Tequila's Sunrise by Brian Keene Review

by Brian Keene
Deadite Press
Review posted 05/06/2011

Tequila's Sunrise by Brian Keene, is a collection of 8 short stories that include:

Tequila's Sunrise:
A tale of the Tenochas or Aztecs, one in particular named Chalco. He is a hunter of his kind and learns to discover what it means to have Gods, to believe in the end of the world and to see what comes after he is able to see on the other side of things.

Burying Besty:
Tells of a father who buries his daughter alive to keep her from harm whatever it maybe.

Dust:
Is a ghost story based on Laura who had to deal with the tragic death of her loved one because of the 9-11 incident and learns to discover things may not be what they seem.

Fade to Null:
tells of the inner feelings, thoughts of a person dealing with Alzheimer's disease and what could be like a fantasy moment, but actually be nothing.

Bunnies in August:
Gary visits where his son Jack died. However, there are strange situations that happen in his life and bunnies are all over the place. What could possible happen next?

That which Lingers:
Sara has an abortion and her boyfriend leaves her. But does the abortion cause more than just an ending of a relationship?

Two-Headed Alien Love Child:
A woman is impregnated by aliens, Kaine is there on the case. There is just a few things to take care of.

Golden Boy:
Is about a boy that has special abilities to produce gold from his body. He never has relationships, but always finds a way to make due.

I found these stories to be odd and yet some amusing, while others really strange. It was a complete collection of everything one could want while reading short stories. An enjoyable collection that let's you take a strong look at what society would do and what seems to be a strange, strange world of Brian Keene.

The Fecund’s Melancholy Daughter by Brent Hayward Review

by Brent Hayward
ChiZine Publications
ISBN: 978-1926851136
Review by: Rob Walter
Review posted 05/02/2011



The Fecund’s Melancholy Daughter is the newest novel from the mind of Brent Hayward and is the second book he has published. Chizine Press also published his first novel, Filaria, in 2009. This Sci-Fi Fantasy story is approximately 235 pages.

The story begins with three women in space entering a space craft called “mother” with rockets on their wrists and ankles. Except for all of the dead crew inside, the ship resembles a human body. Then we jump to the Kholics cleaning up trash and waste flowing from the great city of Nowy Solum. Being outcasts, the Kholics are perfect for this kind of work. Then there is path, laying in the garden under the rain waiting for his father to sleep off the spiritus binge he had been on. This path is unique in that he wiggles his stumps, but can’t escape the sling his father carries him in. The story moves in fits and starts as it continues to jump around back and forth between the different strands of the stories.

Part of the difficulty I had with the book lay in the fact that there weren’t really any chapters or headings in it. Only pictures to show some of the breaks. Some transitions between the parts of the story happened from one paragraph to the next. This made reading it more work as I often had to pause to think/re-read portions to maintain what understanding I had of the book. I was impressed that after my confusion of most of the story everything did tie together and come to a somewhat coherent conclusion.

The Secret of Lies by Barbara Forte Abate Review

By Barbara Forte Abate
Dog Year Publishing
ISBN: 978-1608444182
Review posted 04/29/2011

Stevie Burke one night, feels that nothing is left but for her to leave her husband, the home that she has known for sometime. She tries to forget a past that haunts her memories, but has her make this shift choice to leave behind what she has lived for only a short time.

What I loved about this book was that Stevie is such a strong and bold character. Throughout this story, you can feel her struggle with dealing with past events, the hard choices she has to make and the feeling of regret at times when she feels these choices might not have been right.

Barbara Forte Abate strikes a cord with all of us enduring any kind of hardship, showing us that we are not alone and how at times no matter what the struggle, in the end we will know what the right choice should be.

Without Notice by Jason Hughes Review

by Jason Hughes
Panic Press
ISBN: 978-446603086
Review by: Terry Morgan
Review posted 04/25/2011

A cheating fiancé takes Amanda to The Graystone Castle Apartment Complex where she takes her residence. There she learns about strange occurrences, unforeseen murders and many things that she starts to wonder about. No matter what she does, the things keep occurring, even when the owner of the complex, tries to do something different. Amanda is in for the ride of her life.

At first reading the beginning few pages I was taken into a sex scene and was wondering if the book was to develop into anything else. However, Jason Hughes took me for a whirlwind of shock, horror and mystery. I often wondered what would happen next to Amanda and actually started to feel sorry for the woman.

Without Notice is a book that starts slowly, but ends with a bang, a loud one at that. Don't be distracted when reading this book, or you will miss what good writing is.

The Spaces between your Screams by Christopher Hivner Review

by Christopher Hivner
eTreasures Publishing
ISBN: 978-1607026419
Review posted 04/23/2011

What book has you standing on edge, reading about possessions, weird experiments, tragic tales of horror and frightful takings on the unknown? It could only be a collection of stories by Christopher Hivner called THe Spaces between your Screams.

In the moment I began reading this collection, I was excited to finish the first story. It was not the same common thread of death, destruction and endless gore without purpose you may see in some stories, but filled with detail and amazing horror that filled me with hope and I continued on reading the rest of the collection.

I was not only thrilled to read the rest of the stories, but also disappointed. I wanted more and so will you. This collection has a dark heart, but a heart that beats strong. The stories that fill this book bring you into such a state of joy to be reading horror that is filled with an actual plot-line. Yes, I said a real plot, spiced up in a few words of a short story.

Did I find one that was better than the rest, no. Why? Because they were all that good. In fact, I think the space between my screams has finally been filled.

Sins and Tragedies by The Editorial Staff of The Dark Fiction Spotlight Review

by Stephen Roberts, J.D. Stone, Stacy Bolli and Thad Presley (The Editorial Staff of The Dark Fiction Spotlight)
Panic Press
ISBN: 978-1446621370
Review by: Gina Desory
Review posted 04/21/2011

Sins and Tragedies is a collection of short stories by the editorial staff of The Dark Fiction Spotlight in their most extreme writing yet.
The stories bring you further into a darkness which you may not have ever been in. Each of these six authors brings to you three stories of what would be some of the strangest, but horror filled stories today.

I have read some collections that they claimed to be 'horror' and just didn't make the mark. However, Sins and Tragedies does more than that, it allows you to remember to take a breath once in awhile as when you read the words of these talented authors, you are shocked, you are scared beyond anything imagined and you are left with a feeling that those stories were one hell of a ride.

Pantomine by Robert Essig Review

Panic Press
ISBN: 978-446768457
Review posted 04/13/2011

Pantomime contains 4 stories by known author Robert Essig. Each story has its own creative flow and its own horror.

Pantomime tells the story of a man who has rented a house for years. A Science major in college, Clyde, wants to rent the house by himself. Thomas the owner is not sure just someone by themselves should rent the house, but goes along with it anyways after telling Clyde about the secrets within.

The story is one full of old time horror, things creeping in the night and a twist at the end that makes you think twice about renting any place that you don't research first.

A Step towards Redemption has a man trying to seek redemption for something his brother Hank and he did when they were children, killing a woman. Then a situation brings the character back to memories of his childhood with Hank and a realization that some things don't stay in the past.

This particular story shows the inner core of what a person can go through, knowing what they have done and knowing what could be ahead for them. It takes you down the road of this main character as he struggles through what life has to offer him now and how the past creeps up on you when you least expect it.

In the The Old Man, Benny does his gardening everyday because his wife just loves roses, or did. She's dead. In the meantime, an old man keeps coming up and bothering him. Getting annoyed, he tries to ignore the old man's constant bothering. Then Benny realizes there is something really familiar about this old man, something that may make him take a second look.

Benny is a character we can all relate to. Someone who feels sorrow, pain, from loosing a loved one and just trying to cope everyday with those feelings. He is a strong character that shows just what we would do in our everyday lives once a person that was always there to us is gone and what we would do to try and get them back.

A Crack in the Silver Lining is the last of the tales in this collection. A man who had a lost childhood and very disruptive one, used to look at a crack on his ceiling when his parents would fight. Both parents now dead, he lives with his wife and kids in a new house, but the crack reappears in his own bedroom.

This story was an intense look at hiding things from our past so that we can move on with our lives. It shows a deep look into someone's mind when the realization of what they were hiding comes back to the surface.

Pantomime is a compelling collection of stories that leave you with a thought of what you might be doing in your own life, or what is lurking in your past you maybe trying to forget. It is a collection of tales that make you think, make you fear what you may not know about yourself.