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07/26/2025 Danielle's Dark Corners

  • Writer: Danielle Yvonne
    Danielle Yvonne
  • Jul 26
  • 4 min read

Happy Saturday! Today, I have three books I need to rave about in my reviews. First is EXTINCTION DREAM by Andrew Najberg, second is SNUFFPUPPY by Aiden E. Messier, and third is SONGS TO DISMEMBER YOU BY by Shannon Bradner.


Alright, let's get into them!!!




Cover is an astronaut with a shattered face mask/helmet. Dark background with the title, EXTINCTION DREAM, in white and the author's name is a reddish color, Andrew Najberg.
Cover is an astronaut with a shattered face mask/helmet. Dark background with the title, EXTINCTION DREAM, in white and the author's name is a reddish color, Andrew Najberg.

EXTINCTION DREAM

By Andrew Najberg


“You will train your minds to engage in combat with an enemy we don’t understand. An enemy we know almost nothing about. We know nothing of their motives. We know nothing of their goals. The white coats tell me the few things they do know can only be explained by equations.”


Fast paced and thrilling, EXTINCTION DREAM is a page-turner for sure. Sci-fi horror is typically not a trope I gravitate towards. As a matter of fact, I believe this is the first full-length space horror book that I’ve read! And I’m so glad I did because I enjoyed it immensely. There were times when I literally felt discombobulated while reading, which I’m almost certain was deliberate--and absolutely brilliant in my opinion. I felt like this book had so many plot twists, which is always a love for me too. Najberg’s prose is top tier, and his characters and their development were done fantastically. As said before, it’s pretty fast paced, so there’s a lot of action throughout.


While it’s about a soldier going to space to fight a war against aliens, this story is SO much more than just that. Like whoa. Total mind penetration. Truly, I sat here mind blown multiple times throughout this book. I don’t typically copy and paste a synopsis in a review, but I’m afraid of giving away major spoilers, so I think I need to:


“Deployed in orbit to what he first believed to be a simple research station, a soldier named Markus is a member of a squad defending Earth on the front line of a secret war against an alien enemy that attacks telepathically, using our nightmares as weapons. They don't know what the enemy looks like or even why they are attacking.


What they do know is that Earth is losing.


As they sink further into their deepest terrors, they believe they may finally have the chance to take the fight to their enemy – if the hell they're living in doesn't cause them to tear each other apart first.”


***


This book gets way more than five stars, and I’m really excited to see what else in Najberg’s catalog of published work because he definitely just landed himself a new fan and a new reader. EXTINCTION DREAM releases August 1st but is available for preorder now. 





Cover features a man covered in blood, topless, staring at his phone. The title, SNUFFPUPPY, and the author's name. Aiden E. Messer are both in red font.
Cover features a man covered in blood, topless, staring at his phone. The title, SNUFFPUPPY, and the author's name. Aiden E. Messer are both in red font.

SNUFF PUPPY

By Aiden Messer


“I’d love to impale you on a long metal bar from mouth to anus. I’d do it slowly, carefully, making sure you’d remain alive until the very end, feeling every agonizing second. You’d still be conscious when I roast you over the fire, nice and slow, before devouring you.”


Wow. For 5k words, and around 20 pages… this story packs one hell of a punch. This was a binge in one sitting read for me, and I can see why it’s been doing so well on Godless.


I have no idea how, but this was my first time reading Messer, and it certainly won’t be my last. The storytelling, the tone, the character… literally everything was chef’s kiss and ON POINT!


It’s hard to say a lot without giving away too much… so I’m gonna have the synopsis help me with this, lol.


Synopsis:

Autassassinophilia should probably remain a fantasy Brennan loves to daydream about being violently murdered, but is it still as funny when it leaves the safety of his mind and enters reality?


*Please note there is a warning at the beginning of this book stating it’s meant to horrify… and horrify it does!!





Cover has a tannish background with a skeleton-type human figure playing the cello. The title, SONGS TO DISMEMBER YOU BY, and the author's name, Shannon Bradner, are both in yellow script.
Cover has a tannish background with a skeleton-type human figure playing the cello. The title, SONGS TO DISMEMBER YOU BY, and the author's name, Shannon Bradner, are both in yellow script.

SONGS TO DISMEMBER YOU BY

By Shannon Bradner


“I also vowed I would never be with another man who didn’t have the integrity my father had. That may sound extreme or fucked up, but whatever. I had my standards, and they were my business.”


Four pages, everyone. FOUR. And I read them about three times. I’m not gonna lie, at first, I thought I was missing something. But it was me, because once it finally clicked… I was like, OH SHIT!!!


This was my first time reading Bradner, and I’m living for her writing style. I’m not sure how someone can pull off a hell of a story in four pages… but she did. And she did it well.


With it being so short, it’s REALLY hard for me to say ANYTHING without giving stuff away, and I’m really curious about how others interpret it / the ending as well. So, I’m now imploring you to go grab this on Godless, read it, then message me so we can chat about it!!




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