Skull Salad Reviews

"Black-Eyed Kids" by Ian Rogers

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Black-Eyed Kids

by Ian Rogers

Burning EffigyPress (2011)

60 pages

ISBN9781926611136

Canada isn't all maple syrup and ice hockey, you know. We've gotmonsters too, and Ian Rogers is a guy who knows how to shine aspotlight on them. I've already been entertained by the first twonovellas in his Felix Renn series through Burning EffigyPress, so I was interested to see if Black-Eyed Kids wouldmake it a trifecta.

If you haven't read my reviews of the first two books, which I postedon this blog, you can check those out by clicking on the links:Temporary Monsters and The Ash Angels.

One of the nice things about this series though, is the fact that youdon't necessarily need to read the first two to hop on the bandwagon.You could start with the third and get caught up with the main storypoints in short order.

This time around, Felix is doing some work in Toronto that is muchmore mundane and far less life-threatening--for a while, anyway. He'sbeen hired by a guy to keep an eye on his wife whom is suspected ofbeing unfaithful, but while Felix has her apartment staked out she ismurdered right under his nose--cut in half with the lower halfmissing, and there's no sign of anyone coming or going. It doesn'ttake long to realize there is something supernatural going on, asthat sort of thing seems to just gravitate to ol' Felix. A big cluethat things are on the paranormal side of things is when two kids, aboy and a girl, begin stalking him. Maybe not so disturbing when putlike that, but these kids are Village of the Damned calibercreepy thanks to eyes that are orbs of pure black. When Felix findsout the kids are connected to the murder, he also learns the guy whohired him isn't who he says he is, and there's been more than onedeath linked to those kids.

Whoa Nelly, this one was a dark treat to read. The first two bookscertainly had their fair share of sinister vibes, but there wasmore--how do I put it?--rollickingness. No that's not right.Maybe sardonic tone is what I mean. Felix is the kind of guywho will let his world-weary side shine through. This time aroundthere isn't a lot of room for that, because his life is in imminentdanger even more than the last two times. The story is the mostintense of the three with a threat that Felix comes to believe hecan't defeat. Everything plays out really well with an episodicquality I've come to expect and appreciate from Ian's work.

I think this would have to be Ian's strongest effort yet of the threenovellas published so far, which bodes well for future iterations,including a Felix Renn novel that's apparently in the works. If youenjoy gritty urban fantasy, this should be right up your alley.

"The Ash Angels" by Ian Rogers

2012-01-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Ash Angels

by Ian Rogers

Burning EffigyPress (Sept 2010)

40 pages

ISBN9781926611099

I blogged a month or two ago about the first novella in Ian Roger'sgritty urban fantasy, the Felix Renn series. I quite like thehard-boiled blending with dark fantasy and a dash of the Great WhiteNorth for flavor. Well, I got around to reading the secondinstallment, The Ash Angels, and while the book could work asa stand-alone I thought it a good follow-up to the impressive debut.

It's Christmas time, and while Felix and his ex-wife are civil toeach other these days, he'd rather be alone--and drunk. He needssomething festive for a chaser while home alone, so he heads out tofind some eggnog and wides up with a mystery involving piles of ashshaped like angels. It's a case that leads him from a funeral homeand ultimately to a familiar location from his recent past, all thewhile trying to keep from winding up like the ashen corpses he finds.

The Ash Angelshas the same hard-boiledapproach to urban fantasy that I've come to enjoy from severalauthors, and Ian has a great character with Felix Renn to explorethis world he's created. That said. this second installment didn'tcome off quite as strong as the debut effort. The curse of thesophomore book in a series, I suppose. It's not bad, quite thecontrary actually, but with such a powderkeg as TemporaryMonsters, I had my hopes setreally high on this one. Still a satisfying read, and I'm eager toread the third installment, Black-Eyed Kids,in the near future, which Ian intimated is his strongest work of thethree. Good to know.

If you're not on board the Felix Renn bandwagon, and you're a fan ofgritty urban fantasy, I suggest you remedy that.

"Four Live Rounds" by Blake Crouch

2012-01-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

Four Live Rounds

by Blake Crouch

self-publishedby Blake Crouch (2010)

ASIN B003BEEAD0

Merry Christmas to me, because quite a few authors I had on my watchlist offered free e-books on the Kindle Store this past Christmas.Blake Crouch was chief among them, I dare say, as he had severallisted as freebies for a week or two. I think I downloaded them all,including this collection of four short stories. Four Live Roundswas my first time reading Blake's work that was not acollaboration with another author, so I was very interested to seehow good he did on his own compared to the thrillrides he writerswith J.A. Konrath and others.

"*69" starts with an interesting concept: what if someone'scell phone inadvertently called you while that person was committinga murder? Pretty creepy, especially if you've ever gotten one ofthose odd calls where there's no one on the other line, but you canhear something like breathing or some kind of commotion. In Blake'sstory, after the initial phone call, there's a quaintness to themarried couple pondering who might have called and whether theyactually overheard someone's murder. But the story quickly ramps upas their suspicions escalate and their actions to learn the truthcross a couple of lines. A really strong opener for this collection.

"Remaking" is a tragic bit of work strikes a nerveconsidering the number of times you hear about a child abduction onthe six-o-clock news. If I had to pick a runt from this litter ofstories, "Remaking" would be it, but it's still one thatkept me hooked until the end because the man's torment and how itthreatened the safety of the child was chilling.

"On the Good, Red Road" is a western that acts as a preludeof sorts to a novel of Blake's called Abandon. A man tries tomake his way to a mining town, but winds up in the couple of a trioof outlaws. Things are tense enough as the guy tries to gauge howbest to get away from the villains, but when a sudden blizzard leavesthem stranded and starving in the middle of nowhere, that's when itreally turns into a nail-biter.

"Shining Rock" struck me as a story with a really strongstart and finish, but there was a piece in the middle that strainedmy credulity. A married couple are on a romantic excursion in thebucolic fields of a park called Shining Rock, and are approached by alone man from a neighboring campsite who at first seems off-puttingwith his large knife, but ultimately charms them with smalltalk andpricey booze. But there's something about the lone man and his brieftale of tragedy during drunken chatter that sets the husband on edgeand has him wanting to flee the park as soon as possible. I reallyliked the story overall, but there was one aspect of the wife'sreaction to her husband's revelation that didn't feel believable tome. Aside from that, it was probably my favorite story of the four.

It's a nice, quick hodgepodge for anyone who'd care to check out Blake'swork for the first time. A little bit of everything, from western topsychological thriller, to horror. There's a larger collection on theKindle Store called Fully Loaded, which includes these fourstories and a bunch more (his collaboration with J.A. Konrath,Serial, among them), so I'll have to check that out sometime,too.

"Temporary Monsters" by Ian Rogers

2011-12-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

Temporary Monsters

by IanRogers

BurningEffigy Press (2009)

39 pages

ISBN9781926611073

I do love me some gritty urban fantasy, so when The Man Eating Bookworm reviewed this novella by up-and-coming Canadian author, IanRogers, it caught my eye.

Set in a world in which monsters do exist and the borders between ourdimension and a hellish one known as the Black Lands exists as well,Felix is a burned-out private eye with an ex-wife and bills to pay.His latest job has him looking into the background of a movie starwho went on a psychotic rampage, in the guise of a vampire, beforesomeone killed him in self-defense--that someone being Felix, noless. Felix soon learns the rising star was not only doing onehelluva job as a vampire when he went outhouse crazy in a restaurant,but the movie he was working on in town had him playing a vampire.And when things go wrong with the actor's co-star, who is playing awerewolf ... well, one guess how that turns out.

The world Ian has created here is surprisingly robust when barelyusing thirty pages to not only set the stage, but tell the wholestory. The added twist of a drug that seems to temporarily morphusers into monsters of choice is both macabre and original. There's agood payoff at the end with enough of a teaser for futureinstallments. In fact, The Ash Angels is the next story in theBlack Lands series, which I hope to read sooner rather than later.

Seeing Canada portrayed as something other than a snowbound land ofoverly polite syrup-suckers is always welcome, and Ian did a heckuvajob layering grime all over Toronto. I'm looking forward to readingwhat else he has in store for the great white north and abroad.

'Red Penny Papers' (Fall 2011)

2011-12-09T09:29:00.001-08:00

I can't rememberexactly when it was I discovered Red Penny Papers, but I cantell you it's been a welcome source for short fiction from day one.Stories by Aaron Polson, Camille Alexa, Natalie Sin, and others haveprovided me with no shortage of creepy, fun stories--and all of themfor free.

The Red PennyPapers fall edition presented five short stories from authors who areall brand new to me. "Arkady's Apprentice" by S.J. Hirronswas a rather stirring tale of magic and legacy with a magician, hisapprentice, and his son. The side-note at the end of this story,where Hirrons writing instructors apparently dismissed this story asunpublishable. Whoops. That's some writing school.

Next was "SoLong, Warren" by Ash Krafton, a devilish mix of noir and thesupernatural, which is one of my favorite combinations these days."Iron Jack" by Mark Rossmore was interesting with itsdecomposing marriage and the automated servant tearing the coupleapart.

"Oni wa Soto"by Sara Kate Ellis would probably be classified as my favorite of thebunch. A story about a devil with a crisis at the workplace. TheJapanese setting, along with the undercurrent of dark humor, reallyresonated with me. Good stuff. And then "Janitors of the Cosmos"by William Vitka finished off the collection. This one could beclassified as the strangest of all five stories, bordering on thesurreal, as a "god" exterminator roams the universe huntingdown various incarnations of deities who still cling to theirwould-be worshippers.

If you'd like tocheck these stories out, you find them all on Red Penny Papers'website. I managed to get this in November when Katey the editorpointing me towards an e-book edition--for free! It might still beavailable, so if you prefer e-books over reading from your webbrowser, I highly recommend going that route.

Just checked on Smashwords and it's still available free of charge: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/85230

"King Death" by Paul Finch (Spectral Press Chapbook Vol. 4)

2011-12-07T10:03:00.001-08:00

It's pretty hard toimagine the rampant disease and death and quite literally plaguedEurope, even the world, during the 14th century. Perhaps thecenturies have mythologized the Black Death to a point that it'ssimply hard to comprehend. Hell, judging by the degree to which thepublic at large loses their damn minds when the evening news mentionsa flu outbreak, a bonified pandemic wouldn't have to hit usphysically--the world would be crippled on a psychological level. Sothink back to a time when our modern medical marvels didn't exist,but an engrained acceptance of the supernatural did. What would thatworld really look like?

Well, PaulFinch shines a spotlight on one patch of England, as a con manroams the country side exploiting death and superstition by paradinghimself as King Death himself. Rodric is out to plunder a devastatedterritory for whatever meager gain he can get. After all, who's goingto stop them when everyone is too busy dying?

That's kind of asimplistic summary of Rodric and his motives, and when he encountersand orphaned lad with a chip on his shoulder, Rodric's motives aregiven a real test.

The story itselfweighs in around twenty pages, but that's plenty of time to set thestage and the stakes. Some of the language is a bit of a chore to getthrough for a dullard like me who doesn't read historical fictionthat stretches much further beyond the 18th century. Fortunately,there's a glossary at the end of the book, so a quick glance at thatand I was off to the races.

This is the firsttime I've read Paul Finch's work and walked away impressed, showingSpectral Press hasa good eye for picking out short fiction to feature in their chapbookseries. Paul apparently has a helluva lot more work out there, so I'mgoing to have to look up some more of his work down the road.

"Last Dance of the Black Widow" by Bradley Convissar

2011-11-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

A while back I hada chance to read Brad's novella, Dogs of War, and while Iwasn't wowed by it I thought it showed the guy had something goingfor him, and I wanted to keep his work in mind for later down theroad, like the litany of names on my watch list. Then, last week, Istumbled across a free short story by him up on the Kindle Store. Ifigured I could make some time for a 3,000 word story to check outanother piece of his work.

"Last Dance ofthe Black Widow" is about a widow Abbey Whistler waiting in herhospital room, waiting for her judgment to arrive in the wake of herdeath. Time is at a standstill, seemingly frozen until its decidedwhether she's headed upstairs or down. When someone joins her in theroom finally, it's her long-dead father and the news isn't good.

The storyessentially takes place entirely in the hospital room with therevelations and action occurring through their conversation. Abbeypleads for admittance to Heaven, but as the story progresses itbecomes clear that it's unlikely she'll get her wish, and even sheunderstand why deep down.

Some of thedialogue feels a bit stiff, a tad theatrical, but it's a story Ifound interesting for the fact that I my sympathy for Abbey erodedwith each page. And I thought the end worked quite well.

It's worth a lookif you want to take a chance on an independent author.

The Spectral Press Chapbooks Volumes 1-3

2011-09-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

Spectral Press started out this year as a new imprint dedicated to short works of horror fiction, inspired by the classic tales of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while still looking forward for today's brightest writers with new ideas and new approaches to instilling terror in readers. But, with three issues now out, how close have they come to backing up their claims of providing high quality stories?

What They Hear in the Dark by Gary McMahon

I've got a brand new Gary McMahon novel sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read, but for some reason I haven't put it at the top of the heap. After reading this story, maybe I ought to reconsider. A married couple buy a big ol' house in the wake of their young son's death. It's a fixer-upper, it'll keep them busy, help them get some closure. But we all know closure is hard to come by, especially when the house you move into has a room that shouldn't exist. The Quiet Room.

I am a sucker for a haunted house story, and this was is one of the best I've read in the last year or more. Rob and Becky, the couple living in the house, offer two stark views of the room and what it means to each of them. Rob hears absolutely nothing, barely his own thoughts, but feels a sinister force somewhere inside the room whenever he is inside it. While Becky has convinced herself the spirit of their dead son is in there. Whether there is something in the room or whether Rob and Becky are projecting pieces of themselves into its void, that's one of the questions that lingers.

The Abolisher of Roses by Gary Fry

I'm unfamiliar with Gary Fry's work, this being my first chance to read his stuff, and it seems I will have to make it a point to find more. His story revolves around Peter, a stodgy businessman, who winds up being dragged by his wife Patricia to an outdoor art exhibit. He'd rather be off cavorting with his mistress, but entertaining his wife's interests from time to time seems to keep the marriage together. But, Peter strays from his wife and the lone path in the gardens out of frustration and discovers artwork that feels too macabre and too personal to belong with the rest of the exhibit.

This was easily the creepiest of the three volumes, as Fry's story gives a bit of the ol' down-the-rabbit-hole vibe, as Peter wanders further into the woods. The guy has such an alienated reaction to the mediocre art he is used to seeing, that when he sees the grotesque and uncomfortably intimate artwork he finds off the beaten path, poor old Peter's sanity has trouble maintaining a foothold. For the mere idea of liberal arts driving a stuffed-shirt conservative to the brink is enough to make me enjoy this one, but Fry goes a wee bit further in scope with this story.

Nowhere Hall by Cate Gardner

The men in pinstripe suits aren't the only strange things populating Cate Gardner's imagination. With Nowhere Hall she offers up a building as unsettling and unraveling as Stephen King's Overlook Hotel--The Vestibule.

Ron is having an off day. So off, in fact, he's contemplating a slow walk through busy traffic. But instead of stepping off the curb, he turns back towards the gleaming white hotel at his back, the Vestibule. Drawn to it, both by a want for shelter and the allure of a beautiful woman who steps inside, Ron goes inside after catching a mysterious umbrella that fell into his waiting hand. Inside, the surreal goes up another notch, with the hotel appearing abandoned and brand new at the same time, mannequins seem to come to life, and the hotel's concierge knows more than he's letting on.

Where Gary Fry's story had a bit of the Alice in Wonderland, Cate's story had it by the bowlful. Nowhere Hall felt like the kind of story Rod Serling would have written if he had a poet's heart--and a hit of LSD. It's a sad song sung slightly off-key, which manages to make it all the more haunting.

The Book of Elizabeth

2011-09-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

The Book of Eilzabeth by Darby Harn (Fair Play Books, 2011) – The cover blurb of this new fantasy novel from debut novelist Darby Harn reads as follows: "The world as we know it has vanished in the blink of an eye. All of human history, washed away. In its place, a new story of humanity, a story without the complications and twists we all know; a story without the Cold War, or Shakespear. Without Christ." Alice, a contemporary teenager from the mid to late eighties, disappears from her current time, her current world, and wakes up here, in a very alien version of our own world. There are massive airships capable of travelling the world and even through space to other planets. Mars, for example, is colonized. The world-building throughout this novel is a display of unbridled imagination.

In this other world in this novel there is an ongoing war. The dominating power ruling the world is hunting down and killing individuals called “echoes.” These echoes are people transported to this new world from various timelines of our own reality. Alice is an echo. She is hunted by a young girl, Miranda, and her elder mentor, Joshua, in the opening scenes of the novel. As the novel progresses we learn that Joshua has begun to question authority and has lost his desire to perform his job which is killing these echoes. He sees them as people instead of as faceless threats to the status quo. This is lucky for Alice, of course.

But these people are ultimately secondary characters. There is another, far more important, echo that the authorities want destroyed. This echo is known as Elizabeth. In our world, she was Queen of England. In this other world, she is a potential spiritual savior. She transcribes the Bible in her early years in this other world to comfort herself in exile. These transcriptions were found and have started a spiritual revolution in a world that had existed without any form of faith, at least not in the religious sense. Her transcripts sow the seeds of an underground revolution.

This is ultimately what the novel is about, more than the characters, more than the settings. This is a novel exploring the concept of how Christianity might transform a world that has existed without it for most of known history. This idea is explored from several angles, it explores the good and the bad that such a powerful religious force might have within a world that is devoid of spirituality. There are no easy answers in the context of this novel.

Some proponents of the New Atheist movement often put forth the suggestion that religion is the driving force behind all wars. While there are many examples of religious disagreements leading to bloodshed, it seems naive and falsely optimistic to me to think that if we rid the world of religion that all wars and bloodshed would automatically cease. The human drive for power and domination would still exist, after all. I thought this notion was explored nicely within the context of this narrative. It's not the religions that are the problem, it's the people. Religions are just an extension of people and often stray from their most basic source truths, in my opinion, but I'm digressing. Yet this digression is intentional in the context of this review: This is exactly the kind of tough question the novel faces and is brave enough to leave behind with a measure of ambiguity in the answers. This is as it should be.

As one character states: "We can never know the truth. ... Only existence. We must accept our lives as they are, or else we will never know our suffering." So, what is the truth? "We can never know the truth." This seems to be the idea at the center of this novel. The only answer seems to be there may be no answer.

While a thought-provoking and mostly entertaining read, the novel does suffer from a few freshman foibles. The narrative thrust loses steam during transitions from one character to another in places. The epic battle scenes sometimes have a little too much going on and lose their focus. Also, another round of copy-editing may have benefited the story as I picked up numerous issues with verb tense and misused words. But these are minor quibbles, and I see these as common issues with first-time novelists. I know that Darby is working on a sequel. My friendly suggestion would be to focus more on the characters, on dialogue, on relationships, because that is where he shines. I understand Miranda will be the main focus of this sequel. I think this a wise choice. Her moral choices and evolving sense of self were the highlight of The Book of Elizabeth. I look forward to seeing what comes next. This is a world I would be happy to return to.

My six-pack review: 4 out of 6 Elizabethan Ales.

Disclaimer: The author of this review knows and has worked with the author of the novel in the past. Free electronic copy provided by the author for review.

"Serial" by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch

2011-08-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

Serial

by Jack Kilborn (aka J.A. Konrath) and Blake Crouch (aka Blake Crouch)

Norwood Press signed limited edition (2009)

64 pages

I had a free PDF copy of this novella from J.A. Konrath's website, but I never got around to reading it until I won a physical copy from The Man Eating Bookworm. As it stands, I really should have read it as soon as I had that PDF--but I hate reading books in that format.

The story is dead simple: what if two incredibly efficient, undeniably psychopathic serial killers crossed paths, and targeted each other without realizing they were cut from the same cloth?

The answer: mayhem.

Donaldson is a killer whose preferred prey is any hitchhiker on a lonely stretch of highway that catches his eye. He doesn't fuss with knives or guns, though. Nope, he's got a customized kill wagon with reinforced steel behind the plush dashboard that a lot of damage. If you've ever seen Deathproof, and the car Kurt Russell drives, just imagine a family friendly version of that. Then, there's Lucy, who is just the sweetest little thing you ever did see--and she knows it. She winds up being Donaldson next hitchhiker, since she's the kind of killer who gets off on luring men to pick her up from the side of the road, so she can take them somewhere secluded and torture the holy hell out of them.

Donaldson and Lucy were born to meet.

The collaboration worked really well between Konrath and Crouch, with Joe creating Donaldson and Blake creating Lucy, then pitting the two characters against each other. Kind of like a demented literary form of playing Mortal Kombat. It's a tautly woven novella with nothing extra to clutter up the carnage. Definitely a fun, fast read for horror and thriller fans alike.

Since it was originally published, there's been a sequel put out, as well as an "uncut" version of each, even put together in an omnibus e-book on the Kindle Store and other places. If the extended version is as good as this, I'll definitely have to look out for it.

"Die, Lover, Die!" by the authors of the Top Suspense Group

2011-07-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

The twelve Top Suspense authors came together to write a novelette. When I first read about this I thought it sounded like one of those "two many cooks spoil the broth" scenarios. I mean, how the heck can twelve people effectively write what amounts to something just outside the classification of a short story?

In actuality, Die, Lover, Die! is a bit of an experiment by the writers to see if they could create a cohesive thriller with each author writing two hundred and fifty words at a time, like a relay with each author passing off the story to the next. The twelve contributing authors were: Max Alan Collins, Bill Crider, Stephen Gallagher, Lee Goldberg, Joel Goldman, Ed Gorman, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Vicki Hendricks, Naomi Hirahara, Paul Levine, Harry Shannon, Dave Zeltserman. As a result, they managed to create an action-packed tale, even though the story's twists feel a bit like speed bumps.

The story begins with a beautiful woman, Lauren Blaine, speeding down a lonesome road with a quiet mystery man riding shotgun--and a carload of gunmen in pursuit. From that point on, it becomes clear the authors play a bit of one-upmanship by swerving both Lauren and the reader with an onslaught of plot twists. If the story itself feels a bit blocky, it is made palatable by an enjoyable femme fatale in Lauren Blaine and the slew of over-the-top characters with whom she crosses paths. It's an exciting story, but the constant gear-shifting gives it a bit of an incongruous feel. And when you reach the end of the story, and you look back at the beginning, you can't help but wonder: how the hell did she wind up there?

"The Black God's War" by Moses Siregar: a novella introducing a new epic fantasy

2011-07-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

This was a free novella I snagged through the Amazon Kindle Store. It's epic fantasy, which is not a genre I have found much enjoyment in over the years despite my efforts. Siregar's method of promotion intrigued me, though: promote the epic novel, which is due for release in August, by offering fifteen of the early chapters for free that provide their own storyline and give a clear sense of what to expect from the longer work.

While the novel is bound to include a multitude of characters, the novella concentrate's mainly on a brother and sister, Ciao and Lucia. The story begins as Lucia, then a child, witnesses the celebration of her infant brother's birth, hoisted by their father King Vieri before an adulating and exulting crowd. Ciao is heralded as the kingdom's savior-of-sorts, literally the son King Vieri has always wanted. Though, when the story jumps ahead to Ciao's adolescence, he's a healer rather than a warrior cast as the role of the King's lead general in a long-running war against a neighboring kingdom.

For what amounts to a snippet of a larger work, the story presented holds up and has a good pace to it. Siregar's strongest suit may be the character development on display, as the royal siblings and a few other characters exude their personalities and frailties in a believable fashion. Throw in some intriguing magical elements and this is a story I might actually invest a good amount of time in by reading the eight-five chapter novel.

@#$% me, eight-five chapters?

Osama by Lavie Tidhar

2011-07-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

In the interest of full disclosure, I admit Lavie's someone I know and interact with online. I received an electronic review copy straight from the author himself. That said, Tidhar's new novel, Osama (PS Publishing, 2011), is a difficult novel to review without spoilers. I will do my best here. But let me just say upfront that I loved, loved this book! Sometimes when getting a book from a friend or acquaintance, there's a hesitance to review it because of the risk of hurting feelings. There was no need to hesitate reviewing this one.

On a superficial level, at least through roughly two-thirds of the novel, the story is pretty simple to explain. It is about a private investigator named Joe living in an alternative present where 9/11 and The War on Terrorism are the stuff of pulp novels. Osama bin Laden is a popular character in a series of cheap paperback thrillers detailing the lives of terrorists by an author named Mike Longshott. When removed from reality, the exploits of the terrorists make for entertaining reads in this alternative history. There are even conventions dedicated to Longshott and his Osama novels. People dress up like Osama and terrorists at these conventions and have roundtable discussions concerning the social relevance of these novels, much like at a Trekkie convention. The fictional acts of terrorism are all entertainment, nothing to fear.

Joe's story itself reads much like a paperback thriller. He's a hard-drinking, smoking private investigator searching through the seedy underworlds of Europe. Joe is hired to track down Longshott and travels around the world looking to uncover this author. In the process, he starts to learn a thing or two about himself.

The last third of the book is full of revelations. Our reality and Joe's alternate reality collide and the text grows increasingly slipstream and surreal. I won't say anymore about plot because I don't want to spoil the experience for anyone. The less one knows going into this novel, the more they will enjoy it, I believe.

Ultimately, this is a novel about identity, a novel which reflects a reality of the modern age in which we live. We choose our identities in many aspects of modern life – whether it be through a pen name as a writer, the personas we take on in differing social situations, or through online handles and avatars. As one character states in the novel:

"'You have to choose what to be. When you've been stripped of everything; a
name, a face, a love – you could be anything. You could even choose to be
yourself.'"

A wonderfully entertaining and thought-provoking book – My six pack rating: 6 out of 6 Trader Joe's Vienna Style Lager

The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson

2011-06-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

John Milliken Thompson’s debut historical mystery novel, The Reservoir (Other Press, 2011), starts off very promising. We are introduced to a pair of workers at a reservoir who find the body of a young pregnant woman floating lifeless in the water. This is a great set-up for a moody, atmospheric story. We have one character – one of the workers who found the body – fall into infatuation with this young lifeless woman. He takes some items from her that come back as evidence later in the novel. Too bad we never really come back to this character. He was fascinating. This reservoir worker is one of many minor characters in the novel. Unfortunately for the novel, there are many secondary characters within the text that tend to be more interesting than the main protagonist.

Based on the synopsis and cover, I was expecting a tale of lust and mystery. I was expecting a moody historical piece of southern literature, perhaps something along the lines of Faulkner’s Sanctuary. Thompson, a historian, does a great job recreating Richmond, Virginia, circa 1885. He also did a great job researching his story – the book is based on an actual case – and filling in some blanks where the historical documents left off. What I did not expect from this novel was a courtroom drama. I tend to not like courtroom dramas as fiction, to be honest. I read many, many of them as a young man (everything from the Grisham books to To Kill A Mockingbird), became a little burned out on them, and a novel set in a courtroom is going to have to be extremely compelling and have some measure of novelty to keep me involved. In fact, I would rather read true-life transcripts such as those coming out of the current Casey Anthony Trial than another court case in novel form. In fact, the Anthony case, in a way I won’t go into because of possible spoilers, parallels this case nicely. Unfortunately, for me, the court case was the centerpiece of the novel, and I felt it dragged on. I just could not get into that section of the book, and it was a very long section.

Where this novel worked best was in the flashbacks, in the descriptions of minor characters, and in the recreation of a time now long gone. The author deftly handles matters of real-world theology. Once the narration moves past the courtroom drama, the novel became extremely interesting once again. This last act of the novel is a wonderful examination of truth, religion, and resignation. I finally kind of cared about the main protagonist.

The Reservoir is a good, but not great, debut novel. The beginning and ending were well done, the historical details are engrossing, but the middle section of the text was kind of a slog. I see promise for Thompson and would pick up another book by him. There’s ample evidence of a good writer here. I just hope in the future, he dwells on his strengths as a writer (characterization, descriptions) and learns how to make the more interesting characters the primary focus of his stories instead of relegating them to the background. I find myself wondering what this novel might have looked like if written from the perspective of the reservoir worker who was the focus of the first section of the novel, the one who falls in love with the corpse? I believe his would have been an interesting world view to filter this unfolding story through.

My six-pack rating: 3 out of 6 Legend Brown Ales

*Legal Notification: Free electronic copy received from publisher via NetGalley.com.

Ideomancer, Vol. 10, Issue 2, June 2011

2011-06-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

Overall, this issue was a pleasant little mental vacation for me…

Per editor Leah Bobet: “Our June 2011 issue is full of summer travels, both physical and of the mind and soul and heart.”

FICTION: We have one great selkie story; one good – if slightly derivative – shape-shifter piece; and one complex, thought-provoking experiment that is as well-written and intriguing as it is difficult.

“Rendered Down” by Cory Skerry – It appears Ideomancer is fond of selkie stories – I’ve read a quite few of them here if memory serves me right. In this selkie story, the protagonist, Miranda, is overweight and extremely uncomfortable in her own skin. She wants to be with a boy, she wants for boys to want her, and is disappointed when all the boys in her life prefer her coworkers and other girls “shaped like a Barbie” over her.

One day, Miranda finds a handsome selkie boy on a rock near the sea and begins to dream about him and his lifestyle.

Miranda is an instantly likeable and identifiable character. Her perspective – while a little pessimistic throughout much of the narrative – makes this story work. One of the best selkie stories I can remember reading in recent memory. There’s an interesting twist at the end which is a little different take on the whole selkie myth. It makes sense in the context of the story. Yet, to be honest, I kind of mourned the protagonist’s choice. I was sincerely hoping she would learn to love her own skin, and more importantly, her self.

I highly recommend this one.

“A Letter from Northern Nairo” by Alter S. Reiss – One character says to another at one point during this story: “This is a confused plot.” Well, no, not really. This one is a straight-forward werewolf tale, except instead of a werewolf, we are given the tale of weretigers. It is set in an Asian setting that I could not quite buy into. The description of the hunting party brought to mind Victorian-era England and fox hunts. I know similar hunts happened in other cultures as well, but the narrative is simply too similar in form and structure to other European werewolf stories. It is an enjoyable read, but there’s nothing particularly new or notable about this one. I also feel the format of this one is off. The narrative is in the form of a letter and I personally think it would work much better from either a 3rd person omniscient viewpoint or just a straightforward 1st person narration without the letter device. Who writes letters this detailed while adhering to Freytag’s Pyramid? Nor do letters typically have section breaks. These thoughts threw me out of the story. There is simply too much story “telling” for me to buy this story as a letter. Still, despite being a little derivative, it is a fun read.

“Chrestomathy” by Anatoli Belilovsky -- Per Mirriam-Webster, “Chrestomathy” is “a selection of passage used to help learn a language.” This title sums up this sometimes disjointed and meandering structure nicely. Fictional snippets of literature and correspondence and conversations between various famous authors weave a hidden tale of hidden meanings that discusses politics, slavery, and the ability for writers to spark revolutions (as indicated by the imaginary text-within-the-text “The Reluctant Revolutionist” by Vladimir Nabokov). A unique and interesting structure and format for which the author should be commended. You can feel a sincere love and appreciation of the authors mentioned in the text. Unfortunately, this story has very little narrative pull for a casual, lunch-break reader such as myself.

Also, on a personal level, I tend to disagree with some of the narrative’s assumptions. I see literature as more reactive than proactive as a tool for social change – much like a photograph. Sure there are famous, moving photographs out there that have ultimately, often indirectly, led to action (Kevin Carter’s photographs from Sudan come to mind), but those images are only reflections of a present reality. That reality is ultimately what leads to action – not the reflection, not the art. The art only serves to bring awareness, not change, although awareness can sometimes lead to change. But this is something which can be argued both ways and kind of beside the point and getting my review off on a tangent...

In short, a complex tale utilizing a unique narrative technique. Well worth reading and thinking about, just don’t expect any easy, clear-cut answers or a straight-forward story.

POETRY: A mixed bag. Two really great poems alongside two perfectly nice poems that I found somewhat problematic (although I admit the problem could be with me as a reviewer – poetry reviews are no joke because as subjective as fiction can be, poetry is even more subjective).

“Redcap Repast” by WC Roberts – A sonnet that merges the feel of modern urban noir and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I am left feeling these disparate elements never really coalesce into a whole. The purpose and meaning of the poem remains just a touch out of focus. I feel like I missed something important here, contextually, even though I read it several times.

“The Conqueror of Mars, To His Beloved” by Megan Arkenberg – An apologetic and confessional love poem to the Red Planet itself. Nicely done.

“Splendours to Devour” by Mike Allen – Full of powerful imagery, this disturbing narrative poem tells the story of a war between “…twin hunger holocausts/who shredded and swallowed every scrap/of squirming flesh and shrieking soul/between them…” Highly recommended for those with a taste for dark speculative poetry.

“Beansidhe” by Shannon Connor Winward – “Beansidhe” is the Gaelic word for banshee. This is a first-person poem from the perspective of a beansidhe. In this version of a banshee story, the beansidhe is the ghost of a drowned woman. She mourns the loss of her lover and murderer, an unnamed figure referred to as “you.” Who this “you” is remains unclear and perhaps a little beside the point. Whoever “you” is, she loves this person and misses them and forgives them for doing her wrong. That seems to be what matters. She’s happy enough in her cold marshy grave it appears, but would like for people to stop spreading rumors about her. She only has one love in her life, and that love is “you.” In the last two lines, instead of speaking to “you” she talks to a “they.” Does this mean that “you” might be more than one person? That seems to be the implication here, but I’m not positive to be honest. I found myself wishing the author would have stuck with “you” in place of “they” in these last two lines. This would have made for a more coherent and personal piece of poetry, I think. The “they” – in my opinion – depersonalized all that was building up in previous lines. Although, looking at it a different way, I can see how the “they” could add another meaning to the poem; I’m just not sure this other meaning is built up enough in previous lines to justify the twist ending.

Overall, despite some minor subjective matters, this issue is a great read from one of my favorite electronic markets. You can read the full issue here: http://www.ideomancer.com/?p=828.

Nascence: 17 Stories That Failed and What They Taught Me

2011-06-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about 'story' all month. What makes a good story? Why do some of my stories sell and others don't? Why can't I judge what's good in my own stories?

Then, as in answer to my wordless pleas, I came across Nascence by Science Fiction/Fantasy author, Tobias Buckell..

What a genius idea. Buckell has published 17 of his trunked stories written over a decade. Each story has an introduction explaining why he belives the story failed.

If you find yourself reading the author's introductions to stories as carefully as the stories themselves; if you're a writer who thinks about that mysterious thing called story, do consider this book. Tobias Buckell is offering something unique: a real insight into the mind of an author. Lessons to be learnt. Nascence has really crystallised some ideas I've been having about 'story' and given me some new insights.

Available on kindle for three dollars. (And if you don't have a kindle, did you know that you can download a free reader for your PC, that's what I did)?

This is the most helpful book I've read on the craft of short story writing for ages.

A Couple Free Short Stories

2011-05-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

Back in March, Iread and reviewed John Brinling's novel, The Watcher. While it didn't resonate with me all that much, there were pieces of it I did like, so John offered me the chance to read and review a short story, "His First Kill," released this year through Smashwords.

It's a thriller, like The Watcher in some regards, though it avoids any supernatural trappings and sticks strictly to the tension of a teenage would-be assassin's first attempted kill.

The boy whose name is not known--"better you don't know"--is a bit frazzled in the brain, from what I took from the story, but I suppose that's to be expected when the kid is looking to take up killing people for a living. He's not a terribly mature killer, enamored momentarily by a brand new bicycle while scouting for his mark.

The real tension of the story comes in the latter half as the boy lurks through the small town during their Fourth of July parade, only to discover the mark is someone he knows, and he has to decide if he's going to go through with it and get his first big score, or if he'll spare the life of someone he cares about.

It's an okay story, bolstered by what I thought was an entertaining second half with a tense will-he-or-won't-he scenario.

I think it was Harry Shannon who announced on his Twitter page that he was offering up this short story, "Jailbreak", for free via Smashwords. Now, if you know me, you know it's pretty damned hard for me to resist free stories.

As it stands, it's a gritty, southern-fried zombie tale about a sheriff, her deputies, and her prisoners holed up in the jail while zombies have risen up all around town and ravaged the place. If you're into zombies at all, then this is some pretty easy stuff to hop into, even if it is--at least to me--fairly familiar territory.

The characters are portrayed through some good dialogue and tense action, but the story itself didn't seem to have anything terribly unique going for it, and it felt like a run-of-the-mill zombie fest with some colorfully drawn characters to prevent it from feeling utterly mundane.

It actually felt like a precursor to a larger story wanting to be told involving Sheriff Penny Miller. If it is, I'd certainly like to read that, because this is a decent teaser.

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington

2011-04-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

The Sad Tale of The Brothers Grossbart - Jesse Bullington (Orbit - 2009)

I must admit that I am a sucker for good-covers, though I am aware of that age-old cliche that judging a book solely on its artistic representation can prove to be a waste of time as well as hard-earned money -- and let's face it, in this day and age hard-earned money is definitely something not to waste. However, when a book does come along with such an alluring design what other indicators does one have that such a book might prove interesting? After all, if the publishing company was willing to spend money on not only the book/author but the cover/artist as well -- especially during these trying times for publishing houses -- then perhaps it is alright to judge a book by its cover?

As such, how could one possibly ignore The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington when their (the reader[s]) eyes fall upon this illustrious cover? What appears to be a skull eventually comes into visual clarity as a pseudo-mish-mashing seek-and-find -- the skull is actually two men standing side by side, with satchels and shovels, whereabouts various artifacts are strewn. So yes, I was drawn towards this novel. I studied its cover for awhile before finally flipping it over to the back whereby I was intrigued by the synopsis and the tag-line: "We ain't thieves and we ain't killers, we's just good men been done wrong" (Bullington).

So, without any further inquiry into the matter I purchased the novel by newcomer Jesse Bullington at full retail price, taking a chance that the story wouldn't disappointment -- seeing as the cover didn't. I must say it was a gamble which paid off, but not handsomely so. While I did enjoy the story overall, and absolutely loved the characters (the brothers as it were), I grew rather bored of the novel about three-fourths of the way through. It wasn't as if I trudged through the book, finding it boring or taxing, but rather I found the scenes and themes inane. It was as if the adventure never stopped, but not in a fantastical way (i.e. epic adventures and long journeys), but rather in an overtly redundant way. It's almost as if the book could have ended several chapters earlier, or lasted several chapters longer.

The story was just the same scenario one after another. The brothers travel, the brothers face a foe, the brothers triumph. But for what? What are its morals or themes? There were religious contemplations, as well as pondering philosophically on justice and righteousness, but did such postulations deserve to last as long as they did; or for that matter end so abruptly? In the end, a better conclusion could have been reached one way or the other. Instead, what we're left with is a story a third of the way into the book which doesn't wrap-up until a few hundred pages later, adding nothing new but more dialogue conversing the same moral questions over and over and over and over and over with an overabundance of expletives. However, I am left to wonder if that's not the sad tale of the Grossbart . . . that life is monotonous, no matter what monsters you may face?

Overall, I liked the book and found it an enjoyable read and would recommend it to any fan of fantasy seeking monsters, gruesome battles, medieval history, religious inquires, and a lot of f___ing expletives.

Suffice it to say . . . Good Book, Good Read.

The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington

2011-04-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

(2011, Orbit Books) Jesse Bullington's The Enterprise of Death is a horrific romp through Medieval Europe during the Inquisition on the verge of the Protestant Reformation. This tale is sometimes dark, sometimes funny, sometimes meaningful, and sometimes all of these things simultaneously. Awa is a young Moor and slave. Her company is captured, and she finds herself under the tutelage of a vicious necromancer. She learns his dark arts and becomes a necromancer, too. Her tutor places a curse on her and wants her for her body in the darkest of ways imaginable. She roams Medieval Europe, finds friends, and seeks out a way to break her curse.

The friends she finds include several historical figures including real-life occultist Peraclesus and the artist Manuel Deutsch (whose art provides quite an evocative cover image). Another friend, Monique, is a foul-mouthed gun-toting blacksmith and pimp who utilizes Awa's skills in communicating with spirits (including the spirits of venereal diseases) to keep the "cleanest" whorehouse in Paris running a profitable business. These friendships form the heart and soul of this novel.

There are massive battles, walking skeletons, monsters, and inquisitors with cellars full of torture devices. The novel is a manic hodge-podge of myth, fantasy, and history blended together into a contemporary pulp narrative. This is both the novel's strength and weakness. The narrative is quickly paced, but sometimes the modern language – especially in dialogue – is a little jarring considering the setting. The language utilized throughout – sometimes sounding medieval while utilizing modern sayings and profanity – can best be described as anachronistic. Also, Bullington tends to have a tendency to change perspectives and settings in his third-person narrative randomly which can be quite jarring at times.

Also, the action taking place in the novel is flat-out disgusting and profane, especially during the initial formative chapters. This may prove problematic for some readers. Fair warning: The novel contains liberal doses of gruesomeness including graphic scenes of necrophilia, cannibalism, and even self-cannibalism. In honesty, at one point during the first part of the novel I seriously considered putting the book down. I wasn't that into it, and it seemed to be disgusting and shocking simply to be disgusting and shocking. During the first half of the narrative, I couldn't quite get my head around the point of the nastiness. It seemed juvenile and, well, gross. And this is coming from someone who spent a large chunk of his formative years reading Clive Barker and devouring Cronenberg films.

But I'm glad I didn't give up. The book was truly worthwhile. The friendships that develop are extremely well-drawn and compassionate. The underlying themes of friendship, faith, and bravery in the face of adversity are nicely explored. The characters – especially that of the protagonist – are quite flawed but manage to be extremely understandable and relatable. In fact, this reader found himself extremely sympathetic towards the characters of Awa and Manuel in particular. The Bastards of the Schwarzwald and the hyena near the end are welcome additions and an interesting take on their folkloric roots. In fact, the final half of the book and the ending are actually quite wonderful. Despite the darkness of the earlier chapters, the book left this reader with a nice warm fuzzy feeling which was, well, unexpected, and quite nice. (But the story remains more than a little twisted – it's not all sunshine and roses in the end. A crazy Bollywood ending complete with big smiles, singing, and happy dancing would have been quite the disappointment, after all.)

Yes, I liked this book very much despite my repulsion during much of the first half. I guess you could say that The Enterprise of Death is a grower not a shower. In fact, I recommend it heartily if you have a strong stomach with a strong tolerance for the profane. My six pack rating: 4 out of 6 mugs of a stout mead accompanied by a nice shredded long pork barbecue sammich.

*Legal Disclosure: Book received as free electronic copy via author and NetGalley.com.

Open Your Eyes by Paul Jessup

2011-04-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

(2009, APEX PUBLICATIONS) Paul Jessup’s novella Open Your Eyes is a modern space opera with a feel reminiscent of the “New Wave” of science fiction which occurred during the late 60’s and early 70’s as best exemplified by many of the contributors featured in the table of contents of Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions anthology (writers like Delany, Aldiss, Dick, and Ballard come immediately to mind). In Open Your Eyes, we are presented with a world of deep space exploration. Spaceships are organic and very human with consciousness and even sex drives. The reader knows from the first few pages – in which a female protagonist is impregnated by a dying star – that they are entering a science fictional world that is more surreal than scientific. Depending on how you like your science fiction, this may or may not be okay.

For this reader, it was wonderful. I found Open Your Eyes entertaining, thought-provoking, sometimes disturbing in its violence, and even beautiful at times. It was not entirely consistent, however. The author’s tendency to overuse sentence fragments for dramatic effect grew tiresome during some of the action scenes. But this is a minor complaint. Overall, I found it to be an occasionally disorienting (in the best possible way) and excellent read. The story is something different, imaginative, and original. Open Your Eyes is a welcome oasis in the vast world of space opera, a genre that often seems too mired in the Golden Age of its past to contemplate moving forward.

My (modified) six pack rating: 3 out of 4 Steel Reserve tall boys.

Thin Them Out by Kim Paffenroth, R.J. Sevin, & Julia Sevin

2011-04-06T06:51:00.000-07:00

I've been a Kim Paffenroth fan for a few years now, so when I saw the Thin Them Out, a novellete written with R.J. & Julia Sevin available for $.99 on Kindle, I snapped it up.

The story follows a group of zombie apocalypse survivors as things go from bad to worse intercut with scenes from a zombie's POV--and the zombie is starting to remember pieces of its life. The survivors must make unpleasant choices about who should live and who should die given their predicament and limited food supply. At one point I wanted to slap some sense into one of the characters, but they all acted within their constraints, displaying very real human weaknesses.

I don't know what is scarier: fearing your fellow humans when faced with limited resources or thinking from a zombie's perspective on what it must be to realize you've become a monster.

The ebook edition contains an extra story by R.J. Sevin. It's a brief read, but well worth the buck.

Buy Thin Them Out for Kindle.

"Dead Spell" by Belinda Frisch

2011-03-29T10:25:00.001-07:00

Dead Spell

by Belinda Frisch

published in 2011

In Frisch's debut novel, she offers a paranormal mystery/suspense involving two teenage girls, both with their own troubles at home--one far worse off than the other, though. Brea is shy, insecure, and under the thumb of a rather snobbish and intrusive mother. Harmony, on the other hand, is tormented by what she describes as a spirit named Tom, and has wound up with a reputation as a crazy bad-girl. Her schizophrenic mother and long-running depression don't help matters, either.

The focus of the first half of the story is on Harmony and her escalating encounters with Tom. Her mother is too out of touch to really care or even know what Harmony is going through, as her mind continues to get worse through refusing to take her medication. Her psychiatrist suspects "Tom" is an early warning sign that she could wind up like her mother, especially with previous suicide attempts, cutting, and other self-destructive behavior. And her relationships with boys isn't exactly healthy, with an abusive pseudo-boyfriend named Lance, and an unconditional consort with a fellow broken wing named Adam.

Harmony at times comes across as a very amped up emo girl, with a fascination with her Ouija board, as she tries to find out the secrets behind who Tom really is. But there is something about how tragic she is portrayed that makes her a sympathetic sort despite her constant lashing out at those who care about her. And the abuse she endures from Tom, who appears in mirrors and as an invisible force in the room with her, are some genuinely tense scenes.

But halfway through the novel, the focus shifts to Brea and how she acts as a linchpin to everything going on in the novel. Her mother is supposedly helping a land developer commit a land grab and take Harmony's mother's property away from her, a lone house in a rundown neighborhood on the outskirts of a small town. Brea also has a suitor who is the son of the land developer and the ex-boyfriend of her school bully, which leads Harmony to insist that the guy only spends time with Brea to help with the land grab by isolating the two friends from each other.

Bits of the novel come off as convoluted with the whole background conspiracies and haunting phenomena, and the sudden shift at the midway point was a bit jarring for me. The mystery behind Tom and the subplot of Brea's love life did offer some intrigue, though. A lot of the dialogue between the two girls feels real enough, and it's easy to imagine them behaving in such a way. And Harmony comes across as the most intriguing character of the bunch.

Hardly a flawless effort, but this novel shows some real promise from Frisch and I'll be curious to see how she steps it up in her second novel. Where I had the preconceived notion of this being a more straight-up horror novel, it would up being something closer to a YA paranormal mystery. Kind of like Dawson's Creek meets The Ring. In that regard, I thought it worked okay and was certainly as pleasurable a read as some other books I've read from that sub-genre. If you enjoy reading about teenagers and their weighty issues, mixed with a stark supernatural element, you might want to give this book a try.

"Push of the Sky" by Camille Alexa

2011-02-21T07:27:00.000-08:00

Push of the Sky
by Camille Alexa
Hadley Rille Books (2009)
302 pages
ISBN 9780981924373

I lucked out recently when I won a copy of Camille Alexa's short story collection from Red Penny Papers. I had previously read a couple of Camille's short stories, as well as read the series, Particular Friends, which is available to be read for free via Red Penny Papers. Camille has a writing style that is at times lyrical, probably thanks to her affinity towards poetry, and at times resplendent in her descriptions of characters and setting. Push of the Sky exemplifies this.

I believe Peter Straub was the first author I heard use the term "fantasist" to describe himself as a storyteller. It's a good label and applies to Camille, in my opinion. Many of the stories told here are housed in fantastical settings, some more than others. "Shades of White and Road" has a fairy tale charm to it with anthropomorphic objects tailing after a gal on a winding road, while a story like "The Clone Wrangler's Bride" takes sci-fi elements offers a fun adventure with robots and spaceships--and a bit of western flavor added.

It's all there inside the book's pages, a kind of cornucopia for any fantasy and sci-fi fan. I genuinely liked the collection, but I can't say I walked away with a stand-out favorite. There's a lot to like, but no one story for me to clutch onto and say I love. It's Camille Alexa's first book, so she's just getting warmed up and I am really looking forward to what she has in store in the near future. This book was published in 2009 after all, and she's already some really good work out in the couple years since (see above where I mention Particular Friends).

With thirty stories and poems in this book, there is bound to be more than one story for readers to find and admire Camille's ability to paint a picture with words. Some stories flow like a lazy, winding river, while a few amp up the level of adrenaline and intrigue. "The Beetle Eater's Dream" has a quiet mystery to it and its fair share of heartbreak, while "The Butterfly Assassins" offers a great little steampunk tale, a sub-genre I'm still warming up to.

If you love that ethereal style of escapist fantasy and science-fiction, you should take a chance on this one. If you're a fan of poetry, which admittedly I am not, there are a couple of real gems in this pages. Again, I'm not a poetry fan, but "I Consider My Cadaver" to be great. Hey, maybe that's the piece I love. Yeah, let's go with that. Me ... poetry lover. Pack your mittens, boys and girls, we're going to Hell.

THE GROVE by John Rector

2011-02-15T13:41:00.000-08:00

The Grove is a novel I found while searching out some reading material for the Kindle my lovely wife gave me for Christmas. It was released through Amazon Encore, a publishing venture which provides a second life to previously released titles which may have been overlooked by larger publishers or self-published yet still acquired a following through Amazon’s website. I can see why this book earned a following.

The Grove is a gothic tale of murder, ghosts (not necessarily the kind you might think), and shattering relationships. The protagonist, Dexter, lives alone on his small farm sipping bourbon, beer, and subsisting mostly on regret. His wife recently separated from him to live with her mother, and he stopped taking his pills. His haunted past refuses to leave him alone.

One day, while staggering around his property the day after a blackout and violent argument with his spouse, he finds the body of a teenage girl in a cottonwood grove. He decides he should investigate what happened to the girl. He thinks by doing so he will be regarded as a hero and earn the respect of his community, and more importantly, his wife.

I’m not going to tell anymore because I don’t want to reveal any spoilers. Some reviews I read noted disappointment with the ending of the novel, but I thought it was pitch perfect. I have few complaints.

All the same, there is a plot development somewhere in the third act involving some neighbors that I feel is tacked-on, did not quite feel completely authentic, and could have possibly been left out because it didn’t add anything to the overall story. Also – and this is just about as minor a quibble as you will ever come across – I thought the dialogue needed further editing. For example, characters referred to county roads as “CR’s” as in “CR-11.” I’ve never heard a road spoken of this way before. Living in an area with a lot of county roads, we usually refer to them by using their full name, as in “County Road 11,” or, more often, simply refer to them by their number alone (“I’m driving down 12 and almost home,” etc.) As I said, a minor quibble, but it knocked me out of the narrative at times. This is probably due to my own unique eye for dialogue.

All in all, I highly recommend The Grove. It’s among the best American rural gothic novels I’ve read in some time. It echoes Faulkner and McCarthy in some respects but still manages to be a page-turner. It’s McCarthy light, I guess. The prose is tight and compelling. I seriously read the novel in three or four short sittings and felt mournful every time I had to put it down. The ending left me anxious to check out other books by John Rector. He’s a writer to watch. This is a powerful first novel.

Based on my six-pack rating system, I give The Grove 5 out of 6 shots of Johnnie Walker with a Risperidone chaser.

As I Embraced My Jagged Edges by Lee Thompson

2011-01-26T12:26:00.000-08:00

Lee Thompson is a rare thing; a cracking writer and a genuinely nice bloke. He has started on the verge of real success (he has a forthcoming novel from Delirium Books and it’s already being compared to early Greg F Gifune) but his enthusiasm and passion for the genre is refreshing. Outside of short stories, this was the first 'longer' work of Thompson's I've read.

As I Embrace My Jagged Edges (Sideshow Press) tells the story of a shard from King Solomon’s temple guarded by a Jewish family. Boaz, twin brother to Angel, must come of age and stand tall against an onrushing chaos of demons, golems, sea gods and his own sexuality.

Thompson builds a believable mythical backdrop, based on Jewish history, and uses it to weave a mounting tension in the first two sections Morning and Afternoon. In the second half the pace hits breakneck and hurtles towards a startling climax, whipping the reader along for the ride. The final scene on the beach is superbly staged and littered with memorable imagery.

At its heart, lies Boaz, the real success of this story. In Boaz, Thompson has created a believable and flawed protagonist, whose struggles against his family, his own sexuality and the demons massing on the horizon will ring true with many a teenager. The second act - where Boaz meets the boy at the lighthouse - showed me the true potential of Thompson’s writing, a scene that carried a ring of truth and made for poignant reading.

The myth-making on display here is reminiscent of early Clive Barker and the unexpected poignancy put me in mind of British writer Joel Lane. All these ingredients make for a great novelette, packaged in ebook format at a very reasonable $3.

Undoubtedly, Lee Thompson will be a name to watch in 2011.

Golden Visions Magazine - fall

2011-01-23T20:39:00.000-08:00

The fall issue of Golden Visions Magazine offers so much that not even the faintest synopsis of each and every story could be done in a relative amount of time. This magazine is big, and by big I do mean the sheer size.

All in all, the magazine consists of 17 stories and poems amidst 83 pages. It's amazing that a small-press magazine can offer so much, and it's definitely worthy of consideration for any freelance-writer or fanatic of fantastical fiction. This magazine covers it all: horror, science-fiction, fantasy, bizarre/surreal, comedy. So many stories and poems are offered that mentioning them all would just induce brain-overload on a scale of Cronenberg's Scanners. So rather than mention every story, I will just focus on two of the magazine's strongest and weakest.

By far the least favorite story for this reader was Heart of a Soldier by Rebecca Besser. The story was a science-fictional piece centered around a youth in space coming face-to-face with a moral dilemma The story was cute, in that it was a story for children/young-adults (adult readers of science-fiction might find its moral theme rather amateurish or childish); yet, the most troubling aspect of this story were the typos! So many typos that I found it hard to focus on anything else. And I quote: "Zyle tried to keep my tone light so he wouldn't worry her." Note the word "my" . . . who's first-person perspective is this? At no point in time (other than dialogue) is first-person ever used; the story is told in third-person. I don't wish to place blame on either the writer or the publishers (as typos are part of the game) but I couldn't help but wonder if a few proof-reads had been overlooked.

My favorite story was Nicholas Ozment's Frank Hunter Vs' The Crawling Brains. This was truly a humorous piece where the main character wakes to find himself as the leading role of a 1950's sci-fi/horror B-movie. With a beautiful co-star, the man is torn between his desire to stretch the family-morals of 1950's while simultaneously surviving an invasion of clay-animated brains which are on the hunt. But seriously, what's the worse that could go wrong for a film from the 50's? And what's the best?

In the end, Golden Visions Magazine has a lot to offer on almost every scale imaginable. I wish I could go more in to detail, but there's just so much this magazine offers that it's just easier to say that this magazine is for those who truly love to read . . . a lot.

Apex Magazine Issue 20

2011-01-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

Douglas F. Warrick opens the January issue of Apex with 'The Itaewon Eschatology' a tale of night clowns, magic tricks and the end of the world. A delightfully-weird story.

In Seanan McGuire's 'The Tolling of Pavlov's Bells', a writer (and scientist) unleashes deadly viruses--her daughters--on a world that really should suspect. Well she did her best to warn them about the effectiveness of quarantines in her books. Despite a non-sympathetic protagonist, this is an engaging tale and my favourite this issue.

'Tomorrow and Tommorow' by Mary Robinette Kowal is an off-world tale about a mother desperate to save her son and how others take advantage.

You can read these stories by subscribing now to Apex Magazine ($1 an issue) or waiting until February when they'll be free to read online.

Asylum by Mark Allan Gunnells

2011-01-22T20:04:00.001-08:00

Asylum by Mark Allan Gunnells is the debut publication from The Zombie Feed, a new niche publisher specializing in zombie fiction. In this novella, Gunnells utilizes many of the well-known topes of zombie fiction. His zombies are slow, ambling, unintelligent Romero-inspired zombies chasing after a group of survivors who are barricaded inside a confined space. Fans of zombie films are in familiar territory here. However, Gunnells gives this old story a unique twist: This ragtag group of survivors are barricaded inside a gay bar called Asylum.

The main protagonist, a young virgin named Curtis, is on his first trip to a gay bar. While waiting for his friend to finish hooking up with a nameless accountant, the zombies begin attacking. They come out of nowhere. At first, the characters automatically assume the attackers are drunken homophobes, but soon realize these are not regular people. Their attackers are walking and eating their victims despite their own grievous wounds. Inside the bar, a character makes phone calls. Emergency responders have been inundated with calls. This is not an isolated incident. The dead have risen and there is nowhere to run. They barricade the doors of the bar and attempt to stay sane.

Asylum is a fitting title and a fitting name for the bar. Madame Diva, described as a drag queen, owns the bar, and she is a compassionate mother hen who created a place of refuge for the community she loves and cares for, almost as if these men are her children. She is a well-drawn and fascinating character.

In fact, most of the characters -- with a few notable exceptions -- are well-drawn. The story is tight and quick-moving and contains plenty of gory suspense for zombie fans. The gore is actually heartbreaking at times thanks to how well Gunnells draws most of his characters and manages to create sympathy for them. This makes for a compelling read, and I devoured this book in one sitting, even if it sometimes felt a bit too familiar and a trifle predictable. The ending, while not exactly unexpected, was a fitting coda.

So, overall, this is an extremely fun, fast-paced read. Highly recommended for zombie fans, especially those purists who enjoy the classic Romero-inspired zombies. My six-pack rating: 4 out of 6 glasses of Return of the Living Red Zombie Wine.

A Mouth for Picket Fences by Barry Napier

2011-01-20T16:31:00.000-08:00

I've known about Barry Napier's work for a few years now, and he's always trying something new: comic books, novels, short stories. Granted, whatever Barry touches usually has a dark edge. 2010 was a big poetry year for Barry, and Needfire Poetry (an imprint of Belfire Press) released his first all-poetry collection, A Mouth for Picket Fences, in late September.

I'm a big fan of imagery, especially poems which surprise and sometimes shock. These kind of treats fill A Mouth for Picket Fences. Consider the following examples:

"The morning spoke in tongues of thunder..." (from "Eggs")

"It was the sort of day where one would / write their eulogy on a napkin stained with mustard." (from "Lives Upon a Napkin")

I also enjoy a strong sound-sense in verse--not necessarily rhyme or careful, repetitive meter, but the way a poem "feels" in your mouth when read aloud. Napier's poems beg to be spoken, tasted, felt...

If you like dark poetry and delight in surprises, look no further.

"Voyeurs of Death" by Shaun Jeffrey

2011-01-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

I've had an electronic copy of Shaun Jeffrey's short story collection, Voyeurs of Death, sitting on my hard drive for nearly a year now. It kind of got lost in the shuffle, but it came to my attention again over the holidays when I found out that Dark Regions Press was releasing a limited edition hardcover of the collection. So, I guess that makes my review a timely one. Neat.

Jeffrey, who also has a couple of novels out there including The Kult, and most recently Deadfall, offers up fifteen short stories that run the gamut in some of the favored monsters and legends in horror. Vampires, zombies, and all sorts of things that go bump in the night make appearances in this book. The collection was originally published in 2007, with eleven of the fifteen stories are previously published, appearing elsewhere from as recent as 2006 and as far back as 1993.

Among my favorites is "The Watchers", a story of a young couple out to spruce up their love life by visiting a parking spot in the middle of the night so strangers can watch their lovemaking. The anxiety and wariness on the part of the boyfriend is easy to relate to. Voyeurs of Death proves an apt story to the collection with that story in mind, but the title story in this book, "Voyeurs of Death", is a very different--and very brief--story of a husband's horrifying vision of his wife's murder. "Sin Eater" is one of the more unsettling stories, as a family of four must contend with an imposing visitor they are regrettably familiar with, who has come to hear their confessions. Then there is "Venetian Kiss" and its reminiscence to the kinds of stories you would expect from an episode of The Twilight Zone.

A couple of the stories fell flat with me, like "The Flibbertigibbet" and "Life Cycle", but stories like "The Watchers" and "The Quilters of Thurmond" makes up for them, in my opinion. Like any collection or anthology, you're not going to like them all, but you're bound to find more than a few that you will.

I'm not sure I could reasonably recommend you shell out a heap of cash for that limited edition hardcover, but I'm the kind of guy who is thoroughly content with a well-worn paperback sitting on my bookshelf anyway--that means I'm cheap--and it is, after all, a deluxe signed limited hardcover. If you've read Jeffrey's work and enjoyed it, and you are a book collector, then you should check into it. Otherwise, I suggest sticking with an electronic copy from Amazon.com, or perhaps a trade paperback edition if it's available.

One Brown Mouse by Gary A. Braunbeck

2011-01-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

"One Brown Mouse" is one of the first releases from Apex Book Company's new Alien Shots program which offers customers short stories, novelettes, and novellas from Apex authors. Priced at just 99 cents, this novella was a great bargain. If "One Brown Mouse" is any indication, the Alien Shots program is one to watch.

Readers familiar with Braunbeck's style will find familiar terrain in this novella. While not set within his Cedar Hill cycle, this surreal science-fiction story also involves some complex metaphysics. Fans of Braunbeck will not be disappointed. Personally, this may be my favorite Braunbeck story yet.

"One Brown Mouse," at its heart, is the story of Levon, a man mourning the loss of his girlfriend and trying to make sense of why he alone survived a catastrophic car accident. The story opens during a group therapy session for those learning to cope with the loss of a loved one and handles the subject of loss well with sincerity of feeling and heart. Tiresius, the titular brown mouse, and Levon's group therapist provide interesting secondary characters as Levon tries to make sense of his increasingly strange hallucinations and understand the new reality revealing itself all around him.

I would say more, but I don't want to risk spoiling this story. In short, it is a well-written and thought-provoking novella. My 6-pack rating: An enthusiastic 6 out of 6 Sierra Blanca Roswell Alien Amber Ales.

The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories

2011-01-11T06:20:00.000-08:00

The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories -- By Aaron Polson

This review comes with a couple of disclaimers: this collection is authored by the host of Skull Salad Reviews, horror writer Aaron Polson. The second disclaimer is that I only review work that I enjoy. My aim in reviewing is to point readers to good stories in the small press.

So it's no surprise that I enjoyed this collection of dark tales. This is a collection of fourteen stories where dark things lurk under the surface of normality. Aaron is adept at creating the tales of quiet horror that I am fond of: creepy tales of escalating tension

Readers may recall that I'm a fan of flash (stories under a thousand words). 'Everything in Its place' is a weird flash story, showing who things can so easily go awry in the world of Aaron's imagination. Flash doesn't owe the reader any explanations. I like that. I enjoyed this slither of strange horror.

A young couple, Zach and Courtney, come to the town of Broughton's Hollow fields to claim their inheritance. I enjoyed the vivid description of the inhabitants with their waxy grey skin, their unreasonable love of the desolate land, and their tendency to express the unspoken. Zach slips easily into the ethos of the community, but pregnant Courtney is determined to fight for herself and her unborn child.

One thing that I enjoy about horror is that it doesn't have to be fair. You never quite know where you're going to end up when you read it. I keep thinking about the unfairness of 'Brian Cullen's Confessional." When Mark returns to Black Mountain to attend the funeral of an old friend, the events of childhood rise up and overwhelm him.

Fourteen fine tales, of hidden horrors, mutant creatures, and strange pasts. Read the free version of The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories at Smashwords or shell out a mere 99 cents to get the full fourteen tales in the bonus edition. Recommended.

Daily Science Fiction - December

2011-01-03T01:11:00.000-08:00

A brief review of three short stories from Daily Science Fiction. I highly recommend the site. You can read the stories online or have them delivered to your email.

Nothing but the Truth by Stephen V Ramey is a short tale about a mother who thinks she is doing the best for her boy because of her own twisted ideals. Enjoyable and very effective.

In The God Solution by M.E. Castle, Deliah destroys Gods. Her five-year-old brother is a god. A heartbreaking tale that I almost want to advise against not reading because it's so sad. Beautiful writing. My favourite story of the three.

A Christmas Frost by Robert E Keller is a charming story about Wretch Pines and dark gnomes and continuing family traditions.

And if they don't tempt you. There are plenty more to choose from over at the Daily Science Fiction website.

Bam! 172 Hellaciously Quick Stories

2011-01-02T02:16:00.000-08:00

Bam! 172 Hellaciously Quick Stories

by Luc Reid

Bam, indeed. This is a collection of 172 fantasy and science fiction, flash stories. That's right -- 172. Each of them short enough to read in a few minutes, each of them rich, well crafted, meaningful. Dark chocolate stories that deserved to be savoured.

Luc Reid is a winner of the Writers of the Future award, and it shows. Most of these stories have been previously published in venues such as Abyss and Apex, Brain Harvest and The Daily Cabal. Reid has compiled this collection, added some interesting commentary and published them at the bargain price of $2.99.

I have a taste for flash, and with the explosion of e-publishing, it could be that flash is going to take off in a big way. You could read these stories to slip a little strangeness into your life, standing in line at the check-out, on the bus, waiting in the doctor's surgery.

There are two things I like in my flash. I love spec fiction, I love ideas. Bam has idea after idea, expressed succinctly. Glimpses into worlds, very much like own, but skewed in some interesting and wonderful way. I also like my flash to have an emotional resonance. I particularly like the three linked 'Outcasts on Earth' stories, written through the eyes of alien perception. Many of Reid's stories are moving, many of them are funny. There are too many stories to mention all my favorites. I enjoyed the Parthenia Rook series, a tongue-in-cheek pulp style science-fiction adventure series. Ever wondered what happened, after the 'happily ever after' -- read the Cinderella series.

Reid has published the collection in a number of formats. If you have a kindle you can sample or buy on Amazon. If you're like me, a person who is always trailing behind the latest trends, you can read the collection on your computer in pdf or html format. On Smashwords you can read a generous 20% sample of the book for free. I highly recommend this collection. Dark chocolate flash stories which deserve to be savoured, or, if you're greedy like me, you can gobble them all down at once.

Tying Knots by Ken Liu

2011-01-02T01:14:00.000-08:00

In Tying Knots by Ken Liu, To-mu, a traveller from Boston, persuades the naïve, but brilliant, Soe-bo to help him with his research in return for a new crop of rice for his village. However, the gains are weighed in one man's favour.

In Tying Knots is a tale of how the march of supposed progress is sometimes impossible to stop and how the old ways are becoming lost. Deeply effecting.

Beautifully written, this tale will stay with me for some time. You can read it here.

What They Hear in the Dark by Gary McMahon

2011-01-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

What They Hear in the Dark by Gary McMahon is the first chapbook from new publisher, Spectral Press. Both author and story are excellent choices to open the imprint.

There's no sound in the quiet room. After the death of their son, Rob and Becky move into a new house and discover the room. It's a room that shouldn't exist and like grief, the couple experience the space differently. For Becky it is a comforting place, somewhere to feel close to her son. For Rob, it is a different experience altogether.

There is a sense of menace to the tale and McMahon weaves these characters and the room into our hearts and our nightmares.

What They Hear in the Dark is a gorgeous chapbook--both the story and the presentation. The publisher Simon Marshall Jones has produced a top quality chapbook and I highly recommend it. I should however note (though there is no bias towards the story in this review--I hope) that I have a chapbook forthcoming from Spectral Press.

You can find out more about the imprint and how to purchase either subscriptions or Gary McMahon's chapbook at the Spectral Press website.

G U D Issue Six

2010-12-23T02:47:00.000-08:00

Issue 6 of G U D (Greatest Uncommon Denominator) is packed with fiction and poetry. I received a free PDF of the magazine.

The issue opens with a story from Aliette de Bodard. Set against the backdrop of ancient China ‘As the Wheel Turns’ follows Dai-Yu on a journey through several lifetimes. In each incarnation she is tormented by the Founders who urge her to choose between them. It is a choice Dai-Yu knows she cannot make whatever the consequences to her own existence.

Lavie Tidhar delivers a poignant tale about a girl, a butterfly and a painter in the ghettos of WWII in ‘The Last Butterfly.’ Almost as poignant, but deeply contrasting, is Caroline M Yoachim’s ‘What Happens in Vegas’ about drugs, sex and forgetting. While, Lydia Ondrusek offers us a sad tale about losing someone you love in ‘Hateful’. ‘Salad Days’ by E.H. Lupton deals with genetic illness and whether it is preferably to know whether or not you have inherited faulty genes.

‘Who are you talking to, Zone?’ by Bob Tippee with its brevity of language and unusual narrative is an engaging tale about a vagrant who hears voices. At times, I wasn’t certain if the other characters in the tale where figments of his imagination or not. I prefer not knowing.

There are a handful of micro tales in Gud, and my favourite was ‘How to Recover from a Hundred-Year Sleep ‘ by Sue Williams. A delightful fairy tale.

For me, the best story this issue was Ferrett Steinmetz’ ‘In the Garden of Rust and Salt.’ Nine-year-old Evelyn, Queen of the Junkyard, discovers unsavoury truths about her guardian and makes an unusual friend. Lovely.

Favourite poems were ‘Fire at the Time Factory’ by Jennifer Jerome and ‘Doll’ by Marine Richards. The latter is beautiful and evocative.

"Fallen Angel", a novella by Amy Grech & Michael McCarty

2010-12-20T10:32:00.000-08:00

It was a little over a year ago when I had the chance to read and review Amy Grech's short story collection, Blanket of White (click here to read that review),so I considered it a treat when I got the chance this year to check out her collaboration with author Michael McCarty for a horror novella called Fallen Angel.

The story tells of a young woman named Angel McCallister coming to grips with the death of her father, a sexually abusive drunk. She's already scarred by him, undergoing therapy, but It's when she moves into her old home months after the funeral that she has a resurgence in her nightmares and starts to experience paranormal phenomena around the house, particularly at night in the bedroom.

The despicable nature of her father is wrenching at times, especially early in the story when her mother commits suicide the same night Angel is sexually assaulted. And the desperation and isolation she feels when her father's ghost seems to haunt her is palpable. But there are little things that sucked me out of the story, primarily the copious amount of angel references. The lead character's name is Angel, she lives in Angel Falls, and during a dream sequence she sees a fallen statue of an angel outside a mausoleum.

Aside from an ending that I felt too abrupt, it was a compelling read and packed a serious punch. It was published earlier this year by Delirium Darkside. And if you're interested in checking out other short fiction from either authors, you can find Amy's Blanket of White and Michael's collection, A Hell of a Job, through Damnation Books.

Find out more about Amy at her blog http://www.crimsonscreams.com/. And you can find Michael McCarty on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/monsterbook.

Fallen Angel can be found in e-format at Darkside Digital.

Stories for the End of the World by Eric Shapiro

2010-12-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

In his collection, Eric Shapiro ends the world three times (more, if you want to be abstract of philosophical). His methods include a giant asteroid ("It's Only Temporary") and radioactive crab monsters ("The Hill"). Reading it, I kept thinking of the book as being called Stories from the End of the World, but that's wrong. The title is Stories for End of the World (Permuted Press: 2010). The distinction is significant. These aren't transmissions from our future selves, warning us of our impending dooms. Rather, Shapiro is sending these stories forward. They are stories about apocalypse for people dying in one, from those of us careening happily and boneheadedly towards our own.

Stories for the End of the World contains ten stories, three of which are long enough to qualify as novellas. Although the collection is, to overuse the term, apocalyptic in theme, not every story takes place at the world's end. These are apocalypses of love, of self, of good behavior. All are suffused with a sense of morbid glee, not dissimilar to the final montage of Doctor Strangelove.

Well, not all. "Fizz," the collection's grimmest inclusion, relates the circumstances leading up to and away from a calculated date rape. It's sad and infuriating. In a noteworthy twist, it subverts the usual goal of fiction of finding the universal in the specific, and instead tells a specific story through generalities, and in so doing, makes the subject matter loom all the larger.

A blurb on the cover anoints Shapiro the next Philip K. Dick, and I suppose I can see some similarities. In "Days of Allison," one of the book's longer (and best) pieces, we do have that most-Dickian of tropes, robots that think they're people. The writer I find myself going back to over and over again while reading Shapiro, however, is Nabokov. These Stories for the End of the World show that same precise balance of language that one finds in Lolita or Pnin, between playfulness and anguish, civility and grotesquery, funny ha-ha and funny kill-yourself.

An easy criticism to level at this collection would be that it is repetitive. Certainly, Shapiro's narrators tend to share a few personality traits, the most noticeable being their proclivity towards spiraling inner monologues of misanthropy and self-loathing. I caution against such a point of view. It's reductive, and misses the real accomplishment of these stories. Shapiro shares a worldview that is specific, unique, and complex. For readers, there are few greater treats than that, even if in his world, we all die at the end.

Ideomancer, Vol. 9, Issue 4

2010-12-08T15:13:00.000-08:00

Per publisher Leah Bobet’s editorial note, the December 2010 issue of Ideomancer is a celebration of the solstice. As she explains, this issue contains “stories about, and for, the end of the year, and the end – and beginning – of the world.” Good stuff.

Fiction

“When the Light Left” by Becca de la Rosa – At one point the narration states: “All this dark would confuse anyone.” And this is truth. Very little light is shed onto the reality of this story. It is a jumble of well-written images and scenes hinting at a larger story. Mythic references add universal themes and work as understated signposts to point the way towards meaning. And there is a story here – I read it as a sad and universal story – but it is almost too obscure to feel.

“Lucky You” by Nadia Bulkin – An imaginative and poetic vision of a slow apocalypse. Or maybe it’s just a gradual evolution? Immortality becomes a curse once your world and your time no longer exist. My favorite story of this issue.

“What I Wrote for Andronicus” by Stephen Case – A nice story concerning death and rebirth in the afterlife. A significant tree ((Yggdrasil?) dies in a world populated by the gods and the dead. A scientific mind writes out the story of the tree as he knew it, relates the extinction of this tree to the extinction of various cottonwood species in the world of the living, and expresses how little he understands about this strange afterlife. The narrator – whose job it is to write out the story of the tree and serves as an unreliable narrator in that he only writes what he understands which leaves lots of room open for interpretation – explains how the tree died, but does he fully understand why? Author Stephen Case has this to say about his story: “Trees have for me a significance I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on. They know something we don’t.” I wonder how a tree might interpret this story? There’s a nice subtle revelation at the end that ties all the threads together and hammers home the meaning.

Poetry – The poetry selection this month is absolutely amazing. Poetry editor Jaime Lee Moyer deserves recognition for having a great eye and a great ear.

“My Bones’ Cracked Abacus” by Kelly Rose Pflug-Back – I really enjoy the format and language of this mysterious piece. An absolutely beautiful representation of how powerful speculative poetry can be when done right. My favorite poem of this issue, but only by a hair. An excerpt: "this is where they cut me, i told you./ this is where the flesh-tone doll’s parts were grafted;/ blank ugly sutures, a torturer’s braille./ this is the cartography of the blind."

“No Child of Daedalus” by W.C. Roberts – Contrasts the myths surrounding the ancient Greek artisan of the title and his son Icarus with the reality of Leonardo Da Vinci. A celebration of inspiration and engineering.

“Pinion” by Liz Bourke – In keeping with the theme of this issue, this is a poem about the end of the world. At least, it is a reflection on how the world ends for all of us. A poetic examination of the endless “dust to dust” cycle we all must endure.

Innsmouth Free Press #5

2010-12-08T10:08:00.000-08:00

Innsmouth Free Press not only publishes original short stories that fall into that weird fiction style that fits so well with a Lovecraftian vibe, but you'll find on their site classic tales from H.P. Lovecraft and fictionalized news articles set in the Lovecraftian town of Innsmouth, labeled Monster Bytes. IFP #5 is their third and final issue for 2010.

I'm not a hip cat when it comes to Lovecraft's work, but I like weird fiction so I wanted to give this periodical a go. The look of the free PDF magazine has a clean, crisp style that makes it very appealing for a reader like me who isn't keen on visual bombardments from some periodicals. And the cover art by M.S. Corley evokes that dark, strange atmosphere that's to be expected from the stories stored within.

The table of contents looks like this: "The Concierto of Senor Lorenzo" by Kenneth Yu, "The Night We Burned Our Hearts Out" by Paul Jessup, "The Changeling" by Tom Hamilton, "Beneath the Cold Black Sea" by Martin Hayes, "Borgan's Deli" by Jarrid Deaton, "The Green World" by Julio Toro San Martin, "The Song of Tussagaroth" by James Lecky, "Nibbling" by Cheryl McCreary.

I found just about every story very enjoyable, and definitely were well-suited for the Lovecraft vibe without borrowing directly from the acclaimed author. If I had to pick three personal favorites, I'd likely go with: Kenneth Yu's story about a musician's brief stay in a nearly empty hotel and the fascination the proprietor has with him; Martin Hayes' story of a fishing village and the tormented souls who are lost at sea and those left behind on shore; and Cheryl McCreary's story involving an army of worms. Ew, worms.

If you're a fan of the weird tale, then I think you'd be doing yourself a favor by checking out the Innsmouth Free Press. You might be impressed and pleasantly surprised.

The Darkened Corner by Tom Hamilton

2010-12-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

The Darkened Corner by Tom Hamilton represents the importance and value provided by the modern small press. Without innovative independent publishers like Philistine Press, it is possible that Hamilton’s novella may not have ever seen the light of day. Not necessarily because of quality but because of marketability. Novellas, especially literary novellas, are a tough sell, even for some well-known authors. Had this book not been published, it would have been a real shame. This is quite frankly an excellent story.

The Darkened Corner tells the life story of an Irish Traveller in short, frenetic bursts of prose in a narrative spanning several decades and covering a large chunk of The United States. Tom Hamilton, an Irish Traveller himself, understands the subculture well, and it shows in the authenticity and honesty of his story. For those who do not know, Irish Travellers are a kind of hidden people interspersed throughout the United States and Europe. I guess they could be explained to the uninitiated as a kind of gypsy people of Irish descent. They often live together in shared communities and survive by taking on short term labor jobs and/or (allegedly) committing the occasional con. The Irish Traveller of this story, our central character, comes from a line of conmen. He is initiated into the trade and trained by his father.

The protagonist is a poet, a dreamer, but his dreams go unrealized. Late in the narrative, he says about poetry: “I'd gotten to the point where I knew just enough about poetry to realize that the poems that I was writing were real bad, and that poetry was really only something that fools used to pass the time.” His idealism fades while beer cans and empty bottles clatter down cold streets. He is a lonely drunk, a modern-day Bukowski. The protagonist is the ultimate outsider: an outsider among his own people who themselves are outsiders.

There are moments hinting at dark fantasy in the story that verge towards magic realism, yet this is a story of stark, concrete reality. In fact, in many ways, the ultimate tragedy of The Darkened Corner is that there is nothing in the darkened corner of the title. The ghosts and phantasms are in the mind, the product of an imagination fighting off the futility and meaningless of his own wasted life. Without magic, without fantasy, the less frequently the ghosts appear to our protagonist, the more our protagonist falls deeper into his own despair. The fantasies are there because, as the narrator points out: “Fantasies were unchallenged. A dream could be controlled. No one could fuck up a dream.” But you can really fuck up a life if you aren’t careful.

Anyway, finding this novella was a nice surprise, and you can’t beat the price: FREE! (But it would be courteous to provide a small donation to the publisher’s virtual tip jar.) My six-pack rating: An enthusiastic 5 out of 6 Four Locos!* Here is the link to this book: http://www.philistinepress.com/darkenedcorner1_27.html.

*NOTE: Shortly after ingesting the Four Locos, the reviewer promptly began twitching and talking about himself in third person before passing out. How he managed to upload this review is a mystery…*

The Red Penny Papers

2010-12-03T10:19:00.000-08:00

The second issue of The Red Penny Papers doesn't disappoint. I should start this review by stating that the editor, KV Taylor, and one of the contributors, Barry Napier, are good friends. I've tried not to let the fact colour my review. I hope.

William Vitka opens the issue with science-fiction tinged horror 'Jack the Ripper, Savior of Humanity', an intriguing take on the Jack the Ripper legend. Next up is Barry Napier's poignant 'Firmament', a sweet story about a wife and son's grief with a sense of unease running throughout. I can't decide if the ending is creepy. I suppose it must be, but I like to think not. Read it and judge for yourself.

Amanda Pillar brings a delightful Regency story to the issue with 'The Vampire Duke'. Robin suspects the Duke of Grafton is a vampire, but that's ridiculous. Isn't it? A fun read with an adorable lead character.

My favourite story this issue was T.J. McIntyre's 'House of Endless Skies'. Grant discovers that living on a private island is not at all glamorous especially when the sand gets in everywhere. The horror creeps in at first building to a satisfying ending. Love the title.

I did not see the end coming in A. Merc Rustad's 'The Teeth'. Eww! When Keith's wife dies in an explosion, Keith finds he's lost his appetite and then there's the problem of the teeth. They appear to be stalking him. We end with Gregor by Edward Morris. A meteor fell from the sky and a scientist is dead. His wife admits to killing him, but perhaps she had her reasons.

You can read all the stories over at The Red Penny Papers website.

Innsmouth Free Press

2010-12-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

Readers with a hankering for the strange should seek out the excellent fifth issue of Innsmouth Free Press, edited by Paula R. Stiles and published by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

This free zine offers eight excellent horror stories with a taste of bizarre. A number of the stories are inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos:

Table of Contents

The Concierto Of Señor Lorenzo | Kenneth Yu
The Night We Burned Our Hearts Out | Paul Jessup
The Changeling | Tom Hamilton
Beneath The Cold Black Sea | Martin Hayes
Borgan’s Deli |Jarrid Deaton
The Green World | Julio Toro San Martin
The Song of Tussagaroth | James Lecky
Nibbling | Cheryl McCreary

Two brothers watch as a city burns. I particularly enjoyed Paul Jessop’s poetic ‘The Night We Burned Our Hearts Out,’ telling the tale of brothers touched by the unworldly. A story with a powerful emotional punch.

Tom Hamilton’s story 'The Changeling' is a beautifully written tale of a con artist and the stange tale he hears from one of his marks. A glimpse of a strange creature forces him to acknowledge the ugliness of his own choices. I found the imagery in this story very powerful.

James Lecky’s ‘The Song of Tussagorath’ is a fantasy that echoes with the language of traditional mythos stories. When an ancient book is obtained, only the unwise would open its tainted pages. Only the foolhardy would use the book as a doorway into unwholesome realms. A story reminiscent of Clark Ashton Smith.

As well as the fiction section Innsmouth Free Press prints faux news items (monster bytes) set in Innsmouth, a fiction town from a Lovecraft story, and reviews and interviews.

If you're looking for a fix of weird, dark fantasy you would do well to flick through the pages of 'Innsmouth Free Press.'

Black Static #19

2010-11-28T11:07:00.000-08:00

The first story in Black Static #19, Chain Reaction by Steve Rasnic Tem, is an excellent opener. After what appears an ordinary collision, a man wanders from car to car checking on the other casualties. Something is very wrong here. There seemed an undercurrent, a sense of menace, and the ending is open enough to make your own conclusions.

Next up is Beachcombing by Ray Cluley. By picking up and collecting items at the beach, a boy feels the emotions of the person who dropped them. A gorgeous story about lost things and lost people. Joel Lane's Sleep Mask offers us a haunting story about a man with a sleep disorder who dreams of his dead parents. Chilling.

Simon Clark's They Will Not Rest offers a strange Armageddon. Coffins mysteriously appear next to you while you sleep and within weeks most of the country is dead or dying. Taking a line from the story, 'If staying alive means staying awake, how do you do it?' Outstanding, and my favourite story this issue.

Lavie Tidhar concludes the fiction for this issue with The Wound Dresser, a poignant story about the role of angels of Death during World War II. The ending is heart-breaking.

An Occupation of Angels

2010-11-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

An Occupation of Angels is a novella by Lavie Tidhar from Apex Books*. I’ve grown to be a big fan of Tidhar’s work over the last year or so. I’ve read (and truly enjoyed) many of his short stories published in places like Strange Horizons and Fantasy Magazine, and I absolutely loved his novella The Tel Aviv Dossier co-written with Nir Yaniv and released through ChiZine Publications. In fact, The Tel Aviv Dossier is perhaps the most entertaining book I read all year. That said, An Occupation of Angels had a lot to live up to.

Did it live up to my expectations? For the most part, yes, and it passed with flying colors, too. It was a fun, quick read, full of action and intrigue. As far as plot goes you have angelic beings, dark Nazi experimentation, doors to other dimensions, and a female protagonist who is a James Bond-type character jumping across Europe on secret missions. We travel with the protagonist from historic Paris to the remote, frozen wastelands of Siberia and beyond, perhaps even to Heaven itself. The action scenes are well-written and compelling. This is an adventure story, plain and simple.

The fact the book is a plain and simple adventure story might be considered the book’s strength by many readers, but in a way, this fact became a weakness for me and my own high expectations. I guess I just expected more instances of the contemplative and strange from Tidhar. This book felt a little safe in places, relying on spy novel tropes in favor of the fantastic hinted at in the story. It is a novella more inspired by the language of Ian Fleming than Dante. It is an action-packed spy story more than a contemplative fantasy, and I tend to be the kind of reader who prefers contemplative fantasies. So, this was just a matter of my personal reading preferences tainting my enjoyment of the book to a minor extent (very minor).

That said, An Occupation of Angels is a very well-written spy book which I found fun to read and recommend highly, especially if you tend to enjoy spy stories and/or adventure novels. I think rabid fans of Indiana Jones or the Jason Bourne series would absolutely love this novella.

Using my six-pack rating system, I give An Occupation of Angels a solid 4 out of 6 Angel City Ales. I look forward to reading more of Tidhar’s work. He’s the kind of writer who always surprises, rarely repeats himself, and shows a lot of range in his oeuvre.

*Legal Disclosure: received a free electronic review copy of novella through publisher.

"Nevermore" (or "The Feast of Flesh") by David Dunwoody

2010-11-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

This is one of two novellas that appear in the first volume of Belfire Press's "Duel" Novella Series. You can learn more about this series by visiting Belfire Press.

Ghost stories tend to have a very familiar quality to them, which is likely due to ghost being the longest surviving horror tropes going--older than even the genre itself. So when an author can come along and offer something a bit different from the norm, and not bungle it, that's a rare treat. David Dunwoody offers one such story with Nevermore.

And it starts off with one of the best opening passages I've read in a while:

"Malcolm Witt died in his sleep at 11:07 PM. Four minutes later, his body rose and walked from the room. Malcolm watched it happen."

That really got me hooked for the next fifty some pages of this story. It's a prelude though, as after that passage the story jumps back in time to early in the night when Malcolm attends a restaurant with friends. Saul, a flamboyant medium--one of those John Edward types--"lenses" Malcolm's third eye as a way to help him discover the identity of the man with whom his ex-lover, Leo, cheated on him. The spell doesn't seem to work though, but when he returns home drunk and passes out, that's when he dies and witnesses his corpse rise up and go absolutely bananas. Well, not so much bananas, but cannibal holocaust on anyone within arm's reach.

While Malcolm has become a kind of ghost, his corpse has become a kind of zombie, but neither term is entirely accurate and as the story ramps up page after page, it's easy to see why. The story starts off very methodically, establishing the characters and setting the stage, but once things kick into high gear they don't let up, and Malcolm has hellish night to figure out what's happened to him, who's responsible, and how to stop his body from going after those closest to him.

After finally getting a chance to read "The Dunwoody's" work, I'm looking forward to seeing what else this guy has up his sleeve.

"Orpheus and the Pearl" by Kim Paffenroth

2010-11-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is one of two novellas that appear in the first volume of Belfire Press's "Duel" Novella Series. You can learn more about this series by visiting Belfire Press. Look for my review of David Dunwoody's Nevermore tomorrow.

Whenever I hear tell of Kim Paffenroth, it's usually in the context of the zombie genre. The man knows zombies. And given this was the first time I've had a chance to read his work, I was fully expecting some gruesome undead fare. And while there is a character risen from the dead in Orpheus and the Pearl, she is not a zombie--at least it's not explicitly stated that she is.

Set in the backdrop of Massachusetts during the early twentieth century, Dr. Catherine MacGuire is called to the residence of Dr. Percy Wallston on an urgent matter concerning one of his patients, a woman in dire need of psychoanalysis. MacGuire is versed in the teaching of Freud and the workings of the mind, a relatively new form of the science, which is exactly why she was chosen by Wallston. To her dismay, she learns the patient is Wallston's wife, Victoria. All the more unsettling is that Victoria died--or was at least said to have died. In fact, Dr. Wallston has resurrected Victoria with startling, violent results, and he desperately needs Dr. MacGuire to find a way to have his old wife back rather than the ravenous and malicious creature he has sequestered in his home.

Paffenroth's story evokes some of that old world charm, as a horrific affliction is shown against a quaint backdrop. It's the whole juxtaposition of the prim and proper engaging in macabre acts. But it's not an entirely gruesome story, and rather relies more on the tensions between Dr. MacGuire and the Wallstons, both in their interactions with each other and MacGuire's past creeping into the back of her mind. And the ending is not at all what I initially expected, which is good in one sense, but on the other hand the end result felt a bit too--I don't want to say chipper, so let's go with neat and tidy.

All in all, it's a good little story. Something off the beaten path from the onslaught of gory depictions of the undead, and the historical setting resonated much better with me than when I read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. If you like tales of the undead with a strong emotional core, this might be the kind of story you'll want to check out.

Interzone #230

2010-11-22T09:32:00.000-08:00

Interzone always delivers quality fiction and issue 230 is no exception.

Parallel universes converge in Tim Lee's 'Love and War'. A very human story with a compelling lead character. Aliette De Bodard offers us a God versus the machine tale in Age of Miracles, Age of Wonders. Or rather Gods. I think this is the first story I've read by Aliette and I love her voice.

An immortal struggles with grief in Patrick Samphire's Camelot. Unwilling to believe his brother died when his plane was shot down during WWII, Sam searches ruins in France. He expects to find man and not bones despite sixty-years having passed since his brother fell from the sky. My favourite story this issue.

Issue 230 also includes fiction by Lavie Tidhar and Nina Allan.

The Circus Wagon

2010-11-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

The Circus Wagon by Andrew S. Fuller – The Circus Wagon is a novelette available in a variety of e-book formats from Damnation Books. Fuller provides a compelling quick read. In this story, protagonist Christopher Epstein (an everyman figure) has hazy memories of an old circus wagon that used to sit in the yard of his grandmother’s house. The origin of the wagon is shrouded in mystery as noted in this excerpt from the text:

“Had Grandpa worked in the circus? No, the wagon was older than that, someone said. What was inside—rats? Bats? A lion’s skeleton? A blind old witch? No, tons of mosquitoes swarmed you at once if you got too close, and lightning bugs avoided that part of the yard.”

Through the course of the story, we meet Christopher Epstein as an adult and learn the circus wagon followed him and negatively affects his adult working life and relationships. People die. Surreal insanity subtly overlaps reality. The wagon itself remains an object of mystery and source of unknowable terror. Well done!

Now, I’ll note just a few minor criticisms:

The mystery of the wagon itself never feels fully resolved and remains quite ambiguous, but this could also be a strength of the story depending on the reader. Some might argue the ambiguities add to the overall mystique. Others would argue otherwise. If you are a reader looking for a clear-cut denoument, you might want to look elsewhere. Me, I personally liked that the mysterious aspect remained such a mystery. It left me thinking about the myriad of possibilities behind the wagon’s very existence and purpose.
I felt the protagonist, Christopher Epstein, was a little too passive of a character. Once again, some might argue this is a strength: it makes him an empty vessel in which a reader can possibly project some aspect of their self. But, as a reader, this passivity frustrated me.
My main complaint would have to be length. Yes, it was a short story, but at this price ($2.99) you could buy entire novels in e-book format. At just 7,200 words, there isn’t much reading here for your buck. I read it in one sitting (about twenty minutes) in a doctor’s waiting room. This is no fault of the author, of course, but a slight criticism directed towards the publisher. Damnation Books could better serve their customers by putting together a selection of stories by Fuller (I, for one, was left wanting to read more of his short fiction) and upping the word-count to provide value for the customer. I’ll note here for full disclosure that I received a free copy from the author for review. Had I paid the full cover price, I may have felt a little ripped-off. But I need to give credit where credit is due: the cover art, design, editing, and formatting seemed professional.

To sum up: The Circus Wagon is a very well-written and engagingly mysterious – not to mention ambiguous – piece of supernatural fiction. Using my six-pack rating system, I give this story 4 out of 6 pints of Guinness. For the author, I toss in an extra shot of Bushmills Irish Whiskey as a chaser.

Crow Toes Quarterly

2010-11-19T16:14:00.000-08:00

I recently finished Issue 15 of Crow Toes Quarterly and I really wish I had stumbled upon this magazine 15 issues ago.  There is definate delight found in every issue, story and poem. You would be hard press to dismiss this magazine as average or amateurish. Indeed, there is quite a craft here.

It is a publication which aims for children's horror, but which is easily accepted by adults as well.  Their latest endeavor features a beautiful mix of the dark, the strange, the unsettling, the morbid, all with a child-like innocence.

The issue begins (aside from the Narrator's introduction) with Rebecca Huggins' story Waiting, where we are introduced to an isolated boy living in a grand mansion, filled with an even grander library. Yet, despite his isolation, he is quite content with his life, living vicariously through his own imagination. Until one day a stranger stands outside his window. A stranger who happens to enjoy hot cocoa and wishes to take the boy on an incredible journey. A journey we all take at some point in time.

The next story stays true to the uncanny, reminding us that Halloween is not only fun and sugary, but frightening and bitter. The time Between, by Sherry Isaac, reminds us that at the stroke of midnight anything can happen, especially on Halloween. For three young children playing in an attic, dividing the rewards from trick-or-treating, midnight becomes far too strange when one of them discovers an old pocket-watch. Never mess with a watch, especially an old watch, when it's trapped behind blue goo. Further more, though Halloween is fun and sugary, make sure adults always check the candy for those frightening, bitter pieces.

Next, The Skeleton Doll, by Caspian Gray, is a bone-chilling tale about a mother and her daughter. Her dead daughter . . . lying in a forest. This story was my personal favorite as it teetered on the edge of the macabre with a rather sad, yet beautiful rendition of Pinocchio. An old woman who lives in cabin alone, having recently suffered from the demise of her young daughter, goes to great lengths to restore her happiness. But just how far is she willing to go? Having enjoyed her life while her daughter was alive there's no reason she can't enjoy her life while her daughter is dead. Though, in order to enjoy her life, her daughter must remain with her one way or another.  With a little thread, a little stuffing, happiness can be found.

Then there's the flash piece by Grier Jewell, The Hand of Holland Rogers: Is It True? This calls to question the things that keep us awake at night. When you can't sleep, what do wonder about?  Do you ever ponder something is lurking in the corners of your dark room? Do you curl under the sheets, seeking protection from the night? What was that sound? Is that a finger touching your feet? Or should you keep such thoughts out of your mind and try to go to sleep? But exactly how can you go to sleep when you feel a hand touching your leg? But that's just nonsense . . . isn't it? (Personally, I've always envisioned shark fins circling my bed.)

Last, we're treated with a witty, disgusting tale about a child who pieces themself together. Literally. Brains Coming Out of My Ears, by Anne E. Johnson, is a vivid story about the rewards and misfortunes of having all the brains.  But when you have all the brains, imagine all the things you could accomplish. Imagine how powerful you'd be! Especially with an extra set of eyes in the back of your head!

The magazine doesn't stop there however. Equally pleasant, and equally dark, are three poems.

Ice Cream Truck, by Shawn Riopelle, takes us through life as it centers around that little, flat piece of wood commonly found in Popsicles, and doctor offices.

A Prickling On My Shoulder, by M Sullivan, is a whimsical, avant-garde poem about that funny feeling you sometimes get.

Spider, by Matt Dennison, reminds us that those eight-legged little terrors are always there.

Last, but not least, the magazine is also packed with beautiful illustrations, reminding us that the uncanny is indeed a spectacle worth looking at. For just a buck-fifty, Crow Toes Quarterly, Issue 15 is available for download in a PDF format from their website: http://www.crowtoesquarterly.com/. Filled with all things cute and horrible, this magazine is a must for any zine-fans looking for something a little different, a little innocent, a little odd, a little playful, and all around a little delightful.

Ponies by Kij Johnson

2010-11-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

Intrigued by a sudden splurge of tweets on Twitter today, I followed a link to Kij Johnson's story 'Ponies' over at Tor.com. Glad I did. A gruesome little tale about a girl and her pony who both just want to fit in. It's dark, it's sweet, it's heart wrenching. Highly recommend it.

Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens

2010-11-14T14:58:00.000-08:00

Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens . . . is this a metaphorical allegory, something akin the ‘fox in the hen-house’? Certainly!

It’s a quirky little magazine that specializes in Bizarro--a literary sub-genre focusing on the absurd and the surreal through darkly-inane situations while postulating philosophical inquires (notably absurdism, nihilism and existentialism). It’s rather humorous in nature, but ambiguously so as it conveys truth though absurdity. In other words, it’s the logic of the illogical.

So, what exactly is this magazine and how is it absurd?

It’s an odd-timed print magazine (roughly bi-annual), with a few issues available for download at their website: www.absurdistjournal.com. Their latest issue, #Y’aing’ngah (Winter 2010), is the fourth issue I’ve read from this delightfully odd press, and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

The highlight of this magazine for this reader was Nicole Cushing’s Youth to be Proud Of, a darkly comical and political piece centered around the ever popular and familiar, and dare I say painfully dull and boring, Our Town (the play by Thornton Wilder). There is so much to say about this piece that it’s just easier to say: high school, small-town life, journalism, “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” and children dangling from wires, limply floating and speaking through unseen voices, conveying morality, spirituality, and seeking forgiveness for their debauchery with a cold, dull lifeless spirit. Because let's face, the only life worth living is that of an oppressed automaton who just wants to eat shrooms and get pregnant!

Also pleasing was the flash piece Circle Slash Erections by xTx. Think you have a hard time keeping it up and/or achieving that glorious-resolution at the end of the evening? Try dating a woman who specializes in the art of non-stimulation.

Equally pleasing was Changing Woman by Brandi Wells, which calls to question the effort of keeping together a relationship involving a leper-zombiesque-splatter-wannabe-Thing-from-The-Adam’s-Family lover. Warning: Do not eat eggs while reading this piece!

Also worth mentioning is the satirical There’s War by R.E. Greene. Tyranny, fascism, nationalism, socialism, democracy . . . they all involve the same leader(s): scary people with power and money screaming for obedience as they whip mailboxes and imprison anyone who fornicates with their daughter. It's hard to earn a living under such constraints, thankfully there's garbage which needs to be collected.

All the stories are worth a read, they’re highly imaginative pieces that play with literary formats, climatic resolutions (or lack thereof) while conveying philosophical themes through illogical scenes and characters. They also feature reviews of other Bizarro works, inviting readers into the world of the absurd.

Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens is a magazine which will leave you wondering. What exactly you’ll be wondering is the question . . . perhaps, what? Maybe, huh? But most likely: when is the next issue?

Hungur’s Strange Metaphors: An Exploration of Alien Desires

2010-11-13T23:03:00.000-08:00

The vampires in Hungur are stranger than your typical human-vampire. And, as I read the Walpurgisnacht 2010 issue, I became fascinated with a particular type of vampire: the alien-vampire with undefined and elusive motivations. The metaphor of the unfamiliar is powerful. It resonates with the unknowable elements within our lives, within our personal relationships or within our ever-changing and sometimes bewildering society.

Hungur 10, offers intriguing stories in which alien-vampires have understandable motivation. I enjoyed Marge Simon’s And Babylon Shall Rise Again which tracked an alien-vampire race manipulating the progress of human history, and R.S. Pyne’s Blood Drive which explored the vampire myth through from the point of view of android whose mind hosted a cabal of vampire old ones.

. Good stories, but I was looking for something other. I wanted to dig a little deeper into the bones of the unknown and find the desires which hover on the cusp of perception.

Hungur’s two ‘first contact stories’, both feature alien-vampires and both stories are told though the eyes of a human.

In Dev Jarrett’s Monochrome Smile, a space crew encounter a being of mind control, an entity able to hypnotise unwary humans. This unique alien consumes it victims’ bodies and produces a human facsimile, rendered in monochrome sand. This alien doppelganger retains the memories of its victims and an understanding of human emotion. The alien’s constant refrain is that it wants to be loved. In a nice touch, the people on Earth are thrilled at the discovery of an alien life-form, oblivious to the possible dangers. The story charts the struggle of Gregor, a member of the crew, as he strives to escape the alien and the potential catastrophic outcomes of this first contact.

Robert Essig’s story, Patrolling the Outer Rim, gives another glimpse into first contact. A human patrol ship lands on a planet to investigate strange human-like readings. Once on planet, they discover creatures in a flux between life and death, but these undead creatures are the lures of an alien-vampire race. The human crew quickly find themselves under attack. Patrolling the Outer Rim is a fast-paced adventure story, detailing the struggle between the crew and the alien-vampires.

Essig’s and Jarrett’s stories are both told from the point of view of the human characters and the motivations of the alien-vampires are not directly stated. Good stories, but I felt as if the stories demanded that I assign malevolent motivations to the alien-vampires. They did not quite capture the unknowable element I was seeking.

I found this elusive strangeness in a story and in a poem from writer and editor Terrie Leigh Relf. Her story Chimes of Bone has a dreamy, poetic quality which quickly established the strangeness of the setting with the depiction of the world’s three moons. This story is a cautionary tale: a warning to a young girl who has ventured into a forbidden place. The vampire creatures of this story seek the ‘secret codes’ in their victims’ blood which is needed for their transformation, first into monstrous creatures, and then into a disguise which allows them to blend into the native population. This story is full of wonderful strangeness and puzzling images, the narrator is revealed to be a ghost; the story echoes to the sound of the bones chime, made from the vampires’ victims; there are references to time distortion and to the recurring images of the world’s three moons. It is a lovely story full of unanswered questions.

Terrie Leigh Relf’s haibun poem balances strangeness and familiarity. The poem describes a wine tasting, but quickly establishes an unbalanced and weird world. The final haiku is particularly powerful.

Although it is a pity to reproduce it incompletely, I think this last haiku gives a flavour of the strangeness of Relf’s poem:

extracted before

their contents spill

fertile wombs

I am fascinated by the exploration of the strange. Hungur with its blending of the alien and vampire metaphors, within its axis of speculative incongruity is a good place to find such strangeness.

Hungur is published twice a year. You can purchase a copy ($12.50 + $2 S&H) from Sam's Dot's Genre Mall

Editorial guidelines can be found here.

Ideomancer, Vol. 9, Issue 3

2010-11-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

Ideomancer is a quarterly online magazine of speculative fiction and poetry. This magazine publishes work that is typically on the literary side of genre. One tends to find more work trending towards magic realism here than pulp sci-fi or fantasy. After reading this publication for several years, it is one I have learned to count on for lush prose and beautiful descriptive language.

Per publisher Leah Bobet’s Editor’s Note, the “September 2010 issue delves into some off-kilter relationships: how they go subtly right, or wrong, and what we do about it.” That sums up this issue pretty well, I think.

This issue can be read in its entirety here: http://www.ideomancer.com/?p=352

Stories

“Fairest in the Land” by Catherine Krahe – A piece of flash fiction which describes the lives of some famous fairy tale princesses from a different perspective. Words are used in a manner that creates striking visual portraits of the characters. However, the wonderful language glosses over the lack of a clear narrative flow. The story is all description with very little in the way of actual story. Also, the hardened princess trope utilized is becoming a little too pervasive in genre culture and this one does not really add anything new for me. Still worth reading for the language alone.

“It Shall Come to Pass on a Summer’s Day” by Lenora Rose – A selkie story, told as a prophesy. There are some interesting twists in the end, and I applaud the author for how she turns a prophet into an unreliable narrator. My only complaint is that the exclusive use of future tense to tell this story tends to be repetitive and awkwardly worded at times.

“Afterglow” by Sandra Odell – Near the beginning of this story, a character states: “Anything is possible if you love deeply enough.” This slightly oedipal romance is alternately sweet and surreal, tender and disturbing. The term Kafkaesque comes to mind. I guess you could say this story is Jungian erotica. Recommended with reservations. Definitely the most memorable and unique story of this issue for me.

Poetry

“Evening in Pompeii” by Rachel Swirsky – Wonderfully descriptive poem speculating what it might have been like on the eve of Vesuvius’s cataclysmic eruption. I feel this is the strongest poem of this issue.

“diurnal/nocturnal” by David Kopaska-Merkel – Per the author, this is a Fibbonaci-no ku describing a tear in reality. The form for the poem is nice, giving an interesting, somewhat staccato flow to the words when read aloud. However, the author’s “fragmentary ideas” and fragmented imagery gives the poem a fragmentary feel. Without the author’s note at the end, I would have completely missed out on the intended context. On first read, after reading Swirsky’s poem, I thought it might be another piece describing a volcano. All the same, the night/day duality is explored well, and the language is nicely loaded for interpretation.

“Moondance” by Mikal Trimm – A tribal chant describing “Nights of blood and hope and abandon.” A very dark feel pervades this piece.

“Time Ghosts by Ann K. Schwader – History repeats itself giving life to new ghosts which are the same as the old ghosts. A short, thought-provoking poem.

M-Brane SF #22

2010-11-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

The day after I joined the Skull Salad Team, the latest issue of M-Brane SF (#22) landed in my inbox. There was no way I was going to be able to resist reading and reviewing it today. Therefore, here is my first Skull Salad review…

Having worked with Christopher Fletcher (the editor) I admire his commitment to genre, his magazine and the respect he has for the writers he works with. This man rocks. He tirelessly puts out a new magazine every month. I don't know how he does it.

It's hard to pick a favourite story from issue 22. Mostly, I'm torn between the African jungle and the strange creatures a scientist has created in Gustavo Bondoni's 'Wyrm of the Mangroves' and the bizarre aliens in Patty Jansen's 'The Invisible Fleas of the Galaxy'. I think Bondoni's tale just nudges over the winning line because I felt Jansen's story ended a little too abruptly. That's not to say it wasn't fun. Oh was it ever. Both stories were also effectively creepy. Trust me, don't mess with DNA and don't mess with aliens however small and seemingly insignificant.

The issue also features fiction from Joseph Auslander, Jr and Bryce Mainville.

Looking for a Few Brave Souls

2010-11-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

Here's the deal: Dave Truesdale of Tangent Online has made public Tangent will no longer review publications paying less than "pro" rates (currently 5 cents/word according to both the SWFA and HWA). Jason Sanford has an eloquent response at his blog.

My less-than-eloquent response: that sucks.

No reviews for anything from Clockwork Phoenix, Shimmer, Weird Tales (WEIRD TALES!), Space & Time, Triangulation, Electro Velocipede, Albedo One...

As a writer, I've benefited from several favorable reviews of my stories in Tangent's virtual pages. I don't have the time/energy or expertise to fill the gap left by Tangent's rather narrow focus. I can offer suggestions of short pieces I've read and enjoyed, and will continue to do so here at Skull Salad. What I'm asking is simple:

I need a few brave souls to join me, not as "full-time" reviewers, but as folks who enjoy good, short speculative fiction and would be willing to offer suggestions of reading material from time to time. Nothing big. Even one story recommendation a month goes a long way in keeping the speculative fiction machine alive.

If you want on the list (no obligation), email me. (aaron.polson(at)gmail.com)

From here on, Skull Salad only touches short fiction from venues paying less than "pro" rates.

The First Few Bites of Shimmer Number Twelve

2010-10-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

I've tried to be fairly vocal about supporting the small press at my author's blog. As a writer, especially a weirdo who prefers the short form (raises hand), I must tend the garden in which I'm planted (or hope to be planted one day).

I recently snagged a subscription to Shimmer, a lovely magazine of quirky fantasy and strange science fiction. My first issue, Number Twelve, arrived the other day, and I gobbled a handful of stories like a hungry hound dog (but with less bits hanging from my lips afterward). For slipstream fans, Shimmer is delicious.

For example: Peter M. Ball's angsty teen-werewolf story, "The Mike and Carly Story, without the Gossip" is a special piece of writing. Ball lands a solid punch in the emo-stomach of Twilight tainted teen fiction with an amazingly deft voice. Highly recommended.

If you wonder what makes Shimmer different, touch the oddly beautiful zombie-love of "You Had Me at Rarrrgg" by Nicky Drayden, or Carmen Lau's spin on a very old tale with "Red and Grandma inside the Wolf". I've enjoyed each bite.

Off to nibble the rest...

Buy a copy or subscribe to Shimmer.

At the End of Church Street by Gregory L. Hall

2010-06-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

I picked up At the End of Church Street by Greg Hall because of the hook:

Live forever young. Every night is an adventure—hunting down tourists, challenging the local police, screaming to the world vampires really exist.

The book sounded a little like Peter Pan with vampires...

Who wouldn't want to read that?

Church Street keeps you running the back alleys of Orlando with homeless kids who live together in an abandoned theater as family. They claim to be vampires and live as such until someone, who evidently believes they are vampires, begins killing them with the age-old vampire slaying favorites: a stake through the heart and beheading.

There are twists and turns through the full-throttle narrative which keep the reader propelled toward the "turn it up to eleven" conclusion.

Greg Hall has added some nice layers to the vampire mythos and, instead of playing pansy with his teenaged protagonists, he gives them real life and death choices to face. This isn't a bloody climax slapped on to the end of a sappy love story; Church Street is all climax, all life and death and love.

And in the end, vampires are badass again.

Check it out at Belfire Press or Amazon.com.

Valley of the Dead by Kim Paffenroth

2010-05-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Zombies are to horror fiction what mosquitoes are to my backyard in August (i.e., everywhere). Some fans gobble the latest zombie novels and wash it all down with undead anthologies and poetry from beyond the grave. I'm not that fan. I have nothing bad to say about the shambling meat-bags; they just don't poke my brain in the right places. And face it: a good portion of zombie fiction these days is pretty derivative. (and derivative is boring in my book)

So yeah, I don't usually read much involving zombies.

Unless Kim Paffenroth writes it.

See, Paffenroth has a way of exposing the selfish, greedy, lecherous horrors of the living as even worse than the mindless hunger of the undead. Valley of the Dead asks "What if Dante Alighieri witnessed a zombie plague and based his Inferno on the horrors of said plague?"

But Valley of the Dead is more than a zombie book. It's more than a "travel story", too. (The episodic nature of Dante's experiences with different groups reminds me of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.) Yes, it is both of these things, but a lot of "big questions" about human nature arise through the narrative. Dante and his companions (a pregnant woman, a monk of sorts, and an AWOL soldier) run across a rather sorry lot of (living) human examples of the seven deadly sins and more. He ponders the big questions about suffering, evil, and God while trying to escape a valley of pain, sickness, and death. All too soon, the reader is aware zombies are the least of Dante's problems.

Grab a copy. Give it a go. If you like to think along with your gut-munching horror, this is for you.

Next in the reading que: At the End of Church Street by Gregory L. Hall.

Back from the Dead

2010-05-06T07:45:00.000-07:00

...and I'm reading about the dead.

Currently: Valley of the Dead by Kim Paffenroth--and I'm loving it. More later.

Necrotic Tissue #9

2010-01-27T12:09:00.000-08:00

I've sunk my teeth into the latest issue of Necrotic Tissue (#9), and I'm pleased to report this magazine keeps on giving.

There's something special about Necrotic Tissue, maybe the attitude. It "feels" like an old pulp magazine, something I imagine to be like the Weird Tales of the '30s and '40s. Indeed, issue 9's editor's choice, "Caretaker in the Garden of Dreams" by David Tallerman, is a work of dark fantasy inhabited by creatures from a Lovecraftian nightmare.

But there's variety within. You can read about the wrong kind of surgery with J. Ventura's "Makeover" or the dense, literary horror of Laura L. Sullivan's "The Butterfly Hunter." Necrotic Tissue invites all styles between its covers.

Being a fan of the short-short form, especially flash fiction, Necrotic Tissue's 100 word bites are a special treat. My favorite from #9 is "Adagio" by Brendan P. Myers, a quick stab of darkness that lingers long after its brief length on the page.

Editor-in-Chief R. Scott McCoy balances it all with some solid non-fiction, including a fine interview with Joe R. Lansdale in #9, as well as an ongoing feature to help writers (and editors everywhere), "Help Me to Help You Help Me". This quarter's installment addresses the magic of ending a short story well. Mr. McCoy has a clean, straightforward and honest delivery in his editorials, too.

At $30 for four issues (one year), I can't think of a better fix for quality short horror fiction in print. Necrotic Tissue is a class act: always on time, always satisfying.

Mama Fish by Rio Youers

2010-01-11T12:09:00.001-08:00

Here's why you want to read Mama Fish by Rio Youers: you'll be pissed when it's over.

Youers splices together two tales of Patrick Beauchamp: one from high school when Patrick is trying to befriend school oddity Kelvin Fish; the second features an older Patrick, parent of two and beloved husband. Yes, they come together, in a sense. Any more plot points would taint your reading of Mama Fish, and I'm not here to do that.

The prose is delicious, fast, and propels you to the end. Unfortunately, I feel like the end came too quickly--maybe because I devoured it in one sitting. With two rug-rats running around the house, I don't devour much over ten pages in one sitting anymore. Even when the end becomes inevitable, and it does, Youers held my attention, winding it around his easy style and showing not only Patrick's final choice but why he made it (again, no spoilers here).

Some may be put off by the alternating time frames in the book (instead of all the "high school" story followed by the "older Patrick", Youers goes back and forth), but I enjoyed the way Mama Fish unfolded. With Shroud as the publisher, one might expect horror, and the novella has horrific moments, especially when Patrick is younger. But to simply file Mama Fish in the horror bin limits readers. This is slipstream at its best--a little science fiction, a little fantasy, and a dash of horror.

Why was I pissed when I finished? I wanted more. Give me a few Youers' short stories at least. I know I'll be looking for something with his name on it.

Pick up Mama Fish at Shroud or Amazon.com.

The New Bedlam Project Issue #4

2010-01-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

Issue 4 of The New Bedlam project once more delivers on the little town’s promise to unnerve the unwary reader. Once more we travel through its darkened streets to uncover the evil which lurks within the minds and hearts of those within the city limits.

Natalie L Sin takes a different approach, using her unique love of Asia and everything within it to add a different cultural bent and flavour to the twisted happenings in this writers’ haven. Zoe E. Whitten reminds us that not all the residents are writers but horror isn’t picky when choosing victims. Michael C Pennington allows us to see some hope when the writers fight back. Somehow I see this as opening a whole new can of worms – fat and juicy ones.

Barry Napier and J. Jay Waller take a stab at necrophilia, but from completely different angles – so to speak. I’m sure they’re both fine upstanding gentlemen, but the black twistedness of their imaginations is clear for all to see.

And we have creatures. As regular readers know, the imaginings of the writer residents of New Bedlam are the bread and butter of the horror which walks its streets, and so Kevin Lucia and Louise Bohmer serve up a dog of hell and something mystical and creepy (respectively) just to remind us.

Coupled with an excerpt by Brandon Layng from Courting Morpheus (Can of Worms), and another from Jodi Lee’s novel set in New Bedlam (At the Institute), we have an excellent all round issue with something to please everyone – and it’s free. Go check it out.

by Brenton Tomlinson

See No Evil, Say No Evil by Matt Betts

2009-12-22T08:01:00.000-08:00

Poetry can be a tenuous thing, especially in the world of speculation. Hooray for champions like Matt Betts, whose chapbook See No Evil, Say No Evil collects some fine examples of speculative poetry that manage to cut a razor's edge between funny and poignant without alienating a reader.

Take "The Redneck Future that Awaits Me" for example. The speaker understands his social position might not be improved in the science-fiction future, but at least "we will have conquered rust".

Then you have the laugh-out-loud "Nobody Eats Porridge Anymore" in which the bears exact a brand of revenge on the "little blond girl".

One of my personal favorites is the brief "Science 101 Destroys All Hope"...something I've been trying to tell a few of my colleagues for years. Maybe finding a penny doesn't lead to good luck, but who wants to live in that world, anyway?

There are no heavy rhyme schemes or rigid meter to contend with in these poems, and you won't find allusions lost in Greek and Latin history. No, the only prerequisite for reading See No Evil, Say No Evil is a sense of humor and appreciation for the imaginative. A good background in late night B-movies doesn't hurt, either.

See No Evil, Say No Evil is still available directly from Matt Betts for the ridiculously low price of $7 + S&H. Go on, choose evil.

Fourtold by Michael Stone

2009-12-14T10:08:00.000-08:00

Michael Stone's Fourtold (Baysgarth Publications, 2008) is a special book, a collection of four novellas/novelettes with each operating on a different level of dark fantasy.

The first offering, "San Ferry Anne", as the least "speculative" of the tales, gently ushers the reader into Stone's world, allowing his prose--simple and eloquent--to paint a story of two friends coping with the aftermath of The Great War.

"The Reconstruction of Kasper Clark" comes next, leading the story's namesake to a bizarre clinic run by the devil. The "clinic" helps cure Kasper's condition (his mouth is located in the middle of his forehead), but leaves him with a strange addiction. Stone makes the most of the devil's playground, creating weird scenes and fantastic characters that somehow feel normal...at least in that strange place.

"The Terracotta Warrior" is largely a romping bit of old fashioned pulp fiction fun. Even so, Stone's characters are well rounded and believable--more than the cardboard "types" which populated the pulps of old. At its heart a monster story, "The Terracotta Warrior" also tells a tale of courage in unexpected forms.

Finally, we have "Lemon Man". From the first page, the reader feels as disoriented as the protagonist(s), but Stone is in control. Two seemingly separate narratives intertwine, only to come together in truly magnificent fashion in a story that touches family, love, friendship...even heaven and, in a manner, hell. Stone's ability to paint the truly fantastic world at the heart of "Lemon Man" left my brain reeling.

Fourtold is a great sampler of Michael Stone's work. I found his easy prose, his natural, descriptive style, and near flawless presentation a joy to read, even when describing terrible angels or undead guardians of ancient tombs. I'd recommend the book to anyone with a taste for dark fantasy...especially something a little different than the usual tropes which tend to choke the genre.

Buy at Amazon.com