Laird Barron

Laird Barron, an expat Alaskan, is the author of several books, including The Imago Sequence and Other Stories; Swift to Chase; and Blood Standard. Currently, Barron lives in the Rondout Valley of New York State and is at work on tales about the evil that men do.

His new novel is Worse Angels.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Barron's reply:

My reading list features numerous manuscripts and review copies of work slated to appear in coming months.

Stephen Graham Jones excels in multiple genres, but none more so than horror. Night of the Mannequins is slated for an autumn 2020 release. Not the first time he’s paid homage to the slasher genre, but it might be his best stab at it yet. Jones combines the mundane and the uncanny to great effect, defusing moments of almost unbearable tension with wry humor. He’s performed this balancing act for years and keeps getting better.

I also recently finished The Skeleton Melodies by Clint Smith. This collection of horror and weird fiction stories nicely ups the game from his 2014 debut, Ghoul Jaw and Other Stories. A resident of the US, Smith nonetheless has a gift for language and story that reminds me of my favorite weird fiction authors across the pond, namely William Conrad, Frank Duffy, and Joel Lane. The Skeleton Melodies is good work in its own right, however I admit to a trace of nostalgia. Smith’s affable and easy tone changes on a dime; monsters lurk in the shadows. He writes pulp of a literary sensibility that I relished in 1980s anthologies by editors such as David Hartwell and Karl Edward Wagner.

Turning to a novel already out in the wild, Hilary Davidson’s One Small Sacrifice is the inaugural title in her new mystery series featuring a police detective and a war photographer. Davidson grounds the more dramatic elements of One Small Sacrifice in scenes of domestic tranquility. Perhaps owing to her experience as a travel writer, she has a knack for colorful detail that imbues both her setting of NYC and the cast of characters with a sense of realism and warm familiarity.

Visit Laird Barron's website.

Q&A with Laird Barron.

--Marshal Zeringue