Horseman — by Christina Henry — A New Take on the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

 Author Christina Henry is not new to new takes on classic characters from classic tales of horror and fantasy. She's brought to life many stories that reflect inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, to The Little Mermaid, to Little Red Riding Hood and more. Horseman is my first read from Henry, and its story builds from the classic Sleepy Hollow tale.

Cover image courtesy of Berkley publishers

I was excited to read it. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving was required reading for young students born and raised in rural Central New York, but you don’t need to read it to be prepared for this story. Still, it doesn’t hurt to read the original first. Horseman takes place a generation later, where we meet an ancestor of the original characters, 14 year old Ben, who is being raised by their grandparents from the original story.

Main character Ben is a new teen who was born a girl but identifies as a boy. As you can imagine, this doesn’t sit well with the townsfolk of the late 18th/early 19th Century. Nor does it sit well with Ben's grandmother, Katrina Van Brunt—a key character from the original tale. Grandpa Van Brunt, or Brom Bones as he is known, is absolutely fine with it because young Ben reminds Brom of the son he lost—also Ben's father. As young Ben deals with identity, an old evil returns to the town—one that feeds on children by taking their heads.

I thought that author Henry’s folkloric take on the monster in the woods—the kludde—was well done, and the relationship between Ben and their grandparents was well developed. But I didn’t fully connect with the gender identity thread of the story. Ben’s struggle for acceptance was hit and miss for me. Sometimes the issue felt forced, yet sometimes it felt like the topic wasn’t full of enough depth. 

That having been said, I do appreciate its inclusion in the story. Women living as men did indeed exist in our long ago history, and I think it's important to recognize that. Henry's attempt to tackle the concept is a noble one, but the approach felt a bit blunt and modern within the context of the timeline, if that makes sense.

I’m not going to share spoilers, but there is also some villain monologuing that was a little bit annoying, and I wish that the villains had more dimension to them. But the story as a whole is quite clever and worth the read if you were ever a fan of the original tales of Sleepy Hollow.

Check out the links if you’re interested in the read: 

at Amazon       at Barnes and Noble       at Bookshop.org

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse — Starting the New Year with an Old Classic

 And what a year it’s been so far. Less than one month in, and we’re battling devastating wildfires here in California, uncommonly freezing temperatures throughout the rest of the country, a shaky ceasefire agreement and a new political future in the United States that has a big segment of the population more than worried.

But I’m not going to get into politics. You can probably figure out where I stand on that front, and that’s all I have to say. Or if I really need to give you a hint, stop banning books and give to your local libraries.

I believe Hermann Hesse would have agreed with me. Steppenwolf takes place in Germany at a time of political turmoil, and while he doesn’t place specific focus on it, it is a time that's leading to war and fascism, and he’s not too happy about it—which may be partly why his main character Harry Haller is so depressed and planning his own suicide. And that’s the whole gist of the story. Harry Haller is depressed. He questions the meaning of his life, and life in general, and he has decided that at 50 years old, it’s time to kill himself. But then something happens—a mysterious sign over the doorway of a mysterious theater, and a mysterious woman who makes him rethink things.

This might be a good book to revisit at the Dawn of 2025… Anyway, a coworker suggested I check this book out. So, here's the extended review:

My coworker suggested I read this piece of classic literature before he finally broke down and gave it to me as a Christmas gift. Fun fact: that same Christmas, I gifted him a book too—Existentialism—A Very Short History. After reading Steppenwolf, I feel like I chose wisely.

The novel is about a man nearing fifty who ponders the meaning of life and of his own existence as an outlier/observer, and thus makes plans for his own suicide as he comes to the conclusion that people are destined to die anyway, and there is no joy to be had once you realize it. Then he comes upon a man with a sign, and a closed door to a theater that's "for madmen only." He meets an intriguing woman, Hermine—who reminds our protagonist Harry of a long ago friend named Herman, and she lures Harry into a quest to find all the possibilities of life, death, happiness and longing by living a more decadent and carefree life beyond the bourgeois lifestyle he leads and at the same time despises.

The bulk of the story is Harry resisting this path, until he doesn’t, then learning the lessons of possibilities once he gives himself over to the whims of chaos and unpredictability. Written in 1929 and set in Germany, the story suffers from some of the prejudices of its time, but I found it admirable to see it touch on current topics just the same. For instance, Herman partly falls in love with Hermine because of her resemblance to his boyhood friend Herman. And at one point, Hermine dresses like a man for the purpose of being mistaken for a Herman. So that touch of playing with gender norms is a great example of its existence—without condemnation—a hundred years ago.

If existentialism is a subject that intrigues you, then Hesse's Steppenwolf is a must for your literary shelves. It's a classic that should be available anywhere you look—even your local library.

A Chance at Free eBooks to Ring in the New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025

Happy 2025 to all the fans of horror. I would be negligent if I didn't let you know about the book giveaway being headed by TheStoryGraph website, so if you're a StoryGraph user you're in for a treat! Two of my eBooks are eligible for giveaways on the site until January 18th.

Prophet Reborn and Perfect Sacrifices are books two and three of the Perfect Prophet series, so enter to win one of  fifty copies each. And if you do win, you can pick up the first of the trilogy --Perfect Prophet-- for only $1.99 at your favorite online eBook retailer.

Here are the links to TheStoryGraph, and best of luck!

Perfect Sacrifices link

Prophet Reborn link

Deep Down There by Oli Jacobs -- A Truly Clever Premise that Teases More to Come

Cover Image via Goodreads
An independently published work

Deep Down There  by Oli Jacobs is an entertaining read with a simple but clever premise: What happens when a sinkhole appears in an established community. Overnight. And it’s a perfect circle with smooth walls that go straight down for what seems like infinity? The gated community of Anton Court gets to find out, and their justified curiosities lead to a few horrific outcomes.

I enjoyed this read. Oli Jacobs leans into character development to keep us interested, and he has created a nice little eclectic bunch led by Hannah, a widowed mother of two young boys who is stuck in a comfortable rut after the accidental death of her husband. Then the hole appears, and things gradually get weirder. No spoilers, but if you are a fan of TV shows like The Big Door Prize, which was a book before it was a TV series, you might like the feel of the characters here.

I do have a few criticisms on this one though. Plot development was a little bit slow for me, and the ending is left a bit too open ended, imo. There is a late revealed character that left me with more questions than answers (I can’t say more because of spoilers), and one key character seemed to have a name change through the third quarter of the book that had me scratching my head.

That all having been said, there are two post chapters that are separate from the main story but also tied to it. Ironically, they leave the reader with more questions, but they are also full of the right amount of intrigue to make this reader curious for more.

If you're down for a quick read that involves unexplainable mysteries and anomalies that might trigger the conspiracy theorist deep inside, than maybe check out Deep Down There. Click the image for a sales link.

Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror, Vol. 2 — A Review

The Brave New Weird World is here, and it’s an eye opener 

Cover image courtesy of Tenebrous Press
Click on image for where to buy

A brave series of shorts from Tenebrous Press where tales of the increasingly weird don’t feel so outrageously impossible at the dawn of the new world we’re living in. A new world where many of the wonderful stories within it could quite possibly get it banned. That isn’t hyperbole. These stories touch on a broad range of topics from transgenderism to environmental negligence to autonomous healthcare decisions to the advancement of AI for all the wrong reasons. Which is why you should check them out, because the Brave New Weird is here and now. 

Like most anthologies, not every story is going to hit you in the right way, but I didn’t find one story that was less than worthy of a 3 ( the average "I liked it" grade), with most being well worthy of 4s and 5s ("really liked it," or "best read ever!"). The list of the ones that resonated most for me include: 

In That Crumbling Home, by Thomas Ha—A post apocalyptic tale about a girl and a blood tree and the hope that resides in a future generation. 

A Balanced Breakfast, by Eirik Gumeny—A diabetic podcaster summons a demon for an interview by casting a spell with the use of sugary breakfast cereals. 

The Man Outside, by Simone le Roux—He's always present in a young girl's life, beginning at age eleven, and as she grows year after year toward adulthood, he creeps closer and closer. 

As the Music Plays Groovy, by Michael Bettendorf—When the voice of reason comes from Nic Cage through your AI assistant device, maybe you should rethink things. 

The Sound of Children Screaming, by Raechel K. Jones—Because the best defense in a school shooting is a portal to a different world. 

Quietus, by Premee Mohamed—The quest to find meaning through the eyes of an RPG soldier. 

These are by far not the only picks that I enjoyed, but they’re a good sample of what to expect. These thoughtful pieces of horror all have something to say about the world we live in now and the challenges we face in the very near future. Things to think about, things to defend in our lifetime, things to resist if we want to preserve our general humanity. And yes, I am writing this after the disappointing results of our 2024 election. But I was ready to give this book high praise before that. I find many of the stories here all the more relevant.

Click on the cover image for a direct link to Tenebrous Press, or look for the book at most online book retailers.