Samhain by Lori R. Lopez

First off I have to mention the amazing cover art - as LRL does all her own work I am always intrigued at how wonderfully fascinating they are, the more you look the more detail you see, not to mention how she manages to really grasp the essence of her stories in the covers.

It is All Hallows Eve and self confessed wuss and multi phobic Daren Karl is on his way to his sisters house to a Halloween party. Rather than brave all those people he is coerced by his parents into taking his nephew Dare out trick or treating, they leave him with a strange comment about facing his demons!

Dare maybe named after his Uncle but he makes his name a challenge, not a burden and delights in teasing his Uncle on the route around the neighbourhood.

As they prowl the streets Darrens phobias about this night are surfacing and causing some interesting discussion with his nephew. Amid all the candy collection, pirates, werewolves and cowboys he spots THE witch and as memories come flooding back LRL drags you into a hellish house of horrors.

I really enjoyed the goosebumps I was given and the thrilling explanation of Halloween, Samhain and various other historical spookies. 

LRL manages in her small novellas to inject such emotion, tension and sense of history to all her characters, I miss them when i finish the story. 

I am glad I stayed in this Halloween - but it is as I have always suspected that children really ARE tasty little morsels best served broiled!

Samhain

The Fledgling by AE Jones:

AEJ does well with all her 80’s references and how she injects them into the storyline thus evoking some nostalgic flashbacks. Also included in those memory lane walks are little snippets of Jean Luc, that wonderful 400+yr old vampire from Mind Sweeper and he still remembers vividly his world before being violently turned.

Add into the mix his partner, Misha the Demon, both tasked with fighting to keep the supernatural world secret from humans.    I think AEJ missed a trick by not exploiting his love of calories and the 80’s explosion of fast food.

The duo are currently on the trail of a killer but so is Talia, a baby vampire and bounty hunter, as they clash there is a sexual tension that runs throughout which thankfully culminates in something easy to read, worthy and satisfying.

Through a series of conversations I could see the shape that AEJ’s vampire system, their “beliefs” and abilities take form.   I loved the Adam and Susannah vampire characters and hope to see more of them in the following series, what a tale their story would make on its own.

It is a cat and mouse mystery that drives the story with lots of character history and building going on in a very subtle way. You could read this as a standalone but I dare you not to want to read the first book; the one where a vampire, an angel and a demon walk into a bar…..

My only complaint about the book is that I was never actually told the reason for all the killing, but then do we know why any psycho’ kills?

The little bonus chapter at the end really showed off AEJ’s humour skills, if you were still unsure.  The mental image of a demon doing jazzercise had me in giggles.

Such perfection in the editing, layout and flow of story and spot on consistency, AEJ has proven she is has great skill and has most certainly not dropped the ball in her second installment, I was overjoyed to read of a planned 4th and 5th book.

Fledgling

Hallowed Horror Collection

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.

Hallowed Horror

Kaiju Apocalypse by Eric S. Brown & Jason Cordova

It’s a B-rate “movie” read at its best, but it is a fun, fast read if all you want is monsters, weapons and YaHoo/Gung Ho for humanity!

As a virgin of Creature Feature books I really enjoyed the fantastic description of the beasts. Rapid and hungry for human flesh. Smaller “dogs” and huge “mothers”.   I think another review calls it “Pacific Rim meets Starship Troopers”!! and yes that’s exactly what it is.

The opening lines were brilliant and I found Commander Jorgs death to be amazing in its grossness! And it just goes on from there really.

The history of how the Earth fell and how the Kaiju rose is told succinctly within a few lines.  The premise is that Pacifica Base has fallen leaving just one strong hold of humanity left. The last remaining Governor and Minister of War set about trying to find the possibly mythical OverMind, alleged to be the hive mind of the Kaiju.

With his superdooper new “DogKiller” (that’s the little kaiju!) amour, which has some splendidly fun weapons and abilities Ryan West sets out with his battalion to find this place and destroy it.

Basically just monsters wreaking havoc, and humans trying to fight back! There is no character growth or development but they do have humour and as most people die anyway and it races through the story you don’t have time to get to know them!  Which is a shame really as I thought the book could have been extensively extended and more emphasis put on the characters, their relationships and back history and then maybe I would have routed for them more than the Kaiju!

Very militarized in some of its prose yet easily accessible as well described and not laden down with technicalities. It is a bit gung ho and “into battle we ride” type fodder too but that goes along with the story really well.

There are some really obvious grammar and spelling errors, especially from the middle to the end of the story, and a good editor/beta reader would have picked these up – just because its B rate doesn’t mean it should be published in that state.

Overall I did enjoy the read, it was an afternoon of fun, but it is left open for a sequel I just think the authors should clean this one up, even extend it a little and then maybe it would make a great series.

Kaiju Apocalypse

Wrapped in Black anthology

This edition of Wrapped In… has exceeded itself with the caliber of author included, the stories and the editing lay out.

I am not sure how Sekhmet is going to follow on from this but I sure hope they do, I will be first in line to buy it.

Hair Shirt Drag by Gordon White: Jesse, or Sissy to his non-friends, is a backwoods, Southern, effeminate, cross-dressing Witch and is even a little strange even for each of those sub groups.  He comes from a long line of Overhold women who have the “gift”, each use and supply it in various odd ways but the outcomes are all the same.

The town has come to Jesse’s Momma house to help her with some “medicine”, the initiation of her son, who should have been a girl.

However Jesse is splendid in his hand me down Hair Shirt and as the townsfolk turn upon him, his beauty explodes around them.  Fantastic build-up, great finale and brilliant start to this anthology.

I could feel the atmosphere such is the writing skill of GW, he managed to spin, wind and wallow me in a tale so beautiful I almost did not notice the dark undertone.

Comes the Rain by Gregory L. Norris: Granny Rae is dying, but not in peace. Three of the most awful creatures are after her powers. Jamison must protect her.

The pace of this story is enchanting, the rhythm that the author beats out with his words entraps you into this little snippet of world. His descriptions are vivid and colourful. The ending is so bittersweet.

Number One Angel by Allison M. Dickson: Louise is trying to kill her Mama and Phelan, her lover, has told her how to do it. Gulp, gulp, gulp; the sound of the cake going down her fat neck.

But Phelan is not all he seems and only wishes to collect what was his from Mama’s box.

Short but punchy, this made me smile, I love the way AMD writes, all her work is exquisite.

Unto the Earth by Patrick C Greene: Landon and his beautiful wife, Agnes, who makes a wonderful Voodoo dinner, if only the dog would shut up, the cable wasn’t off and Aggy would stop ordering all the magazines in French!

The tension between these two and the unspoken things that are in their pasts and what is occurring now was intriguing.

I think this is one of my favourite lines to describe love and need - they clutched each other like otter pup littermates.

There was some serious imagery in this story along with the spooks. The reasoning in the end is fantastic and I loved the finale!   Brilliant writing and torment from PCG!! He is a master of short stories.

HÄXENHAUS  by Nick Kimbro: eeeeek at the torturous instruments described and explained.

Our narrator, Kramer, is close to a house that is prison to witches, a place that has turned confession, torture and suffering into an art.

The witch that killed his child is now dead but what parting gift did she leave him.  To say I really enjoyed this story would make me sound perverted, but then I love horror! And this has multiple elements to it.

To wish suffering on others, is that human nature? Whatever, it was brilliantly written and certainly deserves its place in this black anthology.

Stories I tell to the Girls by Michael G. Williams:  The Book People are a coven working magic through the written word but magic often requires a sacrifice.

Loved all the book quotes! But with all their chanting they conjure up Percy the vampire and then, as the story states, there “…..is some seriously weird reverse-Bella shit.” Because, actually, he only wants to go to Heaven!

A beautiful tale of love, forgiveness and something wished for. Gripped from the start I thought this story had a unique edge using its humour.

The Rising Son by James Glass:  Calahan has had a taste of Cherry, but apparently who hasn’t! Apparently his brother who is in love with the great Crowley. So they decide to summon a demon, well why not?

So his local coven decide to help, as world domination is not enough fun. However, what pops up is not quite what they were expecting.

I have read JG before and always enjoyed the story and writing, no different here, just wish there were more!

Beautiful, Broken Things by Rose Blackthorn: Trey with his mantra of clean now. Trey has done something that requires penance. He has lost much too, and he appears to be paying. The world he lives in miserable; dull, grey and dirty.

Ciara gives the illusion of colour, and such gorgeous descriptions of colour given by the author, I was mesmerized.

This is a sad tale, with the lesson of being careful what you wish for.  Wonderful.

Not this Time by Mike Lester: Jack has buried Melanie. I loved the skill of the author in telling the story through snippets of conversation, memories and flashbacks.

This was a brief story but I really felt like a I knew the main characters. Amazing writing.

Into the Light by Solomon Archer: Elliot got more than scrapped skin when he fell handlebars over butt off his bike last April.

The grooming of Elliot into the coven was almost friendly but watching from the outside it’s easy to see the danger, the author did a brilliant job in conveying this.

The Sight and the Dreams made uncomfortable reading. BUT I think this line is my favourite from the whole book (horror and humour are a powerful mix): he imagined a family of raccoons sitting around a tree stump playing Yahtzee, their little paws clumsily tossing acorns onto a pile as they placed their bets.

The climatic ending was expected in such a powerful story and was suitably explosive, perfect.

She makes my skin crawl by Shenoa Carroll-Bradd: Jaime and Elana, she who was bitten by the Devil, on her ass no less!

Her small but powerful punishments result in bloody bags of stuff, stuff from Jaime, skin from Jaime, skin that goes crawling on its own!! Even Jaime’s own bath tub was gagging at the revolting descriptions and imagery.

To take a common saying and place a story around it, awesome!!

Pigeon by Eric Nash: Maddie has removed her amulet and now Jack, ex-lover/married another woman/living the wonderful life Jack, is literally in melt down.

I really enjoyed the fast pace set by the author, there was no let up, pushing, pushing, pushing….until, Bang.  Glad this was fairly short as am sure I was holding breathe for the entire read.

Pig Roast by Aaron Gudmunson: Chet loves food, but mostly with mustard. Then he meets Sarah.

Whilst I felt where the story is heading the humour kept me reading! I thought the ending was great and really wrapped up this anthology well!!

The Bio’s at the end were mostly witty and very informative! I enjoy finding out about authors, it makes them so much easier to locate and stalk them!

Wrapped in Black

In the Valley, Where Belladonna grows by Tim Lebbon

I found the beginning very slow and confusing but then I was also intrigued and the story started to grow on me, it is only a 2-3 hour read and you will be rewarded with not only a well thought out tale but well written with some great descriptions of a beautiful way of life.

Apparently Mary has been wronged by her powerful husband Sherlock, cheated on and beaten until she decided to shove back. She has been banished to a valley where, even at her late stage in life, she must fend for herself and live off and with the land.

TL unwinds this relationship with Sherlock and its slow demise like a tangled ball of knitting wool.  In this ball are some huge knots in the shape of rapid dogs, half dead visitors and some hysterical home renovation skills.

I found the ending most satisfying and whilst it took me awhile to get into the story I really enjoyed the meander. I look forward to reading more of Tim Lebbon. 

In the Valley Where Belladonna Grows

Monster Squad 5 by Heath Stallcup

So as is usual for the lovely HS I was thrust straight back into the action, I really enjoy that he manages to catch up new readers to the story fairly quickly but has the sense to realise that faithful readers don't need big long explanations!.

Commander Tufo has managed to bring his bulldog Hank onto base and this makes for all sorts of humour, but as is the norm’ its Tufo who brings all the laughs. I think the HALO joke was the best.  That said, since the first book all the other characters seem to have lost their sense of humour, which is a real shame as I find horror and comedy the best combination.

HS is a master at skipping you along in the story with short bursts of info that don’t detract from the present tense.  The story is yet again full of intrigue and back stories, complex yet simple to follow, he leads you on wild goose chases that somehow lead back to the main story.

However I was a little concerned that some of the characters were not really going in an expected direction based on their previous actions, but they are at least not one dimensional or boring! 

Again enough ammonerd info to keep you happy if you love the military thing but it was too much for me and I ended up skipping little chunks of the story.

One of the main stories is focused on Damian and Lilith/Rachel as they continue to try and find her body, managing to come across as the bad ass vamps that they are. But there is a twist in the tail, of course! But I want to know just why is Rachel so scared of becoming Lilith again? 

Finally I got to find out what the "Wolf on Ice" was all about! I so loved this little love story, but I felt that some of the original erotica was missing and it left a damp patch rather than a hot spot.

I love that all his female characters are strong and lead their own lives etc but also have that feminine side. Their story lines are not just add ons or fillers but genuinely part of the plot.

My only real complaint is that once you start reading HS you tend to lose time. He blends in so much intrigue and skullduggery that you cant put the book down, and I lost many hours sleep because of him, also its not a book you can finish in a day, it is way to bulky for that, you certainly get your moneys worth with a HS book.

However, I did have a couple of  Gripes: just cos you got a saying right doesn’t mean that’s what all the rest of us idiots actually say! “and you have another thinK not thing coming!

What drew me into this series of books was the amazing monsters that HS dreams up and its not until halfway through the book, again, that we get a new monster; a frog with teeth!? but only one new monster!

Keep them coming Mr HS!! but more monsters and humour pls, a bit of bump and grind would be good too - i liked the way you made me blush in book no.1.

Monster Squad: 5