Horror
World Book Reviews
April, 2006
BLOODSTAINED
OZ by Christopher Golden and James A. Moore
Reviewed Angela Bennett
Oz,
that wonderful land of munchkins and lollypops, Glenda
and the Emerald City; of wishes fulfilled and happily
ever after. If that's what you're looking for, then BLOODSTAINED
OZ is not for you.
Something bad has happened in Oz, something evil has taken
over and a devastating tornado has dropped that evil right
in the heart of Hawley, Kansas circa 1933. Already suffering
from the effects of a long-term drought, the inhabitants
of this little community are trying to scrape together
a life amongst the drought ravaged plains of the mid-west.
Amidst
the ruins left behind by the tornado, 9 year old Gayle
Franklin finds dozens of porcelain dolls, undamaged; prisoner
Hank Burnside digs up an emerald necklace and Elisa, a
European immigrant, sees a astonishing site in the corn
fields. Each must find a way to survive a terrifying night
of bloodshed, demonic winged monkeys and emerald eyed
beasts.
Ray
Garton's Introduction to this story warns the reader that
they aren't in Kansas anymore and Glenn Chadbourne's excellent
artwork drives the point home. This is a fast, terrifying
ride showcasing the best of Christopher Golden and James
A. Moore. I highly recommend this.
Earthling
Publications
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DAMNED
NATION, Edited by Robert N. Lee and David T. Wilbanks
Review by James R. Beach
It's a sentiment pretty much across the board that most
theme anthologies aren't very good, or at least don't
appear to succeed very well. Usually a lot of the stories
written to spec for some new vampire, zombie, erotic horror,
(insert theme here) book, seem to fall short. Anthologies
in general seem to do better when they are more broad
in focus.
Of
course there are happy exceptions to the rule. DAMNED
NATION is one of those. This is an extremely solid, consistent,
and enjoyable collection. Hell is the focus of this anthology.
Hell on Earth to be exact. Packed with 22 all-new stories,
this one has it all. Creepy, nightmarish, surrealistic,
humorous and traditional tales fill this fat 450 page
paperback tome.
Sandwiched
in between two first time authors (A.H. Jennings and John
A. Burks Jr.) are offerings from well-known authors (Poppy
Z. Brite, William F. Nolan, and Gerard Houarner), solid
up and comers (James S. Dorr, Weston Ochse, and Randy
Chandler) and newcomers (Paul McMahon, Norman Prentiss,
Dan Foley and Jenny Orosel).
Hands
down this is a damned good anthology (no pun intended).
I honestly liked nearly every story (the one exception
I could have probably done without was the shit story,
but even then it was kinda funny). If I had to pick a
few standout stories, they would be: "Das Hollenfeurer"
by Mark Justice, "Cul-de-sac" by William D.
Carl, "Tortures of That Inward" by Tom Piccirilli,
"Kheller's Treats" by Eric S. Grizzle, "In
Heat" by Trever Palmer and "The Garden Of Earthly
Delights" by Bev Vincent.
I
definitely recommend this one! No stale themes or overworked
ideas here. This is a great debut for the editors and
here's hoping they decide to tackle another book down
the road.
Available
from Shocklines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLOOD
RED by James A. Moore
Review by Mark Justice
Let's
get this part out of the way early: BLOOD RED is a vampire
novel. Okay, moan for a second then shut up. There are
no puffy-shirt-wearing tortured poets with fangs in James
A. Moore's novel. These vamps are hungry, rotting monsters.
At least most of them are.
When
a sophisticated stranger named Jason Soulis ("soulless";
get it?) moves into the seaside community of Black Stone
Bay, people start disappearing.
In
the world of BLOOD RED, there are two types of vampires:
the bottom feeders, as described above, and the refined,
top-of-the-food-chain model who can live among humans,
walk in the sunshine, control the weather, turn into smoke,
etc. Soulis is one of the latter, and he sees Black Stone
Bay as his own private laboratory. When he's through,
the town's residents will think Hell itself has been unleashed.
Moore
has produced the literary equivalent of a B-movie. It's
fast moving with a good mix of sex, gore and laughs, even
if the humor occasionally seems out of place. In one scene,
two cops watch as six female vampires peel back the roof
on the police car and fly off with a murder suspect.
Within
a few sentences the cops - instead of being paralyzed
with shock and/or fear - are on the phone with a female
detective and cracking wise about her sex life. Maybe
it's just another day on the job for the Black Stone Bay
PD.
Moore
also populates the story with a bunch of well-drawn characters,
though the most underdeveloped player in the story is
the antagonist, Soulis. Perhaps that was the author's
intention. But keeping Soulis aloof and mysterious both
adds to his allure and renders him one-dimensional. A
little more back story would help elevate the character
past being simply Bruce Wayne with fangs.
Still,
if it's action you're craving, BLOOD RED delivers in spades.
Moore knows how to keep the pages turning and the blood
running. Sad, introspective vampires in powdered wigs
need not apply.
Earthling
Publications
This
review originally appeared on Page Horrific
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HELLZ
BELLZ and BAD JUJU by Randy Chandler
A Horror World Double Review by Steve Vernon
BAD
JUJU was one of the good ones. I climbed into that sucker
and couldn't get out. It was a real Venus Flytrap of a
novel, absolutely compelling. Nothing new here, just old
school horror. There's something bad out there in that
swamp, and so forth. But dang it, I love old-school horror
when it's done right and Randy Chandler did this absolutely
right. I'd read it again, if I had the time, and sometime
in a couple of years from now when the real books have
started to sell and I have little more time on my hands,
I know I'll read it again. I'd recommend BAD JUJU without
a single reservation. Folks who dig old-time horror ought
to have a copy of this book on their shelves.
HELLZBELLZ
was a little different. I felt like Chandler was reaching
for the Bentley Little - Ed Lee school of thought. A lot
wilder, more apocalyptic, scenes didn't always make sense.
He was hanggliding from the largest roller coaster atop
the highest peak of the Rocky Mountains, reaching for
somewhere just a few lightyears beyond Alpha Centauri.
Whereas BAD JUJU reeled out like a slow country banjo
tune, HELLZBELLZ handed that banjo to the meanest heavy
metal band in the world, and they wired it up and started
swinging.
I
enjoyed HELLZBELLZ, maybe not as much as BAD JUJU, but
that's because I'm a bit of a wuss.
Both
of these books are fun rides, and I'm a little surprised
that Randy Chandler hasn't stumbled his way into a mass
market paperback deal yet. Perhaps in the boom years of
the 80's he might have. I could easily see Mr. Chandler
with a dozen or so cheesy paperbacks with covers festooned
with die cut lettering and skulls and glow-in-the-dark
cheerleaders, a cat or two and a personally monogramed
evil baby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deathbringer
By Bryan Smith
Review by Nate Kenyon
Gorgeous
Hannah seems to have it all: a nice home in the suburbs,
and an impending marriage to Mike, a young cop and one
of the most sought-after bachelors in town. When a girl
scout comes selling magazine subscriptions, she hardly
gives it a second thought and invites her in while she
searches for her checkbook. But things quickly turn nasty,
as the girl pulls a gun and shoots Hannah at point blank
range, finally finishing her off with a shot to the head
in a decidedly cold-blooded and vicious way.
All
that is in the first ten pages of Deathbringer, as Smith
(House of Blood) pulls out all the stops in this, his
second effort from Leisure. The result is a much more
accomplished and assured book, with Smith's trademark
nearly non-stop action coupled with a more polished style.
The
story itself is nothing particularly new, though the details
breathe life into the typical zombie attack plot. After
Hannah's death, Mike is still grieving her loss when a
strange visitor drops a book called Invocations of the
Reaper on his front steps. When Mike opens the book he
is compelled to read passages aloud that set in motion
a plan that will raise the dead and bring hell on earth,
and ultimately allow the Deathbringers (humans who become
reapers through black magic) to break free of whatever
force pulls their strings. One rogue Deathbringer, in
particular, has decided to put this plan in motion, but
it all hinges on a number of details surrounding Hannah
and Mike in ways that are never entirely clear.
None
of this really matters, however, because Smith is clearly
having such a good time with the story. There is a nasty,
twisted female serial killer, lots of the walking dead,
plenty of gore, and some interesting sexual interplay
between different characters. The sexual tension often
comes at the most inappropriate times, and reads like
a 14 year old's wet dream (Richard Laymon style), but
it's still a lot of fun to read. In what is perhaps the
most unique twist in the novel, Smith puts readers inside
the zombies' heads on a number of occasions. These are
not your father's zombies; in fact, they retain all of
the same personality traits, emotions and memories as
before, except now they are driven by a bloodthirst that
is impossible to quench. This leads to some interesting
conflicts (zombies who still feel some affection for one
of the living even as they try to rip them limb from limb).
Deathbringer
is not perfect. The ending is far too abrupt, and it feels
like Smith is suddenly mailing it in as the final details
fall into place. But the book remains a lot of fun to
read, and Smith has clearly come a long way as a writer.
It will be interesting to see where he goes next.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEMON
HUNTER by T. L. Gardner
Review By Patricia Snodgrass
Elijah
Garland has a problem. In fact he has a number of problems;
the foremost one involves being resurrected after a suicide
attempt. His anti-mentor, the angel Gabriel has been watching
out for Elijah for years, testing and tormenting him as
he wills.
It's
not about sadism. It's about necessity. Gabriel must toughen
up Elijah for his tasks to come. Elijah is naturally not
happy with this lot in life; his only desire was happiness.
But as long as Gabriel is around, the chances are good
he's not going to get it any time soon.
Demon
Hunter has an interesting premise, and a reasonably sound
plot. But it's an old plot, a story done centuries ago
by both Dante and Milton, and now again here.
There
is freshness in the retelling of the age-old tale of angels
versus demons, and Gardner does it well. His pacing is
good; his characters are interesting and the interplay
between Lucifer and Gabriel is priceless.
My
main concern with Demon Hunter is that it's in dire need
of further editing. I found way too many adverbs, grammatical
errors such as sentence fragments (a few are good, but
too many confuses the reader) and although I don't mind
foul language in a novel, I think the word fuck should
not be used more than twice in a sentence.
The
dialogue needs work. And page 155 is missing.
All
in all, Demon Hunter is an okay read, but the book can
go much farther and can turn into an excellent novel with
a bit more work. I look forward to reading more of the
series.
Q-Boro
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