On their way to bring supplies to an oil rig near the north pole, the crew of the 'Artic Promise' start experiencing weird occurences: it seems the ice has frozen their ship in place, their radio equipment stops working (despite not being broken), and as far as the eye can see it appears the whole ocean has frozen solid. Among the colorful cast of crewman is Noah Cabot, a low man on the totem pole, who is constantly treated unfairly by his father-in-law William Brewster. The two have a difficuly history, which is revealed in pieces over the coarse of the story.
With the threat of running out of food and water, the crew decides to travel on foot to a mysterious mountain of snow, which they believe could be the oil rig. It turns out to be another ship frozen in place, and to his utter shock, Noah finds a fellow deckhand from his own ship onboard...a friend who died a year earlier.
STRANDED is a suspense-filled thriller dealing with dopplegangers, shadow people, and a supernatural element that blends believably into the happenings. Comparisons to John Carpenter's THE THING come to mind, but to me more so SURVIVE, the 1976 film dealing with the true tagedy of a rugby team who fought for survival in the Andes mountains after their plane crashed. MacLeod takes this type of survival tale and twists it in a way all his own, highlighted by some dazzling prose from the very first page.
If you're an agoraphobic, this one will mess with your mind on a few levels, and even if you're not this is a creepy-as-it-gets novel that will surely get under your frostbitten skin.
I MISS THE WORLD by Violet LeVoit (to be released 11/18/16 by Publisher: King Shot Press / trade paperback)
I read this one start to finish with hardly any breaks. Luckily, though I read it at work, that was a night the residents all slept through; if they'd been up and around and needy and making me actually, y'know, do my job, we might've had some disputes. I did NOT want to be interrupted.
From the opening scene, something so visual, so archetypal, so ultimately Los Angeles -- a naked blonde poised to leap from the roof of a plastic surgery clinic -- the reader is inexorably drawn into a world where nothing is what it seems. Where appearances are one thing, appearances, face-value, facades, rose-tinted glasses and sepia-tinted reminiscence ... but where even deception itself is deceiving.
The first half or so of the book, I was riding a nostalgia wave so intense I had to remind myself to breathe. Maybe a long, rambling conversation about memories of Grandma's house wouldn't have that effect on everyone, but it hit me right in some emotional nerve cluster, a soul-ar plexus if you will.
Yes, okay, there was the jumper at the beginning, and one might've anticipated that story, her story, to be the central plot, but it proves to be only an incidental moment as a sister and brother meet in a Hollywood cemetery for the abovementioned long conversation. Which also covers the intricacies of screenwriting and casting, various movie-making and silver-screen history, and deep personal issues.
It's like listening in on a painful, intimate disclosure, compelling and addictive. And, gradually, in the briefest tap and lightest brushing of disquiet, you start picking up on other things ... indications that something is VERY wrong here, that something BAD has happened, or has been done, or is being done, or going to be ... teasing curiosity.
And then, oh wow. And then oh wow. After I read it, I had to contact the author because "wow" was pretty much all my stunned mind could manage.
You know that feeling when the bottom drops out from under? If you watched something like Sixth Sense or Unbreakable before knowing the spoilers, that feeling of jawdrop when you suddenly GOT it? The goosebumps, the stunned blinking, the tingling hollow cold rushing sensation right behind your sternum? THAT feeling?
That happens in this book. More than once. It is masterful, it is beautiful and awful, it is sweepingly and breathtakingly artistic, the impact of seeing some great natural wonder or work of art for the first time.
As I was reeling from it, awash in the awe, feeling dazed and vulnerable, the book then took a shrieking hard left into utter horror, and blew my mind like a dandelion puff.
-Christine Morgan
LAKE LURKERS by MP Johnson (2016 Severed Press / 80 pp / trade paperback & eBook)
Okay, here’s the latest from author MP Johnson and Severed Press. And what do we have here? LAKE LURKERS is a strange little horror romp that takes place in a wealthy subdivision in Minneapolis. Tess is tired of living in a trashy, cramped one bedroom apartment. She has no room for activities and barely any amenities after issues with closing on her first property. She saves up everything she has and buys a mansion with more room and comfort than one could possibly imagine.
Although, there’s a catch: she's in a relationship and she lets her boyfriend, Randall move in, too. He’s annoying. He shreds metal riffs through loud guitar amps and doesn’t give Tess her much desired personal space in her castle. But, this isn’t the only issue Tess is being confronted with. No, there’s a secret lingering in the basement. A secret the previous owners failed to disclose in writing. It isn’t until discovering a black, oily slime in the backroom in her basement that Tess realizes she has other fish to fry (pun intended). People are dying outside, being pulled into the lake in front of her new big, beautiful house. Even the dumb cops are dying as they search for the answers needed to solve the big mystery. What are these slimy, black tentacle things made of pink brain meat? And why do they have so many teeth? And where in God’s name are they even coming from?
The extremely talented and versatile MP Johnson, takes us on a hard hitting, fast bullet flying, heavy metal guitar slinging, action-packed adventure, while Tess plans for the biggest, baddest, and not to mention most expensive rager of all-time, as she puts an end to the blazing madness lurking from the lake across the street.
-Jon R. Meyers
PRETTY PRETTY PRINCESS by Shane McKenzie (2016 Blood Bound Books / 202 pp / trade paperback & eBook)
Parents of young children, approximately how many repeat viewings of Elsa's Winter Wonderland Sing-Along or something does it take before the average adult ends up gibbering in the corner? Because, whatever the number, I fear the McKenzie household must have far surpassed it by now, and Shane was hardly an average adult to start with.
His previous book, MONSTERS DON'T CRY, was only a talking animal and a couple musical numbers away from being a classic (if warped, violent, depraved, and sexed-up) take on the basic, Disney Princess formula. Evidently, that still wasn't enough to get it out of his system, and the result is Pretty Pretty Princess.
In this storybook realm of scattered kingdoms divided by the dread Dark Wilderness, tradition demands every princess be locked away in a monster-guarded tower or dungeon, only to be married off to whichever bold knight rescues her. This doesn't always go well for the princess. Sometimes, it means years of solitude and captivity, malnutrition, and neglect.
One man is out to change the system: our 'hero,' Prince Francis. Shunned by his own royal parents for being more interested in peaceful pursuits, burdened with a less-than-macho reputation, with a tendency to spontaneously burst into song, he travels around -- accompanied by Gavin, a foul-mouthed base-natured talking pig -- in hopes of convincing princesses they deserve better treatment.
His big opportunity arrives when he ends up accidentally recruiting a bunch of mercenary warriors who intend to help him rescue the most legendarily beautiful of princesses, held lo these past twenty years by the terrible Goblin-Dragon.
To his surprise, he succeeds. But, far from any happily-ever-after, he finds his troubles are only beginning.
It is crass, vulgar, obscene, outrageous, offensive, lewd, crude, tacky, and generally about the wrongest most messed-up fairy tale since what Anne Rice did to Sleeping Beauty.
Which isn't to say it's porn; while there's sex and loads of jokes about and references thereto, they're rather far from erotic. There's also more groin injuries than a Jackass marathon, more poop and potty humor than several seasons of South Park, and a whole lot of gleeful gory carnage.
-Christine Morgan
THE NIGHT CYCLIST by Stephen Graham Jones (2016 TOR / 32 pp / eBook)
THE NIGHT CYCLIST was originally published online and recently brought to our reading pleasure as a Kindle Short on Amazon, where I decided to check it out as I was looking for something quick and short to read. This beautifully written story is told in first person and it's rather short, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t pack a literary punch: it does.
Not being a huge fan of the author’s longer works as of yet, I have found that I do enjoy some of his shorter stories, this title no exception and is probably amongst my favorite that I've read. The author successfully manages to develop a couple of strong characters with a common interest; cycling. The main character, Bunny, a bachelor chef who has had countless failed relationships; one after another, is in for the ride of his life. He enjoys the nights’ sky on his rides to and from work, with his knife set strapped around his upper body, reminding him of the past when he was part of the team. Some of the most useful life lessons he’d ever learned came from his respected mentor in competition bicycling, Coach. The darker segments of the story begin to unfold when he stumbles across two dead bodies on his ride home from work, but he’s not the only one in town that’s been cooking. He decides to leave the bodies alone, lying there, as most bystanders would, in hopes, that someone else calls in and notifies the authorities, in which, a young gal does when she stumbles upon the scene.
When Bunny goes home and flips on the television he rewatches the true horror unfold, but something catches his eye in the footage. When he goes back out to see what he thought it was with his own two eyes, the author introduces us to a mysterious bicyclist, one Bunny can’t believe is able to do things on his bicycle much older than his, and what’s that smell? Immediately we get a sense of strong mystery and dread and begin to connect the strange characters to the corpses found in the creek. What were they doing and why? Well, you’ll just have to read it and find out for yourself. The secret may be worth killing for.
Recommended to fans of Short Stories, Dark, Horror, and Weird Fiction alike.
-Jon R. Meyers
CHASING GHOSTS by Glenn Rolfe (2016 Sinister Grin Press / 144 pp / trade paperback & eBook)
This is a sneaky kind of book ... it starts off like it might be the classic small-town coming-of-age tale, boys on an adventure, uncovering dark secrets and creepy local history ... but the boys disappear, and the focus skip-jumps from there over to a band on their way to a gig at a weekend cabin party, with no idea what's lurking in the woods.
Meanwhile, the parents of one of the missing boys were having troubles of their own even beforehand, and this loss might be the last straw. The father, Derek, takes off on his bike, undecided if he's going to see his girlfriend, get drunk, look for his son, or what. He also ends up at the party, after an unsettling encounter with a lurking stranger by the road.
For most of those in attendance, it's an evening of booze, sex, music, and other recreational pursuits. For others, it's torture, mutilation, murder, and worse, at the hands of an inbred backwoods clan. Fairly standard stuff of its type, but entertainingly told, the interactions and banter among many of the characters are fun, and the ending makes for a nice surprise.
-Christine Morgan
PREVIEW:
SILENT SCREAMS by Josh Strnad (to be released 10/31/26 by Serpent and Dove)
The introduction to this anthology of 26 tales differentiates between two types of horror, the 'safe' (because we know it's fictional and can therefore keep a comfortable detachment) and the other kind (from which it isn't so easy to distance our psyches), and indicated this was a book of the latter sort.
Therefore, I was expecting a bunch of psychological horror, real-world plausible stuff, human monsters, killers, abuse, cruelty, the could-happens ... and found myself surprised by the number of them featuring more fantastical elements. Not necessarily a bad thing, just, also not necessarily matching that initial set-up. Anyway, fantastical elements aside, the emotions and experiences are what counts, and those were satisfyingly effective.
This time, I ended up with two tied-for-top fave picks. One is Igor Teper's "The Untelepathic Man," an unusual exploration of disability and difference, understanding. empathy, and society. Imagine being the only person in your community lacking a vital skill or major sense; what would that be like for you? What would it be like for everyone around you?
The other tied-for-fave is "The Words That Bite" by Frederick Obermeyer, an unusual apocalypse for everyone who ever got tired of the old 'sticks and stones' adage, in which the full destructive potential of words get unleashed, and what you say really can come back to bite you.
Other standouts include Helen Catan-Prugl's "The Lady in the Billboard," "Tyrant's Fall" by Andrew M. Seddon, "Moretta" by Aurora Torchia, "My Secret Thorns" by Rebecca Birch, and Chantal Boudreau's "Hand."
I also really liked Garth Upshaw's clever twist on some tropes in "Franks," though it ended much too soon; I'd definitely want to read more or longer works set in that world.
All in all, a nice variety, many more hits than misses as far as I'm concerned. Some new names to watch out for, too. Definitely worth a look.
-Christine Morgan
HALLOWEEN ORGY MASSACRE by Jeff O'Brien (2015 Riot Forge Studios / 136 pp / trade paperback)
Here is another fine example of it-is-what-it-says ... the title promises a Halloween Orgy Massacre, and you'd better believe that's exactly what you get. But, if you're thinking along the lines of standard slasher spree fare, you'll be in for more than a few surprises; things here go quite a ways off those rails.
I mean, we got weird goo-spewing toothy alien monsters here, we got cloyingly cute childrens' show characters, a scantily clad barbarian babe-mage, one of the few times I've read anything with a prophecy / destiny Chosen One shtick without totally wanting to claw out my own brain.
And, yes, we got orgy massacre all over the place. Something's turning people into sex maniacs, or murdering and devouring them, or both.
At first, the day seems like a crazy dream come true for nerdish metalhead Will, when the popular gal he's been crushing on is suddenly throwing herself at him, and he's got a chance to show all the cool kids at the big Halloween party he's not such a loser after all.
Okay, yeah, there are other weird things going on in town, like whatever blew a hole in the roof of the store where he works, and some cloaked mystery woman following him around, but, priorities are priorities.
My only issue with the book is a minor nit-picky one, which is that although it's set in the 1980s, a few uses of more contemporary dialect and slang sneak in. But, like I said, minor and nit-picky; everything else is popcorn-crunching giggles and gore.
-Christine Morgan
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