Liis 'Apanthrope' P

❤️ drums, heavy music 🤘and books 📚
#Estonian🇪🇪
life=unending torments/resurgam

[Raventrop @Raventrop]

(Old art) the Estonian devil in my style🇪🇪

[Liis 'Apanthrope' P @Cvr_2_Cvr]

So... basically, it turns out I want authors to use their words and stab me in the heart. Just deliver emotional pain, okay?! XD https://t.co/WeSo4hC54V

[J.L. Engel_author @JLEngel5]

I appreciate you, man! 🙏🙏🙏

If you know what's good for you, you hold the word of @starkterror88 in high regard.

Join the vendetta here ⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️
A Dangerous Man (Vindicta Spectri Series) https://t.co/LmEE0SMQog

[Grimoire Ink @Grimoire_Ink]

Dungeon Crawler Carl by @mattdinniman

"OMFG!!! That was THE most unexpected joy to read!!"

Read the full review from @Lesley67 here
https://t.co/2hss68payb

[J.L. Engel_author @JLEngel5]

Reviews... they're diverse, but I appreciate the realness, good or bad. From my ARC campaign, a 4 star landed on Goodreads, and I'll be damned if it doesn't make me want to strive to get a 5 from Lillian because she ain't playing and this is incredible!

Mild spoilers. Read at own risk!

J. L. Engel’s Where the Children Don’t Play is not interested in comforting its reader. It doesn’t offer the illusion that the past can be neatly buried or that trauma fades quietly with time. Instead, it insists—relentlessly—that what is sealed away does not stay gone. It waits. It festers. And eventually, it comes back hungry.

At the center of the novel is Mason Sax, a man who survived what should have killed him—physically, emotionally, and morally. As a child, he witnessed something unspeakable: a creature that took his younger brother and left his father dead. In response, Mason did what people so often do when confronted with something they cannot understand—he shut the door on it. Literally. He sealed the cave. He buried the truth. He built a life on top of it. And for a while, that almost works.

But almost is doing a lot of work here.

When the cave is reopened decades later and people begin to disappear, Engel doesn’t just reintroduce a monster—he reopens a wound. And what makes this novel effective is that the real horror is not simply the creature in the dark. It is the cost of silence. Mason’s greatest failure is not that he was afraid as a child; it’s that he chose, as an adult, to let that fear calcify into secrecy.

This is where Engel’s novel separates itself from more disposable entries in the genre. The creature matters, yes—but it is not the point. The point is what happens when you convince yourself that survival is the same thing as resolution. Mason survives. But he doesn’t process. He doesn’t speak. He doesn’t warn anyone in a way that forces belief. And so the past doesn’t just return—it escalates.

The cave itself is almost too perfect as a symbol, but Engel earns it. It is repression made physical: dark, sealed, ignored, and—crucially—misunderstood by everyone who wasn’t there the first time. When developers reopen it, brushing off Mason’s warnings, the novel sharpens into something more pointed. This is no longer just about one man’s trauma. It becomes a critique of collective amnesia—the dangerous, almost arrogant belief that if something isn’t visible, it isn’t real.

And then there’s the creature.

By tying the monster’s hunger specifically to youthful innocence, Engel taps into something deeply unsettling. This isn’t random violence. It’s targeted. Intentional. It turns childhood—the space that is supposed to be safe—into a liability. That choice raises the emotional stakes in a way that feels personal rather than abstract. You’re not just afraid of what the creature does; you’re afraid of what it represents.

Stylistically, Engel doesn’t get in his own way. The prose is clean, direct, and built for momentum. This is a story that wants to move, and it does. But within that straightforward style, there are moments that hit harder than expected—images that linger just long enough to unsettle you before the narrative pushes forward again. It’s not lyrical horror. It’s functional, controlled, and—when it needs to be—sharp.

Peep the rest - yes, there's more! - here: https://t.co/GA04hxZBVw

[J.L. Engel_author @JLEngel5]

Horror fans, do you like reading free ARCs? #horror #books

"Think Stranger Things mixed with IT." @J_Schiecke

Want to help an indie author blowup his next thrilling release?

"The creatures alone are nightmare fuel... unique, harrowing, and utterly unmissable." @Molly_Macabre_

Sign up below!

""Engel's latest thrill doesn't take prisoners... it devours them!" @DaveBuzan

Discover a new nightmare and leave an honest review, if you dare!
⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️
https://t.co/77d7Tw8b7V

[Liis 'Apanthrope' P @Cvr_2_Cvr]

Mygod, yes!

[Ross Allen @rceallen]

Live on the ice road! 🇬🇧❄️🧊

[Janelle Schiecke @J_Schiecke]

Here’s the cover teaser for Spider 🖤🕷️

Jenna’s life is unraveling at the seams and her condition keeps… growing… worse.

I can’t wait to reveal the full cover, this one’s a banger!! 🔥

[Liis 'Apanthrope' P @Cvr_2_Cvr]

I read The Price of Fear... and bloody loved it!
https://t.co/QNMjSLaIIN

[Steve Stark @starkterror88]

Just unboxed the latest from @Molly_Macabre_

And it seems to be affecting me already 🧟‍♂️

[DerekandJustinsEpicQuest @DandJepicQ]

It is an honor to be a judge in the inaugural #IBOR competition!

My three books!

The Sea Dragons Vault by @SuperCliff91

The Winds of War by @MoeWanders

The Silver Crystal by @TheRyanLanz

I will also be giving a copy of each of these books away during the competition!

[Rob J. Hayes (Author of The God Eater Saga) @RoboftheHayes]

February is STACKED!

The Feb list of self published fantasy is here and we are spoilt for choice this month. Get them all!

https://t.co/8ncZdPwu0c

[Jon Davies @JonDaviesWriter]

🤣🤣👍🏼

[⚔️LordTBR_FFA⚔️ @LordTBR_FFA]

2025 FFA AWARDS!
Sponsored by @binding_broken

The categories are:
Best Traditionally Published Novel of 2025
Best Self-Published Novel of 2025
Best Traditionally Published Debut Novel of 2025
Best Self-Published Debut Novel of 2025

TIME TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS!

[Darya Silman @DaryaSilman]

My short #bookreview (or audiobook review) of ELEVATION by Stephen King

[Liis 'Apanthrope' P @Cvr_2_Cvr]

@JLEngel5 Neat cover! 👌 Grabbed a copy.

[J.L. Engel_author @JLEngel5]

One man's family destroyed.
A syndicate left ruins.

Revenge is just the beginning.

Join the vendetta. ⏬️⏬️⏬️⏬️

A Dangerous Man
(Vindicta Spectri Series) https://t.co/LmEE0SMQog