Mark Schiffer

A delight. Wayward kids in gothic England. Vile villains, secret passages, and shipwrecks. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Loss, growth, and dynastic traditions. I deeply savored every page of this horror novel, and I'll definitely be thinking of it for years to come.

Aptly compared to Shirley Jackson and Sherwood Anderson, this bit of New England horror kept me up at night until I finally was so wound with anxiety I had to put the book down, put on a relaxing podcast, and stare at my ceiling. Motifs of fragile masculinity and capitalism dealt with in ways that still resonate today.

A cryptic, creepy haunted shack in Maine with a protagonist so well constructed I felt like I knew him from page 1. Delves into memory and trauma in ways not unlike the early Silent Hill games. I read this in one or two great gulps while snowed in during the first winter storm of the season.

Good fun. Terrific woodsy setting, great voice, extra spooky moments. I kind of got lost in the mythology at various points, which I guess means I should probably read Machen eventually? Still a super enjoyable autumn horror read.

English seaside ghost story with a fun cast, rainy atmosphere, and some great spooky moments (especially in the last act). Solid fun.

Wild, unsettling, gorgeously written litfic as horror as domestic sci-fi.

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?

Moving, cathartic, and hilarious novel of nested fairy tales, ghost stories, gothic romances, and changelings that left me wanting to reread it the moment it was over.

Essential breakdown of abuse and love and queerness. This one is going to be huge, and rightly so. I drank it down like a glass of seltzer at the end of a hot day.

A perfect, glowing ghost story. One I'll revisit in the summertime. Gorgeous, nostalgic, and scary. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Solid, semi-classy Brit horror. Takes a while to get going but goes to some fun places by the end.

Good creepy fun. Gave me serious Point Horror vibes. Ending felt a bit rushed, but I'd def read more in the series.

I find it difficult to know what take away from this coming of age sci fi mystery, but it placed me under a spell and I couldn't get it out of my mind.

Gory, gorgeous, and blazingly fast just like the movie. A classic for a reason.

I don't understand. I don't understand. But woo boy is the world in this book wild and nightmarish.

Great fun. The Craft by way of Art School Confidential.

Grotesque, well-structured horror as thriller as litfic. Couldn't put it down.

Gorgeous. A bit thematically dense for me to get everything the first time around, so it might be worth a reread. Several passages made me ugly cry.

Great, uncommon character-based drama in the guise of horror set in a psych ward. One of the warmest, most appealing voices in fiction I've read this year. I couldn't put it down.

Late 60s, Cali

Sunbaked faux-Manson family period piece, with some solid psychological depth to its protagonist. I enjoyed reading it in the backyard, as summer ended. The framing device kind of left me cold but that's fine.

Oof. This was a lot. I feel like I've known people like the protagonist of this work, and it functions almost as a cautionary tale even if that wasn't Dazai's intent? It's hard to tell what his intent was here. Perhaps it's about the distortions mental illness and abuse have on our perceptions of our reality? Regardless, as a cultural object it's fascinating because it's the second most bestselling book in Japan of all time, and it's bleak as hell.

I eat coming of age narratives set in urban environments like candy. Even so, solanin was a particularly great one, with well-drawn characters and immaculately designed settings. Gave me echoes of Box Office Poison. Definitely will be rereading this one.

I've read a lot of troubled adolescence memoirs in novel form this year. This was a really good one, but it took me to a place (like all of them do).

A cryptic, horrific slice of sci fi horror. So, so good.

A sometimes convoluted but compelling sci-fi murder mystery with British lady time travelers. The fact that its Le Carre-esque narrative was sometimes difficult to untangle mattered less than the novel's super strong emotional core.