Horror World Book Reviews
November, 2007

 

MAD DOGS by Brian Hodge
Review by Nancy Kalanta

Z Actor Jamey Sheppard is having a really bad day.  On his way to his wedding, he stops off at a desert convenience Gas and Go where he is mistaken for fugitive Duncan MacGregor, who he played on an episode of American Fugitives.  In the process of arresting him, the officer, who is drunk, fumbles and shoots and kills himself with his own gun.  Jamey is then shot at by the convenience store clerk and takes off; now himself a fugitive.

That’s just the first chapter of this fast paced, intense and sometimes funny, thriller by Brian Hodge.

While trying to get home, Jamey is kidnapped by a pair of crazy brothers looking for reward money, meets up with Duncan MacGregor under bizarre circumstances and is on the run from a death squad commissioned by an unlikely source .  There are many twists and turns in this novel and you’re never really sure which way Hodge is going to go and that’s what makes the book fun.  Hodge has made his mark in the horror genre and it looks like he’s going to take the thriller genre by storm!  If you’ve never picked up a novel by Brian Hodge, Mad Dogs is a great place to start.

Cemetery Dance Publications

* * * * * * * * *

BRAZEN BULL by Elizabeth Massie
Review by Angela Bennett

There's something odd about the new family down the street ... something wrong ... something that needs ... fixing.

Elizabeth Massie’s story starts out by introducing us to Kirby, an unemployed husband and father. His wife and children walk on eggshells around him as his temper and mood swings are volatile since losing his job of 19 years. Tonight, Kirby is explaining to his family that the new people up the street are cultists, are leeches on society and should be avoided.

Without going into too much detail, we meet a family in crises, a man in decline and children who could possibly be in jeopardy. This is Elizabeth Massie, however, and you just know that things are going to get strange.

Massie has an engaging style that pulls the reader in and before you know it, you’re cowering in the corner from fear. Okay, so that’s hokey, but that’s how I felt after I read this story. Scarily close to reality, you can feel the pain and indecision the family is living with.

Having been lucky enough to read every White Noise Press chapbook (keep them coming Nanci – and I promise those pictures will never surface) I find that the quality of stories, artwork and production just keep getting better and better. These are prized chapbooks destined to become collector’s items.

White Noise Press

* * * * * * * * *

FEAR IN A HANDFUL OF DUST: HORROR AS A WAY OF LIFE by Gary A. Braunbeck
Review by Norm Rubenstein

We all read books (Horror Genre and otherwise) for a multitude of reasons; because we like to be entertained, and/or scared, and/or to experience new ideas, situations, and people, and/or because we desire to be intellectually stimulated and experiment with philosophies and thoughts outside our normal “comfort zones.” Rarely, if we are extremely lucky, we will encounter a book that will do all these for us, and more. I can tell you, straightaway, that Gary A. Braunbeck’s nonfiction book, Fear In A Handful Of Dust: Horror As Away Of Life, (Dust) is one such book. Buy it. Read it. Savor it.

For those who might not be familiar with Gary A. Braunbeck, he is a prolific multi-genre spanning author of nineteen books and almost two hundred stories. He has won three Bram Stoker awards, two for short fiction, and one for his 2006 collection, Destinations Unknown. His novella, Kiss Of The Mudman, received an International Horror Guild award for Long Fiction in 2005, and can be found reprinted as an included “extra” in his recently published novel, Mr. Hands, for Leisure Books. Much of his fiction has its location in, and revolves around, Braunbeck’s fictional town of Cedar Hill, Ohio. These “Cedar Hill” stories are collected in two already released volumes, Graveyard People and Home Before Dark, by Earthling Publications, with a third volume planned for release next year. Braunbeck, a former President of the Horror Writer’s Association (HWA) also happens to be an adjunct Professor at Seton Hill University in PA, where he teaches courses in the acclaimed Masters Degree Program in Writing Popular Fiction.

Dust is, like Stephen King’s Dance Macabre and On Writing, a book designed, in part, to offer help and advice to those seeking to both learn more about what makes for good literature, both Horror and otherwise, and on how to write such literature. There is much of value within for the aspiring author, and indeed, various colleges have utilized the book as a textbook for writing courses. However, this book is far more than a mere textbook, and one doesn’t need to be engaged in, or planning upon, writing a story or book in order to both glean useful information from its pages, and enjoy the book.

In Dust Braunbeck engages in some engaging, insightful, and often hilarious literary, and especially film, criticism. He not only names and explains his own choices of “favorite” horror films, but spends some quality time in exploring and examining the films made of Stephen King’s literary output. Whether or not one agrees with Braunbeck’s choices and/or analyses, the discussion is lively, thoughtful, and always interesting.

Finally, Dust is also, in part, autobiographical. Braunbeck has lead a far-from-ordinary life, and his struggles, losses, and triumphs make for riveting reading. Horror, true horror, can be all the more terrifying for being real rather than make-believe; such is the case with aspects of the author’s life. Braunbeck is unflinching, brave, and brutally honest in recounting his unorthodox life story. This added background helps to illuminate the themes that the author chooses to examine within his stories and books. It is, ultimately, a very uplifting story, and one which has many more chapters yet to be written. I can tell you that after reading this book, most people who think that they have had, or are having, the proverbial “really bad day,” will need to re-examine their plights in light of a particular day that author Braunbeck lived through and vividly recreates in this book. Prior to reading this book, I’d already admired Gary Braunbeck for the pervasive sheer craft and deep conviction I found in his writing. My esteem for his skills as an author, and his insights into literature and the craft of writing, have increased as a result of having read Dust, as has my appreciation of him as a human being. I cannot imagine anyone coming away from having read this book not being both enlightened and inspired. This is a true “must-read” book.

Betancourt & Company

* * * * * * * * *

THE MIDNIGHT ROAD By Tom Piccirilli
Review by W.D. Gagliani

There's just no stopping Tom Piccirilli. His novels tend to grab you where it hurts the most and not let go, not even when you've read the last page. His blending of noir crime, thriller, and horror elements is brilliant and only enhanced by a creeping sense of dark, playful humor often delivered in such deadpan it's easy to miss. For instance, Headstone City echoes Hamlet, The Sixth Sense, and The Sopranos, all with a wink. Piccirilli molds disparate elements to his will with enviable ease.

With The Midnight Road, Piccirilli invents yet another disturbed protagonist. Flynn works for NY Child Protective Services, a thankless job but satisfying to his crusader mentality. But he's haunted by his own ghosts – for instance his rebel-without-a-cause brother, who died behind the wheel when Flynn was a child. Following up on an anonymous call on a stormy night leads him to a strange household scenario, which in turn leads to a shooting, a drowning, and Flynn's "death" in his brother's restored Charger once it plunges into the frozen harbor. He's brought back to life, a true "Miracle Man." Of course, he does not return without company, and a new set of problems.

Now haunted not only by his past but also his present, Flynn becomes the target of a mysterious assassin who sends the message "This Is All Your Fault" and kills the messenger in front of him. Considered a suspect by hard-nosed cop Raidin, yet clearly not guilty, Flynn is also pursued by Jessie Gray, an attractive but hardened reporter who gets close to him but mostly seems to just want the story. In turn, he pursues a childhood acquaintance with issues of her own, who was there with Flynn the day his brother and her pregnant sister embraced their non-destiny as a James Dean blaze of glory. A film noir aficionado, he seems stuck inside a film noir plot – or many of them – with its use of the femme fatale, tough cop, bleak situation, dark quest, and suspect motivations. As in film noir, things (and people) aren't always what they seem. You can't help thinking Hitchcock would have loved to make this movie, then you can't help suspecting he did -- and Piccirilli is paying homage to those films he loves the best.

Piccirilli's work is always challenging and surreal in some respect, and here the film noir-inspired surreal roots find purchase in the black and white world in which Flynn travels, black Charger (the death car) superimposed on a stark white snowy background. Indeed, the entire novel is filled with contrasting white on black or black on white images, and you know these things don't just happen. Piccirilli manipulates the conventions of noir until they form a completely new medium, a sort of printed "film" noir which grabs you with the stark imagery it projects onto your psyche. Bleak yet hopeful, tragic yet somehow inspiring, dark and light at the same time, The Midnight Road is another triumph from the pen of a writer who makes these things look easy when we know they aren't.

Bantam

* * * * * * * * *

GOD’S END: BOOK 1 - THE FALL by Michael McBride
Review by JG Faherty

Any time I get a chance to read a new book by Michael McBride, I consider myself lucky. I’m a fan of traditional horror - non-nonsense, in-your-face thrills and scares. None of that ambiguous, self-indulgent, bloated crap with aspirations of literary transcendence for me. You know the books I mean; they ramble on forever and usually have endings that make no sense at all. Nope, my idea of a great book is one that has a beginning, middle, and end, a plot that’s meaty enough to sink your fangs into but still makes sense, and characters you can actually feel something for.

Michael McBride usually delivers these in spades, but in The Fall, book 1 of his God’s End series, he’s taken things another step further, venturing into territory previously charted by people like Robert R. McCammon, Dean Koontz, and James Rollins: the Adventure Thriller with horror and sci-fi overtones.

In The Fall, the action starts on page one, as it so often does with McBride’s books. We see a group of US doctors in the Middle East struggling to take care of injured soldiers and citizens after a Syrian attack on Iraq. Although no year is given, the political descriptions seem to place the timeline somewhere just after our current presidential term. The medical descriptions of the emergency aid camp are perfect, and provide a realistic stepping stone to the first inkling we get of something supernatural in the works. One of the patients reveals he can cure with a touch. But before this astounding discovery can be examined more closely, the camp is attacked by traitorous forces.

In the meantime, some of the other characters make their appearance: a young man who calls himself Phoenix, who is kept captive in Bethlehem, PA and displayed as the next coming of Christ, a young biologist stuck working the family farm, and a brother and sister planning a desperate escape from their abusive family.

Back in the desert, the healer reveals himself as Mûwth - which means Death - to the survivors of the raid. He leads them to a series of caves, which he says will lead them to safety. But while inside, he transforms himself and three others into the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, their goal to end mankind and start a new beginning.

The excitement continues as Al Qaeda terrorists explode portable atomic devices in LA, Denver, Atlanta, and New York. In Pennsylvania, Phoenix reluctantly acknowledges that it is to be his destiny to lead the survivors of the human race, and in the process put an end to the reign of the Horsemen, who continue to spread pestilence, locusts, enormous hail stones, nuclear destruction, and disease across the globe. China and the US trade nuclear attacks; high level government officials mutate into demon-like creatures.

As the death toll mounts, Phoenix and some of the other key characters gradually make their way towards each other.

The book ends with a neat set up for Book 2, performing as perfectly as any big budget Hollywood movie by leaving the reader begging for more without being let down by a lack of a final ending.

Some fans of horror might be tempted to compare this book with King’s The Stand, but The Fall has almost nothing in common with that opus. Instead, it shares more of an affinity with McCammon’s Baal or Swan Song. Like those great novels, McBride infuses his tale with non-stop action, so that it’s almost impossible to put the book down.

Unlike his book The Infected, McBride also takes the time here to really delve into his main characters, fleshing them out into people you honestly care about - and some that you hate. The people in The Fall don’t exist solely to be cannon fodder; they move the story forward, even as the reader is constantly kept wondering who will live and who will die.

For me, The Fall represented a big leap forward for Michael McBride, from a writer of really good paperback novels to someone who can hold their own with the hardcover elite.

This is a book that should be on everyone’s Must Read list.

Don’t be left out.

Snowbooks

* * * * * * * * *

ZENCORE! SCRIPTUS INNOMINATUS
Reviewed by Cesar Puch

Seventeen authors come together in this brand new delivery from Nemonymous, but who wrote which of the stories included in this anthology will remain a mystery for quite some time. You see, Nemonymous carries on the tradition of making each work anonymous and even if we get the list of contributors, we never get to know who spawned which particular tale.

That said, the stories in Zencore succeed—in their majority—in taking us down a path through the disturbed and the bizarre, into lives pummeled by apathy and agonizing loneliness, but also into worlds of fantasy where characters hang from shreds of hope for a better life. Some of the stellar tales in this collection include “Fugly” where a woman who watches her relationship fall to pieces, very much like the rest of her life, is visited by a creature she can’t let go, and which won’t let go of her. In “The Awful Truth About the Circus” we meet Carly who feels smothered by the emptiness that surrounds her existence and so sets off to grasp the one chance of escape, faint hope embodied in a traveling circus no one seems to be interested in. A perfect jab of disturbance meets us in “Torsion” where the protagonist’s sanity twists and bends after an apparently meaningless conversation with a vagrant who introduces him to the mysteries within snails shells. “Word Doctor” is a beautiful fantasy about the title healer who has been fixing the broken words of the universe, but feels his work is no longer having the effect it’s meant to. And perhaps the best in the lot, “The Plunge” follows a factory worker who carefully and responsibly liquidates the excess of children in the world.

Although not every story here is at the same level as those above--there are a few that drag for pages only to deliver little in the end--it is safe to say that this anthology has a lot to offer and that readers will be pleased with the fiction within. And if you really want to know who wrote what, drop by the Nemonymous website in about six months, or better yet, wait for their next delivery, the already announced “Cone Zero”.

Megazanthus Press

* * * * * * * * *

HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY By Sephera Giron
Review by David Simms

When I received Sephera’s latest novel, I wondered why a corset graced the cover instead of a wild supernatural image. What kind of scares would this bring?

Open the cover and voila’ - an erotic horror novel.

Young Hester ventures out into the world and finds an adventure that reads one part romance, one part horror, and all parts good writing. All of Giron’s novels have been fascinating, so I wasn’t surprised to find that even within an excursion into the darker side of erotica lays a solid story

Sephera’s writing style reads like one languorous lovemaking session in which the reader slips into like a familiar partner. One can almost smell the candles burning as the words glide by, massaging the psyche into a pleasant lull before the room darkens, transforming her world into something a little past sexy. The horror creeps in slowly, wrapping itself around the reader a relaxed, but determined passion.

If you like your horror dipped into erotica or vice versa, settings exotic and characters fully “fleshed out,” then this one’s for you. I’ll be bringing this one to World Horror for a signature.

Orion Books

* * * * * * * * *

TRAILER TRASH by Scott T. Goudsward
Review by Norm Rubenstein

Trailer Trash, set for late November release by Dark Hart Press, is author Scott T. Goudsward’s first novel. Briefly, it deals with the plight and exploits of a resourceful teenager, Elvis Taggard, who resides in the Starry Night Trailer Park with his parents, until the fateful night when a sexy, but oh-so-deadly female vampire decides to make Elvis and his parents into the vampiric equivalent of a Kentucky Fried Chicken “quick meal deal.” Elvis barely escapes with his life from the attack, but his parents aren’t quite as lucky. So begins Elvis’ unsought education into the living dead, and his transformation from a “trailer-trash teen” into an accomplished vampire hunter and slayer.

Elvis has various adventures and meets a number of interesting characters along his journey. Author Goudsward posits a world where Vampires remain divided into various smaller factions, divided by political and ideological differences, and with varying powers, most of which are vying to gain ultimate control over the entire “vampire nation.” The most astute and powerful of these vampiric bosses/leaders is the novel’s main adversary, Jonathan Kane.

On the plus side, while the novel doesn’t exactly break any truly new creative ground, for those readers who can’t get enough of vampires, the book will provide an enthusiastic and largely enjoyable romp. Trailer Trash does provide some interesting, developed characters, a generally well-conceived realm and mythos, and a good deal of kick-butt action scenes, including both human versus vampire and vampire versus vampire battles.

However, in reading Trailer Trash, it quickly becomes evident that this is, indeed, author Goudsward’s very first novel. His writing is often a bit awkward, and could use some polish and refining. There are also a number of what I’d refer to as “continuity slips.” One small example of such is where the protagonist, Elvis, initially mentions having read and reread a particular Hollywood Casting Call ad “about a thousand times” over his breakfast. Yet, only about a page and a half further on, once he is actually at the casting call later that morning, after trips to costume and makeup, he is shocked to find himself an extra in a vampire movie. He goes on to observe that, “I checked the ad again and sure enough the call was for a vampire movie. Wish I had read the damn thing through.” (Trailer Trash at p. 221). None of these little slips are sufficient to be ruinous to the novel, nor is a certain lack of polish in the writing of an author’s first novel either unexpected or unforgivable. Then again, as these “shortcomings” are readily evident, it would be neither fair nor honest for a reviewer to avoid mentioning them.

Make no mistake, Scott T Goudsward shows promise as an author, and his writing will no doubt continue to improve and become more refined and polished as he gains additional experience as a writer. Trailer Trash makes for a largely enjoyable beginning for all fans of vampire fiction.

Dark Hart Press

* * * * * * * * *

PAYING THE PIPER By Simon Wood
Reviewed by David Simms

Let me get this out of the way first – I tend not to go for kidnapping/mystery plot novels, simply because they tend to be repetitive and the plots, well… they plod more than plot.

So when I received Mr. Wood’s novel and checked out the synopsis, I wasn’t exactly enthused.

I also don’t like to dwell on the negative – all that bad karma junk. After a false start (I also love slam bang openings), I picked up the book again and just dove in – and was happily surprised. Paying the Piper twists and turns through the story like a pissed off cobra, transforming a “typical” kidnapper novel into something very interesting. Surprises are tossed in here and there, but not as tricks – they work beautifully within the story.

The story itself, a reporter who bungled a kidnapping case 8 years ago now has his own son taken captive by the same guy, starts off as basic, but unfolds and shows its layers well. The characters, are typical, but that’s what makes the story. Experiencing them as they are forced into actions typical (meaning us) people hope to never make draws the reader into the story. It’s an emotional ride that kept me up four hours one night this week – not easy to do!

Nothing too deep here, but that’s not the point. The Piper is a nice, fun read. Recommended.

Leisure

* * * * * * * * *

HALLOWEENLAND by Al Sarrantonio
Review by Keith Latch

Halloweenland is a novel that you should go out and buy. Don’t borrow it, don’t skim through it at the bookstore, don’t wait for it to be given as a gift. Go buy it.

This is the third in the Orangefield series. In order the trilogy is, Horrorween, Hallow’s Eve, and Halloweenland. This novel also includes the bonus novella, “The Baby.” While the novella is the basis for the first section of the novel, it’s been changed slightly and if you enjoyed the rest of the novel, as I did, you’ll enjoy the bonus as well, as I also did.

The book starts with Marianne Carlin being awoken by her husband Jack in the middle of the night. He has promised her they would make a baby that night, but he had been out boozing it up with friends. Unfortunately, soon afterwards of their lovemaking, Marianne is informed that her husband, in fact, had died a bit before he supposedly came home to her.

Then enters the gruff and downward-spiraling Detective Bill Grant. A true cop, he looks for a logical explanation of Marianne’s claim. But when Marianne turns up pregnant, he starts look at the low-life that possibly raped Marianne. The reemergence of Grants’ old nemesis, Samhain, Lord of the Dead, however puts things in an entirely different perspective.

Part Two picks up in Orangefield, five years after the birth of Marianne’s baby. This section deals with Grant encountering a shady figure named Dickens, proprietor of Halloweenland, an aptly named carnival themed straight from the detective’s nightmares. Something is not right about Dickens and his entire show, but Orangefield being Orangefield and depending on the Halloween holiday to fill its coffers for another year, ignores the strangeness.

After Grant is unceremoniously relieved of his duties as an officer of the law, he hits up on a lead to Marianne’s daughter, whom he’s been searching for since her birth. He discovers that Samhain and the small girl have formed an alliance of incredible strength and does the only thing he knows how to do. Get drunk.

After the bender, however, he leaves for Ireland, the supposed origin of Samhain in Part Three. In this section of the novel is some of Sarrantonio’s greatest and most vivid writing. The author captures the mood, the beauty, and the paranoia of the Irish with seemingly little difficulty. Meeting and greeting locals who have heard the stories of leprechauns, banshees, and of Samhain himself since birth, It’s up to Grant and an old friend to find the phantom figure before more death ensues.

But when Grant finally catches up to his long-time adversary, he’s surprised, to say the least. It seems that the girl, who is referred to as the Dark One, is working for the destruction or “decreation” of every living thing. This saddens Samhain as he has grown close to the human race, though begrudgingly.       

With the help of Dickens, a young girl that has been to the other side of death and back, and Samhain, Grant must find a way to stop the Dark One before every single soul pays the price.

First, I must say, I was able to read Al Sarrantonio’s novel, Halloweenland, two weeks before Halloween. If you’re like me, I would imagine the October Holiday, known often as All Hallow’s Eve, has a special place in your heart. When else would we, as lovers of all things dark and macabre, find that our year-long obsession with skeletons, demons, ghouls, and goblins has not only reached the mainstream but be cause for celebration by senior citizens, adults, and children alike. From the toddler dressed as a ballerina to the little old lady down the street decorating her front porch with cobwebs, skulls, and pumpkins on her stoop? So, of course, a Halloween-themed horror novel but a wonderful writer is right up my alley and certain to pull the monkey right from my wallet.

Second, I must admit, that I am a big fan of Mr. Sarrantonio. Before I stumbled across his Orangefield stories, my two favorite Halloween books were both by David Robbins. Prank Night and Hell-o-ween, respectively, were my choices for this wonderfully crisp and spooky time of the year. However, the Orangefield books have quickly, and securely, moved to the top of my list.

Al Sarrantonio weaves a web of October magic that can not be denied any time of year. Whether you read this on the day before Halloween, Christmas Day, or the middle of August, the thrill and the suspense, and the sheer fun of it will fill your mind and your soul.

All in all, this was a wonderful novel. It is the tale of horror and horrible souls and the possibility that good can exist in the darkest places, even in the heart of the Lord of the Dead himself. Mr. Sarrantonio, sir, you have scored another home run. With horror, tension, and serious entertainment this one to be remembered.   

Leisure

* * * * * * * * *

THE OBLIVION SOCIETY by Marcus Alexander Hart
Review by JG Faherty

{Instant Review: It’s a funny, enjoyable book, good for more than a few laughs while you’re on a plane or sitting on the beach.}

I have to admit that before reading The Oblivion Society, I’d never heard of Marcus Alexander Hart. After glancing at the back cover, I gathered he was a writer in the Jeff Strand mold, putting out twisted, comedic horror.

But this turned out to be an erroneous assumption on my part. If anything, Mr. Hart is more of an Alan Dean Foster lite - The Oblivion Society offers wry humor, twisted takes on modern society, geeky trivia references, and a smattering of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy all rolled into one big story that, while not a laugh riot, does the job of providing a few hours of amusement.

The basic storyline involves a group of slackers trying to survive after an accidental nuclear holocaust obliterates the world as we know it. Suddenly this group of losers, several of whom detest each other, are making their way across the country in a beat-up junker that barely ran before the nuclear disaster. Along the way they meet a few odd characters and end up in more than one dangerous situation.

But the point of this book isn’t the perils, or the holocaust, or even the finding of place where they can survive in safety. It’s about the sometimes witty, sometimes incomprehensible conversations these people have, they way they treat each other, and what they learn in the process. Imagine taking the characters in Seinfeld, and then tossing in some Paris Hilton wannabees, and maybe a few individuals from Clerks or Jay and Silent Bob, and then adding a nuclear wasteland. The characters in Hart’s book spend more time arguing about science fiction trivia and each other’s personality traits than they do trying to find food or shelter.

And that’s where The Oblivion Society has its problems. A few references to 80s and 90s pop culture would be hilarious; a bunch of them would be amusing. But the references litter the pages of this book like candy wrappers on a city street. The fact that the book is supposed to take place right around the time of Y2K makes things worse - some of the references are so dated, so overused by comedians and sitcoms already, that they fall flat.

A perfect example of this is when the President’s secret tryst with an orally-fixated intern sets the entire nuclear disaster in motion. Jokes about presidential blowjobs, dresses stained with ‘man gravy,’ and “I did not have sex with that woman” are no longer funny. The same goes for tired clichés about geeks arguing the details of Star Wars movies.

Another problem was the pacing. The book’s first few chapters are set up in an awkward fashion. We meet some of the main characters, then we switch to the President’s ill-fated encounter, then we see China and Russia reacting to perceived missile launches. But after that, instead of following that timeline, we jump back a couple of days to the main characters again, and follow them in the hours leading up to the missile strikes. It created a disjointed feeling as I read it, and those first 3 or 4 chapters moved too slowly; far too much time was spent on getting to know the characters. And this is coming from a reader who often complains that today’s books don’t take time to get the reader interested in the characters before shifting into the real action.

Anyone not intimately familiar with pop culture trivia will miss some of the hidden gems in The Oblivion Society. For example, when the US Admiral is preparing to launch our missiles, he quotes a famous line from Nena’s 99 Red Balloons:

“This is what we’ve waited for. This is it, boys. This is war!”

Unfortunately, not all of the I Love the Eighties (or Nineties) references work so well. Early in the book is an overly-long argument about why Obi-Wan Kenobi used the alias of Ben Kenobi; comments referring to Dharma & Greg, Prince, and Third Rock from the Sun fall equally flat. At times it seems as if Hart wrote the book just to see how many obscure pop culture allusions he could work into 300 pages. The characters in the book are parodies of slackers, Goths, jocks, and everyone else you see in movies from the 80s and 90s.

In the end, Hart’s writing is a double-edged sword; his greatest strengths - humor, trivia, and an encyclopedic memory of the 80s and 90s - are also his greatest weaknesses, through overuse.

Luckily, the book never gets so tiresome that you don’t want to read it. It’s a funny, enjoyable book, good for more than a few laughs while you’re on a plane (as I was when reading it) or sitting on the beach. If you like Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, you’ll like The Oblivion Society.

Permuted Press

* * * * * * * * *

LOST IN TRANSLATION by Gord Rollo
Review by Keith Latch

I had no idea what to expect from this novella. From the unique cover art to the story that twists and meanders, but never quite lets the reader go, Lost in Translation was definitely worth cracking open.

Translation follows the story of John Taylor, a man that hears voices inside his head, translators, he calls them, phantom voices that translate any known language instantly. These translators have lived within him since having been abducted by aliens at the age of ten.

Interested yet?

It gets even better.

While appearing on a radio show to help his girlfriend, the producer, help boost ratings, John is whisked away by mysterious NSA agents to Groom Lake, Nevada, the site of the infamous Area 51 military compound.

There he meets Jalon, whom everyone believes to be an alien that survived the Roswell crash back in the 40s. He is that all right, and much more. But before John is able to glean any understanding from this mysterious captive, the entire planet falls under attack from visitors from outer space.

As the realization sinks in that this might well be the end of the world as we know it, John sneaks away from Area 51 with the help of his father, who has reappeared after having gone missing the night that John was abducted by otherworldly visitors.

From a wild sci-fi tale the story moves into a realm of stupendous fantasy, casting the aliens as both angels and fallen angels, and this battle, the Armageddon of the Bible.

Who will win, God or Satan?

I’ve never read any of Mr. Rollo’s work, but if Lost in Translation is indicative of his other work, I consider myself a fool for missing out. Told in brisk prose with all the great elements of drama; action, adventure, mystery, loss, this novella is not one to miss.

My only regret is that this work wasn’t expanded and given more time to mature and breathe. However, the expert hand of Mr. Rollo combined with his care for the subjects he delves into, makes this novel a winner, by anyone’s judgment.    

NYX Books

* * * * * * * * *

HOMEPLACE by Beth Massie
Review by Connie Nelson

The farm was built in the 1700s in the Blue Ridge foothills.  The Alexander family called it Homeplace. Generations lived there. And generations died there...

Charlene Myers, a struggling artist, is anxious to jump-start her painting career. Having just inherited her ancestral Homeplace, she imagines the old farmhouse as an ideal location for the solitary, isolated artist's retreat. But upon her arrival, memories come rushing back of her other, long-ago visit to Homeplace. Memories of the witchy old woman in a rocking chair. Memories of the screams coming from the well.  Just part of a little girl's vivid imagination. Charlene convinces herself--until she discovers the terrifying truth about the Alexander legacy. Because, for all its empty rooms, Charlene is not alone at Homeplace. Something in the parlor at the top of the stairs wants to claim her, keep her, and never let her go.

This was my first experience reading Beth Massie, but I will look for other books she has written in the future. She has a knack for drawing you in and keeping you wanting to turn to the end to find out who the heck "dunit". This one was certainly a surprise and left me wanting more. The characters were very well portrayed and varied. I was impressed with the way she brought different people with such varied backgrounds together who actually ended up being unlikely friends.

When Charlene came to Homeplace, she never looked for or expected to find love and when it came to her, her first reaction was to push it away, but as the story unfolds and the mystery of Homeplace begins to reveal itself to her, she begins to allow herself to open up as well.

If you are up for some mystery intermingled with romance and a smattering of the occult, you will enjoy this book.  It is intense at times, but a good light read overall, very enjoyable.

Berkley

* * * * * * * * *

THE INFECTED by Michael McBride
Review by Dennis Duncan

Millions of sand flies from an ancient Mayan temple have been unleashed upon the world. They swarm out in all directions stinging and biting anything living without mercy. Something far worse than the flies themselves is on the horizon however. The flies are carrying deadly microorganisms that are capable of destroying the human immune system and ravaging the flesh. They cause a slow, gruesome, and agonizing death to all that are infected, but the worst is yet to come. The microorganisms also attack the brain; killing all parts but the primitive hindbrain, leaving the victim with only its most basic animal instincts. The victim becomes enraged and its only desire is to kill and spread the disease to any and all living creatures within its vicinity. The infection is spreading all over the world and there is little that can be done to stop it.

Kukulcán the Mayan Serpent God has returned to punish those who destroyed his people long ago, and his vengeance will be felt in every corner of the world. Beware The Infected.

Over the last three years Mr. McBride has become one of my favorite authors. He has a writing style that is very detailed and vivid. I haven't read a story of his yet that I haven't loved, so when I started The Infected I knew that I was in for a ride and I would never forget. Once again Mr. McBride didn't disappoint. The Infected is one of the most dark, visceral, and intelligent horror novels I've ever read. I enjoyed this story so much I finished it on one sitting. The action was nonstop; and the characters well developed. The pacing was excellent, and the gore was unreal. The Infected is one of the most gruesome stories I have ever read.

The Infected is a zombie story but isn't like any other on the market today. Mr. McBride’s timing couldn't be better. The zombie genre has become a little stale of late and The Infected is sure to give the genre the shot in the arm.

I highly recommend The Infected to all Horror and SciFi lovers. This book has everything fans from both genres want. Mr. McBride is one of the brightest new writers in the game today, and if he keeps writing stories as good as Species, Zero, and The Infected he will become one of the biggest names in the genre.

Delirium Books

 

# # #

Previous reviews now appear in the Archives