Hey Ghouls! I’m horror comedy author D.M. Guay. I write the 24/7 Demon Mart series, but I am also a huge reader and a huge horror comedy geek. Now, if you’ve been part of my newsletter, Monsters in your Inbox, you already know you get a new book recommendation–curated by me–every month. These are all books I have personally read and think YOU would like. (I don’t swap. No one can beg, buy, or swap to get a spot. So this is all me!)
Some of you have asked for a handy archive of past book recommendations, so I have compiled them here.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
2021 Monsters in your Inbox Book Recommendations
ApocaOOPS by Paul Creasy
OMG. Can I just say how much I like this book? We’ve got a hilarious thousand-year-old prophecy. We’ve got Doug, the incompetent guardian angel. We’ve got a dead human mental patient named Steve, whose best friend is his talking cat, Smokey. Poor Steve doesn’t realize he’s died. He thinks he forgot to take his meds. His quest to get back to earth ASAP– dude, he’s got a date — sets the Biblical apocalypse in motion way way WAY ahead of schedule and brings together a motley bunch of characters. Check it out here: https://amzn.to/3VYRMbz
Larry’s Post-Rapture Pet-Sitting Service by Ellen King Rice.
The day of the rapture has arrived, but only some people are taken. Unfortunately, the piously departed left their pets behind. Enter Larry and his Mom. They didn’t make the divine cut. Stuck on earth, with few opportunities to make ends meet, they cash in by opening the world’s first post-rapture pet sitting service. But, their grand plans for riches and salvation go off the rails, quickly, and not just because they’ve got a sun porch full of angry cats.This book is a fun read. Check it out:https://amzn.to/3GwYT5f
The Zombie Apocalypse Call Center by Taylor Ellwood
Sam loves his call center job. It’s easy. It’s boring. Because Zombii Co. sells supplies and services to help conspiracy theorists and preppers survive a zombie apocalypse. And everyone knows the zombie apocalypse isn’t ever gonna happen, right? Wrong! Sam’s worklife is about to get crazy in this fun undead romp. Check it out: https://amzn.to/3CGwVmk
Who Goes There? By John W Campbell
Y’all. I was super excited when I ran across this. This is the novella that inspired John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing and 1951’s The Thing From Another World. The story first appeared in the August 1938 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. Enough said. Sure, it’s a bit old timey, but if you’re like me, you love to read the books that inspired your favorite movies. And The Thing is one of my favorite movies. Check it out here: https://amzn.to/3wfsQQi
Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan
If you’re looking for a fresh spin on zombie fiction, read Apocalypse Cow. It’s the story of a cow that will not die and turns his fellow bovines into drooling, flesh-craving fiends who rampage across Britain killing all who dare cross their paths. Who will stop them? A teenaged vegan. Duh. This book won the Terry Pratchett First Novel Prize, and the late great Pratchett himself said, “Apocalypse Cow made me snort with laughter.” Check it out: https://amzn.to/3xEfoqg
An Oracle Walks Into A Bar
Y’ALL! Scott Burtness, who wrote one of my favorite books–Wisconsin Vamp–FINALLY has a new book. And, it looks like it’ll be first in a new series. Huzzah!
An Oracle Walks into a Bar is the tale of a disenchanted shapeshifter who makes a living getting people’s stuff back from their exes after bad breakups. Things get weird when he’s hired to retrieve a cursed book from a jilted vampire. Get it here: https://amzn.to/3DfDdYX
Cthulhu, Private Investigator
I download a lot of book samples–A LOT–looking for gems to share with you here. Very few books make me laugh immediately, but this one totally did. The lead story in this eight-story collection is a Mickey Spillane-style noir detective story / HP Lovecraft mashup. Yep. Cthulhu is a private eye, and when his partner Dagon ends up dead in the river, he’s got to solve the case. Cue cultists, elder gods, old ones, and suspect Pnakotic manuscripts. It is funny and well done. Check it out here: https://amzn.to/3mRcCtD
Night of the Crabs by Guy N Smith
Oh yeah. This is your chance to cuddle up with an essential work from the pulp paperback horror craze of the 1970s. Warning: You will get crabs. Lots and lots of giant, man-eating crabs! Guy N. Smith was a very prolific pulp horror author from the 1960s to the 1980s. His family has kept all his books in print. Smith, who died last year at age 81, also wrote about slime beasts and werewolves. But he is best known for his seven-book killer crab series. This is book 1, originally published in 1976. It’s described as “A seafood cocktail for the strongest stomachs.” Indeed. Check it out here: https://amzn.to/3DwZUqK
Cluck You by Rachel Carr
Just as I was lamenting the dearth of Thanksgiving holiday horror, both in film and in print, the Shingles crowd delivered! Cluck You is the latest in the 45-book crass, adults-only, not-for-the-polite-crowd horror comedy Shingles series. (Don’t say I didn’t warn you.) Cluck You is the story of a handful of “friends” who head off to rural Beaver City for Thanksgiving but end up in a cursed meat-packing plant instead. A crazed turkey begins hunting them, one by one. Cue melodramatic death scenes. This is just the kind of heart-warming family fun every horror fan craves on Thanksgiving!
Check it out: https://amzn.to/3GRb3Fr
Hark the Herald Angels Scream (2018)
This is a big fat collection of eighteen Christmas-themed stories by award-winning, best-selling horror authors, including Joe Lansdale, the man who gave us Bubba Ho-Tep. (Enough said.) In his story, The Second Floor of the Christmas Hotel, two old friends reminisce about epic Christmas parties past and a beautiful woman named Amelia who met a tragic and mysterious end at a now-abandoned hotel. Cue epic holiday ghost story.
Now, I’m usually not a big fan of anthologies–most are hit and miss, IMHO–but most of the stories in this collection are hits. Check it out: https://amzn.to/3GCUJac
That’s all for 2021!
Need more? Check out the 2020 Monsters in Your Inbox Book List!
Or, the 2022 Monsters in Your Inbox Book List!
- The book links on this page are an Amazon affiliate link. I receive a small commission if you buy the book using the link on this page. This is at no additional cost to you! This money funds things like more books and movies that end up reviewed right here and on all my channels. Thanks!
horror comedy and comedy fantasy author D.M. Guay 