Becky Spratford
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The Current Landscape of Horror Fiction: An Interview with Usman Malik
LJ Horror columnist Becky Spratford interviews Usman T. Malik, author of Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan. She writes “his talent is blinding and his trajectory reminds me of Stephen Graham Jones, who I also found, like Usman, in Ellen Datlow collections first.” They discuss his work, influences, and the current landscape of horror fiction.
PREMIUM
The Searching Dead
A finalist in the Horror category for the British Fantasy Award, this is a slow burn of a novel with a fantastic pay-off, an intense and menacing story framed by superior worldbuilding. It is a good suggestion for fans of It by Stephen King or the “African Immortals” series by Tananarive Due.
PREMIUM
In Darkness, Shadows Breathe
A compelling, immersive, and intense time-slip horror novel with sympathetic characters that readers actively root for. The tale reads like The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle if it were written by Sarah Pinborough.
PREMIUM
Dead of Winter
While COVID-related publishing shifts delayed this collection by a few months, readers will enjoy being immersed in these winter-themed stories any time of year. Pair it with the excellent collections of Victorian winter solstice and Christmas ghost stories published by Biblioasis.
Children of Chicago
With superior worldbuilding, a relentless pace, a complex heroine, and a harrowing story that preys off of current events as much as its well-developed monster, this is a stellar horror novel that fires on all cylinders, from the first page through to its horrible conclusion. For fans of dark fantasy based on fairy tales such as Seanan McGuire’s “Wayward Children” series or novels by Helen Oyeyemi, with just the right touch of Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski.
Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan
This collection by a rising star in horror harkens back to classic anthologies by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe or Arthur Conan Doyle, but with a voice that represents the rich storytelling traditions of Pakistan. For fans of dark fantasy and horror. Pair with other works exploring universal fears framed and informed by the author’s identity such as those by Stephen Graham Jones, S. A. Chakraborty, and Marlon James.
PREMIUM
The Route of Ice and Salt
A necessary and engaging addition not only to the always popular subset of Dracula-adjacent tales such as Dracul by Dacre Stoker and J. D. Barker, but also to the growing pantheon of retellings of horror classics from a marginalized perspective such as Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom.
PREMIUM
The Hobgoblin of Little Minds
A deft and unique blend of werewolf story with an honest and respectful discussion of bipolar disorder. It is an obvious suggestion for fans of The Last Werewolf Trilogy by Glen Duncan but also a great companion to thought-provoking creature tales that contemplate the character’s trauma as part of the horror, such as Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad.
Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women
The preconceived notions of both the authors’ identities and of the limitations of the horror genre itself will be smashed to pieces, to the delight of readers. With the inclusion of biographies and photographs introducing each of the contributors, readers will gain a full appreciation of the authors, obtain insight into their influences, and learn of their other works. Do not be surprised if readers request more works by these unquiet women.
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