Editorial Content for The Haunting of Paynes Hollow
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Kelley Armstrong is an expert at creating horror stories: monstrous creatures, lots of violence, and often gore. In THE HAUNTING OF PAYNES HOLLOW, she showcases her ability to write a gripping story with a combination of strong main characters and a setting so clearly described that it almost becomes a character of its own. This desolate beach and forest on the edge of Lake Ontario are slightly reminiscent of her horror novel, HEMLOCK ISLAND, because of the lakeside setting. However, in this book, Samantha Payne stays out of the water. Read More
Teaser
When Samantha Payne’s grandfather dies, she figures she won’t even get a mention in the will. After all, she hasn’t seen him in 14 years, not since her father took his own life after being accused of murdering a child at their lakefront cottage. Her grandfather always insisted that her father was innocent, despite Sam having caught him burying the child’s body. But when she does attend the reading of the will at the behest of her aunt, she discovers that her grandfather left her the very valuable lakefront property where the family cottage sits. There’s one catch: Sam needs to stay in the cottage for a month. To finally face the fact that she was wrong and her father was innocent, in her grandfather's words. When her aunt goes missing a couple of days into their stay, Sam begins to question everything again.
Promo
When Samantha Payne’s grandfather dies, she figures she won’t even get a mention in the will. After all, she hasn’t seen him in 14 years, not since her father took his own life after being accused of murdering a child at their lakefront cottage. Her grandfather always insisted that her father was innocent, despite Sam having caught him burying the child’s body. But when she does attend the reading of the will at the behest of her aunt, she discovers that her grandfather left her the very valuable lakefront property where the family cottage sits. There’s one catch: Sam needs to stay in the cottage for a month. To finally face the fact that she was wrong and her father was innocent, in her grandfather's words. When her aunt goes missing a couple of days into their stay, Sam begins to question everything again.
About the Book
From New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a nail-biting supernatural horror about a haunted lakeside property and twisted family secrets.
When Samantha Payne’s grandfather dies, she figures she won’t even get a mention in the will. After all, she hasn’t seen him in 14 years, not since her father took his own life after being accused of murdering a child at their lakefront cottage. Her grandfather always insisted that her father was innocent, despite Sam having caught him burying the child’s body, his clothing streaked with blood.
But when she does attend the reading of the will at the behest of her aunt, she discovers that her grandfather left her the very valuable lakefront property where the family cottage sits. There’s one catch: Sam needs to stay in the cottage for a month. To finally face the fact that she was wrong and her father was innocent, in her grandfather's words.
Traveling to Paynes Hollow, Sam is faced with the realities of her childhood and the secrets kept hidden in the shadows of her memories. When her aunt goes missing a couple days into their stay, Sam begins to question everything again. Plagued by nightmares and paranoia, she begins hearing sounds in the forest and seeing shapes crawling from the water as the rippling waves of the lake promise something unspeakably dark lurking just below their surface.
Audiobook available, read by EJ Lavery
Editorial Content for What Stalks the Deep
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In this third installment of the Sworn Soldier series, nonbinary retired soldier Alex Easton reluctantly travels from Europe to the United States with their companion, Angus, to help out their old friend, Dr. Denton, who is experiencing a problem with potential supernatural implications in West Virginia. Read More
Teaser
Alex Easton does not want to visit America. They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted. But when their old friend, Dr. Denton, summons them to help find his lost cousin --- who went missing in that very mine --- well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do.
Promo
Alex Easton does not want to visit America. They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted. But when their old friend, Dr. Denton, summons them to help find his lost cousin --- who went missing in that very mine --- well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do.
About the Book
The next installment in the New York Times bestselling Sworn Soldier series, featuring Alex Easton investigating the dark, mysterious depths of a coal mine in America.
Alex Easton does not want to visit America.
They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.
But when their old friend, Dr. Denton, summons them to help find his lost cousin --- who went missing in that very mine --- well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do.
Audiobook available, read by Avi Roque
Editorial Content for The Unveiling
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
There are survival stories, and then there are stories about survival. One has characters overcoming a challenging situation or dire circumstance. In the other, characters continue to live, if not thrive, despite the structural or essential conditions they are up against. At first glimpse, Quan Barry’s THE UNVEILING is a survival story in both of those senses. But, as the reader journeys farther on with the protagonist, the more complex things become and the more fraught and perilous both types of survival seem to be. Read More
Teaser
Striker isn’t entirely sure she should be on this luxury Antarctic cruise. A Black film scout, her mission is to photograph potential locations for a big-budget movie about Ernest Shackleton’s doomed expedition. Along the way, she finds amusement in the behavior of both the native wildlife and the group of wealthy, mostly white tourists who have chosen to spend Christmas on the Weddell Sea. But when a kayaking excursion goes horribly wrong, Striker and a group of survivors become stranded on a remote island along the Antarctic Peninsula, a desolate setting complete with boiling geothermal vents and vicious birds. As the polar ice thaws in the unseasonable warmth, the group’s secrets, prejudices and inner demons will also emerge, including revelations from Striker’s past that could irrevocably shatter her world.
Promo
Striker isn’t entirely sure she should be on this luxury Antarctic cruise. A Black film scout, her mission is to photograph potential locations for a big-budget movie about Ernest Shackleton’s doomed expedition. Along the way, she finds amusement in the behavior of both the native wildlife and the group of wealthy, mostly white tourists who have chosen to spend Christmas on the Weddell Sea. But when a kayaking excursion goes horribly wrong, Striker and a group of survivors become stranded on a remote island along the Antarctic Peninsula, a desolate setting complete with boiling geothermal vents and vicious birds. As the polar ice thaws in the unseasonable warmth, the group’s secrets, prejudices and inner demons will also emerge, including revelations from Striker’s past that could irrevocably shatter her world.
About the Book
From the award-winning author of WE RIDE UPON STICKS and WHEN I'M GONE, LOOK FOR ME IN THE EAST, a genre-bending novel of literary horror set in Antarctica that explores abandonment, guilt and survival in the shadow of America’s racial legacy.
Striker isn’t entirely sure she should be on this luxury Antarctic cruise. A Black film scout, her mission is to photograph potential locations for a big-budget movie about Ernest Shackleton’s doomed expedition. Along the way, she finds amusement in the behavior of both the native wildlife and the group of wealthy, mostly white tourists who have chosen to spend Christmas on the Weddell Sea.
But when a kayaking excursion goes horribly wrong, Striker and a group of survivors become stranded on a remote island along the Antarctic Peninsula, a desolate setting complete with boiling geothermal vents and vicious birds. Soon the hostile environment will show each survivor their true face, and as the polar ice thaws in the unseasonable warmth, the group’s secrets, prejudices and inner demons will also emerge, including revelations from Striker’s past that could irrevocably shatter her world.
With her signature lyricism and humor, Quan Barry offers neither comfort nor closure as she questions the limits of the human bonds that connect us to one another, affirming there are no such things as haunted places, only haunted people. Gripping, lucid and imaginative, THE UNVEILING is an astonishing ghost story about the masks we wear and the truths we hide even from ourselves.
Audiobook available, read by Janina Edwards
Editorial Content for Pick a Color
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
If you've ever wondered if the service professionals for whom English is not their first language are talking about you, they probably are. Or at least that's the case if PICK A COLOR, Souvankham Thammavongsa's debut novel set on a single day in a nail salon, is to be believed. Read More
Teaser
Ning is a retired boxer, but to the customers who visit her nail salon, she is just another worker named Susan. However, beneath this superficial veneer, Ning is a woman of rigorous intellect and profound complexity. A woman enthralled by the intricacy and rhythms of her work, but also haunted by memories of paths not taken and opportunities lost. A woman navigating the complex power dynamics among her fellow Susans, whose greatest fears and desires lie just behind the gossip they exchange. As the day's work grinds on, the friction between Ning's two identities --- as anonymous manicurist and brilliant observer of her own circumstances --- will gather electric and crackling force, and at last demand a reckoning with the way the world of privilege looks at a woman like Ning.
Promo
Ning is a retired boxer, but to the customers who visit her nail salon, she is just another worker named Susan. However, beneath this superficial veneer, Ning is a woman of rigorous intellect and profound complexity. A woman enthralled by the intricacy and rhythms of her work, but also haunted by memories of paths not taken and opportunities lost. A woman navigating the complex power dynamics among her fellow Susans, whose greatest fears and desires lie just behind the gossip they exchange. As the day's work grinds on, the friction between Ning's two identities --- as anonymous manicurist and brilliant observer of her own circumstances --- will gather electric and crackling force, and at last demand a reckoning with the way the world of privilege looks at a woman like Ning.
About the Book
From Giller Prize and O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa comes a revelatory novel about loneliness, love, labor and class, an intimate and sharply written book following a nail salon owner as she toils away for the privileged clients who don't even know her true name.
“I live in a world of Susans. I got name tags for everyone who works at this nail salon, and on every one is printed the name 'Susan.'"
Ning is a retired boxer, but to the customers who visit her nail salon, she is just another worker named Susan. On this summer's day, much like any other, the Susans buff and clip and polish and tweeze. They listen and smile and nod. But beneath this superficial veneer, Ning is a woman of rigorous intellect and profound complexity. A woman enthralled by the intricacy and rhythms of her work, but also haunted by memories of paths not taken and opportunities lost. A woman navigating the complex power dynamics among her fellow Susans, whose greatest fears and desires lie just behind the gossip they exchange.
As the day's work grinds on, the friction between Ning's two identities --- as anonymous manicurist and brilliant observer of her own circumstances --- will gather electric and crackling force, and at last demand a reckoning with the way the world of privilege looks at a woman like Ning.
Told over a single day with razor-sharp precision and wit, PICK A COLOR confirms Souvankham Thammavongsa's place as literature's premier chronicler of the immigrant experience, in its myriad, complex and slyly subversive forms.
Audiobook available, read by Zoe Doyle
Editorial Content for Alias O. Henry
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
When life gives you lemons, as the saying goes, make lemonade.
Ben Yagoda’s lemon was that he wanted to write a biography about O. Henry. Upon learning that a great one had been done already, his lemonade was converting his project into historical fiction. Read More
Teaser
O. Henry, born William Sidney Porter, arrived in New York City fresh from the Ohio Penitentiary, where he had served three-and-a-half years for embezzlement. The American magazine had just reached its pinnacle as an enterprise, and the short story was the most popular medium in entertainment. Porter was in the city to write. From his cell, he already had sold a number of stories to big magazines, and within five years of arriving in Manhattan, he would become the most successful fiction writer in the country. But he never --- never --- said anything about his prison experience, or, indeed, anything about his past life. Anything true, that is. In life as well as on the page, Porter was a yarn-spinner of the highest order. In this twisting tale, Ben Yagoda uses the novelist’s art to get at the truth that lay behind Porter’s reticence, and in doing so, he presents an iridescent portrait of New York at the time.
Promo
O. Henry, born William Sidney Porter, arrived in New York City fresh from the Ohio Penitentiary, where he had served three-and-a-half years for embezzlement. The American magazine had just reached its pinnacle as an enterprise, and the short story was the most popular medium in entertainment. Porter was in the city to write. From his cell, he already had sold a number of stories to big magazines, and within five years of arriving in Manhattan, he would become the most successful fiction writer in the country. But he never --- never --- said anything about his prison experience, or, indeed, anything about his past life. Anything true, that is. In life as well as on the page, Porter was a yarn-spinner of the highest order. In this twisting tale, Ben Yagoda uses the novelist’s art to get at the truth that lay behind Porter’s reticence, and in doing so, he presents an iridescent portrait of New York at the time.
About the Book
O. Henry, born William Sidney Porter, arrived in New York City fresh from the Ohio Penitentiary, where he had served three-and-a-half years for embezzlement. It was the dawn of the 20th century, a time of remarkable change when the city’s physical presence was being altered by new skyscrapers and subways, and its character by waves of immigrants. The American magazine had just reached its pinnacle as an enterprise, and the short story was the most popular medium in entertainment.
Porter was in the city to write. From his cell, he had already sold a number of stories to big magazines, and within five years of arriving in Manhattan, he would become the most successful fiction writer in the country. But he never --- never --- said anything about his prison experience, or, indeed, anything about his past life. Anything true, that is. In life as well as on the page, Porter was a yarn-spinner of the highest order.
In this twisting tale, Ben Yagoda uses the novelist’s art to get at the truth that lay behind Porter’s reticence, and in doing so, he presents an iridescent portrait of New York at the time. As Porter makes the city his home, he becomes embroiled in a blackmail scheme, and as he attempts to extricate himself, we meet newspapermen and grifters, street urchins, train robbers, detectives, shopgirls and prostitutes. Yagoda cleverly hints at the origins of some of Porter’s best-known stories and allows other legends of the time, such as law man Bat Masterson, Mark Twain, Irving Berlin, George Bellows and Thomas Edison, to flit, often unremarked, across the pages of this deeply researched work of historical fiction.
Which of the following titles releasing in paperback in October have you read or do you plan to read? Please check all that apply.
October 17, 2025, 400 voters
October 17, 2025
Last Saturday was such a fabulous day at the Morristown Festival of Books, despite the rain that rolled in during the afternoon. It was wonderful to see so many readers gathered to hear about and talk about books. During one panel, I asked how many in the audience were in book groups, and I think two-thirds of the attendees raised their hands. Yes, there were many compadre readers to chat with, so even if you were there alone, the conversation was brisk --- and fun.







