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Best of Horror 2023: Books and Movies
Best of Horror 2023: Books and Movies
This year celebrated so many incredible moments in horror! I read tons of thrilling books and watched plenty of spooky movies. Here are some of my favorites from 2023 (Please note this list is by no means complete. This is simply a list of some of my favorites, but there are TONS of incredible books published this past year!):
BOOKS:
HOW LOVELY TO BE A WOMAN by TIFFANY MICHELLE BROWN
Description:
A woman desperate to achieve the life she’s always dreamed of orders an AI baby online. Mounting workplace misogyny helps an introvert unlock her innate power. A woman obsessed with skincare goes to great lengths to rid her face of imperfections. A frat boy looking to score gets much more than he bargained for when a sexy coed turns the tables on him. Seeking relief from the pressures of everyday life, a woman checks into a hotel that caters to her dark predilections.
Equal parts heartbreaking and grotesque, How Lovely To Be a Woman: Stories and Poems explores the everyday horrors of womanhood and delights in the monstrous ways women adapt, evolve, fight back, and survive.
WHAT I LOVED:
This book is a powerful and intense look at womanhood that soaks into your pores from the first page. Tiffany tackles a variety of beautifully haunting ideas that will resonate with a large audience. Fans of feminist horror and daring short story collections will enjoy this read! Buy it here!
MAEVE FLY by CJ LEEDE
Description:
By day, Maeve Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every child’s favorite ice princess.
By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes.
But when Gideon Green - her best friend’s brother - moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet.
Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the page
At this point, only a lobotomy will be able to remove the grotesque images invoked by this book from my brain. This is a BRUTAL read, but extremely compelling! A dark and twisted tale that dives not only into the monstrosity of a killer, but a universal desire to find companionship and acceptance. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you made it through KIN by Kealan Patrick Burke, you’ll be able to handle MAEVE FLY! Buy it here!
I WANT CANDY by AZZURRA NOX
Description:
A family of witches. A girl in love.
Hidden away in an old, dilapidated Victorian home, the Dresden witches have been making their prized candies for years. Their secret ingredient would make most people squeamish, but for Lollipop it's just another typical day at home. Lolli spends her days making candies and longing for her classmate Stella. As her infatuation for Stella deepens, Lollipop begins to question her loyalty to her family. Will she choose love or will she do anything it takes to preserve the Dresden legacy at any costs? Does she have what it takes to be the next head witch or will her powers never be strong enough?
Stella Morris has recently moved to Arcana, California after a tragic incident involving her mother. Stella is both beautiful and popular, but she harbors a darkness in her that threatens to make her whole world come undone.
This coming of age queer romance is drenched in blood and sugar.
Why I loved it:
This was a super fast read that pushed the horror boundaries! I kept thinking, there’s no way Azzurra is going to go there, and then, BAM! It’s a lot of story packed into a tiny word count complete with a gripping coming-of-age tale that fans of queer romance and witchcraft will enjoy! BUY IT HERE!
OUT THERE SCREAMING Edited by JORDAN PEELE
Description:
A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele’s anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and—like his spine-chilling films—its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world . . . and redefine what it means to be afraid.
Featuring stories by: Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull.
Why I Loved It:
Each story carves a place in your mind and takes up residency. It’s packed with unsettling moments, memorable characters, and powerful themes that hit hard. Everyone should check it out! But it here!
MOVIES
SLOTHERHOUSE
Description:
Senior Emily Young wants to be elected sorority president. She adopts a cute sloth, thinking it will help her win, but a string of fatalities implicates the sloth.
Why I Loved It:
Look, it’s a movie about a pissed off sloth hunting down sorority sisters. It knows what it is and everyone is in on the joke, which makes it SO much fun! Fans of VelociPastor will certainly get a kick out of this comedy horror!
ATTACHMENT
Description:
Maja, a Danish has-been actress, falls in love with Leah, a Jewish academic from London. Leah suffers a mysterious seizure, and Maja returns with her to London. There, she meets Leah's mother, Chana, a woman who could hold dark secrets.
When I looked this up, it said it came out in 2022, but maybe it got its US release in 2023? I don’t know for sure, but I watched it this year, and I loved it! It’s dark and harrowing but lovely in a haunting manner that will stick with you long after the credits roll. Fans of character driven horror that is more emotional in its approach to storytelling will enjoy this movie!
UNWELCOME
Description:
Married couple Maya and Jamie escape their urban nightmare to the tranquility of rural Ireland only to discover malevolent and murderous goblins lurking in the gnarled, ancient wood at the foot of their new garden.
This is another that said it was released in 2022, but I saw it this year. Maybe, again, it was released in the US in 2023? Either way, it’s 100% worth a watch! I certainly didn’t see where it was going until the thrilling climax and even then…wow!
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITES FROM 2023?
BLACK FRIDAY SALE!
SALE SALE SALE!
I’m slashing prices on two of my books!
FOR A LIMITED TIME:
Shiver will be $2.99 on Kindle and $8.99 for paperback!
Open House is FREE on Kindle Direct and will be $3.99 for paperback!
Open House:
Realtor Caleb Birch is on the precipice of earning everything he’s ever dreamed: a partner position at his prestigious realty firm, financial stability that would make his mother proud, and a respectable professional reputation amongst Los Angeles’s wealthy and elite. All he has to do is nail his open house and secure a contract.
Enter a mysterious woman with an air of familiarity claiming to be the perfect buyer. Her ruse dissolves revealing nefarious intentions and a twisted game that Caleb must win to survive the night. But she isn’t the only threat lurking behind closed doors. There are skeletons in the closet, and they’re coming out to play.
SHIVER:
Grab a cozy blanket, pour some bourbon in your hot chocolate, and gather around the fireplace. It’s about to get chilly! This un-brrr-lievable anthology presents 30 spooky stories exploring the depths of madness and terror unique to the cold. Whether it’s a chilling twist on the final girl trope, a mysterious Japanese spirit knocking on a cabin door, or something sinister born out of urine soaked snow, this frigid collection is packed with tales that will send a shiver down your spine. Get ready. A blizzard is coming.
Pre-Sale Begins! Static Screams by Nico Bell
It’s Time for E-BOOK Pre-Orders!
Static Scream is now available for pre-sale in most locations where you buy books! Here is a list of the places currently running the pre-order:
Barnes & Noble
Rakuten Kobo
Apple Books
Scribd
Tolino
Overdrive
Baker & Taylor
Odilo
Vivlio
Borrow Box
Smashwords
Gardners
Amazon won’t be able to sell pre-orders until closer to publication date, which is MARCH 6, 2024!
I’m also working on getting it available on Godless.
Happy Reading!
COVER ART REVEAL: Static Screams by Nico Bell
Cover Art: Static Screams by Nico Bell
Publication Date: March 6, 2024
I’m thrilled to share the cover art to my new sci-fi horror novella scheduled for release March 6, 2024! Thank you to the talented A.A. Medina at Fabled Beast Design for making this image!
Carmen is on the brink of insanity. Her untethered mind twists reality into a nightmare filled with relentless hallucinations. Despite countless doctors, she can’t escape her delusions brought forth by her tragic past.
.
Enter Dr. Barbara MacDonald, a brilliant psychologist proposing an innovative and experimental treatment program. Dr. Barbara ignites the last flicker of hope within Carmen, but hope is a double edged sword as the doctor has her own sinister motives.
.
Darkness and deception converge, forcing Carmen to choose: surrender to the weight of her trauma or unravel Dr. Barbara’s menacing intentions before it’s too late.
Publication Date: March 6, 2024
My Mental Illness, My Broken Brain, and My New Etsy Shop!
How it all connects:
I have no idea what’s wrong with me. In 2008, I was formally diagnosed with anxiety and depression, put on medication, and started therapy. Later, I battled my eating disorder through two weeks of outpatient treatment and two years of private therapy. Then, my brain broke. Well, I think it was always broken, but due to years of therapy, I now had the agency and vocabulary to express that what I was going through wasn’t “normal.” It was simply my normal.
My mind is a hamster running on her wheel. It’s a million ants crawling under my skin. It’s a never ending nightmare factory that keeps me from sleeping. It also fuels obsessive hobbies. I have no idea what the official diagnosis would be for my brain. One therapist said with great certainty that I have ADHD. A week later, another therapist said with complete resolve that I don’t have ADHD. Autism? I wouldn’t be surprised. Bipolar? I don’t know. I’ve lived with this my whole life, and, honestly, I’m at the point where I think it might just be for the best if I accept it and embrace the positive side of things.
Enter my obsessive hobby of embroidery. I’ve been doing it for years and it’s taken over my house. I have finished hoop art hanging on the walls, propped up on my writing desk, and even displayed in the bathroom. They’re literally outnumbering creatures in the house five to one.
So, I’ve started an Etsy shop! It’s called Bury Your Thread and it has a variety of spooky, sci-fi-, abstract, pop culture, and holiday work. I’m going to be adding more and more as time goes on, but the initial inventory is up! It’s all newly created as my anxiety has been on high alert lately and my hands need to do something, so these designs are all freshly conjured from my brain!
I’m still working out how Etsy works, so there may be a few hiccups at first. Thank you for your patience!
If you want to see what mental illness looks like for me, check out my Etsy shop!
https://buryyourthread.etsy.com
Stoker Eligible Works by Nico Bell
Stoker Eligible Stories
It’s that time of year! Writers nervously get their eligible stories organized and ready to release into the world in hopes someone will like them enough to nominate them for an award.
Like many authors, it’s my dream to win a Bram Stoker Award, which is arguably the most coveted in the horror writing industry. I’ve never been nominated. I’ve never had a book on the recommended reading list, but I’ll never stop hoping!
With that said, here are my eligible stories. Note that my scifi horror novella Static will also be eligible, but it doesn’t come out until October.
If anything looks interesting and you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, email me (nicobellfiction@gmail.com) and I’ll send you a free copy! Also, I will be reading each of the short fiction pieces and excerpts from Open House on my Substack podcast in the coming weeks, so make sure you head over there and sign up for updates!
Realtor Caleb Birch is on the precipice of earning everything he’s ever dreamed: a partner position at his prestigious realty firm, financial stability that would make his mother proud, and a respectable professional reputation amongst Los Angeles’s wealthy and elite. All he has to do is nail his open house and secure a contract. Enter a mysterious woman with an air of familiarity claiming to be the perfect buyer. Her ruse dissolves revealing nefarious intentions and a twisted game that Caleb must win to survive the night. But she isn’t the only threat lurking behind closed doors. There are skeletons in the closet, and they’re coming out to play.
Open House is eligible for the LONG FICTION category.
Originally featured in Ooze: Little Bursts of Body Horror
Body horror is best when it comes in little bursts. In this novella-length collection full of gross, grimy, creepy, crawly, bubbling, bursting fun, what you'll be surprised by is how much heart and story can be packed into such small packages. With twenty up-and-coming authors putting forth their best short works of body horror, be prepared to be smacked in the face with a combination of the classic and the new. There's plenty that you hope for when you pick up a book of body horror---transformation, dissolution, decay---but there are also a delightful number of heartfelt and surprising twists on the idea. Every story is under 2,500 words and many are shorter.
Chrysalis is a seeping menopause story about the power of joyful transformation and eligible for the SHORT FICTION category.
Originally published in HorrorScope: A Zodiac Anthology
Aries. Taurus. Gemini. Cancer. Leo. Virgo. Libra. Scorpio. Sagittarius. Capricorn. Aquarius. Pisces.
It is said that destiny is determined by the stars. The signs of the Zodiac can predict who you’ll love, who you’ll hate, and who you’ll become. But the fates written in the stars are not always kind. Sometimes, they’re terrifying.
In Horrorscopes, you will find 36 dark fantasy poems and short stories all inspired by the Zodiac Signs. Within these pages, you’ll face killer goats, twisted twins and deadly fishies. So, open this book, if you dare, and pray that you weren’t born under a bad sign.
The One Who Came to Save Her is a devious folk horror about revenge and eligibly for the SHORT FICTION category.
To recommend a work for the Stoker Award:
Go to HWA website.
Open the Members Only link.
Log In
Click the red “Recommend Work” button on the right panel.
Publication Day! Open House by Nico Bell
Open House by Nico Bell
It’s publication day! Thank you so much to PyschoToxin Press for giving me this opportunity!
Interview with Horror Author Yolanda Sfetsos
Interview with Yolanda Sfetsos, author of Suffer the Darkness
1. What was the inspiration behind your new book?
The idea for this story started with a simple premise: what if a mother’s desperate need to find her missing daughter becomes a nightmare capable of destroying her family? And then morphed into: what would happen if the girl who came back wasn’t the same as the one who disappeared? Sometimes, what you wish for the most can turn out to be a total nightmare. I wanted to explore the darkest paths of these two scenarios.
2. You described your novella as 'a small-town tale about a desperate mother's attempt to protect her family from her apathetic eldest daughter', can you expand on that?
Molly is a teenager who goes missing in the woods and when she comes back, her mother, Kae, slowly starts to realise that something isn’t quite right. But having her back home is everything she wanted... until it’s not. And actually becomes a dark descent into the monstrous unknown connected to an old urban legend about the woods in their town.
3. If you were only allowed three adjectives to describe your book, what would they be?
I’d definitely have to say: tragic, distressing and unforseen.
4. What came first Molly, the grieving mother, or the creepy woods?
For me, it always starts with the creepy woods. Then Molly turned up, and I wanted to tell her story. Until I actually started writing and discovered that this was going to be her mother’s dark tale. One that pushes her love to the limits.
5. If your book was made into a movie, who would play the leads?
Author Yolanda Sfetsos
Oh, wow. You know, I didn’t think about this until you asked. But I think Rachel McAdams would make a great Kae, Paul Rudd could definitely be Roy, and Kiernan Shipka would make a terrific Molly.
6. Are you a plotter, a pantser, or a combination of both?
I’m definitely a pantser, but I take a LOT of notes. Sometimes, when I start writing I only know the beginning, other times I know exactly where everything is going. Writing a story is always such an exciting, daunting, and magical experience. I love every minute of it and always look forward to that moment when everything clicks into place.
7. Authors always have the best (and most disturbing!) Google search histories. What kind of research, if any, did you do for this book?
I did quite a bit of research about the myths and folklore surrounding creatures/demons that live in the woods. It’s quite the rabbit hole and the more I read, the more my own myth started to come together. I also had to look up the dates for 2014 and 2015 that I was using, as well as the weather. A lot of boring details that were essential for me to know/double check.
8. How much research do you do for your stories?
I actually do quite a bit of research before I even sit down to start writing. And then, I usually have to do another round of research during the revision because other things come up. Or new things pop up that need to be checked. I’ve definitely looked up some pretty strange and even questionable things in the past. But hey, I write horror so that’s expected, right? 😬
You can visit Yolanda’s website at www.yolandasfetsos.com to find out the latest news or catch up on her blog posts. You can also find her on Twitter https://twitter.com/yolandasfetsos/.
Suffer the Darkness will be released by DarkLit Press on June 18, 2023.
COVER REVEAL! Open House, New Horror Novella
It’s time for a COVER REVEAL
Check out the amazing cover of my new book Open House available 6/15/2023 by PsychoToxin Press. It’ll be up on Amazon and other major sites where books are sold!
Realtor Caleb Birch is on the precipice of earning everything he’s ever dreamed: a partner position at his prestigious realty firm, financial stability that would make his mother proud, and a respectable professional reputation amongst Los Angeles’s wealthy and elite. All he has to do is nail his open house and secure a contract. Enter a mysterious woman with an air of familiarity claiming to be the perfect buyer. Her ruse dissolves revealing nefarious intentions and a twisted game that Caleb must win to survive the night. But she isn’t the only threat lurking behind closed doors. There are skeletons in the closet, and they’re coming out to play