Mexican Gothic has a cover reveal and sample chapter over at Entertainment Weekly. In brief: A 1950s socialite journeys to an isolated mansion in the Mexican countryside to figure out what happened to her cousin. Spookiness ensues. Pre-order now, out summer 2020.
Best SFF of the Year
The second instalment of my column with Lavie Tidhar at The Washington Post is online now. We talk about the best science fiction and fantasy of the year.
Two things, first of all, we wanted this column to sound like two friends chatting, which we are. Second, I feel like ‘Best of’ lists are always a bit deceptive and tend to go with the same names and titles. So rather than focus on the big hitters — we all know Atwood is going to pop up everywhere — we decided to talk about more obscure books. And odd books! Among the titles I picked was Ha Seong-nan’s Flowers of Mold, which at times feel very Shirley Jackson but is not outright ‘horror’ in any way, it’s much more simmering Weird if anything, such as in the case of the story “The Woman Next Door” where a new tenant might be driving a housewife insane. Or maybe there’s nothing wrong. Other stories are plain realist dramas with no element of the Weird, but I still highly recommend buying this (I tend to not mind when the ‘literary’ touches my ‘speculative’ but hey, that’s me). And you’ll find more of my recs in the column.
Anyway, what are ‘Best’ of lists good for anyway if not intriguing you or chatting with your friends? And that’s our overall ethos in these columns. To talk and have fun.
In conclusion… buy my books!