Ever remember having night terrors as a child? Those somnambulistic panic attacks that sent you bolting upright, eyes wide open, screaming in your sleep? Pediatricians estimate that about 30 percent of all boys and girls experience pavor nocturnus at some point in their childhood—which, truth be told, is just about the same percentage of stories in Blood Bound Books’ new anthology NIGHT TERRORS that kept this reviewer up last night.

ZOMBIE ZOOLOGY, a recent addition to Severed Press’ canon of undead horror fiction, offers up something fairly novel for fans of the ever-more-crowded subgenre. Quite simply, each short story in this anthology deals with the notion of zombie animals.

American author Kim Paffenroth (pictured) and the zombie subculture appear to make unlikely bedfellows, but there is a reason for the associate professor of religion’s obsession with the shambling, gut-ripping undead: His works generally focus on the timeless battle between good and evil. In 2006’s GOSPEL OF THE LIVING DEAD, he tore into George A. Romero’s films to show how they utilize Christian imagery, via well-researched, in-depth synopses and analyses. It made for a great read and garnered Paffenroth a coveted Bram Stoker Award.

If you’re looking for some entertainment down East Texas way, something a little spicier than fishing derbies or church revivals, The Orbit Drive-in theater is the place you want to be. Every Friday, the Orbit presents an all-night horror show starting at dusk, and it won’t be boring you with any refried Hollywood remakes or bloodless teenybopper fare up on its 60-foot screen, rest assured.  If there’s one place you can always count on to get nasty, it’s the Orbit.

Imagine living in the 1920s—and yet Prohibition, class struggles and equality issues are the least of your worries. That’s the world Alaya Johnson (pictured) brings to life in her debut novel, MOONSHINE, coming May 11 from St. Martin’s Griffin.

The concept of combining superheroes and zombies is not a new one, although it’s usually presented in a “what if…” scenario, painting an alternate world in which the heroes themselves wander the streets in search of the mother lode of brain buffets. Author Peter Clines’ EX-HEROES (Permuted Press) turns the hero/undead mashup on its ear, with mixed results.

Getting into the worlds of M. Amanuensis Sharkchild’s THE DARK VERSE VOLUME 1: FROM THE PASSAGES OF REVENANTS is difficult. The language is ornate, antiquated and can occasionally leave the reader scratching a head in wonder. His word choices tend toward the obscure, and the book is best read with a dictionary within easy reach.