Engines of Desire

By Livia Llewellyn
Published by Lethe Press (March 15, 2011)

Engines of Desire is comprised of ten stories, including two novellas and two novelettes. It’s stunning enough even without the knowledge that it is Livia Llewellyn’s debut book. Llewellyn, whose catalog of published work stretches back to 2005, has clearly demonstrated more dedication and patience than many of her peers, this reviewer included, and it shows through in every page of Engines.

Several pieces stand out from the pack. The collection leads off with ‘Horses,’ one of the novelettes, which begins as an end-of-the-world tale and finishes as something else entirely. ‘At the Edge of Ellensburg,’ a novella, tells the story of a college girl wrapped up in her addiction to a mysterious, drug-dealing stranger. ‘The Engine of Desire,’ from which the book gets its title, is about a woman’s decades-spanning association with a girl named Kelly who is definitely more than a girl. ‘Take Your Daughters to Work’ can’t really be described in-depth without ruining it, but further demonstrates Llewellyn’s flair for the apocalyptic and otherworldly. ‘The Four-Hundred Thousand’ is a dystopian piece centered around sacrifice and the supposed greater good, as manipulated by the powers that be. ‘Omphalos,’ the other novelette, is an incestuous round-robin affair that’s main character is at least slightly reminiscent of Jack Sawyer from Stephen King’s Talisman.

As a whole, Engines of Desire can be characterized by two overarching themes. The first is the strong erotic overtones (and the occasional subtle undertone) woven through many of the stories. Llewellyn writes hotter and more graphic scenes than the average horror reader is likely to encounter, almost always to the benefit of whichever story such scenes occur in. The second is the sense of otherworldliness present in several pieces; some of it is outright (the chimera in ‘Her Deepness,’ the book’s other novella, for instance), while much of it is more subtle (elements of both ‘The Engine of Desire’ and ‘Omphalos,’ and Kelly in ‘Engines of Desire,’ for instance, will certainly raise some questions).

Engines of Desire is an excellent introduction to a fine, relatively new, author who is sure to develop a rabid following in years to come.


Buy it here.

Review by Lincoln Crisler

Lincoln Crisler's debut novella, WILD, was released in March from Damnation Books. He has also authored a pair of short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

Multiplex Fandango

by Weston Ochse
Published by Dark Regions Press

Multiplex Fandango is a sixteen-story, 283-page collection of fiction spanning over a decade of Weston Ochse's career. The stories, six of which were written specifically for this book, are each preceded by a movie-style introduction of the main characters (or elements of the story) and a quote, generally from a movie or book.

Weston Ochse is the real deal: a military veteran and former intelligence officer whose resume is no doubt peppered with events he can't talk about, who travels to exotic locales on government business to this day and lives with his wife in the American desert Southwest. So when he writes about places like China, Japan, the Mexican desert, the streets of Los Angeles and New Orleans during Mardi Gras, there's a sense of authenticity that you'd typically only find in an anthology featuring several authors from different walks of life. Ochse's work has received high praise from genre stalwarts like Joe Lansdale, Ed Lee, Brian Keene and the late Richard Laymon, and Ochse himself cites Cormac McCarthy as an influence. In fact, Ochse's short stories channel McCarthy's enviable skill at painting pictures and setting scenes with mere human language.

“Tarzan Doesn't Live Here Anymore,” Fandango's opening story; “High Desert Come to Jesus,” about a man involuntarily seeking penance from his victims; “Hiroshma Falling,” about a melted man's struggle to find his family in the aftermath of America's nuclear strike on Japan and “City of Joy,” a heart-wrenching science-fiction story, are personal favorites and are all worth the cover price individually, but only comprise a quarter of the book's material. Even the one story that missed the mark in this humble reviewer's opinion, “The Crossing of Aldo Rey,” was unique and tense and didn't quite resonate simply because it was written from a perspective that is sometimes hard to digest. The short notes from Ochse at the end of each story, detailing their origins and inspirations, are a welcome addition and all part of the Multiplex Fandango experience.

Multiplex Fandango is available for pre-order now through Dark Regions Press.

Reviewed by by Lincoln Crisler

Lincoln Crisler's debut novella, WILD, is due in March from Damnation Books. He has also authored a pair of short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

Waiting Out Winter

by Kelli Owen
Published by Thunderstorm Books; 1ST edition (2011)

WAITING OUT WINTER, a small, slender volume from Thunderstorm Books' Elemental chapbook series is Kelli Owen's newest release. It packs a huge punch that belies its size, however, and is more deserving of your time than some books three times its size and two-thirds the price.

Nick and his hunting buddies come home from a couple weeks in the woods to find themselves immediately neck-deep in an apocalyptic situation created by the local government's inept and little-too-late response to a pest problem. The result is a town, and possibly greater surrounding area, under siege from a most-unexpected front.

WINTER's length makes it difficult to discuss in-depth without giving too much away, but two things definitely worthy of mention are Owen's skill at toying with reader expectations and the unyielding tension throughout the story from the first sentence to the very last. This one's a limited edition (I believe the hardcover is already sold-out), so don't wait.

Buy it here.

Review by Lincoln Crisler

Lincoln Crisler's debut novella, WILD, is due in March from Damnation Books. He has also authored a pair of short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

Zombie Pulp

by Tim Curran
Published by Severed Press

Tim Curran's Zombie Pulp is comprised of nine short stories and two novellas, all of which deal with the undead. Two of the short stories, “Shelter” and “The Mattawan Meat Wagon,” appear to be set in the same world, one inhabited by 'Wormboys,' a form of zombie capable of organization and logical thought. The others cover a prison's bizarre method of body disposal, a woman's not-so-joyful reunion with her dearly-departed daughter, a similar reunion between a man and his mother, the grisly result of a botched underworld murder, a vacationing couple's run-in with an even hungrier-than-usual school of piranha, a law-enforcement raid on the strangest cult ever and a world overrun by zombie primates.

The two novellas, “They Walk by Night” and “Morbid Anatomy,” stand head and shoulders above the rest of the collection. The former is a pulp-noir detective story pitting your typical tough-as-nails private dick against a group of criminals accused of digging up and resurrecting the dead to further their nefarious schemes. The latter is connected somehow to a Lovecraft story called Herbert West: Reanimator that I'm sorry to say I've never read, and mixes horrific zombies, grisly scientific experiments and the real-life horrors of World War I.

Zombie Pulp is an excellent showcase of Curran's range; he writes housewives, every day people, police and soldiers (both modern and historical), in an equally convincing manner. “They Walk by Night” in particular demonstrates his talent for creating the mood and gets Curran high marks for use of vernacular and the two 'Wormboy' tales, for lack of a better descriptor, hint at a world and backstory that could easily be expanded into a longer body of work, perhaps even a series.

Buy it here.

Reviewed by Lincoln Crisler

Lincoln Crisler's debut novella, WILD, is due in March from Damnation Books. He has also authored a pair of short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

Zombie Zoology: Zombie Anthology

Publsihed by Severed Press

Zombie Zoology, released last May from Severed Press, features twelve stories about dead animals coming back from the grave. The stories take place in varied locals like roach-infested buildings, farms and outer space, and the animals are brought back to life by magic, extraterrestrial pathogens, experiments gone wrong and unexplainable circumstances.

The anthology stands apart from others in the zombie subgenre not on the strength of any particular stories in the book (they're all good!) but because of the uniqueness of the material covered. There are whole publishing imprints dedicated to nothing but zombie fiction, but hardly any of it deals with zombie animals. Zombie Zoology, by and large, skirts the topic of undead people in the majority of its stories, focusing primarily on animal outbreaks both small- and large-scale.

The only thing that might irk some zombie purists is the tendency of these zombie beasts to break one of the tried and true rules: in several of these stories, damage to the brains did nothing to stop them. In one particular story, a zombie goat sustained multiple skull fractures and still came back for more. But then, zombie animals are largely uncharted territory, so it isn't a major issue. Zombie Zoology should definitely earn Severed Press some new fans and offer a breath of fresh air to any zombie fan.

Review by Lincoln Crisler

Buy it here.

Lincoln Crisler's debut novella, WILD, is due in March from Damnation Books. He has also authored a pair of short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

POPULATION ZERO

by Wrath James White
Published by Deadlite Press

Population Zero was originally released as a limited-edition novella through Cargo Cult Press in 2008. Deadite Press re-issued the book as a paperback and digital release in December 2010. The main character, a Welfare claims analyst named Todd, was taught as a child that animals need to be sterilized, sometimes even euthanized, in order to keep their populations down. When Todd, as an adult who sees the dregs of society waltz into his cubicle all day in search of a free handout, takes this ideology to its most extreme, hard decisions and bloody meat become the order of the day.

Population Zero is stylistically more similar to White’s 2008 Leisure release, Succulent Prey (also originally released as a limited-edition book, in 2005), than to his most recent novel, 2010’s The Resurrectionist. Todd is written almost as a prototype of Joseph Miles, the protagonist from Prey (though Prey does predate Zero by at least three years); according to the author, both are meant to be sympathetic characters capable of the most heinous crimes. Like Joseph, Todd fits this bill perfectly. It’s hard to disagree with a guy who feels indisposed to giving drug addicts more money for drugs and human baby factories a reward for producing children they can’t raise. Also like Succulent Prey, Population Zero features an insane amount of stomach-turning graphic nastiness, and a rougher writing style than White’s more recent, and more refined, work.

Overall, Zero is a fast-paced read that gets more brutal with each turn of the page and comes to the sort of jarring, satisfying ending one might expect from White’s work by now, with a mixture of the graphic horror and thinking-man’s concerns that are hallmarks of his writing.

Buy it here.

Reviewed by Lincoln Crisler

Lincoln Crisler's debut novella, WILD, is due in March from Damnation Books. He has also authored a pair of short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

Elements of the Apocalypse

by D.L. Snell, John Sunseri and R. Thomas Riley
Publisher Permuted Press

Permuted Press’ 2010 anthology, Elements of the Apocalypse, tackles the publisher’s bread and butter subject matter—the end of the world—as caused by the four traditional elements: Fire, Air, Earth and Water. Instead of the ever popular zombie apocalypse, we’re treated to spontaneous human combustion, transformation of Earth’s atmosphere and terrain by hostile aliens, a revolt against humanity by animals and the Earth itself, and finally the inexplicable dehydration of…everything.

D.L. Snell’s “Remains” waste no time with combustion as a bus driver bursts into flames for no apparent reason. From there, the rest of the story details a descent into hopelessness and insanity of an ever-lessening group of survivors. The main characters, Dylan, Friday and Shadow are detailed and three-dimensional. Snell does a great job of conveying their paranoia, despair, fear and, in the case of one character, madness.

In John Sunseri’s “Silence in Heaven,” thousands of people have spent the last three decades living below the Earth’s surface in a series of bunkers after the planet’s biosphere and atmosphere are rendered toxic by invading aliens. The aliens are monstrous flesh- and oxygen-eating creatures with great machines converting the atmosphere. The community’s chief of security, Bess, leads a small group in their attempt to interface their scientists’ new technology with the aliens’ machines in order to reverse the damage done to the air. The sense of urgency and sacrifices for the mission move the story forward in a rapid and convincing manner, and it ends on a note that some might find predictable, but fitting nonetheless.

R. Thomas Riley’s “Phrenetic” begins with a confusing barrage of multiple viewpoints that is somewhat headache-inducing but also oddly appropriate for a world that suddenly finds itself at war with everything from zoo animals to house pets. Riley takes time to touch on some examples of humanity’s moral decline in the face of disaster before unveiling the sinister force behind the animals’ strange behavior. The idea behind this piece; humanity is harming Earth and that the planet itself may someday take action against us, isn’t unique to Riley, but the journey is half the fun, after all.

The collection couldn’t end on a better, and more despair-inducing, note than “With a Face of Golden Pleasure” by Ryan C. Thomas. The story takes place over a nine-day period of time, beginning with what seems to be a minor annoyance at first (who the hell puts back a half-drunk beer?) and progressing to all-out murder as the members of a beach community slowly come to a realization that all the water—in their cars’ radiators, in the juice they buy at the store, in the ocean—is slowly disappearing without a trace. This is easily the hardest-hitting story in the book: nothing on Earth can survive without water. Period.

Overall, there’s not a bad story in the bunch, and this book will be a great read for anyone who loves a good disaster story but could use a break from zombies.

Buy it here.

Reviewed by Lincoln Crisler

Lincoln Crisler's debut novella, WILD, is due in March from Damnation Books. He has also authored a pair of short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

Horror Library Vol. 4

by Bentley Little
Publisher Cutting Block Press (October 2010)

If Horror Library anthologies aren't already one of the standards by which modern horror collections are measured, it can't be much longer now, judging by 2010's Volume Four. The series, comprising the work of relatively unknown authors at its inception, has increased in both momentum and star-power with each new addition. Any collection is bound to contain some below-average work; you'd have an easier time finding Bigfoot than a perfect horror antho. However, Horror Library Volume Four has a higher-than-average amount of excellent work and even the subpar status granted some of these stories is a matter for debate rather than a cold, hard, statement of fact.

Standouts from this collection include the introductory “A Very Important Message for Those Planning to Travel to Costa Rica.” Unique in terms of its basis in real-world events and in its second-person narrative, “Costa Rica” is in keeping with the traditional opening pieces for these collections. “Into the After,” Kurt Dinan's story of a boy and his father seeking the help of a spiritualist in offloading excess baggage from September Eleventh, was a quick, surprising blow to the solar plexus. Bentley Little's “Jammers,” about a potential source of traffic jams, is based entirely in nonsense and comes with no suspension of disbelief whatsoever, but is fun all the same. “What Was Once Man,” by Michele Lee, is a nice little Easter egg for fans of her zombie novella, Rot. “The Healing Hands of Reverend Wainright,” Geoffrey Mudge's tale of a sinister traveling evangelist and his carnival-esque band of helpers, hints at a backstory that would make an excellent novel.

Less remarkable is Harrison Howe's “Driving Deep Into the Night,” about a dead prostitute and her many mourning suitors, told in a jumbled style that sacrifices easy reading on the altar of surrealism. “Sleepless Eyes” by Tim Waggoner would serve admirably as a lesson in how to properly gross someone the Hell out but is not a story at all, merely a study in scene-setting. “Continuity” by Lorne Dixon isn't necessarily a bad story, but sticks out like a sore thumb given that the author has another story in the collection. This is the first time two stories by the same author were included in one of these collections, and “Continuity” just isn't good enough to warrant such special treatment (though I do give Dixon credit for his demonstration of range), especially when “Ash Wednesday,” Dixon's other story, is so much more fun.

Overall, Horror Library Volume Four is another excellent feather in RJ Cavender and Boyd Harris' hats, and in those of the contributing authors, who can no doubt expect to see an award nomination or two come out of this book.

Buy it here.

Reviewed by Lincoln Crisler

Disclosure: This reviewer has been involved with the Horror Library since 2006, has served as a Contributing Writer for its late website and is proud to call many affiliated with the Horror Library his friends. This association did not affect this review in any way, any more than it has kept this reviewer's work from being rejected for at least two of the Horror Library anthologies. We're all professionals here.

Lincoln Crisler's debut novella, WILD, is due in March from Damnation Books. He has also authored a pair of short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

FULL DARK, NO STARS

by Stephen King

Pre-release anticipation of King’s latest book, a collection of four novellas, included comparison to similar groupings of his long fiction, Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight. Long-time King fans can’t be faulted for their hopefulness, either. Not only does King nail the novella more often than not, but of the eight stories in the aforementioned books, five were made into movies or television miniseries; some of the better adaptations of his work, depending on whom you ask.

Full Dark, No Stars comes out of the gate strong with ‘1922.’ It is about a farmer who confesses to the murder of his wife in that titular year. There’s more than a touch of the supernatural in the story, but it doesn’t overpower the simple and reality-based ways in which the men’s lives fall apart in the years following their crime. It’s an altogether satisfying tale in the classic King style. ‘Big Driver,’ the second story, is about a mystery writer who does a bit of sleuthing (and leaves behind quite a mystery herself) after being raped and left for dead on the way home from a public appearance. Like ‘1922,’ ‘Big Driver’ could readily be adapted for television, though the latter might be more comfortable on Lifetime.

'Fair Extension’ is the shortest and easily most-disposable story in the book. Calling it a story is a technicality even, since it’s really only a description of the bad things that happens to one man’s family after another throws him under the bus in a deal with the Devil. The collection finishes with ‘A Good Marriage,’ about a woman who discovers that her husband has spent the last thirty years of their marriage as a particularly vicious serial killer. The ending was fairly predictable (there’s only so many credible ways for a story like this to end) but half the fun is getting there, as they say, and this one was true to pattern. It probably wouldn’t make a good movie, as it’s comprised heavily of internal dialogue, but it’s a good read that, in concert with the first two stories, makes up for the third.

Overall, Full Dark, No Stars should satisfy most King fans. The writing style is vintage King, asymmetrical to either his novel Under the Dome or his short fiction Just After Sunset, reminding us why he is the Master.

Buy it here.

Reviewed by Lincoln Crisler.

Lincoln Crisler is a United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer and the author of two collections of dark stories, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). He lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.