A Holy Venom

by Kiarna Boyd

A Holy Venom

is a queer horror novel

combining eldritch terror

with noir action.



Inspired by werewolf lore

and the love of classic heist stories,



this is a fairy tale

for the criminally insane.

Genres: Queer, Horror

418 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2024

About the author

KIARNA BOYD (she/her) is a queer occultist. Migrating around the northeast corner of the United States, she walks long distances, studies high weirdness, entertains cats, and introduces herself to unnameable, chthonic entities on the off chance they could become friends.

Reviews

[John Eno · Rating 5 out of 5]

A child, lost alone in the coldest, darkest woods after fleeing from a harrowing tragedy, encounters an enormous, bloodied monster. After some cagey negotiations, the two strike a mutually beneficial bargain, leaving the reader with the uneasy sense that while the child has outsmarted the monster for now, there's certainly no guarantee that they will again...and there will certainly be more encounters between these two.

Handled by another author, this scene might have been played for pure fairytale resonance, but in Boyd's hands, it's something both more personal and more visceral. It's the kind of contradiction that runs throughout the novel, in which not a single major character is who they initially appear to be, passion and reason are in a fluid war of one upsmanship, and the gradually revealed details of the world get stickier and more esoteric as they come to light.

Unlike a lot of horror and urban fantasy, A Holy Venom isn't a book that tiptoes around the existence of its monsters, magic, and otherworldliness, dropping the reader directly into a complicated snarl of competing not-quite-human entities without giving away what exact games are afoot before giving them ample opportunity to decode them for themselves.

I've deliberately avoided talking plot, because it's a ride you'll want to take without having its beats spoiled, but it's a noirish sort of race to the bottom for an ever-evolving snarl of alliances and betrayals in which each character is driven by their own obsessive needs. Everyone here is in this labyrinthine morass for themselves, but thankfully, we get to see why these characters are driven to do what they do, and ultimately, the action of plot is driven entirely by these characters rather than yet another hoary Ye Olde Prophecye.

Its nonjudgmental acceptance of its characters, no matter how hideous their actions and desires, brings to mind early Clive Barker, and even more so Poppy Z. Brite, as does its richly sensual prose. Also like Barker, while the novel is likely to be filed under urban fantasy, unlike that genre's rote checklisting of vampires, werewolves, and wizards, the creatures here are fresh, syncretic takes on familiar fairy tales, horror tropes, and occult mainstays; even more importantly, the details of their mystical backstories are never as important as who they are as characters, and how they've been shaped by their personal traumas.

This is a book written by an author who plunged their hands straight into the bloody heart of their concerns and carried them back fearlessly for us to share and gawk and laugh and shudder at. Assuming that you're prepared to wade through some splatter--and its levels of gore do approach "unhinged" from time to time--you should take the chance to make the bargain with this rough beast. You'll be haunted by the time you spend under its yellow sickle of a cold moon. And you don't really want to turn your back on it without first seeking some assurances that it won't devour you, do you? You won't believe how big its fangs are.

[Katie Hull · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Holy Venom is an immersive thriller experience that entices readers from the beginning. The characters and writing style are equally complex and give way to an exciting and sometimes scary adventure. Protagonist and antagonist were not explicitly laid out in this story, which only added to the mystery. I really loved the way Boyd sprinkled in fairytale-esque stories, which became extremely important, and led to the spectacular finale of the novel. If you like Halloween, scary stories, or monsters with harrowing backstories, this book is definitely for you!

[Jesse Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Kiarna Boyd has written another immersive novel that takes place in an alternate world rich with history and characters that live with you even after you finish the novel. It could have taken place in a multicultural northern North American or European city. We know it’s cold on account of the snow. We know the city is old, that the land is alive and that the veils between worlds can be traversed by them that know how. One of the things that I loved most about this novel was how seamlessly the practice and functioning of magic was woven throughout the story, the setting and the characters. The story is worth a re-read just to pick up on the techniques and application of magic and psi abilities. The setting of the story was almost a character, between the city, the surrounding mountains and countryside and the other worldly realms (the In-Between in particular). It is by turn a suspenseful heist, a gritty noir city novel, a terrifying and gory horror story, and also a mythic tale of gods and Others at work here in our realm. While the werewolf is the most obvious monster, it’s worth noting that there are others more powerful. Fitting into the heist trope, there are many characters and many sub plots, so you have to pay attention because they all get woven together in the end into a tapestry that is beautiful, horrible, tragic and yet satisfying.

[John-Richard Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-developed and intriguing characters, plenty of creeping horror, and gore aplenty...the story has all that and elevates the werewolf to the level of the vampire (poor werewolves never seem to get the treatment they deserve, so that alone is a huge plus for this book) - but what really stood out for me was the elegance of the writing. I'm a fast reader, but I cannot count the number of times I only managed a few pages at a sitting because I continually stopped and went back to read the same paragraph two or three times, that's how evocative and beautifully-styled is the prose - right from the first scene, with entrails hanging from a snowy tree. How many times would you want to read a description of that? In A Holy Venom, two or three will hardly do. So satisfying!

[Ron D · Rating 2 out of 5]

LGBTQ

The best thing about this book is the scene settings. The author did a really great job on them. It’s unfortunate she didn’t put that kind of effort into the plot. Maybe she didn’t have a clue herself as to where the story would go. For me, it was pointless. It would have benefited the reader if the author had provided a definition at the start of the book for all of her made-up words. The characters were a mixed bag. The majority of them were LGBTQ. So much so, the book should have been flagged as such, at the point of download that I could have spared myself. For all it’s failings I would have given this book just one star; but the scene settings warranted another one.

[Deb Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Queer monsters? Yes please. Wait. What and who are the monsters, really?
So many great scenes. I call them scenes because this whole thing is very cinematic. It is so well described i can see it all. I don't want to give anything away, but I had to read the ending a couple times. The first time I was so anxious to get to the end, I raced through. Then I went back to savor. And it was delightfully savory. Read this thing. It's awesome.

[Ron Goff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Holy Venom is a well thought out and richly detailed world and story. The characters each with their own unique backgrounds come together in a gritty detailed alternative world. I don't want to give much of the plot away but it takes some twists and turns that left me wanting to find out how it would turn out. I haven't read the authors first book, but look forward to into that book shortly.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent monster tale with calls to crime and urban fantasy-horror stories, '80 horror, and faerie stories in a world I'd love to see developed further, especially the other creatures that may exist between the boundaries.

[Marbea Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its taking too long to finish, and the story is getting longwinded and mundane. Too much I want to critique, but I don't want to get into a real review tbh.

[Andy Ritzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kiarna Boyd has skillfully measured a hard boiled noir caper, a healing vision quest and a classic fairy tale, added a heaping spoonful of punk energy, and baked it to unlikely perfection. The result is complex, at turns overpowering and delicate, comforting and demanding.

There's a lot to love about A Holy Venom, not the least of which is a raised bar for werewolf stories. Anchoring the theme of personal transformation that drives the story is what may rank among the most highly developed werewolf metamorphoses the genre has ever seen. The rigors Boyd's monsters endure are physically visceral, emotionally taxing, and steeped in richly imagained cultural and mystical backstory.

While foregrounding a diverse dramatis personae, Boyd's thoughtful world-building also creates a safe space for readers sensitive to overstimulation by gadgets, apps, and the declining social norms they enable. This choice wisely avoids ubiquitous conveniences, and familiar plot points, that might expedite the action and detract from the tension. We could be in the 1980s or the 2080s, in the uneasy wake of the unnamed but impactful Crisis. As characters crunch through snowy woods, ask directions to the nearest phone, or flip through vinyl records in apple crates under stale indy rock flyers, Boyd's vivid descriptions glow and smell and burn from the page, guiding the reader to experience again a full bodied way of being which our integration with tech has gradually desensitized. Personally, I found it rewarding to sit with a hard copy to maximize the effect.

Follow the breadcrumbs through family dynamics, professional obligations, romantic entanglements, and personal vendettas, and you may come to the realization that you've been led somewhere unexpected and unfamiliar. The rough and bloody coat of this story has given way to deeper explorations of psychic trauma and spiritual growth. This is where Boyd's maturity as a writer, thinker, and Occult practicioner truly deliver.

A fun and feverish Grand Guignol ripping through dark cities and labyrinthine forests where the hauntings are not all supernatural, this is a meaty book in every sense of the word.