Bad Moon Rising
by Luisa Colón

In Gravesend, Brooklyn, sixteen-year-old Elodia is an outcast at school, at odds with her father, and longing for her mysteriously absent mother. Lonely and isolated, Elodia knows that something unspeakably terrible has happened to her—she just can’t remember what.

Miles away in upstate New York, a young man named Gabriel occupies his time by killing sparrows and searching for his birth parents. Gabriel wants to show them what a good son he can be, well-behaved and helpful and no trouble at all—until a savage betrayal plants an ever-growing seed of revenge within him.

Desperate for the promise of their past lives and future dreams, both Elodia and Gabriel are broken and scarred, their lives shattered. Their wounds run deep—and that kind of damage is irrevocable. Unchangeable. Irreversible.

… Isn’t it?

5 out of 5 fairies

If I could rate this higher than 5 out of 5, I would in a heartbeat. To say this is easily one of my favorite reads of 2023 would be an understatement. The imagery alone is mind blowing. The way Colón manages to evoke not just the scenes but the feeling of those scenes, the vibe they carry with them, is a rare talent. This is a novella, so while we don’t get the same character development I’d expect with a novel, we still get a very real idea of who the characters are, even the more transient ones that play more minor roles. I won’t spoil anything, and while I had suspicions of how the two storylines would eventually intertwine, I didn’t predict the way the story ended up playing out, and I adore that. If you’re looking for a fresh, new, quick horror read (I read this in one sitting over the course of a few hours, it’s just so hard to walk away, even for a moment), you need to grab this.

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Luisa Colón is a born-and-raised New Yorker, writer, artist, and sometime actress. Her work has appeared in numerous print and online publications; two of her murals are currently on display at the World Trade Center; and she starred in the 2006 award-winning independent feature film Day Night Day Night. BAD MOON RISING is her first novel.

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