Top Ten Favorite Reads of 2025

10. The Spook Who Sat By the Door by Sam Greenlee

A radical thriller that remains relevant to this day. 

9. Moju the Blind Beast by Edogawa Rampo 

A surreal, extreme novella by one of Japan's most fascinating authors.

8. Wild Turkey by Michael Hemmingson

This was a modern noir with a lot of unexpected twists. I couldn't put it down. 

7. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

A classic, intense novel of growing up lesbian and gender-fluid in the 20th century. 

6. Welcome to Your Dreamtime by Norman Spinrad 

This is the anti-Ready Player One. A sharp, creative satire of how mass culture and corporate IP are increasingly colonizing the imagination. 

Full Review

5. Left Hand by Paul Curran

One of the strangest and most visceral experimental works I've read.

4. I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett

Percival Everett remains a favorite. This was was a hilarious, entertaining satire of race and identity in America.

3. The Tunnel by Russell Edson 

I'd read a handful of Edson's poems, but this was my first full book of them. It didn't disappoint in the least. 

2. We'll Never Be Fragile Again by Thomas Moore

I maintain Thomas Moore is one of the greatest working authors at the moment. This book was an absolute gut-punch. A heart-breaking meditation on love. 

Full Review

1. The Butcher of Nazareth by David Scott Hay 

This is releasing early 2026, but I had a chance to read an early copy. It's an amazing read. A unique take on the Gospels and the early life of Jesus told in a thrilling story with well-crafted, tight prose. 

Full Review

Honorable Mentions

Red Flags: Stories and Other Disturbances by Charlene Elsby

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin

I Live In Hell by Mike Salinas

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

A Condescending Wound by Benzo Monroe 

RELEASE DAY: The Dinner Show and Other Consumptions

 

A vacationer finds himself suddenly alone in a tourist city. A tabloid journalist makes a horrifying discovery about a famous pop star. A woman joins an eating challenge reality show that turns deadly. A vengeful ghost haunts a poem.

This is just a sample of what's on the menu in this serving of a dozen morsels of horror cooked up by the amazing mind of Ben Arzate.

 

"Arzate's America is much like ours, dangerous and twisted, except there's something...off. If you think you can escape, it's too late. Just try to stay on the beaten path. You'll make it. Probably." - John Bruni, author of Tales of Questionable Taste

 

"Ben Arzate showcases his prowess in the Horror and Bizarro genres with inventive-as-hell body horror, truly scary, slow-burn found footage, and fun with form, like his text message account of the apocalypse. His collection is bleak and lonely some places, terrifying in others, with his signature dry, dark comedy showing up exactly when needed.

 

Arzate is a trope-crusher. Anytime you think a story might sound familiar, he tells us all why he’s the one to tell this particular tale, and each time, he proves you haven’t read one quite like this before. Feast your eyes on this one. It’s one wild-ass ride!" - Lauren Bolger, author of The Barre Incidents

 

"The Dinner Show is a literary smorgasbord of Transgressive and horrific stories. These stories show a wide range of Ben's talent. From crafting Clive Barkerian nightmares to haunting pieces that drag at your soul. Reading this collection is like stepping into a world parallel to ours; one that's covered in a grimy film, distorted by a layer of static.

Ben Arzate writes the kind of stories I love to read; strange, atmospheric, and fantastic!" - Matthew Vaughn, author of Bowery

 

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