Stephanie Ellis

Book cover: Open guestbook on a table with the words 'They Came at Night' inked across and a pen sat in the centre margin. Author name at the top.

Finished They Come at Night by Westley Smith from @watertowerhill.bsky.social Review to come, but a solid 4/5. A thriller that really ramps up the pace & keeps those pages turning. Plus you get an all-action strong female MC leading the rescue. Second book of his I've read. It won't be the last.

The spices drift up from the page ... and there's plenty of coffee to wash it down. 😁

Duly noted. And if you've not read it, I urge you to read Cuddy, wonderful, wonderful book.

Here is my ggg granddad, Hammer Stannett, Hayward of the lammas lands at Eton Wick. (Might be 1 out on no. of greats 're granddad, always get it wrong 😅)

It's a mistake to think of the church as the landscape's only sacred space. To travel to it, you walk a territory of folk faith. Navigate marsh edge with its mirefolk, with its greed for appeasements. Cross meadow and nod to it sprites. You hear the growl of genii locorum. – #EmilyCBanting, 1982

Do not pander. Do not dumb down. Do not make your voice less magical. Trust your audience to be smarter than you. Trust them to be as curious as fuck. Never blame anyone for the tepid, lazy choices you make in your work.

Apparently I forgot to schedule this review on the blog, so let that be remedied!

Amazing, gritty urban fantasy series, well worth the read. See more:

fantasy-faction.com/2025/these-w...

💙📚🪐 #FantasyFaction #SFFbookRecommenfation

Made me think of @kevharrison.bsky.social's Shadow of the Hidden. The food really created the sense of place!

Hellarkey vol. IV — Malarkey Hellarkey IV 56 pages. 6.14 by 9.21 inches. This item will ship in September or early October. Hellarkey is a horror-themed magazine published by Malarkey every October. Each summer, mystical ed...

This is a fun issue! The writers get $30, which is not much, but if we sell 60 copies we can bump it to $50.

malarkeybooks.com/store/hellar...

LOTERÍA by Cynthia Pelayo

Available one month from today — LOTERÍA — trade paperback edition.

54+ short stories, poems, and experimental fiction based on Latin American folklore, legend and myths.

Link in bio to preorder.

On sale September 2, 2025 — www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/cynth...

On that note, buy my BlueSky guide for indie authors😜

bsky.app/profile/chao...

#Booksky Welcome new folks! We publish some great award-winning queer SFFH by some terrific authors and you can find our books everywhere! Buying direct from us is a big immediate help though. queenofswordspress.com

Bookshelves containing folk horror. Variety including: Midnight Sun - Ramsey Campbell Harvest Home - Thomas Tryon The Ceremonies - T.E.D Klein Gallows Pole - Benjamin Myers Starve Acre, Devil's Day, Barrowbeck - Andrew Michael Hurley Wicker Man - Robin Hardy and Michael Shaffer Blood on Satan's Claw - Robert Dunne Simmons Swansong - Kerry Andrew

Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon, Water Shall Refuse Them @lmcknighthardy.bsky.social, actually, just zoom in on my bookshelves 😆 (green man shelf especially). Have listed a no. in alt text. Forgot to put in Hellebore magazine.

Depression's #scowl is
bloodied with verbs and anvils.
My smile is a brick.

#vss365
#haiku
#senryu

'ware, the Devil's Smith
marked with the #brand of Vulcan
feeds the inferno

#haikuhorrorprompt #haiku

#Mercy waits at the door
quiet nemesis, never far,
knows her name, even now,
is forming on dry lips.
The slow build of sound
and syllable merge
into invitation
and she smiles down at him,
grants his wish beneath
a moon washed in crimson.

#horrorprompt

Grandfather watching
hands on his face carve a #scowl
clocking the moment

#vss365 #haiku

Green Man, Summer illustration by Stephen G. Rae

Green Man, Winter illustration by Stephen G. Rae

Green Man – Summer and Winter

enveloped in green
stone face; a place of worship
none to venerate

in his winter gown
guardian of the wild wood
is frozen in time

bardofcumberland.com/poetry/
#haiku #greenman #poetrylovers

I don't know how it got to be the end of summer but...

Hi! I'm the book content editor for Reactor Mag and I'm looking for 2026 sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and crossover speculative books! If you've got an adult or YA SFFH book publishing next year please share the link/info here!

Current #FridayRead is Wesley Smith's They Came at Night. Third of the way through, going back to it but thought I'd hop on here to recommend it. I have so many questions & I'm turning those pages.
Isolation, small-town dying, dysfunctional family, past trauma & something isn't right ...

#BookSky

First page of notebook. Lined with brief book details, date and rating.

Small cream notebook with a little gold branch in the middle

Joined local library book club last month. A once-a-month event which I knew would be a memory issue as I read the book straight away. So I've gone old school & bought a notebook. The 1st page is not lib read btw 😅. At back I list books I want to read. Messy but easy way to keep track. And no AI.

Giant gothic ornamental F in the centre of the page with decomposing wrists and hands forming the 'spine'. Swirling green leaves on black background around it. Title in gold above the F.

Finished this the other day, my review has been sent to Horror Tree but can truly recommend Frankenstein's Monster by J.S. Barnes. Out via @titanbooks.bsky.social Sept 2025

It gifts you new monsters - but they are not what you expect.

#FridayReads #booksky

A haunted house/creature feature on Amazon, bookshop, and kindle unlimited!

When the Carters find affordable housing, they’re not going to let ghosts, or anything else, scare them away. A haunted house story with love and chainsaws!

shorturl.at/7kxi3

bit.ly/3Xu1HJz

15 book novellette book covers, 3 rows of five. 1st: Asylum of Shadows (cover: noose), Of Blood and Stone (cover standing stone), The Return (cover: cliff road), Beyond Hope (cover: monk in arch), Laugh with Jolly Jack (cover: sailor dummy) 2nd: Descendants of Monstrosity (cover: woman wearing scold's bridle), Mine (cover: padlock), Correctional (cover prison door), The Burry Man (cover: burry man), Blurred Vision (cover broken image of woman) 3rd: Hel's Claim (cover: woman holding animal skull), Transcending Nature (cover: man's head with 1s and 0s running down it), To the Beat of the Drum (cover: giant puppets of tudor figure and devil), Darklings I (cover: owl eye), Darklings II (cover: spider in web) Each cover is white with a simple black and white image, black type title and name at the bottom.

Individual novelettes or omnibus?

☑️historical horror
☑️folk horror
☑️horror/sci-fi
☑️Norse myth/historical
☑️gothic
☑️classic/contemporary

stephanieellis.org/darklings-qu...

Such a wonderful author. My kids loved his books.

RIP Allan Ahlberg - and thank you ❤

Just finished writing a short story of the valkyrjur. Must say that though it's taken the day, I really enjoyed it AND it felt surprisingly easy - and that's always a good sign.
The hardest part was finding some of those pesky Norse letter symbols in Word!
A reread tomorrow & prob. done.

www.thehorrorzine.com

#fiction #shortstories #artists #writingcommunity #horrorcommunity

Loki | Author Q&As loki, myths gods and immortals, new and ancient norse tales

Loki is a Trickster who fascinates. If you want to find out what drew us to him, you'll find the answers here!
blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-goth...

The Needfire by M K Hardy — Runalong The Shelves I would like to thank Jess from Solaris for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review Publisher - Solaris Published - out now Price - £7.99 ebook You are afra...

New Review - a feast of gothic storytelling awaits in The Needfire by @mkhardywrites.com I highly recommend it and our today so you know what to do! Many thanks to @solarisbooks.bsky.social www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2025/7/...

a human story
of ash and #elm creation
viking-carved saga

#vss365 #haiku