MEMORIAL DAY by Harry Shannon, Review by Jonathan Reitan

Harry Shannon burst onto the scene with his first novel, Night of the Beast, in 2002. That book that put him on the map in the horror field, and was soon followed by the second, Night of the Werewolf. His horror trilogy, a tribute to classic 1980s pulp, will conclude in August, 2004 with Night of the Daemon. Now with Memorial Day (A Mick Callahan Novel) Shannon has yet again put his name on the map in a big way--this time in the mystery genre.

Mick Callahan, the troubled young protagonist, has led a fascinating life, one that mirrors author Shannon's own past as an actor, singer, Emmy-nominated songwriter and now counselor in private practice. A recovering alcoholic, ex-TV pop psychologist and a former Navy SEAL washout, Mick has returned to his hometown of Dry Wells, Nevada to host a radio talk show with high hopes of finally cleaning up his life. While out jogging, he comes across a dead body near a back alley dumpster, a crime the local sheriff apparently wants to cover up. When a distressed young girl who called his radio show is found murdered the very next day, Callahan is reluctantly persuaded to investigate the crimes on his own. Naturally, he immediately starts making enemies. To find the truth, Mick, who is a skilled therapist, must first probe into the lives of Dry Wells most respected residents. When he does, he ends up placing himself in several sticky situations.

This clever noir tale which ultimately leads up to one wild, climactic ending that takes place on Memorial Day is a fast paced read with unforgettable characters and several exciting plot twists. It not only comes recommended to mystery fans, but also to fans of Harry's past intoxicating and pleasurable horror genre novels. In fact, Harry Shannon's debut mystery novel screams for another installment featuring the loveable Mick Callahan.
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BLACK FIRE by James Kidman, Review by Mark Justice

This first novel by the pseudonymous Kidman concerns Eddie Farris, a young man whose life was shattered on one violent night seven years ago. Eddie refers to that night as The Showdown, the final face-off with his violent, abusive father. It seems that the Farris men have a multi-generational history of violence against their families. It's a history that Eddie tries to stop. And he must eventually question whether he is destined to continue his family's tradition.

Kidman weaves together two timelines over the course of the novel. There's the first-person journal Eddie keeps in the hospital after The Showdown, in an effort to piece together what really happened.

In alternating chapters, Kidman also show us what actually happened before and during that night.

In the present, Eddie is trying to hold on to the life he's built for himself in a town that hates and fears him, a town where children sing nursery rhymes about Eddie and his family. It's a town that Eddie can't leave, and which has become increasingly frightening, as he is visited by someone who should be dead. At the same time Rachel, Eddie's first and only love, returns to his life She's someone he thought he had lost forever after The Showdown. But she's changed. And she's brought a surprise to Eddie, something that gives him hope that he may be able to escape the chains of the past and break the cycle of violence.

But Rachel sees the dead man, too. And Eddie realizes that he is heading for a second--and final--Showdown.

Kidman provides a fast-paced read that's more polished than most debuts. He also delivers a whopper of an ending that caught me by surprise.

Black Fire is worth the money. And Kidman is a writer to watch.
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THE TAKING by Dean Koontz, Review by Mark Justice

I should admit right off the bat that I've had some issues with Koontz's novels. I loved his breakthrough books, like Watchers, Strangers, Phantoms and Lightning. However, over the last several years I found it more and more difficult to get hooked on his novels. I suspect it was his stylish quirks that put me off, particularly the use of obscure words (seemingly once per page), which served to throw me out of the story and make me pick up a dictionary. Now, I'm not opposed to growing my vocabulary. But at the expense of the story? So I stopped reading Koontz.

Lately, though, I've been in a mood to revisit Dean. And since I couldn't make him change his style, I made a decision to stop resisting his excesses and embrace them instead.

So I picked up The Taking, hoping for a Koontzian thrill ride and, to my delighted surprise, I was not disappointed.

Sure, the obscure words are there, but not on every page (if they ever were) and the, uh, interesting alliteration is present ("Their anxious panting painted pale plumes on the glass."). Embrace, I told myself. Don't resist.

So I plunged into the story of Molly Sloan, a writer who lives in the California mountains with her carpenter husband Neil. One night a strange luminescent rain begins to fall in torrents. From the woods, coyotes flock to the Sloan's front porch and, when Molly moves among them, they show no fear of her. Their fear is reserved for something else.

Soon it becomes apparent that whatever is happening in the former golden state is also occurring worldwide, with huge waterspouts forming in the oceans and seven inches an hour of rain falling across much of the planet. A transmission is received from the International Space Station, which strongly points to an otherworldly explanation for the weather phenomena.

Molly and Neil decide to leave their house and find a more defensible location in town.

The majority of The Taking occurs over the course of about thirty-six hours, and follows the Sloans' search for neighbors and friends, their realization of the part they are meant to play in the cataclysmic events, and the surprising truth of what is actually happening.
Along the way, Koontz's characters ponder question of faith, family and destiny.

The Taking is an extraordinary story, particularly for Koontz. It is genuinely frightening is several spots, and the frights come from Horror with a capital H. Philosophical questions aside, this may be the most straight-ahead horror novel Koontz has written.

The Taking has convinced me to go back and catch up on the last several novels I avoided. I might have jumped off a few stops back, but I'm back on the Koontz train, and I'm staying put all the way to the end of the line.
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DARK DEMONS by Kurt Newton, Reviewed by Hertzan Chimera

Who the Hell is Kurt Newton? Well may you ask. I discovered Kurt Newton through the wishes of another writer. I had asked Stoker Award Winning writer Mike Arnzen if I could interview him for Terror Tales. He declined that first offer but did eventually succumb to my surreal cross-examination some months later. What Mike Arnzen did do on that first interview request was recommend I interview a writer called Kurt Newton. Now, maybe I had seen one or two short stories of Kurt's around the web, I forget where. I was inspired to go seek out this writer. We did our interview, set within a pastiche of the end-sequence from the film Se7en - and what great fun it was. Kurt was a very creative and willing participation in the ChimeraInterviewTechniqueT. What I didn't realise until I recently read his DARK DEMONS book from Delirium Books was that I was in the presence of a horror genius.

From the very first story in this gut-wrenching collection, you know you're in the hands of a master mind-fucker. There are stories, boy are there stories, but you're not just spoon-fed some break-neck-speed narrative to the detriment of all around it. You are instead treated to the story behind the story, the maggots working away in the evil minds of these sick and twisted characters. My god, he makes you empathise with these reprehensible no-lifes, these apes, these fucking morons. You care that they don't get caught. You want their sick fantasies to work out for them. You want these deadbeats of society to have a fucking good time, again and again.

DARK DEMONS comprises of 7 previously published stories, 9 new stories and a glowing introduction from, yes, you've guessed it, Mike Arnzen. Artwork is by Duncan Long. There's a good spread of stories here, nice short stabs to the eye and good long disembowelments to satisfy the most gruesome appetite.

I'll not go through each story with a précis and analysis. But I will go through the first three or four to give you a taste of the honey:

SOMETHING PROFOUND:
It's about the "unnameable presence that accompanies death, birth and the consummation of love" as Kurt puts it. The depiction of the father-adoring kid's up-bringing into the world of secret midnight violence and drunken retribution just grips you like a big fist around the throat. The story complements the character so well, you can see every punch coming before the kid does. You are showed how the kid learns the awful truth about his father. You are carried along helplessly by his plight and the darkness of the forthcoming journey. The treatment is not over sentimental at all, but you will have a tear in your eye throughout. The ending is a perfect denouement.

WAVES:
Smoothly from this tale of child abuse and family disintegration to this wonderfully kinky tale of Camille who likes to buy vibrators. Camille is a sex maniac and Jake, the owner of Camille's favourite Sex Shop, knows this very well. Jake's just received a consignment of some special sexual gear from China. They're about six inches long. There's no corporate packaging. You gotta keep them in the fridge in between sessions. What could go wrong?

This could so easily have been an exercise in masturbatory sleaze but Kurt Newton wouldn't stoop so low when he could push you ever deeper. You'll sweat with Camille as if you were some creepy voyeur on her self abuse, you'll share her delight and dread as the story draws you further into its organic clutches. Waves is the most riveting read you'll ever have - you gotta know what that thing is, you gotta know how far she will go to get her rocks off.

ANGELS OF MERCY, ANGELS OF GRIEF:
We've all read a story like this somewhere. A life-changing event crashes into your consciousness - you become a private detective. You gotta know why. This is the fate that befalls Nathan Webber, recent widower. At the site of his wife's car wreck, he finds a crucifix-like object nailed to the tree as if it's been squashed flat by the impact. The small object that looks like "a pretzel made of wood" had obviously been placed on the tree BEFORE his wife crashed into it. A series of further car wrecks have the wooden cross nailed to the impact tree. Nathan eventually discovers who is planting the crosses and decides to stalk him to see what the fuck's going on. It's again a case of character winning over content. The premise is very simple but the handling of the material is exemplary.

IN THE NAME OF LOVE:
David Jessup has never been a good lover. But once he discovers "the trick" he is in like Flynn. What is this trick? I'll tear this quote right out of the opening passage to the story. While he was plunging himself into the soft folds between his wife's open legs, he saw Linda Blair plunging a cross into her bloodied, pre-pubescent vagina. Now that's no way to show your love for you wife, right? But she doesn't know. Nobody knows. It's not something you'd share, is it? The fact that Kurt Newton even approaches such a subject as 'what gets men off' shows his bravery. The power of his prose and the believability of his office and home scenes shows his mastery of his art. And it is art, anyone who can describe the erotic beauty of an old stinking toothless bag lady who lives in a box of spiders is a true artist. Simple as that.

BUTTER RED & DIAMOND EYES:
There is enough discussed about this great story in Arnzen's lengthy introduction to make anything I could say on the subject seem inconsequential in comparison. Be warned though all of the fiction in DARK DEMONS is not for the squeamish, none more so that this ingenious and revolting tale of torture and brain washing. Hey, I liked this tale so I got permission to reprint it on my Terror Tales e-zine http://terrortales.org -the fuck horror issue #2.

In simple summary, where has Kurt Newton been all my reading life. In a world of dull grey horror product, Newton's palette is spiked with glorious primary erections of man slaughter and drenched in sombre pastels of woman suffocation, there's also a good dollop of excruciating white noise in there to confuse your senses and assault your sensibilities. There really isn't a bad story in the entire book.

DARK DEMONS was originally published in 2002 by Delirium Books in both hardcover (signed/limited to 150 copies) and unsigned trade paperback. Both editions have been sold out for some time now but copies can still be found at www.shocklines.com and www.ziesingbooks.com. The ebook edition of DARK DEMONS was published in April 2004 by Double Dragon Publishing and is available through most ebook retailers such as www.FictionWise.com, www.Amazon.com and www.eBooks.com.

Pick up a copy of DARK DEMONS. If you dare.
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SKIN MEDICINE by Tim Curran, reviewed by Steve Vernon

Tim Curran is not the new voice of horror.

When you read a story by Tim Curran you can smell the dank of an old basement. The mildew of a musty comic book collection. That boxful of Perry Rhodan paperbacks in the far corner of an abandoned closet. Tim Curran writes pulp. Damn good pulp.

Baroque. Say it low and deep, like the nightcall of the great grandfather of bullfrogs, croaking in the bottom of a wished out well. Rich and ornate, and a little tacky. Think fugue. Like the colors of the rainbow pigpiling on ontop of the other, until nothing is left but the darkest shade of black.

SKIN MEDICINE begins with a wagon ride through hell. A nailed up coffin in back, making strange noises. Two scared-as-scared-can-git cowboys clicking to their horses nervously, wishing that their giddyup would get up and get going. All we need to make the picture complete is Yul Brynner and Steve Mcqueen sitting up front - looking thoughtful, amused and dangerous. SKIN MEDICINE is a tale of wild western horror. Dark doings benath a lonesome prairie moon.

SKIN MEDICINE is rough carpentry, at its finest. You can hear the creaking of coincidence and craft, grinding together like the hipbones of an antique stripper. There's gunplay and fiends from hell and Indian curses galore. SKIN MEDICINE is the bastard child of a burned out Louis Lamour, mating beneath an evil star with a hopped up Bentley Little. It's painted dark and rich, heavy on the metaphor and soaked clear through with carnage galore. It's fun in the style of such over-the-top cinematic classics as REANIMATOR, DOG SOLDIERS, and TREMORS. The battlescenes are juicier than KILL BILL volumes one through crazy eighty eight. Don't read it for edification, this is for entertainment only. SKIN MEDICINE is a well told yarn.

Tim Curran isn't digging up anything new here. Rather he's unearthing the ripest corpse in the boneyard, juicing it up with a little snake oil and tom-tom-foolery. It's old, and it's cold, and in the hands of Tim Curran, SKIN MEDICINE is solid gold.