Book Reviews

ATTIC CLOWNS When Peter Straub and Jack Ketchum recommend an author you sit up and take notice. Such is the case with Jeremy Shipp. I’ve been thinking how to communicate his unique brand of fiction, commonly labelled ‘bizarro’. And so I’ve decided to use a drug metaphor. Let’s pretend you’re on your way to the fun-fair and to spice things …

Lords Of Twilight by Greg F. Gifune (DarkFuse) Strange things are happening in the small, isolated town of Edgar, Maine. Mysterious lights dot the night skies. A local farmer is found dead at the summit of a hill with no evidence as to how his body got there. Livestock is disappearing, only to be discovered later, dead and mutilated with …

Synopsis: Set in a dystopian, religiously-demented American Empire, the city of Las Vegas is no longer a city of sin. Now called Necropolis, it is a city that eats sin. The vampires of Necropolis wait patiently for the Empire’s weekly drop off of guilty Penitents; sinners and criminals full of fresh blood. Hank Evans is one of those Penitents and …

THE CURSED MAN by Keith Rommel A vehicle came to an abrupt stop in the northbound lane, halting traffic in that direction. Alister watched the driver, a young woman, exit her vehicle and train her eyes on him. She crossed over the southbound lane without yielding to traffic and stopped before Alister. “You’ve been heard,” she said, and she smiled. …

The Guardian, Revenant and Dominion Darkness is what drives them. I never thought I would be saying that about Angels, the ones in Lia Scott Price’s Serial Killer and Vampire Guardian Angels. The tome which I have read contains three stories: The Guardian, Revenant and Dominion. Lia has done something unique and fresh with her stories. While the vampire phenomenon …

THE PENTACLE PENDANT By: Stephen M DeBock Claire Delaney, a stunning blonde vixen that can best be envisioned as a sort of Charlize Theron type is vacationing in the Caribbean. A tourist approaches her in standard tropical manner and the two volley back and forth witty and whimsical flirts. They agree to meet later for a midnight swim and hopefully …

Verland: The Transformation by B.E. Scully True crime writer Elle Bramasol is drawn into a macabre mystery when incarcerated Hollywood producer Eliot Kingman asks her to write a book about his case. As she delves deeper into Kingman’s murder conviction, she discovers that he possesses a centuries old diary written by an elusive vampire named Verland. Uncovering the transformative secrets …

A blast from the past this week, with this classic Bram Stoker winning horror tome from the late 80s. I read this on the trusty Kindle. I dread to think how thick the print version is. You could probably hollow it out and live in it. Still, if you’re going to write about the end of the world then you …

As I read the synopsis for Rob Smith’s Night Fighters, a mild wave of trepidation began to sink in. A battle between Nazis and vampire fighter pilots? It brought to mind campy B-movies lacking in substance and quality writing. I then began to wonder what I was even worrying about. Vampire stories set during WWII have been done well. Dan …

Mask of Cybele, the new novel by Erik Greenman, published as an e-book for multiple platforms, is the kind of book that gives self-publishing and POD books a bad name. It is tedious, boring, lacks a narrative drive and conflict, and is nothing short of a self-indulgent mess. It is the type of book that traditional publishers would shun, as it lacks …

Merkabah Rider: Tales of a High Plains Drifter (Episodes 1-4) Published By: Damnation Books, LLC Published Date: December 1, 2009 Format: Oversized Paperback, Black /White – 286 pages Price: $21.65 ($5.95 on Kindle) Stop wasting your time reading this review and read Ed Ederlac’s amazing episodic novel Merkabah Rider: Tales of a High Plains Drifter. Do so, and there is …

Blood Society Author: Jeffery Thomas Publisher: Necro Publications Price: $17.99 It’s tempting to start off with a trite rant about how defanged and bloodless vampire stories have become, but Blood Society isn’t really about vampires. I don’t just mean in the sense that we never truly know what protagonist Dragna and his ilk are; the monsters simply are not the …

BEYOND THE BARRIERS Author: Timothy Long Permuted Press And the zombie fiction juggernaut thunders on with another addition to the genre. This time it’s by Timothy Long, and has the potential to be a better book than many of your run-of-the-mill zombie yarns. Once again we’re stuck with the damn first person narrative though, which is getting more annoying as …

Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 6 SYNOPSIS: A companion piece for season 6 of the television show Supernatural that includes an overview of the season, a detailed episode guide for each episode of the season, character and crew profiles, and some other cool stuff related to the show (including a photo gallery and a look at some of the creatures …

The Undead Situation Eloise J. Knapp Permuted Press I don’t know about you, but I’m really getting tired of genre novels written in the first person. Genre novels, for the most part, work best when the story unfolds via an unaffected third person narrative. The first person narrative is great for getting a sense of character across, but not so …