Author: Justin Bowers

Justin is a purveyor of fine code, a collector of many many things, and a sympathetic reader. Aside from here, you can find his inane rantings on Bluesky at @aquaphase.23rdlegion.com or on Goodreads. Justin can be reached here.

The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula

Posted on January 8, 2026 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

I’m always fascinated to pick up an author’s first novel. Of course, I applaud any individual who undertakes the huge undertaking of creating a world(s) and then nakedly sharing it with people who can, quite honestly, be rather nasty.

When I read the blurb for Ms. Mandula’s The Geomagician I knew that I had to give this book a chance. Stated quite basically, Ms. Mandula has created a Victorian world where science (Paleontology, specifically) and magic intersect. The primary character, Mary Anning, is a Geomagician: a Paleontologist who is able to use fossils to wield magic, and, in Mary’s case, use magic to help find extraordinary fossil specimens.

Mary so desires to be a member of the Geomagical Society of London, but, as was oft in that era, they do not allow women to be members.

Then Mary discovers an ancient egg that hatches into a very live pterodactyl and everything changes.

That is just about all I’m directly going to say about the plot to this lovely novel. For this book, in particular, the less known helps progress the story better. I will, however, say a couple of things about the themes in this that Ms. Mandula expertly conveyed.

The most obvious of the themes The Geomancer is the rights of women. It is a very strong theme in this book, and weaves throughout all of the various plot lines with a wide variety of facets: both social and economical.

The second most important theme in The Geomancer is the division of wealth: the haves versus the have nots. Again, this is presented from several different directions and really highlights the social divide in the world that Ms. Mandula created.

The worldbuilding itself was pretty fantastic. Be it the urban and academic bustle, or the semi-idyllic coastline town where Mary grew up, readers get a feel of all of the sounds, smells, and textures of the settings.

OK, now for the kicker. After reading this book and starting on the afterword, I was shocked to discover that Mary Anning was a real person, and a respected scholar of Paleontology. Yeah, that really kicked me in the teeth.

So, kudos to Ms. Mandula for writing a quite delightful read, and congratulations on your first novel. The Geomagician is a very fun read that engages completely.

Please note: The Geomagician doesn’t publish until the end of March 2026, so be proactive and put it on your TBR list today. Hell, you should probably pre-order it as well.

Empire of the Dawn (Empire of the Vampire #3) by Jay Kristoff

Posted on November 25, 2025 by - Book Review

So this is it. The end of the saga of Gabriel de León and Dior Lachance. This series has had be utterly captivated for the past four years, and I just knew that the conclusion was going to smack me in the face. What I wasn’t expecting, however, was how damn hard it hit me in the feels.

If you’ve read the previous two books, and don’t you dare read this one if you haven’t, you know how much pain and suffering that Gabe has gone through in this incredible saga even before starting out on the quest to end Daysdeath. He’s lost his family, his order, and, very often, his confidence. Shit thing after shit thing happens to Gabriel, and he is forced to just keep dealing with it.

Empire of the Dawn is no different. Well, it’s slightly different in that Mister Kristoff amps the pain and suffering up to about twenty, and drags a whole slew of other folks into the maelstrom of hurt.

So many shocking things happen back-to-back-to-back that I often found myself shaking my head in sympathetic dismay whilst churning through this hefty tome.

To say that this saga, especially this novel, is the best that Mister Kristoff has ever written is an understatement. Empire of the Dawn is an absolute masterpiece and winds this story around and around is such a perfect way. You do not see the conclusion coming until you are right in the thick of it, and that takes a lot of doing. Oh how I want to talk about the end of this thing, but there is no way in hell I would spoil this for anyone. I’m not even going to discuss it online with other folks who might have finished it out of fear of potentially providing spoilers to some poor innocent who might stumble across them. It’s that damn good. This is one I will only talk about face-to-face.

I heap a lot of praise on authors (deservedly), and their works, but a new bar has been set. Books one and two were already an incredible roller-coaster ride, but Empire of the Dawn really grabs you by the throat and flings you off the cliff.

I think I’ll go back and read that conclusion again.

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones

Posted on November 24, 2025 by - Book Review

So I get this email from a rep at Tor saying “Hey, we are about to release this novella from an author you like, and we’d really like you to give it a read.” Seeing that it was Dr. Jones, I knew it would be a bit twisty, and very enjoyable.

What the hell did I just read?

Sawyer and his four friends have spent their entire childhood making pranks and trying to pull off stunts. Their silent partner in crime was a department store mannequin that they found in a creek. They’d dress it up, post it random places, and try to get reactions from the people around them.

Now, in the Summer right before their senior year of high school, and with one friend Shanna forced to work at a movie theater to pay for the damage done to her yard by one of the gang’s failed stunts, the abbreviated gang decides to pull the ultimate prank on Shanna.

Attending this year’s Summer blockbuster, they smuggle the mannequin into the theater and buy it a ticket for the prime seat. When the prank doesn’t go as planned, Sawyer is horrified to see the mannequin get up and walk out of the theater at the conclusion of the movie.

When Shanna and her family are killed by a runaway Mack truck that runs through their house late at night, Sawyer is convinced that it is “Manny,” and it must be stopped.

This novella had some very interesting themes to me. I could not ignore the unfolding of mental illness as Sawyer tries to logic out “the math,” and the actions he feels adamant about undertaking to stop Manny. Next was the very strong feelings of “the loss of innocence” as these young people are faced with mounting maturity and mortality. Naturally there is a fair amount of escapism as each of the friends deal with the situations that are unfolding around them.

I have noted from his previous writings that Dr. Jones is quite adept at getting the reader in the mind of his characters, and he does so masterfully with Sawyer. When things start to slide, I really had to question where the tipping point might be until finally realizing that it was far behind us.

Night of the Mannequins is a quick read, and something very different from typical slasher fare. I highly recommend it. Oh, did I mention it has won both the Bram Stoker Award and the Shirley Jackson Award? Yeah, it’s that good.

The Harvest by Ryan Hyatt

Posted on November 20, 2025 by - Book Review

The future is now! Denizens of near future Los Angeles now have automations and robots helping with all aspects of public life. So, when Dr. Deidra Cranston steps into to her fully automated Hum Around ride, mind heavy with questions of the future, she doesn’t think twice about seeing where she was actually going. Needless to say, this ride would be life-changing.

That’s all I’m going to give you as a plot synopsis.

Once again, Mr. Hyatt has executed a delightful piece of short fiction with deft aplomb. While this probably doesn’t fall into his Terrafide series, it seems like it could shoehorn in quite nicely. What we have here is some near-future semi-dystopia (aren’t we there yet already?), a little science fiction, and a touch of horror. All wrapped up neatly in eighteen pages that never pauses.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m a big fan of short fiction. Sometimes you just need a complete thought that you can start and finish while your oil is getting changed.

Short fiction can be tricky, though. An author needs to keep the reader engaged in a sprint, that also has to be fully formed. The way Mr. Hyatt intertwines potential perilous mystery in with a mix of mundane and spicy domestic matters really pulls it all together. Anyone of us could be Dr. Cranston.

Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman

Posted on November 14, 2025 by - Book Review

Mr. Chapman abhors normalcy, and this is a very very good thing. Over the past few years he’s managed make me terrified of crabs, be very wary of mushrooms, and have some serious PTSD from the Satanic Panic insanity.

What he does in Shiny Happy People appears to be, on the surface, just a classic take on the horror/sci-fi trope of “bodysnatchers,” but, underneath, takes on so much more. For appearing to be a semi-light and pithy YA novel, Shiny Happy People really dives into teen dynamics, trauma, mental health, and peer pressure.

Our protagonist is Kyra, a sixteen-year-old adoptee who has had a lifetime of trauma that has caused her serious anxiety and a deep sense of displacement. Kyra has her tight friend circle, and she relies on them, and her family, a lot.

A Snapchat trend starts popping up around school of kids popping some pill and going into an overdose/seizure type state before recovering and being euphoric, and, increasingly, Kyra is seeing her friends and peers show up in these house party videos.

Strangely, the people around Kyra start to have massive personality changes: all acting oddly similar.

Kyra, and the mysterious “new guy,” Logan, set out to see what is at the bottom of the quickly spreading calamity, and the rest you’re just going to have to find out for yourself.

As I said before, Mr. Chapman deftly tackles some of the classic issues that teens face. Kyra’s support network seems to be what really keeps her together in her strained situation, and, when things start to drastically change, she has to find the inner strength to push forward or just collapse.

This one is a real page-turner. The pacing really moves the story along rapidly, and the twists are not telescoped out as is the weakness in many YA novels. Mr. Chapman could have very easily taken a different tone with this book to make it much more sinister and dark, but I’m very glad he approached it the way he did.

All Hallows by Christopher Golden

Posted on November 7, 2025 by - Book Review

I have a favorite Halloween song, and it’s pretty atypical. Back in 2003, Austin band Li’l Cap’n Travis put out a single called “To All the Trick-Or-Treaters” (you can listen to it here).

Perhaps, unknowingly (though it would be fantastic if he was familiar with the track), Mr. Golden has, basically, fleshed out a lot of details of the song in All Hallows.

It’s Halloween 1984 in Coventry, MA, and things are not well on Parmenter Road. While kids are getting ready for trick-or-treating, a family tradition haunted forest, and a neighborhood party, and two families are, seemingly, falling apart, something supernaturally malicious appears to be creeping into the block.

Four children, in decades old costumes and faded makeup, have intermingled themselves in with the bands of trick-or-treaters going up and down Parmenter Road in search of candy. Once confronted, the strangers beg for protection from the threat of The Cunning Man, who is actively pursuing them.

Needless to say, all sorts of weird shit entails.

I picked up this novel because I absolutely love Mr. Golden’s previous works, and it was near Halloween time. I could not have picked a better read if I tried.

The thing with Mr. Golden’s approach is that he has this arcane ability to fully submerge the reader into the environment he is creating. Little details make all the difference, and really flesh out this tiny suburban vignette.

The cast of characters is the real icing on the cake. There are a lot, and I mean a lot, but all very compelling. The diversity, range of age, emotion, and mental state really cement All Hallows as a irresistible read. Along with the opportunity of eldritch horror, you have normal every day family situations that run the full range of emotions. I especially appreciate that the reader doesn’t always have the full picture.

Just what exactly did Ruth and Zack do? We’ll never know.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Posted on November 4, 2025 by - Book Review

It is the Summer of 1970, and, in St. Augustine, Florida, exists the Wellwood House, a home for wayward girls to be tucked away from public view so they can have their babies and then return to a “normal” life.

Run by the very very stern Miss Wellwood, each girl is stripped of her identity and, instead, given a botanical name to build a personality around.

This, chiefly, is the story of Fern, a fifteen-year-old girl who finds herself having been delivered to the Wellwood House by her irate father.

Fern navigates the massive change that has happened in her life, and makes friends with some very unlikely characters. There is Rose, a headstrong hippie type who is continually plotting a way to escape the home and keep her baby; Zinnia, a pianist waylaid by the pregnancy, but absolutely sure she will return to marry her baby’s father; and Holly, a fourteen-year-old scrap of a wild child.

Life in Wellwood House is very harshly controlled, and there are very few freedoms. One of said freedoms is a bookmobile that comes periodically. It is through this bookmobile that Fern gets her hands on a book of witchcraft, and then things change, drastically, for the girls.

I really really wanted to like this book, but I found it somewhat dreary and mundane. There were definitely sections of it that were riveting and suspenseful, but, by and large, it feel a tad flat for me. I’m sure it was intentional, but the pacing seemed to be very very slow. There was a ton of repetition followed by little sparks of chaos.

The character and story development were very well done, but I feel like there was a lot of other aspects where this novel could have excelled and fell flat. Mr. Hendrix is a fantastic writer, and sets a wonderful stage, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Show Me Where It Hurts by Robert E. Stahl

Posted on October 23, 2025 by - Book Review

I’m a big fan of short fiction. Short horror, even better. I remember, as a child, devouring Stephen King’s Skeleton Crew, Night Shift and Nightmares & Dreamscapes. There is just something about an author’s ability to convey a sense of terror in just a handful of pages that is magical.

Mr. Stahl has this magical power. Show Me Where It Hurts is an eclectic collection of both prose and poetry with a definite dark slant. The first story, “The Weeds and the Wildness Yet” hooked me immediately. It had a very classic Creepshow feel that really fostered nostalgia in me.

“Ghosts on Drugs” was a fever dream of chaos that I actually had to read twice. It was such an amazing snippet of pure creativity that conveyed the quick plot perfectly.

I could go on and on, but part of the joy of short fiction is discovering how each piece makes you feel. I will say, however that “The Trouble with Goblins” was my absolute favorite. It’s not often that I laugh out loud at the office lunch table, but that one got me. I also closely aligned with “Death By Kittens,” a lovely tableau that builds an entire scene in a single delightful paragraph.

Do yourself a favor and pick up this collection.

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

Posted on October 16, 2025 by - Book Review

The year is 1942 and June “Hoss” Hudson is the general manager of the luxurious Avallon Hotel & Spa: playground of the most aristocratic of families in West Virginia. June, a very unlikely candidate for the role she holds runs the Avallon like a well oiled machine is suddenly met with the biggest of challenges: the owners of the Avallon have made an agreement with the State Department to use the hotel as an informal prison for captured Axis diplomats.

The thing is, however, the Avallon, and June as well, have a deep secret that seems to keep the gears of the hotel spinning smoothly: the mountain sweetwater that runs under and through the property.

I am a longtime fan of Ms. Stiefvater, so it was no surprise that I fell instantly in love with the world of the Avallon. The pacing and structure of this novel reminded me greatly of the world that Ms. Steifvater built in All the Crooked Saint, and I loved that one, too.

Character development and worldbuilding are Ms. Stiefvater’s forte, so it was such a delight to watch how Hoss and her merry band of department heads navigated the war that was brought to their doorstep. It was particularly interesting to watch the unfolding of the relationship that Hoss has with the Gilfoyle family, owners of the Avallon, and then, additionally with the government agents sent to watch over and spy on the diplomats.

Without giving too much away, what appears to be a very laconic environment has a very dark undercurrent, that, while previously in control, may, now, not be.

I burned through this one very quickly, and greatly appreciated the history of the United State’s early involvement in World War II, as well as some of the tactics of Hoover’s FBI.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Posted on September 3, 2025 by - Book Review

It’s been a very good time for new creative slants on vampire novels, recently, and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a prime example.

The setup is pretty atypical for a horror read. In 2012, a diary written by a Lutheran pastor back in 1912 is discovered in the walls of Montana church. The majority of this delectable bit of historical fiction is, indeed, this diary.

To say that this novel is a slow burn is an understatement. Arthur Beaucarne, a.k.a, “Three-Persons” is the Lutheran pastor and author of the diary. Good Stab is a Blackfeet Indian turned vampire who has sought out Arthur to confess his sins.

What progresses is a wild recitation of Good Stab’s life, the plight of the Blackfeet, and the horrors of the Marias Massacre. At any given point, Arthur is unsure if Good Stab is spinning him a wild yarn, or telling him the truth.

Yes, some of the language is hard to follow. Staying true to tradition, Dr. Jones uses many Blackfoot terms for the various animals and experiences laid out in this story. I did find it absolutely necessary, however, in holding with the historical nature of the diary document.

Per usual, I’m not going to give anything away with this review. I will say that the character development is absolutely masterful, and the last quarter of the book was so wild and unexpected that I devoured it in a single setting.

This is a novel that will take up a good part of my headspace for a very long time.