Review: Hospital of Haunts edited by Heather Daughrity

cover of Hospital of Haunts
Version 1.0.0

Hospital of Haunts edited by Heather Daughrity
Watertower Hill Publishing (October 2024)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor

Hospital of Haunts, edited by Heather Daughrity, is the second installment in a unique horror anthology series. The first book in this series focuses on a haunted house; the current book is set in a hospital; and the forthcoming installment will be in a hotel. Although part of a series, these books also stand alone as individual anthologies. Hospital of Haunts includes twenty-three stories by twenty-three authors. All stories in this book were written for and are set in Lychhurst, a fictional hospital set in the mountains of West Virginia, and are sectioned off into different “triage levels.” Not only does Hospital of Haunts include interactive passages that break the fourth wall, but readers get floor plans and a history of the hospital as well. Continue Reading

Review: Haint Country: Dark Folktales from the Hills and Hollers edited by Matthew R. Sparks and Olivia Sizemore

cover of Haint Country
Version 1.0.0

Haint Country: Dark Folktales from the Hills and Hollers edited by Matthew R. Sparks and Olivia Sizemore
University Press of Kentucky (October 2024)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor

Haint Country: Dark Folktales from the Hills and Hollers is a new book of over 50 chilling short stories adapted, collected, and edited by Matthew R. Sparks and Olivia Sizemore. These local legends center around haints, boogers, UFOs, and supernatural happenings within the Appalachian region. Separated into five sections, the otherworldly retellings in Haint Country are accompanied by unsettling watercolor illustrations by co-author Olivia Sizemore. These beautifully eerie designs are reminiscent of those by Stephen Gammell in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and the legends and lore will remind you of an adult version of the Short and Shivery series. Haint Country also corrects misinformation and harmful stereotypes about rural folklore and Appalachia as a whole. Authors Sparks and Sizemore have expanded the traditions within Appalachian storytelling and invite their audience to participate in its culture. Continue Reading

Review: The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth

The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth
Flatiron Books (March 2025)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor

Erika T. Wurth, a Kenyon and Sewanee fellow, lives in Denver, Colorado and is an urban Native of Apache, Chickasaw, and Cherokee descent. She has published in The Kenyon Review, Buzzfeed, and The Writer’s Chronicle. She is a narrative artist for the Meow Wolf Denver installation and has been a guest writer at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Wurth’s horror novel White Horse is a New York Times editor’s pick and a Good Morning America buzz pick. Her most recent novel is The Haunting of Room 904Continue Reading

Review: The Bone Picker by Devon A. Mihesuah

cover of The Bone PickerThe Bone Picker by Devon A. Mihesuah
University of Oklahoma Press (October 2024)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor

Devon A. Mihesuah is a writer, historian, and the Cora Lee Beers Price Professor in the Hall Center for the Humanities at the University of Kansas. She is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation, and a Chickasaw, Norwegian, French, German, and Irish descendant. Mihesuah served as editor of the American Indian Quarterly, and most of her own work tackles colonization, Indigenous stereotypes, Native women, and violence against Natives. She has written several award-winning books, including Choctaw Crime and Punishment, 1884–1887; American Indigenous Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism; and American Indians: Stereotypes and Realities. Mihesuah is the recipient of numerous awards, including from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ford Foundation, and American Historical Association. Her most recent book, The Bone Picker, is a fictional collection of Indigenous horror short stories. Continue Reading

Review: The Exorcist’s House: Genesis by Nick Roberts

cover of The Exorcist's House: GenesisThe Exorcist’s House: Genesis by Nick Roberts
Crystal Lake Publishing (September 2024)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor

Writer and educator Nick Roberts is a West Virginia native who currently resides in South Carolina. He holds a doctorate from Marshall University and is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Horror Authors Guild. Roberts has had work featured in several publications, such as The Fiction Pool, The Blue Mountain Review, Falling Star Magazine, Stonecrop Magazine, and Haunted MTL. His books include one self-published novel: Anathema (2020), and four titles from Crystal Lake Publishing: Mean Spirited (2024), It Haunts the Mind & Other Stories (2023), and The Exorcist’s House (2022), for which the sequel, The Exorcist’s House: Genesis (2024), has just been published. Continue Reading

Review: Obscene Folklore by Mer Whinery

cover of Obscene FolkloreObscene Folklore by Mer Whinery
Watertower Hill Publishing (July 2024)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor 

Mer Whinery is a folk horror author who was born and resides in Oklahoma. He is the author of two collections of short fiction: The Little Dixie Horror Show (Literati Press, 2012) and Phantasmagoria Blues (Literati Press, 2015); as well as the weird western novel Trade Yer Coffin for a Gun (Muzzleland Press, 2018) and the coming-of-age horror novel The Country Girl’s Guide to Hexes and Haints (JournalStone, 2022). Several pieces of his short fiction have appeared in various anthologies, including the forthcoming Hospital of Haunts (Watertower Hill Publishing, 2024). Continue Reading