mandate: Thirteen. This one, while set in the very near future, has alarmingly real themes throughout and that alone pushed this into a truly uncomfortable reading experience.

I wasn’t totally sure what to expect going in, but this one packs a wallop.

What I liked: The story is set in a world where most women are now infertile and those who can have children are taken from their families and imprisoned in birthing facilities. Almost all of the ethnicities have been forced out of England and as the climate crisis worsens, prices rise, jobs become scarce and supplies limited.

Dowling does a solid job of teasing out these issues while also introducing us to the Randall family. The story really explodes when the fertility mandate changes to include girls aged thirteen. From here we follow father and daughter as they evade capture and attempt to make their way to the Scottish border and find a way to cross, hoping to get asylum.

The story is filled with emotions. We get a lot of secondary characters who are hard to trust, especially in such uncertain times and, as one would suspect, when trustworthy people are found, it’s only for a momentary reprieve, as those chasing quickly catch up.

There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, plenty of ‘hold-your-breath’ moments where you’re not sure what’s going to happen, and the ultimate climactic moment works really well to see how it relates back to decisions from the past.

What I didn’t like: Ultimately, for me, there were two things I wasn’t super keen on. The first was some of the dialogue was off. There were times where I read some of it and thought ‘nobody talks to each other like that.’ It might’ve been just me and for others it flows well, but specifically between dad and daughter, there were moments that I was pulled out of it by how the dialogue read between each other.

The second thing, which I can’t expand on too much as it would fall into major spoiler territory, was that I found there was simply too much extra stuff after the ‘ending.’ I do enjoy when we find out what happened after the finale and the final events have ended, but this kept going for a bit and was a bit much for me.

Why you should buy this: If you’re a fan of dystopian, all-too-real-feeling action based reads, look no further. This had shades of Nevill’s ‘Lost Girl’ throughout and was a thoroughly solid, great read that had me captivated the entire time.

Definitely one to bump up your TBR!

4/5

HOLY! I am SUPER excited for today’s guest! Cindy O’Quinn has been BEYOND supportive of everything I have ever done and I’ve been humbled to appear on a few TOC’s with her. Her writing and poetry is pristine, powerful and conveys so many emotions. I’m so very happy and humbled to have her as today’s guest on 3Q’s!

Welcome Cindy!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do
you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Cindy: For years I wrote in the mornings from around 9:00 until noon. Life changes and sometimes schedules need to be altered. That’s happened with my writing routine multiple times. I’ve written at night, once everyone goes to bed. And there was a time when the children were young, I would get up at 3:00am and write until breakfast time. The key for me is flexibility and not a set word count.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you
love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Cindy: I get a thrill out of being an early reader for writers. That leads to my answer, I would read that manuscript like it would self combust if I didn’t read fast enough. Afterwards I would give it to the estate’s
executor for the world to read.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should
read it!

Cindy: Foundlings is a Found poetry collection I co-wrote with Stephanie Ellis. It’s from the
works of two of our favorite writers: Linda D. Addison and Alessandro Manzetti. They
were both so gracious with their Forewards for the collection. We are thankful for all the
blurbs and support from fellow writers. If you’re not familiar with Found poetry, what
better place to start with than the words of Linda and Alessandro? Foundlings, now
available on Amazon. I found out recently that my sonnet, “Unrepentant”, has been accepted for Shakespeare Unleashed, edited by James Aquilone. I’m quite pleased by the news.

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your superpower?

Cindy: My character name would be Brain-wave, and I would have the ability to control the minds of the most horrible criminals in the world. I would stop them before they hurt or killed anyone.
Thanks again, Steve. It’s been a pleasure.

Thank you, Cindy! The pleasure has been all mine!

To find more amazing work from Cindy, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cindy-OQuinn/e/B01N0TN3TN/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/COQuinnWrites

What I love about 3Q’s – and I’ve said it before and will say it again – is that it has featured such a variety of authors, throughout so many different stages and levels of their writing career/time!

Today’s guest is an author whose work I greatly love! He’s been churning out stuff for a while now and every time he announces something new, I get super excited!

Please, do welcome Adam Light!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Adam: My writing schedule is about as seat of the pants as you can picture. I write when I can, and take notes wherever I may be. I don’t always end up using those notes, or even remembering them at all for that matter, but it does tend to help. I have notebooks piled everywhere. As far as word counts, I don’t like to get too hung up on that aspect of it, but I do, like everyone else, I’m sure. But at the end of the day, I like to think even if I have only saved a hundred good words, I can feel satisfied by that.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Adam: If I stumbled on this amazing unpublished work, and had to make that decision, I’d get it published the proper way so all of that author’s fans would benefit.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Adam: I haven’t released anything new for about a year, and that was Dreams for the Dying, a collection of previously released short stories. I’m working on a bunch of new things right now, and I decided I wanted to try finishing a new batch of stories, and releasing it all at once this time. I love the short form, and feel I flourish in that realm, so it has been my main focus when writing. I do have a novel or two that are in various states of completion, and hope to wrap some of that material in the near future. For now, if you dig short horror and weird tales, you should totally check out Dreams for the Dying.

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your super power?

Adam: I would probably end up in a Simpson comic book, and discover that I am Grampa, and I have succumbed to Bonus Eruptus. My super power would be spitting my skeleton from my mouth to scare off my enemies!

Ha! That’s a really great one! Thank you again, Adam!

To find more of his work, definitely check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Adam-Light/e/B0075WNUK8

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdamDLight

Title: Episode Thirteen

Author: Craig DiLouie

Release date: January 24th, 2023

Firstly, huge thanks to Craig, the publisher and Netgalley for approving me for a digital ARC!

I gotta admit – going into this one I was very very leery. Why? A few reasons. I’m a huge fan of DiLouie’s writing, but (and I say this with utmost respect) – his last novel ‘The Children of Red Peak’ frustrated me to some degree while reading it. Secondly – I really struggle with epistolary storytelling. BUT – and I do mean BUT – ‘Suffer the Children’ is one of THE best books I’ve ever read. So, I was right down the middle of road for what to expect. I knew I wanted to read this, I just knew I needed to have an open mind going in.

As a side note – and I usually hate mentioning my own writing in my reviews – but while reading this, I was working through writing/adapting my first screenplay, based on my own work. I think that exercise in processing my novella in screenplay format actually worked to my advantage for reading this.

What I liked: The story follows a team of ghost hunters, during their first season of filming their show ‘Fade to Black.’ Having now received permission to investigate a notable location that hasn’t been investigated before, the group heads to Foundation House and dives into their filming and investigation full-on.

DiLouie does a phenomenal job of letting each character breathe and get their footings before things begin to go sideways. We get to meet each of them and learn what makes them tick, as well as see what role they play within the dynamic of the group.

While normally this type of storytelling takes me away from the character development and I struggle to really stay engaged, this one rang different. And, as the story progresses, it worked well to give us different POV’s of events that happen, as well as working as a form so that each character gets to contribute instead of it being purely a singular main character tale.

I do have to say – this story goes to places you’ll never expect. It’s so hard when you have to remain spoiler free regarding what happens, but it was such a pleasure to see where this went as it’s so far away from the normal ‘haunted house’ trope.

What I didn’t like: While the different mediums of telling this story was really well done, I personally didn’t find much benefit or engagement from the text message convo’s between one character and their sister. The other pieces/forms used worked really well, but this particular one wasn’t one I enjoyed.

Why you should buy this: DiLouie doesn’t shy away from telling a story with dark subject matter and this one goes to some truly bleak places. Don’t let the epistolary aspect turn you away – it really does work in this particular case and the story hums along. I loved how this one started, where it went and how it ended. It was a perfect 1-2-3 punch and does leave a glimmer of potential for a further ‘investigative’ piece in this world.

Really well done!

5/5

Title: The Swarm

Author: Sean O’Connor

Release date: January 13, 2023

Over the last however many years, I’ve had the pleasure of discovering Sean O’Conner’s writing and the amazing world’s he creates.

Every time we get a new piece from him, two things are evident. A) It’s going to be a rollercoaster. 2) It’ll be a fantastic experience with lots of carnage.

And guess what? This is exactly what we get with his newest, ‘The Swarm.’

What I liked: ‘The Swarm’ is a story I describe as ‘The Thing’ meets ‘The Road.’ A father and his son are stranded in the artic, in the hollowed-out shell of their plane that crashed. The world has been overrun by crazy creatures that only come out at night and rip and shred all that moves and makes sound.

Sean fills this to the brim with emotions and the tug of the father-son relationship works so well to really elevate the environmental strife. He also brilliantly gives us the briefest glimmers of hope which pulls you along. The book doesn’t have much to offer in terms of bright-spots and that works so well and plays off the barren landscape to perfection, so these tiny, slivers work well.

The story goes in a few directions I didn’t really expect and as we learn a bit more about the ‘why’ we do get to see the layers of how things descended into chaos and what hopes they have of surviving.

The ending is powerful, poignant and O’Conner leaves the door open for the potential to have a follow up down the road.

What I didn’t like: While I liked the creature aspect and the human aspect of survival, what I didn’t think was expanded upon enough was the horrendous conditions they were living in and how hostile and brutal the cold truly is. With a shorter page count that’s understandable but I think a few expansions to detail about how inhospitable the surroundings are would’ve been great.

Why you should buy this: The novella as a form allows for truly great storytelling, in that, it is longer than a short story but often doesn’t suffer from the bloat of novels. O’Conner uses that to his advantage with this one. This is a fast-paced, claustrophobic, unnerving dose of frantic storytelling that can be devoured easily in a single sitting. Problem is, you’ll most likely take your time reading it in smaller bites, your body not able to handle it all at once.

Great stuff.

5/5