Odd Adventures with Your Other Father - by Norman Prentiss - A genre-bending read that is worthy of your attention

5 of 5 Stars  

Odd Adventures with Your Other Father by Norman Prentiss is a genre-bending novel, blending fantasy, horror, and a love story that transcends the ordinary.

I've been sitting here, staring at a mostly blank page for the last fifteen minutes.  It's difficult to describe this book without giving away it's secrets and that's a big part of what made this such an enjoyable read.

Celia, had two fathers, one of them passed away when she was four.  Her Father, Shawn, tells her a series of "odd" stories about her other Father, Jack.

The stories border on the fantastic, but are told with love and charm as Prentiss tells the story of a same sex couple making their way in the world of the mid-eighties.  Their post-college road trip was engrossing and believable, but the tales are not all fun and games. There's a fair share of unpleasantness and violence as might be expected in this less open-minded era.

It was so easy to become lost in the story-telling.  Somewhat like sitting around a campfire listening to an experienced counselor tell his best tale and then clamoring for one more before crawling into your sleeping bag for the night.

I took pleasure in the details in the stories told here.  Like the time Jack and Shawn stayed at a bed and breakfast..."'Not a lot of rules here,' Mrs. Bittinger said.  'Bathroom's down the hall on the right,: no shower, but a nice enough tub.  Breakfast is at eight o'clock tomorrow, if you want it.  Please don't lie on top of the bedspread: lie underneath it, or take it off and set it in the chair.'"

Odd Adventures with Your Other Father is the perfect title for a book which is at times shocking, often touching, and certainly a memorable work I won't soon forget.

Published by Kindle Press as a part of their Kindle Scout program, Odd Adventures with Your Other Father, is currently available in e-book only.  If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read this book at no additional charge and if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

Norman Prentiss is a two-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award.  One for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction for his debut book, Invisible Fences and one in the Short Fiction Category for In the Porches of My Ears.  In my opinion, he's the real deal.  You can't go wrong with a Norman Prentiss book.

The Everything Box - by Richard Kadrey - "Starting the apocalypse is not easy."

5 of 5 Stars     Review copy

"Earth. Four thousand years ago.  Give or take."  When this is the opening line in your new novel, it better be epic.  The verdict?  Richard Kadrey delivers again.

It's just after the great flood and the angel Qaphsiel is sent by God to finish off mankind, but he misplaces the Instrument of Destruction.  Fast-forward to the present day where a number of individuals and groups are closing in on The Everything Box.  Of course the usual Kadrey wit abounds.  It's a story filled with magic, where literally anything is possible.

"'You know, the the last few days, I've taken orders from a dead man, hung out with poltergeists, vampires, werewolves, people with tentacles, people with gills, and seen the inside of a turd submarine.'"

The end of the story reminded me of the madcap cross-country rush to find treasure in the Stanley Kramer classic, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

If snark is your thing, or if you're just in the mood for a bit of brain candy, you'll love The Everything Box.

Published by Harper Voyager, The Everything Box is available as an e-book, hardcover, paperback and a variety of audio formats.

Richard Kadrey is a New York Times Bestselling Author best known for his Sandman Slim novels and my personal favorite Butcher Bird.  His work has been nominated for a British Science Fiction Award and for the Prix Elbakin in France.

Rio Noir - Edited by Tony Bellotto - Not a great anthology, but a few very good stories

3 of 5 Stars     Review copy

I really thought I was going to enjoy Rio Noir.  I liked the idea of an anthology of noir stories set in the heart of Brazil.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines noir as "crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings."

I guess, for me, the characters weren't hard-boiled enough, or maybe they weren't cynical enough, or perhaps the bleak settings weren't sleazy enough. With a few notable exceptions, I just didn't enjoy this collection.

I tried to think of a reason I wasn't clicking with the stories.  As I was writing this review, I discovered the bulk of the stories contained in this collection were translated from Portuguese to English which may have contributed to my lack of enjoyment.  One thing I did find off-putting was how, nearly every story, ended abruptly without a satisfying conclusion.

Normally, with an anthology, I'll include notes about each story, but I'll just mention a few of the gems I discovered in the collection.

I did enjoy ARGENTINE TAXI by Arthur Dapieve.  It starts with an apparent suicide and is a solid, well-told story. "Fighting prostitution in this city is more or less like asking the scorpion not to sting the frog in the middle of a river.  It would be going against its nature."

BLIND SPOT by Victoria Saramago was a nice story with artful prose and the "discovery of a human finger wrapped in a piece of paper that had fallen out of a plastic bag."  However, like so many of the stories in this anthology the ending left me hanging.

Then there was THE WAIT by Flávio Carneiro.  A five-star story in a sub-par collection. Classic noir and the stage was set from the opening line, "It was an ordinary day, a Monday like any other, even the hangover was the same.  It was a little past noon and the sun seemed to flood its full intensity on my head as I entered the old building on Rua da Relação."

THE STORY OF GEORGES FULLAR by Raphael Montes was brilliantly told and totally engaging.  The story of an aging writer and a young man who wants to have his success someday.

If you decide to take a chance on this anthology, don't quit, all of the better stories seemed to come on the back end.  If you give up too soon, you'll miss them.

Rio Noir is published by Akashic Books and is available in paperback and e-book formats.

The editor, Tony Bellotto, is author of the best-selling Bellini mystery novels, which have been released as major feature films and translated widely.  He is also a guitarist and songwriter for the famed Brazilian rock band Titãs (The Titans), which has released twenty albums and sold over six million albums.  Bellotto also writes for the newspaper Globo and hosts a television show.

Jade Gods: A Matt Rowley Novel - by Patrick Freivald

4 of 5 Stars     Review copy

The world is falling apart.  It's unraveling at the seams.

Matt Rowley works in the Office of Special Threats.   ICAP (the International Council on Augmented Phenomena) no longer exists.  Matt is one of only a couple of Augs still walking about. There is another, but...

"Seven months. Seven months and eleven unrelated missions since Shane Keene — a supposed FBI agent with perfect credentials but who didn't exist — had kidnapped Sakura "Blossum" Isuji from the smoking ground of Centralia, Pennsylvania, the only place in the world that smelled worse than this van."

From this uncertain beginning Jade Gods warps into a non-stop series of near cataclysmic events, any one of which could spell the end for Matt and Sakura, not to mention mankind. OK, that might be laying it on a bit thick, but it's pretty damn close.

Add to the mix, Matt's wife, Monica, and their young son, Adam.  At the end of Black Tide, book two in the Matt Rowley series, Adam miraculously saves his Mother's life and is now viewed, by some, as an emissary of God and is the reason a new mega-church is being built across from their home.

While all of this may sound like a lot of fun, make no mistake, Jade Gods is the darkest book thus far in the series.  It is ultra violent, bloody, and at one point it seems to take a bit of a Lovecraftian twist.

Although total fiction and fiction of the most outlandish nature, there are certain parallels to be drawn between the story and the crazy times we live in.

So far, there are three novels in the Matt Rowley series.  Jade Sky, the aforementioned Black Tide, and now, Jade Gods.  There is at least one short story set in the same world, Bonked, which is included as a bonus in this book.

Patrick Freivald has a new publisher for his Matt Rowley series, Cohesion Press seems like a good match and I think we can expect more of these tales.  There better be at least one more since Jade Gods ends with the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers.

Although I can easily recommend Jade Gods and it can be read as a stand alone book and enjoyed, I think any reader would get more out of the experience by reading the series from the beginning.

Jade Gods is currently available in e-book only.  If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read this book at no additional charge and if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

Patrick Freivald is an author, a beekeeper, and a teacher.  I've been reading Patrick's work for several years now.  I loved his teenage zombie books, Twice Shy & Special Dead.  And this new series featuring Matt Rowley just keeps growing and growing.

Amaranthine and Other Stories - by Erik Hofstatter

4 of 5 Stars     Review copy

I'm somewhat wary when I'm contacted by an author asking if I would read his or her work and provide and honest review. Partly because I nearly always have a TBR list that's longer than a country mile and I know it's going to take me a long time to get around to reading it.

Fortunately, Erik Hofstatter caught me at the right time with a novella-length collection of short stories  which I was able to squeeze in between some other books.

Amaranthine and Other Stories was a bit of a mixed bag for me. A good number of the stories were very short, sort of the flash fiction variety.  I'm not a big fan of the style, I prefer to read tales with a bit more meat on the bones, rather than "Bam. Boom. Bang. Next."  I guess you could say I prefer to savor the story.  That being said, Erik's tales of horror, although quick, certainly provided some punch.

The Birthing Tub - An unexpected sexually deviant and violent story of a pet parasite coming into the world in a most unusual way.

Tristan's Equation - A rather strange little story about a brilliant boy locked in a room and asked to solve a complex mathematical equation.

Amaranthine - "What if cremation wasn't the only method of keeping your loved ones with you?"

The Wandering Pilgrim - A somewhat erotic tale which came from the author's fascination with Rasputin.

The Deep End - One of my personal favorites in the collection happened to be the author's least favorite story.  You just never know.

Eucalyptus Grove - A virgin who likes to hang with a group of guys trying to be a heavy metal band.  Oh, they're also into satanism.  What could possibly go wrong?

Akona - A quick yet terrorizing story of every parent's worse night mare.

The Green Tide - Ever read a news story and think, "Wow. That would make a good horror story."  That's precisely how this tale came about.  Makes me want to rethink my next trip to the beach.

Pins and Needles - A viscous tale of racism and voodoo.

Nine quick tales of terror.  Great for reading right before bed...if you enjoy inducing nightmares.

Amaranthine and Other Stories is published by Creativia and is available in both e-book and paperback formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read this book at no additional charge and if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

Erik Hofstatter is a schlock horror writer and a member of the Horror Writers Association. He lives in Kent, where he can be encountered consuming copious amounts of mead and tyrannizing local peasantry.  His work has appeared in various magazines and podcasts around the world such as Morpheus Tales, Crystal Lake Publishing, The Literary Hatchet, Sanitarium Magazine, Wicked Library, Tales to Terrify and Manor House Show.  

Jacked - by Kirk Dougal - A bold blend of sci-fi and fantasy

4 of 5 Stars     Review copy

Jacked is an instantly engaging story, which takes place a decade or so after The Crash; set in a post-apocalyptic society struggling to rebuild itself in the ruins of California.

Before The Crash people had become more connected than ever. "More and more of the machines were talking to the air and finally some people decided they wanted to talk to the air, too. And not through any machines.  So they hooked themselves straight into it. Jacked is what they called it."

Not everybody accepted this way of life.  After The Crash, a leader who opposed technology came to power.  With the support of a group of loyal supporters, known as the Black Shirts it became, follow their ways...or suffer the consequences.

Tar, lives with a man he calls his uncle, and he is a fixer.  He has the uncanny ability to bring many tech items, called apps, back to functionality.  Tar sets out on a quest to find others of his kind while the Black Shirts, under the leadership of Father Eli, do their worst to try and stop him and his friends.

YA novels are not everyone's cup of tea, but Jacked is a solid story with a number of very "Chilly" twists.  The author has come up with several new slang terms for this futuristic tale. Words like "Chilly," the equivalent of cool, and others.  By the way, I'm adding "Chilly" to my personal lexicon immediately.

According to the author, "The inspiration came from the advancement of several technologies in the last few years. Near field communication plays a part in the book and, with four teenagers at home, I have seen the almost religious "constant connectivity" dynamic play out on a daily basis. Also, wearable technology is making big leaps forward and I believe it will not be long before embedded technology becomes much more common. Jacked takes all of those real world advancements and mixes them up in a 'what if' bowl."

A quick kudos to artist Shawn King for his outstanding work on the eye-catching cover for Jacked.

Jacked will be available soon from Ragnarok publications in both paperback and e-book formats.

Recommended.

Kirk Dougal has had fiction works appear in a number of anthologies and saw his debut novel, Dreams of Ivory and Gold, published in May of 2014.  His YA dystopian novel, Jacked, leads the launch of Ragnarok Publications' Per Aspera SF imprint.  He's also completed a SF/Lit RPG novel, Reset, and is working on a sequel to Dreams of Ivory and Gold.  Kirk makes his home in Ohio with his wife and four children.

Where Wolves Run - by Jason Parent - Can you guess what this horror novella is about?

4 of 5 Stars     Review copy

A werewolf novella where the hunter is also the hunted.

No new ground is broken in Jason Parent's entry into this sub-genre, but he does deliver a solid tale with a twist in the final pages, and there are some cringe-worthy moments.  "Most of Joren's fingernails, pried loose by Father's dagger, now resided in the bucket.  A few were still attached to fingers.  A couple of toes, several teeth, and most of an ear completed the collection."

If werewolves are your thing and you're looking for a quick read, Where Wolves Run, might not satisfy your hunger fully, but should be enough to take the edge off.

Where Wolves Run is published by Corpus Press and is available in both e-book and paperback formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read this book at no additional charge and if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

In his head, JASON PARENT lives in many places, but in the real world, he calls New England his home. The region offers an abundance of settings for his writing and many wonderful places in which to write them. He currently resides in Southeastern Massachusetts with his cuddly corgi named Calypso. He is the author of the novels Seeing Evil, What Hides Within and many published short stories.