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The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I were to tell you this novel is about a group of friends threatened by a supernatural force ten years after a transgression they committed in the past, I’m sure you’d tell me you’ve heard it before. However, acclaimed author Stephen Graham Jones makes this time-worn story feel wholly original again by telling it through a lens we rarely see in horror fiction: American Indian life, both on and off the reservation. Jones is a great storyteller, but where he really shines is in characterization. In THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS, you’ll meet characters you feel like you’ve known intimately for years, even if your own background and life experience is completely different. Just to illustrate how good he is with characterization, there’s one character who’s only in the first third of the novel who is so well drawn I was surprised to discover they’re not the protagonist.

But THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS is also a horror novel, and let me tell you, things get brutal. The violence is quick, shocking, and devastating because we know these characters so well. There’s no anonymous cannon fodder here. Each act of violence is as painful to the reader as to the characters. I could go on about how great this book is, and how memorable everyone in it is, but I’ll spare you the gushing. I’ll only say this: The ending is the most important part of a horror novel — you could say it’s the most important part of any novel, but in my opinion horror is where a whiffed ending does the most damage to an otherwise good story — and THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS’ ending is resonant and note-perfect. I can’t recommend this novel highly enough.

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I’m proud to be a part of this project with so many great authors:

The Pixel Project, an anti-Violence Against Women non-profit, is proud to announce Giving the Devil His Due, their first charity short story anthology under their Read For Pixels program which will be published in partnership with Running Wild Press on September 1st, 2021. The anthology will feature sixteen stories in homage to the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, one of the largest annual anti-violence against women events in the world. 100% of the net proceeds from the sales of the anthology will go towards supporting The Pixel Project’s anti-violence against women programs, campaigns, and resources.

Giving the Devil His Due is inspired by award-winning Horror author Stephen Graham Jones’s story “Hell On The Homefront Too” about a battered wife who finally gets rid of her abusive war-hero-turned-zombie husband. The theme of the anthology is the comeuppance of men who commit violence against women and girls. With a Twilight Zone vibe, this anthology evokes the spirit of Rod Serling to tell compelling stories that will help get the conversation about violence against women started amongst book lovers and fandoms worldwide while sending a clear message that misogyny, toxic masculinity, and violence against women is unacceptable.

Edited by Rebecca Brewer, formerly of Ace/Roc (Penguin Random House), this anthology will feature sixteen major names and rising stars in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror today. Authors who have been confirmed to date include Christina Henry, Dana Cameron, Errick Nunnally, Hillary Monahan, Jason Sanford, Kaaron Warren, Kelley Armstrong, Leanna Renee Hieber, Lee Murray, Linda D. Addison, Maurice Broaddus, Nicholas Kaufmann, Nisi Shawl, Peter Tieryas, and Stephen Graham Jones.

“The Pixel Project is honoured to collaborate with sixteen authors, Ms. Brewer, and Running Wild Press to vault the awareness-raising side of Read For Pixels to the next level with this anthology,” said Regina Yau, Founder and President of The Pixel Project. “Violence against women is one of the most brutal, widespread and entrenched human rights violations in the world and yet there remains a wall of silence around it in many cultures and families. We believe that stories have the power to change the world by bringing this issue into the light and hope that the sixteen tales in this anthology will not only get people to think about the issue but also galvanise them to take action to stop violence against women and girls in their communities worldwide.”

“Running Wild is honoured to partner with The Pixel Project on such a fantastic collection benefitting such a worthy cause,” said Lisa Diane Kastner, Founder and Executive Editor, Running Wild Press. “It’s time we end violence against women. No woman or girl deserves to be treated with disrespect, malice, and harm. We’re kicking the devil in the butt and showing him the curb!”

Giving the Devil His Due will be available on all major bookseller platforms in the United States and its territories, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand on September 1st, 2021.

I’m honored to announce that my story “Whatever Happened to Solstice Young?” has been reprinted in the charity anthology One of Us: A Tribute to Frank Michaels Errington. Frank was a friend, a fellow Necon camper, and a highly regarded book reviewer. Proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated in Frank’s memory to the American Transplant Foundation.

Other authors in the anthology include Stephen King, Josh Malerman, Paul Tremblay, Richard Chizmar, Christopher Golden, Jonathan Maberry, Jeff Strand, and many more. The paperback is out now, and the e-book should be available soon.

You can order a copy here. I hope you enjoy this tribute to a good man for a good cause.

North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud

My first exposure to the short fiction of Nathan Ballingrud was the story “You Go Where It Takes You,” which the late, lamented Scifiction published in 2004. I knew right away I was in the presence of a wild new talent in the field of horror and the dark fantastic. As it happens, “You Go Where It Takes You” is also the lead story in NORTH AMERICAN LAKE MONSTERS, Ballingrud’s first story collection, and it sets the tone nicely.

Ballingrud is a master of writing everyday, blue-collar characters who have lost control of their lives. They’re often in dead-end jobs, living dead-end lives, just trying to make it through while knowing things aren’t going to get any better. An unexpected encounter with the supernatural, or perhaps more accurately the unknowable, acts as a catalyst to shake things up, but not always for the better. There’s a deep sense of melancholy and frustration in these stories, and happy endings are few and far between.

All the stories in NORTH AMERICAN LAKE MONSTERS are excellent, but among my favorites are “Wild Acre,” which follows the sole survivor of a monster’s attack and the crushing guilt he carries with him, and”The Monsters of Heaven,” in which a grieving couple whose child went missing find what I can only describe as otherworldly solace. What makes Ballingrud’s writing so great is his understanding of humanity, his ability to write characters whose actions and emotions are grounded and realistic, rather than heightened in the way that so much speculative fiction offers. Here, the presence of the supernatural is often secondary to the characters themselves, totems meant to illuminate some defining part of them.

Nathan Ballingrud is an exceptional talent, one whom I hope will one day be spoken of in the same breath as classic masters like Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Clive Barker. It’s already clear to me that he belongs in the same category as new masters like Jeffrey Ford, Paul Tremblay, Laird Barron, Sarah Langan, Livia Llewellyn, John Langan, Veronica Schanoes, and Stephen Graham Jones. NORTH AMERICAN LAKE MONSTERS is all the proof I need of that.

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