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Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror
This one took me a long time to read. Not because it was bad, but because sometimes reading one story was like being hit by a bus, and then I needed a long break before I went back to it. Horror is a reflection of the writer’s struggles, a very open dialogue about the problems…
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100 Ghost Stories That will Lead to My Own Death
I am a sucker for ghost story anthologies like this. Some stories linger, some flop, and then you have the framework to wonder about as well. Also, sometimes fun art. The conceit is that a grade schooler, depressed and suicidal, was told about these 100 ghost stories. He’ll summon a real ghost if he manages…
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Stab the Rabbit
This book is just a way to alleviate some masculine violence, bro. I’m not joking. It’s got a few stories in it and it takes a juvenile delight in using slurs and doesn’t really have a care for being “politically correct”, as angry male comics would put it. They let you know right in the…
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When a Magician’s Pupil Smiles
It’s a really interesting concept— main character Ouka Namae doesn’t possess feelings… until he does, in which case, he is overcome with the insatiable desire to kill the one he finds dear to him. The first chapter introduces us to the concept, the second brings in the background with a traitor to magicians, and after…
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Man, Fuck This House
Sabrina Haskins and her family have just moved into their dream home, a gorgeous Craftsman in the rapidly-growing Southwestern city of Jackson Hill. Sabrina’s a bored and disillusioned home-maker, Hal a reverse mortgage salesman with a penchant for ill-timed sports analogies. Their two children, Damien and Michaela, are bright and precocious. At first glance, the…
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How to Sell a Haunted House
When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and…
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Delico’s Nursery
This anime was actually recommended to me by my brother, so of course I just watched it the whole thing. I’m wondering if they wanted to make another season? I’m on stand by. The trailer gives you a sort of whimsical sense, right? Right? WRONG IT’S ONLY LIKE THAT FOR MAYBE TWO EPISODES, THIS IS…
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Daddy’s Head
What if your dad was a skittering thing that made you yell at people? And also, your stepmom spent half the movie in a T-shirt and her underwear, and the other half in a house kimono, drunk on the floor? What if they show you a perfectly good dog and decide to kill her?
Trope: Creepy Child
Where a child is invariably creepy in some odd way, usually because the adult writers cannot fathom a child being anything other than a device to make something spookier. Usually they don’t have any emotions, or if they do, it’s anger. You usually see weird terrifying drawings, or the child will interact with a spirit.