The 40 But 10: Jacob Peppers

 

I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Today we are joined by Jacob Peppers. Jacob is the author of over forty books, including the bestselling epic fantasy series The Last Eternal, The Seven Virtues, and Saga of the Known Lands. His short fiction has appeared in various markets, and his short story, “The Lies of Autumn,” was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award for Short Prose. He is represented by Andrea Hurst Literary Management. Jacob lives in Georgia with his wife, their daughter Norah, their sons Gabriel, Declan, and Elijah, and three very spoiled dogs. When he isn’t staring at a computer screen muttering curses and talking to himself, he can usually be found running and gasping in a vain effort to keep up with his children.

Why do you write?

That’s a question I get asked quite often and one which, I’m afraid, has no easy answer. At least not one that doesn’t make me look hopelessly self-important or inadvertently mystifies the act of writing, as if it were some spell writers cast.

It isn’t.

It’s just something I love. I love stories. I love the way words, simple combinations of letters and sounds, when done well, can help us to live vicariously through others, experience things we would never have experienced otherwise, and think about things we never would have thought of otherwise.

Okay, fine. Maybe it is a bit like magic. One that I am privileged to get to experience firsthand. There are many who do it better than I, and I’ve yet to find the person who, with even a modicum of effort, does it worse. But not everything, I think, is about doing a thing well. It’s about doing it as well as you can.

And so, I’ll tell my stories as well as I can for as long as I can and hope that someone, somewhere, enjoys them.

 

What do you do when you’re not writing?

Think about writing? Ha. My wife could no doubt regale you with a thousand instances in which I’ve become distracted while my mind works over one plot twist or story snag. But mostly, I spend time with my wife and four kids. In a life full of blessings far beyond what I deserve, they are the best, and I do my best to make sure they know it. 

 

What’s your kryptonite as a writer?

You’ll hear a lot of writers talk about being inspired but that is never the approach I’ve taken. After all, if you’re building a roof and you wait around until the muse decides to drop by (mine, at least, keeps odd hours and often shows up drunk and incoherent) then there’s a good chance you’re going to get rained on. It’s a job—one I’m lucky to do. So, I do it. I have created a routine around it, and I guess my worst kryptonite is a breaking of that routine. One thing goes off a bit—like say I hit snooze one too many times on my alarm—and I can usually get back on task. But two or three… well, then I have to hope it doesn’t rain.

 

How do you celebrate when you finish writing a new book?

Whiskey, mostly. Sometimes, if my wife’s insistent, I take a day off. Usually, though, I don’t. Instead, I celebrate by moving on to the next thing. Some people might imagine a writer’s mind like a sort of assembly line. Bits and bobs (story ideas, characters, settings, etc.) are fed into the front of the machine and, after a complex and largely unfathomable set of processes, come out the other side a book.

My mind doesn’t work like that. It’s more like I am standing in a crowd of thousands of ideas. Big ones and small ones, fat ones and skinny ones, all screaming for my attention. And if I think there’s something there, if the idea has legs… I just realized this analogy is getting pretty gruesome but bear with me. If the idea seems like it could go somewhere, a path I want to travel, then I celebrate the completion of one by beginning another. Usually something of a very different flavor. What can I say? I’m a Neapolitan guy.

 

 What are some of your favorite books and/or authors?

Oh man, this is a good one. I have quite a few and for quite a few different reasons. I’ll start with the Bible, all sixty-six books of it. The inspired word of God, written by men. Tough to beat, that.

Otherwise? There’s a lot. For meaningful, beautiful prose that forces you to pay attention, I’d say there are few better than Cormac McCarthy. I love all his works, but I’m of the opinion that the prologue to No Country [for Old Men] is one of the greatest pieces of writing ever written.

I also find Elmore Leonard’s work to be incredible. There’s a beat, a rhythm to his dialogue and his characters that always baffles me. He has a way of paring down the prose so that every scene hums. That I find incredibly inspiring. And daunting.

There are plenty of others I could talk about… and so I will. Neil Gaiman has a way of transporting you to another world that makes me feel like a kid again, and never mind my aching knees. Then there’s Vonnegut, who makes me think and laugh in equal measure.

And lastly, I’d finish with C.S. Lewis. His fiction is, of course, incredible—there’s a reason Narnia is as popular as it is. But I find his non-fiction just as good, if not better. Mere Christianity is one of those books I recommend to… well, anyone, really. A great, profound read, one that humbles me every time.

There are tons of others. I could write a book on it, but then I’d have to charge you!

 

 What’s the single best line you’ve ever read?

I have several—if it isn’t obvious by now, brevity is not a strength of mine. In fact, if you see where I put all my strengths, could you let me know? I seem to have misplaced them. Meanwhile, I’ll say John 3:16 is a big one for me. Or else Genesis 1:3, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”

Otherwise, for pure evocative lines, it’s hard to beat Bradbury’s “It was a pleasure to burn.” It immediately makes the reader—or me, at least—ask a lot of questions, ones that almost demand answering, and I think that’s powerful. “I am a pair of ragged claws,” is another one. I’ve always empathized with Prufrock. Or, “But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.”

Oh, but this is supposed to be single lines… Well, I’m afraid I never showed much aptitude for taking instructions and while many things change with age (nose hair is a fine or not so fine example), some do not.

 

 Do you read the reviews of your books or do you stay far far away from them, and why?

Both, I guess. I have a group of dedicated, saint-like beta readers who, over the years, have volunteered their time and energy—and perhaps their sanity—to look over early versions of my books. Them, I listen to very, very closely.

Otherwise… well, when I was a new author, I used to read—and agonize—over every review, looking, hoping, praying for a good one. But what I found is that it took at least ten good reviews to make up for one bad one, so I mostly stopped reading reviews. After all, down that road lies madness, in several of its forms.

I try not to take it personally (but I do anyway). After all, not everything is for everybody and thank God for that. What a boring world that would be.

 

 If you could time travel, would you go back to the past or forward into the future

That’s easy—I’m a past guy. Let the future be uncertain, I say. That’s the joy of it. No use reading the ending of a book before you’ve read the beginning and the middle, is there? As for the past, well, at the risk of being sentimental, there are things I would like to do again. To see and experience again.

I’d like to talk to my granddad (paw paw for those of you from the South like me) again. To meet my wife again, to ask her to marry me and be shocked when she said yes, again.

And of course I’d like to see my children born again, to watch their first steps and hear their first words (and try to make sure they said “daddy” first) again. It is a privilege, a blessing to get to watch them grow. I just don’t know why they have to do it so fast.

It makes me think of a half-finished poem idea I had a few years ago. Largely discarded, but this line has stuck with me ever since because it encapsulates how I feel as a father watching his children grow. I am joy. Poked through with holes.

 

Do you DNF books?

Of course! There are a lot of books in the world, after all, and nowhere near enough time to read them all. I don’t read to not enjoy it, do I? Still, I refuse to give strong opinions (or any opinion at all, when I can help it) on books I don’t finish. That’d be like giving an opinion on a painting when I’d only seen a corner of it, I think, and that isn’t fair to the painter or to the person to whom I’m speaking. Besides, I try to keep my mind on things that are good. There’s plenty enough bad out there—no need to go looking for it.

 

Are you a book hoarder or a book unhauler?

Well, considering that I have only just emptied two boxes of books (purchased at a local library book sale a week or so ago) onto my shelves, I’d say that question answers itself. Though my wife would be happy to do so, in case there was any confusion. Am I a book hoarder? Come on, man. Those are worlds out there. I collect worlds. What a thing!

 

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Purchase a copy here

Dragon riders once ruled the skies… And soon they will fly again.

Centuries ago, dragons and humans defended the land of Astria side by side. Then the empire invaded, with huge creatures of ice and stone. And the dragons abandoned their allies.

Now, every Astrian is born in chains.

Nolan refuses to serve the invaders. On the streets of an occupied city, he picks pockets to survive, desperately staying one step ahead of the guards.

Then he steals from the wrong man…

With a legion of imperial soldiers closing in, Nolan is saved by a mysterious swordsman and his sharp-witted daughter.

As they flee into the mountains, his new companions speak of rebellion. Of an academy where Astrians train to fight. Of magic the empire failed to destroy.

Nolan has no time for legends.

But as he discovers the truth of Astria’s fall, he feels power stirring within him. Power that makes him believe, for the first time, that the empire could be destroyed.

Because the dragons may have vanished. But their fire has not gone out…

Shadow of Dragons is a thrilling epic fantasy of non-stop action, magical creatures, ancient ruins, and long-buried secrets. It’s perfect for fans of John Gwynne, Ryan Cahill, and Pierce Brown.

The Page 69 Test: Blue Feet and Green Sharks: A User's Guide to Not Being a Serial Killer

Disclaimer: The Page 69 Test is not mine. It has been around since 2007, asking authors to compare page 69 against the meat of the actual story it is a part of. I loved the whole idea of it and so I'm stealing it specifically to showcase small press titles - novels, novellas, short story collections, the works! So until the founder of The Page 69 Test calls a cease and desist, let's do this thing....

In this installment of Page 69, 

We put Philip Araoz's Blue Feet and Green Sharks: A User's Guide to Not Being a Serial Killer to the test

Set up page 69.

Adam Fraser is a math PhD candidate who lives his life with structure and organization, maybe compulsion?

No. It’s just structure and organization. Completely normal and understandable, okay?

When the book opens, Adam’s got a “friend” and “study partner” named Amy. Amy is a music graduate student. She and Adam are in a class together because Adam signed up for something called “Set Theory” that he thought was a math class but turned out to be a music class.

Adam stayed in the class.

Not that it had anything to do with Amy, mind you. Music Set Theory has logic and isoforms, so it’s worth studying.

Because while Adam will tell you that Amy is smart and beautiful, he will then immediately tell you that he doesn’t “notice or care” and that he and Amy are “just study partners.”

Really.

So, when Amy asks Adam to express his “feelings,” it doesn’t go well. The only feelings Adam can easily identify are “tired” and “hungry.”

No. It doesn’t go well at all.

Losing Amy leaves Adam’s world fractured.

No. It’s not fractured. It just needs a little refinement. That’s all.

So, in a quest for self-improvement Adam reads books on evolutionary biology. There he discovers the blue-footed booby, a bird where blueness of the feet is a sign of health in the males and is used in courting displays.

From this Adam gets the idea to buy new clothes and improve his look. (Hence the “blue feet” in the title).

Page 69 opens with Adam driving with one of his housemates, Maria. (Adam lives in the basement and has three female housemates upstairs). Maria is telling Adam to exit to “Fog Cut Terrace,” a fancy clothing district in their fictional city.

 

 

What is the book about?

The book is about Adam’s quest. He would describe it as a quest for self-improvement, though the reader will see it’s a quest for human connection.

The problem is that while Adam comes to understand the appearance of human connection, he doesn’t understand the substance of it.

For example, in preparation for a blind date, Adam watches a rom-com in the theater, takes notes, and comes up with a “blind date algorithm” that includes such things as “When the check comes, pay it right away. Don’t ask her why she ate so much.”

The tragedy is that a lot of what he does is successful, or just successful enough that he keeps doubling down on his methods.

The engine of the book is watching Adam come ever so close to a breakthrough. Come so close to looking inside. So close to expressing his vulnerability.

And then watching his logical brain override all that nonsense.

But eventually the reader comes to see the hurts that led Adam to build his walls. The question is whether Adam will come to grips with them.

I don’t know if this counts as “what is the book about” but Blue Feet started as recollections of mine from medical school. When my thirty-year med school reunion came up, I was reminded of what I was like in my twenties, how focused I was. (Probably had to be.) I started jotting down anecdotes.

Maybe some of them had to do with moping about a girl. Maybe not. I don’t remember.

But from those jottings, I discovered an earnest, prickly, unself-aware voice that became Adam’s voice.

 

Do you think this page gives readers an accurate sense of your book? Does it align with the novel’s overall theme?

This page introduces you to the voice—Adam’s voice. His short sentences. The way he pays attention to the geometry of the world around him but tunes out the human part.

It also introduces some of his disordered thinking. Maria is trying to take up smoking to lose weight. Adam doesn’t dwell on how destructive that is. He just knows that Maria is working towards a goal and that she’s accomplishing it, so that’s good.

And you get to meet Maria.

Adam’s three female housemates—Maria, Lisa, and Kaitelyn—are key characters. Maria is the cynical law student. She helps Adam get new clothes (without which the title of the book would make no sense). Lisa is the emotionally intelligent one who sees that Adam’s “quest” is all about forgetting Amy, though Adam denies it. Kaitelyn initially seems like the social one, the one who sets Adam up on dates. Later we see there’s more to her.

The three of them are protective of him. They try to help him. But mainly they serve as the reader’s surrogates, telling Adam “No! Don’t do that!” Having one of them on this page is helpful for that.

But this page isn’t completely representative in that Adam is at his most relatable when dealing with the housemates. When on his own, his thoughts are often rigid, linear. Except when he’s thinking about Amy. Then he borders on literary.

Not too literary, mind you.

This page also does NOT give you a sense of the isolation that pervades this book. (The light tone of my description probably doesn’t represent it either). Watching Adam be so alone and then watching him do things to make himself even more alone walks a line between being funny and extremely sad.

Does it align with novel’s overall theme? Yes. But since the whole novel is told from Adam’s perspective, there aren’t major detours that might make any given scene a complete outlier. It does give you a taste of the path Adam has chosen to walk.

That’s it. Thanks so much to TNBBC for letting me share this with you!

 

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Page 69

Blue Feet and Green Sharks: A User's Guide to Not Being a Serial Killer

Chapter 14

“Exit! I said, ‘Exit!’”

It’s Maria. She’s in the passenger seat. She wants me to exit. She’d been talking about her research assistant job and her demanding boss. But at some point she switched to giving me directions, so it might be time to pay attention.

I’m driving on an elevated part of the highway, passing the white dome of the stadium. Ahead of us are the downtown black skyscrapers, with the flat gray of the ocean behind them. We’re exiting into the district between them—Fog-Cut Terrace. It’s a big pedestrian square surrounded by clothing stores.

We take the exit, loop through narrow streets until Maria directs me to a parking ramp, and we circle up and up. When we finally park, Maria waits for me to get out, circle around, and open the passenger door. Then she hops out of the car, lights a cigarette. Puffs it a few times without coughing.

Her hard work is paying off.

She stands, cigarette in hand. Black trench coat with a belt. Black boots.

“Adam, when is the last time you bought clothes?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know.” She puffs on a cigarette. “And you got the idea to buy clothes from a biology textbook.”

“Yes.”

 “There you go.” She puffs again. “Biology is good for something after all.” 

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Philip Araoz was born to immigrant parents in a U.S. military family. During his childhood, he lived in places ranging from Portugal to Alaska. He attended Harvard College and afterwards lived in Bogotá, Colombia, where he taught elementary school and wrote a novel he never published.

He went to medical school at the University of Washington. His subsequent medical training took him to Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, California. He is now a Professor of Radiology at a prestigious medical center in Rochester, Minnesota and has numerous academic medical publications.

He is now returning to fiction because he has two things he lacked when he was young—perspective and money. Blue Feet and Green Sharks is his debut novel.

Blue Feet and Green Sharks: A User's Guide to Not Being a Serial Killer

Character study   |   Coming of age

Goodreads   |    Amazon

Release date: October 28 2026

I don’t know what the deal is with “feelings.” —Adam Fraser

A deadpan anti-rom-com character study of grief and rigid armor.

Adam Fraser is a first-year math PhD candidate with a friend and study partner, Amy - a music graduate student and a cellist. While Adam will admit that Amy is smart and strong and beautiful, he is adamant that he "doesn't notice or care." He doesn't just suppress his emotions. He can't even identify them.

He doesn't know how.

So when Amy asks Adam to express his feelings, the results are disastrous.

This starts Adam on a quest to understand human interaction. He reads books on evolutionary biology. He takes detailed notes on romantic comedies. He uses every tool of logic to control the messiness of real connection. And he keeps at it until his carefully constructed world falls apart.

Blue Feet and Green Sharks is a character study showing how the armor we wear so often weighs us down instead of protects us and the limits of reason in solving human emotion.

*AI Transparency - the author leveraged AI for fact verification and cover image touchups. The text and cover were all human creation. 

The 40 But 10: J. Todd Kingrea

 

I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Today we are joined by J. Todd Kingrea. J Todd is the author of With A Blighted Touch and The Deiparian Saga (The Witchfinder, The Crimson Fathers, and Bane of the Witch). He has also authored two non-fiction books, two short stories, and role-playing game scenarios. When not writing, he enjoys collecting and watching movies, reading, and prowling through dusty old bookstores. He and his wife live in Galax, Virginia. You can find him online at www.jtoddkingrea.com, on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Stay in touch at jtoddkingrea@yahoo.com.

What made you start writing?

I started in the early 1990s with a desire to write for “The Call of Cthulhu” role-playing game. I knew a few of the freelancers who did that and developed relationships with them. They helped me hammer out problems in the early scenarios I created for the game, and I ended up having a couple of them published. My first two short stories appeared in print in the mid-1990s.

My wife and I have two sons. As they were growing up, I didn’t have much time to write, so it got put on the back burner. Around 2011, I got back into writing. I published a Christian devotional book and followed that with a church leadership book. Since both were non-fiction, I started to wonder if I could write a novel.

 I did a lot of research for The Witchfinder, book I of my Deiparian Saga trilogy, and I read a lot of creative writing books. I had to learn how to write a novel. I’m not sure how I jumped straight into a trilogy the first time out; that seemed like a backward way of doing things. However, the story I wanted to tell was too big for one book. So, I found a publisher that contracted for all three books and they were all in print by 2022.

The Deiparian Saga is a post-apocalyptic epic fantasy tale. By the time I finished the final book, I was ready to turn my attention to horror. With A Blighted Touch came next, followed by my most recent release, Only Angels Have Blue Eyes.

 

 

Why do you write?

Like most authors, I write because I want to tell stories. A good idea catches our attention and draws us in. We play around with characters, settings, dialogue, and plot to create the best story we can.

I like to challenge myself when I write. The first time I did that was with The Witchfinder. I wanted to know if I could pull off a novel. The next time I challenged myself to complete the trilogy. For With A Blighted Touch, I challenged myself to synthesize a lot of stories told to me by a close friend. Only Angels Have Blue Eyes emerged because I challenged myself to write a female main character. All my previous leads had been male. Could I write a believable female to carry the story? I suppose the readers will have to decide if I succeeded or not.

 

 

Do you think you’d live long in a zombie apocalypse?

Oh, absolutely! I was watching zombie films long before zombie films became cool. I’ve seen and read enough about it that I think I’d be a pretty good survivor. I wouldn’t be one of those important folks like doctors, mechanics, nurses, or survivalists, but I’d be able to contribute in some way.

 

 

What is your favorite book from childhood?

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I can still read it today and love it just as much as I did back then.

 

 

Do you DNF books?

Yes. If I’m reading a book that doesn’t click with me, I move on to something else. Life’s too short to read books that you don’t like.

 

 

What’s the best money you’ve ever spent as a writer?

I’d have to say buying books on creative writing. I never studied the subject in school. I don’t have any kind of creative writing degree. So, I needed to learn as much as I could about the craft of writing. I’ve found many nice used books on plot, character emotions, scenes, dialogue, publicity, editing, etc. I’d encourage writers to hit their local used bookstores for creative writing resources. You’ll learn a lot that will help your craft.

 

 

What are you currently reading?

Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley and Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime by Val McDermid.

 

 

Do you read the reviews of your books, or do you stay far, far away from them, and why?

I try to read every review. I believe that if readers take the time to share their thoughts, I need to honor that by reading them, especially if I’ve been pestering people for reviews! It’s enjoyable to see how different people respond to different aspects of a novel.

 

 

What songs would be on the soundtrack of your life?

               “The Secret of My Success” by Night Ranger.

               “Wasted Years” by Iron Maiden.

               “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey.

               “Flavor of the Weak” by American Hi-Fi.

               “Dancing With Myself” by Billy Idol.

               “Jokerman” by Bob Dylan.

               “Shout It Out Loud” by KISS

               The entire “Operation: Mindcrime” album by Queensryche.

               The entire “Hi-Fidelity” album by REO Speedwagon.

               Most anything from ZZ Top.

 

 

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

That’s easy: the power of flight. I’d love to be able to fly under my own power.

 

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Purchase a copy here

Things are looking up for Maylin Cole and her 4-year-old daughter, Margo. Fleeing an abusive relationship, the private clinic Heaven’s Hope offers shelter and the promise of a new life. Led by the charismatic and beguiling Seraph Nakir, they learn a surprising truth: they’re actually angels who have lost their way.

Everyone has an angel name and is being prepared to ‘ascend’ when the time is right. Their angelic identities will play a significant role in aiding humanity when the world ends.

As the weeks pass, Maylin becomes accustomed to the peculiar confrontational therapy. The black curtains and bars on the windows no longer trouble her. The lack of privacy, mystifying theology, and strange rules become commonplace. She sees Margo less frequently since the children are kept in the basement.

The death of another patient awakens Maylin to dark secrets within the walls, and soon the horrifying truth about Nakir and Heaven’s Hope is revealed. Maylin must confront her insecurities, rediscover her individuality, and use her wits and resources if she hopes to save Margo and the other children.

Inspired by a true crime case, this slow-burn thriller roars to a pulse-pounding climax, reminding the reader to think independently, ask questions, and be careful who you trust.

Warning: This story contains descriptions of domestic abuse, indoctrination, and child abuse.

*AI disclosure - the author states this book was created 100% by humans. AI was not used in any aspect of it's creation or cover. 

The 40 But 10: Karlo Petigny

 

I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Today we are joined by Karlo Petigny. Karlo is a Canadian writer drawn to dark, cinematic stories where ordinary people are trapped inside systems that should not exist. CUSTODIAN EMBEDDED is his debut novel and the first book in The Continuity Cycle.

Why do you write?

Because I have to. I constantly have stories running through my head, and eventually they have to go somewhere. For years, I procrastinated because I doubted myself. There are so many great writers out there. Would my stories be good enough? Would anyone want to read them?

The original idea for CUSTODIAN EMBEDDED came to me fifteen years ago. I finally decided to write it because I had never read or seen a story quite like it - especially one built around this kind of preserved presence without becoming a traditional ghost story.

What made you start writing?

I took a Udemy course on writing and decided it was time to stop postponing it. Despite my busy work schedule, I made the time and sacrificed a lot to take the project seriously. I collected my ideas in a master story bible, organized the entire concept, and started writing.

What do you do when you're not writing?

I ride motorcycles, snowboard, go to the gym when I can, and play guitar. Music has always been a major part of my life, especially metal.

What's your kryptonite as a writer?

Starting and ending a book. Starting means facing the blank page and turning a huge collection of ideas into an actual story. Ending means deciding when the story is truly finished and letting it go.

Describe your book in three words.

Eerie. Absurd. Dark.

 

If you met your characters in real life, what would you say to them?

"Chill out, mate. You are not the one sitting in that chair."

If you could cast your characters in a movie, which actors would play them and why?

I would cast Anya Taylor-Joy as Nora. She has the intensity, intelligence, and unusual screen presence the character needs. She can communicate fear, suspicion, and dark humor without overplaying any of them.

If you could spend the day with another author, who would you choose and why?

Stephen King. He has remained prolific, relevant, and creatively driven for decades. I would want to understand how he continues generating ideas, maintains that level of discipline, and keeps writing after accomplishing so much.

What would you do if you could live forever?

Everything. I would learn as much as possible, travel everywhere, master every skill that interested me, and create without worrying that time was running out.

What scares you the most?

Not accomplishing what I have set out to do. Failure does not scare me as much as reaching the end of my life knowing I did not fully pursue what I was capable of.

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Series: The Continuity Cycle, Book One

Released September 22, 2026

The house was free. The contract was not.

Nora Feldman thought divorce had finally freed her from the Feldman family.

Then her billionaire ex-father-in-law dies and leaves her a house, a monthly stipend, and a condition tied to BioContinuum's newest funeral technology: the Continuity Suite.

The company calls it care. The lawyers call it binding. The homeowners association calls it compliant.

Nora calls it hell.

What begins as a grotesque inheritance arrangement soon becomes a nightmare of corporate control, biotech grief, suburban surveillance, and polite language hiding something monstrous.

In Feldman Oaks, even death comes with terms and conditions.

CUSTODIAN EMBEDDED is a darkly comic speculative horror novel about inheritance, obedience, and the terrifying business of keeping the dead close.

Other links to connect with the author:  Instagram   |   TikTok   |    YouTube   |   X  

* AI disclosure - the author used AI to assist with research, proofreading, and cover generation.

What I Read in September

 

Here's what I read in September. 11 books total. Of those, one was 5 stars, five were 4 stars, three were 3 stars, and two were 2 stars. Not the best month I've had but definitely not the worst.

Eight of the eleven were review copies, One was audio, Five were print. The longest book was 381 pages. The shortest was 106. A total of 2691 pages read.

Phantom Limb by Brian Evenson

I literally just finished Last Days, which I friggen adored, and wasted no time diving straight into the sequel the second I swiped that final page.

Phantom Limb picks up some time after Last Days leaves off, with our guy Kline facing jail time... but not for what he did to The Pauls or The Brotherhood. He assumes he's incognito, beliving he’s finally crawled out of that amputee‑cult horrorshow free and clear, but learns pretty fast that the promises made to him are already being broken. Inside those prison walls, the zealots are still hunting him, still convinced he’s theirs.

It’s just as grody, just as violent, and maybe even a little weirder than its predecessor, which is saying something. And while it didn’t hit quite as hard for me as Last Days did (sequels rarely do), it’s still a damn solid follow‑up and an absolute blast of a return to one of the coolest protagonists out there. Missing limb, missing toes, missing patience — Kline remains an all‑time fave!

I had a helluva time hanging out with him again.

Ship of Death by Kyle Winkler

Another highly anticipated release that did not disappoint. I’m honestly so glad I didn’t let my hatred of Grasshands turn me away from this one — I cannot believe these two books came from the same person.

The Ship of Death unfolds through non‑traditional storytelling: journal entries, after‑game reports, forum chats, and excerpts from the rulebooks for the mysterious board‑game/RPG hybrid Cory and his wife are playtesting. From what they can tell, it’s part large‑scale board game, part role‑playing campaign, and intriguing as hell. So intriguing, in fact, that Cory starts bringing pieces of it to work just to read and obsess over while his wife sets things up at home.

But then the weirdness starts. Strange things begin happening around (and to) them as they play. It doesn’t take long before the world inside the game starts bleeding into the real one. And when it does, the book shifts from fun and fanciful to totally unhinged and fucked up.

Something got out that desperately wants back in… and something inside does not want it to.

I know I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but The Ship of Death honestly blew me away. I didn’t want to put it down, and the only reason I didn’t finish it in one sitting was because I had to work the next day and needed at least a little sleep. All the stars. All I wanted it to be and more. And I probably owe some of my love for this book to my husband who is an avid board gamer, D&D campaigner, and the reason I understood most of the gameplay unfolding on the page.

Go. Get it. Read it. Tell me I’m wrong.

The Flayed Man by Chloe Lauter

Was I sad that I got declined for a NetGalley copy of this book? Yes, totally.
Did that stop me from trying to get my hands on it the second it released? Absolutely not.

And did it take forever because none of the bookstores near me were carrying it and I had to stalk PangoBooks until someone finally listed a used copy? It sure did. But once I got my grubby little hands on it, I couldn’t wait to dive in.

Was it everything I thought it would be? Strangely … no.

It's not like the other vampire books I’ve been reading. Though, that’s kinda been the trend. Every vampire book I’ve picked up this year has brought something new and unique to the table. And honestly, good on all these authors for giving the classic genre a little shakey‑shakey, oven‑bakey by cooking up fresh additions to the canon.

By the way, did anyone else think Lauter’s vampires had a little too much werewolf energy? If they didn’t feed regularly, their bodies would morph and shift, and not in the growing vampy teeth way. It felt a bit like the vampire‑lycan hybrids from those Kate Beckinsale movies, and once I thought that, I couldn’t stop seeing it.

Was I totally blown away? No. But don’t get me wrong when I say that. I really enjoyed the book and practically inhaled it in a single day. Ellis and her mother (who’s dealing with early‑onset Alzheimer’s) have a compelling dynamic. The concept of a flayed man who will come and take them away if they don't behave was intriguing as well, but even with that, the vampiric lore and its broader backstory felt a little underdeveloped. And full disclosure... I wasn’t the biggest fan of Ellis’s romantic obsession with Veer. I thought the whole relationship felt forced and cringey. Maybe because I found Veer herself to be really cringey. Give me less “should I kiss her or should she kiss me” and more gore and chaos any day.

But there’s so much here to love. Even with my quibbles, it’s a fast, weird, bloody ride, and I’m glad I finally got to read it.

If you liked Night's Edge, you'll very likely dig this.

Crone by Keith Rosson

Keith Rosson has definitely found his audience with Coffin Moon, and as a long‑time fan of his work, it’s refreshing to see him continue that high‑stakes weirdness with Crone. From vampires to witches, he’s out here capturing and singlehandedly wrecking readers’ hearts, book after book.

Crone leans hard into grief fiction. Eli’s disabled teenage daughter, Hannah, disappears one night, and his entire world collapses. He spirals into wire... a crystal drug slipped under the nailbed that dissolves reality into a dreamlike haze... gets kicked off the police force, goes on a violent tear trying to track down whoever took his kid, and ends up deeply indebted to local dealer Trying Dave Novak. Truly Olympic‑level bad luck.

Thirteen years later, with no leads and nothing left but guilt, Eli runs into Hannah’s childhood friend Avery — the last person who saw her step into that blue van. Avery’s return brings a rival drug crew, old wounds, and fresh danger. And when one of Novak’s sons turns up gruesomely dead in the woods, Novak turns to Eli to solve the murder.

Meanwhile, the dead are clawing their way out of graves. Sightings of a pale woman with grey hair and massive wings are increasing. Bodies are piling up. And Eli starts to realize that every strange, witchy, torn‑up thing happening around him might be tied to Hannah’s disappearance all those years ago.

It’s a story about shame, loss, and revenge. Crone is slow to start, but once it kicks into gear, nothing stands between these characters and the reckoning coming for them. I’ll be honest, Coffin Moon hit harder for me, but Crone shows Rosson is absolutely onto something with this new lane he’s carving out. Weird, bleak, supernatural, and emotionally raw, he’s building a canon worth paying attention to.

The Man in the Watch Still Visits Me at Night by Joshua Chaplinsky

Oh man does this book really work your brain, especially if you're reading it in digital format. It's a haunted house (origin?) story that is told out of order across three main overlapping timelines. It starts off kind of chill as it sets everything up but whoa nelly when the weird stuff starts creeping in and everyone starts realizing that nothing is what it seems inside the Vogel House.

If you grew up in the 80's and 90's like I did, there really wasn't a whole heck of a lot of adult supervision and you were kind of left to your own devices when it came to keeping yourself occupied. On more than one occassion, my friends and I may have let ourselves in to new homes that were still mid-construction or homes and hotels that were decrepid and abandoned for a change of scenery. Never to vandalize or steal... just to hang. Reading this book brought those memories back full force and had me wondering, what if one of the places I snuck into decided not to allow us to sneak back out? What if I got stuck in there, in an endless fear-inducing loop of attempting to escape...

Joshua Chaplinsky's The Man in the Watch Still Visits Me at Night is what you would get if House of Leaves, Monster House, Backrooms, and Groundhogs Day all hooked up and had a freaky ass little baby. Unlike anything you've read before, but also so eerily familiar, and I'm not shamed to say that I enjoyed every second of it.

Strange New Moons Anthology

Man it's taken me a while to get to this one, and I'm not terribly ashamed to admit it would likely still be sitting in my TBR pile had my husband not wandered into my antilibrary, wanting to choose my next read for me, and randomly snatched it off one of the stacks.

This was a review copy that was sent to me back in 2024 (see how I'm telling on myself right now... see how far behind I get with arcs?). It's an anthology of wildly different werewolf stories - werewolves in space, a werewolf apocalypse, an alternate reality where once a month all females turn into 'bitches' and the men are trained to stay out of sight out of mind, kidnapped werewolves who are thrown into a concrete arena and made to fight to the death, you name it, it's in here.

For a 350 paged chunker, it reads fairly quickly. The stories are entertaining but not amazing. Fun but not fantastic. If you're looking for a quick, bloodsoaked read to get you closer to your end of year reading goal, you could do worse picking this one up.

The Unknown by Riley Sager

This was an ALC, and I nearly DNF’d it because of the narrator’s relentless talk‑whispering. She’d start a sentence at a normal volume and end it like she was confessing a secret in a church pew. I already have trouble hearing, so this audiobook had me feral.

The setup is solid but it took a while to pull me in. Five women shipped to a haunted island to “live” as the characters they’ll portray in a film, all of whom mysteriously disappeared a century ago. And wouldn’t you know it… history is determined to repeat itself.

The story spins its wheels for a while. Repetitive, slow, not quite gripping. But as we get closer to the end, we're hit with twist after twist and I was like, okay Riley, NOW we’re cooking, keep those coming.

When all was said and done?
Not horrible. Not great. A decent companion for a work commute.

But good lord, girl… please stop whisper‑speaking.

Rooted by Leopoldo Gout

Do all of Leopoldo’s books start painfully slow and then unleash all the chaos in the final act? Because at this point, Piñata and Rooted are making a very compelling case. It's good to lead with the weird... but not when it’s only in the prologue, which he seems to love to do.

And the prologue here is suuuuuch a tease. You rub your palms together thinking, okay, yaaaaas, this is gonna be good. And then the main timeline kicks in and you’re like… wait… is this the same book? When do we get back to the weird stuff? Soon? No? Oh, you’re going to make us wait a painfully long time, huh? Sigh.

In Rooted, we meet Aurora, returning home after many years away. She’s excited to see her mother again, and she’s coordinating the return of stolen ancient artifacts to her hometown museum. As with any homecoming story worth its weight, we know there’s a reason she left, even though the reason might not be clear yet... and now that she’s back, the memories and nightmares start rushing in, surfacing right as they unbox a creepy statue of Xipe Totec, The Flayed One, an old god who does not exactly bring comfort.

It’s another “that’s what you get for going home again” novel, this time filtered through Aztec mythology, Mexican folklore, a touch of body and eco horror, a generous scoop of mental instability, and a very… uhm… painful reconciliation? Or maybe it's more like a reckoning? Fuck it, it's kind of a bit of both.

When the ending finally brings the action, we remember the slow build up and the not‑quite‑horror vibe, so the book's imbalance kept this one from fully landing for me. Not bad enough to DNF, but not a book you'll see me raving about either. Which is shameful because hello, have you seen the cover? It's stunning.

The Sea Hides Its Dead by Megan Bontrager

Yeah... this was a no for me. I thought about DNFing it multiple times but I paid full price for it and wasn't allowing myself to just chuck it. But man I definitely should have. I had no idea it was going to be sooo long and painful and repetitive.

For those of you who haven't read it yet, it's basically a cosmic horror about a weird cave system that just suddenly appears out in the middle of the ocean one day. A professor of anthropology and his little side-piece research assistant immediately head out there with a small group of specialists to see what's what. Once they get there though, the front of the cave system collapses, locking them in, kickstarting a claustrophobic and torturous series of "tests" meant to appease the Leviathan that calls that place home.

I eyerolled. I sighed a lot. I counted the characters and realized Megan was going to keep us here for a while. Everytime I put it down, I was almost loathe to pick it back up.

And what's most disappointing... the first chapter contained two major no-fly-zone triggers for me - infidelity and an animal death. When the books goes all in right up front with both of those things, I mean... shame on me. I should have known better.

The writing was weird for me too and I had a hard time jiving with it. I don't know why, but I had a really hard time visualizing where they were and what was going on, even after going back and re-reading the descriptions. I felt like the author knew what she was writing but forgot that she needed to take the readers along and make it make sense for them.

I dunno. I see a lot of you loved it and I'm ok with being in the minority. It's a position I find myself in pretty frequently when reading the big five buzzy books...

Shrugs.

Glad it's behind me and that I can move on to the next.

The Eye of Goliath by Deigo Muzzio

First, thank you to Pushkin Press for their extreme patience with me. For whatever reason, the NetGalley PDF refused to transfer to my Kindle app, and I couldn’t get to it in the NetGalley app before it archived. After some failed troubleshooting, they kindly popped a print ARC in the mail and I’m so glad they did. This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and I’m happy to confirm it did not disappoint.

The Eye of Goliath unfolds in a sanatorium where David Bradley, a mute and mentally disturbed engineer, has been placed under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Pierce. Pierce, who considers himself miles ahead of his peers, favors hypnosis as a cure for mental afflictions rather than the trendy, torturous methods of electroshock therapy and terapanning.

Through conversations with Bradley’s guardian and by reading Bradley’s journal, Pierce learns that Bradley, a once normally functioning and rational man, was sent out to an abandoned lighthouse to assess its structural defects and report his findings back to the Northern Lighthouse Board... a straightforward assignment that quickly became anything but. Alone on the island, Bradley discovers the grave of the last lighthouse keeper, an accused murderer sent there as a compromise to his prison sentence. Soon after, Bradley begins hearing voices and distant music, complains of objects being moved from where he last left them, and feels watched by a black albatross that begins circling the lighthouse.

What follows is a dark, atmospheric descent into isolation, trauma, and the lingering psychic wounds of WWI. It’s gothic, yes, but also deeply nautical and internationally horroresque, steeped in salt, shadow, and the eventual lose of one’s grip on reality.

It’s a slim novel that reads quickly, but it lingers. The mood, the dread, the ache of not being understood — all of it stays with you long after you’ve closed the final page.

For fans of books like The Autodidacts by Thomas Kendall, The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex, The Tower of Love by Rachilde....

Going to Summertime by Kaaron Warren

I love Meerkat Press to the moon and back and genuinely enjoy almost everything they publish. But every once in a while, a book just doesn’t click for me and despite my high hopes, Going to Summertime fell flat.

The premise sounds absolutely fantastic. A salon owner and her three hairstylists sign up for a team‑building exercise. Instead of doing something fun like an escape room, they sign up for a game of breaking and entering into a cluster of abandoned homes in a strangely cut‑off cul‑de‑sac. Each participant signs a waiver, enters the development alone, is assigned a different house, and whoever emerges first with a unique token or treasure wins.

From what I can tell, the only real prize is a major mind fuck of an experience, because nothing in Summerland Place is what it seems. And once they return to their Red Mullet Salon lives, each woman finds herself unexpectedly haunted by what happened there.

On paper, it sounds pretty badass and by all rights, it should have been. But Kaaron’s style of storytelling is both weirdly simple and extremely complicated, and it didn’t work for me. The writing was distracting, the characters felt underdeveloped, and I spent most of the book confused rather than intrigued.

It clocks in at just under 100 pages, so it’s a quick read. And honestly… thank god for that.