The Ghoulish Times | 11.26.24
Hello and welcome to the latest issue of The Ghoulish Times. My name is Max Booth and this is my spooky newsletter. Today’s email will be very brief. Here is what you can expect: promo about a new book release, followed by a bookstore anecdote. Okay. Here are those things now:
NEW BOOK
Valkyrie Loughcrewe’s new novella, Decrepit Ritual, is undoubtedly unlike anything you’ve ever read before.
Trevor Henderson, creator of Siren Head and author of Scarewaves, described the book as “a gore-soaked howl captured on decaying VHS, the cursed tape from The Ring by way of a psychedelic gut-stomping SOV horror flick.”
Saoirse Ní Chiaragáin, author of Wax & Wane, said it’s like a “horror film remembered from a dream; characters at once familiar and alien, operating under the stomach-lurching logic of a nightmare.”
Our very first Goodreads review, from Milt Theo, had this to say about Decrepit Ritual: “The Evil Dead meets the delirium of Lovecraft’s “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”! This was a unique reading experience, starting from the viewing of a randomly found VHS tape, and diving into a sea of surreal images and a maelstrom of plot. The main character has gone to a cabin to unalive themselves, but, drawn into the world of the movie on the tape, the unaliving becomes a wild trip into body horror and occult terror. What transpires is very difficult to summarize: from superheroic attacks to giant goddesses and fleshy monsters, organic explosions and otherworldly shenanigans, the story soon spins out of control, and takes over the viewer. It’s worth giving this a shot, if only to enjoy the vertigo-inducing writing style!”
Here is the front cover:
Decrepit Ritual can be purchased wherever books are sold.
GHOULISH WEBSTORE | BOOKSHOP.ORG | B&N | AMAZON
Just one quick note, if you’ve pre-ordered directly from our webstore: we are experiencing a delay in receiving paperbacks from the printer. We think it has to do with the holidays, but we’re not totally sure. They should be here within the next week, and we will ship them out the moment they arrive. Our sincerest apologies!
BOOKSTORE ANECDOTE
Conversation with a woman at my (horror-themed) bookstore, looking for a book for her teenage daughter, after I've recommended a few of our YA selections:
Her: None of these are gonna teach her how to kill someone, is it?
Me: None of these books are going to teach anybody how to kill someone.
Her: You don't know my daughter.
Me: I promise you, if she wants to kill someone, it won't be because of a book. [laughing] It might be because of you, though.
Her: What does that mean?
Me: Oh, I was just joking.
Her: She's trying to be gothy right now.
Me: That's cool.
Her: I don't know what to do.
Me: You could buy her a cool book.
[Her oldest son]: What about this book for her, Mom?
Her: No, we need a book for girls.
Me: Well, any gender can read any book, you know...
Her: .......Well, this is a nice store, thank you very much.
She then leaves without buying anything, but not before taking a shit in our bathroom and taking a generous helping of our free stickers.
Anyway support your favorite horror bookstore HERE is what I’m saying, I guess.