I shared this on twitter but am including it here with a few additions and in a little more depth. For the end of the year, I've compiled a list of my favorite reads. Most were published in 2022 while some I only read for the first time in 2022, but all of them are incredible and I want to shout their praises from my little internet rooftop.
Links are included so you can check them out for yourselves. The titles here are just the ones that really struck me in that knock-you-over-in-awe kind of way. There were plenty of stories and books I enjoyed very much that are not included.
Short Stories
"You're Not Supposed to Be Here" by Eric LaRocca pub'd in The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales
"The Only Thing Different Will Be The Body" by J.A.W. McCarthy pub'd in A Woman Built by Man and narrated by Julia Rios for PseudoPod 839
"Frolic Within the Leviathan’s Heart” by Hailey Piper pub'd in The Book of Queer Saints
"Blood Mountain" by Brenda S. Tolian pub'd in Blood Mountain
"D.E.B" by H.V. Patterson pub'd in Mine: An Anthology of Body Autonomy Horror
"The Stone Mother" by Brenda S. Tolian pub'd in Blood Mountain
"Gordon B. White is creating Haunting Weird Horror" by Gordon B. White pub'd in Nightmare Magazine (Issue 106)
"The Magician on His Deathbed" by J.M. Sedlock pub'd in Mine: An Anthology of Body Autonomy Horror
"7 PM Awards Ceremony, Followed by Girl Scout Auction at 8" by Sam Rebelein pub'd in Human Monsters
"The Rabbits That Make Us Wolves" by Bri Crozier pub'd in Mine: An Anthology of Body Autonomy Horror
Short Non-Fiction/Essays
"The H Word: Hand-Me-Down Horror" by Brian McAuley pub'd in Nightmare Magazine (Issue 120)
"Being a mom is a mindfuck ngl" by Leza Cantoral pub'd on Goth Mom, Tales From the Trenches
"A Feminine Manifesto, or, What I’ve Been Up to Lately" by Claire C. Holland pub'd on Razor Apple Blog
Short Fiction Collections and Anthologies
Blood Mountain by Brenda S. Tolian (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales by Eric LaRocca (Off Limits Press/Titan Books)
The Book of Queer Saints edited by Mae Murray (Independently Published)
Mine: An Anthology of Body Autonomy Horror edited by Roxie Voorhees and Nico Bell (Creature Publishing)
Novellas
The Secret Skin by Wendy N. Wagner (Neon Hemlock Press)
You've Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca (Independently Published)
The Night Visitors by Jenn Ashworth and Richard V. Hirst (Dead Ink)
And This is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda (Neon Hemlock Press)
They Were Here Before Us: A Novella in Pieces by Eric LaRocca (Bad Hand Books)
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw (Tor Nightfire)
Poetry Collections
Lady of the House by Grace R. Reynolds (Curious Corvid Publishing)
Exposed Nerves by Lucy A. Snyder (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Girls From the County by Donna Lynch (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
The Saint of Witches by Avra Margariti (Weasel Press)
Crime Scene by Cynthia Pelayo (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Choking Back the Devil by Donna Lynch (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Every Poem a Potion, Every Song a Spell by Stephanie Parent (Querencia Press)
Strange Nests by Jessica McHugh (Apokrupha)
At First & Then by Danielle Rose (Black Lawrence Press)
Non-Fiction Books
Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother by Eve LaPlante (Simon & Schuster)
Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark (Forge)
Witchery: Embrace the Witch Within by Juliet Diaz (Hay House)
Novels
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (Tor Nightfire)
When the Reckoning Comes by Latanya McQueen (Harper Perennial)
Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan (Pegasus Books)
Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (Ecco Press)
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (Pantheon Books)
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver (Orion)
The Doctor's Demons by Maria Abrams (Clash Books)
Little Eve by Catriona Ward (Tor Nightfire)
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