A Green Glow on the Horizon: Tales from the National Association of Tourist Attraction Survivors

 Written by: Dawn Burns

First line: This is the story I'm learning to tell.

Why you should read this book: Beneath the structure of these surreal fictions, linked by the premise that  roadside tourist attractions leave bruises upon those who don't have the luxury of simply passing through the amusement, lies a series of hard truths about parents and children, and the disconnect and betrayal that comes from irrational adult beliefs that are too rigid to accommodate "sensitive" children. Metaphorically examining religious trauma through a uniquely American fairy tale lens, these stories showcase the reluctantly expressed pain of those (usually daughters) who feel diminished in the face of others' (usually their mother's) obsessions with strange, unyielding ideals that do not serve unbelieving children. From Roswell, New Mexico to Pedro's South of the Border in South Carolina, Iowa's Corn Palace, Arizona's The Thing to The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, and even stranger settings, surprising locations lead to surprising maladies, anger, introspection, and sometimes, recovery, and redemption.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You know your teenager is wrong about their own identity, needs, and beliefs, and if you just keep ignoring what she wants, she'll get better. 

179 Degrees from Now: Four Stories from Just Past the Edge

Written by: Thomas Watson

First line: "She's too old for this imaginary friend nonsense," said George.

Why you should read this book: These four short stories hit that speculative space that sometimes leans toward fantasy and sometimes toward science, asking questions like "What if imaginary friends were real?" and "What if there was some direct connection between Charon on the River Styx and Henry David Thoreau on Walden Pond?" There's one about the multiverse and one that's sort of about a ghost, plus excerpts from two of the author's novels. Each story turns on a bit of a twist, the kind that is only available to writers of speculative fiction who know how to weave reality and imagination together on a single loom.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're absolutely dragging your ex to hell with you if at all possible.  

Signs of the Imminent Apocalypse and Other Stories

Written by: Heidi Bell

First line: The brightest of lights and a liquid dark presence, a smell like smoke and mussels gritty with sand, motion over water streaked with moon.

Why you should read this book: These quietly epic stories stand with one foot planted in the fairy tale realm and the other in our strange reality, joined together by darkness and magic. Some of them are more experimental, such as the eponymous story, an abecedarian of modern troubles, or "This Is Your Life," written as catalog copy for a lifestyle brand, while others lean more into the realm of magical realism, such as "Obscure Magic," in which a girl is imprisoned, Rapunzel style, on a magical estate where her mother seeks to protect her from the outside world. A powerhouse collection of humans seeking human connection with all the messiness, joy, heartbreak, and triumph that entails.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You have to blackmail people into accepting your companionship. 

The Complete Fairy Tales of George MacDonald

Written by: George MacDonanld 

First line: Once upon a time, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date, there lived a king and queen who had no children. 

Why you should read this book: There is something deeply appealing about these tales, whose foundations are rooted deeply in the ancient, mythopoeic tradition, but whose leaves and branches are nourished with the most modern ideas any Victorian gentleman could possibly lay his hands on. From a princess who is cursed to lose her gravity to shadow spirits lamenting the rise of gaslights and the decline of the real fires that allow them to dance among the humans, the fairy creatures of these stories are well aware that their world is in flux and the balance is tipping away from the past. Delightful and imaginative, but still adhering to the laws of the genre, this is a timeless work on par with the best fairy stories of any era. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You would never go anywhere with or for a magical creature and have zero sympathy for teenagers in love.

Living Ghosts & Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories

Written by: Dan SaSuWeh Jones

First line: Ghost stories were a big part of my life growing up as an American Indian.

Why you should read this book: It sets itself apart from most collections of creepy stories and folktales in two ways: first that, many of the stories were personally collected by the author, and second, that many of the stories really happened. It sets itself apart from most collections of indigenous legends in that the author and illustrator, as well as all their sources, are indigenous themselves. This is a kids' book, but the spooky factor is turned up fairly high on some of them—readers will meet all kind of terrifying spirits, monsters, ghosts, and other fairy tale creatures, none of whom have the best wishes of humanity in mind. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Probably too scary for very young readers.

The Dark Kraft: A Collection of Cheesy Creepy Pastas

Written by: Cameron D. Blackwell

First line: Paula Jean Stanton, or PJ to her friends, worked diligently on her project at Stanco labs.

Why you should read this book: "Creepy pasta," or internet-based horror legends, began as cut and paste twenty-first century legends of terror based on possibly believable premises, but the term has gradually evolved to include a wide range of scary stories. This book brings you five silly-spooky tales of the modern unknown, including an AI turned evil through accidental forced immersion in a marathon of the '90s era sitcom Friends, a terrifyingly comfortable secondhand couch, and an irresponsible pet sitter unaware of the importance of catering to a persnickety house cat. Fast and funny, this short collection may have you avoiding thrift shops and Black Friday sales for fear of the evil that lurks within. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: The "cheesy" part is not just a side dish; this book piles on the cheese.

Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain and Ireland

Written by: Kevin Crossley-Holland and Frances Castle

First line: As Jemmy strode down the road toward Slane, he began to say praises.

Why you should read this book: It's a very fresh collection of very old stories, made excellent through the author's use of voice, which manages to summon the spirit of oral transmission while remaining accessible to modern readers, and imbues each story with its own character, as if they were collected and transcribed directly from the mouths of dozens of speakers. The tropes and tales are often familiar to students of world mythology and folklore, while retaining their specific regional flair, and impart elements such as setting and culture in ways that come to life as you read. Just a wonderful anthology of rich and detailed folklore, suitable for children, scholars, and dreamers.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Perhaps a bit more drinking and sex than in most children's literature. 

Time You Let Me in: 25 Poets under 25

Edited by: Naomi Shihab Nye

 First line: If you drive old farm road 43 from Corpus Christi, Texas, up to Driscoll right at dawn and for the thirty or so minutes afterward, through the tiny towns of London and Petronila, past the cotton gins and weather-beaten farmhouses and few stop signs and blinking red lights, past the mysterious old tractors, some shrouded under tarps, some parked right where they stopped working, you'll sometimes see a soft haze or mist. 

Why you should read this book: This curated collection of young poets features a refreshing selection of short pieces, four per author. While the subject matter ranges far and wide, one thread that seems to connect them is a groundedness in sense of place; whether the poet is discussing their childhood home, their ancestors' struggles, or observations from travel, the reader feels transported to very specific worlds through each. These are rich, beautiful, mostly hopeful poems, appropriate for children, but often covering important topics such as race and class. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Well, it lies; there are 26 poets jammed in there.

FTL, Y'all! Tales from the Age of the $200 Warp Drive

Edited by: C. Spike Trotman and Amanda LaFrenais

First line: Mornin'

Why you should read this book: It's a graphic anthology featuring nineteen short comic stories linked by the common theme of a near-future reality in which anyone with $200 and an internet connection can build a faster-than-light drive and explore the cosmos. There are heroes, villains, aliens, overworked moms, and hapless researchers, in a world that is much larger than our own, but still features elements the human race will not likely outgrow for a while: misogynistic internet trolls, unpleasant airport experiences,  heroic rescues, teenagers searching for themselves, liars, loneliness, idiots, geniuses, and bad parenting. Also, due to the nature of the technology, basically any vessel can be a starship, so there are some hilarious looking starships.

Why you shouldn't read this book: While connected by the theme of the $200 warp drive, there's no further continuity to the stories, so they don't actually feel like they're all set in the same world.

We're Still Here: An All-Trans Comics Anthology

Edited by: Tara Madison Avery and Jeanne Thornton

First line: "You're totally my fetish!"

Why you should read this book: As the title says, it's a comic anthology written entirely by trans comic creators. The stories run the gamut from factual ("A Brief Timeline of Singular They") to autobiographical to allegorical to bizarre. Often, the quality of being trans is rendered metaphorically through a speculative lens—there are ghosts and monsters—but other stories offer very literal retellings of formative moments in the author's past. Some of the stories are funny or exciting, others are thought-provoking or heart-breaking, but each is an honest expression of idea a trans author wishes to communicate with a world that has too often sought to silence their voice.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're incapable of feeling empathy.

[note: I bought this comic directly from one of the artists at a convention. It is not available on Amazon and it appears to have sold out its original print run, but you could check back or contact the publisher to see if it's ever going to be reprinted.]

Falling in Love with Hominids

Written by: Nalo Hopkinson

First line: "The easthound bays at night," Jolly said.

Why you should read this book: This deeply imaginative short story collection covers the range of traditional speculative motifs, including ghosts, fairies, monsters, gods, and stochastic flying elephants, while maintaining a modern, enlightened sensibility that injects a bright freshness into familiar tropes along with the voices of queer folks and people of color. From teenage girls taking on the persona of dragons to fight back against sexual harassment to the sibling rivalry between the spirits from Shakespeare's Tempest, these intelligent  stories feel new and smart and forward-thinking. Enjoyable, fast-paced, clever, and wonderfully written, it's both fun and provocative.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Some nasty bits with city rats.

Joe Hill: The Graphic Novel Collection

Written by: Joe Hill, Jason Ciaramella, et al.

First line: We were little.

Why you should read this book: It brings together five different graphic stories written by spec fic superstar Joe Hill. "The Cape" and "The Cape: 1969" are pieces about how a little rage goes a long way, and how revenge has the tendency to get out of hand and expand beyond the original offense when fueled by anger (and a little magic), while "Thumbprint" works on similar themes without the magic and with a little more righteousness and introspection. "Kodiak," while still dark, is a love story with a happy ending. The long and lovely "Wraith" functions as a companion piece to Hill's modern vampire novel, NOS4A2, presenting a world as populated with whimsical psychopaths (and even some flawed heroes) as a Batman story, but with more supernatural horror and blood.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are prone to nightmares and you don't like it.

Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories

Written by: Kelly Barnhill

First line: The day she buried her husband—a good man by all accounts, though shy, not given to drink or foolishness; not one for speeding tickets or illegal parking or cheating on his taxes; not one for carousing at the county fair or tomcatting with the other men from the glass factory; which is to say he was utterly unknown in town; a cipher: a cold, blank space—Agatha Sorensen arrived at the front steps of Our Lady of the Snows.

Why you should read this book: There is much to admire and wonder over in this collection of short, speculative fiction, which bobs back and forth between fantasy and magical realism on waves of feminist sensibility with dark undertones. Magical girls influence patriarchal institutions; non-magical girls find their realities inextricably bound up with improbable magic, and there's a nice romance between a giant, intellectual bug and a sentient observation tower, not to mention this business with sasquatch. The world needs more books like this.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Might be detrimental to the health of greedy, selfish, thoughtless folks.

The Ramshead Algorithm and Other Stories

Written by: KJ Kabza

First line: The first thing Jesper noticed was her parasol, twirling like a ghostly pinwheel between the branches and webs.

Why you should read this book: I'm not going to lie: KJ Kabza is my best friend and I would have read his book even if he wasn't good, but he's freaking great, so great that a publishing company inboxed him on Twitter and offered to publish a collection of his work without him even having to ask. This anthology features eleven speculative fictions, ranging in size from novella to flash, and in genre from steampunk to space opera to gothic horror to contemporary fantasy to somewhere you'd end up if you were a character in Black Mirror to places you've never ever gone as a reader. Seriously, buy this book; if you read anywhere on the speculative continuum, you won't be disappointed.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You want to make me cry.

Sycorax's Daughters

Edited by: Kinatra Brooks, Linda D. Addison, and Susana Morris

First line: Thistle stepped over and upturned root that twisted from the dark, wet earth.

Why you should read this book: This thick anthology collects horror fiction and poetry written by dozens of black women, offering a platform for voices that have often been silenced, and rarely given the spotlight in genre fiction: a new perspective on an old form that completely reframes the very idea of what, and who, is horrifying. Like most anthologies, it features a wide variety of work, some by unknown authors, but generally speaking, the stories in this book are strong: mostly-well written and all featuring provocative characters and ideas. A joyful, and thoughtful, compendium of scary stories that ought to please those who love the creepy side of storytelling.

Why you shouldn't read this book: I read an ARC that was desperately in need of multiple copyediting passes. Hopefully, by the time of publication next month, this distraction will have been addressed. 

How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend

Written by: Linda Addison

First line: Songs from their open mouth make you sleep,/upon waking you feel empty and sad,/there is a mark of ash on your chest/where your heart should be.

Why you should read this book: Four-time Bram Stoker-award winning horror author Linda Addison offers up a slim, gripping collection of poetry and prose, featuring full-bodied meditations on love, magic, life, death, and yes, friendly demons. Past, present, and future crumble together in stories of strong women, emotional zombies, and incredibly annoying computer systems, a thoroughly modern trek through worlds old and new. Fast paced and fun to read, with a delicious and conscious sense of balance.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You suspect your grandmother may be possessed.

Mothers, Tell Your Daughters

Written by: Bonnie Jo Campbell

First line: Ed and I were making out by candlelight on the couch.

Why you should read this book: Bonnie Jo Campbell is a remarkable writer who constructs memorable, believable characters in tense, sometimes painful, always meaningful situations, and this short fiction collection may be her best work to date. I'm not even angry that the first story in this book won a prize in a contest in which one of my short stories was only awarded the designation of "finalist." Anyway, this book is awesome; you can't buy it yet, because I got an ARC from a librarian who wanted me to review it for her website (because Bonnie Jo is also a friend and former professor of mine), but you can advance order it, and look forward to the day that you can read it yourself.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You haven't been in rehab very long.

The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen: Volume VI: Minor Works

Written by: Jane Austen

First line: The Uncle of Elfrida was the Father of Frederic; in other words, they were first cousins by the Father's side.

Why you should read this book: You should only read this book if you love-Love-LOVE Jane Austen. The stories here comprise early works, including juvenilia, and a number of rambling/incomplete novels and novellas, which showcase the young Austen's shrewd eye and wit, along with her sense of ridiculousness when she turns that eye and wit toward her society. If you're already familiar with Austen, then you may find this book funny or interesting, but these are "minor works" for a reason.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't love-Love-LOVE Jane Austen.

Jack Kent's Hokus Pokus Bedtime Book

Written by: Jack Kent

First line: In a land far away there once lived a poor boy named Aladdin.

Why you should read this book: Sweet enough for the smallest children but with a little tongue in cheek humor tucked in neatly among the familiar lines, this collection of five favorite fairy tales is accompanied by the round and smiling faces of Kent's beloved illustrations. The real humor shines through in the delightful pictures: in "Jack and the Beanstalk," we see the beloved cow sitting in a chair at the table with Jack and his mother, grinning while munching on a bowl of hay; in "The Frog Prince," the Princess's disgust is writ large in her features over a series of images. Although this volume is a bit hard to find, it's a great addition to a child's library of bedtime stories.

Why you shouldn't read this book: People falling in love too fast for the wrong reasons.

Under Stars

Written by: KJ Kabza

First line: Beneath the four of us was a patch of bare earth, which Yuri had anchored into reality with a screw he'd muttered.

Why you should read this book: The short fiction of KJ Kabza is full of surprises, whether in the form of the world's shortest vampires-in-space flash fiction, the merging of the beach and punk genres, or a story set inside a dictionary, where all the characters are English words. This second collection of unusual tales breathes new life into old conventions and awakens the readers mind by presenting modern quandaries around ancient ideas. Trolls, mad scientists, unicorns, and dragons are all available for your perusal, and are all depicted as you've never seen them before.

Why you shouldn't read this book: The final section present sixty-nine kinky, nerdy limericks, which are by and large pretty filthy. If this does not sound hilarious to you, you may want to move on.

Read my complete review on In the Weird.