Archive for the ‘Novel’ Category

Review: “The Curse of Hester Gardens” by Tamika Thompson

Posted: June 1, 2026 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
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I first met Tamika Thompson last year on the Diversity in Horror panel at StokerCon. Later, I read a short story by her that I really enjoyed, and she told me her debut novel was coming out soon that explored similar themes as her short story. I was immediately intrigued and, as soon as I could, I made a reservation at the library. The book arrived at the same time as Japanese Gothic (see my review for that book here), and as soon as I finished that one, I got into The Curse of Hester Gardens.

I have to say, it’s nice when you get two excellent novels in a row.

Set in a public housing complex with a history of crime and violence, The Curse of Hester Gardens follows Nona McKinley, a woman who has been raising her sons on her own since her drug dealer husband was sent to prison. Sadly, her oldest son Kendall was murdered, money is always tight, and her younger son Lance is getting mixed into a bad crowd. Her only salvation is that her middle son Marcus is off to an Ivy League college in the fall.

Except…something terrifying is happening in Hester Gardens. Things are always weird there, as numerous spirits are said to haunt the place. But now, something new is making itself known. Nona is encountering what might be an angry spirit appearing in her home, Marcus is acting very much unlike himself, and the fragile life she’s constructed for her family seems to be crashing down around her. All of it may trace to a secret she’s been keeping. A secret covered in blood. And the residents of Hester Gardens may pay the price with Nona.

From the prologue, I was hooked. The story is written with a powerful realism, mixing in the real life tragedies of gun violence, urban decay and neglect, overincarceration, and others with the fictional narrative to add believability. Plus, the descriptions allowed me to really see and feel like I was in Hester Gardens (not a fun place to imagine yourself in, let me tell you). I could almost smell the garbage that is hardly ever picked up!

I also empathized with main character Nona. She’s had a really rough time and is trying her best, so it’s not hard to root for her. She’s also very human and makes mistakes, some of which are understandable given her situation, and that helped me like her more. The other characters whose POVs we look through also were written so that, even if we only spent maybe a chapter or two with them, they felt like well-rounded characters.

And the scares? Top notch! The concept of the curse and the spirits in Hester Gardens made for a freaky audience, and the human factor added to those scares as well. Plus, there were some scenes with the entities that had me gripping my book so tightly. (That hole-in-the-bathroom scene!)

Finally, the story kept me guessing throughout. I had trouble guessing where the story would go, especially in the last hundred pages or so. I read quite a few moments with wide eyes because I could not believe where the story had gone!

So yeah, I’m hard-pressed to pick out anything I didn’t like. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give The Curse of Hester Gardens a 4.8 out of 5. Powerfully written, with strong emotions and realism. If this is Tamika Thompson’s first novel, I can’t wait to see what she does with her second.

In the meantime, grab a copy of The Curse of Hester Gardens and read it today. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

An Update on “The Shape of Evil”

Posted: May 31, 2026 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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No, it’s not getting published. If it were, I would have announced that in the title of this post. But I am going to give you all updates on how that effort is coming along.

So, for those of you who don’t know, The Shape of Evil is a novel I wrote about a 3D printer from Hell. Think “Word Processor of the Gods” crossed with Gothic by Phillip Fracassi, but with lots of LGBT and disabled representation. I wrote it in 2024, and then prepared it for pitching at StokerCon last year. I even had sensitivty readers take a look at the second draft, just to make sure my portrayal of my protagonist, a non-binary trans individual, wasn’t offensive.

Since I pitched it to publishers and agent last year, I’ve continued trying to find the novel a home. And I’ve had a few rejections, which I expected. I wasn’t even too bummed about them. No, seriously, I wasn’t. They felt less like dead ends, and more like stops on the road for finding a home for this novel. And I still have prospects I’m looking into or waiting to hear back from, so I’m not feeling any despair right now. If I’m being honest, all I feel is anticipation. Like something is coming down the road, and it’s what I’ve been waiting for since that pitch session last year.

And in the meantime, I’ve kept busy. Not only have I worked on some new stories, but I’ve even done two new drafts of The Shape of Evil. And guess what? On the second draft, I had a revelation: this was a YA novel I was working on. Yeah, you would think I would notice, with teen protagonists, only one really bloody scene, and a few other factors. But you know what they say: artists and authors are often their own worst judges. And given that it took me two years to realize this, I prove that maxim to be true.

So, I went back to the beginning of the draft, and started editing with the goal of editing a YA novel instead of an adult novel. I even switched the book from third person point of view to first person point of view, because that’s a staple of the genre. (Also, with my protagonist Astrid Marsh being non-binary and using they/them pronouns, it cut down on the number of “theys” and “thems” in the manuscript. Much less confusing for readers.) And as of last night, the new draft is finished. Hopefully this is the one that catches an agent or publisher’s eye and makes them want to publish it.

For now, though, I plan on not doing anything with the new draft until after StokerCon. Gotta make time to relax and have fun, after all.

Also, I have other stories I plan to work on. There’s a science fiction story I have been excited to work on since I had the idea back in late March. And after that, I will finally get back to working on my mummy novel Crawler. And this time, I hope to finish it!

But in the meantime, I’m going to celebrate the end of the new draft with a quiet movie night and a bottle of wine. Gotta celebrate the wins, right? And finishing a fifth draft where I rewrote the novel to first person POV and made sure it fit the YA genre is definitely a win.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll try to be in touch again as soon as possible, StokerCon and other things going on permitting. But until then, good night and pleasant nightmares, everybody!

Review: “Japanese Gothic” by Kylie Lee Baker

Posted: May 13, 2026 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
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I think this has been my most anticipated new book of 2026. I mean, a Gothic horror novel set in Japan and featuring Japanese history and culture (specifically samurai)? Be still my horror and Japanese culture loving heart! As soon as my library ordered copies, I was the first on the reservation list, and I started reading it almost as soon as I picked up my copy of Japanese Gothic.

So, here’s the plot:

In October 2026 (ooh, the future), Lee Turner stays with his American father and the latter’s Japanese girlfriend in a house hidden behind sword ferns in the historical town of Chiran in Kagoshima, Japan. Lee holds many secrets, some of which threaten to tear him and his life apart. As he struggles to figure out what to do, he sees a strange girl with a samurai sword outside his room.

Meanwhile, in October 1877, Sen is the daughter of a samurai, the last survivor of a failed rebellion. As she trains under her tyrant of a father for a new rebellion to reinstate the samurai, she feels the inevitable coming with both excitement and trepidation. That is, until she sees a strange foreign man in the window of her bedroom in a house hidden behind sword ferns in the former samurai town of Chiran in the Kagoshima domain of Japan.

Japanese Gothic was worth the wait.

First off, the language was so vivid and evocative. From the setting to abstract concepts to the characters, the way Baker uses words is powerful. And speaking of characters, wow! The main characters felt so damn real! Sen felt like she came right out of the best of anime, with a fully rounded and complex character, and Lee…well, Lee felt like he was less of a person and more of an amalgamation of problems and personality quirks. And at first, I really didn’t like him. In fact, I’m still not sure how I feel about him, though I have to admit, his own character arc is as compelling as Sen’s.

As for the story, freaking phenomenal! Reading as Lee and Sen encounter one another, then get to know each other, and then try to solve the mysteries that occupy their attentions, made the book hard to put down. It was also really touching to see them get to trust each other. They’re both very broken people, but watching them grow through their relationship and what they discover through it made my heart go out to them. And I did not see many of the twists coming, which was really welcome. The last fifty pages or so just kept me in shock and on the edge of my seat!

If I did have a criticism, I would have to say that when we finally do get explanations of what the hell’s been going on at the end, it was rather abstract and might be hard for some readers to understand. As someone used to understanding the wilder episodes of Doctor Who and who understood most of the science in the Godzilla anime series, I think I understood it well enough, but I can imagine the frustration another reader might experience.

Still, I am in love with this book and cannot wait to meet the author at StokerCon next month. It’s definitely not the sort of novel I could write (and I’ve written books with the same elements before). On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker a 4.8 out of 5. Surprising, powerful, and enthralling. Grab your copy now, sit back, and prepare to be sucked in with the force of a hurricane. Preferably with some gagaku music played on the biwa in the background.*

*If you don’t know what those are, Google it. It’ll make all sorts of sense.

“The Pure World Comes:” Four Years Since Release!!!

Posted: May 10, 2026 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Run into all the creepy houses! Summon a lightning storm! Uncover terrible family secrets that will haunt you as much as any ghost! The Pure World Comes is officially four years old!

Well, technically it came out as a story on an app in 2021, but I always count May 10, 2022, when the paperback and ebook were released, as TPWC‘s real birthday/release day.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, The Pure World Comes is a Gothic horror novel I wrote in 2020. It was the very beginning of the pandemic, and I had had this idea for a novelette about a maid in Victorian England who goes to work for a mad scientist rolling around in the back of my head for a few years now. In fact, I’d spent several years just researching everything I could about the Victorian era just so I could bring the novel to life! And then suddenly, I was working from home and I had all this time to myself. I dove in, still thinking it would be a novella, and two months later, I came out with a novel that came to me in a frenzy.

A year later, the novel was published on the app, and another year later, it was out in paperback and ebook, followed a few months later by an audio book. A beautiful and creepy love letter to the Victorian era and all the scary stories that came out in that period.

Here is the blurb on the back cover:

Shirley Dobbins wants nothing more than to live a quiet life and become a head housekeeper at a prestigious house. So when she is invited to come work for the mysterious baronet Sir Joseph Hunting at his estate, she thinks it is the chance of a lifetime. However, from the moment she arrives, things are not what they seem. As she becomes wrapped up in more of the baronet’s radical science, she realizes something dark and otherworldly is loose within the estate. And if left unchecked, it’ll claim the lives of all she holds dear.

Funny story: last weekend, I was at Columbus Horror Con, and this young woman came up to check out my books. She picked up a copy of TPWC and let me know, not without some shock, that her last name was Dobbins, and her grandmother’s name was Shirley. Coincidence? Yes, but still a wild coincidence! Almost like fate. Anyway, she bought a copy, and when I signed it, I wrote that I hoped that she and her grandmother enjoyed the book.

And the nice thing is, lots of people have enjoyed The Pure World Comes since it came out. Here is what some people have said reading it:

This book kept you on the edge with its many twists and turns. Really haven’t read anything like it. I will follow this author 

Amazon Customer, Amazon

I love it when I’m pleasantly surprised by a book. Rami Ungar is not a debut author, (according to the back of the book, this is his fourth novel), but his work is new to me and so I went in not knowing what to expect.

What I got was a short novel so perfectly Victorian and utterly Gothic that it made my old-fashioned self giddy as a schoolgirl.

Heather Daughrity, author of Secrets My Grandmother Told Me, Goodreads

There were quite a few things I liked about this book – the attempt to make it historically accurate (required a lot of research), the author’s take on a possible Jack the Ripper scenario (no spoilers!), And the Big Reveal itself. I quite like the idea. I think it has many possibilities and potential uses as a plot device for future (possibly non related) stories…Exceptional work.

Ronald W. Gillepsie Jr., author of Inside My Nightmares, Amazon

I’m very glad that these people have loved this book so much. And there are several more reviews where that came from, if you care to look. (More on that below.)

So, what’s next for my little Gothic horror novel? Honestly, all I want is for more people to read it, so I’ll keep trying to make that happen. Thankfully, I’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future to find new readers. Hell, I managed to find a woman named Dobbins who’s grandmother’s name is Shirley just the other day. I’m sure there are other people who will want to read it. And if they do, I hope they let me know what they thought. Not only do I appreciate feedback from my readers, but leaving feedback in public spaces like Amazon or Goodreads helps other readers as well.

And if you would like to read TPWC, I’ll include links below. It’s one of the most widely available of my books, if not the most widely available, so I’m sure you’ll find a bookseller that you use. And if you like what you read…well, you know.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m off to celebrate the anniversary and maybe get some more writing work done. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and is that the ghost of Jack the Ripper behind you? Careful, he’s got a knife!

Amazon
Apple Books
Audible
Barnes & Noble
BingeBooks
Chirp
Fable
Goodreads
Hoopla
Kobo
Libro.Fm
Palace Marketplace
Scribd
Smashwords
Spotify
Storytel
Thalia
Vivlio

Conversations with Neil Sater

Posted: May 6, 2026 in Author Interciew, Novel, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Hello, my Followers of Fear! It’s been a minute since I’ve done an interview with a fellow author, hasn’t it? The last one was with Shaun Hamill in 2024. Well, I decided to bring it back, and I have a special interview to bring back this feature. Today’s guest is not only a fellow horror author, but a friend of mine whom I’ve worked with closely for the past several years in the Horror Writers Association. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my friend, Neil Sater.

Rami Ungar: Hello Neil, and welcome to the show. Tell us about yourself and what you write.

Neil Sater: Ever since I was a child, I’ve always been drawn to creepy things. Scary books, movies, houses, music, imagery, you name it, I love it all. I have also always enjoyed writing, but for my career, I followed my father into engineering and later, business. I was lucky to retire early, allowing me to write full-time. So, these days I’m having a blast writing creepy stories and learning a new business, which is completely different from what I spent my career doing. My stories involve the supernatural. My four books are stand-alone, but they are all set in Homer County, Ohio, a fictionalized place that reflects parts of Ohio’s Tuscarawas, Coshocton, and Holmes Counties. This is a beautiful region that I love to visit. It’s filled with history, interesting places, and genuine, salt-of-the-earth people. But as a guy who has always lived in the city and the suburbs, I sometimes feel a certain loneliness and eeriness when I visit the region. This is a very powerful feeling to me, and I try to capture that unsettling emotion in my stories.

RU: Tell us about your new novel, Ungodly, and why people might be attracted to this “Amish horror” story.

NS: In a nutshell, The Ungodly: The Curse of Forgotten Valley is about an Amish Witch. A teenage girl named Emma takes her brothers backpacking on the Buckeye Trail, and they unwittingly stray into the wrong place, where crazy stuff soon starts to happen. Readers say it’s a unique story with plenty of twists and high tension. Although I’ve been calling my books supernatural mysteries, my editor, who writes thrillers, said I should call this one a supernatural thriller.

RU: The book sounds fascinating. What inspired this story? And what research did you do before you wrote it?

NS: I took my nephews backpacking on the Buckeye Trail when they were teenagers, and we experienced some spooky things that stuck with me. So that adventure planted the first seed of inspiration for the story, and I wove some memories of our trip into it. (As a side note, the main character of this story is named after Emma ‘Grandma’ Gatewood, a legendary founder of the Buckeye Trail. I recommend reading her fascinating story, well-documented in several biographies!)More recently, I read a few non-fiction books about corruption in Amish communities, and found them all riveting. These books were about Amish men who built a cult within their Amish community and started doing bad things. I found it fascinating to see how the broader Amish society responded, which sparked my imagination. The even darker scenario I conjured up became the main storyline for The Ungodly.

I always try to do a lot of research for my stories. For this book, most of my research focused on two areas: witch folklore and Amish culture and practices. Although I have some familiarity with Amish culture and practices, some further research helped me fill in the blanks. Katherine Kerestman, one of our Ohio horror-writing colleagues, shared an article she wrote on the history of witch folklore, which I found to be a helpful complement to other material I read.

RU: Yeah, witch history, folklore, and culture is always fascinating. Speaking of which, your antagonist is an Amish witch. Why did you choose a witch from an Amish community, instead of a traditional witch? Or maybe a witch from a different sect, like the Puritans?

NS: It started with the setting I use for my books. As depicted in my previous books, the rural Homer County is in Amish country. Since the setting of my books was already established in Amish country, I thought, Why not?

When I came up with the idea of an Amish witch, I thought it was a novel notion. But a few weeks after the book’s release, a reader told me that she practices witchcraft and she knows some Amish women who do, too. I was a bit taken aback to hear a reader practices witchcraft, and a bit disappointed to hear my idea might not have been as novel as I thought! <belly laugh> Oh well, there are other original elements to this story.

Now, I don’t know anything about real-life people who practice witchcraft in this day and age, but obviously, that’s a real thing. Regardless, the story I wrote leans more toward the historical folklore of witchcraft.

There was something else at play, as well. Many people are curious about the Amish. The Amish live in very close-knit communities and choose to forgo many of the modern conveniences that the rest of us center our lives around. Some find the Amish culture and practices mysterious, and perhaps people are intrigued by them because, in many ways, they live as our own forebearers did. Regardless, I thought that if I could portray this culture with some degree of authenticity, readers might find the idea interesting and perhaps somewhat informative. So, I went with it.

RU: Speaking of your other novels, why not tell us about them?

NS: My books are all stand-alone stories, but because they’re all set in the same fictional Ohio county, there are some loose interconnections between them.

Phantom Realm: The Haunting of Misery Mansion is a ghost story, but it’s a different kind of ghost story that includes a time-travel twist.

Mercy Killing: The Haunting of Ghoul House leans a bit more into psychological horror, involving terminal illness.

And Atrocity: The Haunting of Moravian Village is inspired by true events involving Native Americans. The story centers around a haunting related to the tragic Moravian Massacre, which occurred during the Revolutionary War, in what is now Ohio.

RU: Your books tend to be geared towards the Young Adult crowd. What is it about YA horror that makes you gravitate towards those stories?

NS: I’m glad you asked this. The reality is, I try to write my stories for both adult and teen/young adult readers. My stories are what I call “soft-core” horror. Sometimes people use the terms “gentle horror” or “cozy horror.” I avoid explicit sexual content and heavy gore, and I consciously seek to close my stories with an uplifting ending, which isn’t all that common in the horror genre.

My books also tend to be shorter than many novels, and my stories usually feature teen/young adult characters. These things all add up to making them well-suited for young adult readers, but I’m not intentionally targeting this demographic. In fact, as far as I can tell, the vast majority of my readers are adults, not young adults. Either way, I’m just thrilled people are reading my books, because there’s no greater satisfaction to an author!

RU: Tell us what you’re working on now and if you have any future plans.

NS: I’m already working on my next supernatural mystery, which will also be set in Homer County, Ohio. I expect to have it published by early 2027.

It’s anybody’s guess what happens after that. I’ve never been much of a long-term planner!

RU: Time for some questions I ask every author I interview. What is some advice you would give some other authors, regardless of experience, genre or background?

NS: Get to know other writers through writers’ groups and other organizations. For me, joining the Horror Writers Association helped me build my network. I’ve gained new, valued friendships, including you, Rami!

Work with other writers to improve your writing skills through critique partnerships and critique groups. Don’t approach these things seeking affirmation; instead, seek out all the constructive criticism you can get from others and always err on the side of following their advice rather than ignoring it. Building this network will also help teach the business practices that help establish authors for success. Writing is a solitary endeavor, but learning how to become a writer is not.

RU: Aw shucks, you’re making me blush! Now, final question: if you were stuck on a desert island for a while and could only bring three books with you, what books would you take?

NS: For some reason, I shy away from long books, so I’ve never read Stephen King’s IT. Yeah, I know, I should be ashamed of myself, but I’ve seen the movies; does that count? Stranded on a desert island, I would finally have plenty of idle time to read IT!

I seldom read books more than once, but I’ve read Lord of the Flies by William Golding many times over the years. So, I’d have to include that one.

Stephen Graham Jones is one of my favorite authors, and his recent book, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, unseated my previous favorite among his books, which was Mapping the Interior.

So, those would be my three choices: IT, Lord of the Flies, and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.

RU: All great choices, Neil. And thank you for joining me here on the blog.

If you would like to check out Ungodly or any of Neil’s other books, you can find them on Amazon. And if you would like to follow Neil and find out more about his writing endeavors, you can find him on his website and his Facebook page. I’ll include links below.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope you have a good night, pleasant nightmares, and watch out for Amish witches in Homer County, Ohio. From the sound of things, they can be totally freaky.

Neil’s Website
Neil’s Facebook Page

“Symphony for Walpurgis:” One Year Since Release!!!

Posted: May 1, 2026 in Living and Life, Novelette, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Happy Walpurgisnacht! Today, May 1st, is Witches Night (and day, apparently), as well as the Feast Day of Saint Walpurga. It’s a day where witches are at their most powerful, and where a saint with a reputation for fighting wishes gives people her protection. And, not coincidentally, it is the one-year release anniversary of Symphony for Walpurgis, my latest collection.*

Now, for those of you who don’t know, let’s do a little recap: back in 2023 or 2024, I could already feel the desire to write another collection of short stories, even though Hannah had just come out. And, because my shorter stories tend to be novelette length and novelettes are harder to find homes for, I decided to create a whole collection of novelettes! (For those unaware, novelettes are stories between 7,500 and 17,500 words.) I gathered some previously published novelettes, wrote some new ones for the collection, and, after changing the name and theme a thousand times, decided to name the book Symphony for Walpurgis and release it on Walpurgisnacht.

And yes, I’m pretty sure I named it that way just so I could release it on Walpurgisnacht.

And since the book was released, a number of people have picked it up, and some of those readers have even left reviews! Here are what some of those readers have said on the book:

All these stories are so very different, but they’re linked (in my mind anyway) by one common theme… that is, all these stories start out a certain way, but a turn of events during the narrative delivers a quite different story.

None of these stories are especially weak, but I have some stand out favourites: The House of Lafayette Square, Mother of Spiders, The Little Goddess of Horror, and Natural Predators. Even those I weren’t so keen on were solid, just a matter of personal taste.

Not my first outing reading this author, and it certainly won’t be my last.

M.G. Mason, author of Residents of the James Hotel, Goodreads

The best thing about this collection of stories is that I couldn’t predict what would happen next. For that, I give the book 5 stars. I enjoyed all of the stories, but it’s the “I didn’t think this was going to happen” fact that pushed them over the top.

Ruth Ann Nordin, author of The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife, Amazon

Bravo! This might just be Rami Ungar’s best work yet. Offering tales of unearthly retribution, dark mysteries, vampires re-imagined and blood curdling entities, Symphony is a gloriously ghoulish anthology with something for almost every kind of horror fan.

I absolutely adored the introduction; it creates a spooky atmosphere straight away and is so much fun, putting you in exactly the right mood for the horrors ahead. Each story is creative and the characters are so vivid and well crafted– Rami has done an incredible job of filling every page with witty prose, clever descriptions and emotions which pulled me right into the characters’ minds…100% recommend!

Louise Conway, Goodreads

That’s some lovely praise! And I’m especially touched, because these stories were a lot of fun to write and I feel they represent some of my best work. One of the best feelings I get as a writer is knowing people are reading and enjoying my work, and seeing the proof here just makes me want to write more and entertain those readers even more. With any luck, I’ll be doing that with new releases and acceptances this year.

Speaking of which, for the coming year, I’ve got high hopes for between now and May 1, 2027. Not only to get more people reading Symphony, but also to maybe produce an audiobook. Nothing concrete at the moment, but there might be an opportunity for it in the near future. I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, if you’re curious to check out Symphony, I’ll include links below. Like I said, it’s a collection filled with some of my best work (including a story featuring a Jewish exorcism, of all things), so I’d be really happy if you chose to celebrate with me and got a copy. And if you like what you read, I would be most honored if you wrote a review online somewhere. Positive or negative, I appreciate reader feedback. And not only do your reviews help me, but you help out other readers as well!

Amazon
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble
Goodreads
Kobo

Also, be sure to check out the book trailer for Symphony for Walpurgis. I worked really hard on it and think it totally gets to what I was going for with this book.

*Hannah and Other Stories was re-released last year in September, but it was originally released in September 2023. So, it’s not the latest, even though at times it feels like it. Just saying.

One more thing before I sign off, my Followers of Fear: tomorrow starts Columbus Horror Con! This is looking to be a fun con right here in my hometown, with celebrity guests, a film festival, and plenty of vendors. Plus, a scary karaoke afterparty on the first day! I will be there signing books and doing Tarot readings (as well as singing at the karaoke party). So, if you’re free and in Columbus tomorrow and Sunday, please stop by. I would love to see you.

You can purchase tickets here.

I’ve Written My First New Story of 2026!!!

Posted: April 28, 2026 in Novelette, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Pour a celebratory drink–in my case, a rum and cherry cola–and ululate in terror and excitement! It may have taken nearly two months, but I have written my first new story of 2026!

“He Always Comes Back” is a novelette about a guy who says his stepfather is a real-life Sweeney Todd. Sitting in a police interrogation room, he tells his story to his defense lawyer, leading to a horrible and very bloody conclusion. (With a story like this, though, is there any other kind?) It’s told in the first person, with the narrator/protagonist addressing his lawyer as he tells his story.

Honestly, it’s been a while since a story challenged me this much. Most stories I write feel like I’m a god who has set the whole story out and I’m just putting it down to paper. Perhaps the characters will change things around a bit, but usually everything stays the way I intended. However, while this story followed the basic plot I outlined, it felt more like a collaboration with the main character, and I was working with him to record his story in a way that would satisfy us both. In fact, at the very beginning, I heard him shouting at me through the story to turn the police officer interrogating him into his defense lawyer. And you know what? I’m glad I listened!

Between that and how busy I am these days, it took me much longer than expected to finish this story. But thank God, I’m done with the first draft at 51 pages and 16,693 words (plus seven for the title and byline). And how is it? Well, I think it’s quite rough. Which is a first draft in a nutshell, isn’t it? But I think with a few more drafts, I think it would make a great story. Hell, I think it would also make a great two-act play. Maybe I should make that a future project. Write the script and then see if I can find a company who would adapt it.

Well, for now, I’m going to put the story aside. I’ll let my critique group see an early part of it and get their feedback in the near future. After that, I’ll hopefully get some more feedback and then I’ll have what I need to get it in a state ready for publication.

For now, though, I have another project I need to work on (more on that in another blog post that I’ll write and review very soon), and then I’m doing another draft of The Shape of Evil, AKA the 3D Printer from Hell novel. Also, I want to take a day to just relax and restore my creative energies. You know how it is. (Plus, I have a movie or two from the library I need to watch before they run out of renewals.)

But for now, I’m heading to bed. After all, I would like to go into work tomorrow feeling somewhat well-rested.

So, until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, pleasant nightmares, and are you sure the meat you’re eating is actually animal meat? After all, stranger things have been found inside a bit of beef or chicken.

Review: “Coffin Moon” by Keith Rosson

Posted: March 12, 2026 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
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Recently, Coffin Moon has been getting A LOT of mentions in a Facebook group I’m part of. What I’d heard sounded very interesting. Like that movie Near Dark, but good. So, when I had some saved credits on Audible, I got the audio book. And boy, was I not prepared for what I got.

Set in the mid-to-late 1970s, Coffin Moon follows Dwayne Miner, a Vietnam veteran who is trying to stay sober despite both PTSD and working in the bar owned by his in-laws. He’s also trying to be a good guardian to his wife’s niece, who is living with them after her own family is torn apart. And he’s holding onto secrets that could ruin more lives than just his. All this changes, though, when a couple of bikers try selling drugs through the bar…with Miner’s mother-in-law’s permission! When he objects, it sets off a chain of events that will change the course of Miner’s destiny, and throw him headlong into a world he never knew existed.

So, if you’re familiar with Near Dark, you’re aware that this is about vampires. Though honestly, the vampires feel closer to the ones from Sinners than from that weird-ass film. The main vampire, John Varley, is pure evil. He’s impulsive, incredibly selfish, and enjoys the violence and the chaos he causes. Even when he feels love, it’s twisted on so many levels. You’re at once both fascinated by him and repulsed by him, which, from a writer’s perspective, I just admire.

I also like the other characters. You really come to feel for both Dwayne and his niece, Julia. Both have been through the ringer during their short lives, and the events of the novel do not help. It really helps you empathize and want to root for them.

As for the story, the best way to describe it is twisty and unexpected. Several times, especially during the first third of the novel, I was surprised by the directions the story took, which I did not see coming. I think at one point, while I was listening in the car, my mouth fell open and I literally shouted, “What?!” I was that surprised.

Plus, the worldbuilding is done very lightly but effectively, and the stakes remain epic in a number of scenes (pun not intended).

My only criticisms are that when we finally find out the full details of the dark secret Dwight’s been holding onto the whole book, it’s told more as a story than as a flashback, which I would have expected. That, and I thought the final battle could’ve been drawn out a bit more. It just went too quickly for me.

However, as far as vampire stories go, this is definitely one I’m glad I read. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson a 4.5. Unexpected, full of pathos and masterful storytelling. Grab your red wine or tomato juice, and sit down with it today. You might find yourself, like a vampire, staying up all night long with it.

Review: “Wake Up and Open Your Eyes” by Clay McLeod Chapman

Posted: December 7, 2025 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
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“This book is perfect for your conservative relatives. Especially at Thanksgiving.” This is the description I got of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman, a satirical horror novel about a demonic apocalypse. With a description like that, I was intrigued. And this past Thanksgiving, I started the audio book.

To which I say, “Woo-boy? What did I get myself into?”

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes starts with Noah Fairchild, who goes from his home in Brooklyn to check on his estranged parents after his mother leaves a strange, conspiracy-filled message in his voicemail and then doesn’t pick up. When he gets down there, he finds his parents seemingly brainwashed into dementia by their conservative news shows. However, it’s actually the beginning of the apocalypse. And the demons are possessing people through their devices. And what they choose to consume through their devices.

As I said, this is a satirical horror novel, so there are plenty of funny moments that made me laugh out loud. One of the main sources of possession is a parody of Fox News, and it’s so thinly disguised, you can tell immediately which anchor is getting made fun of. In the final third of the novel, the story is actually narrated by a fictional version of a real life news anchor, only he’s a hallucination living in a character’s head to help them process these events!* And even in the apocalypse, people are posting videos to YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, as if they need to share their most intimate moments to make them real.

However, this is a horror novel, and it gets horrifying! The demon-possessed do some seriously fucked up shit when they take over people, and a lot of it is described in excruciating detail. The amount of body horror and gross out elements even borders on extreme horror, so it can be uncomfortable at times (I just barely tolerated it).

Still, it is hard to put down. While at first I could only listen to it in small doses, over time I got so hooked, I listened whenever I could. And the ending, while some may hate it, is definitely quite fitting for such a bleak horror novel.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman a 4.5. It’s bleak, horrifying, and pokes plenty of fun at a nation/world/species that is willing to give up its thinking faculties and let a talking head on a screen do the thinking for you (not just conservatives; liberals and everyone else, too). If you have a strong stomach and are at all interested, give it a read. You may never be able to look at cable news, wellness gurus, or even “Baby Shark” the same ever again, but it might just be worth it.

*And can I say, I find it so bold to put real, living figures in your stories, using their real names? I’ve read a few stories like this, such as Shoeless Joe featuring JD Salinger, or a story by Jonathan Maberry where Kevin Hart and Kelly Clarkson, among others, make an appearance. And ever time, I marvel. I know it’s kind of allowed if they’re a public figure and it’s either parody or their fictional selves are acting in a way that would correlate with their real selves. But still, it’s not something I would consider doing (especially when I put real figures in my stories as a form of punishment for real life bad acts). I would be too worried about getting sued!

“Symphony for Walpurgis:” Six Months Since Release!!!

Posted: November 1, 2025 in Novelette, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Surprised it’s not a Hannah post? Call it a belated trick and treat!

So, if you weren’t aware, Hannah and Other Stories wasn’t the only collection I released this year. Symphony for Walpurgis is a collection of nine novelettes I released on May 1st, 2025, also known as Walpurgis Night, when witches are said to be their most powerful (you can read more about that here). I put a collection full of novelettes together because there aren’t a lot of venues for novelettes, which are stories between 7,500 and 17,500 words. Unfortunately, not many venues publish novelettes, and those that do prefer shorter novelettes, between 7,500 and 10,000 words.

Thus, Symphony for Walpurgis, which includes four previously published stories and five original stories. And the stories range from tales featuring cryptids, to stories of revenge and giant bats, and even to a story of a Jewish exorcism! Yeah, bet you didn’t know my people had exorcisms.

Anyway, six months have elapsed since the book came out, and what a six months they’ve been! Symphony for Walpurgis has quickly become one of my most popular books at events, and often sells out or gets close to selling out. I guess that cover and my description of the unusual stories inside appeal to horror fans.

In fact, I know it does, because I’ve read the reviews! Here are what people are saying:

Dipping my toes once again into the world of indie horror. And this, a rare read of single author short story collections.

All these stories are so very different, but they’re linked (in my mind anyway) by one common theme… that is, all these stories start out a certain way, but a turn of events during the narrative delivers a quite different story.

None of these stories are especially weak, but I have some stand out favourites: The House of Lafayette Square, Mother of Spiders, The Little Goddess of Horror, and Natural Predators. Even those I weren’t so keen on were solid, just a matter of personal taste.

Not my first outing reading this author, and it certainly won’t be my last.

MG Mason, Goodreads

Bravo! This might just be Rami Ungar’s best work yet. Offering tales of unearthly retribution, dark mysteries, vampires re-imagined and blood curdling entities, Symphony is a gloriously ghoulish anthology with something for almost every kind of horror fan.

I absolutely adored the introduction; it creates a spooky atmosphere straight away and is so much fun, putting you in exactly the right mood for the horrors ahead. Each story is creative and the characters are so vivid and well crafted– Rami has done an incredible job of filling every page with witty prose, clever descriptions and emotions which pulled me right into the characters’ minds. Mother of Spiders was my favourite tale, and definitely one of the most nightmarish.

Only two stories had plots which I wasn’t so keen on, but even then the writing was still engaging enough to make them enjoyable reads. 100% recommend!

Louise Conway, Goodreads

The best thing about this collection of stories is that I couldn’t predict what would happen next. For that, I give the book 5 stars. I enjoyed all of the stories, but it’s the “I didn’t think this was going to happen” fact that pushed them over the top.

Ruth Ann Nordin, Amazon

From the fiendish imagination of Rami Ungar, Symphony for Walpurgis presents nine stories, each with its own wildly imaginative tale to tell. The author’s acknowledged favorite, The Parasite Man, will make your skin crawl. In contrast, the warmth and psychological insight of The House on Lafayette Square made it this reviewer’s favorite above all. An underlying theme, returned to across several stories but never repetitively, is the revenge of the mistreated, wreaking havoc on a world they never made.

Ann O’Mara, Goodreads

I would include more reviews, but that would involve spoilers of some of the stories. But yeah, it shows how much people are enjoying the collection.

And if you’re interested in reading the book, or you’re looking for something to give your horror-loving family member or friend this holiday season, or you just want to support me, I’ll include links below. You can also read all the reviews that way.

Speaking of which, if you like what you read, please leave a review online so I know. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me and your fellow readers out in the long run.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m off to the Columbus Witches Ball. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

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