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.

Revenant (Rock Bottom), by Allan Leverone

An artifact, closely guarded by the Navajo mystics for ages is stolen by an unscrupulous psychopath, Max, who is prepared to use it to create a zombie, Earl Manning, to do his bidding, and as long as Max has the stone, and Earl’s heart right next to it, he will control the Earl.  But due to some messy unforeseen circumstances, the box with heart and stone winds up in Earl’s hands.  He is suddenly the master of his undead destiny, and havoc ensues.

This second book in his series of Paskagankee novels, Allan Leverone’s  Revenant, is a page turner, and could almost be considered an homage to Stephen King, so closely does Leverone’s writing style mimic the master’s.  The book even takes place in Maine—not Derry, though; but in a town called Paskagankee.

My favorite character was actually Earl Manning, the revenant.  I found it fascinating that he was pretty much a brain-dead zombie to begin with, what with an alcohol-pickled brain at the age of 29.  Becoming a zombie wasn’t much of a transition for him—this was probably why he handled it so well.  You’ll want to read this book just for this character alone—he was the best developed and the most interesting.  Instead of the zombies running wild and the focus narrowly placed on the humans who are either chasing them or running away from them; it evolves into the Earl’s, story.  A nice switch.

Leverone handles suspense well, and though initially I was disappointed about the overused cliché of yet another zombie novel, I was pleasantly surprised about the original and deft way the concept was handled.

Though I enjoyed the book from start to finish and was sorry when it ended, there were a few weaknesses that I must mention.  I felt that the protagonists, Chief Mike McMahon and Constable Sharon Dupont suffered from lack of character development, and consequently came off as a bit two-dimensional. I didn’t care as much about them as I should have, and this caused the ending to fall a tad flat for me.

I also could have done without the frequent callbacks to the first volume of this series, Paskagankee.  They were slightly jarring and completely unnecessary.  This book was more than able to stand alone and should have been allowed to.

That being said, you’ll want to buy this—it’s a fun ride.

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.

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.

   

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.

Castaways, (Leisure Fiction) by Brian Keene

Keene's homage to late friend and mentor Richard Layman moves at a blistering pace. A visceral, fast-paced narrative makes this an engrossing read, the type of novel that demands to be finished in a day or two. No moments or characters shine in particular, but it's an entertaining tale; suspenseful, full of gut-wrenching action: everything readers have come to expect from a Brian Keene novel.

They're cliché personified: the girl next door, the foul-mouthed mechanic with hidden substance, the determined mother, the alluring temptress, the uncouth redneck, the aloof “weird guy”, the nice guy hiding his inner geek, and the cold-hearted strategist willing to sacrifice anyone for his goals. They're among the cast of the popular reality television series Castaways, and on a deserted, remote tropical island they've gathered to compete for fame, glory, and most importantly: millions of dollars.

At first, it seems the average reality television show, full of physical challenges, shifting alliances, plots, blooming romance, simmering lust and sharp betrayal. Things change with reports of an impending tropical storm. Most of the crew is recalled from the island, but the cast, two cameramen and a producer are left behind to weather the storm's fury, because of course: the show must go on. What could spike the ratings better than the drama of a tropical storm?

However, this island isn't deserted...not at all. Something moves in the dark shadows, creatures that live deep in the island's caves. They're a dwindling race, slightly malnourished, whose stock has fallen to frequent birth defects. They are, however hungry...and not just for food, either. As the last crew member leaves for the safety of the ship anchored off-shore, the tropical rains moves in, and the real storm begins – one that will wash the beach red with blood before it ends.

Keene's versatility is already well proven, and “Castaways” shows what everyone already knows: that he's a storyteller at heart who wants to thrill and entertain. Perhaps most enjoyable is the ending, because it offers simple and reaffirming resolution for the reader, a rare and pleasurable treat.

Visit www.briankeene.com and www.myspace.com/brian_keene. Buy it today.