Where to Begin with the Award-Winning Horror Author

Though you could say this novel is more fantasy than horror, it is nonetheless haunting, and this article couldn’t be a primer to Files’ versatility as a writer if it omitted her Hexslinger series. I like to think of the trilogy as Files’ own unique version of The Dark Tower, in that she built as deep and complex a world as Stephen King did in his series. However, the world contained in these stories could only have come from the dark imagination of its creator. 

Related: Every Stephen King Movie, Ranked 

A Book of Tongues is, to put it simply, one of the most disturbing and insane Westerns you’ll ever read. It takes place in an alt-universe America during the Civil War, where destructive magicians, called “hexslingers,” are trained by a government program. Enter undercover agent Ed Morrow, who is trying to capture a gang that’s been terrorizing the Western territories. Readers are taken on a true lesson in worldbuilding, and I found myself constantly amazed at Files’ ability to conjure this brutal version of the Wild West without weighing down the story. You might want to dig into one of the books mentioned above before trying to walk the lands of Hexlinger, but if and when you do pick this up, you’ll be ready for a unique experience.