"Life is horror and fantasy, not necessarily in that order."
Forty-five years after the release of the B movie spoof Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, we have a novelization by an author who is perfectly suited to bring the absurdity of the film’s premise to the written page. Thanks to an amusing tweet by horror writer Jeff Strand and a serious response by Encyclopocalypse Publications, the book …
Continue reading Horror Book Review: ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES
The first word I thought after reading Demonic, the newest novel by Jeff Strand, is bonkers. However, bonkers seems a bit inappropriate since Demonic is about a Satanic cult whose members kill without mercy. Actually, the book is about a guy named Corey who decides to rescue his co-worker Quinn by killing her abusive husband …
(Editor's Note: Kindle Vella publishes serial stories to read one short episode at a time.) The fantasy action/adventure novel Island of the Dead by Brian Keene is an old-fashioned story hearkening back to the days of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian. In fact, the main character is a barbarian named Einar. The first three …
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review horror short stories.) Karma is a bitch, but it has nothing on Jennifer Perry, the main character in the remorseless revenge tale “Political Suicide” by Bridgett Nelson. “Political Suicide” is a standout short story in Volume 3 of the Better Off Dead Series titled If …
Cover art by Lynne Hansen at LynneHansenArt.com In Twentieth Anniversary Screening, author Jeff Strand chronicles the tragic history of a terrible 1991 slasher movie titled The Roofer. Written like a retrospective article on a horror news website, the story recounts the bloody history of events surrounding the film. A 2021 Bram Stoker Award nominee for …
Continue reading Horror Book Review: TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING
(Editor’s Note: Here’s another edition of one of my favorite features on the Web by prolific reader and horror author Priscilla Bettis.)
I had a delicious list of books to read this past quarter, everything from classic literature to extreme horror. Well, the extreme horror stories weren’t so “delicious.” I definitely needed a sweet romance palate cleanser after those!
Here are my one-sentence reviews for 1st quarter 2022:
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood. Seriously, Atwood was ahead of her time as this book proves with its questioning of traditional family makeup, its point-of-view manipulation, and its hugely symbolic storyline. Library.
Flesh Rehearsal by Brian Bowyer. Bowyer’s extreme horror novel is written in his signature style that borders on stream-of-consciousness, and I admit that the book went over my head. KU.
Road Narrows by Brian Bowyer. I’m glad I gave Bowyer’s style of writing another shot because this brutal story with high-brow existentialist and theological themes had me in its grip and would not let go! KU.
Good Liniment by C.S. Boyack…
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(Editor's note: This review contains major spoilers.) What happens when you successfully rob a bank, but unbeknownst to you, the hostage you take is a notorious cannibalistic serial killer? Hint: It doesn't end well. The Hostage by Elizabeth Bell is a fast-paced Extreme Horror novella detailing the events of a bank robbery and its aftermath. …
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review horror short stories.) “The Hay Bale” is the new novelette by Virginia author Priscilla Bettis. I became an instant Bettis fan after reading her debut short story in 2021, the darkly intimate vampire tale “The Sun Sets Nonetheless.” You can read my review of “The …
(Editor’s Note: Here’s another edition of one of my favorite features on the Web by prolific reader and horror author Priscilla Bettis.)
Here are the fiction and nonfiction books I read during the last three months. It LOOKS like I read a lot, but there are quite a few short stories and novellas, so I didn’t really read that many pages. Anyway, I’ll attempt a coherent, one-sentence review for each without cheating and stringing a bunch of sentences together with and!
For fun, this time I put them in reverse alphabetical order by author.:-)
Telecommuting by L. Marie Wood. There is (practically) only one character in this contemporary, slow-burn mystery novella, but Wood makes it work by feeding the reader clues and creating an anxious, believable setting. KU.
I can’t believe Tidepool is Willson’s debut. It’s SO good!
Tidepool by Nicole Willson is a Gothic-Lovecraftian novel with a misty, dank atmosphere, a protagonist you can root for, and a plot you can sink your teeth into. Kindle.
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(Editor’s Note: One of my favorite columns! I’m always amazed at how many reviews Mrs. Bettis packs in her One-Sentence Reviews feature.)
These are the books I read in April, May, and June along with a one-sentence review of each. (And what’s with today’s feature image?) Alpha by author or editor:
The Encampment by the Gorge & Blood Memory by Zachary Ashford is a Short Sharp Shocks book with two stories set in Australia that include folk horror, politics, crocodiles, and high stakes. KU.
Nightfall by Daniel Barnett. Barnett manages to make lyrical prose sound masculine to suit the tough SOB protagonist in this apocalyptic novel, the first in a series. KU.
The Corn Witch by Christopher Beck. This novelette in the Short Sharp Shocks series (love this series) features a witch as scary as Bradbury’s dust witch even if the prose isn’t as polished as the master’s. KU.
The Sound of Brilliance ed by…
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The Official Website of Horror and Fantasy Writer Lionel Ray Green 