This is a really solid poetry collection. It's well written and unique and interesting. I enjoyed this! Special Thank You to Quinn Hernandez, Swann + Bedlam and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I had a hard time getting into this book. I think I was just in a reading slump so I will definitely try again later.

Quinn Hernandez loves the full spectrum of speculative fiction, and he is currently working on expanding his fiction universe. His poetry collection Life and Other Unfortunate Horrors is available from Madness Heart Press, and his short story collection Viva La Muerte! is available from Nightmare Press. His second poetry collection Where the Worm Never Dies is forthcoming from Swann and Bedlam Press.

Hernandez’s poetry is clearly informed by his fiction practices. The poems read like a prose sentence parsed into lines, which is a form of poetry many contemporary authors choose to pursue. As such, the poems read more like short stories with clear narratives. For example, “The Power of Grief” begins:

The old man’s grief
made him desperate
especially when his prayers
fell on deaf ears
turning to an ancient tome
far older than Christ himself
from it, he learned a ritual
and read its forgotten words
and smiled as he witnessed
death himself materialize
contained in a simple ring of salt

This is a typical sample of Hernandez’s style, straight forward narrative with little embellishment or poetic flourish, and the standard for the collection.

Hernandez does not only stick to narrative free verse, however. He also dabbles throughout this collection in rhymed and metered verse as well. For example, “Justice” is a series of limericks which begins:

There was a man named Fester
who once was a child molester
he gave love a whirl
with a twelve-year-old girl
who happened to be the daughter of his Aunt Esther

Rest assured that Fester gets his comeuppance in this poem, as per the title. This shows Hernandez’s approaches to formal verse and his level of skill with rhyme and meter.

Hernandez presents these tales with little flourish or poetic folderol, so readers are presented with a raw and stripped-down tale. For the most part, Hernandez sticks to free verse, but does occasionally attempt rhymed and metered poetry. Horror readers who like narrative poems that almost read like microfiction will enjoy this collection.

DNF

Life is too short for poetry collections that do not bring me sheer joy. Reading this was nearly unbearable for me. The prose was underwhelming and reminiscent of what I wrote in my emo poetry phase in middle school. Some phases should stay in notebooks, but that's just my opinion.

This is a short horror poetry collection that I was able to obtain from NetGalley. So thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
It’s hard for me to put my finger on what exactly this horror collection is about, mainly because it didn’t have overlapping themes to me besides that it was all based on horror tropes. This book was honestly a mixed bag for me, there were some poems I really enjoyed, and then some others I really did not enjoy. Not because it made me squeamish, or was too horrifying, but mainly because I didn’t understand where the poem was trying to go, or what it was trying to tell me. It seemed really random, these poems. Almost as if they were all bad dreams or bad psych trips the author had gone on. I do gotta give a shout out to the author though about the line from Puppet Masters. That is my favorite horror movie collection of all time. I am always so surprised to find others who know of Puppet Master. It made me smile to see that in his book.

Overall, I am giving this a 2.5 star ⭐️ rating, because I did really enjoy a good chunk of the poetry. But the other chunk left me more confused and I didn’t know what the point of the stories were. Thank you again to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Dark, well done, and disturbing at time. A good horror anthology that I recommend
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Una raccolta di poesie macabre e inquietanti, con un pizzico di gore. Non mi sono piaciute tutte ma nel complesso si tratta di una bella lettura, secondo me molto più adatta a chi apprezza questo tipo di tematiche (violenze, orrore e via dicendo). Le mie preferite in assoluto 'Justice' e 'To Spite Her Face'

"Where the Worm Never Dies" is a new poetry collection by Quinn Hernandez, though it's not your typical poetry. Rife with themes such as generational trauma, abuse, betrayal, and murder, this collection opened my eyes to a genre I had never encountered before: horror poetry. It was this angle that initially drew me in, despite the fact that poetry is a genre that I don't typically read but enjoy indulging in when I do. With this initial curiosity in the back of my head, I delved into this poetry collection, excited to see what horrors I would find within. Little did I know that this little book would surprise me in more ways than one--each poem engaging and the content more disturbing than I was expecting.

The biggest thing I noticed while reading this was the author's writing prowess--specifically, his use of language and tone. Quinn Hernandez has proven himself a powerful voice in modern poetry with this collection. Each poem felt fresh and uniquely narrative, with most of them feeling like short horror stories. Each theme was brought to life to visceral effect, with many of the stories making me queasy but too intrigued and entranced to look away for very long. Hernandez' inclusion of graphic violence and aberrant prurience packed a startling punch, causing me to double-take quite a few times. It was a thrilling read, to say the least.

Overall, I absolutely loved this poetry collection. I thoroughly enjoyed every poem, but there are a few that especially stand out. These include: "the strangers", "Dario" (a wholesome nod to Dario Argento and the giallo genre), "True Crime", "Full Moon Limericks" (a clever nod to classic horror films", and "Walks." Quinn Hernandez is now a writer who I will be sure to keep my eye out for. With a sharp wit and the writing chops necessary to both unnerve and intrigue, he is a writer whose poetry and prose grab you by the throat and hold you hostage until the final page is flipped. I highly recommend this collection for readers who love Eric LaRocca and horror lovers in general. Beware, though. The contents inside are likely to disturb most. When you feel your palms sweating and hear your breaths shaking, you'll know it has you in its hooks.

Rating: 5/5 stars

This was my first time reading a horror poetry collection and I was pleasantly surprised with this. The topics of some poems are fairly dark and definitely not for everyone, but I thought they were well crafted and presented the daily horrors faced by the many. I especially like the poem Hypocrite and how it portrayed modern day horror.

Some of the poems were good, most were okay, but overall I did enjoy the writing style and am eager to see more from this author.

This poetry collection was a range of hit and miss. Each poem describes to darker side of human nature, some quite unsettling.

The author did a great job in vividly describing how dark and depraved ones thoughts can be.

The ones that stood out were:
“Breaking the Cycle” - The way it dealt with generational trauma really spoke to me.
“The Power of Grief” - A beautiful and haunting look at grief and death.
“True Crime” - Interesting and thought provoking.
“Hypocrite” - An honest and raw look at Christians and how they’re not very Christ-like.

The ones that felt really out of place were “Three Examples of Why Clowns Ain’t Funny”.

I give it 3 stars. Because overall these poems did make me think, although some are forgettable.

I always love a good horror poetry collection, so this book immediately sparked my interest. There was a good spread of variety to this book from lyrical reflections on the horrors humans commit, to disturbing scenarios with striking imagery, odes to legendary film directors and pieces punctuated with a dark humor twist. Most of the works here utilize narrative poetry to tell quick self-contained stories. Like most collections, some of the tales will have a stronger impact on the reader than others. I particularly enjoyed “Not Just Anybody” about a family of sin-eaters, “The Power of Grief” where a man captures death only to have his son free him, and “Full Moon Limericks” which contains 8 short odes to the films of the iconic production company. This was a fast read that would be perfect for anyone looking for some bite-sized indie horror that celebrates the genre. This book put the author and publisher on my radar, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing what’s next for them!
Thank you Swann + Bedlam for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I would like to thank Net Galley and the publishers for letting me read this book early in exchange for my honest review. I love how dark and morbid the author is in his poetry/ stories. I can't wait to read more of his work.

Thank you Netgalley for the early access to Where The Worm Never Dies, in exchange for a truthful review.

Look, I’m a simple man. I read a poetry collection with an ode to Argento, an ode to Fulci, an unofficial sequel to Killer Clowns From Outer Space (via PM Entertainment), and some of the most fucked up shit this side of a splatterpunk anthology?

A collection that also features a separate poem depicting a wereclown? WITH FULL MOON FEATURES LIMERICKS?!!

I click five stars and smile.

Honestly, this thing isn’t so much a poetry collection as it as video store, I loved it.

Despite the full spectrum of trigger warnings, there’s a weird innocence here. It’s the sweetest edgelord shit I’ll encounter this year, I’m sure. I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I found this poetry collection to be a vast range of hits and misses. Some of the best poems speak to generational trauma and grief and have excellent biblical and horror imagery. However, others sounded uninspired, and didn't even feel like poetry at all, just short stories with weird line breaks.

The poems I enjoyed were as follows:
"Breaking the Cycle" - this dealt with generational trauma and how it can mess you up so so well.
"Not Just Anybody" - excellent concept and follow through. Loved the idea of sin-eaters.
"The Power of Grief" - a beautiful look at death and grief, more haunting than scary.
"Pawn" - a fantastic exploration of Judas and how he was just what God made him to be.
"True Crime" - an insidious look at just how normal serial killers can appear
"Hypocrite" - an honest and graphic look at how Christians are not very Christ-like

Most others were regrettably very forgettable, but I did greatly enjoy this handful.

Publication date: June 1. 2024

Thank you NetGalley and Swann + Bedlam for the chance to read and review "Where the Worm Never Dies" by Quinn Hernandez!

A quick search for the phrase "where the worm never dies" shows you that it's a biblical phrase; something that I did not pick up with the title (I'm muslim, so this isn't an area I know too much about). This is an interesting phrase because even a small look into it shows you a myriad of interpretations and why this makes an excellent title for the book.

The phrase can mean a worm that continuously feeds on the flesh without dying, as in the horror and pain never ends (as can be seen in the poems on hell and other violence in the book). It can also mean that the work that needs to be done, will continue to be done (the work of writing horror, or the work of torment and darkness or cycles of violence and trauma that continue to perpetuate just that). Either way, the title suits the book!

That being said, I'm not a horror girly, but I am a die-hard poetry girly which is why I picked up the book and was excited to read it. But to sum, horror > poetry when it comes to this. As poetry, it's fairly standard modern poetry, but the horror made me flinch and quite uncomfortable, which is not to say that it wasn't interesting. Poems like "Breaking the Cycle", "Pawn" and "Not Just Anybody" are really interesting explorations on religion and inherited anger.

While my review for this book is 3 stars, many people reading this will weigh the poetry to horror aspect very differently; if poetry is what's important this is 3 stars. If horror, then you're looking at something along the lines of 4 stars.

I enjoyed all of the poems; the author has a knack for creating great imagery for the dark/horror themes. The atmosphere kept my attention fully engaged throughout the entire novel. You can definitely tell the author is a lover of all things horror and so am I!

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

A delightful collection of macabre and horror themed poetry. There are limericks, freestyle prose, traditional rhyming schemes, and more, along with subjects ranging from satirical and comedic to straight laced and somber. It's not every day I see horror poetry, but I think that's what lends charm to this fun little book.

While there was commentary threaded between the lines of the book, the overall execution fell flat. The longer, narrative poems do have more bite to them and the overall discomfort from the horror does linger. Unfortunately, that feeling is short-lived as very few pieces leave a lasting impression after the fact. As a voice in horror, Hernandez has some interesting ideas but the poetry format may not be the best vessel for them.

True horror poetry! Each poem creating a raw blistering image. Each was a joy to read as a fan of the genre. It pulled from tropes (lovingly) and established unique ideas in turn. Splattering viscera and rotting flesh, like a cult classic film.

interested in it because of the cover and premise, but poems were lackluster. not enough poetic devices utilized and language was very basic. only tie together was general shock-disgust. this did not feel curated or polished. a lot of telling and so little showing. particularly offended by the line "her lithe fingers finding his masculine heat where he guided her velvet glove." have yet to find a book of "horror" poetry that isn't taboo fetishism and grossouts in a dust jacket