What a fantastic collection this book is, some amazing authors
who have supplied some huge novels and brilliant novellas. Everyone should find
something they like in here, hopefully a few new authors to try out too.
As for value for money – hells bells its less than a £/$ for
NINE stories!
The Spirit Clearing by
Mark Tufo:
What
a great way to start this amazing anthology of NOVELS and novellas, not short
stories but full on, full length reads; such great value, especially when you
see the calibre of author included.
I
had stayed away from reading this for ages.... as I am so in love with MT in
the Zombie Fallout
series I did not want to sully my mind (or get confused!)
However, this was just amazing!
MT has a true talent; he is able to weave a complex story bringing in all sorts
of emotional, physical, reality and spooky elements. I felt myself sweating
away with the characters in their struggles and don’t get me started on the
tears that I shed; thankfully no cats were killed in this one!!
All ends are neatly tied up in the final climax, which is great... I do so hate
reading a book that finishes ambiguously!
Any
fans of MT won’t be disappointed with this.
All the Little Children by Christine
Sutton:
This
novella sized story seems to bump along, nice happy families etc. then CS
blasts the reader with the horror.
What
starts out as a bit of ghost story turns into a possession, throw in a few
poltergeists and demons and you get all rolled up into one sharp, snappy gore
fest.
Death and its vivid descriptions just bolt off the pages at you via CS and her
amazing descriptions.
I
can’t really explain much about the stories main elements without giving it
away other than the ending leaves you with a cold shudder in on a warm sunny
day! Although that was my first read of it back last, last summer! On the night
before Halloween it still gave me a shocking chill!
A
great, quick read for a lunch time scare.
Fangs in Vain by Scott Nicholson:
Sabrina
is an Angel and Luke is a Vampire, strange combination of lovers, but SN makes
it work in this fascinating novella.
Initially
I felt a little out of synch with the story, feeling that maybe I had missed
the other parts of the story or that this was a little novella in the middle of
a series of novels, but apparently not; it’s a stand-alone or possibly the
start of a series.
Whilst
this clearly shows off the talent of SN I felt the story lacked a proper start,
had a good middle but left me hanging and wanting at the end.
There
was a huge amount of humour and I really wanted to find out more about these
two brilliant characters, so I hope SN picks them up some other time, maybe
when he gets bored writing all his other fabulous novels!
The Unsaintly by Lisa Vasquez:
LV
can certainly ping you into a scene, I was so engrossed in the scenes I almost
forgot the underlying storyline.
The
initial scenes of Demons, God, Angels and Hell were amazing although I felt the
eventual fall of Lucifer was a little anti-climactic after all that wonderful
build up.
Then
the story swapped to a different era and setting and I was a little confused.
The
beautiful, intricate descriptions continue however as LV now starts a seemingly
new story about Isabel, daughter of the King of France, eventually to become a
Saint, she links the two stories as Isabel is “tested” with all the horror that
befalls her and the terrible nightmares of Hell that she suffers.
There
seems to be lots of sub plots going on with Marciel her guardian Angel and
Lucifer sending various Demons after her, whilst in the background God and
Marciel have random meetings and strange chess matches that LV plots
meticulously via sequenced moves – which meant nothing to me!
I did enjoy the humour as the Angels and Demons have petty arguments but also
felt that it was almost out of tune with the thrust of the book. I found the jumping around of narratives and
storylines very confusing and really distracted from the overall feel of the
book.
Will
I pick up the other two in this trilogy? Doubtful unless they pop up on a good
offer etc. I was not drawn to this author style but her attention to detail was
amazing.
Generation
Evil by Eric A Shelman:
This
novel has a complex setting of past, not so past and present which is articulated
very well by EAS.
I
felt the characters were realistic, 3D and mostly likeable without being
perfect so I developed a bit of bond with them, which is needed as the plot
lines are deep, clever and the twists keep coming but EAS was able to keep me
focused and not lose me in the broil.
Five
witches are burned at the stake in Massachusetts in the late 17th century. Four
are good and one is bad, evil, nasty bad! As the flames consume them the evil
warlock casts a spell for eternal rebirth to torture mankind, the four good
witches join together and cast their own spell for rebirth and chase him
through time to protect those he touches and try to destroy him; however they
miss that bit of the spell that grants their new bodies pre-knowledge.
Fast forward more than three-hundred years; which is a shame as I think EAS
could of given a few snippets of previous lives instead the reader is thrust
into a dusty attic in California where a trunk is found by four friends. What
they then find inside changes their lives forever, hence why snippets of their
previous incarnations would have been good to show an on-going pattern.
I am very tempted to seek out more novels by this author and that’s why I love
anthologies so much!
Pride by Chantal Noordeloos:
So
I originally read this as a short story, it has since been updated, lengthened
and some serious eeew moments added.
Adolf Zakerny is a notorious serial killer, he has no set Modis Operandi he merely seeks to inflict as much pain as
possible, and he is a master of his work, giving tribute to his Lord of Lies.
Eventually the time comes when he feels ready to share his true calling and
nature with Hell, and as he plummets to his death, you may think the book has
started at the wrong end of the story. However, CN excruciatingly makes us
witness his rebirth, cell to sinew, bone to muscle. Every little nuance of
tension is explained, like reading in slow motion with HiDef.
The road to Hell ala CN is a revolting
sounding one, and he witnesses things that make you feel sick to your stomach
with expectant glee. It is soon his turn, as Adolf’s sins are “weighed” and a
punishment is suggested, he looks forward to meeting his new boss, but soon
becomes confused when he steps into a scene from Perfect Houses.
CN has certainly done her homework on Demons and mythology. Demons loiter
around Lucifer’s mansion house and she does a brilliant interpretation of
making it seem like a normal work place on a regular day.
Adolf is invited to sample Hell and he
enters the Redemption Labyrinth and finally finds some of the bliss he seeks.
No over the top gore description is required as CN taps into the true horrors
of torture and the internal removal of hope, to make your goosebumps rise and
the hairs on your neck tingle.
After much discussion and some feather preening (did you see the title?)
Lucifer has a room suited exactly for Adolf’s needs.
CN is such an eloquent author, not a word is out of place or written down
without thought, this line alone really made me think; "their own
preconception of sin, often most find it most difficult to forgive themselves
".
An enjoyable, yet icky, read with some
thought provoking issues and images. I do hope that CN is going to expand on
this a little….7 deadly sins and all that!
Whispers by Heath Stallcup:
The
story starts in 1885 with Sheriff “two guns” and an amazing breakfast that I
could almost smell. This started to feel
like a good old fashioned western book; an honest Sheriff and some bad out of
towners intent on mayhem and evil.
HS
then fast forwarded me to modern day Texas, which strangely feels like it has
not changed much! A collector of Old
West antiques “buys” some naughty items
off two drug addicts, Casper and Roger, who have been raiding the Little Hope
cemetery, and you just know that no good (or Hope) can come of that! And so
begins the story.
The
story flicks back and forth between the two eras; you can start to feel the
story and tension build up. It is the perfect mix of
good, old fashioned justice, twist, turns and things that go bump in the night;
something that HS is perfect at (I love his Monster Squad series). The book
spans over 100 years and as another reviewer put beautifully this is a story
about “a festering vengeance waiting, waiting to have revenge on evil, true
evil”.
Whilst this is a long read I really felt hard pushed to find a
“put down” moment and ended up with two very, very long days routed to a chair
reading – hard work! I don’t usually do
ghost stories but this has so much more to it, so take your time with this
novel and savour all the subtle horror and spooks provided by HS.
Shifters by Jaime Johnesee:
This
was one of the first ebooks I read when I got my kindle and the first of JJ’s
books and I was so blown away I bought everything else that she has published
since then!
Loved
the myth explosion right at the beginning! and the dead pan delivery was
brilliant. Lots of really great humour
moments!
I really hope this is the start of a series as the character and
"world" is fantastic! An FBI
werepanther!
There were a few little bits that niggled
and could have been written better, such as the partners ignorance of her
studying seemed a little off and the "change" would have worked
better as a flashback maybe, as thought she would have shared this with her
partner long before.....
I
have loved rereading this but can also see how JJ has grown as an author and
that this little novel needs an update, spit n polish! But I believe this is in
the works.
Tool Shed by Armand Rosamilia:
Michael
Zaun has arrived on his newly inherited farm and is investigating exploding
cows – what a great first line and start to a story; loved the little CSI and
music references.
Michael
is also 300lbs of blubber and lives in the never, never land of diets which
start tomorrow and dreams of living off the land, something he needs to
research and finds himself at the local library where he meets Susan; AR plays
this meet and relationship really well. Both are characters that you want to
like and I really felt myself having feelings for them throughout the story.
Next
AR throws in the group of teenagers who are at “play” in the shed with weed and almost-sex. Strangely
enough this ends up calling the “monster”
aka Dir of the Earth who wants only to live among us, eat cheeseburgers and
have sex (don’t all underworld beings?), but this comes at a price, of course,
and it soon becomes obvious what happened to the cows.
I
found this story really intense as Michael must live up to his families calling
and Dir does what Dir does!
Oooh
a prequel in 2015!! Yippee!!
Dust
to Dust by Eden Crowne:
Well,
I have to admit I originally picked this up as part of a free promotion on a FB
page. However, I am so glad to have had the opportunity to reread this as I
clearly missed some of the little nuances last time, and loved hearing about
Tasmin again.
Tasmin
has been tricked by Soul Eaters, they befriended her when she was lonely,
gained her trust and then split her soul between them like a take away one
night. She soon learns how to jump into near death bodies and now seeks out
these people to regain the pieces of her soul.
We
first meet her as she chooses a not very nice vampire body to jump into, who is
currently ending life by being strangled by Drake, a Fae with issues.
The story is intricate, well thought out, with lots of differing strings
attached but so wonderfully written you have NO trouble keeping up. As Tasmin keeps having to jump bodies to
track down her Soul Eating fiends the sense of humour is a great relief amongst
the gore; one reincarnation is of a bo-peep/sheep hybrid!
Throughout reading this story (a straight 4hr read, I could NOT put it down) I
just kept feeling myself say WOW. I love how
EC writes her characters, surroundings and
takes you on a fantastic journey. There
is also a touch of raunchy in there.
All the different supernatural beings are in there, I don’t think the EC left
one out! but none are gratuitous, all have a place!
What really comes through is the sense of story and how far this could go, as
EC is already on her third in this series I am pleased to say I am BIG fan.
