Night Worms Book Club Review

5/5 Worms

I purchased the January 2021 Night Worms package as a birthday gift to myself. It’s the first time I’ve ever bought the package, but it definitely will not be the last! Here are my full thoughts on the box and what all came with it.

The Goods

The January 2021 package theme is Cabin Fever, and it came with three books: Merciless by Bryan Smith, Horrorama edited by C.V. Hunt, and Paradise Club by Tim Meyer. I also received Bryan Smith and Tim Meyer’s autographs on little stickers, which is such a fantastic touch. I believe some packages have two books rather than three, but I think Night Worms knew about Capricorn season so they threw in a bonus book. (Reviews on those books forthcoming…my TBR pile is the size of a small mountain.)

It also came with amazing goodies: a vegan peppermint hot chocolate that I will devour as soon as I finish taking photos for this blog post, a bookmark and post card with custom cabin fever art, a sticker with the world’s cutest grim reaper, and a fun holo Grindhouse Press sticker.

Is It Worth It?

Night Worms boxes are worth every penny. If you buy the package one month at a time (rather than subscribing, which is only $36.39) it’s $39.99, and first-time buyers can use the code TAKE5 to get $5 off. With tax and the discount and all that, my total came to $43.59. I also got regular shipping updates, which is helpful if you, like me, live in a building where packages are often stolen.

And remember that your money supports a women-owned small business and some awesome indie artists and designers. I also hadn’t heard of the books that came with it, so it’s a fantastic way to read something that may not have been on your radar.

Full disclaimer: It isn’t in my budget to subscribe, so you won’t see monthly reviews of these boxes here (I also don’t have enough space in my tiny apartment for 2-3 new books a month), but I will absolutely treat myself to a box for my birthday, Halloween, and whenever else in the year my horror spirit may need it. This would also be a fantastic gift for the horror fans in your life.

Overall, the Night Worms book club package is a phenomenal way to bring some horror to your life.

Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction From the African Diaspora

Rating: 5/5

The Dark Matter speculative fiction anthology is a masterfully curated collection of work from important voices in speculative fiction including Jewelle Gomez, Octavia E. Butler, and Samuel R. Delaney. Rather than reviewing each story or the book holistically, I am focusing on my favorite piece from Dark Matter, “The Space Traders” by Derrick Bell.

Derrick Bell is often thought of as one of the foundational voices of critical race theory, and this shows in his short story “The Space Traders.” Bell tells the story of a United States that is struggling economically and with natural resources. So when a aliens, who sound a lot like Ronald Reagan, offer US leaders loads and loads of gold, chemicals that can unpolluted the environment, and safe nuclear power, it seems like an offer worth considering. But in exchange for these resources, the aliens want to take all African Americans for unknown purposes.

“The Space Traders” explores the process of US leaders evaluating this trade offer and determining if the US should move forward with this deal. The story is interesting, but it’s how Bell weaves in sophisticated perspectives on race that is truly captivating, and especially relevant to the tomfoolery we’re living through now. Consider the following excerpt:

Oblivious of the whites in the audience, Golightly said, “I realize that our liberal white friends continue to reassure us. ‘This is America,’ they tell us. ‘It can’t happen here.’ But I’ve noticed that those whites who are most vigorous in their assurances are least able to rebut the contrary teaching of both historic fact and present reality. Outside civil rights gatherings like this, the masses of black people—those you claim to represent but to whom you seldom listen—are mostly resigned to the nation’s acceptance of the Space Traders’ offer. For them, liberal optimism is smothered by their life experience.

I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest sf fan, but I absolutely loved Dark Matter, and I firmly believe a big part of that is not hearing the same white voices and stories that sometimes dominate the genre. Dark Matter is a fantastic way to explore the sci-fi world and read some of the voices that shaped sf. Dark Matter will challenge you, make you sad, and, most importantly, give you an appreciation for speculative fiction.

Miracle in the Black Lagoon

This post is a departure from my usual content. For the first time since I was 13, I wrote fiction! This piece was submitted to the Halldark anthology (an amazing upcoming Hallmark movie-themed horror anthology edited by Gabino Iglesias and published by Cemetery Gates Media) and rejected, but I had so much fun writing it that I had to share it with the world. I had no idea I’d love writing fiction so much. This is my first piece in ages, but I promise it won’t be my last! (Did that sound vaguely threatening? I hope so.)

The Amazon

“I can’t believe Jesk wants to build on this glorified swamp,” thought Roy Brooks, chief resort officer, hired to oversee the Daintree resort project. Daintree’s CEO, Jesk Duerto, insisted on building a resort next to this lagoon. Something about being here, even in the middle of the day, gave Roy the creeps. He could’ve sworn he heard splashing in the lagoon, but no one was there. A chill crept up Roy’s spine, despite the oppressive heat. To drown out his uneasiness, he unwrapped the candy cane his wife sent him in a Christmas care package and quietly sang a song to himself: “I won’t ask for much this Christmas/I won’t even wish for snow.”

Roy started this job about a year ago. He liked his new job a lot for the first few weeks, despite being thousands of miles from his family, but he soon realized this project would be the death of him. He did numerous environmental impact studies, and every single one said Daintree’s resort would probably kill off a lot of the creatures in the adjacent lagoon. But Jesk said that didn’t matter. The profits that could come with building this resort would be substantial. So Roy went ahead with the plans.

And now he stood in the heat, sweat dripping down his face, and wondered why Daintree even had to get into the resort business. Wasn’t being a huge online retailer and tech leader enough?

He was so deep in thought that he didn’t hear the splashing coming from the lagoon behind him. He stepped away from the resort site, with his back to the lagoon, to try and envision the resort on this patch of land. He knew he should take some photos of the area for the architects.

As he began patting his pockets to find his phone, a massive clawed fin reached toward Roy’s ankles. Before he could know what was happening, he was dragged on his belly toward the lagoon. He tried to kick at whatever dragged him, but it didn’t seem to matter. This person or thing was powerful.

Roy reached around blindly for something to grab. Twigs and rocks in the sand scratched his face, stomach and legs. Just a few feet from the lagoon, Roy grabbed a branch from a nearby tree. He held on with all of his might, splinters be damned. But whatever was pulling him was stronger. He started to lose his grip, and pretty soon, he was hanging on by the tips of his fingers. He could hear his shoulders popping and his fingers cracking, and he lost contact with the branch. Soon, he was underwater, the cuts on his body on fire from the salt water.

And as quickly as it started, it ended. The lagoon looked beautiful and calm, aside from a floating candy cane and a small red plume where Roy went under.

New Jersey

“No, ma’am. I apologize, but your policy only covers the boat capsizing, not fires,” said Gil. His eyes fell on a piece of paper pinned on his cubicle wall. It was a picture of the Cheshire Cat, and under its photo, it said, in Papyrus font, CUSTOMERS CAN HEAR YOU’RE SMILE! He immediately smiled, despite how much the use of the wrong “your” bothered him.

“Well that’s not fair,” pouted the woman on the phone. “Do you know how finicky boat batteries are? One little mistake with the battery and poof! Why do I have a policy just for you to tell me you can’t help me when I need it? What kind of policy is that?”

Gil smiled even wider and put on his best customer service voice. “I’ll tell you what, ma’am. I may be able to help you.” Gil lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “My boss would kill me if he found out, but I’ll cover your boat. We’ll wire the money to your account ending in 1225. It’s my holiday gift to you.”

“Oh! Bless you. Merry Christmas, and have a happy new year! You are doing the lord’s work.” She hung up before Gil could change his mind.

The truth is that Gil wasn’t breaking any rules. (He reread the employee handbook annually just to be sure he hadn’t accidentally violating a rule.) Each customer service rep had discretionary funds they could give to customers over the year. Gil always waited until December to give out this money.

Gil looked at his watch. There were still 40 minutes until his workday ended. Gil normally didn’t watch the clock obsessively while working. His bosses at the Montpelier Insurance Company always praised his work ethic and focus. He hadn’t been promoted, despite the fact that he worked twice as hard as his non-amphibious colleagues who’d get promoted every 18 months, but he didn’t mind. He was paying his dues, and he knew that monsters always had to work 10 times as hard as humans for the same recognition.

But today was different. It was the day before the office closed for Christmas, and Gil was looking forward to having a few days off. He never went anywhere for Christmas, but he still had a special Christmas routine. On Christmas Eve, he’d pick up a huge dinner from Boston Market and watch his two favorite movies, Love Actually and The Wizard of Oz, from the library. Gil’s grandpa, his mom, and his dad loved The Wizard of Oz, and Gil grew up watching it every Christmas Eve.

He looked down at his fin again and saw that it had only been 3 minutes since he last looked at the time.

He snapped out of his daze when his phone rang. He looked at the phone and saw it was his dad. “Hey dad.”

“Hey, merry Christmas! How’s it going?” asked his dad, Oscar. They exchanged pleasantries for a while. After catching up on Gil’s job and asking if Gil had any special lady creatures in his life, Oscar got down to the reason for the call. “Gil, I know you don’t like being home. But I think you need to come home this year. It may be the last year the lagoon is my home, and I’m not even sure I’ll be able to survive the next couple years.”

Gil was prepared for this call; every year, his dad told Gil to come home. And every year, Gil said he was busy with work. But the truth was that Gil hated his home. He spent his whole life fighting against being from the Black Lagoon, despite being something of a hero. Humans made a documentary in the 1950s about his grandpa defending the lagoon with everything he had. But Gil hated the lagoon. It was dirty, barges rode over it blaring their horns at ungodly hours, and strangers often showed up to poison the water and kill Gil’s fish friends/food. But Oscar’s admission that he may die soon shocked Gil.

“What do you mean you won’t survive the changes? What’s going on? Should I send you money for a boat ticket to get out of there?” asked Gil.

“Abandon my home? I know you think you’re better than me because you live on land in an apartment, but this is our home. Our people lived here for generations. My dad fought hard to keep this lagoon safe from invaders. And you want me to leave it at the first sign of trouble? Fat chance. I’m going down swinging,” huffed Oscar. He paused for a moment and then sighed, sounding defeated. “Daintree wants to build a resort on our lagoon. The traffic, construction, and people swimming in our home with that nasty SPF and deet shit means certain death for us. Gil, I want you to come home to see your house and dad for the last time. I know you won’t fight for your home like I have been, but say goodbye.”

Gil couldn’t stand to see his dad so comfortable with the prospect of his own death. “I’ll be there as soon as possible,” Gil muttered softly. After hanging up, he bought tickets home and cancelled his Boston Market Christmas dinner. But he made sure Love Actually and The Wizard of Oz were on his packing list. Just because he had to go back home didn’t mean he couldn’t celebrate Christmas as usual.

Planes, Trains, and Boats

Getting home would be a long ordeal. Fortunately, Gil had a lot of credit card points with which to buy a ticket. At the airport, he got upgraded to first class. He thought that if he had to go back to his nasty, swampy home, at least he could do it in style.

At the boarding gate, Gil got in the line for first-class passengers. He watched the cable news channel PST, which was doing a piece on the backstory of Jesk Duerto, who was on track to become the world’s first quadrillionaire. “Good luck to Jesk Duerto. I know I spend enough at Daintree to get him to that finish line. A reminder that Daintree is the parent company of PST,” said the anchor, smiling and showing off her bright veneers. “In more somber news, Roy Brooks, Daintree employee, still has not been found or heard from. Duerto is offering a reward of $1,000 for anyone who has information that could lead to finding Brooks. And after the break, we’ll show you the hottest toys this Christmas.”

Gil’s attention was pulled away from the TV by a piece of popcorn shrimp that was thrown at him. “Wow, I guess anyone can travel first class nowadays,” snickered a college-aged boy to the khaki-clad, Sperry-wearing, frat-boys he was traveling with. This brat must have thrown the shrimp. “You don’t even need a pulse!”

Gil tuned them out. He wanted to claw their eyes out and pull their hearts out of their chests, asking if he’d be able to fly first class with once-beating human hearts. But he wouldn’t do that. That’s the kind of behavior expected of his kind. He wouldn’t prove them right. He worked hard to get away from that stereotype. He was an officer in his local Toastmasters club, got an MBA while working full time, and had more than 500 LinkedIn connections. He was better than resorting to violence.

After takeoff, a flight attendant offered Gil a drink. He normally didn’t drink alcohol, but he figured that with the journey ahead of him, he might as well. The drink knocked him out immediately. He dreamed about visiting home for the holidays during college. He dreamed about being a kid and collecting shells for Christmas decorations. He dreamed about warm, sunny summer days and floating just below the water’s surface, catching some sun. He woke up to a sudden jolt. They had landed. Gil realized that short train and boat rides separated him from his final visit home ever.

Home

After several hours on a cramped train and a rocky boat ride, Gil arrived at the Black Lagoon. He dove into the lagoon, and even though it had changed a lot since he’d last visited a decade ago, Gil knew he could find the way back to his childhood home with his eyes closed. Oscar was tending to his kelp, but as soon as he saw Gil, he stopped and smiled. “Gil! Is that you? The way you were swimming reminded me of your grandpa,” said Oscar. Oscar gave Gil a hug and held on for longer than usual. For some reason, Oscar smelled like peppermint.

“Come see the Christmas decorations,” said Oscar. He walked with Gil over to the inflated puffer fish tied to coral. As a kid, Gil loved decorating puffer fish with shells and rocks, but as an adult, Gil thought it was disgusting to decorate balloon-like corpses.

Oscar spent the next half hour fussing over Gil and reminding him how much he was like his grandpa, and Gil gave insincere compliments about how good the puffer fish looked this year. Eventually the conversation turned to Daintree’s resort.

Oscar explained to his son that the pain and devastation caused by humans in the ‘50s would be nothing compared to what would happen if they went through with building the resort.

“I was a baby when it happened, but my ma always told me about how the humans dumped poison into the water to kill pa,” Oscar said. Gil heard this story a million times. “Humans aren’t so smart, and the amount of poison they used was so low that it couldn’t kill us. Creatures like us got itchy for a week, but that was about it from the direct poisoning. But the real pain from the poison hit us a few days later and lasted years. The fish were dead from the poison, so we couldn’t eat them. And the few fish that lived had nothing to eat because all the seaweed and plankton and kelp died. I got so small that ma worried I wouldn’t make it. But eventually the poison wore off, ma and her neighbors planted some seaweed, and the fish eventually came back. It was a horrible time. And it’s nothing compared to the hell that’s to come if this resort gets built.”

“I don’t get it, dad. It’s not even in the water. How could it be worse?” asked Gil.

Oscar sighed. “Gil, the resort will take fish we need to eat. Humans are notorious for overfishing. And that’s saying nothing of the pollution and soil erosion that will kill off all lagoon life in a few years.”

Oscar begged Gil to try and do something to stop the resort from being built. “You went to college on land, have a good job, and don’t live here anymore,” said Oscar. “You live like a human, so maybe they’ll listen to you.”

As much as Gil hated the lagoon, he couldn’t stomach the slow and painful death of his dad over a kitschy resort. “Fine,” sighed Gil. “I’ll make an appointment with their local office tomorrow and see if they’ll hear me out.”

The Daintree Office

Joan Wallace skimmed the bookshelf in her office. She had been working at Daintree for a few weeks, hired to replace that poor sucker who went missing. This was a thankless job; the locals didn’t want the resort to be built here, and Jesk was a stubborn ass who didn’t give a damn about the locals.

She found the book she needed, Event Planning for Dummies, on the top shelf. In addition to project managing, Joan also had to plan the big resort-opening party. It was a year from now, but Daintree had already publicly announced the event and sent out invitations to members of the press. Jesk said having this deadline and making sure everyone knew about it would force construction to finish on time.

“Excuse me, ma’am?” asked a deferential voice from just outside her door.

Joan slowly turned around to a shocking sight. A green, scaly monster, about six-and-a-half feet tall, stood in her doorway. He had no nose, but what he lacked in the olfactory department, he more than made up for with claws. He smelled like gas station sushi. To make his appearance even more perplexing, he wore navy pants, a collared shirt, and an argyle sweater vest. Had it not been for the clothing, Joan would’ve screamed, but the boring clothing was a stark contrast to his monster body.

“Yes? How can I help you?”

“I’m your 10 o’clock appointment, Gil. Nice to meet you.” He extended a clawed fin. Joan recoiled.

“Joan. Pleasure,” she said in a tone of voice that indicated she took no pleasure from this interaction. She knew creatures like this existed, but she thought they all fled South America. Her cousin’s roommate was one, and she’d heard of some living in New England, but Joan had never seen one in person. Maybe some people were ok living alongside monsters, but Joan couldn’t see why anyone would allow these things to exist, let alone live in the same society as humans.

 “I’m here to talk to you about the resort being built at the Black Lagoon,” said Gil. “For creatures like me, the environmental damage from the resort could be deadly and could kill everything else living in that lagoon.”

“Wait, your kind is still in the lagoon? I thought you guys all left.”

“What? No, there is still…that’s not the point! Have you done any research on all the wildlife this resort will displ—“

“Look, Gil. You probably can’t understand this, but the resort is going to beautify the ugly old lagoon. Nothing else was going on there. I get that you peop…creatures like it, but the Black Lagoon is going to be the best all-inclusive resort that money can buy. If you don’t mind me asking, how many of your kind live in the lagoon?”

“Just one,” said Gil. “But it isn’t just ‘my kind.’ This resort will—“

Joan held up a hand and cut him off. “I understand your concern, but I’m afraid this project will be moving forward. Thank you for meeting with me, but I’m afraid I can’t help. My assistant can validate parking.”

She shooed Gil out of the office. As soon as he left, Joan asked her assistant to get her on the phone with Jesk. “Jesk, we have a problem,” she whispered into the phone. “There is a creature in the Black Lagoon…Yes, that kind! We’ve already spent billions on this project. We need to do some PR and get in front of this thing. You need to fly down here.”

Defeat

Gil slumped over after his meeting with Joan. He did his best to be a nice guy, be the creature humans wanted him to be, but he still got shooed away. And he could see the look of disgust on Joan’s face once she realized he was a creature and not a human. His dad wouldn’t take this news well. Gil slowly swam back home.

“So, how’d it go?” asked Oscar, who was sitting at the kitchen table. He put down his phone, which had an article pulled up about the Daintree employee who went missing at the Black Lagoon.

“Not well, dad. I did my best, but no one would listen. They didn’t even know you were here,” said Gil.

Oscar was silent for a few moments and then glared at his son. “You didn’t fight for this place. You didn’t fight for me.”

“Of course I did, dad. But no one would listen. I can’t help it.”

“You know what? I knew you hated this lagoon. I knew you hated living underwater. I just didn’t know you hated me. Why are you so desperate to fit in with those bad guys?”

“Oh that’s rich. You think humans are the bad guys? Your dad, your beloved ‘hero’ killed people. He was a violent, awful creature and I’m glad I never had the misfortune of meeting him.”

Oscar stood up so quickly that he knocked over the bottle of air he was sipping. “He was defending us from people who’d destroy our home, take our resources, and stuff our corpses and put them in a museum for kindergarteners on field trips to ogle! You know what? I’m glad he never met you. He’s rolling over in his grave seeing what a coward you are. I’m going up to the surface for a bit. I need some air.”

The Surface Struggle

Oscar swam toward the surface of the water, feeling hopeless. Odds were Oscar didn’t have much longer to live.

Oscar floated along just below the surface of the water, gazing down at his lagoon below. Oscar’s son was embarrassed of where he came from and wanted to have nothing to do with non-humans. Oscar couldn’t fathom that. He loved being the son of the biggest hero of the Black Lagoon. His dad saved the lagoon from those ugly, scary, scale-less monsters and would be talked about for centuries.

But what was Oscar’s legacy? Sure, he killed that Roy guy from Daintree, who tasted terrible. (Why do all humans taste like peppermint in December?) Pretty soon Oscar would be dead, his home would be gone, and the world wouldn’t remember him. His life was incredibly ordinary. He raised a perfectly average son. No one would talk to Gil about how amazing his father was or tell stories about how Oscar saved the lagoon.

Something grabbed Oscar’s attention. About 20 feet away was a huge, flat flounder, Gil’s favorite food growing up. Oscar realized that he might die soon after the resort is built, but until then, he’d fight like hell to make the lagoon a better place. That would start with this flounder as a peace offering to his son.

As Gil swam toward the fish, his brain focused entirely on how he could become a better creature and leave his mark on this lagoon. He was so focused that he didn’t see the gigantic net surrounding the flounder. He grabbed the fish and suddenly saw the net. His eyes widened as he realized this was some sort of trap. But it was too late. He had been caught.

The net pulled him up above the surface of the water and onto a small ship. He was surrounded by a bunch of terrifying, hideous humans.

“How do we kill it?” asked a short, muscular man.

“Same as a lobster, I guess. Boil him alive,” replied the ship’s captain.

It dawned on Oscar that he wouldn’t die after the resort was built; he’d die today.

The Press Conference

Gil needed something calming to stop his brain from replaying the awful things Oscar and Gil said to each other, so he watched Love Actually, sang along to “Christmas Is All Around,” and snacked on some roe.

Gil finished all of the roe they had and wondered how he ate so much so quickly. He looked at his watch and realized it had been hours since his dad left. Gil stood up to stretch his legs and switched channels to Sea-N-N, which was airing a Daintree press conference.

“I assure you, we have found the monster and the situation has been handled,” said a smiling Jesk. “Guests at the resort will have the safest, most enjoyable experience that money can buy.”

“But sir” asked a reporter, “how do you know the creature from the Black Lagoon isn’t waiting to get his revenge?”

“Here’s how.” Jesk gestured to a large rectangle covered with a sheet. He nodded to Joan, who slowly walked toward the box. She held the corner of the sheet like it was filthy, scrunching her nose. She slowly removed the sheet, and in a wire cage sat Oscar’s head, crudely severed at the neck, cut at an angle so it looked like it would topple over at any minute. The look on his face was not one of fear; it was sadness. Gil had seen that look before 25 years ago, when his mother died.

The reporters cheered and clapped. The room filled with conversation, incessant chatter, and constant camera flashes.

Gil stumbled backward, landing on the couch. This couldn’t be real. His dad was just here. Gil couldn’t be without a father. People couldn’t possibly be cheering on the murder and beheading of an old man. Gil held his head in his hands.

Jesk motioned for reporters to settle down and stop the chatter. “We’ve done extensive research on the inhabitants of the lagoon, and this has been the only one of his kind in the lagoon for the last decade. The threat has been eradicated, and people will be swimming and fishing in the lagoon before you know it! It’s a Christmas miracle!”

Gil couldn’t cry. His brain was trying to wake him up from this nightmare. But then Jesk’s words clicked with Gil: the humans believed they caught the only monster in the lagoon. They didn’t know Gil was back. He’d get revenge and defend his dad’s home. After all, being a monster was in his DNA.

Gil’s Revenge

After a year of 24/7 construction, the Daintree resort was ready to open, just in time for Christmas. To celebrate the event, Daintree invited those who built the resort, higher-ups in the company, and members of the press to a swanky, lagoon-side Christmas Eve party.

The leased catamaran, with Rita painted on the side, had been docked in the lagoon for a week, plenty of time for Gil to access it. He didn’t know much about boats, but he knew that batteries were responsible for many boat fires, and they could be finicky. All he did was loosen some connections, rewire a few things, and accelerate the battery’s corrosion.

Gil woke up early the day of the party. Around noon, nearly 1,000 people who built the resort along with Jesk, Joan, and some other higher-ups who Gil had only seen in press conferences arrived at the beach.

Jesk spoke at a podium to smiling reporters. Gil couldn’t hear the speech, but he didn’t need to. The matters of land didn’t concern him anymore; he was a creature of the lagoon.

After the press conference, several people, including Jesk, Joan, and everyone else who had the bright idea of wearing a suit to a beach party, boarded the catamaran. Jesk and his 10 suit-clad colleagues boarded the catamaran. Rita left the dock and ventured out into the middle of the lagoon, passengers waving bye to the photographers who gathered on the dock for some final photos. Before the passengers could even open their expensive champagne or tins of caviar, Joan sniffed the air and asked if something was burning.

They all began sniffing cautiously and looking at each other. “Yep, something’s burning,” said Jesk.

The captain calmly walked toward the passengers, his arms full of bright orange lifejackets. “Hi folks,” she said, smiling warmly to calm everyone. “It appears we have a bit of a safety issue. We’re going to have to swim back to shore. No need to panic, but we do need to get off this boat immediately. The life rafts have been punctured, and there’s no time to wait for a rescue boat. Take a lifejacket. If you aren’t a strong swimmer, let me know and we’ll make sure you get back safely.”

They each grabbed a lifejacket and jumped into the water. Jesk looked at the dock. The press was still there, photographing some of the highest-paid professionals in the world in ridiculous orange vests. Jesk, the other Daintree executives, and the captain swam toward the shore. But when they were only 100 feet from the boat, they couldn’t swim any further. Their feet were tangled in something, and it definitely wasn’t seaweed. It was a very fine net, nearly invisible to the naked eye.

As progress on the resort was made, so was progress on a massive, 50-foot wide net, made out of fishing wire, fashioned by Gil.

Jesk panicked. He looked at his colleagues, who looked terrified. Jesk took a deep breath, reminded himself that he was the CEO of Daintree and could handle anything, and told his employees and the captain to remain calm. “We’ll figure out what’s going on here and—“

The rest of his sentence was inaudible. The catamaran exploded. The Rita was engulfed in flames. The beach erupted in shouts, camera flashes, and complete chaos, and many party guests ran away from the lagoon.

Everyone on land seemed to be so fixated on the fire that they didn’t notice the 12 people swimming back to shore suddenly vanished.

At the exact moment the catamaran exploded, Gil raised and repositioned the net slightly so it was above the swimmers’ heads and began pulling the net toward the lagoon floor. The swimmers disappeared underwater, despite their lifejackets.

Jesk swam with all his might toward the light. But the net stopped him. He didn’t have enough air, and his lungs were on fire. He couldn’t hold his breath any longer. He took in a massive gulp of water, setting his lungs on fire even further.

Half of his colleagues looked like they were already losing consciousness. Jesk kept fighting, trying to swim upward, but he was getting disoriented. The surface of the water and the sunshine grew distant and hazy. And in just a couple minutes, Jesk closed his eyes for the final time.

Gil brought the net down to his dad’s place. By the time he got there, the humans were all unconscious, maybe dead. It didn’t matter to Gil if they weren’t dead yet; they would be soon enough. He tied off the bottom part of the net and anchored it to a reef. He took a step back to analyze the macabre balloon full of ugly, colorless humans and smiled. He decorated it for Christmas with shells and rocks, just as he had done to puffer fish as a kid. Light reflected off the shiny rocks, illuminating the blue and lifeless bodies in the net.

Gil got his copy of The Wizard of Oz set up and curled up on the couch to watch it. He understood why his mom, dad, and grandpa loved this movie so much. Judy Garland was right; there’s no place like home. Gil’s home was lovely. He was proud to be from the Black Lagoon. It just took almost losing his home for Gil to to truly love it.

Imaginary Friend

2/5 plastic bags

The fight between good and evil, light and dark, and angels and demons is a universal tale and has served as the foundation for millions of stories. It is this struggle that serves as the primary conflict in Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky.

Imaginary Friend tells the story of 7-year-old Christopher, a boy whose mother moves him to Pennsylvania to escape her abusive partner. Christopher struggles with school, but he’s a sweet kid. He disappears into a forest and vanishes for six days. When he comes out, he suddenly aces all of his tests, and he just knows things about the people around him. And the mysterious, possibly imaginary, nice man who helped him in the forest is nowhere to be found.

The nice man stays in touch with Christopher. And to defeat a strong, powerful, evil force, Christopher has to build a tree house in the middle of the forest in which he disappeared, otherwise terrible things will happen to everyone in town. The tree house is a portal to an imaginary world, which looks like the regular world, but for his own safety, Christopher can’t go there at night and can’t go there without the nice man.

The beginning of this book, while a bit slow paced, tells a compelling story. One of the most complex and interesting characters is Ambrose, an older man who is grappling with guilt over his role in the disappearance of his little brother, nearly 50 years ago. It would’ve been really interesting to focus more on Ambrose and possibly even tell the story from his point of view.

One of the biggest challenges in reading Imaginary Friend is the writing style. In the last third of the book, big chunks of dialog and some exposition iS wRitteN likE thiS, which is incredibly distracting and makes me think of this SpongeBob meme. (Also, people don’t speak in capital letters, unless they’re being used to emphasize pronunciation.) I initially thought maybe this was some kind of secret message, but then I read about 6 e’s in a row and realized it was just a creative choice.

Another challenge with this book is the lack of subtlety. For example, the number 217 comes up a lot (possibly in homage to my favorite book, The Shining). I mean it comes up a lot. Trust the reader! We are smart, and subtlety is appreciated! In fact, references are more meaningful when it takes a while for them to sink in. Furthermore, it’s bold to reference one of the greatest horror novels of all time so much. It distracted me from Imaginary Friend and just made me wish I were reading The Shining instead. (They’re approximately the same length. If you have time to read ~700 pages of a book, pick up The Shining.)

Mild spoiler alert: This book did not need to be nearly as long as it was, and all of the buildup was not worth it. If you have trouble with dairy, take a Lactaid before reading this, because the ending is cheesy. Forgiveness is effortless, and generational trauma ends in just one night. Imaginary Friend lacks the depth and nuanced understanding of some of the topics addressed in the book, such as domestic violence and child abuse.

And as nice as it can be to go into a book with no expectations or no ideas of what’s going to happen, it’s important to know the book’s genre and for publishers to market their books accordingly. Imaginary Friend should have been upfront about the overall Biblical theme. Readers should know what they’re getting into before picking up a 700-page novel. And as with The Shining allusions, the Biblical allusions are not subtle. That said, I’m not even sure a Christian audience would love Imaginary Friend, as there’s a bunch of swearing and some content that may be offensive to people who want to read Christian horror. (Side note: Is Christian horror a thing? I think it absolutely should be.)

Imaginary Friend touched on complex and difficult topics and had potential to be a classic story of good vs. evil and if those forces are as oppositional as we think, but the lack of nuance and jarring writing style limited its potential.

If you are looking for an interesting story that blurs the line between good and evil, check out The Hunger.

2020 Horror Movie Marathon

Here is official 2020 Haunting of Lit House Halloween Movie Marathon! These films are a mix of silly, scary, funny, and heartwarming. Unfortunately, some of them were removed from streaming services in the last few months, but I’ve listed if they can be streamed on one of the big streaming platforms. Make a big batch of popcorn, get comfy, and enjoy…if you dare…

  • The Autopsy of Jane Doe (Netflix): This film is the story of a father-son autopsy team and the autopsy they do on an unidentified woman. As the autopsy gets underway, strange things start happening. Warning: This is a gory movie. But if you can get past how gross autopsies are, The Autopsy of Jane Doe will keep you in suspense and wondering what happened to Jane Doe and who she really is.
  • Practical Magic (Hulu): Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock star in this truly adorable movie. They play witch sisters who have been cursed to never find true love, and their status as witches has made them the topic of gossip in their small town. After things turn dark for Kidman’s character, magic may be the only thing to save the sisters. Practical Magic is not particularly scary and jumps from being cute and lighthearted to dark and weird.
  • Candyman: Candyman starts out as your typical slasher film but becomes something much more complex. What if the demons from urban legends are real? What if victims become the enemy in public perception? Candyman is a moving, unexpected film exploring the monsters who haunt our nightmares. And it takes place in Chicago!
  • Basket Case: This is easily the silliest horror film I’ve ever seen. A man and his basket/brother (yes, you read that correctly) want revenge for an old sin. That’s all I’ll say. Just go watch this, and bring your sense of humor.
  • The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Netflix): Here’s the second Nicole Kidman movie in this movie marathon. Kidman’s on-screen husband becomes friends with a teenage boy, who he introduces to his family. The family becomes very ill, seemingly inexplicably. What sinister connection does this seemingly random boy have to the family? While this film isn’t the most earth-shattering horror film, the acting and dialogue are incredibly unsettling.
  • Hush (Netflix): Hush is a slasher film that tells the story of a deaf woman who lives by herself in the woods. What could go wrong? The beginning of this film (about the first 30 minutes) is disturbing because there’s no music. It’s just the protagonist moving around her house and mundane sounds of her doing chores. But of course, we see the killer lurking outside her house, creating incredibly stressful dramatic irony. The rest of the film is your average slasher movie, but the first 30 minutes make the movie worthwhile.
  • Alien (Hulu): A ruthless and vicious alien appears on a spaceship and attempts to kill the astronauts onboard. Alien is the best outer space horror movie against which all other space horror should be judged. Sigourney Weaver steals the show, and there’s a cat!
  • Elvira Mistress of the Dark (Hulu): Elvira Mistress of the Dark is not scary, but it stars my horror role model: Elvira! This uproarious comedy tells the story of a horror host who moves to a small conservative town and does not fit in. Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) is comedy gold, and her witty one-liners from this film have stood the test of time.
  • The Witch: Robert Eggers’ impressive directorial debut, The Witch tells the story of a New England puritanical family in the 1630s. The baby of the family is kidnapped, and it’s suspected that a witch stole the baby. More and more tragedies befall the family, and the ending of this film is beautiful and shocking and cements The Witch as one of the best horror films of this decade.
  • Night of the Living Dead (Amazon Prime): Night of the Living Dead is the quintessential zombie film and set the precedent for the zombie shows and movies that followed it.
  • Halloween: If Night of the Living Dead is the quintessential zombie film, Halloween is the quintessential slasher film. Its perfection comes from its simplicity. The killer is just a guy with a knife, and they don’t try too hard to explain him. John Carpenter’s simple but brilliant score sets the stage for the massacre that befalls Haddonfield, Illinois. And the 2018 sequel is surprisingly good. (Not as good as the original, but still quite enjoyable.)

What are your favorite Halloween movies?

COVID-Friendly Halloween Celebrations

The pandemic hit the United States months ago and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t celebrate Halloween in a safe, socially responsible way! So whether you want to do something on Halloween night or want to celebrate all month long, here are some ways to get scary.

Movies

A lot of theaters are now offering outdoor movies. If you’re lucky enough to live in Chicago, the Music Box of Horrors (everyone’s favorite 24-hour horror movie marathon) has become a 31-night drive-in extravaganza. (I can’t speak for other drive-ins, but you don’t need a car to attend the Music Box’s drive-in; just bring some chairs.) I don’t think going to theaters is very safe right now, but drive-in movies are fun and safe! Check to see if your local art theater is doing something similar.

If you want to stay home, you can still watch a horror movie marathon. Check back in on this blog for my recommendations for a Netflix horror marathon, a Hulu horror marathon, and the official 2020 Haunting of Lit House Horror Marathon.

Depending on the weather in your town, you may be able to watch movies with an outdoor projector. Invite friends over (tell them to stay far away), or just enjoy scary movies with your household.

For the Kids

Disclaimer: My son isn’t into Halloween and he has a tail and is actually a cat. But I know kids and was once a kid.

The guidance on trick-or-treating is still all over the place, but I can’t imagine going to strangers’ homes right now is a great idea. But to give your kids candy and keep them occupied for a while, bring some Easter to Halloween: hide candy around the house for your kids to find.

If you want your kids to get out of the house on Halloween, consider doing a scavenger hunt for fall/Halloween items (pumpkins, acorns, skeletons, spider webs). Rather than touch stuff and pick it up, have them take a picture of the item. (How old are kids when they get phones? IDK, but you probably shouldn’t let your kids go out alone on Halloween during a pandemic in a year when many people probably wouldn’t be out, so let them use your phone. Or better yet, get them a disposable camera and let them learn about what taking photos was like when you were their age.)

I’m sending my nieces scare packages, complete with creepy books, age-appropriate movies, and, of course, candy. (Check back here in a couple of weeks for my scary book recommendations for kids.)

You can do smaller scare packages (candy, stickers, temporary tattoos, a small stuffed toy) for your kids’ friends. Dollar stores and party supply stores will have decently priced Halloween items, many of which are sold in bulk, so you can give presents to all your kids’ friends. Drop these packages off outside their houses the day before Halloween so kids can open them up on Halloween morning. (Obviously let their parents know about this ahead of time.)

Virtual Celebrations

If you and your usual Halloween crew aren’t in a COVID pod together, you can still celebrate virtually! Using your preferred video meeting program (Google Hangouts, Zoom, etc.), hold a costume contest. This year, enjoy being able to stay home for Halloween: wear impractically high heels, put body paint everywhere, or change your costume throughout the evening if that’s what you want. If you want a sense of unity, your party can have a costume theme, e.g., old Hollywood, Bob’s Burgers characters, superheroes.

You can play lots of games during virtual parties! Venmo the winner, who can use their winnings to order dinner. Here are some game ideas:

  • Horror trivia: Prior to the party, everyone should come up with 5-10 horror trivia questions. Sit out for the questions you/your household wrote.
  • Pictionary: Each household should come up with 5-10 horror prompts for Pictionary.
  • Charades: You’ve played charades. You know the drill. Come up with creepy prompts ahead of time.

If you want to watch scary movies with your friends, try using the Netflix Party Chrome Extension to watch something scary together. You can also do a horror film festival by having everyone recommend 1 movie and watching it together and/or having a discussion about it.

And what would a party be without the snacks? Prior to the party, do a recipe exchange with your friends. Make the recipes ahead of time, and then you and your friends can eat the same snacks at the same time! This deviled spider egg recipe won first place at my job’s Halloween recipe contest.

Board Games

If you and your household want to play a creepy game, light some candles and pick up my favorite creepy board game, Betrayal at the House on the Hill. I can’t tell you the objective of the game because it depends on what you roll and what is happening in the game. You’ll need at least 3 players for this.

If your bubble is just one other person, I recommend Dead of Winter, a zombie-survival themed board game. If you play with 2 people, it’s cooperative, but with more than 2, there may be a traitor sabotaging your survival…

Miscellaneous

In the Chicagoland area, some places are doing drive-in haunted houses. Replay in Chicago is doing a drive-in haunted house (haunted car?) experience. In the suburbs, Terror in the Timbers is sure to freak you out. If you’re a big chicken like me, cars are a good way to go to a haunted house while still feeling secure.

A lot of bands, drag queens, and entertainers are doing Halloween/horror live streams. Now this isn’t Halloween related, but because of the pandemic, The Vixen’s Black Girl Magic drag show has gone digital, so you can enjoy amazing performances from your favorite local queens and Ru girls from the comfort of your own couch. You absolutely MUST see a Black Girl Magic show. If you attend any virtual concerts or shows, remember to tip the performers, buy their merch, and boost their content on social media.

This Halloween season is scarier than others, and not in the good way. But we’re all lucky to be here, and we will get through this. Take care of each other, wear a mask, and be kind. Here’s to hoping Halloween 2021 is scary in the usual way.

The Only Good Indians

Rating: 3/5 elk

Is it possible to escape the punishment of past sins? Can people break from tradition and leave their communities without consequence? Or does the past always catch up with people?

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones tells the story of four Blackfeet men, Ricky, Lewis, Gabe, and Cass, whose pasts are quickly (and violently) catching up with them. Years ago, the four of them did something cruel on the last day of hunting season. Though the guys have gone their separate ways, they all experience a punishment for their crime.

The Only Good Indians is told one (or two) characters at a time. Ricky’s portion is the shortest. Lewis’ story is the most captivating and scary story throughout. (And the longest portion that any one character had.) His story deals with inner turmoil and contains some truly gross, creepy, and disturbing elements. (That’s meant as a compliment.) Cass and Gabe’s stories are told together.

One of the best aspects of The Only Good Indians is reading a story about Blackfeet Native American characters written by a Blackfeet author. Jones touches on Blackfeet culture, and one character tries to escape it, hoping that his sins will stop following him if he physically distances himself from his home.

One of the challenges with this novel is the pacing. It may be because each character’s story varies in length, but the pacing felt off. Some parts (Ricky’s story, for example) felt like they went by way too quickly, while other parts felt like they dragged.

Another challenge with telling the stories separately is that the story felt like it had a few smaller climaxes rather than one huge climax. It would have been great if all the characters’ stories started off separate but eventually came together.

The other issue with this book is that some portions were hard to follow. (Full disclaimer: This could totally be my fault. I’ve started reading at 5:15 in the morning, so maybe my brain wasn’t fully awake.) But there were parts where it was unclear what a character was talking or thinking about.

Anyone who likes a revenge story will love The Only Good Indians. And despite some issues with the pace and narrative, it is a compelling book about culture, the past, and escape.

The Ballad of Black Tom

Rating: 4.5/5 guitars

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle is an amazing and poignant novella, telling the story of Charles Thomas Tester, a young Black man in Harlem. He works hard to provide for himself and his dad, and a routine job to deliver an odd book to a woman Flushing Meadows starts the adventure of a lifetime. Tom plays guitar and sings (pretty poorly), and he draws the attention of a man named Robert Suydam who wants Tom to play for a party he’s having. Before he knows it, Tom is drawn deep into the world of magic and the occult

This novella is based on the H. P. Lovecraft short story “The Horror at Red Hook.” (Disclaimer: I haven’t read Lovecraft because of the racism. I get that a lot of modern horror authors draw from his body of work, but I’d rather spend my limited time reading books by BIPOC authors and just skimming Lovecraft’s Wikipedia pages.) It is told through the perspective of a Black man in the 1920s and the struggles Tom faces as a result of racism and police brutality. As he did in The Devil in Silver, LaValle discusses social issues in a horror setting. Readers see the police actively harm Tom and explore the ramifications of structural racism. And what’s especially haunting is that the horrors Tom experiences in the 1920s are the many of the same horrors Black people in America face today. LaValle is a master at telling very real human stories in a scary, supernatrual context, and he illustrates that real life may be more disturbing than the creepy tales told around campfires.

The Ballad of Black Tom is a truly phenomenal novella, and anyone who likes Lovecraft would love this piece. Shorter stories sometimes struggle to sufficiently develop characters, but LaValle is such a skilled writer that readers get to know Tom quickly. It absolutely has its moments of pure, creepy, terror, but it might also break your heart.

The Year of the Witching

5/5 Mysterious Journals

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson is the feminist supernatural story we all need and deserve right now. It tells the story of Immannuelle Moore, a young woman living in Bethel, a town run by the church. But it’s no ordinary church; there is a Prophet who is in charge of the whole town, polygamy is very much a thing, and there are some pretty gross routine rituals. But the church protects people from the evil of the Darkwood, a forest by Bethel. It is said that the first Prophet killed four witches who lived in the forest and meant the townspeople harm.

Immanuelle was conceived out of wedlock. (And her father was another race, so you can imagine the pearl clutching her parents’ relationship caused.) Her mother disappeared into the Darkwood while pregnant with Immanuelle but eventually came back to Bethel. She passed away, so Immanuelle’s (maternal) grandparents raised her.

Immanuelle follows the rules of the church, but she sometimes finds herself drawn to the Darkwood. Could it be because of her mom’s time spent there? She one day succumbs to the temptation of the Darkwood and finds one of her mom’s journals. This journal leaves Immanuelle wondering why her mother trusted the witches. But it also provides a warning of the terrors coming to Bethel.

The Year of the Witching has many dichotomies that lead Immanuelle to reevaluate everything she knew. Bethel and the church are described as good, while the forest is evil; the church is light, but the witches are dark; the Prophet (obviously a man) is in direct opposition to the witches (women). After seeing some of the evils of the church (the Prophet specifically), Immanuelle grapples with the idea of good and evil. Are the lessons of her childhood true? Are good and evil always opposing forces, or is the line between them blurred? Can those revered as good have some evil in them?

For much of the book, Immanuelle has to evaluate the forces within herself. Does her mother’s relationship with the witches mean Immanuelle is destined to a life of evil and destruction? How much do her parents and their pasts define her, and how much agency does she really have?

The Year of the Witching is an empowering, enthralling story. It’s a story about revolution, fighting evil, and recognizing (and potentially dismantling) oppressive structures. Henderson wrote an amazing story: It has heart, horror, and (most importantly) hope. Now stop reading this review and go buy it from your favorite Black-owned bookstore. You won’t be able to put this book down.

Disclaimer: I received this complimentary ebook from Netgalley.

The Devil in Silver

Rating: 4.5/5 Newspaper Clippings

The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle is a beautiful and heartbreaking story that takes readers on an emotional rollercoaster (in the best possible way). The story is told from the perspective of Pepper, a man who is arrested for fighting and sent to a psychiatric hospital. He expects to only be there for a few days as he isn’t mentally ill. But somehow, the days become weeks.

When Pepper first arrives at New Hyde’s psychiatric hospital, he is greeted by an older woman named Dorry (who looks like Estelle Getty in my mind). She insists on greeting all newcomers so they see a friendly face first. Pepper’s roommate is an African man named Coffee who greets Pepper by asking for change for the payphone. Loochie, a strong teenage girl, also becomes one of Pepper’s “friends.” (I put it in quotation marks because Pepper probably wouldn’t have befriended them outside of the hospital.)

Despite not being mentally ill, Pepper is given medication that messes with his brain and knocks him out. Not long after arriving at New Hyde, Pepper meets the Devil. There’s no other way to describe this monstrous creature who drops in from the ceiling and clearly means Pepper harm. After asking about it, it’s clear the other patients know about the Devil.

The Devil in Silver is certainly a horror novel, but it isn’t your standard monster story; LaValle grapples with questions of race, mental illness, power and privilege. Pepper finds himself thinking he’s not like “those other people” at the hospital as he’s sane, and he struggles with understanding why he otherizes his friends. Certain plot points mirror events that are in the spotlight now. (Sorry for being so vague, but I’m avoiding spoilers!)

The most moving element in the book was the part about Van Gogh. Pepper reads a book of Van Gogh’s letters, and he looks at the parallels between Van Gogh and New Hyde residents. LaValle makes readers critically examine whose lives society celebrates and whose legacies are just a few lines in an obituary.

The Devil in Silver is a horror novel, but it also makes readers reflect on our privilege. It breaks our hearts but then patches them up with little sprinkles of hope and optimism.