May 10, 2024
Winning's (Burn the Negative; The Shadow Glass) latest is a warm love letter to slasher flicks. The protagonist, Willow, is in deep water, deeper than the pool in which her agent found her floating face down after a disastrous internet posting left Willow canceled and possibly suicidal. Going to an unplugged getaway camp for adults in upstate New York seems like the best plan for a recovering Willow, until people from Camp Castaway start turning up dead. Winning masterfully builds a story that will leave readers breathless. The novel is inclusive and insightful as it burrows into the zeitgeist of cancel culture when taken to an extreme. The pacing is frenetic and captivating, allowing the events on page to evoke the mood of Hollywood's best old-school slasher films. VERDICT Winning continues to write great horror novels, and this is a must-buy for libraries that are seeking new and insightful horror that will captivate their readers. Recommend to those who enjoyed My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix, or Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare.--Jeremiah Paddock
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May 27, 2024
Winning (Burn the Negative) takes cancel culture to terrifying extremes in this gruesome yet surprisingly upbeat horror novel. Sitcom star Willow is caught in “tweetageddon” after her well-meaning post is misinterpreted and she’s accused of being a right-wing, anti-gay crackpot. After losing her job, her fiancé, and all of her friends, she heads to Camp Castaway, an adult sleepaway camp that bans phones and promises to unplug visitors from the internet. The “Camp Mom,” Bebe, created the haven out of a sincere desire to help others, but the place hides a dark secret. On the first night, campers hear a classic fireside ghost story about Knock-Knock Nancy, a headless spirit who cuts off the heads of others in hopes of replacing her own. As campers begin to disappear and eerie knocking sounds are heard throughout the campsite, Willow and the others start to wonder whether the story might be true. Their retreat from the world soon becomes horrific, but, in banding together, this group of wounded souls learn to embrace their true selves. Between the frequent jump scares and blood spillage, Winning’s story is packed with an awful lot of heart. Readers will be on the edges of their seats. Agent: Kristina Perez, Perez Literary.
July 1, 2024
Three weeks ago, Willow blew up her sitcom-star life with an ill-considered tweet. Now, terrified to look at her phone and witness the fallout, she books a stay at Castaway Camp, a refuge for those needing to escape their mistakes and the consequences of cancel culture. At first, it's everything Willow wants--no phones, no internet, beautiful nature, and interesting campers--but after a night of campfire ghost stories reveals the local legend of a woman looking for her decapitated head, things take a decidedly unsettling turn. When campers start to go missing and a strange woman is found in her cabin, Willow digs into the camp's past, revealing a disturbing history the owner tried to conceal. Paying homage to summer-camp-horror classics, Winning (Burn the Negative, 2023) offers a new take, using tweets, texts, and other found media between chapters to build the story while still giving readers the jump scares and twists that they love. Great fun, especially for readers who enjoy the gorier, campier side of horror.
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