Horror World Book Reviews
September, 2008

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COVENANT by John Everson
Review by Dave Simms

Yet another Stoker-nominated novel that Leisure had the brains to pick up after it languor in near obscurity for those of us who didn’t have the luck to find its Delirium Press counterpart. What drew me to this fine novel was the claim that it was a “good, old-fashioned horror” story. Seeing that too many new writers spin the already worn tires on classic tropes such as vampires, werewolves, and zombies (post-Keene, of course) or heroically tackle new formats that fly over the heads of most jaded readers, reading Covenant felt like sliding into a familiar pair of slippers.

The tried and true coastal town with a deep, dark, dirty secret has been around H.P. Lovecraft sporting Cthulhu diapers (and before) so while I dove into the book for some old time scares, half of me worried about falling into crusty clichéd writing.

Half of my expectations panned out. The good part.

Protagonist Joe Kiernan leaves Chicago (along with the requisite personal demons) for the quiet life, and lands in Terrel, a nice ocean side town that has a deadly quirk. A massive cliff leans into the sea from high above and somehow, several teens seem to be committing suicide – one a month, on the same date.

Joe begins to dig and finds Terrel has a pretty sordid history; something about “covenants” turns up often in his research. A group of five women made one, possibly with an evil entity that resides within the cliff, a fact becoming more and more evident as each of their children are jumping off of it, once a year. The oddball, Angelica, sells her “wares” as a fortune teller to the town and tourists but holds a deeper secret than the other mothers.

One of the victims’ girlfriends befriends Joe (a pretty young lass half his age – why does this only happen in fiction?) and leads him on a journey through Terrel’s odd history as she mourns her sacrificed lover.

Highly recommended, which is not even necessary as it won the Stoker in 2004 for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Truly entertaining no-frills horror, which is a damned good thing.

Leisure

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Mason by Thomas Pendleton
Review by JG Faherty

Mason is a young adult novel, but don’t let that deter you from reading it. With its fast-paced flow and believable characters, not to mention a truly creepy plot, Mason is a great book for readers of all ages.

Mason Avrett is a high school freshman who’s developmentally challenged. Like anyone who’s different in the world of teenagers, he’s regularly picked on by bullies, including his own older brother, Gene, who’s basically the school’s resident nasty motherf###er. Mason takes the teasing and bullying in stride, mostly because he’s a gentle, happy soul, but also because he’s loyal to his brother and can’t believe his brother would do anything to him that he didn’t deserve.

However, Mason has a secret, a secret that is the lynchpin of this book, and a really chilling plot device. He can put pictures into people’s minds, make them see things, things that can drive people crazy.

Or worse.

At first, Mason is unaware of his power, and doesn’t understand it. But as time goes by, he begins to develop more control, which is good because he’s eventually forced to use his powers consciously after Gene and his dirtbag friends hurt the girl who for many years was Mason’s best - and only - friend. From that point on, the book takes off and becomes a rollercoaster thrill ride, rocketing the reader from one page to the next, faster and faster, until the book reaches a powerful - and totally appropriate - climax.

Mason is the first YA novel from Thomas Pendleton (Stoker Award-winning writer Lee Thomas, writing under one of his pseudonyms), but you wouldn’t know it from reading it. The characters ring true, the depictions of modern high school life are dead on, and he includes just enough sex, drugs, violence, and angst to make it realistic and identifiable for teens, without going over the line.

The book is disturbing in parts, scary in parts, and unlike the majority of YA novels out there today, in that it doesn’t try to win people over with traditional stereotypical heroes - no ‘Buffys’ or ‘Clark Kents’ here. Just ordinary people, with all the baggage and faults that entails.

At 256 pages, Mason reads fast, and Pendleton’s writing keeps you glued to the pages until the very end.

My recommendation is buy this book for the teenagers in your life, and make sure you take the time to read it as well. You’ll be glad you did.

Harper Collins Publishers

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DOGS by Nancy Kress
Review by Dave Simms

Cujo. The Hound of the Baskervilles. Princess? A new thriller, part horror, part social commentary, bites into Nancy Kress’ repertoire (sorry) with sharp wit, beautiful yet understated prose, and plausible science. Known more for science fiction than horror, this novel tears into one of the most sacred of institutions – our pets.

Kress knows her science, both biology and genetics. She isn’t afraid to get her fingers dirty, either, tackling terrorism and Muslims, something a lot of writers shy away from. Widowed by her Arab husband, who died under mysterious circumstances, Tessa Sanderson moves to a quiet suburban town after leaving the FBI. Jess Langstrom, and animal control agent, suddenly finds his job akin to Tessa’s former post combined with FEMA, ATF, and other government acronyms.

What could’ve been a rip-off of Cujo or uninspired Crighton novel turns into something much more intelligent and interesting. Cynics will bark (sorry again) at the lack of distinctive characters. My take on this opinion is that Kress drew the everyday people we know, live with, and are, in order for greater connection to those who people this commentary on how society acts under pressure, bands together, obey and discard social mores, not to mention our fears of the government. I’m not talking about the scary black-ops guys who will make someone disappear but rather those who screw up the very disasters they set out to fix (thinly veiled Katrina references abound).

This is scary stuff, both at the societal level, knowing how “secure” we are in our neighborhoods and how close to marching with pitchforks we really are and at the visceral level, knowing that the very creatures (sorry, furry family members) can easily turn tail (no more apologies) on us leaving the reader with the realization that nothing in our happy little lives is safe. Terrorism doesn’t need a bomb.

I nearly forgot to mention the plot. Dogs everywhere in the town of Tyler are becoming infected with a “canine plague” which scrambles their brains and transforms anything from a Doberman to a Terrier into a fierce beast. Tessa and Jess fight the government, the townsfolk, the dogs all the while not hoping to lose faith in any of the three.

This hits so close to home that the next time Spot or Fluffy jumps into bed with you, I guarantee at least one flinch. Recommended with two wags.

Tachyon Publications

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WALL OF KISS by Gina Ranalli
By Norm Rubenstein

Gina Ranalli is a rising young talent and “hot” author who has recently come to my attention. She is known for her work in the “Bizarro” sub-genre of the Horror field, so named because it is the work’s/story’s innate, inherent “weirdness” that makes it appealing to readers. The prolific Ms. Ranalli has already authored a number of books in the past two years, among them, Chemical Gardens, Suicide Girls In The afterlife, 13 Thorns, Mother Puncher, and Sky Tongues.

Wall Of Kiss, published last year by Afterbirth Books as an inexpensive ($8.95) softcover, has been my introduction to Gina Ranalli’s writing. It is a short novella of eighty-nine pages. The novella certainly meets and passes the “test’ of Bizarro Fiction, in that it is both weird and appealing. The unnamed protagonist, known only as “the woman” is introduced to the readers just as her boyfriend is cruelly dumping her via telephone. The novella then places us into the increasingly peculiar mind of this protagonist as she suffers a complete mental breakdown and winds up being carted away to an asylum or institution. In between, we observe the woman going through a rather complex, though far from abnormal relationship with a new boyfriend. We view the relationship’s many ups and downs, from the first tentative flirtations and clumsy verbal interactions through a prolonged courtship and romance. There is the strong sexual tension and mad lovemaking, and there is also the jealousies and fights that develop throughout this relationship. It is a brilliantly told and fascinating look at love and relationships from a female perspective, even if one more than a bit “skewed.”

The central conceit of the story is that this new relationship, this new man, new boyfriend, “Wally,” is … a wall. Yes a wall, as in inanimate object that is constructed as a partition that helps hold up a structure such as a home or apartment. Wally isn’t much of a talker, but he certainly seems to make his desires known to the woman. Seriously, Ms Ranalli’s talent is such that she takes a patently absurd idea and makes it work on multiple levels. I’d bet that there are many women out there who might recognize many similarities between Wally and any number of men they have known. This is “Bizarro” Chick-Lit writ large, but with a biting and knife-sharp wit that can be appreciated by members of all sexes and persuasions. It was more than sufficiently captivating to have me immediately click over to The Horror-Mall and order copies of all Ms. Ranalli’s other published books. If they are as inventive and entertaining as Wall Of Kiss, I’m going to be in for some captivating and thought provoking reading and I honestly can’t wait. Give Gina Ranalli, Wall Of Kiss, and Bizarro fiction a try – you may well be pleasantly surprised, and will discover a wonderful, talented new author and vibrant story-telling that will keep you entertained while causing you to re-examine the way you look at life.

Afterbirth Books

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WE FADE TO GREY edited by Gary Mc Mahon
By Mario Guslandi

Pendragon Press ,an award-winning, independent UK-based publisher devoted to horror and slipstream fiction provides yet another anthology , collecting five novellas by the pen of some of the most talented among today's British genre writers.

Paul Finch, a well known author of countless vivid short stories, exhibits once again his breathtaking, strong narrative style in " The Pumping Station", a solid piece where three friends racing a steep track with their motorbikes unintentionally challenge an ancient curse with dire consequences.

Stuart Young contributes "Bliss"a novella graced by excellent characterization and smooth narrative flow featuring two brothers facing the shocking reality of a surreptitious alien invasion of human bodies.

With "Heads" Gary Mc Mahon proves once again how good a writer he is by managing to grip the reader throughout the story despite a weak and predictable plot (a childless couple, the finding of mysterious stone heads linked to an alien creature, a pregnancy of dubious nature…)

Mark West ("The Mill") deals very effectively with one of life's greatest horrors, the loss of a loved one, a sorrow so unbearable to destroy the existence and to generate dangerous delusions.

Finally Simon Bestwich provides "The Narrows", a SF piece about a group of teachers and kids trying hard to survive a tragic nuclear blast. Unfortunately the story conveys a sense of dejà-vu and the characters turn out rather shallow making the novella slightly disappointing if compared with the author's superb previous work.

"Fade To Grey" is an interesting showcase for five authors who, although to a different extent, are keeping horror short fiction alive with a steady production of stories of good quality.

For those who are not yet acquainted with those writers the book is a precious opportunity to discover or re-discover their names.

Pendragon Press

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THE VERY BLOODY MARYS by M. Christian
Review by Alicia "Kestrell" Verlager

Unlike most vampires, Valentino, the protagonist of The Very Bloody Marys, is not very broody: he isn't preoccupied with existential angst or philosophical questions concerning aesthetics or his lost humanity. In this queer vampire noir story, Valentino is just a smart-aleck supernatural (barely) competent law enforcement agent reluctantly fighting the forces of darkness in the seedier parts of San Francisco.

Constantly distracted by more fleshly concerns and chronically late for his night job, Valentino arrives at work one day to find that his mentor, Pogue, has disappeared. What's worse, this disappearance seems to be just one move in a larger game that involves a supernatural feud amongst San Francisco's less human residents, a feud which promises to leave a lot of corpses in its wake, including everyone close to Valentino.

M. Christian creates a variety of quirky characters from wizards to zombies to fairies, and the tone captures the feeling of a fast-paced horror movie, alternately funny and creepy. The one element which sometimes causes the pacing to lag is Christian's tendency to occasionally use repetition with too heavy a hand, thereby interrupting the action of this story which is otherwise non-stop.

Haworth Press

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PS SHOWCASE #2: CONSCIENTIOUS INCONSISTENCIES by Nancy Jane Moore
Review by Norm Rubenstein

PS Publishing (PS) is the multi-award winning British based Publisher of quality Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction titles, helmed by the eminent author Peter Crowther. PS recently decided to publish a line of hardcover books that would showcase short fiction mini-collections from some of the Horror/Fantasy/Dark Fiction Genres’ rising young star authors. Titled the PS Showcase line of books, they are available in two editions, a Hardcover edition of three hundred copies without any dust jacket, signed by the author, for $20.00, and a fancier hardcover edition limited to only one hundred copies, with a handsome dust jacket and signed both by the author and the person writing the Introduction, for $50.00.

PS recently released the second title in the PS Showcase line of books, titled PS Showcase #2: Conscientious Inconsistencies by Texas based author Nancy Jane Moore. The book I reviewed had the optional dust cover with extremely evocative artwork by famed artist Edward Miller, and was signed on a nicely designed and artful signature page by both author Nancy Jane Moore, and by noted Science Fiction author L. Timmel Duchamp, who provides a nice introduction to the book. The slim volume contains five short stories by author Nancy Jane Moore, whose fiction spans various genres such as Fantasy, Science Fiction, and “Slipstream”. Author Moore is described as an “unrepentant feminist,” and indeed each of the stories in this collection contains a female protagonist. However, this should not put anyone “off” as the included stories are all strong with interesting and entertaining characters, and thought-provoking novel plotlines.

The collection’s first story, “A Mere Scutcheon,” is a very entertaining adventure yarn firmly in the style of Alexandre Dumas’ (pere) and his Three Musketeers. However, in Ms. Moore’s slightly re-imagined Seventeenth Century France, the Queen’s Guard, those brave highly trained fighters so expert with swords, muskets, and fists, and sworn to protect the Queen’s life and honor with their lives, are all females instead of males. As the King’s Guard are all male, this makes for potentially very interesting conflict, which isn’t long in coming. A political intrigue instigated by the evil Cardinal suddenly pits the King versus Queen, and thus the two sets of Guards at seemingly opposite goals with potentially deadly consequences. Much swash is heroically buckled, with the Queen’s Ladies in Blue acquitting themselves very well indeed against the King’s Men in Red. The story is well written, contains wry humor and perhaps just a dollop of gentle and understated social commentary. It all works, and works very well.

The next story, “The First Condition Of Immortality,” is a contemporary story that could with a great deal of justification, be considered as well within the bounds of the Horror/Dark Fiction Genre. After the sudden death of her female friend Elaine, the female protagonist of this story is jolted to suddenly find herself being haunted by a frightening shadow. She assumes the vague and menacing specter to be the ghost of her departed friend, but is very wrong. The eventual truth is far more terrifying. Again, the author displays great writing skills and is readily able to evoke a number of emotions in the reader, including fear. This is a skillful, evocative and very effective tale that is expertly presented.

The third story in the collection is titled “Thirty One Rules For Fulfilling Your Destiny,” and is a clever piece of flash fiction that will give you pause to consider as you smile at the enumerated rules themselves.

The Forth story in the book is titled ”Homesteading.” This is a longer work of nearly twenty pages, and is yet another triumph for author Moore. It is a wonderfully descriptive post-apocalyptic tale that introduces a truly memorable protagonist, Isabel, who is, in nearing middle age, one of the few left alive old enough to remember the world as it had been, and such “niceties” as how to read and write. Isabel is also a trained fighter and expert with weapons such as blades and guns, which, in the bleak and desperate new world in which she finds herself, are now far more prized and necessary survival skills than reading and writing. Isabel managed to save a young girl named Lily, and they’ve traveled together for some time now. Lilly is now a blooming and attractive teenager. This causes friction and could spell disaster as they try to survive the bad winter months as hired hands at a homestead run by a crass, bullish autocratic man and his harem of wives and children, including his eldest son, who has designs upon Lilly. Once again, the author displays exceptional writing skills, weaving details about the bleak post-apocalyptic world she has imagined and created into the truly interesting and involving plotline of her story, without ever consciously removing the reader’s attention from the developing story itself. This is a world, and a protagonist so well conceived that one can only hope that author Moore will revisit both in some future tales.

The final story in Conscientious Inconsistencies is titled “Three O’Clock In The Morning.” In a mere six and a half pages, the author again manages to present a cohesive and terrifying tale of mysterious and seemingly impenetrable walls that suddenly appear around cities and then neighborhoods, cutting off the haves from the have-nots, separating the rich from the poor, and then escalating to even more terrifying heights (pun intended). Again, Ms. Moore’s story is all the scarier for the refined social commentary she embeds within it.

Nancy Jane Moore is an extremely talented author whose stories are extremely entertaining while also being powerfully compelling by dint of the informed and elegant social commentary that infuses her stories. Kudos to PS Publishing for recognizing Ms. Moore’s burgeoning talent, and for introducing her work so accessibly to the reading public in their affordable PS Showcase Series. PS Showcase #2: Conscientious Inconsistencies is a truly worthwhile book that should be on everyone’s TBR Lists. I would not be at all surprised if the collection and the stories contained within, are recognized when the next batch of appropriate Genre awards nominations are announced.

PS Publishing

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TWICE by Lisa Miscione
Review by Patricia Snodgrass

Artist Julian Ross seems to have a problem with husbands. She marries them, and then shortly thereafter they are found brutally murdered. It seems obvious to the police that she is a black widow; a woman who marries affluent men and then murders them for sport. But there is a problem with this theory. Julian is a tiny frail woman and the murders are so brutal, so vicious that it’s obvious by her very stature she couldn’t have carried them out.

The murders, Private investigator husband and wife team Lydia and Jeffery Strong along with their friends Detective Ford and their personal bodyguard Dax, soon discover is that these murders aren’t the only ones that have plagued the Ross family. For generations, the Ross family women have found their husbands murdered in the most brutal way. Eleanor Ross, Julian’s mother, hires the Strong team to get down to the bottom of what seems to be a generational curse.

But Lydian Strong has her own problems. She’s got a stalker of her very own to contend with. And this leads her husband and their bodyguard /friend on a journey into a literal underworld of catacombs underneath New York City that were once considered only urban legend.

Lisa Miscione skillfully told tale of generational revenge and murder had me on the edge of my seat. The pacing is excellent fast, but not breathtaking, the clues are well done and I never got bored trying to figure out what was going to happen next, because there was always a surprise on the next page. Miscione draws the reader in and holds your attention right up to the end of the story. Twice, however does read like a sequel and I am wondering if there’s another book before it. If there is a prequel, I’m tracking it down. I want to read more about Lydia Strong and her adventures.

I highly recommend this one.

Leisure

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SLOPPY SECONDS by Wrath James White
By Norm Rubenstein

Sloppy Seconds is a neat little inexpensive softcover book from Skullvines Press that contains a funny and explanatory Introduction by author Mark McLaughlin, a “Retrospective” reminiscence by author Wrath James White, followed by a compilation of five of author White’s annual entries/contributions to the infamous World Horror Convention (WHC) Gross-Out Contest plus a sixth short story by the author written in a similar vein (or was it an artery?). The book’s title derives from the fact that in four of the five years that White submitted entries in the contest, he was awarded with a second place finish in the competition.

After reading White’s entries, it is rather difficult to imagine what could possibly have “topped” his for the first “prize” in each of those years. White shows a remarkable facility, imagination, and ingenuity in devising and detailing the particulars of some of the most perverted, disgusting, and deranged acts possible for Homo Sapiens to engage in. This is not a book that one would normally recommend as appropriate bed-time reading for little children, even ones named Pugsley and Wednesday.

Some people … okay, many people could be seriously … disconcerted and even perturbed by the content of these stories. I, however, was vastly amused, and could not stop ruminating over what might be necessary in order to become qualified and selected to become a judge of this WHC Gross-Out Contest, as it surely must be one of the most entertaining jobs ever created for those lucky enough to be chosen.

For those unfamiliar with Wrath James White, the author and professional kickboxer, the talents he puts upon such showy display in these six short stories is also evident, end even more refined in his various other fiction, such as Succulent Prey, Hero (co-written with J. F. Gonzalez), and The Teratologist (co-written with Ed Lee). Indeed, White is set to shortly see the release of another controversial new short novel, Population Zero, as the inaugural title of Brian Cartwright’s new Horror Genre Press, Cargo Cult Press.

For those into either/both “siction” styled horror fiction or truly inspired and clever gross-out humor, Sloppy Seconds is a true treat that will leave you satisfied and perhaps even looking for even another helping of the writings of Wrath James White. It is a smorgasbord of demented fun, and I highly recommend it, for those wishing to sample such fare.

Skullvines Press

 

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