MARCH 2012 Reviews

MARCH, 2012 REVIEWS

(NOTE: The "smell ratings" at the end of some reviews rate the actual SMELL of the book and have nothing to do with the story.  Smell Ratings: 5 = excellent, 1 = odorless, 2-4 = you figure it out.  Book Key: hc = hardcover / tp = trade paperback / mmp - mass market paperback / rarer forms described.  Unless otherwise noted, all reviews are by Nick Cato)

DESTROYER OF WORLDS by Daniel G. Koehane (2012 Other Roads Press / 181 pp / tp and eBook)

Corey Union moves his wife and young daughter away from the city to an isolated home.  Paranoid the world is about to end, he forbids newspapers or TV news from coming into the house.  He continues to travel to the city to work, and spends his off-time exploring his new vast, wooded property.  He also locates the key to a family heirloom; an ugly old clock, which eventually plays into his end-times apprehension.

Corey and his wife Samantha's closest neighbor is an attractive woman named Vanessa, whose actions being to trouble Corey.  She seems nice enough, but it becomes apparent she's attracted to both of them and things start to get uncomfortable.

And just why is Corey haunted by a local serial killer who is now locked behind bars for life?

DESTROYER OF WORLDS is a brilliant novel where nothing is as it seems.  The first half reads like a clever take on the end-times thriller genre with a serial killer sub-plot to give it a unique flavor.  But by the second half, Koehane assaults the reader with so many twists, turns, and surprises you won't know which way is up or down.  Add a satisfying conclusion and you have the first must-read novel of 2012.  Don't miss it.

AUDITION by Ryu Murakami (translated by Ralph McCarthy) (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2010 {first American printing}; 190 pgs./ tb)

Aoyama lost his wife to cancer and has raised his son alone for the last seven years.  Now the fifteen-year-old Shige tells his father he thinks it’s time to find a new wife.  Aoyama discusses this with his friend Yoshikawa.  Both men have a background in production so Yoshikawa comes up with the brilliant idea of holding an audition to find Aoyama a wife.

Yoshikawa takes care of all of the details and before long they receive three thousand resumes.  This is subsequently whittled down to 100 and then Aoyama picks a final thirty.  While going through the resumes he comes across one for Asami, a beautiful young woman who sounds perfect to him.  They conduct the audition, but Aoyama is clearly only interested in Asami.  She is smart, educated and trained as a ballerina until an injury forced her to quit.

A relationship develops between Aoyama and Asami.  Aoyama is verging on obsessed….he is like a teenage boy.  Asami makes it clear eventually that she shares the same feelings for Aoyama.  There is some odd behavior that Aoyama overlooks but Yoshikawa thinks there is something wrong with Asami.  They can’t find anyone who actually knows the young woman and can verify her story.  Yosikawa pleads with Aoyama to be careful.

The couple goes away for a weekend, but Aoyama wakes up in the hotel room alone after a long night of sex that he cannot completely remember.  Weeks go by but he still cannot find Asami.  Unfortunately for Aoyama, Asami will come to him when he least expects it…and with a vengeance.

As a sort of disclaimer, AUDITION was made into a movie in 1999 by one of my favorite directors, Takashi Miike, and is one of my favorite movies of all time.  Now that that’s out of the way I can tell you that the book is well-written and a quick read.  The characters of Aoyama and Asami are well-developed throughout the story and though Aoyama and Yoshikawa initially come across as sexist, Murakami makes it clear that Aoyama is thoroughly in love with Asami.  She turns out to be something completely different than he expects.  The story is subtle and builds to a rather gruesome climax that had me cringing.  More than horror, AUDITION is a tragic study in human psychology and what motivates and shapes us.

-Colleen Wanglund

‘NIDS by Ray Garton (2011 e-reads.com / 168 pp / eBook)

Ray Garton is an evil, evil arachnoterrorist! First he wouldn’t stop flooding my facebook with horrific images of spiders until I bought this book, and then I bought this book and read it and what happens? He floods my MIND with horrific images of spiders!!!

If the title, ‘Nids, is the totes kosh new way of referring to arachnids, then I guess that makes me a ‘Phobe, and as a ‘Phobe, the main thing I have to say about this book is AAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE *bugdance*

Okay, I have other things to say, too. As a writer, I cannot help but admire, with however much squeamish revulsion, the artistry of Mr. Garton’s descriptions … most notably in the doghouse scene, where the word ‘blossomed’ has never before been used to such nightmarishly beautiful effect. 

But, yeah. Spiders. This story is a classic in the sense of the black and white 50’s drive in monster movie thrillers. No fuss, no muss, no misdirection. We begin with half a dozen teenagers making out at the local lover’s lane, ka-blam there’s a huge explosion at the top-secret classified biogenetics company at the edge of town, and next thing you know, people are getting messily devoured by a spider roughly the size of a sofa. 

It’s a very hungry spider (which, just typing that, made me think of what a weird children’s book THAT would have been, instead of a caterpillar). Naturally, nobody wants to believe the first witnesses – teenagers with suspiciously minty-fresh breath – but deniability isn’t a luxury the people of Hope Valley can afford. 

The additional characters include the sheriff who has to contend with what’s on the loose in his town, the spider-geek kid brother of one of the teens, and a whole cast of townsfolk we barely get to know before they’re ‘nid bait. 

The carnage is over-the-top fun. It’s a spideriffic schlock horror creature feature in book form. While I have some ethical qualms about supporting and encouraging arachnoterrorism, I have to say, the read was worth it!

So, please, buy this book … save me from having to endure another advertising barrage of spider pics … but not necessarily so many that Ray feels like he has to do a sequel complete with advertisting barrage of spider pics …

Crud. Either way, there’s gonna be spiders, isn’t there? Eek!

-Christine Morgan

SWITCHBLADE GODDESS by Lucy A. Snyder (2011 Del Rey / 323 pp / mmp)

The third in Snyder's Jessie Shimmer series finds our favorite mossberg-toting occult heroine sort-of recouping in a small Texas town after the events of SHOTGUN SORCERESS.  Like the pervious novels, the action kicks right in: Jessie is on a mission to get her familiar, Pal, healed.  He's still in the form of a giant arachnid yet has been sickened from bites by a pack of wererats.  Standing in her way is the brutal demigoddess Miko, who has found a way to enter Jessie's 'hellement,' a personal realm that has now become a torture chamber for Jessie and her boyfriend Cooper.

Jessie is still trying to control her ectoplasm-firing hand as well as her mystic-stone eye.  This time she's aided by her father (who commincates with her through compact mirrors), an energy potion concoted by her brother, and a humorous but sincere old witch who helps to heal Pal (I like what becomes of him).

Miko, the Switchblade Goddess of the title, is as sexy as she is hell-bent for blood and destruction.  Her backstory is one of the finer sections of the novel, and the torments she imputes to Jessie are beyond grim.

I'm loving this fast-moving series that combines modern urban fantasy with generous amounts of horror, action, monsters, and the supernatural.  Another cross-genre winner from Snyder.

Smell Rating: 5

CARNACKI: HEAVEN AND HELL by William Meikle (2011 Ghost House {Dark Regions Press} / 250 pp / tp)

Carnacki is an Edwardian occult detective with and excellent reputation.  CARNACKI: HEAVEN AND HELL is an anthology of the detective exploits, as told to Carnacki’s trusted friends, of whom Dodgson is the storyteller here.

My favorite story is the three part novella “The Dark Island” about Sir John who is destined to die on his 50th birthday, as his father and grandfather before him.  It seems a small island in a loch on Sir John’s land is the home to supposed spirits of dead ancestors.  Carnacki discovers something far worse and more dangerous than some ghosts.  Carnacki is able to call on his past experiences to hopefully help save Sir John from his appointed fate.

Other great stories include “The Lusitania”, about the haunting of the famed cruise ship that proves to be an omen of its tragic future; “The Tomb of Pygea” about an ancient tomb unearthed on a building site that is deadly to the workers who found it; and “The Beast of Glamis” that tells of a Scottish castle haunted by a tragic young woman’s ghost.

All of the stories are scary paranormal tales that seem to center on a place Carnacki refers to as the Outer Regions where all manner of entity can dwell.  I had so much fun reading CARNACKI, as I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and that is how Meikle’s book reads.  The stories themselves are well-written with excellent character and historical detail.  The “glue” that holds it all together is a group of men sitting in a smoky room with some Scotch and you will feel as though you are that very room listening to Carnacki tell his tales.  I believe Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be pleased with CARNACKI: HEAVEN AND HELL.  I, for one would love to read more stories of the occult detective’s exploits.

-Colleen Wanglund

ZOMBIES AND SHIT by Carlton Mellick III (2010 Deadite Press / 233 pp / tp)

Twenty people wake up in unfamiliar surroundings.  It turns out they’ve been abducted/chosen (depending how you look at it) to appear on a reality TV show called Zombie Survival, a brutal contest that’s the top rated show in a futuristic world overrun by the living dead.  An Asian woman explains their predicament: they have three days to cross the Red Zone, a decayed city where zombies and robotic dogs stand in the way of a helicopter…a helicopter that will take only one person to safety.  And while alliances are formed, each contestant knows this is to-the-death scenario.

The contestants have all come from a surviving city’s poorest Quadrant: in Mellick’s grim post-apocalyptic world, classes live in separated areas, but only those in the exclusive Platinum Quadrant have the benefit of television, where Zombie Survival is the top rated program.

While ZOMBIES AND SHIT is packed to the brim with off-the-wall violence, interesting weapons, action, and zombie attacks, it’s the contestants (many of them street punks) and their quirks/abilities that make this novel so much fun to read.

One thing I enjoy about Mellick’s story telling is I seriously doubt he could ever write a 100% “normal” horror novel…and that’s a compliment.  He infuses just the right amount of his trademark weirdness to give ZOMBIES AND SHIT a different flavor than your typical end-of-the-world undead epic, my favorite being a black character named Laurence who turns out to be a cyborg version of a popular 1980s TV star.

A blend of the seldom-seen 1986 film DEAD END DRIVE-IN and BATTLE ROYALE, Mellick’s “thank you letter to the zombie genre” is a real wild ride that you don’t have to be a zombie fan to enjoy.

(Note: while ZOMBIES AND SHIT is a true, fresh spin on the subgenre, one grossly underrated novel took an amazing look at reality shows and zombies a few years earlier: check out Jason R. Hornsby’s EVERY SIGH, THE END (2006) if you enjoy Mellick’s novel).

THE HAUNTER OF THE THRESHOLD by Edward Lee (2010 Deadite Press / 292 pp / tp)

Okay, who set Edward Lee the dare of “oh yeah, well I bet you can’t fit ALL those fetishes, kinks, perversions and degredations into ONE book”? Whoever it was, I bet you’re sorry now … and dragged the rest of us right along with you! 

The back cover promises that this is Lee’s ‘most pornographic novel to date’ and I for one am pretty much inclined to agree. The stuff that main character Hazel Greene gets off on might be enough to make almost anybody blanch. It’s eye-popping, jaw-dropping, leg-crossing, gag-inducing and downright vile … and that’s not even counting the scenes with Lovecraftian monstrosities. 

Hazel’s also in love with her pregnant best friend, had a secret fling with said best friend’s fiance, just had a huge fight with her boyfriend when he screwed up his lines during her carefully scripted debasement fantasy, and is avoiding the dad who wishes she’d repent and return to the Church. 

THEN she goes to spend a relaxing weekend at a cabin in a creepy little town where her first run-ins with the locals exceed even her imagination. Nightmares that would have sent most people gibbering to the psych ward leave her more turned on than ever. The vacation becomes immersion in a simmering cauldron of icky lust. 

And the more Hazel tries to investigate her friend’s finace’s obsession with a colleague’s discoveries involving terrible destructive otherworldly forces, the deeper she gets drawn into the whole seething squirmy tentacly horror. Can she save her friend and her friend’s unborn baby? Can she save the world? Can she save herself? Does she really want to?

It is, basically, everything you might expect and dread rom Edward Lee at his full-throttle best.  THE HAUNTER OF THE THRESHOLD will haunt you, as well as scar, traumatize and abuse. 

Therefore, I highly recommend it to all bent weirdos like me … the rest of you, I can’t warn away strongly enough … so if you still go and read it, I’d say “sorry” but it might sound a bit like “neener neener muahaha” or “hey, I DID warn you!”

-Christine Morgan

SHADOWS OF THE PAST by Richard Schiver (Abis Books 2012/240 pgs./Tp)

Sam Hardin is a detective with the D.C. police department.  He is also a man with some deep psychological scars.  Sam’s pregnant wife Anne was killed and the baby, Frankie was born with brain damage from the bullet.  Four years on and what’s left of his family is falling apart.  Teenage daughter Cheryl fears her father’s temper, alcoholism, and the possibility of his suicide.  Michelle, Anne’s best friend is the only person keeping it together.

Sam is temporarily brought out of the sorrow of his past by an unusual murder at a warehouse.  The bodies are mutilated in such a way that no human could be responsible.  Sam and his partner Dave are led to a professor of ancient history and a knife that may lie at the center of it all.  The bodies continue to pile up and Sam is thrust into a fight for the very survival of the human race, a fight that his son Frankie seems to have some important part in.

I enjoyed reading SHADOWS OF THE PAST.  The story is an engaging one that for the most part is well-written and suitably frightening.  Character development is good and we are given enough of Sam’s past to pity him, while at the same time wanting to tell him to get it together already!  That being said, I did have some issues with the book.  I wanted more details about the knife and the site it was found at.  There was a conversation that the knife and the civilization that made it were thousands of years older than humans.  Who were they and why did they think they could take back the Earth?  I also didn’t completely understand the significance of the knife.  Was it the knife that brought the entity back or the finding of the site in Antarctica?  I also thought the revelation of abuse in Michelle’s past seemed unimportant, and more of an afterthought to give her character more depth.  There was also an issue with Cheryl and her possible involvement in a crime, but there was no real resolution to that.

The ending is a little predictable, but still very good and even after all of my bitching, it leaves things open a bit.  Maybe there’s a sequel with more background of the evil entity?  I would like reading more about this advanced civilization that disappeared and could supplant humans as the top dog on the food chain.  Just a little more meat is all I ask. Overall SHADOWS OF THE PAST is a very good read and I do recommend it…I just wish it didn’t have all of the loose ends.

-Colleen Wanglund

BADASS ZOMBIE ROAD TRIP by Tonia Brown (2012 Books of the Dead Press / eBook)

Dale and Jonah are on their way to a gig in Nevada when Jonah decides he wants to check out California first.  Dale is vehemently against this, saying he can’t cross into California. But once he falls asleep, Jonah drive to California anyway.  This turns out to be the biggest mistake of Jonah’s life.

The minute they cross the state line, Dale wakes up and freaks out, begging Jonah to go back.  While they are arguing about it, Jonah realizes there’s a cop pulling them over.  Dale tells him to keep going, but Jonah knows he has to pull over.

The cop is actually Satan, who has come to collect Dale’s soul.  Jonah doesn’t believe at first, then gradually has to admit that this is really happening.  He also tries bargaining with Satan to save Dale, but Satan won’t have it.  After much arguing, Satan kills Dale.  Jonah is shocked and angry, leading to his own deal with Satan - he can have Dale’s soul back if he finds it in time.  If not, Satan gets Jonah’s soul as well.

Then the devil reanimates Dale’s corpse, and sends the two on their way to find Dale’s soul before the seven-day time allotment is up.  What follows is complete chaos and insanity as the two blunder their way across the country.  Since Dale is now undead, he rots and stinks throughout the trip, much to Jonah’s dismay.

In addition, they pick up a hitchhiker, Candy, who turns out to be a stripper.  She has her own problems, which end up being mixed up with Jonah’s.

BADASS ZOMBIE ROAD TRIP is a fun, exhilarating read.  It’s laugh-out-loud funny at times, yet it still has a bit of a heart.  How Jonah and Candy keep Dale from falling apart and stinking up the car is hilarious.  The characters are likeable and the dialog believable.  

Check out Badass Zombie Road Trip; you’ll be glad you did.

-Sheri White

THE CREATURE FROM BEYOND by Paul Braus (2011 River East Press / 228 pp / tp)

In this follow-up to THE CREATURE’S CURSE, Paul Braus continues the story of the creature created by the witchcraft of the mentally unstable Abigail.  Samantha is a cousin of Abigail and is looking for the Sibber Medallion, which can only be used by the women of the Sibber family.  The medallion is with Professor Peter Earnhardt, left with him by Oak Alderson of the Sheriff’s Department.  Alderson was investigating the murders of two people at the old house where Abigail and Eldon Bailey were brutally murdered years before.  Their teenage son Cordus disappeared and is believed to be responsible for his parents’ deaths.

This time the town’s mayor has allowed a television crew to film at the old house.  It is a show about paranormal activity and the story of past murders has drawn the show’s creator to what he hopes is a haunted house.  Unfortunately what they find is so much worse.  Now Alderson has even more murders to solve, but he has an understanding of whom or what is responsible.  With the help of the only survivor of the creature and Samantha, the case will eventually be closed and Alderson will have his answers.

As with the first novel, THE CREATURE FROM BEYOND is well-written and character development is excellent.  Braus doesn’t assume that the reader has read THE CREATURE’S CURSE and gives enough detail to keep the reader engaged.  I really like the supernatural element to Braus’ stories and the frightening nature of the creature.  I also found myself sympathizing with the creature, as his predicament is a cruel punishment that he didn’t deserve.  I highly recommend THE CREATURE FROM BEYOND but definitely read THE CREATURE’S CURSE for the full wild ride.

-Colleen Wanglund

GIGANTIC DEATH WORM by Vince Kramer (2011 Eraserhead Press / 70 pp / tp)

In yet another offering in Eraserhead Press' New Bizarro Author Series, don't expect a singular title monster: not only are there multiple death worms (of various sizes) on the loose in Arizona, there are also hungry bears who spit wolves, rampant brain parasites, and flying Mexican ninjas who aid our protagonist in battling the creatures and saving his big-boobed buddy Suzanne (who has become a worm-headed mutant).  There's also more sex and beer-guzzling than in every 80s teenage comedy combined.

This is Kramer's take on the 2012 Mayan prophecy thing, written like a deranged pre-school teacher allowed her strangest student to experiment with a new form of liqud crack after handing out paper with neon crayons.  If this brief novelette doesn't cause you to laugh 'till your ribs hurt, you're taking life too seriously.

Bizarro doesn't get much funnier (or entertaining) than this.

THE NIGHT ETERNAL by Guilllermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan (2011 William Morrow / 382 pp / available in all formats)

In the blockbuster finale to the vampire virus apocalypse begun in THE STRAIN and continued in THE FALL, it is definitely not looking good for humanity. 

They’ve been toppled from their comfy spot at the top of the food chain, overwhelmed by a superior and infectious predator. Their environment has undergone a drastic change – two years of nuclear winter, lack of sunlight, the entire ecology and climate thrown for a loop. 

What survivors there are exist mainly now as good little worker drones who may not exactly welcome their vampiric overlords but submit meekly to the new regime in exchange for the basics like food, stability, and occasional creature comforts. They’ll report suspicious activity and turn in their neighbors in hopes of garnering favor or reward. The infirm and useless are brutally culled. The leader-types are put down hard and fast as an example to others. Many of the healthy are kept in blood camps, the equivalent of factory farms, where they “donate” regularly. The choice blood-types are pampered and bred. Conservation, control, management and renewable resources, yo. 

We might LIKE to think of ourselves as determined survivors and fighter-backers, but honestly, it’s all too easy to believe this is what would actually happen. Especially in America, where, let’s face it, we’re spoiled as hell. Deprivation, fear, struggle? Oh, we’d cave, we’d cave so fast …

Since the “okay” rageface guy image of capitulation and surrender does not make for good heroic storytelling, however, fortunately for us there’s still some pockets of resistance out there. Including the core characters from the previous books, or at least the ones who are among the living and uncorrupted. 

They have one strange but powerful ally in the form of Mr. Quinlan, an anomaly among the vampires. They have one major Achilles’ Heel in the form of Zack Goodweather, son of former CDC threat team leader Dr. Ephram Goodweather, who’s being held hostage by the Master. They have a silver-edged book of ancient lore that could hold the key to the vampires’ undoing, and a backpack nuke just in case. And they keep being told they must have friends in high places to have made it this far, though it’s hard to believe as the personal losses continue to mount. 

Awesome book, very satisfying finale to a very enjoyable trilogy. If a smidge too deus-ex-machina here and there, it’s largely forgiveable, and much less out of nowhere than events in other similar end-times epics I could name. 

So, read it, it’s a good one! Vampires deserve to be scary again!

-Christine Morgan

HOW TO RECOGNIZE A DEMON HAS BECOME YOUR FRIEND by Linda Addison (2011 Necon eBooks / 112 pp / eBook and tp)

Addison's collection of poetry and short stories leans on the dark fantasy/horror side and is sprinkled generously with some nifty (and at times funny) sci-fi.

Among my favorite stories were 'The Power,' about two young girls learning how to use witchcraft via their grandmother in the wake of an attack from granny's old nemesis; 'Excerpts from the Unabridged Traveler's Guide as UFOs in Galaxy A.G.2' is a short but hysterical piece that gives light to some popular UFO myths; 'Just Passing Through' is a cleverly-written short that features a human communicating with a supernatural life form; 'Artificial Unintelligence,' another funny sci-fi romp told in humorous e-mails, and finally 'Boo,' a genuinely terrifying look at paranoia on Halloween night.

My favorite poems include 'Land Sharks,' an inventive and fun urban fantasy of sorts (and originally appeared in an issue of the famous Asimov's SF Magazine), 'Comic Cannibals,' 'Demon Dance,' and the title piece also display the author's skill at dark verse.

 There are many more tales and poems here, and not a slow one in the bunch.  This is a fine introduction to Addison's world and a trip well worth taking.

Smell Rating: 0

CLICKERS by J. F. Gonzalez and Mark WIlliams (2005 Hard Shell Word Factory / 268 PP / TP)

Lucky find at the used bookstore, the 2005 trade paperback edition, couldn’t pass it up after the buzz – well, after the clickzzz! – I’d become aware of over the years. 

And, hey, freaky undersea monsters? I’m in! I love the ocean, but, only when seen from the top. Not a snorkeler. Not a diver. The sea still contains more bizarre undiscovered critters than we can shake a stick at, and, frankly, the idea of running into them gives me the willies. The idea of them strutting ashore to say howdy is bad … that they’d strut ashore in a voracious unstoppable swarm? Eek. 

Needless to say, eek is what this book is all about. Strutting, clicking, pinchery, armor-plated eek with long jabby scorpion tails. If that’s not bad enough, toss in flesh-dissolving acid venom and we hit the escape velocity of EEK. 

So here’s your basic picturesque New England town … quaint, quiet, peaceful. Until the crab-lobster-scorpion-things start scuttling out of the waves. BIG ones, too. The mutant older brother revenge version of all the crustaceans we’ve dunked into boiling water. 

The first person to encounter one is author Rick Sycheck, the newcomer to town, before he even gets to town. Being a long-haired writer type, he’s already got a strike against him as far as the sheriff is concerned. Debuting with a car crash, and then claiming it was because he ran over something that looked like a giant crab?

Rick’s claim ends up vindicated – of course, in the way these things go! – when more of the crab-things appear. Before most of sleepy Phillipsport knows what hit it, the death toll is skyrocketing, the survivors are fighting for their lives, and … it’s about to get even worse. 

The Clickers are just the first wave, so to speak. Something else dwells in the deeps, another species eager to follow their natural prey ashore and chow down on anything or anybody else that happens to get in their way. 

It’s clicky-clacky good fun, if your idea of good fun consists of stings, severed limbs, melting body parts, engaging characters who are not safe from meeting hideous gory ends, desperate action, and monsters. 

If your idea of good fun doesn’t consist of those things, well, really, what are you doing reading this in the first place?

As for me, now I need to track down the sequels!

-Christine Morgan

NOTE TO BOOK SUBMITTERS:

DON'T PANIC!  We will get to your book...by the middle of February, we've been over-stuffed with review material.  PLEASE be patient...we're only human.

(That said...next month expect a review of LORE, an anthology edited by Rod Heather and Sean O'Leary, as well as William Ollie's latest novel, PITCH...)

MAGAZINE update

It's been a LONG TIME since we've had a horror fiction magazine update, and as some of you may know, reading through a copy of BLACK STATIC or CEMETERY DANCE can take almost as much time as getting through a small novel.  Now let's get down to business...

I'm among the legion of fans who often complains about the long delays in-between issues of CEMETERY DANCE, but once again Richard Chizmar and co. have delivered not only an outstanding magazine, but their largest issue yet with no. 65.

Graham Masterton fans should have this on their must-read list as it includes a lengthy interview (conducted by J.A. Konrath) as well as two fantastic Masterton short stories, as well as two more non-fiction pieces.

This issue's other memorable fiction offerings include a heartbreaking urban terror tale from Maurice Broaddus, Lisa Tuttle takes a most unusual look at a relationship in 'Manskin, Womanskin,' and David Bells' 'The Book of the Dead,'  features another relationship-themed story about a Japanese woman dealing with the death of her American husband (this may be of interest to fans of The Beatles---and no, the protagonist is not Yoko Ono!).  Of the ten stories included here there wasn't a sour one in the batch.

The usual features include plenty of Stephen King info. in Bev Vincent's famous 'News from the Dead Zone' column, another great installment of Thomas Monteleone's 'The Mothers and Fathers Italian Associtiation,' plus plenty of interviews (including Ray Bradbury, Ellen Datlow, and Whitley Streiber) and another crop of book reviews that (somehow) seem more current than in past issues.

Order a copy at: CEMETERY DANCE Issue 65

The 25th issue of BLACK STATIC (Nov. 2011) kicks off with two nifty film columns, then Mike O'Driscoll takes a look at Justin Cronin's THE PASSAGE.

The fiction comes fast, dark, and heavy with Alison Littlewood's 'About the Dark,' a claustrophobic look at what befalls a few friends who investigate the legends of a a local cave.  Latent Apprehension rules tenants during an apartment blackout in Christopher Fowler's 'The Curtain Parts,' and Ray Cluley's eerie 'The Travellers Stay' follows a family's experience at a run down motel.  Barbara Barnett also delivers a (lengthy) winner, while Nathaniel Tapley's short 'Best Summer, Ever' is basically a humorous look at a business letter--perhaps a bit out of place in BLACK STATIC, but entertaining nonetheless.

Peter Tennant reviews several horror novels with a historical niche, than delivers an informative interview with author D.F. Lewis, then Tony Lee's boat-load of DVD reviews caps off another high-quality issue.

Order a copy here: BLACK STATIC Issue 25

In the 26th issue of BLACK STATIC (Dec 2011/Jan2012),  the three opening comment columns are highlighted by Christopher Fowler's brief coverage of the 12th London Frightfest, as well as the latest British Fantasy Society Convention.

Among this issue's five fiction pieces, Gary McMahon's 'Remains,' stuck with me the longest, and will cause you to make sure your bones are in proper working order; Andrew Hook's 'Dizzy Land' tells the odd tale of Hunter, who is attempting to develop a park comprised of vintage carnival rides; and Ray Cluley (featured for the second issue in a row) strikes with 'I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing,' a rich, unique, haunting piece dealing with fisherman and writers.

Mark Rigney and Carole Johnstone deliver solid stories, although Johnstone's ending is quite depressing so be forewarned.

Peter Tennant focuses his book reviews on anthologies and collections before hitting stand-alone novels (there's quite a few covered here).  And while I always look forward to Tony Lee's DVD reviews, this issue he was negative over every film covered (I'm assuming he just didn't get the twisted, comic-book like nature of HELLDRIVER?), but at least he praises the 10th season DVD collection of SMALLVILLE.  (Wait--isn't BLACK STATIC supposed to be a horror magazine?  I understand there's somewhat of an occultic theme in some episodes, but seriously---let's try to keep things away from super heroes (unless, of course, we're talking THE TOXIC AVENGER!).)

Fun stuff.

Order a copy here: BLACK STATIC Issue 26

FEBRUARY, 2012 REVIEWS

FEBRUARY, 2012 REVIEWS

(NOTE: The "smell ratings" at the end of some reviews rate the actual SMELL of the book and have nothing to do with the story.  Smell Ratings: 5 = excellent, 1 = odorless, 2-4 = you figure it out.  Book Key: hc = hardcover / tp = trade paperback / mmp - mass market paperback / rarer forms described.  Unless otherwise noted, all reviews are by Nick Cato)

PREVIEW

CARNAGE ROAD by Gregory Lamberson (to be released April 3, 2012 by Print is Dead / 86 pp / tp and eBook)


Every time I say I’m tired of zombie stories, I seem to read one that proves the subgenre is simply here to stay.  CARNAGE ROAD is a fine example of why: part EASY RIDER, part DAWN OF THE DEAD, this quick novella features two biker buddies, Boone and Walker, who decide to take a cross-country trek when the rest of their gang, the Floating Dragons, abandon their Buffalo, NY compound when a gang of rogue cops kill half their members.  Boone always wanted to see Hollywood, and convinces Walker to go with him—Walker had recommended trying Canada, but the cold weather didn’t appeal to Boone.


The story wastes NO time getting to the undead action.  Along the way our anti-heroes encounter both sane and insane religious zealots, manage to take in a movie at an abandoned Indiana theater, are arrested in Kansas by racist political extremists, all the while battling hordes of cannibalistic cadavers and burning rubber on their hogs.  The boys also come across the most imaginative group of zombies I’ve read in some time at the foot of a twelve-story building.  When they finally reach Hollywood there’s a hysterical scene where undead celebrities are spotted.  When they realizing there’s just too many zombies around, they decide to head to Texas, where they join a group of survivors at the Alamo.


CARNAGE ROAD may be brief but it’s packed to the gills with brain-splattering zombie goodness, social commentary, a bleak apocalyptic ending, and good old-fashioned b-movie-style fun.  Zombie fans will love it.

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THE FALL by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan (2011 Harper Collins / 448 pp / mmp)

This second in the series definitely requires the reading familiarity of the first, but, given how rip-roaring a series it is, that shouldn’t be any sort of a hardship. 

THE FALL picks up right after THE STRAIN, in a New York plunged into plague, riots, and chaos. The vampire virus has also begun overwhelming several other cities and the world is well on its way to total pandemic. 

By now, the truth is hard to deny, but vindication isn’t a whole lot of comfort to those who’d been trying to warn the authorities since the beginning. The changed hosts of the deadly blood-worms are driven by their hunger, obedience to their vampiric lord known as the Master, and the intense urge to find and bind their loved ones into the same hideous fate. 

One small group is led by an aged pawnbroker/scholar who’s dedicated his life to tracking the Master, and by a discredited CDC expert who’s lost his wife and must now protect their son from the hungry fate worse than death. Another is made up of former gangers turned resistance fighters (plus one retired luchadore, my personal favorite character in these books, edging out the exterminator), assisted by a lefthanded alliance of other vampires who oppose the Master’s goals. 

On the other side, of course, is the Master himself, and his ever-growing legions. He’s also got the support of a very old, very sick, very rich man whose intention is to barter his financial and political power in exchange for the bite, the transformation, and eternal life. 

The writing is as tight and top-notch as ever. There’s no mid-trilogy slump, but the quivering suspense of being in the middle of a long scary bridge … too far to turn back, so you’ve got to keep going. 

What I do know is I’m very glad I got this one so soon after reading the first, and that I got the third at the same time so it is coming up next in line.

-Christine Morgan

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LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC (ANSWERS TO "SHIRLEY") by Jeff Strand (2011 / 175 pp / eBook)

The long-awaited 4th novel in Strand's Andrew Mayhem series finds Mayhem and his wife receiving news that they're about to become parents for the third time...only with triplets!  His partner Roger is finally thinking of proposing to his girlfriend on the day the bumbling duo open their own business, 'A/R Tasks & Investigations.'  That's right folks: Andrew and Roger have now gone legit in the attempt to officially try to help people who need their unusual problems solved.

The first day in the new office is slow, so the boys reluctantly take on an unrelated odd job to get the cash flow started. Tired, and just before they close for the day, a woman comes in seeking their help.  She claims that she might be a serial killer, and convinces Andrew and Roger to take her case.  They follow her to an abandoned house where she thinks--in her blacked-out states--she has killed people and buried their body parts.  Not wanting to run away if she snaps, she also convinces Andrew to handcuff himself to her as Roger begins digging under the floor boards.

From this point, it doesn't take long for the mayhem to get going..  LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC then goes into a relentless, slapstick pace full of goons, killers, over-the-top violence, Strand's trademark sarcasm, and plenty of laughs.  One scene involving an old woman, a car chase, and hundreds of bullets had me in stitches (anyone who has read a Strand novel knows he has a way of making you laugh at the sickest, most insane things imaginable).  There's also a cameo that hardcore Mayhem fans will get a real kick out of.

Fans of the series will love seeing the boys back in action, as well as an old foe return for revenge.  Here's hoping we don't have to wait seven more years until the fifth adventure...

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DEAD IN THE TRUNK by Craig Saunders (2011 Amazon Digital Services / eBook)

DEAD IN THE TRUNK is a collection of sixteen short stories by Craig Saunders.  I discovered the author when I read his story “The Scarecrow” in the double novella The Scarecrow and The Madness (written by Robert Essig).  I was very impressed with “The Scarecrow” so I was pleased when I found out he had a collection out.

The first story, “Mudman,” leads you to believe you know the ending of the story, but instead shocks you.  It’s a great tale of love and betrayal that will creep you out as you read.

“Grass Can Be Weeds, Too” gently leads you through the story, making you uneasy as you read.  A big storm is the perfect backdrop for the horror that is eventually shown to us.  And while the ending is a little telegraphed, you will still enjoy it and maybe even think it’s perfect.

After reading “The Monkey’s Sandwich,” you might not want to eat biscuits again, just like Bill, who tells the story.  It reminded me a bit of the recent “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” and was just as exciting.  I’ve always had an aversion to monkeys, and thanks to both this story and the movie, I now have a bit of a fear of them as well.

“Fake Plastic” is a fun revenge story, but it’s not an ordinary revenge story.  A doctor pays for his malpractice with something other than money.  A patient’s sister isn’t happy with the care the good doctor provided for the sister, so she does something about it.  A little gruesome, but still fun to read.

Each story in this collection is just as good as the one before it.  Craig Saunders has proven himself a writer to watch.

-Sheri White

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MANGLED MEAT and CARNAL SURGERY by Edward Lee (both titles 2011 Deadite Press / tp)

I’m not sure how many times or how many ways I can say that Ed Lee stories are the squickety-squickest of the Squicky McSquickerson squickfests, but … well, they ARE! 

Just so nasty, so gross, so disturbing, so eew with a capital EEW!!! Nothing is sacred, nothing is safe, there’s no far that’s too far! If you can imagine an atrocity, he’s probably already written it. If you can’t, he’s probably written that, too. In excruciating, vivid, unforgettable detail. 

And oh, I do love it!

The latest two of Lee’s gory goodies from Deadite to land in my lap,MANGLED MEAT and CARNAL SURGERY, do not disappoint in living up to reputation and expectations. 

MANGLED MEAT contains three short works. The first, and least squicktastic, of the bunch is “The Decortication Technician.” It’s a sci-fi piece that admirably showcases the author’s genius and vocabulary, loading up the futuristic jargon in ways that still come across as clear and understandable even to the non-tech-savvy reader such as myself. Decortication, by the way, is the process of cutting the shell, carapace, or exoskeleton off of something. Like an insect. Or a big chitinous alien bug. This particular technician of it is part of the science team on an exploration vessel, and when their explorations turn up a mysterious, sealed spacecraft, the job defaults to him of getting the thing open to see what’s inside. 

The second story’s word-for-the-day features in “The Cyesolagniac,” which is a term having to do with the fetishization of pregnant women. You might think you can guess where this one’s going, and, you’re on the right track … a man with that obsession finds and hires a very pregnant hooker … only to find the tables getting turned on him in some especially nasty ways. Does he deserve it? I’m still not sure.

It’s the last, and innocuously-titled “Room 415” that most reduced my psyche to a gibbering ball curled up in the corner of my skull. If I did kind of want to feel sorry for the guy in the last story, I had no such sympathies for the guys in this one. An electronics rep in town for a convention, struggling with sexual dysfunction after a bitter divorce, happens to witness a scene of violence and brutality from his hotel room window … and discovers that it turns him on. After that, it gets really appalling. 

CARNAL SURGERY consists of eleven tales … it starts off with “The Seeker,” in which ultimate truth turns out to not be a good thing to go looking for after all. “Please Let Me Out” is disturbingly sexy or sexily disturbing, depending on your POV. I enjoyed the ugly pressure-cooker microcosm social dynamics of “The Order of Nature,” and the creepy bigger-picture themes of “Goddess of the New Dark Age.”

“Hands,” the longest piece in the book, is a nifty psych thriller that was my favorite of the bunch, and is followed by the wafer-thin mint of the four-page “The Table” as a very tasty little aperitif. “Death, She Said” revisits the dark, creepy, haunty and ultimate truth issues touched on in a couple of the earlier stories. “Gut-Shot” is a gritty and effecctively done second-person cop drama. 

“The Piece of Paper” and “Make A Wish” are more of Lee’s set-in-Seattle homeless yarns that, given where I work and the population I work with, totally hit the verisimilitude nerve dead on. And “The Blurred Room,” (a version of which appeared as “I.C.U.” in another anthology) is vindictively satisfying. 

All in all, good stuff, lots of good good stuff in a bad bad way … just how I like it!

-Christine Morgan

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A HOLLOW CUBE IS A LONELY SPACE by S.D. Foster (2011 Eraserhead Press / 91 pp / tp)

Yet another offering from Eraserhead's 'New Bizarro Author Series,' this time introducing the world to UK writer S.D. Foster with 23 short-short stories, most having a fairy tale feel. 

Among my favorites are 'Matilda Goes Shopping,' about a robe-wearing woman who takes care of her obese brother. Her life is drastically changed when she's raped by a supermarket (yes...a supermarket); 'Slothra,' the sad tale of a has-been Kaiju star; 'Silk Flower,' a bizarro take on Pinocchio with an oddly touching conclusion, and finally, 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Chip,' where we meet a singing primate who learns he can't pay the rent in bananas. 

While a couple of stories are truly head-scratching, most of A HOLLOW CUBE is accessible without sacrificing the bizarro element. 

A decent and imaginative first collection. I'd like to see a novella or novel from Foster.

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DESIREE by Ken Goldman (2010 Damnation Books / 101 pp / tp and eBook)


Beautiful Desiree has an odd problem: whenever she kisses someone, they become infatuated with her and eventually commit suicide.  Her first victim is a young boy named Tommy who killed himself shortly after kissing her during a game of spin the bottle at a party.  Tommy's sister, Tamara, keeps her eye on Desiree over the years, discovering other men have met the same fate as her brother.


Goldman's novella bounces around time-wise and can easily be read in one sitting.  Although the author never clearly explains exactly WHY Desiree's mother's breast milk has given her this strange ability, it gives the story a nice mystery as we're never sure if Desiree is completely aware of what she's doing.  And despite the nifty ending, I found myself confused on a few occassions, but not to the point I was lost.


DESIREE is an interesting erotic thriller with a latent supernatural leaning that's definitely worth a look.


Smell Rating: 1

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DEVIL BAT DIARY by Peter H. Brothers (2011 / 221 pp / tp)

This mock journal tells the "true" story of what happened in a small American town during the summer of 1939.  The 1940 Bela Lugosi film THE DEVIL BAT was a watered-down version of these events, giving this book a "found footage" type of feel.

Chicago newspaper reporter Johnny Layton is sent to the small town of Heathville to get the scoop on the death of Ray Heath, an heir to a multi-million dollar cosmetics company.  Johnny is partnered with ace photographer "One Shot" McGuire, a "big-mouthed weasel" who Johnny can't stand.

It turns out someone is trying to kill off the Heath and Morton families with large killer bats.  The two clans are co-owners of the company, and Johnny Layton eventually discovers the bats attack those who wear a particular new brand of the companies' skin lotion.

Lugosi's character from the film, Mr. Carruthers, is here portrayed in a similar fashion, but some revelations on the "real" nature of other DEVIL BAT characters are quite funny.

DEVIL BAT DIARY is interesting for fans of the classic Lugosi film, but those not familiar with the source material might be put off by some of the goofy-sounding dialogue and an abundance of distracting slang (McGuire, Carruthers, and a local sheriff speak in heavy accents which the author spells out phonetically, which at times makes the prose a chore to sift through).

Flawed, but fun stuff for fans of classic monster movie fiction.

Smell Rating: 1

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PLEASE DON'T GO by Eric Dimbleby (2011 Pill Hill Press / 277 pp / tp)

Zephyr is a young grocery store clerk, dealing with the typical ups and downs of college life.  He's also planning on proposing to his girlfriend Jackie, both of them English majors.  One day he is assigned to deliver groceries to an old man who lives in an isolated house.  Charles Rattup turns out to be a writer who was once published in a classic anthology, quickly earning Zephyr's respect.  Charlie invites him to come back again, and the two develop a friendship built around literature and movies.

But Charlie begins to act strange, talking to an unseen presence, causing Zephyr to doubt the man's sanity.  But by the time he finds out Charlie isn't crazy, it's too late for Zephyr, as he is now held hostage by a sexually-charged entity that may or may not be the legendary Lillth, a demon common to many culture's folklore.

PLEASE DON'T GO is a clever take on ghosts, possession, and succubbi.  Dimbleby gives this one a truly unique flavor, along with a cast you'll care about and plenty of scenes filled with tension and dread.  The spirit controling Zephyr's life is as cunning as it is evil, slick as it is violent.  I was reminded of the film THE ENTITY only with a more brutal demon at play, as the torture she puts Zephyr through will get anyone's skin crawling.

This study of a man's desire to survive in the face of total hopelessness is also a genuine genre spook-fest, delivering the goods and concluding with a bit of a twist (and increasingly dreadful) finale.  Great stuff.

Smell Rating: 2

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HISSERS by Ryan C. Thomas (2011 Permuted Press / 254 pp / tp)

Four troubled teens … two girls and two boys … on the eve of beginning their high-school years … each with their own troubles and fears about the future, bullies and peer pressure, parents and growing up … the trashy chick and the fat video game geek, the all-around good guy and the shy one with the dark secret … it’s the perfect setup for a classic coming-of-age tale …

And BLAM, a plane crashes smack into the middle of town, spraying debris and burning jet fuel everywhere! It’s disaster, it’s carnage, but that is still only the beginning because the mangled ruins of charred and bloodied corpses GET UP and go running around on a contagious chompy RAMPAGE!!! Infection and horrific mutations ensue!

Basically, things start off kind of slow and normal, and then there’s a high-speed plunge into nonstop action and terror, with no reprieve and no turning back. Very much the rollercoaster … chugga-chugga up the slope, reach the crest, and AAAAAHHH screaming dives and hard cranking turns and violent bumps all the way to the end. 

Glorious chaos and gore engulf everything as the four teens scramble to survive, to search for their families, and to try and figure out what in the hell happened. I’ve noticed how a lot of authors seem to have trouble writing kid and teen characters; these all rung to me very genuine (speaking as the parent of a teen). Their dialogue, their side-concerns and distractions, their behaviors … excellently handed, quite well done. 

Un-put-down-able, exciting, gruesome, tragic and thrilling. Thumbs up!  Whole clusters of undead mutant thumbs!

-Christine Morgan

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THE CRUD MASTERS by Justin Grimbol (2011 Eraserhead Press / 81 pp / tp)

Eraserhead Press continues their 'New Author Bizarro Series' with this ode to gang novels and giant monster movies. 

Boogers is a member of the Crud Masters, a group of outcasts who live on Shelter Island. Among their colorful members are Snuggles (a beefy guy who likes to hug people) and Pussy Bear, a rich woman who spent all her money to make herself look like a bear. With boobs. 

Shelter Island also has a heavy army presence: it seems giant sea monsters (called Dagoons) keep coming ashore and causing trouble, the military doing what they can to control them. Rival gang 'NOLA' (comprised of the island's rich kids) becomes unstoppable when one of their members reveals his van can turn into 'Swagatron,' a giant robot. The Crud Masters plan a way to compete, and manage to trap and train one of the Dagoons, leading to a showdown between robot and monster. 

With cyborg threesomes, rampaging monsters, animal attacks, and plenty of laughs, THE CRUD MASTERS is a wickedly fun novella, featuring simplistic prose that reads like a YA author on crack.

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SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE HOMOPHOBES by Robert Devereux (2011 Deadite Press / 316 pp / tp)

If I had to name one downside to SANTA STEPS OUT (the previous book in this series), it’d be that the polyamory message maybe sometimes seemed a little heavy-handed and condescending, a bit pushy and preachy. Not so much a “to each their own, mutual respect and understanding” as a “poly’s THE only right and natural way to be and anyone else is pathetic!” Which seems kind of meta-contrary. 

In this one, there’s no maybe-sometimes about it … the message clubs you over the head right from the title and keeps on clubbing all the way through. This is a “homophobia is BAD!” lecture, and as such, it suffers from a fairly basic problem: the people who most need to get clubbed over the head with that message aren’t the ones who’d be reading the book, while the ones who already KNOW that are liable to find it both frustrating and tedious to be clubbed over the head with it that much. I was reminded of, for example, panels on sexism and harassment at gaming cons, where the creeps who could benefit aren’t going to attend, or even think they need to attend. And whoever does go to such a panel is already going to be aware and conscientious of the issue.

SANTA CONQUERS THE HOMOPHOBES picks up shortly after SANTA STEPS OUT, where domestic harmony at the North Pole is disturbed when Santa’s little stepdaughter and assistant Wendy – whose task is to select a few good children each year and give them encouraging visions of their future – gets upset by what her premonitions show. One of her chosen few is destined to commit suicide after growing up tormented by intolerant parents, preachers, and bullies. Wendy asks Santa to fix it, and Santa, who dotes on her, agrees. 

He soon realizes he’s in way over his head, not to mention that he’s stepped outside the bounds of his office, and has to request help from higher in the heavenly heirarchy (the further exploration of the reinvented myths here made even me a smidge uncomfortable and I don’t consider myself religious … I’m not at all sure how it’d go over with someone who does). 

So, permission is granted to try and change the hearts/minds of four people most pivotal in the child’s life, and Santa’s sleigh ride becomes a Fantasy Island guilt trip in the best Ghost-of-Christmas-Future sense. 

Or maybe I just don’t “get” it and am being cynical because I was hoping for another gore-slathered sexromp …

The gore-slathered sexromps are, sadly, not to be found here. More like gore-slathered gore, especially because once the Tooth Fairy finds out what Santa’s up to, she’s more determined than ever to punish the jolly ol’ elf and his happy family. She’s lost her Easter ally but has a brood of nasty imps to do her bidding. 

Meanwhile, at Santa’s workshop, there’s a parallel example of intolerance and hypocrisy in action, when one of the elves goes on an anti-nosepicking crusade. Anyone who starts their own personal inner countdown clock whenever some politician, celebrity, evangelist or other public figure mounts the outspoken moral high horse  will know how that’s gonna go. “Cue humongous scandal exposee in 3, 2, 1 …”

I also couldn’t help finding this one fairly heavily USA-centric in terms of the calendar … the whole world doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but when one of the landmark dates set for Santa’s goal involves Thanksgiving, well …

All in all, I guess I found this one a considerable letdown after its predecessor. But the characters are fun, the imagination remains nicely twisted, and I’d certainly be eager to read a third volume!

-Christine Morgan

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STEAMY SCREAMS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF EROTIC HORROR edited by Jack Burton (2011 Blood Bound Books / 166 pp / tp)

Woohoo! Smut! Twenty-one quickie short stories of it, a surprise goodie grab bag with enough assortment and variety to have something for almost everyone. Provided you like smut, surprises, and having your goodies grabbed. 

Be it people, places, or things … living or dead … natural and supernatural … solos, pairings, groups, combos … happy endings, tragic endings, gruesome endings … romance and raunch, kindness and kink … temptation, tradition and taboo … there are of course countless ways to get busy, and plenty of them are featured in this book. 

Among those I liked the best were Tonia Brown’s “Dirty Little Fish Story” (the one that got away? you should BE so lucky!), “The Libidonomicon” by Gregory L. Norris (quite lives up to the promise of the title!), M.P. Johnson’s “Killer Nails” (giving whole new meanings to the term ‘hand job’), “The Club” by Brad Hunter (a cautionary tale of the lines between fantasy and reality), Larissa Alloway’s “Phantom Deposit” (short and sweet paranormal romance), and “A Witch to Live” by James Beamon (decidedly wicked!)

If some of the others didn’t do much for me in either the scary or sexy department, well, that’s the great thing about anthologies like this … another story will be along in just a couple pages. 

You’ll also find fairy tales retold, revenge tales that would be right at home in the horror comics, some werewolves and vampires and creatures beyond classification, and more. A little bit of everything adds up to a satisfying bundle. If horrorsmut is your thing, this one’s worth a look.

-Christine Morgan

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D.O.A: EXTREME HORROR ANTHOLOGY edited by David C. Hayes and Jack Burton (2011 Blood Bound Books / 321 pp / tp)

D.O.A: EXTREME HORROR ANTHOLOGY is a collection of twenty-nine short stories and they are extreme and disturbing.

Among my favorites are the very disturbing “The Boogieman’s Key” by Calie Voorhis about a man using a special key to enter the dreams of his foster daughter to sexually abuse her, however Melissa learns from therapy that she is stronger than he is; “Digital Media” by Michael Cieslak about a man who is tortured and murdered because he won a contest on a website frequented by sexual deviants, and this one has a creepy twist; “Sickened” by Tonia Brown about a town’s sin eater who is made extremely sick by the sins he consumed of a pedophile; and “Cold Air” by Edward R. Rosick about a couple going through medical school when one discovers that she can capture the essence of life and the soul through necrophilia.

Other fantastic stories include “Plague Hulk” by Glynn Barrass about a plague ship boarded by thieves in the hopes of robbing the dead but the thieves don’t make it very far; “Go to Your Room” by Shane McKenzie about what happens to three thugs who try to rob an old man rumored to practice voodoo; “Sisters” by Chris Reed about a very odd sexual experience between a man and a woman with two very strange sisters; and one that really horrified me, “Cena” by Chad McKee about a young man who inadvertently gets caught up in a dog fighting ring.

With most anthologies and collections the stories can run the gamut from great, to good, to not so good.  That’s not the case with D.O.A.  Some stories I liked better than others but I liked every story in the anthology.  I love extreme horror and this collection is definitely extreme.  D.O.A. would make a nice addition to any horror fan’s bookshelf.

-Colleen Wanglund

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DYING DAYS by Armand Rosamilia (2011 Rymfire Books / eBook)

Darlene is trying to survive in a world ravaged by zombies.  She has made her way to northern Florida in the hopes of finding other survivors.  What she finds is an outpost of survivors, a kind of early warning system for the city of St. Augustine, which is alive and well.  

While with this group of survivors, Darlene learns that there are cities all over the country—the world—that have managed to rebuild in the wake of the apocalypse, including her hometown, which she left after losing everything.  Now she is helping to locate a large group of refugees from Orlando, which has not fared so well.  Unfortunately when Darlene and her fellow guides find the refugees, they get a lot more than they bargained for.

With an apocalyptic story that began in HIGHWAY TO HELL and the short story “Rear Guard”, Armand Rosamilia continues the trials of his characters in a world overrun with zombies that are not only hungry, but horny too.  Rosamilia’s take on zombies is definitely unique and that makes his stories stand out from the rest of the pack.  Well-rounded characters and fast-paced action are abundant here.  There is also a bonus short story called “Sons of the New Patriots” which gives a clue to what happened to the refugees making their way from Orlando to St. Augustine.  I love the way Rosamilia’s zombie apocalypse novellas and short stories weave together.  You don’t necessarily have to read HIGHWAY TO HELL before reading DYING DAYS, but I strongly recommend it.  They really are more fun that way.

-Colleen Wanglund

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THE DAILY DEATH: HOW I KILLED MY CO-WORKERS ON 30 DAYS by Thomas Scopel (2012 CreateSpace / 118 pp / tp and eBook)

This is a collection of short stories, but with a bit of a twist - it’s a themed collection.  The author had the audacity to kill his coworkers, using no weapons except his pen.   There are no peaceful deaths here; each person leaves this world in gruesome and strange ways.  The author narrates the beginning of each story, becoming kind of a twisted Rod Serling foreshadowing the events to follow.

This is a “Faces of Death,” literary style instead of on the screen.  Which might be worse, because what we imagine in our minds is usually far worse than what is being portrayed by actors and fake blood.  Most of the stories aren’t supernatural, either - they can accidentally happen.  Some of the deaths are a little exaggerated; similar to the crazy deaths in the “Final Destination” series.  In other words, gross and squishy, but lots of fun.

Since the stories are so short, and each death is very specific, I will just let a few of the ways people are killed off rather than review each story.

You’ve got the badass who refuses to wear a helmet and pays the price.  If you’re afraid of the ocean, your fears will be confirmed in this book.  Nothing is sacred, not even the Great American Pastime.  Stephen King knew that machines could be scary.  And so does Thomas Scopel, who gleefully describes an unfortunate accident.  Carnivals and circuses are a little on the creepy side anyway, made more so throughout the book.  Even reading isn’t safe.

This book isn’t for anybody who takes such stories seriously.  I mean, if the first story offends you, there’s no need to go on.  Death wins every time and in deliciously twisted ways.  But if you have that little something inside you that gleefully reads the “Darwin Awards,” you will absolutely love this collection.

-Sheri White

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FIRST CUT: AN ANTHOLOGY OF FAST-PACED FICTION edited by Heather Wildman (2011 Paper Cut Publishing . 100 pp / tp)

FIRST CUT: AN ANTHOLOGY OF FAST-PACED FICTION is a collection of eight short stories that cover a range of subjects, including aliens, vampires, fate, and insanity.

My favorite story is “Unknown Number” by Mark Allan Gunnells about some weird text messages Ethan receives while waiting to meet his partner Roger.  The sadist sending the texts seems to be watching Ethan and knows that Roger is late…and why.  Ethan disappears and six months later Roger begins getting text messages from a stranger.  This is a very creepy story and a good reason for why you should never answer a call or text from an unknown number.

Other good stories include “Suicide Mission” by David Perlmutter about a very odd seven-year-old terrorist who may have built the perfect bomb; “Throwing Darts” by Gary J. Beharry about how fate intervenes in the life of a man who suddenly finds his life spiraling out of control; and “Station Six” by David Martinez about a man who meets his ideal woman through an internet dating site.

All of the stories were pretty good but I found the book as a whole was average.  However, don’t write it off.  They are all well-written and Ms. Wildman’s editing is top notch.  I personally prefer something a bit more extreme but if that’s not your bag then FIRST CUT is a good book to pick up.

-Colleen Wanglund

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REVIVE by Thomas James Brown (2011 Lulu Publishers / 200 pp / tp)

It is Christmas time and the holiday rush is on.  Phil lost his construction job and is trying to support his wife and kids as a department store Santa.  He is miserable and worried his wife will find out.  Looking for a quiet place to relax and have some coffee, Phil has stumbled upon an out-of-the-way coffee shop called Revive.  Phil has also recently been spooked by some very scary hallucinations while at work—those of an emaciated young girl.

Tammy is hoping to help support her sick mother and two younger brothers as well as try to make a nice Christmas for them.  Getting a job at Revive, she is surprised the place can make any money.  It seems as though the only people ever in the coffee shop are a handful of withered old regulars.  What Tammy doesn’t know is that in an attempt to save the family business, Norman has changed his coffee supplier to someone cheaper.  Rhonda seems to be the only one who can sense that something isn’t quite right, although Tammy has begun to see things that shouldn’t be there.

Christmas Eve and just hours before midnight the regulars have gathered at Revive for their usual coffees and snacks.  Something was not right with the newer coffee beans and tonight Tammy, Phil and the regulars of Revive will find out too late what drinking the coffee has done.

At its core REVIVE is a zombie story with a very unique means of infection.  It is deliberately paced and subtle in its delivery but when the story reaches its climax it hits quick and hard.  Both Tammy and Phil are good people down on their luck and just trying to get through the holiday season.  They each have their issues but in the grand scheme of things, it all really just comes down to survival.  All of the characters are well developed and most are likeable and sympathetic.  I loved how the story kept me reading and wondering what was going to finally happen.  In the end Revive delivers the goods with while not a totally unexpected ending, certainly an interesting one.  Thomas James Brown has added a subtlety to zombies that I really enjoyed.

-Colleen Wanglund

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UNDEAD NOCTURNE: EVEN DEAD MEN DIE by William Todd Rose (2011 Smashwords 2011 / 26 pp / eBook)

Maxwell Lazlow is a private investigator in the corrupt town of Beat City.  He is looking for a missing woman named Ginger, who also happens to be his sister.  He has followed Demetrius Sloan, the man Ginger worked for, to the docks late one night.  Sloan, the biggest crime lord in the city is waiting for a cargo ship from Thailand.

Sloan’s men discover Max and just when it looks like Max’s life is going to end, the cargo ship crashes into the docks and the crew leap overboard, attacking Sloan’s men.  Max gets away and with the help of a good cop finds Sloan’s warehouse.  Max discovers the cargo and is horrified by what he sees. What does Sloan have planned for his unique and deadly cargo?  Will Max survive long enough to find out?

The first in a planned series, UNDEAD NOCTURNE is a well-written novella with engaging characters and a nicely paced story.  Max Lazlow is a likeable character and Sloan is a real bastard who you will love to hate.  Even though UNDEAD NOCTURNE is about the zombie apocalypse, it has a great noir feel to it.  It’s a quick read, mostly because I couldn’t put it down.  I love zombies and William Todd Rose always writes them very well.

-Colleen Wanglund

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EVE HALLOWS AND THE BOOK OF SHRIEKS by Robert Gray (2011 CreateSpace / 252 pp / tp & eBook)

Not only is this one of THE best-looking self-published books I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing – excellent cover, excellent layout, clean and crisp appearance, professional; I had a hard time believing it WAS a self-pub, had to check and re-check to make sure I wasn’t just missing the company logo somehow – it’s also one of THE most enjoyable reads of what’s been an enjoyable-reads month!

In a very, very different way, of course … in a TBR pile of hardcore horror, gore, and porn, suddenly I’m reading a delightful and quirky YA/kid’s book! One that is as fun, engaging, spooky-charming and all-around awesome as can be. 

Eve Hallows is an ordinary fourteen-year-old girl, or, as ordinary as a fourteen-year-old girl can be when you’re the only human in Gravesville, the dark monster-world where horrible means wonderful, and adorable means awful beyond belief. With a shapeshifter dad, a vampire grandma and werewolf grandpa, a snake-haired Gorgon for a mom and a ghoul for a little brother, and a creepy haunted castle to call home. Sure, Eve often feels disappointed and left out by being so un-monster-y, but she’s happy with her horrible, horrible life. 

Then it all goes wrong. The inhabitants of Gravesville are in danger, threatened by a mysterious organization known as The Source. Someone needs to go undercover and try to find out what’s going on, and Eve’s dad is the monster for the job. 

Any teenager could tell you how much they hate having to move, to leave their friends, and start over at a new school with a bunch of strangers … but Eve and her family are relocating to the human world! It’s a definite fate worse than death, undeath, or anything else. They’ll have a normal human house, interact daily (DAILY, as in, when there’s SUNSHINE) with normal humans, operate a normal human pizza parlor, and Eve will have to go to normal human high school! 

Of course, that’s just the beginning of Eve’s troubles. Not only does she have mocking mean girls and a cute boy crush to deal with, not only is the principal a Halloween-hating grump, she soon finds herself caught in the middle of The Source’s plot. It could be up to Eve and her handful of misfit friends to save the day for humans and monsters alike!

So, move over, Neil Gaiman’sCORALINE and THE GRAVEYARD BOOK … make room, Lemony Snicket’s A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS … you’ve got company and competition for shelf space!

-Christine Morgan

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THE MILL by Mark West (2011 Greyhart Press / 39 pp / eBook chapbook)

West's chapbook deals with a group of people who meet to counsel each other over the recent loss of a loved ones.  When Michael's wife Nicola succumbs to breast cancer, he begins having strange dreams that a counselor had warned him about.  He soon discovers that Saskia (another recent widow) has been having similar dreams about a local place where an old mill once stood.

THE MILL is a depressing yet eerie ghost story featuring some sharp writing and a dark yet comforting ending.  Fans of Gary A. Braunbeck will eat this up.

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NEXT MONTH:

Jessie Shimmer returns in Lucy A. Snyder's SWITCHBLADE GODDESS, Linda Addison's HOW TO RECOGNIZE A DEMON HAS BECOME YOUR FRIEND, William Ollie's PITCH, and many more...