Deadstock by Ian Rogers Review

By Ian Rogers
Stonebunny Press
ISBN: 978-0986854743
Review by: Dana Bell
Review posted 2/05/2012

Deadstock by Ian Rogers is a fun little read full of supernatural creatures. Dryden and Raisy arrive in a small western town to help out a rancher whose cattle are being gutted and left for him to find. They meet all the members of the family before setting out to discover who or what is killing the cows.


Eventually, they discover a cave inhabited by ghouls. Yes, that's right ghouls, the proper name for what has been morphed into Zombies. There is a battle in which the creatures survive, but at least our hero and heroine now know what they're up against.

They meet Bonnie, the oldest not quite right in the head daughter, mourning the loss of her sister who dies because a rattlesnake bit her. She is found naked and muttering at an old creek bed.

Although, short, the tale is delightful and set in the wild west, complete with a mysterious sheriff who seems to know something about the Dryden and Raisy, but who allows them to do what they were hired to do. And thus the question arises, who was the man really and was he the true sheriff of the town?


Truth be told, the reviewer was expecting a UFO tale of mutilated cattle in the old west and was delighted to discover the true culprits were ghouls. The ultimate twist of the story is an interesting turn and keeps the real perpetrator a secret until almost the very end.

Not to mention an unusual use of a wolf who is summoned to help the hero and heroine. Oh, and a mysterious cat who travels with Raisy and has its own roll heroic roll in events.

 
A highly recommended read for fans of ghouls, zombies and old west supernatural tales and not as graphic as one would expect. Kudos for the writer. 

Party Wolves in My Skull by Michael Allen Rose Review

By Michael Allen Rose
Eraserhead Press
ISBN: 978-1621050068
Review by: Terry Morgan
Review posted 1/25/2012

When it comes to the strange and just plain out there, Michael Allen Rose tells the best tale in  Party Wolves in My Skull.

Norman Spooter wakes up one day to find something wrong with his eyes. They not only sting, them seem to be alive. Several small beings are fighting, falling in love with each other and basically trying to rip out of his eyes. Not only can he not see because of this mess going on, he runs into Zoe, a woman who is running away from her out of control boyfriend. What becomes a chance meeting turns into a bizarre adventure of wits and survival through a mess no one can describe better than Rose himself.

Not only will a person want to read this just because it is such a different story, but will just want to see what happens to poor Mr. Spooter who never seems to have any luck and frankly haven't we all had one of those days?

The Walking Wounded by Robert Devereaux Review

By Robert Devereaux
Deadite Press
ISBN: 978-1936383856
Review by: Ronnie Tucker
Review posted 1/23/2012
  

Walking Wounded, by Robert Devereaux, is a bit of a strange one. It begins with one woman who has decided to kill her husband. Good start, but then it seems to slip back in time by twenty years and has characters chatting via BBS. I'm old enough to know about pre-Internet civilization, but I think he'll lose many a reader with that. Also a fair chunk of the book is taken up with showing us how the characters are chatting, via text, in their little BBS world as in every line of chat. Complete with smilies. Really I think that it may well be down to pulling out an old story for current release. The cover is copyright 2011, but the story is (according to the second page) from 1996.

Some people out there will love this book, but it just wasn't my thing. It seemed to me to be written from a female perspective (ie: love, divorce and massages) possibly with female readers in mind. At 200 pages, it was a tough read for me.

A Hollow Cube is a Lonely Space by S.D. Foster Review

By S.D. Foster
Eraserhead Press
ISBN: 978-1621050087
Review by: Terry Morgan
Review posted 1/21/2012

When it comes to short stories you often try to find that one thing that binds the collection together.  In this collection that is often considered the strange, weird and many times just too far out there.

The first story, The Course of Clementine, tells of Clementine, the fruit, that tells the story of her life. Often than not she feels that she strives for something she will never get. The story is a bit out there but does give the moral implication of one's life, even a fruit's.

The other stories in this collection such as  The Noggin, tells of a man loosing his head and then being reintroduced to it later. The tale is certainly odd, but grasps the attention of someone just not 'having their head on their shoulders.'

These stories bring about everything you can possibly imagine. No they aren't your normal way of thinking in what they describe, but they do hit the heart and soul of every way we truly act as human beings, even if some of the characters aren't really human.

Severed Volume 2 - Myths and Legends by Darren Sant and Sam Lang Review

By Darren Sant and Sam Lang
Trestle Press
Review by: Rob Walter
Review posted 1/18/2012

This is the second in the Severed Series of short stories from the minds of Darren Sant and Sam Long and published by Trestle Press. My previous review available here: Severed: In the Beginning

The story begins by introducing a new character, Judy Brantwood, who was, pre-Zombie Apocalypse, an employee of Health-Pharm responsible for marketing the EZ-Thin Diet Pills that start the zombie infection. She ends up post-apocalypse meeting up with Zac from Severed, In the Beginning down in Florida.

We then jump back to New York City to Randall Bueller, the former head of Health-Pharm, who is now the dictator of the fortress built around the Helath-Pharm Headquarters to keep the zombies at bay ala’ Night of the Dead.

Then we change to a team of survivors who call themselves the Vindicator Team. They  patrol the dead streets of New York dressed as super-heroes. The leader of the team is Rick, aka Kid-Bolt.

I won’t spoil the story for you, but it is well written if somewhat derivative and has a surprising twist at the end. The authors get the reader into the story without using the normal blood, gore and guts.

I recommend this to those looking for a different take on the standard Zombie story and I look forward to the next installment.

Santa Steps Out by Robert Devereaux Review

By Robert Devereaux
Deadite Press
ISBN: 978-1621050131
Review by: Terry Morgan
Review posted 1/04/2012

When thinking of a fairy tale or holiday characters we think about, normally Santa, elves, Tooth Fairy and several others.  But what are the images that come to mind? Certainly not what is in this book, Santa Steps Out.

The Tooth Fairy bored because she doesn't have a lover as she once did, goes out in search of Santa, yes, that's right, good ole Saint Nick. After all he is so giving right?

Well, we continue the story with the Tooth Fairy teasing Santa into wanting sex with her. After awhile he caves in s to speak and they have many encounters. Let's just say some people's Christmases were getting a whole lot better because of these actions.

Santa tells Mrs. Clause what happened and vows to never do it again, but again he does on several occasions. Also, they have a quest watching the spectacle of Santa and the Tooth Fairy, yes, you guessed it: The Easter Bunny who is not only disgusted by what the two are doing, but has envy of Santa for many reasons.

What this book holds back on is basically, nothing. It is not your charming tale of deers or white snow. It has sex and lots of it. It has characters doing things that perhaps even some people would cringe on. Yet through all this it brings into play everyday morals that people go through.; heartbreak, lust, acceptance, vengeance and trickery.

Santa Steps Out is not for everyone and if you are not into the far fetched and the sexual scenes that take place often, you may not want to read it. However, if you don't mind the above, then take a shot at it. Who knows you maybe now thinking of these well-known figures in a whole new light.

Scarecrow & The Madness by Robert Essig and Craig Saunders Review

By Robert Essig and Craig Saunders
Blood Bound Books
ISBN: 978-0984540877
Review by: Rob Walter
Review posted 12/29/2011

The Scarecrow and The Madness are two stories published together in 2011 by Bloodbound Books. It is an interesting pairing as they really have nothing in common besides being in the horror genre and being penned by twisted authors.

The Scarecrow is by Craig Saunders and is set in England. It involves Bernie and Margaret, two people who have obviously been married forever, taking a little trip into town. Marge to do some shopping and Bernie to have a pint at the pub. This would not turn out to be your average trip to town as there was a roaming band of gypsies in town. Bernie, after imbibing more than the allowed “just one”, is rudely interrupted by the gypsies in the pub. This leads to the police busting in and breaking it up. The gypsies pledge revenge against Bernie. So far, somewhat predictable, but I won’t go into it any further and ruin the story for you, but it is twisted and will have  you looking at farmers’ wives’ in a whole new light.

 The Madness, by Robert Essig, is by contrast set in Colorado. It involves a nice banker, Tony, getting caught in a blizzard on his way home from the bank and being forced to seek shelter at the closest house to the road he was on.  That house belongs to Dan and Sue along with their son Phillip. Sounds nice and normal right? Well, Tony has a dead brother (Randy) who manifests in Tony’s mind and has conversations with Tony.  Dan has a family “curse” they call a “tickle” that causes the men in the family to kill eventually. Dan’s father killed both his mother and brother, but left him alive for some strange reason. Mix that all together and you end up with a twisted little tale that contains violence, extreme torture and coming of age.

Neither of these stories is for the weak at heart. While I liked both stories, they took my mind into places I would rather not have been. I actually had to stop reading the second story a couple of times as I had to recover from what was there. Both stories have unique twists to them that make them worth the read.

I would recommend them to anyone over the age of 18 that can handle intense violence and psychological horror.