Dust Bunnies From Hell

by J.E. Erickson

Krista is convinced her sister, Sadie, is possessed by a demon. It’s the only plausible explanation for how cold and distant she’s become since reaching high school. And it’s why Krista bought the strange book to destroy the demon and get her sister back.

But when their summoning ritual goes terribly right, Krista and Sadie realize too late that what they brought into the world hasn’t come to help.

Trapped in their apartment building with a horde of bloodthirsty monsters, the sisters need to fight to not only exorcise the demons slaughtering their friends and neighbors, but also the ones that drove the two of them apart.

Genres: Horror

195 pages, Paperback

Published September 25, 2023

About the author

J.E. Erickson fell in love with horror and fantasy at an early age. The first story he wrote was at age 11 and was about a child walking home from school to discover his own gravestone. He still thinks about it when referring to himself in third person.

He currently writes horror and fantasy stories, and lives in an old house in the Midwestern United States with a nerdy soap maker, two spoiled dogs, and a (potentially) possessed vegetable garden.

His debut novel "Offerings to the Flower Moon: The Tale of the Abrams Witch" released in 2022. You should totally read it.

Reviews

[Escapereality4now · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Dust Bunnies from Hell”, by J. E Erickson, is a fun young adult demon possession story.

Krista’s sister, Sadie, has become cold and distant. Krista is convinced her sister is possessed by a demon. Makes sense. Aren’t all cold and distant people possessed by demons? 😆Krista finds a book to help destroy the demon. Then. the fun begins.

Krista starts with the summoning ritual and takes the reader through the stages of demonic possession. Sounds dark. Oh, but it is not. Erickson created a lighthearted feel-good story complete with fuzzy monsters. There are so many hilarious parts.

Erickson fleshed out relatable characters and put them in a well-paced story. Once “Dust Bunnies from Hell” reaches the halfway point, everything goes awry in the most enjoyable way.

Fans of YA horror should check out “Dust Bunnies from Hell.”

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unputdownable YA horror novella - super fun story with great characters and an amazing build-up of action. I love how Erickson gives his characters so much personhood even in an action-packed novella. Loved the 90s setting and references thrown in. I was nervous to read this because I loved Offerings to the Flower Moon by Erickson so much, but this didn’t disappoint!

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my very first taste of J.E. Erickson's mind and I must say, it was a blast. It was also a bit of a shocker, but I'll get to that...

I will say, I truly wasn't sure exactly where this was going for the first half. To be honest, it almost feels like separate stories.

In the first half, we meet Krista and get a real hard look into her real hard life. Her mom's terrible. Her sister's terrible. Her classmates are terrible. The landlord is terrible. It's almost a touch over the top, and I was trying to understand how it would lead to Hell belching up dust bunnies.

But then, at almost the exact halfway point of this slim novel, it starts to blend together.

And then, I must say, the second half? Grab yourself a diaper, hydrate, strap yourself in, and prepare for the ride. Because holy crap, it's one hell of a ride. I read the entire back half in a single sitting, and it was fierce, it was vicious, and it was fun as hell.

So, two things I want to mention, one spoilery, one not so much. I'll touch on the spoiler territory first, so you've been warned...


The first is probably my only complaint about the book as a whole. Erickson does such a phenomenal job of setting up the nasty mother, and the bully at school who seems to promise more fallout down the line, that I was a little disappointed there was no real payoff for either storyline.

I was expecting either the mom or the bully to show up at some point and either be hit with a stunning realization about Krista...or be hit with some hellish dust bunnies.

As I said, this was a minor complaint but, for me at least, it would have paid off some of the events of the front half of the novel a bit better.


The second realization regarding this story was just how much it parallels huge chunks of the second book in my Aphotic series, Out For Blood. And no, I'm not accusing Erickson of stealing anything. It's just one of those weird, happy accidents where, somewhere along the lines, his muse and my muse were having a beer in a really seedy bar, and got to talking and bouncing around ideas.

Honestly, I found it really cool to see how another author would handle very similar circumstances, and how they wrote them. A couple were eerily similar. I just thought it was cool enough to mention.

Anyway, back to this book. This is absolutely a blast to read, and you really should read it.

It releases on October 1, 2023.

[Louise Conway · Rating 4 out of 5]

An epic blend of demonic possession and creature feature, this story is a wild, crazy and highly enjoyable ride. 4.5 is my score (although if this was a review of just the name alone I would definitely give a full 5; the title is genius).

The plot is simple but very clever and filled with brilliant dialogue. Krista is an engaging main character; her narration does a great job of pulling the reader into the plight her story begins with. Descriptions of feelings are unusual in places; some didn't completely work for me but it was still refreshing to see emotions and characters' actions described a little differently. Good creativity on the author's part.

I loved the small town setting; it fit the story perfectly and all the references to classic rock bands and horror movies were a lot of fun. Anyone who's a fan of 80s horror would probably love the vibe of this book. Pacing is well done too, it builds suspense without being too slow. This was my first read by JE Erickson and I'm really looking forward to checking out more of his work

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun read! A YA horror novella with a great main character I really felt for. She thinks her big sis is possessed by a demon and gets ahold of an occult book to try and exorcise it. They end up doing a ritual that goes horribly wrong and summoning a demon who takes a very unexpected form. Wacky, gory, and heartfelt. I definitely enjoyed this one!

[Lars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little story. Starts as a YA story with connection issues between two sisters but switches to a zombie-like novel midway. Anybody remembers the movie Braindead by Peter Jackson (yes, LOTR Peter Jackson). This is basically the same story including gore 😊

[Raven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cartoonish with all of the action happening late and fast. Had potential, failed to deliver.

[Stefanie Barnfather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobody does gore like J.E. Erickson, and DUST BUNNIES FROM HELL delivers his signature ooey, gooey, disgusting details—but, wrapped inside furry, spewing demons, Erickson’s story has heart (before its ripped out and eaten by the furry, spewing demons). This novel’s characters navigate small town, late-millennium sensitivities—and hockey, Minnesota Mean Girls, and adult abuse—while pursuing their own healing and relationship reconciliations. DBFH is sweet, smart, and scary; the modern horror trifecta of triumph.

[Daniel Lorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first read from Erickson, but certainly not my last.

In the first half, we get to know all the main characters, particularly Krista, who is convinced a demon has possessed her sister! Many of the people in Krista's life are nasty pieces of work, so I was overjoyed when her efforts to relinquish the sister of her supposed demonic possession went off in a slightly unexpected direction... cue the Dust Bunnies from Hell!

This was a great, fun read, and fans of young adult fiction and strange demonic critters are in for a good time with this one!