@MatthewQMartin #Review & #Giveaway plus #Spotlight "Nightlife" by Matthew Quinn Martin (e-book/int)

Nightlife review
Author: Matthew Quinn Martin
4 out of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Horror
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of Horror, those who like their vampires mean
Trigger Warnings: killing

My Thoughts: Have you been wanting vampires that are mean, nasty, eating machines? Tired of the glitter and sparkle and angst? Well, check this book out. These vampires are not at all pleasant, even if they occasionally appear to be, and are spine-chilling in their focus.

While this is a high-action book, there is plenty of plot and character development as well, which is a difficult balance to keep. This author does it well, making this book a perfect blend of action and pathos that most readers of horror should enjoy.

Another book, at least, is planned for this series, called Nightlife: As the Worm Turns, although no word on specifically when to expect it. I know I'll be watching for it. If you like horror, and like your vampires mean, check this one out.

Disclosure: I received this book from NetGalley in conjunction with a blog tour, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: For centuries an ancient evil has slept beneath the streets of New Harbor. This Halloween, it wakes up.

Nightclub bartender and serial heartbreaker Beth Becker might be a cynic. But when her best friend goes missing Halloween night, Beth knows it's up to her to find out what happened.

Her quest will take her on an odyssey through the crumbling city of New Harbor, Connecticut. Along the way she meets a homeless prophet warning of something he calls the "Night Angel"—a bloodthirsty creature that feeds on the forgotten. And she will form an unlikely bond with a hunted stranger who knows all too well what stalks the streets at night.

Nightlife

by Matthew Quinn Martin

on Tour October 14 - December 14, 2013

Book Details:

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Published by: PocketStar / Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: Oct 21, 2013
Number of Pages: 332
ISBN: 1476746893
ISBN13: 9781476746890
Purchase Links:

NOTE: Excessive strong language, Graphic violence

Synopsis:

For centuries an ancient evil has slept beneath the streets of New Harbor. This Halloween, it wakes up.

An action-packed debut horror novel from talented new writer Matthew Quinn Martin, NIGHTLIFE pits a feisty bartender and a mysterious loner against bloodthirsty terrors as alluring as they are deadly.

Nightclub bartender and serial heartbreaker Beth Becker might be a cynic. But when her best friend goes missing Halloween night, Beth knows it’s up to her to find out what happened.

Her quest will take her on an odyssey through the crumbling city of New Harbor, Connecticut. Along the way she meets a homeless prophet warning of something he calls the “Night Angel”…a bloodthirsty creature that has been feeding on the forgotten. And she will form an unlikely bond with a hunted stranger who knows all too well what is stalking the streets at night.

He reveals to her to the hideous truth about the nightmare creatures that have haunted mankind’s imagination for eons––creatures the world calls vampires. Together they are the only hope for New Harbor, but to defeat what lurks in the shadows they are going to have to conquer something far stronger than fear––their own desires.

Read an excerpt:

Beth was alone. She looked down at the wallet still in her hands. Behind a scratched plastic window was a picture of her and Ryan, both of them smiling at her from happier times.

Had he gone missing the same as Zoë? What was happening? She shook her head. Maybe she’d finally gone around the bend. Could she really have just seen a man get shot, bleed white, and then liquefy into nothingness—and all because of a box of salt?

“Get a grip, Becker.” She reached for the nearest bottle, not even sure what was in it, and poured herself a full glass. “You’re seeing things.” She was about to take a sip when she heard the sound of footsteps from the shadows. She turned to spot a faint outline form in the blackness, almost as if it was born from it. It was a man, and the slightest flicker gleamed from his eyes as he moved into the light. Beth’s glass slipped from her grasp, shattering on the floor as she saw just who it was. “Ryan!” she called out, rushing over. “Oh, my God, Ryan!”

But something about him made her stop just shy of the slick spreading out on the floor where the corpse had been lying only minutes before. She looked at Ryan. Something wasn’t right. His hair was different, longer, the way he wore it back when they’d first started dating. He was dressed in clothing he’d thrown out years ago. The same clothing he’d had on in the photo in her wallet. His gaze landed on her, and in that moment, Beth had never wanted him more. Those eyes—so inviting, so mesmerizing, so . . . hungry. He shifted closer. He had yet to speak a single word.

“Ryan,” she said. “I was so worried.” But even as she spoke the words—even as she felt that if she’d just let him take her in his arms, all her troubles would disappear—she knew something was terribly wrong. She started to inch backward. “Ryan, why don’t you say something? You’re scaring me.”

He sniffed the air, almost gulping at it. Then he cocked his head at an angle that didn’t seem natural—or even human. Suddenly, he leaped for her, covering the three yards between them in a single bound.

She dodged. He missed her by inches. But he now stood between her and the door, cutting off any possible escape. He moved closer, hands grasping for her. Beth ducked around a table and shoved forward with all her strength, crushing him against the wall. Ryan screamed. It was that same high-pitched wail she had heard coming from the man who’d been shot. The one Jack said was “hardly a man.”

Ryan pawed at the table, sending it flying end over end as if it was made of papier-mâché. Planks splintered against the brick wall. Beth swept up a board. She hit him hard, right across the face. The board cracked in half, and her hand sang with a dull thwack. It did nothing. He simply shook it off and stepped forward, closing the gap between them as he pegged her against the bar. His hands clamped down on her. His grip was like quick-drying cement. She couldn’t move.

Beth’s knees began to give out as a heady brew of terror and desire overtook her. She felt the hard press of his hand pushing back her head, exposing her throat. She felt herself giving in. She wanted to go where Ryan had gone, to see what he’d seen, to become whatever it was he’d become.

Author Bio:

Matthew Quinn Martin was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. However, it wasn’t until he moved to Manhattan that he realized he was a writer. These days, he lives on a small island off the North Atlantic coast of the United States where it gets quiet in the winter…perhaps too quiet.

Catch Up With the Author:

Tour Participants:

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#Book #Review: "Soul Trade" by @TracySharp

Soul Trade review
Author: Tracy Sharp @TracySharp
5 out of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy/Horror
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of horror and dark urban fantasy, those who enjoy stories about sellig your soul
Reading/Editing Dates: 5/20-22/2013; 5/28-30/2013
Trigger Warnings: murder, drug use and abuse, rape, attempted rape, assault, violence, child abuse and neglect

My Thoughts: This book was released in June, but I hadn't realized that. I certainly would have been singing its praises sooner if I'd known it was available! This book is a real humdinger of a story. When I started reading it, I had a difficult time focusing on the editing because I wanted to know what happens next? Things start fast and move faster and then start racing downhill and you better just move out of the way or hang on tightly, because it's a really wild ride.

Tracy Sharp has a real gift for description and characterization. Her characters are strongly built, and she provides just enough description to give you a feel for where you are and how things appear without going overboard. Her plots flow smoothly and her wording choices are elegant. I was very impressed with some of the things with which she came up to replace the few awkwardly worded sections I found in the first draft. When I received the second draft to review, I was awed by the excellence of her writing.

Also by Tracy Sharp:
If you like Tracy Sharp's writing style, see her other books.
The Leah Ryan Mysteries
Book 1: Repo Chick Blues, review linked here
Book 2: Finding Chloe, review linked here
Book 3: Dirty Business, review linked here
Other books

Spooked, review linked here
Camilla, review linked here
Contributor to Hearts Afire: October

Disclosure: I edited this book. I receive no remuneration based upon sales. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: What would you trade your soul for?

Robyn Blackwood is a jonesing junkie when she says she'd sell her soul for just one last fix. Then a dark stranger appears with a vial in his palm. All she has to do is take his hand.

When Robyn's last fix ends in her dying of an overdose, she doesn't expect to be brought back to life by an undercover narc who happens to be in the same park she's dumped in.

She's reneged on her deal with the devil, and he's sending out collectors. They could be anyone, and they will stop at nothing to ensure Robyn makes good on her bargain.

Unless she can find others who are willing to trade their souls for something they desperately want, the collectors will kill her. . . again. The devil charges interest. So just one soul won't cut it. Robyn needs to find others to take her place.

Can she trade enough souls to make Lucifer happy before his collectors find her and drag her to hell?

Let's try another Random Read, shall we?

So, using Random.org to choose a page in my Amazon Kindle folder, and then using it again to choose a book on said page, I came up with Edge of Shadows by Cege Smith.  I'm going to try to read this book within the next month or so (last time I didn't do so well with this...) as a Random Read, just to break things up a bit.

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads, to give you an idea what it's about.  It's a book I picked up on a free promotion.

Fresh off a marriage that spiraled into a dangerous tailspin, Ellie Coulter doesn’t believe in fate or luck. She’s been surrounded by darkness since her parents’ untimely death, and harbors a secret that never lets her forget that she’s different.

Ellie builds a safe bubble around her life that includes nothing but her coffee shop, her few friends, and her dog. Then a handsome young doctor, David Mitchell, starts to break through her protective shell and Ellie realizes there may be a risk worth taking.

Then one of Ellie’s friends abruptly leaves town; entrusting her home to Ellie’s care. The house has its own mysterious past that draws Ellie into a new darkness. Her ex-husband resurfaces with premonitions of Ellie’s death. And suddenly Ellie’s life is being turned upside down yet again, and even David can’t help her make it right.

Ellie is running out of time. Something old and evil has awakened and it wants Ellie all to itself. She must solve a century-old mystery and keep a grip on her sanity in order to survive.

Now, the thing I'm a bit concerned about is that this is the first in a series.  So, if it's good, that will mean I need to buy some more books.  I'm also a bit concerned because this appears to have more than a little romance in it, and that's been becoming more and more of an issue for me lately.  Still... we'll see.  I must've thought I would like it or I wouldn't have grabbed it, even if it was free, so... Well, we'll all see, won't we?

Coming up sometime soon!

Guest Post - Mark Matthews (author of "On the Lips of Children") - Horror as Technique

Today I'd like to welcome Mark Matthews to Now is Gone. Mark has recently released his first horror novel, On the Lips of Children. Previous releases have included Stray (I edited this book, but did not review it as it isn't my sort of book, but it's very well-written) and Jade Rabbit. Without further ado, here's Mark.

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.”

― H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature

China Mieville is perhaps the coolest cat to ever write a sentence, and his goal is to write a novel in every genre.  Not sure if this means horror is on the way, or if he has counted one of his many novels which already include plenty of horror.

Horror appears in so many great pieces of literature, yet it still seems that calling a novel a piece of horror cheapens it in some reader’s eyes.  The more I swim in writer’s circles, I’m discovering some writers embrace the term Horror writer, some prefer ‘dark fiction’, others coin their own terms. All of this with the hope that their work is properly understood.  Well, whatever the term, it is my belief that horror provides perhaps the most powerful, visceral, and deeply moving ways to experience art.  Not only that, but the darkest of horror writers have the finest hearts around

Yes, in Horror, people are threatened. People get hurt. People are killed. There’s evil. There’s blood. You feel threatened by dark forces.  Well, I would argue that something gets cut open in any novel, each story has something that bleeds, (even if it’s just Holden Caulfield’s innocence, for example) and the hinge upon which all fiction swings is escalating conflict and the fear that the protagonist won’t  get what they want.

Fiction is the drama of life with the heat turned up, and when done right, it boils out the insides of characters and reveals who they are, and better yet, transforms them into something stronger, like metal into fire. Or perhaps when the novel ends in tragedy, they aren’t strong enough to handle the flames.  Horror does this wonderfully.

In this way, I think of horror as much as a literary device as a genre.   The term horror is just a marketing tool.   Put a different cover on the novel American Psycho, and it would no longer be read as an illustration of our society of privilege, financial cannibalism and materialism gone mad. Instead, it’d be slasher and torture porn.

Let me set the premise for an epic horror story. One which will be the tome upon which civilizations are built, wars are fought, children are baptized, and bodies are buried:

Imagine a story where the dead are raised, where babies are slaughtered, where plaques destroy cities, and where the main character has spiritual powers but is shunned, eventually betrayed, until the day comes he has to carry the device of his own torture.  A crown of thorns bloodies his head, his flesh is punctured by nails, and his body hangs until he dies. But wait, it’s not over, because then his very soul will have to harrow hell for 3 days, gathering the ravaged souls of those before him, until he finally ascends to a higher plane.

To commemorate this event, we all kneel in front of the same ancient torture device. Then we perform a cannibalistic ritual to honor his sacrifice in Holy Communion as solemn music plays in the background.

Yep, you got it (don’t throw stones, please) put a different cover on it, and you can market the Bible as horror.

The iconic horror writer Stephen King rewrote this story, only it was much more tame, and it stared Jon Coffee, instead of Jesus Christ, both spiritual superior beings put to death, just texts written at different times. Scour great horror and dark fiction, you’ll find great literature.

What makes Stephen King shine is his characters, not just the horror, and when his work is at its best, the macabre highlights the internal strife of the character. Horror works best when it is a metaphor for the dark places the character is already traveling through. It isn’t easy to draw a picture of our dark psychological recesses, so you pull the insides out, put different faces on them, and give them a name. Like It, or Cujo.

The story of Cujo serves as a model for me.  The huge, killer rabid St. Bernard who has trapped a woman and her young child in the tiny pinto of a car.  But it’s not about a dog; it’s about alienation, isolation. I am alone, everybody has abandoned me, and here I am suffocating in this car, alone, trapped, with the jaws of the world trying to kill my most precious child.

This is why I think horror writers have the finest hearts around.  The only way a writer can scare you is to first prove they understand you.  A writer must first be ultra-sensitive to the human predicament, and show they can get into the hearts and heads of humans.  Otherwise, it all falls flat. I would love my daughter to marry a man with the heart of a Stephen King.

To take a step further, it is by destroying your protagonists, after giving him hopes and dreams and struggles, that can make you fully empathize with him. None of our physical lives come to happy endings. No one here gets out alive.

Of course, there are works that exist simply for sake of a bombardment of the senses.  This still takes art, I would argue, even if it is horror just for horror sake. I love the Evil Dead, but I’m not going to say it has the same psychological layers, but it is incredible campfire storytelling.

Horror is seeing resurgence in TV, and not just because it scares us, but because it helps us relate. In Season one of American Horror Story, the real horror was dealing with infidelity, trust, anger, (perpetual anger) and all the shattered lives caused by the ripples of hurt. The horror of all this inner-psyche drama sticks around like ghosts in your basement in a house you can never leave. You can't just kill the past, you have to deal with it, otherwise, the ghosts in your basement remain. They haunt your psychological dark spots, always ready to fragment your spirit, destroy your dreams, and yes hurt your children.

Horror works best when you are watching it and realize that, “hey, that’s me; I’m living a life of fear. A live of quiet desperation - screaming in terror on the inside yet quiet on the outside”. Horror reminds us that We are all infected. Yes, the secret of season 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead, that we are all infected  is what makes horror as a genre thrive. We are all infected with this human experience. It's a virus that lasts approximately 70 years, give or take a few decades, and during that time we look for meaning. And when done right, horror offers us a great peek into this unique affliction, but if not, it at least gives us some riveting drama to enjoy and makes our predicament a little more tolerable.  At least for a few hundred pages or more.

Mark Matthews is the author of STRAY and The Jade Rabbit, and his third novel, ‘On the Lips of Children’, a piece of dark fiction, horror,  nihilistic inspirational absurdity, and any other label that fits, is coming soon from Books of the Dead Press. He blogs at Running, Writing, and Chasing the Dragon.

New Release: "On the Lips of Children" by Mark Matthews available NOW!

I am pleased to announce the publication and release of Mark Matthews' latest book, On the Lips of Children, available in Kindle format by following the link.  Mark has previously published Stray (which I edited), Jade Rabbit, and Zombie Dash.

Synopsis:

Meet Macon. Tattoo artist. Athlete. Family man. 

He's planning to run a marathon, but the event becomes something terrible. 

During a warm-up run, Macon falls prey to a bizarre man and his wife who dwell in an underground drug-smuggling tunnel. They raise their twin children in a way Macon couldn't imagine: skinning unexpecting victims for food and money.

And Macon, and his family, are next.

What others are saying about On the Lips of Children (in their own words):

“Mark Matthews’ On the Lips of Children is a sprint down a path of high-adrenaline terror that never offers the comfort of monsters you can dismiss by reminding yourself “there’s no such thing as...” The story alternates between harsh reality and an almost dream-like surreality while never losing sight of the real heart of good storytelling. Matthews demonstrates that you don’t have far down to go to reach the underworld, yet the road back up is a lot harder run than anyone is prepared to make.” ~ Bracken MacLeod, author of Mountain Home

“An ordinary running trail becomes the most terrifying place on the planet for Mark Matthews' troubled, likeable, marathon-running, tattooed, hipster protagonists and their young daughter. But, for the horror-show clan living under that trail — who subsist on flesh and bath salts in a nightmare orgy of blood and crazy — the hipsters are a rare treat indeed. As the family v. family showdown transpires underground and off the beaten path, the vulnerability of running on a trail — alone but for the watchers in the woods — makes the setting unique and well-crafted. Written with verve, surprising compassion, and bite, On the Lips of Children is a seriously demented must read.” ~ Sacha Z. Scoblic, author of Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety

“On the Lips of Children by Mark Matthews, is a dark, terrifying page-turner. It’s Stephen King’s Misery on bath salts. In a cave. It scared the crap out of me. The story was original. The characters were fascinating, exposing the reader to worlds foreign to most of us. Matthews has a knack for pacing his story then jolting the reader with a frightening plot twist. I was impressed by how he wrapped up the ending. Read this book.” ~ Michele Miller, author of The Thirteenth Step: Zombie Recovery, an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award quarterfinalist

“Mark Matthews’ keen ability to bring his own very real personal experiences to life in the guise of fiction, in this instance delightfully horrific fiction, makes even the macabre relatable.” ~ Peter Rosche, author of My Dead Friend Sarah

“On the Lips of Children pulled me in early on. Within the first chapters, Mark’s well-paced plot had me experiencing every footstep with him, riveted. By the time their daughter Lyric’s perspective engulfed me, the story was whirling by, her innocence eating at my heart, each stride drawing me from one word to the next. Who knew an innocent run through the park could be so startling and gruesome? Fans of thrilling chases and horrifying tales where family and innocence hang in the balance will certainly enjoy On the Lips of Children.” ~ Weston Kincade, author of A Life of Death

“Mark Matthews’ novel On the Lips of Children is a brutal, intense ride of claustrophobic horror and gritty, page-turning suspense. This is dark fiction at its visceral, chilling best.” ~ Jan Kozlowski, author of Die, You Bastard! Die!

“On the Lips of Children is dark and gritty. Even the peaceful moments feel dangerous. Always on the border of safety, danger, and death. Readers beware.” ~ Jay Wilburn, author of Loose Ends

“What would you do for your family? Anything, of course. Blood is thicker than water, after all—and sweeter, too. On the Lips of Children is a gritty, sadomasochistic tale of misguided loyalty and dysfunctional kin—innocence morphed into desperate beasts that are hypnotized by the stars at night and the glint of steel as it parts quivering flesh.” ~ Richard Thomas, author of Staring Into the Abyss

Sounds pretty cool, eh? I know I can't wait to read it!  How about you?  Go, buy!

"Twice Shy" by Patrick Freivald just 99 cents this weekend! Soon available: "Special Dead" the sequel

Some of you may remember me raving about this book, Twice Shy, in my review in October (linked here). Today I had a huge thrill when I learned the 2nd book in this series, Special Dead, is to be released soon (details by clicking link on title, which will take you to Journalstone). Then, just to make things better, I heard today from the author that Twice Shy is on sale for only 99 cents on Amazon this weekend! That's right, you can pick up this excellent and awesome book for only 99 cents for a limited time, so hurry on over now and pick it up! Just click this link to be conveniently taken right to Amazon where you can buy your very own copy! I've also linked to the Journalstone store on the book titles, if you prefer to buy directly from the publisher, but the sale is only on Amazon.


And, just for fun, here is the cover for the upcoming Special Dead. Enjoy! Go ye forth and buy!

GIVEAWAY "The Burning Time" by J.G. Faherty

This week I'm giving away three e-book copies of J.G. Faherty's Lovecraftian horror novel The Burning Time (link will take you to the publisher's site for more information). I posted a guest post from J.G. last week on the blog, which you can view here. You can see my review of the book here. I really enjoyed it!

So, sign up and next Monday I'll draw three lucky winners, who will each receive an e-book copy of this great novel from J.G. in the format of their choice. Be sure to provide the requested information on the Rafflecopter form so make the process a bit smoother. Good luck!

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Mythos and Monsters - The Importance of Being Bad: Guest Post by J.G. Faherty

Today I am honored to have J.G. Faherty (click on his picture to go to his Amazon author page) providing a guest post for the blog. I just finished reading his great novel The Burning Time and you can see the review for it here. I have also read Cemetery Club, which review can be seen here. Watch this blog on Monday for a giveaway for e-book copies of The Burning Time. Without further ado, here's J.G. Faherty!

Mythos and Monsters – the Importance of Being Bad

When writing horror, one of the most important parts of any book – possibly the most important, other than the plot – is coming up with a monster or villain who will really capture and hold the reader's attention. In many ways, the monster – the Evil – of the story is more critical than the hero. It has to be bad, it has to be nasty, and it has to be different, yet there needs to be some familiarity as well. That's why vampires and zombies and ghosts remain popular. We want to see new versions of them, but ultimately we also enjoy the familiarity of stereotypes.

When I started work on The Burning Time, I had a basic idea for my antagonist. He was a stranger who'd come to town, an evil man. That was the familiar part, the building block for the character. But I didn't want him to be something typical, like Satan or a vampire or a sorcerer. And that's when I remembered something from a trip I'd take to Sedona, Arizona. The Native American's have a sort of demi-god, Kokopelli, who, depending on the tribe and the legend, can be a fertility god, a Trickster, or an agent of Chaos.

That last one really sounded good. So I did some research and discovered that many people, from Native Americans to Eskimos to tribes from other countries, had a similar being in their legends. And so my monster was borne, an agent of Chaos who brought nothing but death and sorrow to each town he visited.

The next question was, 'why?' There had to be a reason for his actions. My Trickster was not some kind of mindless beast; he had to have an agenda. One that made sense for a being who'd been around as long as the human race.

And that's when I thought, how cool would it be to mix a couple of different mythologies together? Combine the Native American Trickster with the Elder Gods of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. However, I didn't want the book to be a Lovecraftian tale; I just wanted this to be a part of the story. That's why, when you read it, the word Cthulhu actually only pops up once or twice; there are a few other quick references to some of the Elder Gods and their place of dwelling on the far side of the stars, but for the most part I kept things intentionally vague. Even my monster Asuggath is a combination of several Cthulhulian-type beasts rather than one of Lovecraft's own creatures.

Did my strategy work? I like to think so – early reviews are all saying that the book is a great entry into the Cthulhulian genre. So I guess my evil characters are resonating with people.

And when it comes to horror, that's where it all starts.
---------------------------------
JG Faherty is the author of Cemetery Club, Carnival of Fear, The Cold Spot, He Waits, and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Ghosts of Coronado Bay. His latest novel, The Burning Time, comes out Jan. 18. Visit him at www.jgfaherty.com, www.facebook.com/jgfaherty, www.twitter.com/jgfaherty, or www.aboutme.com/jgfaherty.

Lovecraftian fiction; book review "The Burning Time" by J.G. Faherty

The Burning Time review
Author: J.G. Faherty
4 out of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Horror; Lovecraftian Fiction; Cthulhuian mythos
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of Lovecraft, horror, Cthulhu
Book Available: January 19, 2013
Trigger Warnings: Really? Lovecraftian fiction; do I really need to say any more? Okay, details: rape, murder, defilement of all that is right, dawning of the darkness, demons, creatures of the Elder Gods... Need I really go on? Not for the faint of heart.
Animal abuse: implied goat sacrifice, two single-sentence cat injuries with implication that they would probably end up dead. However, several dogs have their revenge, including a toe-chewing Chihuahua.

Disclosure: I was asked by the author to read and review this book prior to the publication date, and provided an ARC for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: An ancient evil has come to Hastings Mills, and only one man can stop it.

Wherever The Stranger goes, evil follows. Wild dogs roam the fields. Townspeople turn on each other in murderous fury. Innocent women throw themselves off bridges. Swimmers disappear, victims of a deadly beast that haunts their waters. And the worst is still yet to come. The Stranger plans to open a gateway to the nether realms and release the Elder Gods to bring forth Chaos on Earth.

Only one man knows the truth, a country mage whose family has fought The Stranger before. But can he defeat his ageless enemy before Hastings Mills is nothing but a smoking ruin and the townspeople become unwilling blood sacrifices to the Old Ones? With only the help of a young woman and her teenage son, he will have to use all of his arcane knowledge to thwart his adversary and prevent the final apocalypse.

In Hastings Mills, The Burning Time has arrived.

My Thoughts: I had meant to read and review this book last weekend, but I completely lost track of time and forgot. However, I am managing the review prior to publication, so all is still well... This is the second J.G. Faherty book I’ve read, following Cemetery Club, which I read and reviewed in December of 2011 after winning it through LibraryThing Early Reviewers (and you can see my review here if you’re reading this review on one of the few sites that allows formatting with HTML).

This is a seriously creepy story, strongly Lovecraftian and directly referencing the Elder Gods on several occasions, R’lyeh, even Cthulhu and Shub-Nggurath. Which especially startled me during the Reverend’s sermons, not to mention that fact that not a single townsperson thought it totally strange that their Reverend was talking about “Gods” and “the Ancients” and such. If a preacher, pastor or priest in my tiny, little hometown had started talking like that, he’d probably have been tarred, feathered, and run out on a rail. Just sayin’, it seemed a little weird that only John Root (and Mitch) seemed to have noticed that...

There were a couple of other weird inconsistencies that were more than a little confusing. First of all, Christian was a “Reverend” and emphatically denied being a priest. Despite the name of the church, Our Lady of Perpetual Hope, that tells me this was not a Catholic church of which he was the head. Therefore, he could not have been officiating at a Mass. (Note: my husband has pointed out he believes that both Episcopalians and Anglicans do, indeed, celebrate Mass under a Reverend. So take my concerns with a grain of salt on this matter.) Then there was the situation with the snakes when John Root saves Mitch from a beating—they are described as green, but later Root says they were cottonmouth. Cottonmouths are emphatically not green; I’ve seen one up-close-and-personal like (I’m talking about from less than a foot away, when it was twined up on a road sign across the way, and I, being the person I am, said, “Cool!” and walked right up to take a good look at it), and from even a short distance they look black. When you’re very close, however, you can see they have a very subtle pattern, which is really quite lovely, but they are not—I repeat—green.

As I mentioned, I’m originally from a small town, so to me the creepiest aspect of this book was how the normal exclusionary, us-versus-them attitude of a small town is exaggerated and perverted by the Stranger to create overt suspiciousness. I could so see that happening, and so easily, even in the larger area where I live now. People have a distressing tendency to believe the worst about other people in too many instances. At any rate, other than the supernatural aspects, the sheer, horrifying plausibility of the whole thing is what really freaked me out.

However, it also horribly misrepresented the Trickster. While it is true the Trickster causes chaos, it is never evil; there is always a reason, a greater good, for the mischief the Trickster causes. This is often quite misunderstood by cultures in which a Trickster is not a normal part of the pantheon or culture, which probably explains the use of Trickster as a scapegoat in this story. John’s musings that Chaos is an integral part of nature is absolutely true, and what the Stranger represents is not truly Chaos, but Evil, and despite what this book would lead one to expect, there is a difference.

Taking into account that this is an ARC, I will assume that most of the typos will be fixed, especially the consistent misuse of the word “tomb” where, based on the context the word referring to a large book, the meaning is clearly “tome.” There are also several instances of “where” and “were” being mixed up, but this is fairly common and will hopefully have been caught before the book’s release.

The “undated Southern myth” that is quoted before each part of the book sounded eerily familiar to me. I finally figured it out: it is very similar to the song by Credence Clearwater Revival called “The Old Man Down the Road.” I imagine this song strongly influenced this book, but only the author can confirm that.

Despite any problems I may have mentioned, I enjoyed this book. This is top-notch horror, freakishly plausible and terrifying for that exact reason. If you enjoy horror, if you are a fan of Lovecraft, and have been looking for a new chapter in Cthulhuian mythos, don’t hesitate to grab this one as soon as it is available.

Book Review: "The Devil in Silver" by Victor LaValle

The Devil in Silver review
Author: Victor LaValle
5 out of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Literary Fiction (per publisher); Dark Fiction (per me)
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Anyone who likes a great story

Disclosure: I received a paperback ARC of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: New Hyde Hospital’s psychiatric ward has a new resident. It also has a very, very old one.

Pepper is a rambunctious big man, minor-league troublemaker, working-class hero (in his own mind), and, suddenly, the surprised inmate of a budget-strapped mental institution in Queens, New York. He’s not mentally ill, but that doesn’t seem to matter. He is accused of a crime he can’t quite square with his memory. In the darkness of his room on his first night, he’s visited by a terrifying creature with the body of an old man and the head of a bison who nearly kills him before being hustled away by the hospital staff. It’s no delusion: The other patients confirm that a hungry devil roams the hallways when the sun goes down. Pepper rallies three other inmates in a plot to fight back: Dorry, an octogenarian schizophrenic who’s been on the ward for decades and knows all its secrets; Coffee, an African immigrant with severe OCD, who tries desperately to send alarms to the outside world; and Loochie, a bipolar teenage girl who acts as the group’s enforcer. Battling the pill-pushing staff, one another, and their own minds, they try to kill the monster that’s stalking them. But can the Devil die?

My Thoughts: This was one of those books I picked up because there wasn’t anything else that really appealed to me, and it just looked strange enough that I would enjoy it. Pepper seems like the kind of character I would enjoy, and I also tend to like stories sent in mental institutions. But imagine my delight when I found descriptions like this one:

“...Queens, New York. The most ethnically diverse region not just in the United States, but on the entire planet; a distinction it’s held for more than four decades. In Queens, you will find Korean kids who sound like black kids. Italians who sound like Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans who sound like Italians. Third-generation Irish who sound like old Jews. That’s Queens. Not a melting pot, not even a tossed salad, but an all you-can-eat, mix-and-match buffet.”

This is the sort of book that will give people with a phobia of madness or being committed nightmares. This is a paranoiac’s vision of a mental institution, a place designed and developed for the sole purpose of disappearing those who are so far beneath society’s notice that no one will even care when they vanish. Designed and developed to house a monster. But who will believe mental patients when they claim a beast is killing them?

I was put in on a 72-hour hold once – thankfully I was released on-time – and there do tend to be a lot of amusing incidents on a psych ward. For instance, the problems with the television lounge and the person in control of the remote can cause amusing incidents like this one:

“...it was a ‘news program.’ Cue the exodus! Two-thirds of the patients scrambled. The Air Force’s finest fighter squadrons don’t move as fast.”

These sorts of humorous interludes are very necessary, as this is a really freaky book.

However, this author is really amazing. His style is such that is draws you in and holds you. Take this example, talking about a man who ends up being scapegoated for events that take place late in the book. “Only a day after he’d left New Hyde, no one at the hospital could remember the dude’s name. (His name was Robert Paulson. His name was Robert Paulson.)” You see what I mean? That reptition – pure genius. So, I can heartily recommend this book to folks that won’t get freaked out by the content, or those who aren’t triggered by the concept of an asylum. Great stuff!

Book Review: "Scorch" by Gina Damico

Scorch review
Author: Gina Damico
5 out of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Urban Fantasy/Horror
Reading Level: Middle Grade (per publisher) Young Adult (per me)
Book Available: September 25, 2012

Disclosure: I received a free paperback galley from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to damn souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But after inadvertently transferring her ability to Zara, a murderous outlaw, Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little town she calls home.

To escape the townspeople’s wrath, she and her friends embark on a wild road trip to DeMyse. Though this sparkling desert oasis is full of luxuries and amusements, it feels like a prison to Lex. Her best chance at escape would be to stop Zara once and for all — but how can she do that from DeMyse, where the Grims seem mysteriously oblivious to Zara’s killing spree?

My Thoughts: This book is the sequel to Croak!, which I read and reviewed March 16-17, 2012 (see that review here), and at least one more book is currently scheduled in this series, tentatively scheduled for release sometime in 2013.

The publisher lists this book for age 12 and up, but it has quite a lot of violence (and some mild sexual situations), so keep that in mind. It actually creeped me out a bit, and I seriously had a difficult time finishing it due to how dark it was (I admit, I peeked at the ending – on serious advantage to eBooks is that I can’t do that). That does not mean it is not a good book – it really is a very good book. Damico is a seriously talented writer, one that has created characters for whom I truly feel something, which is why I had so much trouble finishing the book; I didn’t want to see the characters go through what I knew was coming.

We finally see another Grim town – DeMyse, out in Death Valley – which was pretty neat. From the ending of this book, it appears we might get to see Necropolis in the upcoming third book... but I won’t give any more information than that, so as to avoid spoilers. If you enjoy a book with well-written and strongly characterized people, and aren’t bothered by some seriously dark storylines, this book is definitely for you. If your younger reader is interested in the book, I would recommend you first read the book yourself before allowing it.

Great Minds Think Aloud presents: Free: "The Necro Device" by M.T. Dismuke

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Review: The Croning

The Croning by Laird Barron

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Book Info: Genre: Horror Reading Level: Adult Read: started 5/17/12; re-started 5/20/12 and finished 5/21/12

Disclosure: I received a free eGalley (eBook ARC) from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oops, forgot to rate this!

Synopsis: Strange things exist on the periphery of our existence, haunting us from the darkness looming beyond our firelight. Black magic, weird cults and worse things loom in the shadows. The Children of Old Leech have been with us from time immemorial. And they love us.

Donald Miller, geologist and academic, has walked along the edge of a chasm for most of his nearly eighty years, leading a charmed life between endearing absent-mindedness and sanity-shattering realization. Now, all things must converge. Donald will discover the dark secrets along the edges, unearthing savage truths about his wife Michelle, their adult twins, and all he knows and trusts.

For Donald is about to stumble on the secret...of The Croning. From Laird Barron, Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of The Imago Sequence and Occultation, comes The Croning, a debut novel of cosmic horror.

My Thoughts: An author whose work I really like – Brett Talley of That Which Should not Be fame – wrote in his review of this book: “Barron writes like Hemmingway (sic) might have if he weren’t so boring.” He has a good point – Barron writes lush, evocative prose – for instance the phrase: The deepest cavern in the world is the human heart. – and is not afraid of creating portraits with words. I especially liked the drug-addled trip down the Yukon Don took in a rubber Zodiac in 1980. While it can seem a bit dense, especially if one is trying to read whilst sleepy, it is also very readable. I sometimes had to read something more than once – often because I was trying to skim through it as quickly as I normally read – but it was more because of the need to really revel in the beauty of the words than because it was hard to understand.

Let the dark blind you on the inside, Don. There are frightful things. Don has severe memory problems, and has tended to forget many of the most traumatic events of his life – as well as more prosaic things. I have similar problems and know how difficult it can make life. Don, once fluent enough in Spanish to have written in his journal in that language, has completely forgotten it – likely as a result of the events in the first chapter, events that took place in 1958 in Mexico City, seven years after he married Michelle. Most of the book, however, took place between “now,” when Don is in his 80s, and 1980, weaving the action back and forth between the present and the past. We eventually learn why Don has these troubles with his memory – and it’s creepy, just like so much else in here...

They Who Wait love you...: the whisper of a dying man. There are some seriously creepy moments in this book, which built slowly through the book, gradually increasing in tension; but I also loved the wry humor that went throughout the book. When Don was in Mexico looking for Melissa and sent to two mysterious, retired policemen named Ramirez and Kinder, and the two were described (which I won’t tell you about ‘cause that would be a spoiler), I laughed like crazy. Ramirez was also the first to reference Old Leech and an ancient Celtic tribe that worshiped him. I loved the character development as well, which tends to give us just enough information to form an opinion of the person and their character without it becoming overwhelming.

One thing that puzzled me was the frequent usage of British-English language – bloody, telly, old chap, jolly good, etc. – in a book that is set in Washington state and revolves around Americans. While it is true that there are those of us who affect Britishisms, due to one thing or another (overabundance of Britcoms in my wasted youth, for one thing), it’s not common here.

I was curious as to how they would eventually show a croning. In the traditions I follow, a croning is usually when a woman moves into menopause – transitioning from Mother to Crone in her lifecycle. I say “usually” because there are some women who move straight from Maiden to Crone, if they decide they don’t want to become a Mother, for instance, or if health circumstances occur, such as an early hysterectomy. The hints given early in the book seem to point to a much darker version of this being exemplified in this story. However, the ritual is never shown in any detail – just hints and winks. I found that to be much more satisfying, truth to tell – you could create the thing in your own head, which is generally scarier than anything a writer can explicitly state.

The text itself played tricks on my eyes – whenever I would defocus my eyes I would see pentagrams and flames and spikey-looking things. And this would happen a lot, since a) I was forced to read the book on my computer and b) I was often forced to re-read a passage more than once. It’s not that the book was necessarily hard, it was just dense and I really needed to focus, which brings me back to a) and the fact that incoming email or random thoughts of things I wanted to Google kept interrupting me. I wish I had received the proper Kindle file from NetGalley. Fortunately my computer decided it didn’t like the network connection and the WiFi wouldn’t work, so when it came time for me to try again to read the book (after taking a couple days to read some other books), I was able to focus without that distraction.

This is perhaps the point that it would be appropriate to complain about that. Generally once I see the file name on my Kindle list, I “accept” the title from NetGalley. Since it is difficult for me to remember to go back and post reviews on Amazon, I like to wait until close to or soon after the book release to read and review it, so I hadn’t actually opened the file on my Kindle until I sat down to read the story. As I read the first chapter, I was quite confused. “I thought this was horror, not epic fantasy?” I queried to myself. Finally I went to the book’s cover and saw that, while the file name from the menu at the top of the screen said The Croning, same as it did on the main list of titles, the text of the book itself was Scourge of the Betrayer. Probably not as different as it may seem, especially with the beginning of The Croning retelling Rumplestiltskin, but still – not what I expected. Fortunately I had later downloaded the file to my desktop, Adobe Digital, and got the correct one that time. Still, I’m two for two on bad NetGalley files this weekend! And speaking of things that irritated me ….

At one point Kurt is bitten by a rat while sleepwalking, at which point he is said to need “X-rays, tetanus and rabies shots.” This is spreading the misunderstanding that rats can carry rabies, which is untrue. Rats are small and have a very swift reaction to things – in the event of being bitten by a rabid creature, rats are most likely to be killed outright. If they were to survive, somehow, then the fast spread of the disease through their system would kill them too rapidly for them to become infectious. Additionally, rabies is spread through saliva being injected into a bit, and rats – due to the structure of their mouth – deliver a “dry” bite; there is no saliva present in a rat bite, so even in the extremely unlikely scenario where a rat would survive a rabid-animal attack, and live long enough with the disease to become infectious, the chance of a bite causing rabies is very remote. That was your public health information for the day, you’re welcome! ☺

However, overall this was a wonderful horror novel – creepy, spooky, atmospheric – psychological rather than gore, which is what I prefer. Nothing wrong with a gorefest, but I don’t find them particularly scary or spooky, whilst a psychological horror book will tend to leave me sleeping with the lights on. Highly recommended.



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