The Lamplighters (Samhain), by Frazer Lee

What would you say if, in your hour of greatest need, you were offered a twelve-month job on the secluded tropical island of Meditrine, where your only duties would be to turn lights on and off,  run the appliances, cook, clean, and run the water in a posh mansion to make it looks as if someone were home?  Would you take it?  Would you be a Lamplighter?

Marla Neuborn, her life a complete mess and epic failure, jumped at it, and discovered, once on the island, that there was a downside, too.  For instance, the weird rules:  no smoking, no alcohol, no drugs, no swimming in the ocean, no books, no television, no lying on the beach, no phones or computers, either.  Oh, and she has no idea where the island she’s on is located.  Complete isolation.  Not only that, but the security on the island is run by a draconian paramilitary group and she’s seen a frightening figure on the property at night.  And just who are the owners of all these mansions?  And why are so many animals dying all over the island?  And if no one knows where the island is, that would preclude any random burglaries that the Lamplighters are supposed to be heading off; so what’s with the tight security?

It’s “Gilligan’s Island” meets the Gestapo meets Freddy Kruger.  And wait until you get a load of the Skin Mechanic.  Nightmare city, I promise you.

The Lamplighters is a wonderful first novel by Frazer Lee.  He handles the difficult and subtle building and maintaining of suspense like a pro.  From the day of her arrival, Marla’s intuition begins to tingle about something off about the island, and things slowly, but deliciously, go to hell from there.  She meets a couple of other Lamplighters, as well as Vincent, a most memorable lighthouse keeper; but this is really Marla’s story.  Her growth and transformation as the book spins out is most gratifying.  She begins as a weak-willed substance abuser and ends in a place of strength—always the sign of a well-told story.  I didn’t like Marla initially, but Lee managed to change my mind about her in a deft and nearly seamless way—difficult to do once an opinion about a character is formed.  Again, this addresses Lee’s formidable writing skills.

Lee so well orchestrates the progression to the climax that the end of the book will have you reeling.  In some ways, it seems to come out of nowhere; however, when you look back at the quiet clues sprinkled throughout, you’ll realize that it was the only ending that would make sense, and it was right in front of you all along.  All the loose ends are tied up in a bright, bloody package.

Frazer Lee is an author to watch.  His is a remarkable first novel, and I urge you to pick this one up.  I, for one, can’t wait for his second.

Buy it here.

Reviewed by Carson Buckingham

Carson Buckingham is a writer living in the great American Southwest and she reviews horror/paranormal suspense novels. Stop by to view her scriblins.

Every House is Haunted (Chizine), by Ian Rogers

Every House is Haunted  by Ian Rogers is nothing less than a brilliant short story collection, exploring the area between the world we know and the supernatural—and how deceptively close the two are.  It’s been a long time since this reviewer has read anything remotely comparable; and that which was had sprung from the pens of Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, and Richard Matheson--with a little Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft thrown in for good measure.

The book’s organization is interesting, too.  The reader is taken, via the stories, on a trip through a house.  One begins in the Vestibule (including creepy photographs by Samantha Beiko), then on to the Library, the Attic, the Den, and finally, the Cellar—the usual locations for odd happenings in a haunted house.

Every single story in this 300-page volume is a stand-out—so much so that it is impossible to choose a favorite.  Or even several favorites. They all strongly remain with the reader days after turning the final page.

Rogers writes with all his senses, and his characters are deftly developed with an economy of language that is rare these days.  One feels as if one knew every single one of them. This reader smelled, tasted, touched, saw and heard every nuance…every subtlety.  Amazing.

There are also no weaknesses apparent to point out in this work.  It’s the strongest collection of short stories this reviewer has ever read—and though usually not one given to hyperbole, an exception must be made in this case.

Here is a little taste of the literary banquet you will indulge in should you read this masterful work:

"THE NANNY":  A kindly woman who does so much more for the children than any nanny every thought of.

"ACES":  Death and misfortune seem to following the wake of Soelle—a girl with a penchant for tarot cards and puzzles.

"CABIN D":  A lonely self-sacrificing man deals with an unorthodox killer.

"WINTER HAMMOCK": A tale H.P. Lovecraft would have been proud to call his own.

"THE DARK AND THE YOUNG": When experimentation with an ancient book spirals out of control.

I am so brief with these descriptions because I don’t want to spoil this for anyone.
I urge you to buy Every House is Haunted.  Read this book.  Buy one for yourself and one to give as a Christmas gift to your favorite horror fan.
You’ll thank me.

Get it here.

reviewed by Carson Buckingham

Carson Buckingham is a writer living in the great American Southwest and she reviews horror/paranormal suspense novels. Stop by to view her scriblins.

Welcome To Moon Hill (Moon Hill) by Anthony J. Rapino

Welcome To Moon Hill is an intriguing collection of short fiction based in the mythic town of Moon Hill. The alluring stories that comprise the collection are unique as the town itself: dark, suspenseful, and most of all, enticing. The author gives us well-written, tightly-woven stories that touch upon myriads of emotions. Stand outs are:

“From Your Body They Rise”, is a surreal and haunting tale of curiosity and the wonderment of discovery. Alan discovers a peculiar “plant” that would make him a legend in science, and re-define physics. As the journey grows, so do the stakes. With a suspense that is palpable, the author weaves the reader into the tale white-knuckled, with effortless grace and ease. 

 

“Hair of The Dog”, Poor, John. Some guys just can’t get a break. He gets the courage up to ask the girl at the local coffee shop out, and she rejects him. A bit worse, actually. She simply states that he is “dark and depressing.” He walks out and goes in search of another java-joint. However, his options may be limited. This one is short, sweet and best of all, hilarious. 

 

“And The Drums Went Thump Thump Thump”, is a somber, heart-felt tale of the struggles single parents face. John is trying his best with his teenage, death-metal loving daughter, Ashley. John decides to open a door into her world, her life. Perhaps with some renewed insight, he can understand her gruff exterior. A pair of street thugs would like to do the same as well. Can John put the bottle down and finally stand up?

“Struck By Golden Lightning”, Ewan has the mind of a child. Despite some of his neighbors understanding this, others are more reluctant to have their children play with him. This touching, fantastical tale explores family, friends—tolerance vs. intolerance—and the belief that anything is possible. Soon, perhaps, everyone will see just how special Ewan actually is. 

 

There are a lot of books and collections that have a foreboding town, or dwelling where bad things happen. It is a tradition and staple in horror that we all love. However, Welcome to Moon Hill shines with tales that horrify, yet hook our imaginations in a unique way as well. We find ourselves standing in synch with these characters that are on the brink of new worlds and answers, or oblivion and its sweet embrace. But for the life of us, our curiosity always gets the best of us…no matter the outcome. 

buy it here.

 

To learn more about the author, please visit his website.

Reviewed by Ben Eads

 

Ben Eads is a dark fiction author of short stories and longer fiction. His work tends to represent modern horror coupled with what he likes to call: “Imagination-tickling elements”. Ben is also a huge fan of dark fiction and dark movies. At the age of ten he wrote his first story. Taking writing seriously in early 2008, Ben Eads has published numerous short dark fiction stories in various magazines, anthologies, and E-Zines.

You can find him here.

Rasputin's Bastards (Chizine), by David Nickle

Rasputin's Bastards by David Nickle is first and foremost a spy novel; and reader take note, this is a book that expects its reader to be a clever as the spies whom the story revolves around.

David Nickle describes an intricate plot with a baker's dozen of multifaceted characters, and it's a challenge to keep up with each individual and their separate motivations – in some cases, the characters themselves are not self-aware enough to understand their circumstances, and circumstances are subject to change. The reader must contend with the real world and juggle complicated metaphysical ideas involved behind the “sleeper” agents who, to reduce the idea to its basic concept, are “possessing” the bodies of other characters to carry out their goals. Add to the mix a gathering of psychic children and a telepathic infant and the complexity of Rasputin's Bastards multiplies.

The writing is good but this isn't a place for the beach-read pulp fiction crowd, and having an understanding of past spy novels (The Marathon Man by William Goldman comes to mind) is essential to appreciate what David Nickle is building, and the style he chooses to do it in.

A reader will either love it or hate it; one must keep note of the characters and their subplots while tracking the greater plot unfolding and it's not an easy job to jack-hop from one character's psychological state to another. Nickle gives nothing away to the reader for free, which lends the benefit of surprise when characters end up in unexpected places and are revealed to be different people than they started out as.

All in all, this is a read more suited to specific audience who has an interest in the genre of spy thrillers, with a dash of the supernatural.

buy it directly from Chizine.

Reviewed by Martin Rose.

Look for Martin Rose's work in the anthologies Fear of the Dark from Horror Bound publications and Art From Art from Modernist Press. More details are available here.

Zippered Flesh (Smart Rhino), edited by Weldon Burge

Zippered Flesh is an anthology of twenty tales of body enhancements gone wrong—and not “gone wrong” like Joan Rivers or Sly Stallone—we’re talking a birthday party in the cemetery degree of “gone wrong.”

The real standouts of the collection were the following:

"Comfort" by Charles Colyott – We are endlessly both fascinated and repulsed by morbid obesity, and this story is one of the best in the book. Deftly written, we find a son trying to care for his huge mother on his own and will not hear of putting her into a home—shades of Gilbert Grape. This jeopardizes both his marriage and his job, but a mama’s boy is a mama’s boy. The ending packs a punch that you’ll be thinking about hours later.

"The Shaping" by Scott Nicholson – My favorite of the entire collection, this story gives teeth to the idea that great artists and writers pour their blood, sweat and tears into their work in order to be creatively effective. This story is a little bit Logan’s Run,” a little bit “X-Factor” and a whole lot of shock at the way competition within the arts is addressed. If you’re a creative individual, you’ll understand; but even if you’re not, you’ll enjoy the insight.

"Something Borrowed" by J. Gregory Smith – A story of abduction, surgery and a conscience grown just a little too late.

"Sex Object" by Graham Masterton – This would have been a better story to open the anthology with, as horrifying as it is. It’s about a trophy wife taking steps to ensure that her easily bored husband will not throw her over for a newer model. You’ll have nightmares about this one, but little sympathy for any of the characters.

"Locks of Loathe" by Jezzy Wolfe – In opting for an illegal correction of lifelong alopecia, a woman learns that there are some scary consequences to taking things that do not belong to you. Wonderful story.

"Hearing Mildred" by Weldon Burge – I enjoyed this story because it’s the only one in the anthology with a dark sense of humor. An aging gentleman has recently lost his wife. He has small desires as to how to spend the balance of it—all he wants to do is watch television, and now he can do it without having to deal with an endless “Honey Do” list. But when his hearing aids start acting up, he discovers that silence really is golden and hearing is not all it’s cracked up to be.

That’s it. Only six standouts—in an anthology of twenty. There were other tales that were enjoyable to read but didn’t stay with me after I’d read them, and a few that the anthology could have done without entirely.

That being said, this is a first book release from this new press, Smart Rhino and there will inevitably be growing pains, which will include missed typos, commas, and that sort of thing. This is forgivable as long as it is not rampant—and it’s not.

What I have a harder time with is writers who are lazy about fact checking. One notable example in one of the stories is a pirate, at sea, referring to lines as “ropes.” “Rope” is a landlubber term. This may seem like a small thing, but to the many readers who have spent time on the ocean, it is a glaring error. 

buy it here.

reviewed by Carson Buckingham

Carson Buckingham is a writer living in the great American Southwest and she reviews horror/paranormal suspense novels. Stop by to view her scriblins.

   

BLACKOUT (Orbit ) by Mira Grant

***BLACKOUT is the third book in a trilogy that builds heavily upon itself. Because of that, there is no way that I can talk about this work without spoiling several key events of the previous books. It isn’t designed in a way that you would enjoy it without reading both of those first anyways, so start there. We’ve got reviews of both FEED and DEADLINE to check out in the meantime.***

Here it is people, the one you’ve been waiting for. Our oldest got us all excited, the middle kid left us agitated and confused and this one is supposed to wrap it all up. This is the point where Newsflesh will either be remembered as a great trilogy in a sea of limp, processed zombie crap or it will just leave us all pissed off for getting us so worked up. Does it satisfy?

Yes. Go buy it if you don’t already have a half-devoured copy on your bookshelf.

You want details before you blindly follow my orders? Fine. The conspiracy that overran the Ryman presidential campaign, leveled Oakland and left the team at After the End Times with too many corpses in their wake has only gotten broader. The heads of AtET are all hunted fugitives hiding out with a mad scientist. Florida has been lost completely, due to a surprise insect vector of Kellis-Amberlee, just in time to distract from the raid on the CDC. People with reservoir conditions are being killed off because they carry a possible immunity to the disease. And they’ve brought Georgia back as a clone?

That last bit had me worried, since it smacked of a cheap way to bring back a beloved character, but her resurrection is integral to the larger issue of criminal misuse of science for the purpose of maintaining control. Sure, we do get a nice comfy feeling having good old George back but we also know enough not to trust it in the hands of an author who has made it perfectly clear that she won’t treat us with kid gloves. Her presence, and the reason for it, alters the path of events in integral and powerful ways that certainly calmed my initial qualms.

Overall, the dangers compound, hope rises and gets smashed against the ground, the stakes escalate and the conspiracy we’ve been following deepens. Yet, through it all, Mira maintains the sense of regular people unwittingly and unwillingly thrust into desperate times and situations determined to do what’s right, even when they don’t necessarily know what the right thing to do is, or how to do it. They’re not special, just schleps who want the truth to be heard.

And damn do I love those schleps. I can’t gush enough over how comforting it was to settle back into this crew of crazy people. Shaun’s headlong rush for vengeance and crazy discussions with the dead sister living in his head. Becks’ anger and pure sincerity. Mahir’s dry and incredibly British sense of humor. Maggie’s energy. Aleric being an asshole. They feel like friends I never got to meet in person and I still enjoyed getting a chance to sit in their heads while the world crumbled around them.

Now, those expecting a denouement to the grand, global issues revolving around the Masons and their fellow newsies may find themselves a bit disappointed. Changes and resolutions are moved toward, but we don’t get to see the long term effect of them, so we don’t know how it truly works out. However, in my mind at least, this was never a story about those issues so much as how these people dealt with them. In that, we do reach a very satisfying conclusion that wrapped up their stories quite well. However, I am biting my tongue about a certain revelation that I didn’t think was necessary, except to give a romantic edge to the story that wasn’t really needed and made it a bit creepy.

All in all, this is a great last third to the Newsflesh story that manages to keep the focus clearly on the characters while still revealing incredible and frightening things about both their world and ours.

 Visit Mira Grant's Website and buy the book.

Reviewed by Anton Cancre

Anton Cancre is one of those rotting, pus-filled thingies on the underside of humanity that your mother always warned you about. He has oozed symbolic word-farms onto the pages of Shroud, Sex and Murder and Horrorbound magazines as well as The Terror at Miskatonic Falls, an upcoming poetry anthology by Shroud Publishing and continues to vomit his oh-so-astute literary opinions, random thoughts and nonsense at antoncancre.blogspot.com. No, he won't babysit you pet shoggoth this weekend. Stop asking.

The Last Kind Words (Bantam), by Tom Piccirilli

“The last kind words ever spoken to Jesus were spoken by a thief.”

Normally, I'd start off with some kind of hook, a generalized statement that ties into my feelings about the book being reviewed. Summary. A well reasoned list of pro's and con's. Professional and clean, if a bit self-conscious at times.

That's not what you're getting today, because this isn't that kind of book.

The back flap breakdown would have you believe that this is a story of a man forced to return home to a broken family of crooks and thieves. Faced with the brutality of his brother's murder spree, he's been asked to find the killer of the one person his brother didn't kill. A murder mystery wrapped in the barbs of crime fiction curled in the velvet black drapes of noir.

But that is also not what you are getting today, because it isn't that type of book.

It's not really about any of those things, at least not to me. To me, this is a tale of the sicknesses and sins floating in blood, embedded in flesh. It's about a man's struggle to find out if he is bound to the same fate as his family, if genetics, like anatomy, is truly destiny. The murderous brother who went mad dog one night and killed an old woman, a family of five (their little daughter included). The history of graft and theft running generations deep. The dementia whose roots have all but mushed the brains of the family's eldest and have begun to worm their way into the younger ones as well. These things that our dear, humble narrator wants so desperately to believe he can extricate himself from but fears with just as much certainty that he cannot escape.

It says so much about the effect of Piccirilli's writing on me that I cannot remove myself from it, that I can only speak of it in terms of myself. That's why I, quite frankly, ride his nuts as if they are my favorite stallion. His writing is always so intensely personal, that it becomes personal to me. Here is this man whom I have never met, who knows nothing about me, yet whose words seem to understand the deepest fears and hopes bursting inside of me.

Its a bit scary, really.

I'll just end with saying that The Last Kind Words resonates against my own experiences in ways I don't care to share with strangers, but it's there all the same. There will be those of you put off by the first person narration and the somewhat overwrought and bruise-purple prose but my own experience was sublime in the truest, most Longinus(ian?) sense of the word.

Pic's blog is marvelous and you can buy the book here.

 

Reviewed by Anton Cancre

Anton Cancre is one of those rotting, pus-filled thingies on the underside of humanity that your mother always warned you about. He has oozed symbolic word-farms onto the pages of Shroud, Sex and Murder and Horrorbound magazines as well as The Terror at Miskatonic Falls, an upcoming poetry anthology by Shroud Publishing and continues to vomit his oh-so-astute literary opinions, random thoughts and nonsense at antoncancre.blogspot.com. No, he won't babysit you pet shoggoth this weekend. Stop asking.

THE DREAMT AND DEATHLESS OBSCENE (Vitriol) by Andrew Bonazelli

 The 1970s were marked by their violently stark contrast to the optimism and civil consciousness of the previous decade. Crime was on the rise, as was poverty. The war in Southeast Asia had already bubbled over into a full-scale disaster. Even the arts, especially film, were grittier and bleaker than the relatively tame 1960s. In The Dreamt and Deathless Obscene, Andrew Bonazelli capitalizes on the atmosphere of the period and increases the stakes, making 1975 the setting of a post-apocalyptic nightmare.

In 1973, an event occurred that changed the face of the earth. This event is not described in any great detail, but essentially separated the world into the three classes: regular folks, the afflicted, and the unsound. The unsound are the most obviously changed. Diseased and depraved slaves to their carnal and violent desires, they roam about attacking anyone and anything in their path. The afflicted apparently have some form of the disease that created the unsound. They live in the quarantined cities under an Orwellian program to ease their “unnatural” appetites and desires. In the meantime, other folks try to pick up the pieces of their lives outside the shattered urban zones and the violent anarchy of the countryside.

The novel follows the lives of Allan, Neil, Rosie, and Sophie, and occasionally Walter, as they try to make sense of their lives in a shattered Philadelphia. Allan and Neil are brothers, sons of Walter, who handle the situation in very different ways. Allan is emotionally stunted and self-absorbed while Neil is choosing the ill-advised path of starting a family with his pregnant fiancée, Rosie. Sophie was Allan’s girlfriend before the affliction began and now lives in the quarantine zone with the other afflicted, where she takes her turn manning the “touchline” phone service used by its citizens to achieve release. Walter generally just falls back to old memories of football from before the end times.

Bonazelli’s writing is crisp and lively and displays a unique voice—though occasionally dances on the line between style and affectation. Further, he truly captures the emotional and physical wasteland that his characters inhabit. Unfortunately, those characters are largely unsympathetic and are not moved in any meaningful way by the plot. Events happen, but the characters—and the plot—simply tread water. Nothing truly changes in their lives. The plot doesn’t really begin to move from exposition to conflict until the final third of the narrative, setting the reader up for an ending that doesn’t really happen. The story simply stops.

The true shame is that the final third of the book introduces some characters and ideas that would have been more interesting to explore than the central characters of the novel. Even gonzo wordsmithery cannot save a novel from a shallow plot. Unfortunately, this novel suffers for it, essentially showcasing a place where uninteresting characters wallow in the bleakness of their landscape.

buy here.

Visit http://andrewbonazelli.blogspot.com/

Reviewed by Shedrick Pittman-Hassett

Shedrick Pittman-Hassett is a full-time librarian and part-time writer trying to do that the other way around. He has written reviews for Library Journal and has also had two articles published in the award-winning Knights of the Dinner Table magazine. Shedrick currently resides in Denton, Texas ("The Home of Happiness") with his lovely wife and the obligatory demon-spawn cats. When not writing, gaming, or watching cheezy kung-fu flicks, he can be found in a pub enjoying a fine brew.