The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Spooky

Spirit Week by Ira Marcks

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Spirit Week by Ira Marcks
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A charmingly illustrated and just-spooky-enough graphic novel, Spirit Week is sure to delight readers looking for an inventive mystery to unravel. A clever homage to the works of Stephen King and The Shining, Marck’s middle grade graphic novel follows a group of intrepid kids as they attempt to uncover the secrets of The Underlook Hotel and its reclusive author Jack Axworth. A whole lot of fun!

Spirit Week by Ira Marcks, (List Price: $12.99, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 9780316278065, October 2022)

Reviewed by Caleb Masters, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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The Mexican Witch Lifestyle by Valeria Ruelas

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The Mexican Witch Lifestyle by Valeria Ruelas
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An absolutely stellar guide to modern brujeria. It’s the perfect addition to any young witch/bruja/brujx’s collection. Valeria Rules is such a powerful and authoritative voice in the brujeria world and their guide is all encompassing and inclusive, with careful descriptions of spells, crystals, and terminology as well as cautions against racism and appropriation. In my humble opinion, this is THE guide every one beginning their journey into magic and healing should have on their shelf!

The Mexican Witch Lifestyle by Valeria Ruelas, (List Price: $17.99, Simon Element, 9781982178147, November 2022)

Reviewed by Laney Sheehan, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, NC

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Leech by Hiron Ennes

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Leech by Hiron Ennes
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The narrator of this scalpel-sharp and intoxicatingly gross debut is a parasite who is about to meet its match in the battle for control over the human heart, mind, and body. Fans of gothic lit, haunted mansions in ill repair, and biological or medical horror, eat your optic nerve—I mean, your heart—out! I generally don’t consider myself a fan of the above actually, but the incredibly unique narrator, the excellent and atmospheric world-building, and the both chillingly creepy and chillingly cold setting really hooked me. Highly recommended for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic and T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead!

Leech by Hiron Ennes, (List Price: $27.99, Tordotcom, 9781250811189, September 2022)

Reviewed by Megan Bell, Underground Books in Carrollton, Georgia

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Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

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Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
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Someone once told me that laughter is the human response to what makes them uncomfortable. This story is like Shirley Jackson and Christopher Moore had a book baby and Motherthing was the result. Ralph and Abby Lamb move in with his mentally ill mother as caretakers. Abby thinks this is her chance to win over her mother in law. She’s wrong. Dead wrong. The story telling in this book is brilliantly funny at times and deeply disturbing at others. Mark Abrams cover art drew me in but Ainslie Hogarth’s ability to make me cringe and laugh at the same time kept me reading.

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth, (List Price: $17, Vintage, 9780593467022, September 2022)

Reviewed by Suzanne Carnes, Underground Books in Carrollton, Georgia

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The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

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The Night Ship by Jess Kidd
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An enthralling tale of imaginary monsters, human devils, and two children navigating life’s horrors 360 years apart. In turn harrowing, tender, and hopeful, the adventure follows a fearless Dutch girl in 1628 aboard the Batavia, which ultimately wrecks near an island off Australia. In 1989, a sensitive boy goes to live on that same island with his gruff grandfather after his mother’s death. There, he learns how to be himself and discovers a magical connection with the girl from the past.

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd, (List Price: $28, Atria Books, 9781982180812, October 2022)

Reviewed by Suzanne Carnes, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida

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Lucky Girl by M. Rickert

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Lucky Girl by M. Rickert
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Rickert packs a lot of horror in just over 100 pages! Four friends meet up in a diner on Thanksgiving and start a tradition of getting together for Christmas dinner and telling scary stories. Ro, an aspiring writer, learns that sometimes the scariest stories are so terrifying because they stem from fact – and no one is safe!

Lucky Girl by M. Rickert, (List Price: $15.99, Tordotcom, 9781250817334, September 2022)

Reviewed by Andrea Richardson, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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It Came from the Closet by Joe Vallese

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It Came from the Closet by Joe Vallese
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It’s human nature to look for validation of oneself in the art we consume, and It Came From the Closet is a collection of essays by queer and trans authors on their interpretations and interactions with horror films. Edited by Joe Vallese, these essays are tender and funny, vulnerable and courageous. It Came From the Closet will make you see movies you’ve watched numerous times in a different light and that is a spectacular point of view.

It Came from the Closet by Joe Vallese, (List Price: $25.95, The Feminist Press at CUNY, 9781952177798, October 2022)

Reviewed by Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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