Jeffrey Thomas’s latest collection, Carrion Men, from Plutonian Press showcases seven of Thomas’s short stories—five reprints and two originals—tethered by the loose theme of men crushed by the drudgery of day to day life and the horrors they find themselves confronting.

At a time when pop culture has wrung the last sad drops of brine from the pores of evil bastards masquerading as human, Kim Vodicka’s latest poetry collection, Dear Ted, drives a pike through the cancerous flesh and psyche of Ted Bundy, and displays it for the viewing public as a way to deep-dive into what drives one’s self-destructive infatuation with monsters and the pain that comes with falling for horrible men.

Ali Seay’s latest novella, To Offer Her Pleasure, from Weirdpunk Books is an equal parts slow burn meditation on death and a fiercely paced downward spiral that proves not all coming-of-age tales are about defeating the monster. In some cases you become one – a refreshing choice when there are plenty of Losers Club knockoffs packing the aisles of most bookstores.

Bret Riley’s second novel, Lord of Order, grapples with the horrors enacted in the name of religion, but fails to pin down and explore those that blindly follow and carry out their atrocious orders in a meaningful or complex way.

The youth do a lot of the heavy lifting in horror fiction. When monsters roll into town, they’re the only ones to send evil packing. Hunter Shea’s latest novel, Misfits, is the story of one such group of teens fighting creatures that live on the outskirts of their small suburb.

Welcome to another match, mis amigos! Stepping into the ring with El Critico this round, is Michael David Wilson’s debut novella, The Girl in the Video, from Perpetual Motion Machine publishing.

Dim Shores have made their name over the years as a curator of strange fiction specializing mostly in novellas, their previously acclaimed anthology, Looming Low, and Dim Shores Presents Volume 1 (DSPV1).

Paying homage to the works we love and flat out ripping them off is a tough tightrope to walk. As we’ve seen with the popularity of Stranger Things or Tarantino & Rodriguez’s double-bill homage to the grindhouse, sometimes you hit a home run and others, you find out you’ve jumped into your neighbor’s pool without asking.

Scott Jones’s debut novel, Stonefish, is cosmic madness and mystery wrapped in a blanket made of the paranoid future-fantasies of Philip K. Dick and Lovecraft’s dread of the void.