Why am I passionate about this?

While I love straight-up fiction and read plenty of novels, I’ve always been just as interested in art as I have been in writing. The further into my writing career I get, the more it becomes obvious that art and illustration are just as vital to the way I want to tell my stories. I did the covers for my first few books and started experimenting with illustrating them as well with The Writhing Skies, creating a very strange blend of splatterpunk horror and Betty Boop-inspired illustration. Soft Places is a further step in the direction of telling stories in a way that’s a little different. 


I wrote

Soft Places

By Betty Rocksteady,

Book cover of Soft Places

What is my book about?

Soft Places is a novella/graphic novel hybrid, with the story alternating between standard prose and comic book sections.

Johnna is…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters

Betty Rocksteady Why did I love this book?

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is described as a graphic novel, but it takes the form of the notebook of a 10-year-old girl who is obsessed with monsters. The art is terrific and the story is haunting and mysterious. I’ve always been a notebook person myself, filling up stacks of sketchbooks through my childhood and teens, so the way the main character processed her life by scribbling on a page really resonated with me. This book is super unique, from the way the character always draws herself as a werewolf, to the mysterious death of her upstairs neighbor, and the way she remembers conversations by drawing them as comics.

By Emil Ferris,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked My Favorite Thing Is Monsters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazines iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge.


Book cover of Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI: The Official Novelization

Betty Rocksteady Why did I love this book?

This book is absolutely wild. It purports to be an adaption of an over-the-top gorefest of a movie, plagued by conspiracy theories. Full of footnotes and behind-the-scenes anecdotes and autobiographical details about how the book itself came to be, it not only supposedly adapts a film but tells a far darker hidden story and is overall a lot of dark and spooky fun.

By Jonathan Raab, Benjamin Holesapple (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI is one of the most infamous slasher-movie sequels of the 1980s. Known for its over-the-top gore effects, bizarre and psychedelic campground killer plot—and its legacy as a lightning rod for conspiracy theories concerning everything from UFOs and alien abductions to 9/11 and a secret cabal at the heart of world power. This book contains a complete, authorized adaptation of the infamous cult slasher movie as well as the secret history of the behind-the-scenes drama and high-strange events that inspired the filmmakers, complete with footnotes and autobiographical anecdotes. Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI: The Official Novelization…


Book cover of The West Wing

Betty Rocksteady Why did I love this book?

Edward Gorey is a forever favorite of mine, a pen and ink artist popular for the dozens of strange and macabre little books he created. The West Wing is unique in that it has no words at all, and the story is told entirely through his meticulous pen and ink images. Without a plot, or even any characters, there is only mood and vibes, and they are spooky and mysterious. Each page shows a different part of The West Wing and its seemingly endless rooms with their hints of ghosts and the feeling that someone has just left, or that something horrible has just happened. It’s my favorite haunted house story of all time.

By Edward Gorey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The West Wing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Edward Gorey's The West Wing is an invitation to the imagination. On each page, a room beckons, inviting the reader to wonder why three shoes lie here abandoned, what is retreating in that mirror's reflection, or why there is an imprint of a body on the wallpaper, faded and floating four feet above the floor. A wordless mystery, it is one of Gorey's finest works.


Book cover of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes

Betty Rocksteady Why did I love this book?

This is a more modern pick that is very quickly becoming a cult classic. Told entirely through emails and message board postings, it lays out a very dark story of psychological manipulation between two women. I love found footage horror movies, and this book gives you that same feeling of discovering something you aren’t meant to see (or read).

By Eric LaRocca,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Three dark and disturbing horror stories from an astonishing new voice, including the viral-sensation tale of obsession, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. For fans of Kathe Koja, Clive Barker and Stephen Graham Jones. Winner of the Splatterpunk Award for Best Novella.

A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s-a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.

A couple isolate themselves on a remote island in an attempt to recover from…


Book cover of Griffin & Sabine

Betty Rocksteady Why did I love this book?

These books are just beautiful. I picked them up on sale as a teenager and poured over them over and over. The story is told in the form of letters, postcards, and art sent between two artists. The story is lonely and mysterious, leaving you with more questions than answers. You actually get to open the envelopes and pull out the letters inside as you read. Nick Bantock’s art style is really inspiring.

By Nick Bantock,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Griffin & Sabine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

unpaginated. Beautifully illustrated in Nick Bantock fashion. Signed by the author on title page


Explore my book 😀

Soft Places

By Betty Rocksteady,

Book cover of Soft Places

What is my book about?

Soft Places is a novella/graphic novel hybrid, with the story alternating between standard prose and comic book sections.

Johnna is found naked, wandering the streets with a mysterious head injury. Seemingly psychotic, she's forced into the care of perverted psychiatrist Dr. Gonne. Recommended for adult audiences.

Book cover of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
Book cover of Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI: The Official Novelization
Book cover of The West Wing

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,188

readers submitted
so far, will you?

You might also like...

The Widow Maker

By Janet Fix, Cheryl Bradshaw,

Book cover of The Widow Maker

Janet Fix Author Of The Broken Soul

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Writer, reader, editor, reviewer, publisher… those are all parts of me. With a lifetime of experience in the “words” industry, I have a pretty good handle on what makes a book not just good, but hot. I say this with the understanding that each reader brings their own histories to the reading experience, and what one person may like, another may not. Nonetheless, I offer you my professional and personal favorites in the mystery/thriller/suspense categories. It is my sincere hope that you find these books as addictive as I’d found them. Superb and clever writing, engaging characters, unpredictable plots—yes, please! Though I occasionally step outside my comfort zone, I'm consistently drawn back to these categories. 

Janet's book list on intriguing whodunits

What is my book about?

Liza O’Connell was a horror buff in every sense of the word. But there was one deadly nightmare she would never be able to talk about … her own. A friend murdered. A business in trouble. A marriage struggling to survive. And that’s just the beginning. 

When salon owner Carrie King discovers Liza dead in the back room of her shop, everyone becomes a suspect, even her. As tensions in the community rise, so does the death toll, and now the local cops believe there’s a serial killer on the loose. The question is … are the two investigations connected?…

The Widow Maker

By Janet Fix, Cheryl Bradshaw,

What is this book about?

Liza O’Connell was a horror buff in every sense of the word. But there was one deadly nightmare she would never be able to talk about … her own.

A friend murdered.

A business in trouble.

A marriage struggling to survive.

And that’s just the beginning.

When salon owner Carrie King discovers Liza dead in the back room of her shop, everyone becomes a suspect, even her. As tensions in the community rise, so does the death toll, and now the local cops believe there’s a serial killer on the loose.
The question is … are the two investigations connected?…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in conspiracy theories, ghosts, and presidential biography?

Ghosts 262 books