Master of Rods and Strings by Jason Marc Harris
Crystal Lake Publishing (January 12, 2024)
104 pages; paperback
Reviewed by Chandra Claypool (Instagram) (TikTok)
Do you like to read things that scare you? And I don’t mean just general horror… I mean specifics. I absolutely cannot be around dolls… and by default, puppets. Puppets may almost even be worse since they actively move – even if it’s in a controlled way by the person with the rods and strings. So of course I had to read this story of Elias, who wants to be as talented as his sister as puppetry. She is recruited by their Uncle Pavan, who is well known for his successes in his puppetry school. But something seems off and Elia won’t stop until he finds his sister. No cost is too big and he finds himself spiraling into the occult. Nothing will stop him.Continue Reading
The synopsis
Rebecca Cuthbert is a dark fiction and poetry writer living in Western New York. She loves ghost stories, folklore, witchy women, and anything that involves nature getting revenge. Her debut poetry collection, In Memory of Exoskeletons, is out now with Alien Buddha Press, and her hybrid poetry and story collection, Self-Made Monsters, will arrive in Fall of 2024. Her non-fiction book, Creep This Way
Clay McLeod Chapman writes books, comic books, children’s books, as well as for film and television. His most recent novel, What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters are grief horror stories. Chapman’s vibrant personality and energy are magnetizing, and seemingly contradictory to his writing material. Todd Keisling and I joked that the Whisper Down The Lane author is “like a cup of coffee” — rejuvenating.
In true Splatterpunk style, John McNee’s 
