My New Favourite Authors

Ello!

I am supposed to be delighting you with an author interview this month but I .... er.... mayyyyy have forgotten to send my chosen author the interview questions in a reasonable amount of time. Stay tuned for that (most likely next month now) though, because this author is magnificent and I'm really excited to share their musings with you all!

Instead, I thought I'd rave a little bit about 3 authors and the books that I have discovered only in the last few months, but am extremely obsessed with.

ALEXIS HENDERSON

The Year of the Witching is such a great read, and it's Henderson's debut, if I'm not mistaken. A feminist period horror piece that gripped me from start to finish. However, her next novel, House of Hunger is the one that unlocked the NEW FAVOURITE AUTHOR achievement. I knew as soon as I plucked it off my shelf that it was going to be great, I could just feel it - the book was calling to me! I flew through the pages, trying to figure out if what I was reading was what I hoped it was. It was. I'll be pre-ordering everything Henderson releases from now until the end of time.

MARK TOWSE

Comedy horror is a difficult subgenre to write well, but Mark Towse is a genius. Nana had me tearing up with laughter a couple of times, as did The Bucket List (co-written with Chisto Healy who deserves a shout out for sure - I just haven't included him in this list because this is my first and only Chisto read so I haven't reached the obsession phase with him yet!). There's Something Wrong With Aunty Beth is a savage and weird short story collection with shades of Clive Barker and Joe Hill. So far, I've been thoroughly impressed by every Towse book I've read (I've read lots now but the above 3 are my favourites!). If you like a little funny with your horror, there really is no one better at the moment, in my humble opinion. Towse just nails it.

DAVE JEFFERY

Dave Jeffery politely requested a book review for the fourth book in his 'A Quiet Apocalypse' series (on my review site, HAPPY GOAT HORROR). Since I hadn't read the three that preceded it, I decided I should. I'll be honest, it seemed like a chore because of the time consumption. I have the books on my enormous personal TBR bookcase, and then also a mountain of TBR review requests and for some reason, I keep them separate. However, two chapters into A Quiet Apocalypse, I was absolutely hooked. I couldn't believe the quality of the writing and how intriguing the plot was, how invested I was in the characters and how curious I was about the world. I'd finish one book and then move straight to the next one, and it took me less than a week to read all 4, and not because Jeffery had requested it, but because I simply couldn't stop reading them. 

If you like post-apocalyptic fiction, you HAVE to read these books. Not only my favourite series now, but allllmost my favourite post-apocalyptic fiction ever. The only books keeping the series from the top spot are The Stand by Stephen King, and I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Jeffery's work might come in third place to those two, but I'd place him firmly in the same camp as King and Matheson for his writing. It's wonderful, and so is this series.

I can't wait to continue through my request TBR to discover more gems!