because i feel like reccing horror:
delicious foods by james hannah: a disturbingly plausible story about mother and son darlene and eddie, who are separated after darlene, grieving the death of her husband and struggling with addiction, takes a job offered by agricultural company Delicious Foods, which promises good pay processing the fruits and vegetables grown on an isolated farm. eddie sets off on a journey to find his mother, whose sanctuary has quickly turned into a nightmare. probably one of the most heartbreaking and disturbing books I’ve ever read.
the witch of edmonton by thomas dekker: populated by a host of prejudiced, largely unsympathetic but terribly human characters, the witch of edmonton is a Renaissance play dating back to the 1620s which promises, in it’s own opening, “forced marriage, murder, and revenge”.
ostracized by callous townsfolk, widow sawyer finally gives into temptation and is approached by the devil, who takes the form of a jolly and flirtatious black dog named tom. tom works his mischief on the town’s hypocritical and secretive citizens to gain sawyer some much needed relief and revenge, while meanwhile frank thorney, separated from his lower class beloved winnifred and forced to marry another by his father, spirals into a dark plot to free himself entirely unaided by satan.
the good house by tananarive due: attempting to reconnect with her teenage son and hoping to co-parent peacefully with her arrogant ex husband, angela returns from LA to her sleepy hometown of sacagawea, washington, where she was raised by her grandmother after the death of her mentally ill mother.
however, tragedy ensues almost immediately after the move, and two years later angela returns to uncover the truth of what has been happening to her family since they first fled to washington in the aftermath of the civil war, as well as the true origins of her grandmother’s sinisterly alluring colonial house.
ring shout by p. djéli clarke: a very short, very fast paced and roaring novella set in the 1920s during the height of the klu klux klan, ring shout centers around maryse, who seeks to avenge her murdered family with a magical sword powered by the spirits of the dead, as well as killing the demons of the kkk, both human and otherwise.
IT by stephen king: infamous cocaine fueled orgy sequence aside, IT is still one of king’s best works for all its flaws and has left an undeniable impact and outstanding influence on the americana horror genre.
telling the story of a quintessential quaint 1950s town hiding a web of dark secrets, IT tears apart past nostalgia for ‘a purer time’ and ‘when things were simpler and sweeter’ by exposing the racism, misogyny, hatred, and overall cruelty of an america not too long ago.
IT gives real credence to childhood fears and adult trauma, and depicts a touching and heartfelt friendship between a group of outsiders who learn early on they’ll have to band together to survive a vicious world that likes to kick when they’re down.
fierce kingdom by gina phillips: probably more thriller than horror, fierce kingdom takes a very simple and horrifying scenario: a mass shooting at a zoo on a sunny afternoon and stretches it into a tight character study of a majority female ensemble cast, connecting a diverse group of people within one terrible day. but at it’s core fierce kingdom is about a mother’s love for her child and what she is willing to do to survive a situation with no good options.
dragonwyck by anya seton: gothic romance with more than a dash of horror at its finest, dragonwyck tells the story of dreamy and naive miranda, a romantic farm girl sent to work as a governess for her distant and wealthy dutch cousins in upstate new york in the 1860s.
while disappointed to find herself treated less like a princess and more like a servant, miranda is both frightened and entranced by the mysterious manor house of dragonwyck and its master, the enigmatic genius nicholas, who despairs of his unhappy marriage and lack of a male heir.
at its best and worst, dragonwyck is dated, cheesy, outright offensive in its depiction of immigrants and minorities, surprisingly timely and astute in its depiction of class struggle and the practiced apathy of the elite towards the poor and working class, and all in all, delightfully gripping in its suspense and drama.
self obsessed and petty miranda is far from a likable or relatable heroine, but she is a very, very entertaining one, and seton’s nicholas is a byronic antihero in its purest form, at turns endlessly charming and breathtakingly cruel.
