When the Shit Hits the Van (The Neon Owl #1) by Chad Lutzke – Spotlight

Welcome back to my weekly Spotlight series.

This week’s book under spotlight is When the Shit Hits the Van (The Neon Owl #1) by Chad Lutzke.

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT

Jinx is a record-collecting, middle-aged minimalist whose dreams of becoming a detective are waylaid by love and laziness. But when he inherits his late aunt’s rundown motel, The Neon Owl, his passion for investigative work reignites while he searches for answers as to who keeps shitting in the bushes. His findings lead to a full-blown murder mystery where he and new-found friend, Roddy, the elderly, one-legged handyman, set out to find the killer.

A crime noir-ish whodunnit rife with humor, grit, and ranch dressing.

When the Shit Hits the Van (The Neon Owl #1) by Chad Lutzke – Spotlight

Sentenced to Troll by S.L. Rowland – Spotlight

Welcome back to my weekly Spotlight series.

This week’s book under spotlight is Sentenced to Troll by S.L. Rowland.

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT

Big. Green. Barbaric. Who says a troll can’t be the hero?

You are what you choose to be. And after years of online trolling, Chad has become just that.

A troll. A rager. An entertaining asshat.

When his online persona finally catches up to him, he’s sentenced to thirty days of full-immersion therapy designed to improve his anger issues.

In order to experience what it’s like on the other side, he’s forced to play as a forest troll, a long-hated race in Isle of Mythos.

To make matters worse, there are other “heroes” sent to rid the world of evil, each one on their own path of twisted redemption.

As Chad embraces the mantle of Chod the Barbarian Forest Troll, he quickly discovers that there’s more to troll society than meets the eye, and his rage might be all that stands between them and extinction.

Trolling is easy, but being a hero…

Sentenced to Troll by S.L. Rowland – Spotlight

Dirty Heads by Aaron Dries – Spotlight

Welcome back to my weekly Spotlight series.

This week’s book under spotlight is Dirty Heads by Aaron Dries.

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT

The story of a boy who dreamed of becoming a man… But dreamed up a monster instead.

You’re on the run. Marked. Don’t think about the kid you used to be when you’re homeless and dumpster-diving in the rain. Just eat whatever you find to keep your engine full. Because the shadow with too many teeth wants you tired.

You’re easier to catch when you’re tired.

It has hunted you since the summer of 1994, back when we confessed who we were through mixtapes. When every movie at the video store had dirty heads. You were thirteen and thought you knew who you were. Only the shadow with too many teeth knew you better. It still does. And it won’t stop. Not until you come home.

Back to where it all began.

Dirty Heads by Aaron Dries – Spotlight

The Way Back by Jamie Fewery – Spotlight

Welcome back to my weekly Spotlight series.

This week’s book under spotlight is The Way Back by Jamie Fewery.

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT

The three Cadogan children, Jessica, Kirsty and Patrick, haven’t spoken to each other for three years. An argument after their mother’s death was the latest excuse to blame one another for their family’s troubles in a long, unhappy series that’s lasted almost a decade.

When their father, Gerry, dies they are given instructions as to where he wants his ashes to be scattered. But first they must together drive his old camper van up the country to the Scottish Isle of Islay. For the journey, he’s given them his old fishing tackle box containing three photo albums through which they can explore their past, and a bottle of single malt whisky he had been saving for the 70th birthday he never reached.

Along the way, they’ll be forced to confront the most painful moments in their shared history, lay to rest a ghost who’s haunted them for years – and maybe even become a family again.

The Way Back by Jamie Fewery – Spotlight

Where the Woods End by Charlotte Salter – Spotlight

Welcome back to my weekly Spotlight series.

This week’s book under spotlight is Where the Woods End by Charlotte Salter.

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT

In a forest filled with treacherous beasts, the thing to be most afraid of is closer than you think in this middle grade horror fantasy.

Kestrel, a young huntress, lives in a seemingly endless forest crawling with dangerous beasts. But the most dangerous beasts of all are the Grabbers—beings that are born when you are and stalk you throughout your life, waiting for the perfect moment to snatch and eat you. No one has ever defeated their Grabber once attacked, and those that die from accidents or other creatures are considered “lucky.” Kestrel has been tasked by her mother, a powerful and controlling spell-caster, to hunt down the Grabbers in an effort to protect their village in the forest. Accompanied by Pippit, a hilariously bloodthirsty weasel, she hones her skills as she searches for a way out of the forest–and away from the judgmental villagers who despise her. But her own Grabber is creeping ever closer, and nothing in this forest is what it seems… including her mother’s true motivations.

Where the Woods End by Charlotte Salter – Spotlight

Sing Your Sadness Deep by Laura Mauro – Spotlight

Welcome back to my weekly Spotlight series.

This week’s book under spotlight is Sing Your Sadness Deep by Laura Mauro.

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT

British Fantasy Award-winning author, and Shirley Jackson Award finalist Laura Mauro, a leading voice in contemporary dark fiction, delivers a remarkable debut collection of startling short fiction. Human and humane tales of beauty, strangeness, and transformation told in prose as precise and sparing as a surgeon’s knife. A major new talent!

Featuring “Looking for Laika,” winner of the British Fantasy Award, and “Sun Dogs,” a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award.

Sing Your Sadness Deep by Laura Mauro – Spotlight