"Life is horror and fantasy, not necessarily in that order."
I had the privilege of attending the Taylor Swift concert in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday thanks to my sweetheart’s tenacity when tickets went on sale in February. Her name is Taylor, too, and she waited on the Internet five hours to buy tickets. I like some of Taylor Swift’s music, but as a teenager of …
Continue reading The joy of Taylor Swift, a tiny poodle, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, and Mom and Elvis
I finished my "project for the year" and compiled the complete list of all the Splatterpunk Awards winners and nominees in one spot, which is here. After co-founders Wrath James White and Brian Keene announced the 2023 Splatterpunk Awards Final Ballot on February 8, I decided to sit down and type up all the authors …
My first-ever column for the horror news and reviews website MalevolentDark.com was released. I review the film He Comes to Kill, a slasher shot on a $2,000 budget. I enjoyed its mix of horror and humor as well as the new masked killer named Stanley Elk. You can read my review HERE. Director August Aguilar did a phenomenal …
So, here’s the dream. I’m sitting at a table in Bigfoot’s Little Donuts, my favorite shop for the sweet treats. Sitting across from me are one of my literary heroes, Jeff Strand, and his wife, the wonderful horror book cover artist Lynne Hansen. (L to R) Lynne Hansen, Jeff Strand, Bridgett Nelson, Bigfoot, and me. Sitting …
Continue reading Jeff Strand+Bigfoot’s Little Donuts=Perfect Day
(Editor’s note: Once again horror author Priscilla Bettis delivers another awesome quarterly reading list … this time of works by authors whose blogs she follows. I counted 72 reviews. Thank you, Priscilla, for supporting so many Indy Authors, and thank you for including “Scarecrow Road” on your reading list.)
For the last quarter of 2022, I endeavored to read a book or story from every author whose blog I follow. At first I thought I’d bitten off more than I can chew, but the holidays gave me extra reading time. I enjoyed the variety of genres and writing styles and found some real gems. I’m just nervous that I overlooked someone. (Hope not!) In reverse alphabetical order by authors’ last names, here are my one-sentence reviews for 4th quarter 2022:
The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Lowenhohle by Thomas Wikman who is donating proceeds to the Leonberger Health Foundation International. I totally recommend this feel-good memoir about a family and their Loenberger dog because it made me laugh, stew with anger, cry happy-sad tears, and taught me about the noble Leonberger breed. Kindle.
Musings, Volume 1, by Kent Wayne. I think anyone who likes…
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(Editor’s note: Author Priscilla Bettis’ quarterly one-sentence review posts are always fun and eclectic reads. Plus, she has her own book titled Dog Meat coming out November 8th. Click HERE to order.)
Can she do it? Can Priscilla write 33 reviews using only one sentence each? Let’s find out!
Plotting for Murder by Tamra Baumann is your typical, cute cozy mystery, this time with a love story included, awww. KU.
The Box by Scott J Couturier combines contemplative passages with science fiction and horror to produce a collection of unique, dark short stories. ARC from publisher.
No One Can Help You by Ruth Anna Evans. This is a collection of emotional horror short stories featuring childhood and parental nightmares penned in Evans’ hypnotic prose. KU.
Relative Chaos by Kay Finch is a cozy mystery with multiple mysteries, crazy family dynamics, greed, danger, quirky characters, engaging plot… this one has it all! KU.
Don’t old clocks kinda give you goosebumps anyway?
“The Long Case Clock” by Ken Fry is an expertly penned short story of occult horror with an old clock as a…
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(Editor’s note: Author Priscilla Bettis’ quarterly one-sentence review posts are just the bee’s knees.)
This quarter includes stories about Bigfoot, Vikings, amateur sleuths, and Gothic ghosts!
The Devil Took Her by Michael Botur is a gritty and compelling collection of horror short stories with subjects like gangs and rats rather than werewolves and specters. Kindle.
Autumn Gothic by Brian Bowyer. Despite the title, my favorite Bowyer book yet is more extreme horror than Gothic horror, and NONE of his characters are safe. KU.
Whodunit? I was clueless until the end!
Double Date Disaster by Hope Callaghan. A cute, Golden Girls type of cast made this a fun cozy mystery. Whodunit? I was clueless until the end! Kudos to Callaghan for stumping me. KU.
Murder in a Dream by Thea Cambert. Happy people in happy places with nice conversations don’t make a cozy mystery very exciting, but readers’ mileage may vary. KU.
The nice-guy prince of horror wrote a YA space adventure?!
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(Editor’s note: Here’s a roundup that I always look forward to every quarter.)
I’m excited to share one-sentence reviews for my top 25 reads of first quarter 2021!
(In alphabetical order by author or editor.)
Wings & Fire: A horror anthology compiled by Dan Alatorre. There is such a wide variety of stories here, from dystopian to vampires, from not-so-interesting to excellent stories, the latter category making the anthology worth the read. (KU)
Hard for Hope to Flourish by Bell et al. In this anthology of three horror stories, all three tales (dark fable, African cosmic, and disappearance mystery) are sophisticated literary stories, heavy on character and theme, that make for satisfying reads. (KU)
Perfect prose.
“The Erstwhile Groom” by Laura Benedict is a domestic suspense short story with prose so perfect that it disappears and you end up existing inside the plot. (KU)
“The Ice Dream of the Crow” by Willow Croft is in an anthology called The Phantom Games edited…
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(Editor’s note: Here’s an exceptional blog post by horror author Priscilla Bettis that is loaded with brief, substantive book reviews. Perfect for readers on the go! — Lionel Ray Green)
This past quarter was such a fabulicious three months for reading! (Mostly horror, but other stuff, too.) Can you believe I have X, Y, and Z authors? I’m aiming to keep each review whittled down to one sentence. Here we go…
I’m Tired of Being Ordinary, Are You? by Wm. Allen. Allen’s blog is about current topics, books, and films, and is so thought-provoking that I just had to read his book, and I found his self-improvement book to be motivating and entertaining with jokes and movie selections as it presented a focal point for each week of the year.
Frightful by Stephen Barnard. This collection of Christmas stories is all horror (clever, creepy, or gory), all fun, and would make an excellent Christmas gift for the horror fan (even for dear mom because Barnard manages to keep the stories rather clean).
Colony of the Lost by Derik…
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I released my short story "Peace of Mind" on Amazon Kindle over the weekend. It's a horror story, but more on the psychological side of the spectrum. I'm not a fan of psychological horror. I'm a meat-and-potatoes horror fan formed in the womb of the books and films of the 1970s and 1980s. What can …
Continue reading ‘Peace of Mind’ is a thriller inside a twisted mind
The Official Website of Horror and Fantasy Writer Lionel Ray Green 