Awards
Five of my works have received the Bram Stoker Award:
- My fiction collection While the Black Stars Burn
- My fiction collection Soft Apocalypses
- Shooting Yourself in the Head For Fun and Profit: A Writer’s Survival Guide
- My short story “Magdala Amygdala”
- My poetry collection Chimeric Machines
Two of my works have been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award:
- The anthology Chiral Mad 4, which I co-edited with Michael Bailey
- My fiction collection Garden of Eldritch Delights
Reviews of Spellbent
“Snyder combines the best of Jim Butcher and T.A. Pratt in this wildly imaginative and intensely gripping urban fantasy trilogy launch. … Threads of romance, horror, action, and humor weave throughout, serving as the perfect backdrop against which memorable characters and a unique system of magic can shine.”
— Publishers Weekly starred review
“Apprentice wizard Jessie Shimmer breaks a lot of rules to get her boyfriend/teacher back from hell in this quirky and fast-paced dark urban fantasy, a very impressive first novel.”
— LOCUS
“Another first novel that deserves widespread attention is Spellbent by Lucy A. Snyder, which moves freely between a modern America penetrated by magic and a darker region of hell, with a blunt, kick-ass heroine who turns out to be one of the year’s most likeable first-person protagonists.”
— LOCUS reviewer Faren Miller
“Notable first novels this year included Lucy Snyder’s Spellbent, a fun and distinctive dark urban fantasy, full of attitude, humor, and bits of real horror in a fast-paced tale following student mage Jessie Shimmer as she tries to rescue her teacher from hell.”
— LOCUS reviewer Carolyn Cushman
“A fun, action-packed adventure” (read more)
— SF Site
“It’s a book with balls. Big meaty ones.”
— Lurv a la Mode
“Snyder’s first Jessie Shimmer novel is a lot of fun to read, is loaded to the brim with action, monsters, and surprises around every corner. Shimmer is a tough-as-nails, smart female lead who I think most genre fans will take to before the second chapter ends.”
— Horror Fiction Review
“Jaded urban fantasy fans should consider giving Spellbent a try. Snyder adds together a determined yet flawed heroine, fun secondary characters, a plot with tons of forward momentum, and one seriously creepy Hell, and the end result is a visceral, powerful modern-day Orpheus myth.” (read more)
— Fantasy Literature
“(Snyder’s) real strengths lie in telling a story brimming with energy and attitude … you can’t help but throw yourself on for the ride.”
— Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review
“This opening act of a wonderful urban fantasy (series) is filled with intrigue, romance and plenty of magic that blend together to make an enticing Spellbent tale.”
— Alternative Worlds
“This fast-paced urban fantasy has a few twists that make it stand out from the pack. Yes, the plot moves quickly, but that doesn’t stop Snyder from developing her characters and building her world. Fans of Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series should be pleased with Jessie, another butt-kicking female witch who doesn’t let anyone tell her what to do.”
— Booklist
“Ignore the cover and the back-copy and buy this damn book. Buy it now. Have a damn good time reading it. Thank me later.”
— Horror News
“Fun, exciting, and mixed with humor … this is one that demands to be read.”
— Mania
“Jessie makes a nice change from the (usual) heroines of urban fantasy stories … Snyder is off and running and the story doesn’t slow down until the final page.”
— The Green Man Review
Reviews of Shotgun Sorceress
“With a suspenseful trip through a dark faery region, several uber-dark visits to Jessie’s internal ‘hellement,’ and all kinds of monsters and demons causing all kinds of chaos, Snyder is quickly building a series that–if it keeps up this pace–will surely become a favorite of cross-genre fans.”
— Horror Fiction Review
“Jessie Shimmer has rescued her boyfriend from hell, but her day ain’t over yet. On the run from a bigger, badder supernatural force than she can handle, she ends up in a little niche of hell, a small town in Texas taken over by a demon. In the end, Jessie has a showdown straight out of a spaghetti western. AWESOME.”
— Night Gallery: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review
“Snyder excels at placing the reader directly in the action of her surreal world, and keeps them firmly ensconced there despite a fast and furious pace … Eccentric secondary players also contribute to the enjoyable wild ride.”
— Bitten By Books
“From start to finish this is a wild ride that you’ll find impossible to set aside so, once you begin reading, don’t make any plans for the weekend!” (read more)
— Night Owl Reviews
Reviews of Chimeric Machines
“(This) may be the best collection of poetry I’ve read in years … There is not one poem in Chimeric Machines that doesn’t fit in place like a delicately carved piece of a complex and consuming puzzle. … There is no other writer working today quite like Lucy A. Snyder.” (read more)
— Hellnotes
“What Snyder accomplishes in less than eighty pages is an emotional scoring that few can approach. … This is (real life), given breath and teeth, stood out in front of the world in all its beautiful grime. Her work is emotional, powerful, and will shake a person’s foundations … I applaud this collection.”
— Scott A. Johnson, author of City of Demons
“Snyder is a massively talented writer — the sort who knows how to make you take a gulp when you hit the ending of a story or poem — and this poetry collection made me gulp with awe on virtually every page. … With an introduction by Tom Piccirilli and collaborative contributions from Gary Braunbeck, many horror readers would enjoy the experience of this collection. This is not horror poetry, always, but it is something bigger, something simpler: just great poetry. Snyder’s Chimeric Machines deserves to win a literary award.” (read more)
— Michael A. Arnzen, author of Proverbs for Monsters
“Her poetry is powerful, honest, playful … this is not the first time she has walked dangerous, uncertain roads with her work and I hope it will not be the last.”
— Horror News
Reviews of Sparks and Shadows
“Snyder has a unique voice and her work is almost instantly recognisable. … It’s rare to encounter a writer who so loves words and the changes that can be rung and the tricks that can be played. Rare and precious. But because of Snyder’s versatility, it’s difficult to give an overview of this collection. Every piece is different, and every piece demands attention. … Dark, funny, and romantic by turns, Sparks and Shadows is a must read. Go! Buy! Read!” (read more)
— Greatest Uncommon Denominator Magazine
“(T)his has to be, hands down, the best collection I’ve read since Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts. … Lucy Snyder means business, people. She is here to kick ass and take names.” (read more)
— Hellnotes
“Snyder’s work is vibrant and resonant and superbly measured … Short, sharp, and sometimes slightly shocking, (her) fiction is always memorable. … (T)he stories in Sparks and Shadows weave a spell that’ll prove hard to shake. It really is a bacchanalia in there, and you just might find you don’t want to turn the last page. Nicely presented as a limited edition from HW Press with a distinctive Deena Warner cover, this volume belongs in any serious dark fantasy collection.”
— ChiZine
“(N)o matter what kind of story you like – romantic, creepy, violently scary, Hitchcockian, devilishly clever, or packed with fantastic adventure, you’ll find something in this book that will seem written just for you. And along the way, you’ll discover that you hold in your hands the works of a superior writer.”
— FearZone
“(N)ot only does Lucy A. Snyder write truly intelligent horror that is both witty and political but her stories and poems tap the feminist potential of horror to illuminate the shadowy extremes of both love and hate. … (Snyder’s writing) reminds us that horror is as much a girl thing as it ever was a guy thing. Yet, Snyder never preaches or lectures, she just entertains you with manic pieces like ‘Camp Songs: Innocent Fun or Diabolical Brainwashing Plot?’ and ‘The Dickification of the American Female.'”
— Green Man Review
“The short stories and poems in Lucy Snyder’s debut collection range from dark to very dark to sexy to hopeful, often with a wry twist of humor … Highly recommended for lovers of the creepy and twisted.” (read more)
— Sequential Tart
“At times poignant, witty, erotic, thoughtful, chilling and maniacally gleeful, Sparks and Shadows is a delightful collection and book length introduction to an author to watch.”
— Horror Reader
Reviews of Installing Linux on a Dead Badger
“It’s rare to find a writer who can combine social commentary, popular culture, and science fiction without cheapening the laughs, but this author’s balanced the act to perfection. With smart, well-crafted writing, and humor to tickle readers of varying tastes and genre preference, Lucy A. Snyder could be one of the funniest new writers on the planet.” (read more)
— SFReader.com
“Snyder succeeds in making zombies (both human and animal) wickedly funny — no matter how jaded you are by cries of ‘Braaaaaaaaaaaains!!!’ Either this book will make you laugh out loud at least once, or you should consider having yourself checked for signs of death.” (read more)
— Greatest Uncommon Denominator Magazine
“If, like me, you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in the Information Technology departments of large corporations, this book will either open your eyes to new possibilities, or just confirm what you’ve suspected all along.”
— Dread Central
“Verdict: Thumbs up. If you like your fiction with healthy doses of humor, horror, and computer in-jokes, this is definitely something you’re going to enjoy.”
— Lubbock Online
Tangent Online has reviewed several of the stories in Installing Linux on a Dead Badger:
“‘The Great Vüdü Linux Teen Zombie Massacree’ by Lucy Snyder is a hilarious romp through the state of Texas in a world gone mad … one laugh effortlessly follows the other.”
“Snyder, like her Linux gangs, has taken a dead body (in this case, cyberpunk) and fused it with the latest elements of science fiction to tell a story which is funny, dark, and cheerfully absurd.”
“‘Graveyard Shift’ is Lucy A. Snyder’s whip-smart and darkly funny take on the latest hot employee group, the dead … Laced with jet-black humor, this is a great story and a great world to read about, if not live in.”
Miscellaneous Short Fiction Reviews
“Very funny and well-written, and a nice satirical comment on the lengths corporations will go to in order to stay ahead.”
— Jason Lundberg on “Your Corporate Network and the Forces of Darkness”
“Both funny and creepy at the same time … there’s something to be said about (a story) arguing the pros and cons between raising the dead and calling up the Old Ones.”
— The Grin Without A Cat on “Your Corporate Network and the Forces of Darkness”
“A mixture of the surreal, the macabre, and mythical … This story is one you must read, think about, dream about, then perhaps re-read it because it refuses to leave your mind.”
— reviewer S. Joan Popek on “Soul Searching”
“Lucy Snyder’s ‘The Sheets Were Clean And Dry’ is fittingly seductive and darkly erotic, and only a publisher like Gauntlet would have the balls to understand that some horror is best when it is allowed to remain untouched, and not diluted like the fare on Showtime’s Masters of Horror.”
— Joshua Jabcuba’s review of Masques V at Squib Central
“‘The Sheets Were Clean and Dry’ by Lucy A. Snyder is a dark and violent story … and extremely powerful. It’s another one of my favorites.”
— Dread Central’s review of Masques V
“Powerful and distressing.”
— SF Site reviewer Hank Luttrell on “Souls to Take”