Blog Updates
Just two quick updates to state that I edited some pages under the “Lists & Challenges” tab. The first was to create a page for the Books of Horror Indie Brawl 2025. The second was to add a Splatterpunk Awards list with dedicated pages by year. I’d like to eventually read through the Splatterpunk Award winning and nominated books at some point, and will track my progress on those pages when I start.
Posts
Book Reviews
♥ Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution by Bernie Sanders (5★)
♥ Hungry by Ruth Anna Evans (5★)
♥ Saturday Mourning Cartoons by Aron Beauregard (4★)
♥ Tethered By Kismet by Camille Danciu (3★)
♥ Wave of Filth by Aron Beauregard (4★)
Manga Reviews
♥ Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito (3.5★)
♥ Home Office Romance by Kintetsu Yamada (5★)
♥ Mansion of Water by Miho Obana (2★)
♥ Sweet Poolside by Shuzo Oshimi (3★)
♥ You’re My Pet Vol. 1 by Yayoi Ogawa (4★)
Other Posts
♥ 10 Great Horror Cover Artists
♥ May 2025 New Release Horror Books
Books Read
Man have I been in a reading slump this month! It really is peaks and valleys with my reading sometimes. After a whopping 14 books last month, I managed 4 books and 6 manga this month. I don’t know what it was, since I read two excellent books by two authors I really admire: Ruth Anna Evans and Jason Nickey. I re-read Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito and something in my brain switched that made me want to start picking up more manga again. So I knocked a few out and it was fun.
Books
♥ Hungry by Ruth Anna Evans (5★)
♥ Mon Amour by Cat Voleur (2★)
♥ Past Due: Rural Decay II by Jason Nickey (5★)
♥ Tethered by Kismet by Camille Danciu (3★)
Manga
♥ Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito (3.5★) re-read
♥ Home Office Romance by Kintetsu Yamada (5★)
♥ Sweet Poolside by Shuzo Oshimi (3.5★) re-read
♥ Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano (4★)
♥ Toxic Daughter: Chi-chan by Shuzo Oshimi (5★)
♥ You’re My Pet Vol. 1 by Yayoi Ogawa (4★)
Life and Other Things
2025 Books of Horror Indie Brawl
Things are heating up for the Books of Horror Indie Brawl, and I’m excited to get started! From the onset I had only previously read two of the books on the list, while a good portion of the rest were authors that I had read other books by. While I would have liked to see a larger number of new authors selected this year, the books on the list mostly seem interesting. I’ve created a page to track my progress with the bracket here: Books of Horror Indie Brawl 2025.
For those not in the know, Books of Horror is a Facebook group for horror readers. Every year there is a community run “brawl” where members select, read, and vote on books in a March madness style bracket. Selections have now been completed, so we’re now in the season of reading until sometime in September. Membership closes ahead of voting to ensure votes remain with the group only, but now that we’re in the reading period you should be able to join if you’re interested in participating.
Home Renovation
My husband and I knocked out a little home renovation this month! We moved everything out of our “game room,” which is what used to be 3/4 of our home’s garage that was converted to a living space. My husband and I had our computer desks (one long desk) and a TV with game systems in there, and it is where we spend a lot of quality time. The flooring is slightly not leveled, so the laminate flooring we had installed when we bought our house several years ago had slowly been cracking and breaking over the last two years. We also learned the hard way that because this space was previously part of the garage that insulation is terrible, and the floor got really cold.
Well we finally ripped it all up, painted the walls black (its not as edgy as it sounds), and installed pet proof carpet. Tossed out our old desk and bought two corner desks, and instead of the previous TV stand we had in here we created a little corner reading nook with a recliner chair and new spinning book shelf! I’m still working on decorating the room hanging art, and we plan to mount the TV on the wall above my husband’s side of the room, but for now we are both so incredibly happy with how much cozier it is in here!
While working on this however, we did discover that the remaining 1/4 of the garage, which frankly we never go into. It became a sort of outdoor shed/outdoor storage has a mold problem on the ceiling (near the garage door). My step dad checked it out and confirmed it’s from a roof leak where the storm drain hangs over the garage. Over the next month we plan on clearing out all of the stuff out there and fixing that hole. Once that’s done, we’ll be removing removing the dry wall with the mold and taking a look up there to assess the full extent of the damage. Fingers crossed that it is not too bad. Thankfully the roof over the rest of my house is in good shape. Also, having a step dad that is a contractor is honestly THE BEST.
Books Hauled
eARCs (Author/Publisher)
♥ Ashes of August Manor by Blaine Daigle
♥ Beyond Repair by Matthew Salinas
♥ Red Walls by Christina Bergling
eARCs (NetGalley)
♥ Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson
♥ Hivetown, USA by Thomas Stewart
♥ The Shivers collection by Joe Hill, Stephen Graham Jones, Grady Hendrix, Catriona Ward, and Owen King
♥ Toxic Daughter: Chi-chan by Shuzo Oshimi
♥ What Hunger by Catherine Dang
♥ When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
Giveaway
♥ We Burn Our Dead by Ted Laughton (ebook)
Ebook Purchases
♥ Baise-Moi by Virginie Despentes
♥ Blood and Guts in High School by Kathy Acker
♥ Burner by Robert Ford
♥ Chasers by Mariah Darling & Eve Harms
♥ Conversion: The Ultimate Edition by J. F. Gonzalez
♥ Embracing The Darkness by Jeremy Mac
♥ Hungry by Ruth Anna Evans
♥ I Crave the Bleeding Flowers by Ash Ericmore
♥ Infliction by Rob Ulitski
♥ Les Femmes Grotesques by Victoria Dalpe
♥ Take Your Turn, Teddy by Haley Newlin
♥ The Black Farm by Elias Witherow
♥ The Light at the End by John Skipp & Craig Spector
♥ The Pet by Charles L. Grant
♥ Wildfire by Duncan Ralston
Physical Purchases
♥ A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
♥ Recessive Nature by Brandon Perras-Sanchez
♥ Terror! Horror! Agony! by Judith Sonnet
♥ The Lamb by Lucy Rose
♥ The White Bishop by Aron Beauregard & Brandon Perras-Sanchez
♥ Woom by Duncan Ralston
Amazon First
♥ The Artist of Blackberry Grange by Paulette Kennedy
♥ The One That Got Away by Mike Gayle
Next Month
I honestly have no idea what May will bring. I’m winding down after all the chaos of March and April, so this month I plan to take it easy and catch up on some ARCs and Indie Brawl reads. Well, and fixing the ceiling in the garage, but that’s a whole other thing.
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