DEADication An Anthology dedicated to all things Zombies Review

Panic Press
ISBN: 978-1446621066
Review posted 03/31/2011


Zombies, Zombies and more Zombies, what is a person to do? How's about picking up a new collection of zombie short stories by Panic Press called DEADication An Anthology dedicated to all things Zombies.

I love reading zombie tales and I could not be more thrilled when this collection of new stories came about. It is jam-packed with zombie outbreaks, people killing zombies and even a few stories with a different take on zombies.

One of the stories that stuck out to me was just that, a different take on the zombie tale. Zombie Holiday by Neil E. Leckman is just that. It deals with a family who had a horrible car accident. A year later, like the rest of the dead population, they come back. But this story is not just another walking around undead crunch and munch, it has heart. It shows that just because they are zombies doesn't mean they don't feel hardship or don't have things said about them, even though they live in the same community as others. It is a story worth seeing that in any society, some of the same woes and ridicule occur.

This collection is worth not only a second read, but it is a thrilling experience for any zombie fan. The stories in DEADication fill you with gore, excitement, thought and a good filling that perhaps zombies aren't that bad after all.

Shadows & Light (Volume II) Edited by Alva J. Roberts Review

Edited by Alva J. Roberts
Pill Hill Press
ISBN: 978-1617060038
Review by: Rob Walter
Review posted 03/28/2011


Shadows & Light Volume II, published January 2011 by Pill Hill Press, is the follow on to the critically acclaimed Shadows & Light: Tales of Lost Kingdoms. It is a collection of thirteen fantasy short stories. The following is a list of the stories and their authors:

Choices in the Dark by Ray Tabler
Master Race by Gerald Costlow
The Hand of Fate by David J. West
Azieran: The Secret in the Mist by Christopher Heath
Mania's Children by Gustavo Bondoni
Champion by Marc Sorondo
Night Ambush by Scott Harper & Diane Smith
The Tithe of Hell by Edward McKeown
The King of Sorango by John M. Whalen
Zhea by Gregory L. Norris
Spread Your Wings and Die by Lydia Sharp
Sons of Odin by John Richard Albers
Aquila's Ring by Cat Rambo

If you like dragons, magic, gods and other worlds you will enjoy reading this collection. Choices in the Dark begins the collection with a tale of a Norseman on a quest to retrieve his kidnapped wife from a dark lord. Mania’s Children is about a people trying to survive the Romans from darkness. Aquila’s Ring brings the collection to a close with a cautionary tale that tells of similarities to life.

I enjoyed this collection and recommend it to any fan of the fantasy genre.

Clickers II by J.F Gonzalez and Brian Keene Review

By J.F Gonzalez and Brian Keene
Deadite Press
ISBN: 978-1936383436
Review posted 03/25/2011

Clickers II starts out with Robert, a old man that watches other couples have sex in the hotel rooms. He then moves his binoculars over to the water where people are screaming and something like crabs or lobsters are attacking them. The story then moves on to Jerry Barker who was taking a lunch break, when looking out the window sees people screaming and running out of the water. We have the return of what was called 'The Clickers.'

Clickers II is the follow-up to Clickers. With Clickers II we come across the creatures that look like lobsters or crabs, but are sea monsters not afraid of anything a human may do. Unlike Clickers, Clickers II takes on a different tone to the chaos. The monsters are still there, but the humans are more present with the attacks and the attacks are more in the open.

Clickers II did not have the same feeling as Clickers with the monsters stepping out of a B movie, but instead a more modernized version of what seems to be Jaws. I was a bit disappointed with Clickers II because I was hoping for the same feeling I got when I had read Clickers, which was rooting for every character to either get it, or let the monster win, in this book, as in Jaws, you waited to see what the monster would do, but there were no surprises, no thrilling moments to allow you to ponder what would be next. It left a dryness that needed to be filled.

There were also, several clips of news articles featured in this book to bring what I assume a certain feeling to the reader of the terror going on with the current situation in the book. With all these articles present, it became a quick reading of them and a fast turn of the page to get to the meat of the story.

Clickers II left me feeling like I was missing out on something, that this was a only part of a book and where was the rest?

Casting Shadows By Joleen Kuyper, E.J. Tett and Jo Robertson Review

by Joleen Kuyper, E.J. Tett and Jo Robertson
Lulu Press
ISBN: 978-1409284154
Review by: Rob Walter
Review posted 03/17/2011

Casting Shadows is a collection of dark poetry and short stories written by three authors, Joleen Kuyper, E.J. Tett and Jo Robertson and published by Lulu Press. Each of the authors contributes four short stories and four poems and it is organized in a unique way. The twelve short stories and twelve poems alternate throughout the collection, starting with the short story, Just the Dust and ending with the poem Under the Lake.

The mix of the short stories and the poetry take the reader on a bit of a dark emotional roller coaster starting with the apocalyptic Just the Dust by Joleen Kuyper. In the story a woman awakens in the dark, alone, trying to understand who she is, what she is doing, when it is, where she is laying and why she is there. Monsters, by E.J. Tett, is a dark poem about a 15 year old girl coping with the darkness and the very real monsters in her life the only way she can. Roses by Jo Robertson, tells a cautionary tale that one should listen and be aware to the warnings of Déjà vu for they may save your life.

I am not a big fan of poetry, but the poetry in this collection works for the most part because of the way it is interspersed with the short stories and helps to twist the emotion of the reader into different directions improving the reading experience.

Wretched Moments Edited by T.L. Perry and Jessy Marie Roberts Review

Edited by T.L. Perry and Jessy Marie Roberts
Pill Hill Press
ISBN: 978-1617060458
Review by: Gina Desory
Review posted 03/15/2011



Wretched Moments is a collection of 22 stories that are strange and yet want to make you at least take a look.

The collection was what I thought to be stories on the bizarre or even more extreme horror. What I ended up finding out, at least for myself, was some confusion and some stories lacking the pull to want me to read more, leaving me disappointed.

Out of the 22 stories that filtered this anthology, the best of the 22 was Carly is Dead by Shane McKenzie. The story brought some of the bizarre into it by having Carly dead in the forest and her friend a fly who lays eggs in her tear ducks so that she can see them when they hatch. McKenzie wowed me with just the idea of something of this situation. The telling of the story was intriguing and with a certain darkness I did not feel while reading the other stories in this collection.

Wretched Moments is a collection for a certain acquired taste. I would not give up on it to try it at least once, you may feel differently than I did.

Clickers by J.F Gonzalez and Mark Williams Review

By J.F Gonzalez and Mark William
Deadite Press
ISBN: 978-1936383429
Review posted 03/10/2011

Captain Kim Issac of the Lucky Mariner, feels the boat rock, thinking something they want is caught in their net, he looks to see what it is. Meanwhile, part of his crew go overboard, they scream, they don't return. The Captain tries to cut the net when he realizes there is something too large in there. But the creature attacks and soon Kim is lost with the water. And that is just the beginning...

Rick Sychek is a writer who while driving on the road hits something. He's not sure what, but he thinks it looks like a crab. It knocks out his car with him inside. An officer of Phillipsport comes to his aide and takes Rick into the small community where he gets to know the people and starts asking questions about these weird creatures.

You remember the old time horror movies, the ones where the sea creatures or werewolves come out of the woods? If you liked any of those you will love Clickers.

I'm a big fan of Godzilla movies in general and when I read this book I thought of the creature, who is somewhat of a crustacean who attacks boats, people and just plain is, well, what can I say, a monster.

What is great about Clickers is each word you read you feel the thrill like you did if you ever saw one of those 'creature feature' type movies. In fact, I would love to see this book as a movie.

The one thing I would recommend the most from this book is to read it all the way through, grab a hold of the characters, especially the monster and enjoy them all. It certainly is a book that will be kept on my shelves for easy access to read over and over again.

The Haunter of the Threshold by Edward Lee Review

By Edward Lee
Deadite Press
ISBN: 978-1936383399
Review by: Gina Desory
Review posted 03/07/2011

Hazel has fantasies, not just any fantasies, but gang rape fantasies and other strange sexual fantasies every day. Her pregnant friend, Sonia, who Hazel is in love with, and her go up to a cabin that Frank, Sonia's husband has inherited.

All through this Hazel's father keeps trying to get in contact with her. She ignores the calls for the most part until one day Sonia directs her to answer it. But then even stranger things start to happen. She comes across Peter Pan and Snow White who demand she do sexual things or else they will not only hurt her, but her pregnant friend.

The Haunter of the Threshold is a big sexual whirlwind of a woman, Hazel who can't figure out if she is normal or just sick. I found that there were several times I wondered what was going on in the story. As I read I knew there were several fantasies, but then the story jumped several times. There is a good idea there about the main character Hazel trying to find out if she can think for herself without these sexual fantasies and is she really okay or mentally ill gives a good basis for a story. But where those ideas where possibly present, the story lacked a good foundation to follow through except for the explicit sex situations.