The Devil Takes You Home

Gabino Iglesias hasn’t released a novel since 2018’s Barrio noir, Coyote Songs. This August, this Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Locus award-nominated author will once again drag you through a horrific nightmare of grief, loss, and desperation. One thing you can count on when reading anything by Iglesias you are in for a weird, wild, and strangely violent ride. I found myself reading this book at odd times and in unusual places just to get in one more page. 

Be advised, he unapologetically sprinkles Spanish throughout the novel. It flows like the blood gushing through and out of this tortured tale of a man agonizing the loss of everything he loved—his daughter and wife, and what little life he managed to piece together in a country that dangles its promises in front of far too many—just out of reach. The Devil Takes You Home is as much a horror as it is a crime novel, but it is also a human story. It is a brutal account of a near-impossible heist. It starts with the horror of a happy family losing a child to cancer—a loss that should not have happened and wouldn’t have if life was fair. 

You don’t know horror until you’ve spent a few hours inside a hospital looking at the fitful sleep of a loved one who is being taken from you. You don’t know desperation until the uselessness of praying hits you.

Cancer is just the beginning. It gets darker. Much.

The protagonist, Mario, is a rich and complicated character. Along for the ride is his junky, friend Brian and a cartel man, Juanca. Mario is willing to go any length to hang onto what little piece of hope he can. As his story unravels, it begs the question, how bad can you be and still be good? How much can you witness? How much can you force yourself to do before you lose what makes you human?

Someone needs to give Iglesias duffel bags full of money so he can write full time and bleed more stories. Let him conjure up more “magic” to transport us to a dangerous world between worlds where magic, blood, and hope live. My hope is he won’t make us wait four more years for his next novel.

The release date for this one is August 2nd, 2022. That date coincidently is the release of Don’t Fear the Reaper. The sequel to Stephen Graham Jones's My Heart Is A Chainsaw. Pre-order both of them NOW from your favorite independent bookstore.

Thank you to the publisher, Mulholland Books, and NetGalley for the review copy. And an added thanks to Gabino Iglesias for keeping me up late and scaring the shit out of me. Again.

Come October, this Writer becomes an Author

 I can only share a little. That's the way of the publishing world. I have an announcement.

My work has finally found a home. I have a piece of flash fiction (a short, short story) that a literary journal will publish in October. More details as I can share. 

What I can share is that I will have achieved one of my biggest goals this year—a dream, to be sure. Since 2019, when I started writing much more seriously, I hired a writing coach, Max Gorlov from across the pond, I have taken several classes to strengthen my writing skills, and I have been in a constant cycle of submissions and rejections—short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. Max helped me see through quite a few errors and problems that I had with my novel—a work of 13 years. I was over 85,000 words in when I hired him to help me write my first novel. I think that the hardest part was to have to ditch that first, uncompleted draft and rework it. I should break 100,000 words in the rewrite within the month and finish this year for certain. I was a 'pantser' with no structure or plan. A 'pantser' is someone who writes from the seat of his pants. The alternative would be to be a 'plotter.' That is someone who outlines and methodically maps out where almost everything goes. While I live my life so much more like a 'pantser,' I have come to the realization that I NEED to be a 'plantser.' That will satisfy my nature and the reality of life. 

I have many people to thank for their support and inspiration as I transition into retirement to add this skill/art to my repertoire. They don't let you add an acknowledgment section in a literary journal for a piece of flash fiction. Of course, I owe almost everything to my wife, Linda​, for her support, love, and belief in me and my dream. My daughter, Lian, has also been there for me. They have both been beta readers, critics, and cheerleaders. I would not have made it this far without them. My lifelong friends, Ray​ and Skip​, the horror/writing community on social media (Jonathan Maberry, Gabino Iglesias, Cina Pelayo, Stephen Graham Jones,  Cat Cavendish, Victor LaValle, and so many others) who have been more than generous. My mother, Jean, for an undying love that ALWAYS supported me and kept me on my path. And that guy in the CBS Sunday Morning story that I posted below, our Uncle Stevie. He has thrown more scares into me and shared so much on the art of writing that it would be a horror not to mention him.

Most Anticipated Reads of 2021

I had Cynthia Pelayo’s CHILDREN OF CHICAGO as one of my most eagerly anticipated books. Lucky me, I got my hands on an ARC from NetGalley and Polis Books. I wrote a non-spoiler review last month. It is no longer on my TBR pile, but it should be on yours. 

I have heard nothing but good things about C. J. Tudor. Sadly, I have yet to read anything that she has written. That will change this year with THE BURNING GIRLS—already out January 19, 2021. It is another non-horror on my list. This crime story is a psychological thriller and set in one of those closely-knit British villages where something isn’t quite right. Throw in some missing girls, a sketchy parish priest, and a centuries-old site of executions for religious martyrs, and I am certainly in. I have a feeling that I will be going back and pick up more of her books soon. 

What can be better than an exhilarating spy thriller written by an intelligence veteran? One that was written by Alma Katsu—a real spy writing real spy thrillers with real women. RED WIDOW is coming out on March 23. I’m also looking forward to reading THE DEEP and THE HUNGER.

After THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS, I’m not sure my heart can take MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW by Stephen Graham Jones (8/31/2021, Gallery/Saga Press). In this one, we are “trapped in a slasher film as tourists go missing.” I live in Florida, and while we do make a lot of our living off of tourists, a few going missing… See? He is already making me think dark thoughts. Jones loves slashers, so this should be quite a ripping thrill-ride of a read. And if you want a fun romp into some strange territory, pick up NIGHT OF THE MANNEQUINS. I also picked up a copy of MAPPING THE INTERIOR, so he should keep me pretty busy this year. And knowing him, he'll have another half dozen coming my way soon, too. 

RELENTLESS is the second in the new Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Griffin). I plan on dropping everything for this one. I need answers. I need adrenaline-pumping, page-turning excitement. I need someone’s head on a spike. If you like thrillers, sci-fi, tech, horror, and crime on a scale way beyond my imagination, go to your favorite indy bookstore and start at the beginning—NOW. If I were you, I'd also give the Ledger series additional attention in the form of audiobooks. Ray Porter adds an incredible level of reality to the stories. An excellent place to get your book is from Mysterious Galaxy. It’s one of Maberry’s haunts, and if you order from there, you might even be able to get a personalized copy. The man is a writing machine, but don’t let that scare you off. All of his books are imaginative, creative, and superbly crafted. I am also very excited for his upcoming dark epic fantasy, KAGEN THE DAMNED. I am currently reading INK. You must read that one as well.

V. Castro has a couple coming out this year. I cannot wait to get my hands on THE QUEEN OF THE CICADAS (06/22/2021) from Flame Tree Press. An urban legend and the Aztec goddess of death is enough to hook me. And speaking of goddesses, she has the GODDESS OF FILTH coming out in March of this year. It is a novella about 5 Chicanas, possession, and power.

Just in time for your summer read is another twisted tale out of Texas from Joe R. Lansdale. MOON LAKE is a stand-alone novel that is sure to deliver on anyone’s love of murder, mayhem, and some freaky, off-kilter humor that might leave you feeling a little guilty for laughing. Out from Mulholland Books June 22, 2021. 

I have been looking forward to the new DUNE movie that keeps getting pushed back—another victim of COVID. I thought that I would reread the first trilogy. Instead, I believe Kerstin Hall’s STAR EATER (06/22/2021, Tor/Forge) will be out soon enough and should give me all the space opera and political intrigue that I got from Frank Herbert all those years ago.

A few other notable releases this year: 

DUST AND GRIM by Chuck Wendig is on my radar for an October read. And I’d like to pick up DEATH & HONEY from Subterranean Press but the one that I could afford is sold out. That one has two additional stories—one each from Kevin Hearne and Lilah Bowen (Delilah Dawson). I still NEED to get the rest of Dawson’s SHADOW series. WAKE OF VULTURES was a fast-paced, albeit weird, horror/western that had me hooked from the start. 

I also have the first three books of John Scalzi’s THE INTERDEPENDENCY waiting patiently for me in my TBR. 

THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP by Grady Hendrix (7/13/2021) Hendryx seems to have a way with women. This should be a good one. I also have HORRORSTÖR in my TBR pile. Both will be making their way to the silver screen. 

CERTAIN DARK THINGS by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (9/2/2021, Tor Nightfire) I plan on giving her one more try. She had received rave reviews for MEXICAN GOTHIC, and while I found it entertaining enough, it did not blow me away. Hopefully, this one does. 

Some that I missed from last year that I will be squeezing in are:

RING SHOUT P. Dejeli Clark

THE WORM AND HIS KINGS by Hailey Piper

TOUCH THE NIGHT by Max Booth III

SURVIVOR SONG by Paul Tremblay

THE TOLL by Cherie Priest

HIGHWAY 181 by D.S. Ullery

BROKEN by Don Winslow

STRANGE WEATHER by Joe Hill has been gathering dust on my nightstand. And that is a horror in and of itself. That will be rectified. And FULL THROTTLE. I have too many by Daddy King on the TBR: THE OUTSIDER, ELEVATION, IF IT BLEEDS, and THE INSTITUTE. 

And then there are rumors. Victor LaValle has been working on a new one. LONE WOMEN has a pub date in 2021, but I haven’t seen an actual date—yet. He has it pinned on his Twitter feed (@victorlavalle,) so I remain hopeful. I. CAN. BE. PATIENT. as I loved, loved, loved THE CHANGELING (2017, Spiegel & Grau).  

And Gabino Iglesias supposedly has a new one coming soon. He has been stingy with the details, but you can be sure that you will hear about it once he does have news he can share. If you are not familiar with his latest work, COYOTE SONGS, I highly recommend that you head out today—right now—and get a copy. This one is sure to rip you open with a machete and haunt you for some time to come.

There are more, of course. There are always new writers coming on the scene as well as new-to-me writers. What and who do you recommend?

Coyote Songs – Gabino Iglesias

It has been said that Iglesias’s words cut like a knife. To some, maybe, but only to those who refuse to open their eyes and minds to what he is trying to reveal. Yes, he has carved away the unnecessary words leaving a brutal reality that few in this country know to exist. Like his words on the page, his stories explore worlds and long-held beliefs that are a reality for many.

I went into this book only knowing that it was Barrio Noir, and I wasn’t sure what that was. I had no idea that I would be getting multiple stories tethered to one another by sinew, blood, and magic, so I felt a bit lost when the first chapter ended. I wanted to know more about Pedrito and his father and hear more about the monstrous fish they were hunting. I found several Aligator Gar carcasses on the shores of the St. Johns as a kid growing up. I imagine that they are the most monstrous fish swimming in those waters. They are armored with a most formidable suit of preservation. So tough that the original peoples of this land used them as arrow points. You might need both if you dare read this in the dark of night. But, I digress. I did get more story, and then some. These stories will get under your skin and haunt your dreams. They should also haunt your reality because they are as old and as new as it gets in this country.

** UPDATE **
While reading Coyote Songs, I have had to keep my Irish mojo with me to hold all the vengeful spirits at bay from la Frontera.