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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Horror
Crypt of the Moon Spider, by Nathan Ballingrud
Book 16 for my 2025 goal of 30 books for the year! The year is 1923. Veronica Brinkley is landing on the moon to get psychiatric treatment at the Barrowfield Home for the Treatment of the Melancholy. You didn’t read … Continue reading
Rise of the Zombie Bugs, by Mindy Weisberger
Book 15 for my 2025 goal of 30 books for the year! Had a significant hiatus of reading due to life stresses, but still ahead on my goal. Zombies are everywhere in fiction these days, from The Last of Us … Continue reading
My “Why I Love Horror” story!
The other day, I happened to see that my social media friend and super talented horror author Brian Keene is a contributor to a book of essays called Why I Love Horror, coming in September of this year. The book … Continue reading
The Last Night to Kill Nazis, by David Agranoff
Book 12 for my 2025 goal of 30 books for the year! With everything going on in the world lately, I needed to read something cathartic, and when I was at the bookstore David Agranoff’s 2023 horror novel The Last … Continue reading
A Light Most Hateful, by Hailey Piper
Book 8 for my 2025 goal of 30 books for the year! Continuing my current habit of flipping between a horror book and a sci-fi book. One of the best things about social media, amongst many, many downsides, is getting … Continue reading
I Believe in Mister Bones, by Max Booth III
Book 6 for my 2025 goal of 30 books for the year! I’m off to an absurdly good start. Sometimes it takes something very simple to draw me to read a book. In the case of I Believe in Mister … Continue reading
Latest Dead Reckonings is out!
Hi folks! For those who are familiar, I occasionally write book reviews for the horror and weird periodical Dead Reckonings, and the most recent issue is out! I wrote about Laird Barron’s recent collection of horror fiction, a return to … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Personal
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The Night of the Ripper, by Robert Bloch
Book 4 for 2025! My goal is 30 this year. My friends at Valancourt Books have recently been reprinting the works of horror master Robert Bloch, most famous for penning Psycho (1959) but also an award winning author of many … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Mystery/thriller
Tagged book review, Fiction, History, Horror, review
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Bury Your Gays, by Chuck Tingle
Book 1 of 30 for 2025! I’m off to a great start with a great book. Back in 2023 I read Chuck Tingle’s debut horror novel Camp Damascus and absolutely loved it. Tingle followed up not long after with Bury … Continue reading
The Citadel of Fear, by Francis Stevens
Book 19 of 26 books for 2024! Can I reach 22 before year’s end? I definitely underestimated Francis Stevens on this one. Stevens was the pseudonym of Gertrude Barrows Bennett (1884-1948), an author of fiction that now tends to fall under … Continue reading
Skulls in the Stars 