Angel Board, (Samhain Publishing), by Kristopher Rufty

Kristopher Rufty's debut novel, Angel Board, is an interesting twist on the classic possession story; but in this case, instead of demonic possession, the protagonist faces what could almost be considered angelic possession.  A fast-paced thriller that offers some intriguing concepts about the hereafter, Angel Board is another solid rock in the foundation of Samhain's fledgling Horror Line.

David Barker has decided enough is enough.  His dreams have died, his long-time girlfriend has cheated on him, and for him, life holds no more meaning.  The time has come for David to take that "big ride", because he's tired of enduring the only thing this world has to offer: pain and disappointment. 

As he slips off this Earth, however - slain by his own hand - he's stunned by a vision of inconceivable beauty. A white, pure being that fills his soul with love, acceptance, and a desire to live.  This being...she, David is convinced...pulls him back from the brink of sure death, giving him a new lease on life.

And so David's new "relationship" begins.  With the aide of an "angel board" - the divine version of an Ouija Board - he's able to contact his savior. And learns, to his astonishment, that his "guardian angel" was doing more than just her "job".  She saved David because she loves him, and desperately wants to be with him.  Filled with new energy and vigor, David "cleans" up his act, quits drinking and smoking, his angel's love literally making him a new man.

The only problem?

Apparently, God isn't the only jealous divine being.  Because David's angel is jealous.  Maniacally so. And perhaps, falling from grace to be with her human charge, not entirely sane. Which doesn't bode well for anyone who dares step between her and her beloved.  David's miserable boss, his sister, ex-girlfriend, even mother...nothing but obstacles to be removed.  

This guardian angel will not be denied.  She will be with David.  The consequences, ironically, be damned. 

Angel Board's pace is excellent and it's an engaging read. It also offers interesting ruminations on the nature of angels, their servanthood to God, and what happens when one of them chooses to rebel like the Greatest Rebel of All Time.  At times, however, it's a little hard to feel sympathy for David.  Though everyone reacts differently to certain situations, his reasons for committing suicide don't play over well.  Also, there are some arcane explanations and devices introduced by a paranormal investigator late in the novel that fall a little flat.

Rufty executes some clever and intricate plotting near the end, however, taking readers on twists and turns while avoiding the dreaded pitfall of dues ex machina.  That, and the strength of the novel's prose and its pace make it an enjoyable read, boasting a promising future for Kristopher Rufty.

Visit lastkristontheleft.blogspot.com. Buy the ebook or print version today.

Kevin Lucia is a Contributing Editor for Shroud Magazine and a blogger for The Midnight Diner. His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. He's currently finishing his Creative Writing Masters Degree at Binghamton University, he teaches high school English and lives in Castle Creek, New York with his wife and children. He is the author of Hiram Grange & The Chosen One, Book Four of The Hiram Grange Chronicles, and he's currently working on his first novel. Visit him on the web at www.kevinlucia.com.

Westlake Soul (ChiZine Publications) by Rio Youers

If a single word can be used to describe a book, then Westlake Soul can only be described as transcendent.

The titular character is aptly named, because a soul is all that Westlake has left. His body was destroyed in a tragic accident, leaving the former surfing champion and all-around good guy in a permanent vegetative state. Nevertheless, he considers himself a superhero—his intellectual iceberg has flipped, giving him access to that mythic ninety-percent of the mind that the rest of us mere mortals can only glimpse below the churning of our surface thoughts. He’s now super-intelligent, can “release” and travel across the world outside of his body, visit other souls, and communicate with the family dog. Still, he must constantly struggle across the vistas of the mind with his arch-nemesis, Dr. Quietus, to stay alive and persevere.

Youers (Dark Dreams, Pale Horses and Mama Fish) builds this novel on the strength of his prose. He not only paints a picture of Westlake and his vivid mental landscape, but he performs that peculiar magic of the truly gifted writer—he pulls you into the heart of the story and makes you live there for a while. He accomplishes this by letting Westlake tell his own story in the manner in which only he can.

Every word, every delicate phrase, glows and vibrates with Westlake’s sly and optimistically world-weary voice. Witty, compassionate, and full of life, Westlake is the quintessential fighter—always striving for “more”. Though he is a superhero, he’s not perfect and is still human—which is the entire point. As he powerlessly watches the people he cares about ride out the curls of their lives, Westlake learns to absorb the emotional auras of others and incorporate them into psychic building blocks through which he can affect the world around him—essentially relearning how to build a human life. Whether or not Westlake is actually super-intelligent or if all that he describes is merely the ranting of a trapped mind, is unimportant and beside the point. Westlake’s understanding of the human condition ultimately transcends his physical limitations.

This novel transcends genre. Youers’ lyrical prose transcends literary convention. Westlake himself transcends the page and lives in hearts of all who encounter him. Anyone who finishes this book and does not carry a bit of Westlake with them literally has no soul.

Buy it here.

Visit http://rioyouers.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. Visit him at Serial Distractions.

Dark Inspiration, (Samhain Horror), by Russell James

Russell James' debut novel for Samhain Horror, Dark Inspiration, is an entertaining read for those who enjoy classic, cursed-home stories. Offering solid characterization, tight prose and consistent pacing, it's a fine read invoking the classic themes of possession and obsession overtaking the unwitting in their pursuit of personal gain.

Doug and Laura Locke's life has stalled. Though Laura's happy teaching in an inner city school and Doug's carved out a lucrative career writing for the tabloids, neither of them are satisfied with their lives. Laura feels disconnected from Doug, and though Doug has gained a measure of notoriety, dreams of writing that "Great American Novel" have all but faded from the horizon.

After a school shooting that lands Laura in the hospital, they realize the need for change.  With a new sense of togetherness and resolve, they purchase and move to an old horse farm in Tennessee.  Laura lands a long-term substitute position in the local school district almost as soon as they move, and the beautiful farmhouse they've purchased - for a "steal" - works like a tonic on Doug's long atrophied muse.  It's not long before Laura feels right at home in her new classroom, and Doug's pounding away at the keys, writing as he never has before.

But all is not well at the Galaxy Farm.  For this house holds secrets.  Its previous owners died tragic deaths, and no one in town wants to talk about them. Before long, Doug discovers the attic...and all the wondrous "things" it contains.  Laura becomes enthralled with two ghostly visitors - little girls who died in the pound outside the house - and neither Doug nor Laura are aware of the insidious, creeping force working into them, from the house itself.  Even with the help of a local, recently-divorced psychic warned by bloody premonitions of danger, it might be too late for Doug and Laura to escape the malevolent entity that owns Galaxy Farm. 

Dark Inspiration is another solid offering from Samhain Horror.  There's nothing astoundingly new in the story of an evil entity haunting a house, tempting and corrupting a writer as he labors on his first novel, but it's still competently done here, and quite frankly, it's not trying to be anything else other than what it is.  There's a nice, unique angle involving the Egyptian occult, and the story does delve a little deeper than the standard: "person who died bad death haunting old house."  Though the story's resolution feels a little rushed, Dark Inspiration is another solid contender in the Samhain Horror line-up.


Kevin Lucia is a Contributing Editor for Shroud Magazine and a blogger for The Midnight Diner. His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. He's currently finishing his Creative Writing Masters Degree at Binghamton University, he teaches high school English and lives in Castle Creek, New York with his wife and children. He is the author of Hiram Grange & The Chosen One, Book Four of The Hiram Grange Chronicles, and he's currently working on his first novel. Visit him on the web at www.kevinlucia.com.

The Dropper, (Cemetery Dance), by Ron McLarty

Full of substance, tempered by an unflinching realism, The Dropper is an emotionally complex portrait of a confused and determined young man aching for something better, unable to provide it, but still fighting to, anyway.  This is the type of story that defies easy categorization, for all those who love rooting for the underdog, the fighter in all of us.

Albert "Shoe" Horn is an apprentice plumber and part-time boxer in 1922 England.  A seventeen year old young man who's been forced to grow up far too quickly after his mother's death, Shoe is saddled with caring for his alcoholic, often abusive father and special needs brother, Bobby, while trying to make a life for himself as a plumber, and a name for himself as a fighter. 

During the day he lugs his tool box around town, wading through sewage and water, fixing pipes and water closets while his employer is busy down at "the club".  At night he "goes under the lights", carving out a reputation by the cut of his fists.  And somewhere in between he watches after Bobby and romances two different women, one a romantic ideal who dreams of being an actress, the other a woman Shoe could easily marry.  If he could ever make himself stay in one place with one woman for any length of time.

Things are changing for Shoe, though.  One night, under the lights, he deals a head-blow to a friend that turns lethal, and becomes haunted - either supernaturally, or psychologically - by his friend's resulting death.  And Molly has tired of Shoe's indecision, forcing him to make a choice Shoe isn't sure he's capable of.  And, worst of all, is Bobby.  It's become painfully clear that Bobby's needs have grown beyond Shoe's ability to manage, and this seventeen year old is suddenly faced with the very real possibility that he can longer care for his brother. 

And then there's Shoe's worst nightmare: The Dropper. A specter of darkness and rumor, a midwife-turned-child murderer...or so the story goes.   She haunts Shoe's steps, speaking in cryptic half-truths, and Shoe fears even more for his growing inability to care for Bobby...because he fears that Bobby may be The Dropper's next victim.

Haunting and melancholic, with the lightest touch of the supernatural, The Dropper is sure to be one of the year's best novels.  This isn't a "ghost story" or "dark fiction" or anything like that.  This is simply storytelling at its finest, a tale about a young man who never quite figures things out, but never drops his fists, either.

Visit www.ronmclarty.com.  Buy it today.

Kevin Lucia is a Contributing Editor for Shroud Magazine and a blogger for The Midnight Diner. His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. He's currently finishing his Creative Writing Masters Degree at Binghamton University, he teaches high school English and lives in Castle Creek, New York with his wife and children. He is the author of Hiram Grange & The Chosen One, Book Four of The Hiram Grange Chronicles, and he's currently working on his first novel. Visit him on the web at www.kevinlucia.com.

Shoebox Train Wreck, (Chizine Publications), by John Mantooth

John Mantooth's Shoebox Train Wreck is a unique, startling, moving collection of genre-twisting stories that play out in those shadowed places that linger as the sun goes down.  These stories happen in the marginalized, dark nooks and crannies of life that most folks only dare look at out of the corner of their eyes, if at all.  Some of the best stories are:

"A Long Fall Into Nothing", in which an unhealthy, symbiotic relationship spirals down to its only, inevitable conclusion. "The Water Tower", in which two friends embark on a journey and find something more horrible and sadder than the dead "alien" they'd been looking for. 


"Walk the Wheat", a touching - and eerie - story in which brotherhood bonds stretch past the grave.  "This Is Where the Road Ends", a story about a man who can't let go of his guilt...and also can't bring himself to admit it to the one he loves. "Saving Doll", an especially wrenching story about a high school track star trying to free herself from her family's squalid destiny, but to do so, she must face a shocking betrayal, rather than run from it. "The Cecilia Paradox", in which the future may be televised, or apocalyptic, or staged...or all three. "Chicken", a story about a boy pretending to be fearless, and the boy he meets who really does fear nothing. Or, perhaps everything.

The three best stories are "Sucky", "James" and the collection's title story, "Shoebox Train Wreck."  In "Sucky", a boy with special needs discovers that his greatest fear will deliver a kind of mournful, partial salvation. "James" is a wonderfully non-linear story about those individuals - or, maybe, that same individual - we encounter throughout life who never fits in anywhere, and eventually fades away.   And "Shoebox Train Wreck", a story in which a man's grief and sadness holds back more than just his own life.

The best thing about this collection is despite it's shadowed nature...it's not needlessly grim. Often, collections like these boast stories ending in despair and pointlessness, offering no resolution of any kind. That doesn't happen here.  These stories feature broken, confused, wandering souls.  But many of them find a kind of resolution or peace, or, at the very least, discover the hope of such peace.  And that lifts this collection above many others.

Visit jpmantooth.blogspot.com. Buy the ebook or print version today. 

Kevin Lucia is a Contributing Editor for Shroud Magazine and a blogger for The Midnight Diner. His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. He's currently finishing his Creative Writing Masters Degree at Binghamton University, he teaches high school English and lives in Castle Creek, New York with his wife and children. He is the author of Hiram Grange & The Chosen One, Book Four of The Hiram Grange Chronicles, and he's currently working on his first novel. Visit him on the web at www.kevinlucia.com.

At the End of the Road (Berkley Trade ) by Grant Jerkins

It seems like everyone has that one special summer, that point that marks the separation between the carefree days of childhood and the burdens of adulthood. It’s a common experience—which is why it makes such a rich setting for any coming of age story. For Kyle Edwards, that summer will be infused with terror, violence, and the end of all innocence.

It’s 1976 and the Edwards family lives at the end of a long dirt road in rural Georgia. One day, young Kyle is riding his bike down the road when a fast moving car swerves to miss him. Looking back, he sees a bloodied woman emerge from the wreckage and start to make her way towards him, asking for help. Panicked, he rides as fast as he can toward home and says nothing about the accident he caused. When no evidence of the incident is found, Kyle, in the classic manner of children with other things to do, puts the “reticulated woman” out of his head. Meanwhile, as their parents’ marriage quietly falls apart, Kyle forms a bond with his younger sister, Grace, against the bullying of their older siblings and the crueler depredations of another band of teenagers. This bond is soon tested—and manipulated—by Kenny Ahearn, the “paralyzed man” who lives down the road and has a backyard full of secrets, a strange new pet in his attic, and a heart blacker than anything Kyle or Grace have ever imagined.

Jerkins (“A Very Simple Crime”) creates a beautifully suspenseful story filled with dread, cruelty, and—most of all—power. Kenny Ahearn is one of the most unspeakably evil creatures encountered in print in some time. His diabolical ability to control Kyle and draw him into his blood-soaked web is truly inspired—and, above all, chilling. The writing is top-notch; Jerkins’ prose is lyrical, evocative, and layered. The picturesque setting—a long, lonely road through wide, open spaces—serves as the perfect contrast to the stifling, closed-in terror that Ahearn represents. Further, as Kyle is drawn into the Paralyzed Man’s clutches, the boy’s emotional world turns in on itself, which serves to increase the novel’s already high levels of suspense and icy despair.

At the End of the Road is a completely gripping, bone-chillingly disturbing, read. Highly recommended.

Buy it here

Visit http://www.grantjerkins.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. Visit him at Serial Distractions.

The Boy Who Shoots Crows (Berkeley Trade) by Randall Silvis

When speaking of depression, the experience that springs most readily to mind is sadness; a melancholy so profound that its victims are weighed down into a completely inert state. What many do not realize is that depression can also represent a completely debilitative case of self-absorption. The depressed person is engaged in a constant examination of the inner mirrors of their soul and battles their loathing of what those mirrors reveal. And while the person is caught in a looking-glass maze of self-recrimination and doubt, they lose the ability, or even the desire, to interact in a meaningful way with the people with whom they come in contact.

On the surface, Randall Silvis’ “The Boy Who Shoots Crows” involves the disappearance of twelve-year-old Jesse Rankin, a troubled boy living with an alcoholic father and his victimized mother in a small town with few options. He is known to go out to the woods that separate his family’s trailer from the Dunleavy farmhouse and shoot at the crows that gather there --either from boredom or as a release from his tragic, and far-too-ordinary, life. Charlotte has only recently arrived in town, bringing with her the demons birthed from her poisonous marriage and bitter divorce. Questions quickly arise as to Charlotte’s involvement in Jesse’s disappearance and how much she knows of his ultimate fate.

Silvis presents a tried-and-true premise with the promise of an intriguing mystery. Instead, he takes a risk and performs a unique literary balancing act. While he sets the scene for a traditional mystery story--complete with a quaint farm community, a stolid small town sheriff, and charming neighbors--Silvis chooses to allow his protagonist’s descent into despair to serve as the novel’s primary engine, not the mystery investigation. It is a gamble that largely works due to Silvis’ ability to infuse each passage with heavy emotion and to immerse the reader in the inner world of the main character, Charlotte Dunleavy. As Charlotte’s inner turmoil grows, it colors her perception of the world around her and her ability to engage with her neighbors and potential friends. Silvis brilliantly describes the kaleidoscopic point-of-view through Charlotte begins to view her surroundings, taking the reader along for the downhill ride into an inevitable, though satisfying, conclusion. What happened to Jesse is merely the catalyst of the plot. What the novel is actually about is the muddled paths down which our perceptions, distorted by the funhouse mirrors of our introspection, can bring us. 

Buy it here

 

Visit http://randallsilvis.wordpress.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. Visit him at Serial Distractions.