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Bingemas: For the Horror Aficionado
Our first BINGEMAS books of the season are for the horror heads on your gift list with an encyclopedic knowledge of Shirley Jackson and a Netflix queue that would make Stephen King proud.
The Haunting of Hill House = = = Be Scared of Everything by Peter Counter (Invisible Publishing)
Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House came out to paranormally-high fan anticipation and delivered in unearthly spades. And it’s easy to see why: it’s got a creepy, super-messed up mansion, terrifying in-your-face spectres, and, above all, an absorbing story about a family with very human issues. Peter Counter’s Be Scared of Everything (Invisible Publishing) hits a lot of these same spine-chilling notes with essays about horror culture—from the work of H.P. Lovecraft to takes on Gerald’s Game to the pathos in Ouija boards. And like The Haunting of Hill House, at the heart of Be Scared of Everything is a deeply thoughtful exploration of how horror is used as a coping mechanism after trauma and the ways in which it permeates the everyday.
Russian Doll = = = The End of Me by John Gould (Freehand Books)
Netflix’s wonderfully weird horror-leaning comedy Russian Doll won over many existential hearts who watched its central character Nadia, a hard-partying New Yorker, die on her thirty-sixth birthday only to enter into a Groundhog Day-like scenario in which she dies repeatedly in order to puzzle her way out of a life-death loop. Equalling in the uncanny is John Gould’s The End of Me (Freehand Books)—56 artfully-crafted flash fictions about death—that are sure to strike a chord with Russian Doll enthusiasts who enjoy the playful, vignette-like structure of the show. And like Nadia, the characters in these stories encounter death and demise—what it means, what happens after—while also having to stop and contemplate a life lived. The End of Me is an inventive collection that shimmers with compassion and vitality as it wrestles with some big karmic questions and our inevitable mortality.* * *
Follow along on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram with the hashtag #ALUbingemas until December 4th!
