Music of the Moldering / If It Bleeds

Matthew M Bartlett presents a dual narrative in Music of the Moldering / If It Bleeds. The first story follows Marcus Walther, who inherits the James S. Fresser Funeral Home. He struggles with exhaustion and responsibility while listening to an old radio found in the woods. This device plays unsettling programming that targets his vulnerabilities. His sister Susie arrives to manage finances but encounters horrors behind the silent walls of the funeral home. The narrative suggests these events may spread from Leeds to infect the wider world. The second section focuses on WXXT, a radio station described as a slithering tongue in the ear of the Pioneer Valley. A toe-tapping track spreads through Leeds, Massachusetts, heralding unspeakable evil. The broadcast includes crooning from the tomb and doom in the embalming room. Bartlett draws on gothic traditions of haunted locations and cursed media to create this atmosphere of dread. The book suits readers who enjoy supernatural fiction rooted in specific regional settings like the Pioneer Valley. It may not appeal to those seeking traditional ghost stories without modern technological elements. Bartlett qualifies as an author of horror and supernatural fiction through his focus on psychological vulnerability and auditory terror. The work combines family drama with cosmic horror elements. The structure pairs a character-driven funeral home mystery with a radio-centric apocalypse. This approach allows for a study of grief and corruption. The text relies on the eerie nature of broadcast media to drive the plot forward.