Recent Updates and Currently Reading | February 25

I only finished one book this week, but it was amazing. (No posts to report from me this week! Sorry. I'm just happy to be reading at all right now.)

I'm going to see Annihilation later today. I'm excited. I keep hearing amazing things about the movie. It's obvious that is goes in an entirely different direction from the book so I'm really curious where they are going to take it.

Read Last Week

Bird Box by Josh Malerman - I think I put off reading Bird Box this long because part of me thought I wouldn't like it. I was a dumbass. I loved Bird Box.

Added to My Shelves

Slowly We Rot by Bryan Smith - I was reminded of this book over at Bark's Book Nonsense. I had really wanted to read it a couple of years ago so I grabbed it on my Kindle. I made it about 10% before I DNF'ed it. The writing was great, and it seemed like a great traditional zombie story, but it took a turn I didn't want to follow.

The Cellar by Richard Laymon - This was another Kindle grab. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that this book has been on my shelf unread for a long time. Maybe putting it on my Kindle will help me read it?

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons - I know. I've been reading Summer of Night forever. I made it over halfway in my book, and I realized why I keep avoiding picking it up: the tiny margins and the tiny print of my paperback! So I bought the audio which is great. :)

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - Jenni Elyse is hosting a readalong of Anne of Green Gables through the month of March if you want to join in. I bought my copy yesterday, and I'm looking forward to discovering why I loved Anne so much as a young girl.

The Listener by Robert McCammon - My finished copy of The Listener arrived! This means it's available to read now, and you should.

Tenebrion by James H. Longmore - I met James Longmore at an author signing last night. He was adorable. I love people who love horror. I say it all of the time, but they are the nicest people. Tenebrion is about a group of amateur film makers who are making a film in an abandoned school. The director of the film is very meticulous about the details. During a scene in which they are summoning a demon, they get the details too perfect. "The devil is in the details."

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading this week or leave me some links!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?, Tynga's Reviews' Stacking the Shelves, and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | February 17

Happy weekend everyone! I tried to do an update post last week, and I failed miserably so today's post is going to include the last couple of weeks.

Have you guys heard about Wyrd and Wonder? It's just like SciFi Month, but it's for Fantasy! It's happening in May, and I hope you guys will join me for some good Fantasy reading. As much as I love Fantasy, I haven't read a tremendous amount so I'm going to be turning to you guys for some recommendations!

Posted Last Week(s)

Books That Have Been On My TBR the Longest and I Still Haven’t Read
The What If? Scam | Guest Post by Michael Patrick Hicks
Bram Stoker Awards 2017 Final Ballot Announced

Read Last Week(s)

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Lewis Barnavelt #1) by John Bellairs - I had never heard of this series until I found books 2 and 3 in a thrift shop. Ever since then, the universe has been screaming at me to read it. It's like when you hear a word for the first time, and then you hear it over and over again for the next couple of weeks.

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones - As soon as my reviewing mojo comes back, I'm going to tell you guys all about Mapping the Interior. It's worth reading, and it gave me a huge book hangover.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō - I'm so glad I grabbed this from the library because it was the only thing I was capable of reading after Mapping the Interior. This is a weird book, but I liked it. If you are in the mood to throw away everything you own, this book will help you do it.

Added to My Shelves

Broken Shells by Michael Patrick Hicks - I'm hoping to read this one really soon. It sounds like a quick and awesome read.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn - I think the only Gillian Flynn book I've read is Gone Girl, and I'm really curious about the rest of her books.

Under the Dome by Stephen King - I sat down to read Sleeping Beauties last week and got scared off by the four page list of characters at the front of the book. After receiving some helpful advice on Twitter, I returned Sleeping Beauties to the library and swapped it out for Under the Dome. I'll still be filling in one of my Stephen King holes, but I won't be as miserable.

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading this week or leave me some links!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?, Tynga's Reviews' Stacking the Shelves, and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Bram Stoker Awards 2017 Final Ballot Announced

The final ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards was released this week! The winners will be announced March 3, 2018 at StokerCon.

These are the nominees who made the final ballot:

The What If? Scam | Guest Post by Michael Patrick Hicks

Please join me in welcoming Michael Patrick Hicks to Book Den today!

The What If? Scam by Michael Patrick Hicks

Scams have been at the forefront of my mind lately, and not just because, at the time of this writing, I’ve recently learned that my identity was compromised and fraudulent accounts were set up in my name by a scam artist, putting me through quite the rigmarole of adding extra security protections and additional alerts everywhere. Scams, as it just so happens, are also the precipitating incident of my latest horror novella, Broken Shells.

Desperate car dealerships try to lure in customers by mailing them “winning” Money Carlo tickets. This game board looks a bit like something you’d buy at a gas station’s Lottery counter, and you pull up the tabs to match and win. Thing is, everybody is a winner, at least according to the ticket. Once the ticket has you primed with your initial winnings, you have to go into the car dealership, present them with your game board and the special QR code or whatever, and they’ll determine if you’re actually a winner or not. Well, news flash – you aren’t! The whole goal of the Money Carlo scam is to get you to set foot on the car lot and open yourself up to a hard sales pitch.

Money Carlo is an obvious scam. It’s totally in-your-face with its smarmy scaminess, it’s lurid bright colors, and promise of easy money.

But what if?

What if you’re down on your luck, recently fired, strapped for cash, and have a wife and infant to support? What if, with all that, you get a Money Carlo ticket? Even knowing it’s a scam, there’s still that little voice inside you saying, what if? What’s the worst that could happen, especially when you don’t have much else left to lose?

That’s the position Antoine DeWitt finds himself in during the opening chapters of Broken Shells. In a moment of desperation, he finds himself a lucky winner, and even knowing it’s a scam there’s still that surge of hope brought upon by what if?

To answer an earlier question, what’s the worst that could happen? Well, unfortunately for Antoine, his bad luck is about to get a whole lot worse when he meets car dealership owner, Jon Dangle. Dangle has his own secrets that drive him toward desperation, secrets that are far, far older than either man and that are buried deep within the Earth. Secrets that, if exposed, could—

Well, that’s another what if? for another time.


Goodreads | Amazon

ABOUT MICHAEL PATRICK HICKS

Michael Patrick Hicks is the author of a number of speculative fiction titles. His debut novel, Convergence, was an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 Quarter-Finalist. His latest release is the subterranean horror novella, Broken Shells.

He has written for the Audiobook Reviewer and Graphic Novel Reporter websites, in addition to working as a freelance journalist and news photographer.

In between compulsively buying books and adding titles that he does not have time for to his Netflix queue, he is hard at work on his next story.

To learn more about Michael and his work, visit his website: www.michaelpatrickhicks.com

Books That Have Been On My TBR the Longest and I Still Haven’t Read

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is books that have been on our TBRs the longest but we still haven't read them. Below are nine books that have been on my shelf forever, and I really want to read them. Several of these are in my TBR jar this year so I have my fingers crossed I will finally read them this year!

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddon
Ghost Story by Peter Straub



The Cellar by Richard Laymon
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry



The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
Midnight Rain by James Newman

Have you read any of the books on my list? Are there any I need to finally move to the top of my TBR?

January 2018 New Horror Releases | Horror Spotlight

You can expect to see more horror spotlight posts this month as we celebrate Women in Horror Month, but I didn't want January to get too far away without highlighting all of the horror that was published in January. If I left out any January releases, please let me know so I can get them added!

The Promise (Riker's Apocalypse Book 1) by Shawn Chesser
Published January 3rd 2018 by Morbid Press

Cry Your Way Home by Damien Angelica Walters
Published January 2nd 2018 by Apex Book Company

Witch Hunter: Into the Outside by J.Z. Foster
Published January 9th 2018



Body of Christ by Mark Matthews
Expected publication: January 9th 2018 by Wicked Run Press

City of Endless Night (Pendergast #17) by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Published January 9th 2018 by Grand Central Publishing

Apart in the Dark by Ania Ahlborn
Published January 16th 2018 by Gallery Books



No Light Beyond by L. Douglas Hogan
Published January 15th 2018 by Disgruntled Dystopian Publications

Sleep Over: An Oral History of the Apocalypse by H. G. Bells
Published January 16th 2018 by Talos

Black Wings of Cthulhu (Volume 5) by S. T. Joshi
Published January 16th 2018 by Titan Books



Generation Z by Peter Meredith
Published January 21st 2018

Staying Alive by John Edwards
Published January 22nd 2018 by Vital Publishing

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
Published January 23rd 2018 by Penguin Books



I Am a Hero Omnibus, Volume 5 by Kengo Hanazawa
Published January 23rd 2018 by Dark Horse Manga

Dracula's America: Shadows of the West: Hunting Grounds by Jonathan Haythornthwaite
Published January 23rd 2018 by Osprey Games

Living with the Dead (Famished #3) by Annie Walls
Published January 31st 2018

That's a Wrap | January Wrap-Up

I didn't accomplish all I had hoped in January, but it was still a productive month. As long as I stay ahead of my Goodreads challenge, I'm happy.

Novels

You by Caroline Kepnes (4.5 stars)

Writing Horror by Edo Van Belkom (4 stars)

Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1) by Jeff VanderMeer (3 stars)

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (3 stars)

Ghost Camp (Goosebumps, #45) by R.L. Stine (2 stars)

Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power (1.5 stars - rating breakdown included in the short story section)

Short Stories

Stab - Lawrence Watt-Evans (5 stars)
Metahorror edited by Dennis Etchison

They Swim by Night - Adam Millard (4.5 stars)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

The Listener - Algernon Blackwood (4 stars)
Public domain

The Empty House - Algernon Blackwood (4 stars)
Public domain

The Going Rate – John Boden (3.5 stars)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

Limb Memory - Tim Curran (3 stars)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

Hellscape - Rich Hawkins (2 stars)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

Only Angels Know - George Daniel Lea (2 stars)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

Extinction Therapy - Bracken MacLeod (1.5 stars)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

Molly - Glenn Rolfe (1.5 stars)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

The Passion of the Robertsons - Duncan Ralston (1 star)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

Darla’s Problem – Kristopher Rufty (DNF/Skim-to-end)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

Melvin - Matt Shaw (0 stars)
Splatterpunk Fighting Back edited by Jack Bantry and Kit Power

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | February 3

This is going to be another week without much to report. Work has been crazy stressful, and my mind has been pretty consumed after leaving the office. I'm very much looking forward to a rainy weekend full of reading, visiting blogs, and catching up on reviews.

February is Women in Horror Month! I'm hoping to get some posts up this month with some recommendations.

Barb is also hosting a They Call It Puppy Love challenge over at Booker T's Farm. I will be selecting something this week to read for the challenge. My 8 year old is obsessed with a dog series called Hero right now that he has asked me to read. I plan to start that series this month, too.

Read Last Week

I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't stretch out reading Robert McCammon's The Listener longer than the month of January, but this impossible week wound up keeping me from finishing it before February officially hit. It was so good I cried.

Added to My Shelves

In the past I've only highlighted the review copies that have landed on my doorstep, but I'm going to try to be better about sharing the books I've purchased or picked up from the libary as well.

Both Mapping the Interior and Bird Box were Kindle purchases. I'm excited to read both of these. I'm a little nervous about Bird Box because the reviews have been pretty love it or hate it, but I absolutely have to read it before the movie is released.

I was talking about coming of age books on Twitter the other day, and Dandelion Wine was recommended to me with extremely high praise. I had added that particular book to my wishlist pretty recently, but the high praise made me go ahead and order a copy.

I picked Sleeping Beauties up from my library, and I'm kind of mad at myself because now I have to read it. My hold also came up for the audiobook of Strange Weather (again). I'm hoping to squeeze it in this time.

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading (or watching) this week or leave me some links!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?, Tynga's Reviews' Stacking the Shelves, and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.