haunted media – Dr JoAnn LoSavio

The Invisible World: A Novel
by Nora Fussner

This is not your average haunted house story. It is your better than average haunted house story. Readers of literary fiction will absolutely love this spin on the haunted house trope for its deep character development and character-focused orientation.

The novel is simple enough in its premise: a couple invite pandemonium into their house when they have a television crew for a “ghost hunter” style show come to their home to document their haunting. The events take place around this misfit cast of producers, camera operators, show staffers, the homeowners, and the carious psychics they call on to flesh out the dramatics of the show. It is the interplay of their individual needs, desires (met and unmet) that form the basis for this novel. Underlying all this is the omnipresent question: Is the haunting real? Or a figment of everyone’s desires? Every actor here has a vested interest in the reality of this haunting, leading the reader on a pursuit for the truth and an authenticity which may be impossible to find. This is, after all, the premise of such television shows.

Fussner’s prose was also an incredible appeal; it is literary in its language, its unfolding. Fussner’s choice of words draws a performative veil over the novel, intriguing this reader at least. I was hooked from start to finish.

Burn The Negative: A Novel by Josh Winning

It’s such a cliché to say “I couldn’t put it down!” but with Burn The Negative it was so true! Thrillers set in contemporary digs are rarely my chosen genre, but every once in awhile a little thrill appeals to me and relieves me from the setting and character-driven interiority of historical or literary fiction. Burn The Negative had everything I wanted in a thriller: compelling characters with flawed, awful motives; a fast-paced plot that left me thinking “Oh no, what the WHAT?” as things go from horrendous to abysmal; mysterious hints that led me to announce “Aha!” far too early; and, the cherry on top: a twisted ending.

The novel opens with a fabulous line, immediately a portent of fuckery on a grand scale. A young women is headed somewhere she’d rather not be. It’s for work, but it isn’t really, and she’s having a bit of a nervous breakdown over it. The woman is the novel’s protagonist, Laura, who is a former child actor, now tasked with rehashing her Hollywood trauma as a journalist writing an article about the remake of the horror film that killed her career and ended her normal psychological development as a teenager. This is a novel that revolves around the drama of Hollywood on multiple levels, leaving the reader feeling very much like they are watching a Netflix Original horror film unfold in text.

As the remake of the film progresses, things go unbelievably wrong. But is this marketing? Is this the curse of the original horror film? Is it Laura herself? Both the remake and Laura’s memories of her Hollywood nightmare disintegrate into a surreal soup, leaving the reader wondering if there is something paranormal at foot or not.

The story alone is not the only draw of the novel. Winning’s prose is witty and the book includes fun elements — flashbacks, articles, ephemera, movie lore — which flesh out the story arc, provide context, and make the novel feel deliciously kitschy. This book is fun.

Fans of horror films, horror film lore, haunted media, and fast-paced mysteries can fully expect to enjoy Burn The Negative.