Review: The Letters of Shirley Jackson edited by Laurence Jackson Hyman

 

The Letters of Shirley Jackson, is a mammoth undertaking by Jackson’s son Laurence Hyman, assisted by his three siblings, along with Shirley Jackson historian Bernice Murphy to compile correspondence spanning over thirty years of Jackson’s life—from her days as young college student up to her final letter six days before her untimely death at age 48 from a heart attack. These letters and line drawings, thankfully preserved by Jackson’s family and associates at the advice of her agents and lawyers, serve as the closest we will ever get to a true Shirley Jackson autobiography. 

In the 621 pages of this book, you finally get to meet the real Shirley Jackson. Not only do you see glimpses of the Jackson that we’ve become familiar with— a loving, devoted mother of four sharing tales of domestic life, as well as the wickedly brilliant writer of some of the revered novels of the past century, but you also learn about her the Shirley we never got to know. She voiced her fears and frustrations as a writer in letters to her agent and publishers. We read numerous letters of domestic life with her husband Stanley Hyman and their four children and their life in Vermont sent to her parents and friends to keep them up to date on their comings and goings. Heartbreakingly, you see Shirley’s growing agoraphobia, the pain caused by turmoil in not only her marriage caused by Stanley’s infidelity and harsh criticism of her work, and the slow descent in health leading up to her death.

This was my favorite of all the books I read in 2021. I read through it greedily, wanting to know more about my hero and idol, to hear her own thoughts in her words. As much as I loved the book and learning more about Shirley, my heart was breaking knowing that the closer I got to the end of the book would also be the end of her life. And with this book, as in life, I wish we had more.

5/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions of the work and its author are my own.

Review: Inheriting Her Ghosts by S.H. Cooper

Upon her great-aunt’s death, Eudora Fellowes inherits not only her fortune but also her crumbling seaside property known as High Hearth. Seeking to shake off the expectations of a proper lady in society, Eudora sees High Hearth as a chance to build a life she can live as she pleases—choosing to remain contentedly unmarried and childless. Taking few belongings and her faithful hounds Black Shuck and Cerberus, Eudora sets out to make High Hearth her own. She quickly finds that in inheriting High Hearth, she has also inherited all the dangerous secrets in its walls and the distrust of the townsfolk engendered by her great-aunt.

I was immediately engrossed in this book, starting it in the afternoon and could not sleep until I finished it. I love Cooper's detail in the story—dress, etiquette, little bits of information about the house and those who lived in it before her—all superb. The story is the perfect length, you get all the chills and excitement, but it doesn’t get caught up in any extraneous storylines it could have pursued. Inheriting Her Ghosts is  S.H. Cooper’s best book thus far.

5/5 Stars

 

Review: Haunted and Hungry by AJ Spencer

 Haunted and Hungry is a highly entertaining collection of five short stories that were perfect bite size horror stories. It is hard to find a collection where each of the stories are fun and refreshingly original, not relying on the same tired formats. Even when I attempted to predict the direction the story was going, I was completely far off the mark.

This collection is perfect for the beginning horror reader in the late teens all the way up to the seasoned horror fan looking for some fun quick frights. I’ve seen other reviews that say that H&H reminded them of the Goosebumps stories and shows, and I agree, but I’d also recommend it to fans who were into the Tales from the Darkside series back in the day.

I thoroughly enjoyed AJ Spencer’s work in this collection, and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

 

4/4 Stars

Thank you to the author for providing me with a review copy of his book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Review: Stargazers by L.P. Hernandez

 

What started as a forum post entitled, “My Neighbor Has Been Staring at the Moon for Hours,” was    dismissed as a sci-fi story shared in the wrong forum. Soon other members of the forum began sharing their own experiences corroborating what the original poster described: people standing statute still for hours on end fixated on the moon above. When the sun rises, the Stargazers are no longer themselves and are set on an unknown course to destroy both civilization and humankind.

While used to this level of destruction and carnage are common in war zones, former soldier with PTSD and now family-man Henry Sylva never expected to have to face it on the home front. Now Henry and his family gather what supplies they can and set out to escape the city crumbling around them. When tragedy hits, Henry must rely on his survival skills to keep his family safe from both the Stargazers and the human monsters around them. 

 I am a HUGE fan of dystopian and epistolary fiction.  In 120 short pages, LP Hernandez has deftly built a story from a single fantastical forum post about the odd behavior of someone’s neighbor to b the survival of this family during a complete societal breakdown.  I love the way the chapters alternated back and forth between the plight of the Sylva family and the posts on the Reddit-like forum, reading how the world is breaking down outside the scope of the Sylva family.

This is a gorgeous, gut punch of a story. Hands down my favorite novella of 2022 so far. Very much looking forward to further stories from the My Dark Library collection as they come out.

5/5 Stars

Thanks to Cemetery Gates Publishing for providing me with a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions of this work are my own.

Review: We are Wildflowers by Britt Gonzalez

 

We Are Wildflowers is a breath of fresh air in the field of poetry. In sharing this collection, Britt Gonzalez has laid her heart and soul bare to her readers. Sharing her vulnerability, we see poems of despair, addiction, abuse, and ultimately redemption, healing, and advocacy.

I initially read We Are Wildflowers through my Kindle Unlimited account when it came out, but now seeing that there are poems in the physical copy that weren’t available in the digital, I just ordered it so that I can read more of Gonzalez’s work. This is a great debut collection and I am looking forward to reading more of her work.

5/5 Stars

Review: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes-Eric LaRocca

I am a huge fan of the original novella and hyped it to anyone who would listen when it came out last year. What you’ll find in the newly released collection Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes are stories of people yearning for what is lacking in their lives and seeking to fill that void.

In the first story, “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke,” is an epistolary tale told in emails and text messages between two young women seeking connection—what starts as kindness and friendship quickly devolves to stomach-churning acts of sadomasochistic control. This story is brutal and if you are easily squeamish, read with caution.

The second tale, “The Enchantment,” we find a couple trying to repair their marriage in the wake of losing their only child. In the desperate need to connect to their son, Olive clings to her faith while husband James accepts the loss of faith in a world that has just discovered that there is no afterlife awaiting them when they pass. Lots of supernatural and rich religious symbolism present in this story. I would have loved if this had been fleshed out as a full novel.

The last story, “You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over,” is an odd tale of a man who finds a mysterious bone in his yard that leads him to his neighbor seeking answers. What follows is a bizarre encounter where his innate politeness and inability to say no when pressed upon leads to a series of bets with staggering consequences. This story gave me big Alfred Hitchcock Presents/Twilight Zone vibes. Like the entry before, I would have loved to read more of this story.

All in all, I really enjoyed this read and was thrilled to know that it lives up to the unsettling vibes of its original story. Please check the trigger warnings before reading, there is a lot of material that some might find upsetting.

 

5/5 Stars

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #TitanBooks for providing me with a review copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.