Book Reviews

THE GOLDEN LABYRINTH: THE UNIQUE FILMS OF GUILLERMO DEL TORO (PAPERBACK) by Steve Earles Published by Noir Publishing Publication Date: 2009 Format: color – 192 pages Price: $29.96 If you’ve been paying attention in the past few years you of course have heard the name Guillermo Del Toro becoming a main stay in the film industry. Much like Peter Jackson, …

THE ESTUARY Written by Derek Gunn Published by Permuted Press Publication Date: 2009 Format: B&W – 280 pages Price: $14.95 Dublin, Irelands’ Derek Gunn is best known for his Vampire Apocalypse novels of which the third will be released in October. I myself am more a fan of stumbling biting zombies rather than vampires, so I was very excited to …

THE APOCALYPSE SHIFT Author Derek J. Goodman Published by Library of Horror Press Publication Date: 2009 Format: B&W- 272 pages Price: $15.95 It is exceedingly difficult to blend horror and humor together in a way that appeases fans of both. The genres themselves are starkly different, catering to two completely separate tastes that often don’t mix well together at all. …

SPELLBENT (PAPERBACK) Written by Lucy Snyder Published by Del Rey Publication Date: 2009 Format: Black & White – 97 pages Price: $7.99 I imagined the people below sitting on their front porches, enjoying the evening breeze, sipping sweet lemonade or perhaps frothy cold beer. And then they’d look up to see a woman with a flame arm flying through the …

Sheep and Wolves By Jeremy C. Shipp Published by Raw Dog Screaming Press Cover design by Jennifer Barnes Book design by M. Garrow Bourke 164 Pages How often does a book give you the creeps or the willies? How often do you find yourself at a loss for words after reading story after story? “Sheep And Wolves” takes my words …

THE GREAT ALASKAN ADVENTURE…WITH ZOMBIES Author J. Kevin Burchfield Published by CreateSpace Publication Date: 2010 Format: Black /White – 138 pages Price: $9.95 There are so many books about zombies out there right now that it is nearly impossible to keep up with all of them. Some feature fast zombies that run like track stars. Some have zombies that slowly …

THE HILLS HAVE EYES: THE BEGINNING (PAPERBACK) Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray Art by John Higgins Published by Harper Paperbacks Publication Date: 2007 Format: Color – 112 pages Price: $17.99 Most likely you have seen the films, past and present. With those you have come to know the horrifying details of families who go astray and get stranded …

THE GOLEM Author Edward Lee Published by Leisure Books Publication Date: 2009 Format: color – 323 pages Price: $7.99 As a reader of intense horror fiction I look for the very best that will have that one of a kind impact to gross me out, which is rare to do. If there’s an author out there that’s capable of grossing …

TASTE OF TENDERLOIN Written by Gene O’Neill Published by Apex Publications Publication Date: 2009 Format: Black & White – 144 pages Price: $13.95 “The ‘Loin was without a doubt the armpit of the city. Because of the full moon, he knew that every panhandler, homeless person, hooker, junkie, and crazy would be hyped up and crowding the street…” Anyone that …

Spirits and Death in Niagara By Marcy Italiano Published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd. Niagara Falls and its surrounding area are full of history, dead and tales of ghostly encounters. Knowing the area well before reading “Spirits” I have been well aware of the history but am always interested in what new gems come up or how old stories are remembered. …

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jack Ketchum Published by Leisure Books Publication Date: 2005 Format: Black /White – 370 pages Price: $7.99 “We were juveniles-not criminals but delinquents. So that under the law we were innocent by definition, not to be held accountable for our acts exactly, as though everybody under eighteen were legally insane and unable to tell right …

THE BOMB (TPB) Written by Steve Mannion Artwork by Steve Mannion Published by Asylum Press Publication Date: 2008 Format: B&W with 16 page color – 176 pages Price: $14.95 In full retro style, the creators from Asylum Press bring us a full volume TPB featuring the artwork and clever storytelling of AP frequenter Steve Mannion. Instantly your set in a …

There is no getting around it; Grognard is a difficult novel to read in the extreme. It is a challenge not to dismiss it, put it down and perhaps even throw away. There are racial slurs, homophobic rants, obscene sexual cravings, disgusts and depravities, harsh and cruel social labeling and name-calling and general nihilistic inhumanity on a wholesale scale. But there are also moments of love and compassion (no matter how queer or alien to the “civilized” eye) and the search for worth amongst the self-loathing and blame. And there is pity to be felt. It is a well written novel of understated, psychological horror that gathers its power in an accumulating storm of words and ideas that beat you down like dark driving weather, and when the physical horror – the violence - finally arrives it is sudden and shocking, voyeuristic and ultimately (you realize) inevitable.

MONSTERS WHO’S WHO: FROM A-Z ALL THE BLOOD CURDLING HORRORS YOU LOVE TO FEAR (HARDCOVER) Written by Dulan Barber Published by Crescent Books Publication Date: 1974 Format: Color / B&w- 120 pages Price: out of print – various I’m gonna take ya back with this one, way back. In fact I recently dug this out of my garage which was …

MARVEL ZOMBIE’S 3 #1 (Comics) Writer: Fred Van Lente Art: Kev Walker From: Marvel Comics Publication Date: 2008 Format: Full Color Price: $2.99  SYNOPSIS: On the heels of three consecutive hot series (“Marvel Zombies”, “Marvel Zombies 2”, and “Marvel Zombies vs Army Of Darkness”) the ravenous hordes of Marvel Zombies returns again. This time they are invading the Marvel Universe! …