Conduits - by Jennifer Loring - A view from inside a damaged mind

4 of 5 Stars     Review copy

Jennifer Loring has written a beautiful book looking out from inside the mind of a woman who is hopelessly lost in  her own world.

In Conduits, Mara Okubo, is a young woman with a tragic past. Already dealing with the death of her older sister, at her own hands, now, years later, she is faced with the loss of her boyfriend.  To make matters even worse, Mara is a cutter.

Her friend, Andrea, has had her committed for her own safety.

"Self-mutilation.  Paranoia.  Persistent delusions.  Possible hallucinations.  She could see it now.
'Ms. Okubo, we want to help you--'
'You think I'm schizophrenic don't you?'"

The reader is led to believe there is more going on than just a woman who has lost her mind. Conduits delves into the subjects of lucid dreaming, visits quantum physics, and enters the realm of the paranormal.

Although, I didn't fully understand everything that was going on, I did find the story to be completely satisfying.

Part of the Darkfuse novella series, Conduits, is scheduled for release on September 16th, 2014 through Amazon.com and if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber you will be able to read story at no additional charge.

Recommended for fans of more literate horror.

Halfway House - by Weston Ochse - A very twisted, wild, and strange ride and ultimately worth the trip

4 of 5 Stars     Review Copy

From the Amazon book description..."The Halfway House...a place shrouded in mystery...standing shunned and ignored...yet seeming to devour the souls of everyone who dies in San Pedro."

Events which took place in 1942 along the California coastline are still having an impact today.

Halfway House is brimming with memorable characters and Weston Ochse does a wonderful job bringing them to life with his wonderful descriptive skills.  "Wearing long, peach-colored pants and a T-shirt from Bell's Cove in Australia, the fifty-five-year-old Kanga reached up and knotted his long white hair to keep it out of his face.  The muscles in his arms twisted and bulged.  A lifetime of surf bumming on three continents had chiseled the old man's features into those of a twenty-five-year-old.  Only his grey hair and a stubborn, but small, pot-belly made from years of burritos and beer were evidence of his age."

His friend, Bobby Dupree, is quite the character.  Raised in an orphanage in Memphis, he's on a quest to find the Double  Platinum Award Elvis received for Heartbeak Hotel.  He has a letter which says his father was Elvis Presley and the award was left to him as his inheritance, but it was stolen from the orphanage before he even knew what it was.

The other key player is the leader of the 8th Street Angels, Louis Cabellos, but everyone just calls him Lucy (Lou C.).  There are many supporting characters and they are all richly developed and make for a wonderfully entertaining story.

And then there's the Halfway House.  It goes back to 1942. "Everyone.  Every single person who dies here dies forever.  They don't go to Heaven.  They don't go to Hell.  Instead, they go the halfway house to feed her revenge."

The end of the book calls for an all out assault on the Halfway House.  I guess you could say things get a little crazy, but then this is a horror novel, after all.

Published by JournalStone, Halfway House is available through Amazon.com.

Recommended.

Vaudeville and Other Nightmares - by Greg Chapman - An impressive collection

4 of 5 Stars     Review Copy

This collection from Australian horror writer and artist, Greg Chapman, begins with my favorite novella from his budding career, Vaudeville.  

Anthony Moore's father was found, hanging from a tree, in the woods outside the small town of Keaton. A year later at the same location, Anthony discovers a band of Vaudeville players, who are so much more than they appear to be.

Young Anthony had been sent to the market to get some items his mother needs to prepare their dinner.  On his way home he is sidetracked by the performers who promise to bring back his father if Anthony brings four of his friends to see their show.  He gets home without the groceries and his mother is none to happy.  "Mashed potatoes and beans for dinner, garnished with silence and animosity."  I love that line.

Vaudeville has that evil carnival vibe, reminiscent of Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes and is just one of 21 stories which will reach out and grab you and won't let go until you've read the last word on the final page.

I'm not going to give a synopsis of every story, but a few of my favorites include "Lost Lake," where a pedophile gets what he deserves, "Human Resources," where a dream job turns into your worst nightmare, and "Chthonic," a delightfully creepy story of a boy who buries his best friend alive.

No subject is off limits, no taboo is too great.  Chapman takes them all on.  Not even Saint Nicholas is save, as evidenced in, "Christmas Mourning."

Look for Vaudeville and Other Nightmares to be published by Black Beacon Books on September 19th, 2014.  Just in time for Halloween.

Recommended.

Bloodeye - by Craig Saunders - A strange yet satisfying horror novella

4 of 5 Stars    Review Copy

What an odd little story.  At times, Bloodeye is terribly disturbing and then it will turn around and have a moment that is touching and tender, but mostly it's disturbing.

Keane Reid works as a crime scene photographer for the Norwich police department.  To say he's a troubled soul would be quite the understatement.

"The man he killed seven years ago, the man who murdered his wife, was back."  But, as we slowly learn the true meaning of those words we will be taken on a journey down a dark and winding road into madness.

Beautifully written, Bloodeye, is a quick read which will stay with you long after you've read the last page.

A part of the Darkfuse novella series, Bloodeye, will be available on September 9th, 2014 and if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it for no additional charge.

Recommended.

Chelsea Avenue - by Armand Rosamilia - Terrific horror story told in a unique way

5 of 5 Stars     Review copy

Chelsea Avenue is a real location in Long Branch, New Jersey.  The Murphy's Law Club was a real place.  On July 8th, 1987, the famous Haunted House on the pier in Long Branch did, indeed, burn down.  The rest of this well-imagined story comes from the demented mind of Armand Rosamilia.

I really wanted to like this new book from Armand.  First, I set out wanting to love every book I read.  Second, this is Armand's first book with Ragnarok Publications, a small press that's doing big things in the horror and fantasy genres and I wanted it to be a success for author and press.  And lastly, Armand is one of the good guys.  What he managed to do, this year, with the project Authors Supporting Our Troops was truly an inspiration.  Check it out on Facebook at...

https://www.facebook.com/events/647179418679623/?source=1

I'm glad to say, Chelsea Avenue, did more than live up to my expectations.  For the most part, the story is told over a 15 year period, beginning with the events which took place on July 8th, 1987 and then on each subsequent July, 8th, until the climatic events of July 8th, 2003.

We get to witness what happens each year on the anniversary of the fire that destroyed Murphy's Law in 1987, as more and more of those who survived the original fire are mysteriously drawn back to the lot where the club once stood, only meet their doom.

Manny Santiago's parents owned the club and we get to see Manny go from being a teen, lucky to survive the fire, to his life as a cop, then detective, get married, get shot, divorced and live to be one of the final survivors of the original event.

Rosamilia does a very nice job with the telling of each year's story, he pulls no punches, and provides some nice twists along the way.

At first, I was a bit put off with only getting the events of each July 8th, but I got used to the idea quickly and it became one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book.

Chelsea Avenue, is available now for pre-order at Amazon.com and will be released on September 8th, 2014 from Ragnarok Publications.

Highly recommended.

Dog Beach - by John Fusco - Like watching one of Jackie Chan's better movies - Fun read

4 of 5 Stars    Review copy

The Malibu locals call Las Flores, "Dog Beach." Troy, a budding film-maker, and his housemates call their two-story beach crib the Dog House, and call themselves the Dogs of Entropy.

Louie Mo, is a former Hong Kong stuntman extraordinaire, who is now getting by as a hired knee-breaker in LA, putting fear into the hearts of people reneging on payments to investors.

When Louie Mo shows up at the Dog House to "encourage" Troy to pay his investors, Troy recognizes Louie and winds up convincing him to star in his next project.

Dog Beach is a high-octane, quick read, that is a lot like watching a Jackie Chan film and just as much fun.

I enjoyed the way the author developed the back-stories for the principal characters, giving the reader a clear picture of what drove them to do what they did, and I also liked the way he gave us just enough of a look into the movie-making process without getting too bogged down in the details.

The action was fast-paced, start-to-finish, as Louie Mo had to remain one step ahead of the Chinese mob, a monster ex-NFL lineman, and two ex wives.  While at the same time Troy is trying  to deal with his producer and some angry Guatemalan investors.  Plus, I loved the twist in the book's climatic chase scene.

Overall, a fun read and John Fusco is an author I'd like to read again sometime.

Dog Beach is being published on September 9, 2014 by Simon & Schuster's Toouchstone division and will be available in bookstores and from many online retailers.

Recommended.

Skinwalkers - by Bear Hill - Lycanthropes in the Wild West

3 of 5 Stars     Review copy

Recently I had the pleasure of reading Bad Mojo: A Zora Banks Novel written by Shane Berryhill.  It's a world filled with spooks of all types, vipers (vampires), werecreatures, zombies, hoodoo, and much more, written with an in-your-face style well suited for the story.  It's a tale I can easily recommend.

Skinwalkers is an earlier work from Shane Berryhill, writing under the name Bear Hill.  See what he did there.  Bear Hill.  Berryhill.  Clever.

There is quite a bit going on in Skinwalkers.  There is the supposedly fictitious writer, Donovan DeChance, who come's to Bear Hill, drugs him and then leaves him with this message...

Bear,

I  have defeated the demon.  It will hinder you no more, provided you make no further attempt to tell the story of the ill-fated town of Perdition, New Mexico, or the horrors that once walked its streets.

Please heed my words.  Do not unleash this tale of woe upon the world.  It has claimed far to many sould already.  If  it were to ever be published en masse, I shudder to think of the havoc and destruction that would result.

Of course, what follows is the story of what happened in Perdition.  Told in layers of flashbacks, news articles, the story of a paranormal investigation team, etc.  And that is my biggest problem with what otherwise was a fun romp through the Wild West with shape-shifting Navajos.  There is just too much clutter.

The good news is, Shane has become a much better storyteller with Bad Mojo: A Zora Banks Novel. If you haven't read that one, by all means do so.   I'd only read Skinwalkers if I wanted to read an early work by someone on his way to becoming a fine writer in the horror/urban fantasy genre.

If you'd like to try it yourself, it's available now from Crossroad Press and Macabre Ink Digital at Amazon.com.