These are tales of wickedness… stories of evil and cunning, written by today’s women you should fear. Includes tales from Kelley Armstong, Rachel Caine and Sherrilyn Kenyon, writing in their own bestselling universes.

Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery will take the classic tropes of tales of witchcraft and infuse them with fresh, feminist perspective and present-day concerns–even if they’re set in the past. These witches might be monstrous, or they might be heroes, depending on their own definitions. Even the kind hostess with the candy cottage thought of herself as the hero of her own story. After all, a woman’s gotta eat.

Bring out your dread.

Just in time for Halloween, here comes Hex Life, a new anthology from Titan Books featuring a bunch of new stories about WITCHES!! With the exception of Madaug Kenyon, who co-wrote a story with his mom, Sherrilyn Kenyon, this whole anthology is written by women!

Like with any collection of short stories, some of these spoke to me more than others. That’s just how these things go, yes? Also in the spirit of brutal honesty, there are a couple stories I didn’t get to…there’s a few stories in here that are part of existing series that I haven’t read (although I did read Kelley Armstrong’s story, part of her Otherworld series. It was really good!)

For the second time in a row (after reading Wonderland last month), I’m super impressed with Angela Slatter’s work. Her story, Widow’s Walk, is about a coven of witches (more mischievous than evil), living in a big house in a small town called Mercy’s Brook. They take a keen interest in a girl named Chelsea whose life at home & at school is really awful. While there were some darker themes running through this one, it was perfectly campy & just right for October!

Jennifer McMahon’s entry, The Deer Wife, was haunting & strange & beautiful & romantic. A really unique take on a witch story!

Last Stop on Route Nine by Tananarive Due takes on an almost Get Out vibe & tackles racism in some seriously unnerving ways. This was super creepy & very powerful!

One of the stories I was most excited about was Amber Benson’s (I mean, she’s TARA ffs!!!) I know she has quite a few urban fantasy books published & is good friends with Seanan McGuire! Her story is called This Skin and it’s….troubling. I don’t think I loved it as much as I’d hoped I would, but it’s definitely the most overtly shocking story I read.

The Debt by Ania Ahlborn was another highlight for me. It had a super creepy fairy tale vibe, and possibly the most vividly described forest setting I’ve ever read. You could feel the spongy moss under your feet reading this. It made me more interested in checking out some of her work…I know a lot of horror readers love her books, but the only one I’ve read was Within These Walls, and it just didn’t totally click for me. But based on how atmospheric & creepy The Debt was, I’m definitely going to check out something else by her!

All in all, this is a really solid collection of witchy stories!! Thanks to Titan Books for the copy, and for having me along for the Instagram tour!!