Unbound and Other Tales by David Dunwoody Review

By David Dunwoody
Library of Horror Press
ISBN: 978-1451511581
Review by: Gina Desory
Review posted 02/28/2011


Unbound and Other Tales by David Dunwoody is a scary, yet thrilling ride of bizarre and chilling stories. The first story, Unbound, tells of Josh Talbot who works at a publishing company. His boss wants him to continue the research and possible continued writing of a certain series name Sharpe. What Talbot doesn't know is the background of the series and what horror comes from dealing with this book and the main character.

The other 8 stories in this collection range from clowns standing together forming a line and nobody able to move them in the story Clowns. More of frightening words in the story Ministry where grave riders ride graves and switch their souls with the dead buried below. In Voice, we learn just what it means to deal with what we think are our exs, but Steven deals with more than his ex-wife's voice.

What leaves the reader hanging is not having more of these glorious stories to feed on. My appetite is now wet with words from Dunwoody and a wanting for more more more!

As any fan of Horror will tell you, Dunwoody is a star and every story in this collection is is just pure amazing and a must read for a fan of his work and fans of the Horror genre.

Rock and Roll Reform School Zombies by Bryan Smith Review

By Bryan Smith
Deadite Press
ISBN: 978-1936383276
Review by: Jim Cherry
Review posted 02/27/2011


Bryan Smith’s “Rock and Roll Reform School Zombies” is your average teenage boy meets girl who is sent away by her parents to be deprogrammed and “cured” of listening to heavy metal music, runs into homicidal lesbian facility headmistress, and then has to fend off zombies story.

“Rock and Roll Reform School Zombies” is meant to be an homage/parody of “B” or less movies of the 60’s and 70’s. It starts off on a right note, a fast paced Rock ‘n’ Roll tone, hitting the ground running with a sense of the irreverent. But it quickly downshifts a gear or two to a more traditionally written novel, and some of the irreverent attitude is set aside, not totally lost. Every once in a while it will show up in a nicely turned phrase or in the attitude of a character, but the break neck speed is lost, and some of the attitude that pulled you in at the beginning is gone.

In the heavy metal rehabilitation center Smith tries to make the connection that leading a life of conformity and being a Zombie are much alike. Like George Romero did in “Dawn of the Dead,” making zombies a metaphor for conspicuous consumption. But once that makes it’s appearance it is quickly left behind and not reinforced in the characters or action. It feels like Smith had a lot of ideas and tried to have them all included and it seemed he tried to go in too many directions at once. I have to say something about the end, it doesn’t make sense. The heroes do something really stupid, they know they’re doing it and it will precipitate another wave of zombies but they still do it anyway.

Of course if you just want to read about teenage, scantily clad zombies lumbering around chomping on their former friends, the bad guys all get their comeuppance first being masticated by zombies and then the ultimate justice of them getting their heads blown off after they become zombies then “Rock and Roll Reform School Zombies” is for you.


Jim Cherry is the author of The Last Stage www.jymsbooks.com

Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys by Chris Wood Review

By Chris Wood
LBD Publishing
ISBN: 978-1906669027
Review by: Jim Cherry
Review posted 02/26/2011

“Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys” by Chris Wood can be a lot of things. Is it a novel with 4 chapters? Or it could be a book of short stories that are linked together by the appearance of flying zombie death monkeys? Mostly it’s a witty parody of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories.

In “Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys” we’re taken to the London of Sherlock Holmes that is suddenly invaded by flying zombie death monkeys, it’s not only the title it’s the plot synopsis. Wood’s Holmes is an idiot that has the absolute conviction of the infallibility of his logic, and an unflappable demeanor when it doesn’t pan out. Holmes’ sidekick Dr. Watson is here too, barely able to endure Holmes and his insufferable attitude, but Holmes provides Watson with adventures and away from the little Mrs. at home. Watson keeps mistaking the zombie death monkeys for lawyers or politicians. I’m not sure if this is political commentary or not, but it’s funny. Personally, I don’t understand why flying death monkeys need to be zombies, but that’s beside the point.

Wood has down the cadences of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories but he also has the voice of Holmes and Watson down to make a sonorous double parody. Period pictures add to not only the feel of the stories as Sherlock Holmes, but offer more comic counterpoint at dramatic moments.

Against my better judgment, at times I found myself laughing out loud while reading “Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys.” Even if you don’t think flying zombie death monkeys are your thing, you’ll find yourself enjoying these stories.

Jim Cherry is the author of The Last Stage www.jymsbooks.com

Fungus of the Heart by Jeremy C. Shipp Review

By Jeremy C. Shipp
Raw Dog Screaming Press
ISBN: 978-1935738015
Review posted 02/25/2011


Fungus of the Heart is a collection of amazing and strange tales from Jeremy C. Shipp. In this work you deal with clowns, I myself hate clowns so were a bit freaked out by this particular story called How to make a Clown. There are also stories that have you guessing until the last moment such as The Sun Never Rises in the Big City where a rag is a duplicate person and a remote is much more than something you watch television with.

This collection keeps your feet on the ground so that you are able to walk the walls and then the ceiling. Then when you are done shaking yourself back into reality, you do it all over again. The strangeness of the stories and the fear, grabs a hold of you right away and you feel yourself drifting into the worlds that Jeremy C. Shipp has created.

Grab this collection if you want to be in a different world, experience a mind-altering sensation that can only come about while reading the words of these great stories.

Twisted Tales from the Torchlight Inn by Ty Schwamberger,Thomas A. Erb,Dean Harrison Review

By Ty Schwamberger,Thomas A. Erb,Dean Harrison
Wicked East Press
ISBN: 978-1617060045
Review by: Gina Desory
Review posted 02/24/2011

Welcome to the Torchlight Inn where nothing is what it seems. Twisted Tales from the Torchlight Inn is a collection of 3 novellas by Ty Schwamberger, Thomas A. Erb and Dean Harrison with an introduction by Jessica A. Weiss.

The first story in this collection is Last Night Out by Ty Schwamberger. Three students, Gabe, Alan and his girlfriend Erin, take a small trip to a place called the Torchlight Inn where a bartender acts crazy and pillars are not just decorations.

The second story Tones of Home by Thomas A. Erb, has Ashely and Maurice going to meet Ashely's parents. Then suddenly things take a wrong turn and the story has odd occurrences with what seems to be members from the band The Beatles.

The last story Off Limits by Dean Harrison deals with Ellen and her troubled brother Jack who takes Shawn, Ellen's boyfriend and her to what is know as the Torchlight Inn. Jack wants payback for what was done to him years ago and this time Ellen will really know what it feels like to be scared.

Each of these stories tell a twisted version of what it is to come to the Torchlight Inn. The stories wrapped around craziness and people's own sense of being, made for these stories to be a wild roller coaster ride.

Tones of Home left me wondering at times what was going on and something was lost in having to figure out where as a reader I was at at times.

Off Limits made was a tale that shook the fear out of me. A scenario where anything was possible and yet it happened.

Last Night Out started a bit like a Young Adult type scenario where you thought vampires were about to come out, but then you get surprised and the story flows with not only horror and gore, but a nice twist to the ending.

If you are a reader who enjoys the oddness of things, the fear of the unknown, you need to pick up Twisted Tales from the Torchlight Inn and stay for awhile, if you dare.

Cursed by Jeremy C. Shipp Review

By Jeremy C. Shipp
Raw Dog Screaming Press
ISBN: 978-1933293868
Review by: Rob Walter
Review posted:2/23/2011

Nicholas is a person who likes to make lists of everything people do and say including himself. He also makes dolls as well. His life is an up and down series of events. He is cursed. He meets Cicely who struggles with forces outside her control and holds onto a tennis ball and squeezes it repeatably. He goes through several different situations including getting slapped by his roommate.

I'm not normally into the odd and bizarre, but this story grabbed my attention as I read through the life of Nicholas and his trials. I was interested to keep going and learn what would happen next to him. It was a very surreal type of experience and one I recommend to anyone who wants to read something a bit different.

Zombie Ohio A Tale of the Undead by Scott Kenemore Review

By Scott Kenemore
Skyhorse Press
ISBN: 978-1616082062
Review posted 02/22/2011

Peter Mellor wakes up disorientated with a car crashed nearby. He is unsure what has happened to that car. Was he in a car accident? He also doesn't remember who he is. Getting up slowly, he grabs his hat and places it on his head, which is now half-gone.

He runs across some people who recognize him and give Peter some semblance of his memory back. When he comes in contact with an old friend named Sam, he starts to realize something is not right. Zombies are all over the place and maybe he assumes he had the car crash because he was running from them. After looking at himself in the mirror with his head half-off, he started wondering if perhaps he is a zombie.

Later, he watches a zombie move and eat. Something feels right about that. As it turns out he can still walk and move okay, but Peter learns in fact he is a zombie.

Kenemore takes readers on a different take of an undead story, from the perspective of a zombie. However, not just any zombie, but one that talks and acts like a regular human, he just has a preference for a little different type of food, brains.

This story shows that even a zombie has to deal with moral issues and try to discover who they really are. It is a brilliant collection of characters with a background story that will surely make you reconsider a zombie outbreak.