Our Bindery Bookclub is back and with it comes some fun new features!

Our book to finish out June is one that I am so proud to say has my debut short story in it! It’s a medieval horror anthology under 200 pages. It had some FANTASTIC stories in it.

Of Plagues and Blasphemy 🔔

All proceeds go to The Trevor Project ❤️

The club is available through Fable and you can comment on each story without worrying about spoilers!

Link here 🔗 https://fable.co/club/bindery-horror-bookclub-with-ashreadshorror-238137833929?invite=5207f1aa-a08c-4abc-a187-c6bc60c5b3c8&referralID=BjEDttN2kn

Movie: Shelby Oaks

Where to watch: Hulu

Plot: A woman's search for her long-lost sister becomes an obsession when she realizes a demon from their childhood may have been real, not imaginary.

Run Time: 1 hr and 31 minutes

Pre-Watch Thoughts: I love a found-footage/Mockumentray so I hope I love this one. I know I loved Lake Mungo!

Spoiler Free Commentary While Watching:

I got my candle lit, my red moodlights on, and my trusty Mochi by my side. So without further ado, let's do this.

Glitchy video is never a good sign...

The tension in the opening scene is fantastic

Love the missing Paranormal Investigators. Makes me think of Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie.

Also getting Lake Mungo vibes as well which I am all here for.

Their videos are CREEPY

OMG SIR SPOOKS. I've watched that youtube channel lol

Oooh abandoned amusement park. Yes please

I love footage where you have to look closely and see something creepy in the background.

Gotta love when the childhood demon catches up to you.

WTF JUST HAPPENED

That took a CRAZY TURN

Makes me never want to open my door again.

OH whats he got there...

Some Hell House LLC vibes as well

OMG NOPE. The scene with the person on the porch was scary

The jumpscare dun JUMPED ME GOOD

EXCUSE ME.... That was not just there in the window

Digging deep with some research. Time to connect some dots

Dang husbands need to listen...

OMG no thank you... go away dog.

I would not be exploring a haunted, abandoned prison alone... no thank you

BEHIND YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

RUNNNNN DON'T JUST SIT THERE

I always wonder when people go this deep in investigation how they expect to survive.

Now we getting blair witchy on this mo

I don't know if I trust you Norma

OH F NO

EXCUSE ME

Sure follow the creepy lady into the basement

NOPE

What in the...

but is baby demon?

alllllllrighty then....

REVIEW

3.5

Shelby Oaks is a very tense horror movie at its core. The use of found footage and a documentary really helped make this movie feel real and grounded. Watching the horrors unfold as Mia looks for her missing sister held me captive the entire time. The direction of the film was not what I was expecting by the end, but overall I still enjoyed it.

Watch Alikes: The Blair Witch, Hell House LLC, Lake Mungo

Read Alikes: Rosemary's Baby, Episode Thirteen, Going To The Six

Themes: Found Footage, Demons, Urban Exploration, Missing Person

In the poll below, help me chose next weeks movie!

We're wrapping up Go Eat Worms and kicking off Ghost Beach!

Drop any discussion on Go Eat Worms down below!

And now for our kick off for Ghost Beach!

Jerry can't wait to explore the dark, spooky old cave he found down by the beach. Then the other kids tell him a story. A story about a ghost who is three hundred years old. A ghost who comes out when the moon is full. A ghost . . . who lives deep inside the cave! Jerry knows it's just another silly made-up ghost story . . . isn't it?!

You can watch the episode here.

Hello everyone and welcome back to what I'm reading this week! So sorry for the radio silence last week, but let me tell you...last week was the week from HELL at work. I came home every day EXHAUSTED and uninspired. I worked nearly 45 hours last week. Short staffed due to vacations. GOOD TIMES...

Anyway, I'm back at it this week. I have an interview with Adam Nevill in the works so stay tuned for that, along with some more book recs.

I also wanted to relaunch my book club here and was interested if anyone would be interested in joining? If so drop a comment down below!

Now on to what I'm reading this week!

Decomposition Book by Sara Van Os

A woman discovers a corpse in the woods and subsequently forms an unusual connection with the deceased through their journal.

Corpse de Ballet by Megan Kearney

A graphic novel perfect for fans of Black Swan and Suspira. A girl arrives mid year to a dancing boarding school only to find that one student went missing before she arrived.

The Devil and Mrs. Davenport by Paulette Kenndey

I'm buddy reading this one with my friend @Death By TBR Books

A domestic housewife in the 1950s starts hearing voices from the other side from a local girl who was murdered.

Knock Knock, Open Wide by Neil Sharpson

Seeped in Irish folklore, this novel follows a family two decades apart, all centering around a child's tv show with a sinister underlying plot.

What are you reading this week?

Another week is upon us and I have a new set of books ready to go.

Last week I was able to finish out Accumulation, Trad Wife, Nowhere, and As Told Under The Moon.

This week I'm diving into...

Home Sick by Rhiannon Grist

Tamsin starts over in a remote cottage far away from her old life. But the cottage of her dreams is actually a split house with a very thin wall separating her from her neighbor. Her very odd neighbor...

Going To The Six by A.C. Hessenauer

A found footage horror book following a documentary crew investigating the wreck of a ship in Lake Superior.

What Hunger by Catherine Dang

A coming of age story about the daughter of a Vietnamese immigrant as she faces loss, generational trauma, and feminine rage.

What are you reading this week?

I've been diving deep into some urban legends for research on something special. Most times, urban legends start from a truth before embellishment and fabrication make the tale more sinister than it originated. But let's be real, as horror fans, we live for the scary details that are added in. We chase that thrill of possibly summoning Bloody Mary in front of a mirror, or exploring a supposedly haunted house.

Below, you can find some urban legend horror books that will hopefully scratch that urban legend itch you have. Next week I will feature some Cryptic/Creature Feature Urban Legends :D

The graphic novels Bad Dreams In The Night and Let Me In Your Window by Adam Ellis both feature beautiful artwork with amazing, scary stories. Many of these stories feature urban legends and tales of folklore.

Jack O' Dander by Priya Sharma

This short story follows a family are not only impacted by their choices, but also by a mysterious urban legend.

Killer on The Road/The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones

Both of these novels play on common urban legends. Killer on The Road deals with the legend of a serial killer on the road picking up hitchhikers. The Babysitter Lives centers around the babysitter receives a call/knock on the door urban legend. Both are great books and I love that they are featured together.

Daphne by Josh Malerman

Did you ever play "The Game" back in school. Oops... sorry just made you lose it. This book is very similar to The Game. The urban legend named Daphne comes to life when you think of her. The more you think of her, the higher chance she will come and kill you...better stop thinking of her or else...you may be next.

Schrader's Chord by Scott Leeds

Ahh the good ole cursed object. Schrader's Chord follows a man who inherits a supposed cursed record from his recently deceased father. Legend has it that all four records are played at the same time, the listener will open a gate to the land of the dead...

Narcissus by Adam Godfrey

After hearing about a subterranean pool that's rumored to be the one by which Narcissus once wasted away by, a group of college kids learn the hard way that legends can be true.

A few on my tbr

Books Of Blood by Clive Barker

Scanlines by Todd Keisling

Maggie's Grave by David Sodergren

The House On Abigail Lane by Kealan Patrick Burke

What are some of your favorite Urban Legends?

It's time to wrap up The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight and kick off Go Eat Worms.

WRAP UP

The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight had some creepy scarecrows that came to life. I loved the building dread showcased in this one. I actually don't remember this one as a kid and don't think I read it, so getting to read it now was a pure delight.

In case you missed it, here are some readalikes that feature some farms and creepy scarecrows.

1. Do scarecrows scare you?

2. What part of farm life would you love? Hate?

KICK OFF

And now on to book #21 Go Eat Worms

My fourth grade class went and saw How To Eat Fried Worms in theater, so I'm surprised I never read this one! Worms are gross. They're slimy and squirmy. I'm sure this book grossed out a ton of kids back in the day.

Synopsis:

Obsessed with worms? That's putting it mildly. Todd is so fascinated with worms, he keeps a worm farm in his basement! Most of all, Todd loves torturing his sister and her best friend with worms. Dropping them in their hair. Down their backs.
Until one day, after cutting a worm in half, Todd notices something strange. The rest of the worms seems to be staring at him! Suddenly worms start showing up in the worst places for Todd. In his bed. In his homework. Even in his spaghetti!
What's a worm lover to do when his own worms are starting to gross him out?

Hi everyone and welcome back to another author interview! This week I'm joined by the Hash Slinger Slasher... oops I mean the AMAZING Brian McAuley. McAuley is a super talented author who loves exploring horror through slashers. He's written Curse Of The Reaper, Candy Cain Kills, Candy Cain Kills Again, and Breathe In, Bleed Out.

Let's dive in and AXE some questions. (Sorry, my slasher puns will be the death of me.)

1. I always like to use my first question as a chance for you to introduce yourself! Tell us as little or as much as you want.

Oh hello! Brian McAuley here. I'm a USA Today Bestselling author of horror novels and a WGA screenwriter who has written everything from Lifetime movies to sitcom reboots. Born and raised in the Garden State, but now slowly melting in the Arizona desert, where I'm screenwriting professor at ASU.

2. You're the author of several books, i.e Curse Of The Reaper and Breathe In, Bleed Out, and I love that all your books are slashers in their own unique way. What keeps drawing you back to the slasher genre?

There's something about the structure and tropes of a slasher that just feels like a warm blanket to me. As a writer, I have a lot of fun crafting those elaborate death set pieces where you know a character is about to die, but you're not quite sure how it's going to unfold. 

3. To follow up question two, are there any other subgenres of horror that you want to dabble in one day? Or does the slasher genre forever hold your heart?

So far, I've been most interested in exploring different subgenres through a slasher lens. CURSE OF THE REAPER is rooted in psychological horror, CANDY CAIN KILLS and its sequel are religious horror, BREATHE IN, BLEED OUT dips a toe into cults and folk legends, and my upcoming book FAIRLY BAD WAYS TO DIE plays with the fantasy genre by virtue of being set at a Renaissance Faire.

4. Out of all your books, do you have a favorite? What about one that was harder to write? 

CURSE OF THE REAPER was the hardest to write because it was my first attempt at writing a novel, ever. For that same reason, it remains my favorite. I lived with those characters for years in screenplay form before I adapted the story into a book, so I'll always be grateful to Howard Browning for helping me expand my artistic horizons.

5. I saw your most recent announcement about your newest work, Fairly Bad Ways to Die, which is a slasher involving a plague doctor at a renaissance festival (HELL YEAH! I absolutely love Plague Doctors so this makes my day). Care to tell us a little more about it? 

This book focuses on a band of college students who have been performing at their local Renaissance Faire for years, waiting for their big break. Unfortunately, that opportunity arrives the same year as a mysterious killer who's dispatching patrons with medieval brutality. It was incredibly fun to write because of the world building and large cast of colorful characters. One thing I can promise is that the title is no false promise.

6. Are you working on/plotting anything else at the moment?

I'm presently doing a final polish on what I hope will be my first YA horror novel. You'll be shocked to hear that it's a slasher, but I can't say anything more at the moment, so stay tuned!

7. What have been some of your favorite horror reads from this year? 

Speaking of slashers, I loved FATALLY YOURS by Jessica Lacy. On the non-slasher front, BAT EATER AND OTHER NAMES FOR CORA ZENG by Kylie Lee Baker blew me away. I got a sneak peek at Hailey Piper's upcoming THIS MOVIE DOESN'T END THE WAY WE WANT and had such a fun time with it.

8. Any backlist titles you've been loving lately?

I've been catching up on David Sodergren's catalog of absolute mayhem. GUILLOTINE by Delilah S. Dawson recently left me hungry to read more of her work.  

9. Have you seen any good horror movies lately? I swear there are so many coming out soon that I'm dying to see (Obsession, Hokum, The Backrooms, Passenger)

I'm still thinking about OBSESSION nearly a week later. That one really got under my skin in the best way. I just rewatched KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE for an upcoming Instagram Live with Point Horror Book Club. That movie only gets better with age.

10. Do you have any writing rituals or routines that help you get in the writing headspace?

I'm primarily a morning writer, so a big pot of black coffee is absolutely necessary. If I've still got energy after my teaching day, I'll bring my laptop to my favorite local brewery, pop a movie soundtrack playlist into my ears, and have an IPA-fueled writing session in the evening.

Use the below space to list any socials and author websites you would like to share.

@BrianMcWriter / www.brianmcwriter.com

Thank you again, Brian, for your amazing answers and time!

Horror is booming! But do you ever feel like the same books get recommended all the time? There's nothing wrong with loving the popular books. They are popular for a good reason!

Today I want to talk about some Indie Horror Books that left a lasting impression on me!

Child Of Dark Water by E.G. Rand

This horror novella is perfect for people who love small town secrets and revenge horror with a supernatural twist.

Powder & Poison by Julia Jackson

A historical horror novel following Marie Antoinette's arrival to Versailles. This one features haunting ghosts and an almost slasher vibe.

Something Dead by Andrea Mckenzie

A mysterious invitation invites two friends to come and compete in a scavenger hunt in a mysterious mansion for a large sum of money. But when contestants start to go missing, the game quickly turns into a fight for survival.

The House That Held Her by Adam Ellis

A book that follows a woman who moves into an old house with her husband in hopes that a fresh start will fix their marriage. But when she discovers a clue to a bigger puzzle, Margo quickly finds herself on a deadly scavenger hunt that endangers her and everyone around her. Perfect for fans of Ghost Mother. This one is more of a thriller with horror elements.

Pocket Full Of Teeth by Aimee Hardy

An ode to House Of Leaves. The book is narrated by three different women over several time periods. It has found footage elements and footnotes.

What are some of your favorite Indie Horror Books?