Horror World Book Reviews
May, 2009

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Children of Chaos , by Greg F. Gifune; Delirium Books , 2009; 298 pgs.; $16.95

In Children of Chaos, Gifune has joined other authors who have recently found inspiration in classic literature (Gerard Houarner with The Wizard Of Oz and Gord Rollo’s take on Frankenstein are two that come to mind).  Gifune had done an extraordinary job of updating Joseph Conrad’s classic tale, Heart of Darkness, from a turn of the century allegory of spiritual uncertainty into a one that is a contemporary faith challenging nightmare.

In Conrad’s novella we follow Marlow as he travels along the Congo to find Kurtz, a man of “extraordinary abilities” who is holed up somewhere in the heart of Africa.  In Gifune’s version, we follow his protagonist, Phil, down a haunted, desolate, and sun scorched road called The Corridor of Demons into the bowels of Mexico to find a childhood friend named Martin who has proclaimed himself a God and has managed to build himself a pretty large cult following somewhere south of Tijuana. Those that have gone looking for Martin before Phil have either disappeared or gone insane. 

Gifune tackles some pretty heavy themes in Children of Chaos and weaves them into the plot so effortlessly that readers cannot help but become caught up in them.  In the course of the story Gifune poses the questions; do we believe that God has some explaining to do to us?  Or is it really the other way around…that it is us who have to explain ourselves to God?  And, what if mankind, who has spent its lifetime hunting for God, was the one being hunted the whole time?

Children of Chaos is one hell of a mind blowing and entertaining read.  If you haven’t read anything by Gifune before, you’ll find yourself amazed by his literary talents.  I highly recommend this novel.

- T. T. Zuma

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Once upon a time, there was a British speculative writer named Paul Kane, who was well respected in the United Kingdom with his short story collections such as Alone (In the Dark), FunnyBones (one of my personal favorites) or his novellas Signs of Life, The Lazarus Condition and his novel The Afterblight Chronicles: Arrowhead -- getting praise from such giants of the genre in England as Clive Barker, Simon Clark, Jeff Mariotte and Graham Masterton.

Then one day, Kane wrote a devilish little novella named Red and decided to get it published across the pond, in a faraway land called America, with the maverick small press publishers Skullvine Press. He even dared to do a retelling of the popular Grimm Brothers fairytale “Little Red Riding Hood” (you know the yarn – “grandma what big eyes you got” “the better to see you with,” “grandma what teeth you got…”) but this time around puts a twisted horror spin to it, with even a fair amount of social criticism thrown in for good measure; due to mature themes, you’ll want to keep the kids away from this one.

Red is a tale about Rachael Daniels, a caseworker traveling through the modern jungle – a crime-ridden, gang-banging city, to help an elderly lady. Red not only tips it hat to “Little Red Riding Hood,” but “Peter And The Wolf,” and “Whose Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf” and every werewolf type motif in between. The novella is bloody brilliant -- clever, classy and bound to chill you to the bone. Kane does an incredible job of combing horror and humor into one tasty morsel.

- Michael McCarty

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Sacrifice by John Everson, 2009, Leisure Books $7.99 321pp

Everson took home the Stoker for Best First Novel with Covenant, a superb, old-fashioned ghost-demon story set in a sleepy seaside town and reminded the horror community that something old could be enthralling once again. His voice carried the story and his characters jumped out of the tired stereotypes usually found in such a plot.

Now comes Sacrifice, the sequel to the award winner. Unless it’s a series character (ala Repairman Jack) or written by King & Straub (Black House), most times, continuing a story in horror rarely works. Even if it does, readers tend to lose the razor’s edge of suspense and terror that propelled them through the original. Thankfully, John Everson sidesteps this possible sophomore slump by allowing his personality to flourish, while keeping that creative voice which readers loved in the former story. The style jumps, too, from old school to new, from Straub or Blackwood to Keene or Lee – not a bad thing at all. Everson is far from a one trick pony as he makes this stylistic change without losing the essence of the main character from Covenant or the horror that made that novel win the Stoker.

Joe Kiernan survived the demon of sleepy Terrel by binding him (his new best buddy and inner voice, Malachi) to his soul and leaves the coast for cross country trek to the Colorado Rockies. Unable to sustain his relationship with the woman he saved from Malachi, he feels destined to hide from the world, at least until he figures out a way to ditch the old cerebral backseat driver. On the way, he picks up Alex, a teenage hitchhiker who is not what she seems. On another cross-country jaunt struts Ariana, a newbie witch who leaves a trail of gory bodies in her wake. Her aim - to open a hole in reality to release the Curburide, an army of demons so powerful that once here, would decimate the landscape in a sexually depraved manner that is only matched by their bloody methods. Ariana is a sexual creature who lures men to their deaths, knowing the sex helps crack open the hole to lead to the story’s climax.

The triangular relationship between Joe, Alex, and Malachi brings the story to life and saves it from being a “typical” slasher/demon/end of world tale – something that is FAR from being. Everson’s strong voice keeps the reader from ever thinking it is a retread, or tired sequel. Because of its distinct departure from its predecessor, the plot never flags and while the original felt like a tumbler of old bourbon, Sacrifice is a Screaming Orgasm followed by a shot of Jack Daniels. This is a novel that begs to be finished in one night, and likely will be.

- David Simms

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The Book Of Lists: Horror , by Amy Wallace, Del Howison, and Scott Bradley; HarperCollins , 2008, 410 pgs, $14.95

What could be more fun than reading a book of lists? While rearranging the mythic sock drawer might suddenly spring to mind, trust me, you would be wrong. How can that be? Well let’s start with the topic of this book of lists: horror. Now I love horror and I know you do too, the simple fact that you’re reading this review proves that. Then there are the four main topics the book is broken into: movies, books, music, and miscellany which covers anything and everything else. But even a book about a topic we all find interesting discussed in minute detail could still be dull, dry, and far too academic to enjoy. Luckily for us, Amy Wallace and her friends have been putting together big books of lists now for years, so they know how to do it better than anyone.

First they start with experts. Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Bentley Little, Poppy Z. Brite, Thomas Ligotti, Michael Slade, and Jack Ketchum are just some of the talent taped to pen up their own list of all things horror literature. That doesn’t mean the other topics don’t have their share of experts. Steve Niles, the grand poobah of modern horror comics, tosses in his two bloody pennies. Punk rock pioneer Johnny Ramone speaks from beyond the grave with the help of widow. Directors Eli Roth, James Gunn, and Edgar Wright all take turns trying to out gross, and at the same time out charm, each other. There are also many more whose names might not be so readily recognizable. College professors, book store owners, special makeup effect creators, critics, lecturers, behind the scenes people of all types, and just plain old fans all get a chance to write about their favorite subjects.

As for the subjects, they are as varied as the contributors that compiled them. Some are simply informative, such as “The Fifty-Six Best Selling Horror Books Since 1900” and “Six Stars Who Turned Down Famous Horror Movie Rolls”. Some give a bit more; they entertain fans of the genre while giving insight. “Sarah Pineborough’s ‘Rough Guide’ To Horror Travel List” and  the “Ten Most Insane, Out-Of-This-World Mexican Horror Movies” would fall into this category, as would longtime Fangoria editor Anthony Timpone listing the top ten movies he wishes he never put on a cover of Fangoria. This list had special meaning to me as I never forgave Fango for putting Batman Returns on the cover of issue #114. Then there are the lists that are just down and out funny, even if some of the yuks come from yucky subjects. Eli Roth’s “Top Ten Nastiest Horror Movie Genital Mutilations” is a perfect example of this. Surly not for the faint of heart but gore hounds will giggle themselves silly.

All of the above is but the preverbal tip of the Titanic sinker. With over four-hundred pages, anything you could possibly image about horror will be found in this book and ten times that on subjects you never would have dreamed of. For fans of horror this book is a must have. It shines the light on horror entertainment you might have otherwise never heard of and hopefully spurs you into checking them out and all the while it makes you smile. I cannot think of higher praise than that.

-Brian M. Sammons

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Bestial, by Ray Garton; Leisure Books , 2009; 339 pgs; $7.99

About a month ago I was lamenting the fact that there were only a few good werewolf novels, and one of those few was Ray Garton’s Ravenous. So imagine how howl-at-the-moon happy I was when I Bestial, the sequel to that book, finally found its way into my grubby paws. With glee I savaged this novel and loved every morsel of it, except for one tiny bit of gristle that kept getting caught in my throat. But first, let’s savor the tasty bits.

Bestial is to Ravenous as Aliens is to Alien. That is, while the setting and critters will be familiar, both the number of beasties and the action scenes are ratcheted up to lunatic levels. Once again the story takes place in the isolated town of Big Rock, California. This little berg has seen better days as it’s now been practically overrun with werewolves. To make matters worse, the leader of the wolf pack is the local sheriff so there’s no help coming from the local law. While there are still some normal humans in town they are rapidly disappearing, either being mauled to death by the wild beasts or worse, being turning into werewolves in a unique and nasty way. How nasty, you ask. Well these lycanthropes spread their affliction through sex. Yes, werewolfism is now a STD, and if the clever canines can’t trick a victim into doing the deed with their more comely half, then they’ll just take the object of their desire.

All this chaos does not go completely unnoticed by the outside world, and into this besieged town come two private eyes with previous monster fighting experience. Readers of Ray Garton’s vampire novel Night Life will recognize the pair; they’re Gavin Keoph and Karen Moffett. Once again the investigators have been hired by horror writer Martin Burgess to investigate strange and occult happenings and while the reluctant duo is packing silver weapons, it might not be enough to stop these marauding monsters.

That’s because not only are the werewolves changing, become stronger and tougher, they have a plan for domination. Their change is happening in the offspring of the werewolves. The terrifying tykes are born freakishly fast, only three months in the old oven, and come out of the box ripping, tearing, are ready to kill. This makes the head werewolf in charge quite happy, as he sees it as evolution in action and proof that his species is destined to thrive and rule. To further these grand ideas, Sheriff Taggart, the afore mentioned alpha male werewolf, has already sowed the seeds for taking over Big Rock and is now setting his gaze on bigger prey, the Seventh Day Adventist Church. By infiltrating the church, Taggart will gain all kinds of religious, political, and business related power, the building blocks he will need if he’s to start his lycanthrope kingdom.

However this brings me to my one and only sticking point with Bestial, how Garton handles, and out right rails against, the Adventist church in this novel. In the back of the book it’s revealed that Ray Garton was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist, and he obviously has issues with that church and that’s fine, it’s his right to have those opinions. It’s even his right to write about those opinions, and while I wasn’t personally offend by them, I did feel that the author switched one too many times from the keyboard to the soapbox for my tastes.

Now that being said, I still greatly enjoyed this novel. It’s a fast-paced read, ending in a big battle, and leaving more than a few questions left unanswered, perhaps hinting at a third book, which would be a very good thing. Bestial is bloody and full of sex, so those easily offended by that might want to skip this one. For every other horror fan, this book is a must read. I’ve heard whispers in the darkness that werewolves are about to make a big comeback in the horror world, if that turns out to be true, make sure you read the books that first kicked down the door with their clawed, hairy feet. Ravenous and Bestial are two of those books and are not to be missed.

- Brian M. Sammons

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Crime Spells, edited by Martian H. Greenberg & Loren L. Coleman; Daw Books , 2009; 309 pgs; $7.99

From Harry Potter to Harry Dresden, and all spell slingers in between, many of today’s authors would have you believe that there’s a sorcerer on every street corner and countless shamans in the suburbs. With all these wizards running about there is a tendency for idea overlap or worse yet, indistinguishably. The line where a John Constantine ends and a Rachel Morgan begins gets more blurred as their novels, and those of the countless other modern day mages, continues on. They summon the same demons, cast variants of the same spells, and deal with many of the same problems of being a magic user trying to fit into our technological, mundane world. Out of this growing genre, often referred to as urban fantasy, someone had an idea to give authors a central theme to place their witches and warlocks in. That idea was crime and from that magic bean, this anthology did sprout.

Unfortunately the idea of magical crime stories isn’t really all that new. Jim Butcher has written eleven novels so far about private eye wizard, Harry Dresden. You can even point the wand back in time at other psychic or sorcerous sleuths such as William Hope Hodgson’s Thomas Carnacki who first appeared in 1910, and old Carnacki was but one of many. So the idea behind this collection is really as old as the idea of wizards, but is that a bad thing?

No, it is not, as long as the stories are good and the tales collected in Crime Spells thankfully are. Sixteen stories have been collected in this anthology and while you may expect the majority of them to feature protagonist in trench coats packing talismans instead of pistols, you’d be wrong. There’s enough variety here to spice the nine lives of any witch’s black cat. In fact, two of my favorites are nothing if not off kilter.

Dean Wesley Smith’s “The Old Girlfriend of Doom” features a superhero rather than a wizard that goes by the unlikely name of Poker Boy who desperately tries to save an old flame, and her new breast implants, from the evil Silicon Suckers. Yes, it’s as weird as it sounds.

“RPG Reunion” by Peter Orullian stands for Role Playing Games and not the famous Russian rocket launcher. In it, a young man travels the world to learn the secrets of real magic and then returns to his old Dungeon and Dragons game group for a bit revenge against those that abused his beloved game character. If you’ve tossed your fair share of oddly-shaped dice, like I have, then you’ll really like this story.

“Eye Opening” by Jason Schmetzer is more of the norm for this book, but it is no less enjoyable for it. This tale concerns a safecracker with the amazing power to see through solid objects getting hired to steal something from a powerful sorcerer. Naturally things don’t go smoothly.

Jay Lake’s “Witness to the Fall” takes the urban out of the fantasy for this story set in an unspecified time in America’s early history. In it a mysterious man that can paint the truth is called in to reveille the secrets behind a murder, and what he uncovers is sadness and one man’s personal descent into hell.

For a return to the urban setting, but with heaps of fantasy and humor tossed in, try Mike Resnick’s “The Hex Is In.” It’s set in a world where magic is commonplace and pianos can fall out of the clear blue sky to crush unsuspecting football players in order to ruin the point spread of a game.

The other tales in this anthology are also well worth a read, but these are the ones that stood out, for whatever reason, for me. You will no doubt find your own favorites in this magical collection that is not to be missed.

- Brian M. Sammons

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How To Survive A Horror Movie, by Seth Grahame-Smith; Quirk Books , 2007; 175 pgs; $14.95

Have you ever found yourself in a summer camp, an open bottle of beer in your hand, thoughts of illicit, premarital sex with the hot new camp consoler on your mind, and then all of the sudden you hear a strange sound whispering on the wind, something that sounds an awful lot like “ki ki ki…ha ha ha”? Well fear not happy campers, while that bit of audio foreshadowing has spelled doom for hundreds drunk, stoned, and/or horny people before you, you at least have a fighting chance at survival. That is, as long as you’ve read Seth Grahame-Smith’s wonderfully wacky book, How to Survive a Horror Movie.

Seth has taken every horror movie scenario imaginable and dissected them with the humor scalpel. Flaying the funny from the fear, he has laid bare all the clichés and well worn plots to the enjoyment of horror fans. From classic ghosts to the blood splattered slashers and every type of demonic, alien, animalist, undead thing in between, Mr. Grahame-Smith’s leaves no gravestone unturned in his quest to entertain and inform those that may one day find themselves trapped within a horror movie.

The book begins its tour of the terrorverse with hints on how to recognize when you have wandered into a horror movie, identifying what type of horror movie you’re in, and then gives general guidelines to follow no matter what type of celluloid scream-fest you’re in. From there the book goes into specifics.

The chapter on slasher movies tells you how to survive at summer camp and what to do if you did something last summer. It also tells you how to identify the five different types of psycho killers and how to defeat them. And example of this is the Gamesman, you know, the nut job that begins every sentence with “I want to play a game with you.” Best thing to do in that situation is to play dumb, ask for an explanation every time you’re given an order, no matter how basic it is. Do that long enough and the psycho super genius will get fed up having to explain himself over and over again and will move on to more entertaining victims.

Manmade evil items are next, running the gambit from haunted houses to evil vehicles. Good advice on how to tell if any object is innately evil is also covered. That little tid bit of info is a Godsend for anyone going garage sale shopping in Amityville, New York.

Dealing with zombies, ghosts, vampires, and all other undead nasties are covered in the third chapter. Vampires, as befitting of their super star status, get their own section while the poor, blue collar zombies don’t get as much press. Also there is a great section for the perpetually unaware on how to tell if you’ve been dead since the beginning of the movie. No longer will you need a sixth sense to figure that on out.

Everything fang related is dealt with next. This means aliens as well as all sorts of animals having a really bad day. In addition to specific examples of bestial badness, good general advice on how to survive any space-based horror movie is given. My personal favorite is number seven: nuke anything that even remotely creeps you it. After all, it’s the only way to be sure.

Lastly there is chapter 666 and how appropriate it’s all about the devil, various demons, and curses. If you ever had to perform a quickie exorcism but didn’t have any clergy handy, then this chapter is for you. Further information on what to do if your corn has children in it could be handy to anyone traveling through Nebraska.

How to Survive a Horror Movie is a quick, funny read that I recommend for any fan of horror. There is something in it for fear film aficionados of all stripes, be it classic or modern, subtle or splatter, if you love horror movies then you’ll love this book.

- Brian M. Sammons

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Afraid by Jack Kilborn, Grand Central, March 31, 2009, 384 pages, $6.99

Jack Kilborn is one sick mother. One wonders where the horror comes from in this high tech thriller of a novel that feels like a rollercoaster that is all loops, corkscrews, and massive hills that scare the crap out of the passengers. Then, when one figures out that Kilborn is actually Joe Konrath, it all makes sense. The world knows Konrath is a delightfully sick guy from his detective novels that feature Detective Jack Daniels. Each of those has tastes of gruesome horror, so when Afraid erupts like a Tom Clancy/David Morrell on crack story, it’s really not that much of a surprise. What IS a surprise is how good it is. Afraid never lets up, never lets the reader catch his or her breath, never has a boring moment. Isn’t that what a thriller’s supposed to do? If this was a ride at Disney, attendants would hand out vomit bags with a list of health disclaimers longer than most medications. Disney would also be sued, shut down, and seem more like 42 nd street (in Iraq) than Mickey-land. The poor mouse would also wind up with his toes bitten off – a spoiler that won’t be given here.

If one even needs a hook to buy this book, it is this: every major government has been using Red-Ops soldiers, ones that have been enhanced chemically, genetically, and possibly surgically. Better than Delta Force or Black Ops, these guys have no conscience to stop them. With brainwashing deluxe-style, they cannot be deterred from their goal: to terrorize and kill on the way to achieving their objective. Kilborn doesn’t stop building these super soldiers here; he chooses convicted criminals of the most heinous kinds to train. They use their horrid method to inflict their specialized terror into wherever they are launched. From pyromania to cannibalism to methods of pain too cool to describe here, they make the Dirty Dozen seem like Girl Scouts.

One calm night in a quiet Wisconsin town, the team crash lands and begins their assault on Americana. An accident, the government said. But is it really? Sheriff Streng, an aging but cagey cop knows that what hit his tiny town is WAY out of the normal. Fran, a single mom with requisite brainy kid Duncan team up with her ex-boyfriend and brave cop Josh to fight off the impossible odds. Yeah, it seems cheesy, but it’s not – really – even though there’s an evil doctor with a cool pet monkey. Kilborn wrings free the stereotypes from his characters and breathes new life into each. When the military quarantines the town, the quartet of protagonists knows something rings wrong even though the rest of the town sits idly by (well, not really, but that’s another unique scene). What is truly odd is the real objective of the Red-Ops, and their masters.

Kilborn/Konrath kicks some major league ass here in a genre-bending rush of a story that will make one hell of an action movie. The rating would be close to NC-17 if done correctly and would make Die Hard’s Bruce Willis wet himself with fear.

I dare anyone to take their time with this book. It’s nearly impossible not to rush through, ignoring ragged papercuts and limbs that will fall asleep when reading for hours on end. This is cannot be recommended high enough.

- David Simms

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The Unseen , by Alexandra Sokoloff, St. Martins, June 2009, 320 pages, $24.95

Sokoloff returns to the phenomenon of the poltergeist in The Unseen, once again exploring ideas she began to develop in her debut novel, 2006's The Harrowing, the story of five troubled college students who summon an entity via an Ouija board. This time out, she uses psychology and parapsychology to approach her subject, focusing on one Laurel MacDonald, a Duke University psychology professor who, intrigued by the presence of hundreds of boxes of neglected records, begins to delve into the research done from 1927 through 1965 in the University's Rhine parapsychology lab. Merely curious at first, she becomes obsessed with the files, zeroing in on one case in particular, which may very well be the reason the lab was so abruptly shut down in the mid sixties.

The case in question involves the mansion known as the Folger House, which, through tantalizing mentions in reports and newspaper articles, Laurel determines was the site of a great calamity, resulting in the death and institutionalization of several members of a team from the Rhine labs, one of whom may have been her seemingly simple Uncle Morgan, who was matriculating at Duke at the time. The theory she pieces together is that the team, consisting mainly of members who showed above average talent in ESP-related experiments, somehow triggered the house's latent energy, resulting in tragedy. Motivated by both personal and financial considerations, Laurel and a colleague decide to try to recreate the experiment, with predictable results.

The Unseen is a well researched, well constructed, well written, well thought out ghost story/southern gothic that, well, just doesn't achieve its full potential. One reason is that if you're at all familiar with the genre, you've seen things just like this before, from, among others, Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House), Richard Matheson (Hell House), and Stephen King (Rose Red), and that familiarity lessens the impact of what Sokoloff offers up, despite her canny and fresh use of the Rhine lab experiments as a springboard. Another factor is that the idea of the haunted house/spooky locale has become so firmly entrenched in modern culture that even Verizon Wireless is exploiting the trope, in its humorous and seemingly endless "Dead Zone" commercials, which so effectively send up all the clichés we've become so inured to over the years. So, when Laurel sees a mysterious figure in the distance, it’s less ominous than it used to be; instead of suggesting menace, you almost expect his appearance to harbinger a lack of bars on her cell phone.

Again, this is not to say that this isn't a good read, it certainly is, it’s just that it's better suited to folks who haven't seen this kind of thing before. Understanding that, it's a perfectly readable, scary, and credible piece of entertainment—Sokoloff shines, and deserves kudos for her crisp, direct style, excellent characterization, and for weaving the real life history of the Duke Rhine lab into her own fictional landscape.

- Hank Wagner

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Death’s Daughter by Amber Benson, Ace, February 2009, 368 pages, $7.99

Death’s Daughter is the latest book from Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Amber Benson, and her first without co-author Christopher Golden. I picked this book up with equal parts anticipation and trepidation, and both of those feelings remained after I finished it.

Ms. Benson’s goal was fairly obvious from the start: create a character (the heroine, Calliope Reaper-Jones) and a setting (the modern world) that would lend themselves easily to several sequels. Not that there’s anything wrong with this, but it seemed to me the story was built around the concept, rather than arising from it. On top of that, the book seems trapped in between genres, as if Ms. Benson couldn’t decide which way to take the story. It’s equal parts chick-lit, young adult, and mild horror, much the same way many of the lesser Buffy books were in that series of novels.

Death’s Daughter centers on the troubles of Ms. Reaper-Jones as her world gets turned upside down by the kidnapping of her entire family (including her father, Death himself), and she has to take over the business and complete a series of near-impossible tasks in order to get them back. This, of course, goes against her personal goals of shopping, dating, and everything else a young, upwardly-mobile young girl dreams about.

Benson includes a lot of humor in the book, as well as a myriad of surprises, from goddesses, demons, and supernatural beings to deadly beasts and quirky characters from mythology. It’s obvious she’s learned not only from Mr. Golden, a highly talented writer and storyteller, but also from the writers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, whose characterizations and literary styles she’s definitely borrowed from.

The story, and the series, have a lot of potential, but right now the plots and subplots, much like Benson’s writing, are still fairly rough. If you have a teenage girl who enjoys reading fantasy and mild horror, though, Death’s Daughter would be an excellent reading suggestion for them.

- JG Faherty

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Monstrous. 20 Tales of Giant Creature Terror. Edited by Ryan C. Thomas, Permuted Press, 280 pages $14.95

This was a book I’d anticipated for a long time, ever since I heard the first rumors about it. I’m a sucker for big monster tales; hell, I grew up watching the big bug movies like Them!, and of course the Godzilla movies. Then there were the books like The Shrinking Man. I was a science major in college, so anything to do with big creatures automatically combines three of my passions - science, science fiction, and horror. In fact, it’s long been a pet peeve of mine that there isn’t more sci-fi and horror dealing with big bugs, oversized amphibians, and giant lizards. The classic tropes are classic for a reason, right?

So with all this in mind, I dove into Monstrous with a hungry eagerness, but also with a sense of nervousness. Would the stories hold up to my expectations? Or would they fall flat, victims of over-used gags and tired clichés?

I’m happy to say Monstrous delivers as well as you can expect an anthology to.

The terrors range from giant flesh-eating crabs to towering porn stars with oversized members, and pretty much anything and everything in-between. Editor Ryan C. Thomas has done a great job at picking the stories so that all readers will be able to find something inside that suits them, whether it be droll humor or downright frightening horrors.

Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

1. “Cooties,” by Randy Chandler. This one just grossed me out, because it deals with a nasty little bug you really, really wouldn’t want to see grow large, and it does it without resorting to obvious jokes.

2. “Crabs,” by Guy N. Smith. No humor here. Just plain old rip-the-flesh-from-your-bones nastiness. Don’t read this one at the beach.

3. “Six-Legged Shadows,” by David Conyers & Brian M. Sammons. This one would make a great sci-fi movie. It’s not just one thing that’s grown big, it’s everything. Following in the footsteps of The Shrinking Man, “Six-Legged Shadows” leaves you hanging in just the right way.

4. “Scales,” by J.C. Towler. Anything that happens in a cave is bound to be scary.

5. “A Plague From The Mud,” by Aaron A. Polson. Yeah, this one will keep you out of the woods for a long time!

6. “Whatever Became of Randy,” by James A. Moore. Mr. Moore does it again, with a story that reminds us the potential for horror lies right inside the human body.

Like any anthology, this one has its hits and misses. I’ve mentioned my favorites; other readers might have different opinions. But if you like horror, and you like big ol’ monsters, then I think you’ll find plenty to enjoy out of the stories in this book.

Monstrous is plain, old fashioned fun; it’s not brain surgery, and that’s a good thing, because any brain in this book might just end up thirty feet long and chasing you down the street.

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Turn Coat by Jim Butcher, ROC (A Division of New American Library), 2009, 420 pages, $25.95

As a regular reader and reviewer of horror genre literature, I all to often encounter comments and “helpful” criticism by various and sundry persons both within and without the mainstream literary establishment, that the horror genre is a “niche market,” and a small and relatively insignificant one at that. Certainly a segment of the horror market is well served by specialty presses that publish titles in limited hardcover editions numbered in the mere hundreds. However, the horror genre, like all other such “genres” (whether defined as such via seemingly natural or more artificial means), has its major successes- its “stars.” It is not that unusual to find a horror/dark fantasy title or two ensconced upon the New York Times Bestseller List at any given time. It should be a cause for celebration when such occurs, and fans of horror literature should be among the first to embrace these successful books that manage to strike a chord with and engage such a wide audience.

Such is certainly the case with Jim Butcher’s latest novel of his extremely successful “The Dresden Files” series. Turn Coat is Butcher’s eleventh novel in the series starring the Chicago-based wizard and private detective, Harry Dresden, and as I pen this review, the recently released new novel is currently sitting atop the New York Times Bestseller List in the number one spot. There are good reasons for this and for the continued popularity of Butcher’s freelance professional wizard and pain-in-the-ass P.I., who is also a somewhat reluctant White Council Warden protecting humanity from the misuse of magic and the fearsome and hellish creatures and supernatural threats that threaten all mortals.

First, Jim Butcher is an excellent writer, who knows about pacing, story structure, and how to create memorable characters. Despite the over four hundred pages in Turn Coat, the novel never lags and there is no excess or wasted verbiage. A lot happens in the novel while the reader also learns ever more of interest concerning all the continuing characters. Yet, a newcomer to the series need not fear that he or she will be lost if they start their discovery of the character and series with this particular novel; Turn Coat is a self-contained and entertaining novel, and a full storyline in its own right, and as good an introduction to the series and characters as any other novel in the series. Similarly, those who might know of the character and series solely through the former 2007 Science Fiction Channel television series that lasted for one season of twelve episodes will also be quite pleased with this novel. The television series, while enjoyable and based squarely upon Butcher’s characters and series of novels, did make various changes that were not necessarily positive. Further, being limited in and by both time and budget, the TV series was not able to devote the same depth to both the characters and their personal back-stories nor to the intricacies of plot or depth of supernatural menace found within the books themselves. Essentially, if you liked the television series, you will love the novels.

When planning a series of novels around a central character, it helps to have a strong likeable and memorable protagonist. Butcher struck pure platinum with Harry Dresden. Combine the best elements of John D. Macdonald’s P.I. Travis McGee, Robert B. Parker’s P.I. Spencer, The X Files’ FBI agent Fox Muldar and an adult, more disillusioned version of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, and you begin to discover Harry Dresden. Dresden is smart but fallible, witty and sometimes charming, but with numerous faults and character flaws, a powerful and skilled wizard, but one who is very mortal and who often runs up against foes with far more skill and/or raw power than himself. Butcher’s Harry Dresden is an always growing, always learning, always evolving character, and is fascinating to “watch” in each novel as he learns more about himself and others, and we learn along with him.

Butcher also makes sure to populate his novels with a strong supporting cast of recurring characters who both assist and inhibit Dresden in his investigations and life, including Karrin Murphy, a Chicago Police Department detective, his half-brother Thomas, a vampire, and his White Council of Wizards nemesis, Donald Morgan, an extremely powerful and influential wizard who has tried to have Dresden killed in the past and who still dislikes and mistrusts Dresden, among numerous others.

Butcher has elegantly and brilliantly combined the best elements of noir crime and hard-boiled detective novels with those of supernatural dark fantasy and horror in the Dresden Files novels, and the result is an exciting and thoroughly entertaining and even addictive mixture that once started is almost impossible to stop reading.

Briefly, in Turn Coat Harry Dresden suddenly finds a seriously wounded Donald Morgan, his chief persecutor among the Wardens of the White Council of Wizards, at his doorstep asking for Harry’s help. It would seem as if Morgan has been framed for the murder of one of the head governing members of the White Council, and escaped from their headquarters after having been caught red-handed standing over the corpse with the murder weapon in his hand. The White Council is after Morgan in force and has teams of powerful wizards out searching for him. There are also a number of other supernatural bounty hunters looking for Morgan, seeking to claim the very substantial reward being offered for the supposed traitor’s capture or death. Assuming that Morgan is even telling the truth, can Dresden possibly manage to keep Morgan hidden while clearing his name and discovering the identity of the true traitor, while both evading the searching Wardens and bounty hunters and avoiding being charged with treason himself? The novel takes many ingenious twists and turns and Butcher ratchets up the suspense, horror, and action by including unexpected sub-plots and deadly supernatural adversaries, such as an ancient and immortal skinwalker that is far more powerful than Dresden. As usual, Butcher also finds time to quietly examine various contemporary social and moral issues such as the limits of friendship, personal responsibility, political expediency, and others, through the greater lens of Harry Dresden’s always maturing life. Indeed, it is both fair and safe to say that the events related within the pages of Turn Coat will and do change Harry Dresden’s life permanently.

If you haven’t yet been introduced to Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, Turn Coat, his most recently released novel in the series is an excellent introduction to this truly unique and fascinating character and the underlying world and mythos that the author has created around him. If you’ve already read other Dresden Files novels, you definitely will not want to miss this one, as it is not only an utterly spellbinding and non-stop action-filled romp, but is one of author Butcher’s best efforts yet, and describes a pivotal episode in the life of Harry Dresden and possibly in the world he lives in. Who can ask for more?

- Norman L. Rubenstein

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Necrotica, by Hallam Heathcoat; Skullvine Press; www.skullvines.com ; 152 pgs; $17.95

If Edger Allan Poe or The Brothers Grim were inclined to insert pornography into their short fiction or fables, I would think that the results would be a lot like the stories in Necrotica. The thirteen short stories in this release are for the most part a mixture of fairy tales and turn of the century horror tales but with some of the most explicit sexual horror you could imagine. There’s even a blurb on the back cover stating the contents are “not suitable for children and most adults”. And a truer blurb has not been written.

I’ve read elsewhere that one of Ms. Heathcoat’s sources of inspiration is Ed Lee and it is very apparent in these extreme tales where every sexual taboo is assaulted head on and then embraced with a vengeance. As the title implies, characters have all kinds of sex with the dead, but in Heathcoat’s world, having sex with the dead is where the story should start. For instance, a young girl not only gives a blow job to her father, she can’t wait until she can do it again in Heathcoat’s story, Necrotica: A Fable of Lust. Heathcoat doesn’t leave bestiality out of the mix either. Remember Little Red Riding Hood? Well, getting eaten by the Big Bad Wolf takes on a whole new meaning in her story, Young Maiden Red.

Heathcoat doesn’t repeat herself in these stories as each one has something originally vile to offer the reader. In Severed, a young man falls under the spell of a disembodied female head. In Phallic, we discover that what’s in a young boy’s chest isn’t his heart, it’s his penis. We read about a young man who is homosexually assaulted by a dead man who ejaculates black semen into his mouth in Ménage a Trois. The story, When A Girl Dies shows us what nasty things can happen to a young lady when she passes away in the street (watch out for those strapping young school boys!). We also learn about a young boy lusting after his sister in Revenant: Curse of the Vampire. There’s more, but I think you get the drift.

Fans of Ed Lee’s extreme small press work should love Necrotica, and I bet they would think she has done the master proud.

- T. T. Zuma

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Aftershock & Others – 19 Oddities ; by F. Paul Wilson; 2009; Forge; 333 pages; $ 25.95

Once a year, something wonderful happens in this reviewer’s household. I know what some of you are thinking…but that’s not it. But if you can, try to remember those feelings you used to get when you were first dating your partner. You know; the giddiness in your actions, the longing in your heart, and the thrills of expectation and the unknown. Try and remember that anticipation you would be feeling when you knew that once again the two of you would be spending some time together.

Well, that emotional pining for a partner may be a thing of the past for some of us. An abundant sense of comfort does have a way of overwhelming us, and those feelings we have for our partners do tend to become taken for granted. However, there is still something in my life that makes me tingle all over, much like when I kissed my wife for the first time. Yes, once a year, arriving on my doorstep in a deceptively plain brown dressing would come one of the continuing loves of my adult life. What I am referring to is the annual release of the newest Repairman Jack novel.

I fell in love with F. Paul Wilson’s creation (in a manly sort of way of course) in the late 90’s with Legacies. Repairman Jack was just an average guy who has an ability to make some of the wrongs in the world justifiably right. I guess you could say he was a Call Guy… a man for hire with a heart of gold. But don’t let that description fool you, Jack also has a killer instinct when it comes to self preservation and revenge. And while Wilson’s creation was choosy on which clients he’d service, when it came to the dispensing justice, he didn’t discriminate. Jack took on the regular scumbags in society, just as often as he did the forces of the supernatural. But no matter who he faced, his methods were usually brutal and blood was always involved. And the stories were as fascinating as they were entertaining. So needless to say, every time a new book with a new Repairman Jack adventure comes my way, the world stops for me and I dig in.

While Wilson may be best known for his Repairman Jack novels, it is not his only work that has received high acclaim. His series of books called The Adversary Cycle, written before his Repairman Jack series, have also been praised (The Keep was even made into a movie) though most of the series is out of print. Wilson has also previously published two short story volumes, Soft & Others and The Barrens & Others that have also been extremely well received. Aftershock & Others is his latest volume of short fiction.

While Aftershock & Others is not a Repairman Jack novel, it is the next best thing an F. Paul Wilson fan could ask for. It contains 16 superbly written stories (including a Repairman Jack tale) along with a running commentary consisting of personal musings, insights on the individual stories, and some revelations on how he is going to reissue the Adversary Cycle novels to tie into the end of the Repairman Jack series of novels. For those who have never read anything but a Repairman Jack story by Wilson, this collection will be a welcome and pleasing eye opener.

Wilson starts this collection with a time line for his entire published mythos not only including the Repairman Jack books, his Adversary Series Cycle of books, but his other published novels as well. Though a novel titled Nightworld (Adversary Cycle) was one of the earliest he’d written, he states that this is his starting point for the timeline and all his other novels take place before Nightworld. As Wilson explains, Nightworld occurs in ‘Year Zero’, All of his other novels and stories take place in ‘Year Zero Minus One’ through ‘Year Zero Minus Three’.

He also has a category called ‘The Past’, for novels that take place before ‘Year Zero Minus Three’ which include the novels The Keep and Reborn.

After his timeline, Wilson divides the book into yearly chapters where he not only presents his short stories and details their genesis during those years, he gives his readers a rundown on everything else he had going on professionally in his life. And while reading these interludes, you can’t help but shake your head in admiration for Wilson, it turns out he was a very busy man.

We learn that Wilson was not only involved in writing novels and short stories during this time span, his other projects during these years included writing scripts for the Sci-Fi Channel, developing video games, collaborating with other authors, and continuing his private practice as a medical doctor…and that’s just for starters! Wilson takes us through every project he was working on from the year 1990 through 2005 in just enough detail for the reader to be appreciative of the efforts that went into the novels he did publish, and to whet our appetites for what might have been. After reading his commentary between the stories, we realize that Wilson is not only driven to create, but that he will go through extraordinary efforts to see his work to fruition.

But the meat of this book is in the stories and Wilson serves up smorgasbord of delights. Wilson’s stories are imaginative, engrossing, and I should mention that some of them are just downright weird. Plot wise they are all over the map, ranging from introspective horror, emotional instability, physical violence, and a bit of the absurd. Let me share with you what I believe are the highlights of the book:

In Dreams , Wilson gives us a gender bending slant on Frankenstein’s monster and asks us…what if the brain in the Frankenstein monster was one a woman scorned? This one ends much differently than Shelley’s tale does and it answers an age old question…what would a woman think of a penis if she actually had one?

The November Game presents us with an insane child molester attempting a jail break by trying to slip into a hole in the floor of his jail cell. It turns out there is not a lot of room in there.

When He Was Fab is a surreal story about how an ordinary and drab maintenance man finds his alter ego in a bucket of slime. Think of the movie The Blob, but instead of the slimed person being devoured, he turns into Mr. Personality and he always gets the girl.

Foet concerns itself with a tale of fashionable women carrying around accessories manufactured from a very unique source. I had read this story year’s ago, and just seeing the title of this story brought back the feelings of revulsion I had when I originally finished the story.

We learn about a woman in Please Don’t Hurt Me whose current lover should be learning from the mistakes of her past lovers. And she had a lot of them.

Aryans and Absinthe is about the prophetic properties of this potent drink and what one man must do after imbibing and seeing a vision of Hitler’s rise to power. This is Wilson’s take on another age old question… if you could go back in time, would you kill Hitler?

In Offshore, Wilson writes a fantastic tale flavored with his Libertarian political leanings. It is an action packed story about what could happen if the United States Government took over the health care system. This is one of the best stories in the book and the lead character, Terry, could very well be a Repairman Jack clone.

Itsy Bitsy Spider is a traditional horror tale about a time when giant spiders all over the world are hatching and devouring mankind. In this story, a young boy is entrusted with his mother’s fate after she’s had an accident. Since the boys Dad never returned home from an earlier spider hunting expedition, the young boy is her only hope for medical attention. Whether you are afraid of spiders or not, this story will scare the hell out you.

In a wonderfully absurd move, Wilson has included a tale with an unpronounceable title (a play on the name Copperfield) that will have your imagination soaring with its plotting. This story will have you second guessing his characters actions and wondering about its unwritten possibilities. Wilson asks us, what if there was a word, just one word, which you could say to someone, and you would get whatever you wanted?

The well deserved Bram Stocker winning story Aftershock is also included in this collection. It’s a tear jerker about the effects of those who are struck by lightening and live though it. If not for the Repairman Jack story, this would most certainly be the highlight of the book for many readers.

Anna is another traditional horror tale which begins with the story of a man purchasing a foot stool which has the ability to shed slivers and deposit them into its new owner. The foot stool decides it won’t stop at slivers, and soon the foot stool becomes a stalker. Anna is black humor at Wilson’s best.

Sole Custody is about a man who one evening hears his young son talking to himself in his bedroom late one evening. When he goes to see if he is alright, the young boy tells him “you are going to die tomorrow”. The man spends then spends the morning and the rest of the day avoiding all sorts of unbelievably deadly accidents which leads to a surprising conclusion at midnight.

Sex Slaves of The Dragon Tong is a retro and heavily noir influenced story about a novice police detective tracking down a renegade Chinese gangster who kidnaps young American girls for the sex trade. This is a wonderful story who’s plot could have easily have been slipped into any Repairman Jack novel. Some great pulp fiction in this one!

Part of The Game is story dealing with one of the minor characters in Sex Slaves of The Dragon Tong that will have you squirming in your seat. This story will make you want to carry around bug repellent with you at all times.

The last story in Aftershock & Others, Interlude at Duane’s, is a Repairman Jack tale and its one hell of a great read. This mostly action packed story is not only bloody; it’s one of the most hilarious Repairman Jack stories I’ve ever read! Wilson lets out all the stops in this tale conjuring up a story of inept robbers, exploding tampons, and douche bags.

Aftershock & Others is a real treat and a must have short story collection. It will not only please Repairman Jack fans, but those who appreciate their fiction deftly plotted and thought provoking. And for those who need a Repairman Jack fix until the next novel is released, Aftershock & Others will go a long way to tame that craving. This one is highly recommended.

Breathers by S. G. Browne; www.broadwaybooks.com , 2009; 310 pgs, $ 14.00

In liberal minded, democratic societies, fiction has always been one of the most potent ways to address perceived social injustices.   Whether it’s been with humor, drama, or allegorical fiction, stories that have subtly preached while entertaining have been enlightening readers going as far back as William Shakespeare’s days (I’d include The Bible, but there is little about it that is subtle).   

In more modern times, characters such as Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s, Catcher in the Rye, held older readers spellbound as they were witness to their own adult judgments of teenage angst and sexual confusion.   And let’s not forget Scout Finch.  She’s the young protagonist in Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird, who helped to expose the sins of racial prejudice to readers with Lee wrapping her story around a murder mystery and a mentally challenged savoir. 

While it is not as profound as the two examples given above, there is a new novel recently released, S. G. Browne’s, Breathers, that manages to bring to the forefront one of the most inhumane discriminations that mankind has continued to perpetuate. In Breathers (a term used for the living), S.G. Browne has brazenly and entertainingly presented the proposition that Zombies be given the same basic civil rights that the living have.

As shocking as that pronouncement is, Browne puts his argument into context by giving readers a short history lesson pointing out that Zombies have been among us for quite some time and have often been our allies. He makes reference to top secret Zombie army squadrons that had performed admirably for the United States during World War Two but for political reasons were denied recognition by the government. He sites other examples of Zombies assisting the government and Breathers, but…as we who consider ourselves open minded people are painfully aware of, it was all for naught. Historically, we know that Zombie’s have always been treated worse than pets and to this day Zombies are not allowed driver’s licenses, social security numbers, and are forbidden to wed.

Browne pushes his equal rights agenda by making his case with the story of Andy, a young married man, who with his wife by his side was involved in a horrible car accident. Both perished, but for reasons unknown to science, only Andy was re-animated. Then, shunned by the community at large and hobbled with some pretty bad deformities due to the accident, Andy is forced to live with his parents or otherwise be subjected to cruel medical experiments. His leg is twisted, his voice is ruined, and he only has the use of one arm; a pretty tough break for a guy who already has some bleak prospects before him. Andy is forced to live in his parent’s wine cellar by his zombie hating Dad and still loving and doting Mom. The thing is, Andy wants more. He wants his old life back. But in a society that is prejudicial to the point of being downright violent to Zombies, things aren’t looking too good for him.

As the story progresses, Andy gets out of the cellar and attends a Zombie Self Help group where he meets new friends, and eventually a new love. We are introduced to a whole slew of Zombie characters during this group meeting who befriend Andy and suffer as he does. For instance, as a group they slowly decompose, have terrific odor problems, and all the food they eat tastes bland.

Then one day they meet Ray, an independent zombie living out in the woods. Ray shares some venison and tuna with the Self Help group and things quite suddenly begin to change for the good.

Andy finds his voice returning, his leg healing, and he’s regaining the use of his arm. His friends also experience some wonderful changes for the better and they all dare to hope that they are slowly returning to some semblance of life. A few of the Zombies even manage to regain their sex drive and make love with each other (the female Zombies even have multiple orgasms!).

Up to this point, Browne has done a wonderful job in getting his readers to sympathize with his Zombie creations and we feel their pain. The reader can’t help but get sucked up by the narrative, and I think most of Browne’s readers would certainly be amenable to at least lending an ear to the Zombies arguments for civil rights. In fact, I would bet that some of the readers at this juncture might even be willing to support outright the Zombies quest for equality. But then, Browne makes a strategic and tragic error.

After persuading the readers to empathize with his Zombies plight, Brown lets the story, and his message, get away from him. The venison and tuna turn out to be Breather flesh. Andy, in fear of being thrown out of the wine cellar, savagely kills his parents and stores them in the freezer for a future cookout with his friends. Also, in an act of revenge, all of the Zombie Self Help group attack a bunch of fraternity boys and savagely slaughter them. And sadly, the Zombies then start abducting and eating various and sundry Breathers. To make matters even worse, Browne has an ending to his story that is action packed and loaded with carnage.

After finishing this novel, no one in their right mind would support equal rights for Zombies.

The good news for Browne is that on its surface, his Zombie novel is more entertaining than the majority of the Zombie fiction releases in the last few years. I found myself cheering Andy and his buddies on when confronted with and then overcoming adversity. Breathers has also answered some of the biggest questions I had about Zombies. Do they go to the bathroom? How do they kiss when they have no lips? And…can they get drunk?

Ultimately, Breathers is a failure when it comes to purporting to be a clarion call for equal rights for Zombies. But taken at face value, Breathers is a fresh, exciting, and hilarious Zombie novel that will have you smiling as you turn its pages.

- T. T. Zuma

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