Steve Stred's Blog, page 94
February 4, 2019
Book Review: A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World – C.A. Fletcher
I know I’m late to the game, but I recently discovered Netgalley and signed up to review. I wasn’t too sure how many books I’d get approved for, and when I spotted the cover for A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, I was immediately drawn in. Reading the synopsis pulled me in further. I have a soft spot for dog fiction. Even though I typically try to limit how many post-apocalypse themed books I read, I knew I needed to give this one a shot. This was the very first book that I was approved to read through the website, which I think made it a bit sentimental.
The narrative in this book is great. It’s been some time since I’ve read a book told in diary form and specifically talking to the reader, but as it turns out, I’ve now read two back-to-back. (The other was Will Haunt You by Brian Kirk, which was a phenomenal read for you horror fans out there.)
The story follows a young boy a number of years after the world began its demise. The “apocalypse” in this tale was a fantastic twist on the genre and it made me stop and think about how it’s something that could very well happen.
The boy and his family live on a small island somewhere near the United Kingdom.
Then one day a boat is spotted and a stranger arrives. The man is worldly, enthralling, but also different. Leaving the boy with a sense of unease towards the stranger, his beard and his smile.
When the boy wakes up and the stranger has left with his beloved dog, the story begins, as the boy gives chase.
Overall this was a fantastic telling of the lengths a human will go towards their pet. But as most of us dog owners know, our pets are more than just pets, they are family.
The boy has to overcome a number of obstacles, setbacks and roadblocks along the way, as he tracks his dog and the stranger that stole it.
I found there was a few bogged down moments in the middle of the book, which slowed the story and added details that didn’t move the plot along.
However, C.A. Fletcher rights this quickly, which leads us to an ending that I didn’t see coming, but it wrapped everything up and brought the entire story to a phenomenal close.
This tale I think will situate itself nicely with many YA, post-apocalyptic novels, while also separating itself purely with how it is written and the themes shared within.
4/5 stars for an enjoyable romp across an unfriendly landscape.
Original Review:
February 1, 2019
Apocalyptic Friday!
Hey all! Welcome back! As I said last week, Friday will be my main post where I update you all on what’s up in Steve’s existence.
During the week I’ll post random stuff, book reviews etc etc, but Friday will be the big one!
So, as introduced last week, here it is in an easy to follow format!
What’s up in my life:
Things are always busy in the Stred household. Our son is learning so much stuff right now. He counted from 1-5 on his own yesterday and is now saying a lot of colors which is fantastic. He’s still identifying a bunch of dinosaurs and now its moved over into the world of monster trucks as well haha!
He’s had a couple of soccer sessions now and really enjoys the kicking the ball part, but not so much the standing and being patient part!
Here in Edmonton today its -20C feels like -35 with wind chill, which is -4 Fahrenheit for my Celsius challenged friends. We’re currently under a snowfall warning. We got about 10 cms over night, but we’re projected to get another 40 cms over night.
My next release, The Girl Who Hid in the Trees has been seeing some great reviews coming in! Here’s one of the most recent ones from Becca;
https://beccaleighanne.com/the-girl-who-hid-in-the-trees-arc-review/
It officially comes out February 28th, 2019 and the ebook is up for pre-order. It is $2.99 and all proceeds are still going towards the Go Fund Me for my friend Justin M. Woodward’s mom’s Cancer battle. If you want to find out more or donate directly, here is the link;
https://www.gofundme.com/help-tonya-beat-stage-4-cancer
The link for US pre-orders for the book is here:
On Friday, February 8th, I’ll be releasing some info on a freebie that will be released in relation to The Girl Who Hid in the Trees, so watch this space and Kendall Reviews!
Works in Progress:
The Stranger. I just wrapped up my last go through of this, sharing my THE END post yesterday. This was a tough one to write, but I loved it. I think it’s a timely piece of horror/unease filled with gore! As always, expect bleak and dark.
The Ritual. As mentioned last week, this is my second novella that will come out this year. I’m still planning an October release, but will be working on my third go through/rewrite on this messed up tale. It’s horrible in the best way possible.
Young Prince Auryn (working title). As some of you know, I’ve released 3 kids books. Each one has been specifically written for my nieces and nephews. I’ve got 5 of the 6 stories written in one of my notebooks for my son. I’m starting to plot together this release, which I’m thinking will be my last kids release. I want it to be a special keepsake so I’m looking at releasing this as a hardcover, paperback and ebook. I’ll keep you updated!
What I’m Reading:
Ararat – Christopher Golden. I really wanted to finish this last night! I’m at 85% but got super tired and had to put it down. My kindle tells me I have 35 minutes remaining. I was hoping this would’ve been my 20th read of January, but finished the month at 19.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29939052-ararat
Darkest Hours – Mike Thorn. Just started this short story collection and really digging it. Funny enough, I had no idea Mike was a fellow Albertan, living 3 hours south in Calgary. Found this out when Facebook told me he was interested in an event near me hahah!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36309774-darkest-hours
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World – C.A. Fletcher
Have to admit, this started out really well, but I’ve found this middle section to be a bit slow and bogged down. Lots of repetition. Hoping it bumps out of this. I’m sitting at 50% so want to try and finish this up by mid-week.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40698027-a-boy-and-his-dog-at-the-end-of-the-world
Recent Reviews:
I have a few reviews pending over at Kendall Reviews to be officially posted.
I just read We Haunt You by Brian Kirk (5/5) and Occasional Beasts: Tales by John Claude Smith (4/5)
I also finished Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell. You can see my thoughts here;
https://stevestredauthor.wordpress.com/2019/01/31/book-review-who-goes-there/
What I’m Listening To:
While I was knee deep in my final write through of The Stranger, I was listening to some fantastically nasty stuff. Last week I shared a song from some bands, but these first three links are the full albums.
Batushka – Litourgiya. Love these guys. If you want to see some amazing live performances, I suggest youtube-ing more of their stuff. Its phenomenal and the visuals are stunning.
Mgla – Exercises in Futility. God this album is so amazing. This is what I hear when I write.
Belphegor – Totenritual. I first started listening to these guys when Bondage Goat Zombie was released and saw them live around that same time. This latest album is stellar.
Now for the other stuff. The not heavy stuff. These have been on steady rotation for a while now, but both keep popping up for my 2020 release Wound Upon Wound.
Gunship – When You Grow Up, Your Heart Dies. Gavin from Kendall Reviews introduced me to Gunship and I’m so thankful. Their latest album Dark All Day was probably my fav 2018 release. This song is one of the best on their and the second half I consider to maybe be one of my all-time favourite pieces of music I’ve ever heard.
Wintersleep – Weighty Ghost. Some more great Canadian content for you all. Last week I shared The Trews, Sam Roberts Band and Arcade Fire, three of our top bands. Wintersleep keeps putting out solid stuff, but this is their most popular song and it’s a good one.
Thanks for checking this out! We’ll see you next week, same place, same fun!
Steve
January 31, 2019
Book Review: Who Goes There?
Who Goes There? – John W. Campbell Jr. (4/5)
Otherwise known as the novella that inspired the movie The Thing.
Like a lot of lovers of horror – both written and cinematic, The Thing has always held a spot as one of my favourite movies. It really speaks to what I try and accomplish in my own writing – isolation, extreme situations and something wrecking havoc.
I can’t remember if I’ve actually read this before. That’s one of the problems when you’ve read so much, but only started putting your reads on Goodreads last year haha! I feel like I have, but decided to jump back in for one very special reason! Last year I actually supported a Kickstarter project called Frozen Hell. Apparently Who Goes There? was originally from a longer manuscript that had been unknown for some time. Then it was unearthed and a Kickstarter was made to get the book released.
Overall I loved Who Goes There? The story is very similar to the movie The Thing and from Campbell’s descriptions and sense of dread, John Carpenter was provided with a solid source material. The way he portrays the fear and anxiety the men have, while barely using the thing is amazing and shows why’s he considered a master of science fiction writing. As the men spiral further into madness, realizing they’ll have to die in order to protect the rest of the world from being overtaken by this unknown creature was truly gripping.
My only negative/only annoyance was sometimes the dialogue felt like it went on and on. Tedious passages of a character saying something and saying the exact same thing in the next paragraph. But it was a minor thing.
4/5 crazy stars for this classic piece of literature. Now I can’t wait to dive into Frozen Hell and see what Campbell had originally had in store for us!
To see this review on Goodreads, or to follow my reviews there, please follow the link;
January 25, 2019
New blog post, new sharesies.
Happy Friday friends! This is gonna be a longer blog post, as I’m going over a few things! So hang in there!
This is blog #1 of how things are gonna be ran around here! If you don’t like it… uh… sorry? 
January 21, 2019
Please Share this Blog!
So this blog post is a bit different than most of my other ones.
This was going to be the big ole exciting “PREORDERS ARE OPEN!” blog post that I had planned for this coming Friday. I’ve decided to push it up.
Why?
A friend and his family need help.
If you have followed my literary career (my short, just starting literary career), there have been a few key players throughout. Folks who have, time and time again, stepped up and gone out of their way to help me, give me advice and guidance and who’ve always wanted me to succeed.
Justin M. Woodward has been there since day 1.
If you haven’t followed me (and that’s totally fine J) you may recognize his name from his releases; The Variant, Candy and Tamer Animals.
Now before I get too far into this – I just want to make it abundantly clear, that I have discussed this with Justin already, and was given my blessing to post this. I would never do something like this without getting his consent first.
So – yesterday the news began to trickle out that Justin’s mother Tonya has recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 Bone Cancer. This was discovered after she had an MRI. News like this is devastating. We all know someone who has been touched by Cancer in some way, some reading this may have already battled it. She begins radiation today in fact, January 21, 2019. The goal with the radiation is to reduce her pain and prolong her time with her family and friends.
That brings us to this blog post. On February 28, 2019, my next harrowing release arrives; The Girl Who Hid in the Trees. And pre-orders are now live! In fact, they’ve been live for about a week already but Amazon was having some issues with my display image, so I waited until it was cleared up to share. Gavin at Kendall Reviews (who wrote one of the most fantastic and nicest forewords ever!) shared it on twitter, but I wanted to make sure things looked good. So far there’s already been 9 pre-orders! Which is insane. Technically 10, but the first one was mine J
I want to help Tonya, Justin and his family out. To that end, I want to let you all know that (with Justin’s blessing) all of the proceeds from the pre-orders will be going directly to Tonya and their Go Fund Me. The United States unfortunately is a place where people can rack up medical expenses quickly, so I want to help out and try and reduce any financial burden. As well, all of the paperback proceeds from the first month will be going their way as well.
Additionally – if you feel that you just want to go ahead and donate directly through their Go Fund Me page, if you donate $50 or more, I will send you a 5 Ebook package, which will include my Novel Invisible, my three Novellas; Jane: the 816 Chronicles, Wagon Buddy and YURI and my first short story collection Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery.
Below you will find the links to the Go Fund Me, and the pre-order links for the book for Canada, USA and the UK.
I will be rolling out the promotional machine as planned, to try and get the pre-order links in front of as many folks as I can, but I would really, really appreciate it, if you all could share this blog post and let’s help keep Tonya and family smiling.
GO FUND ME
https://www.gofundme.com/help-tonya-beat-stage-4-cancer
Canada Pre-order: https://www.amazon.ca/Girl-Who-Hid-Trees-ebook/dp/B07MJ851BH
USA Pre-order: https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Hid-Trees-ebook/dp/B07MJ851BH
UK Pre-order: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Who-Hid-Trees-ebook/dp/B07MJ851BH
January 18, 2019
Abraham, Look to the Sky
Here we go friends! As we get closer and closer to the February 28th, 2019 release date for The Girl Who Hid in the Trees, I’ve promised to continue to give you some sneak peaks and other goodies!
The Girl Who Hid in the Trees has been receiving some fantastic buzz already over on Goodreads! I’m so happy with the kind words. Truly blown away. Next week, on January 25th, I’ll officially be launching the pre-order links! If you look closely though, you just may find that they already exist….
January 15, 2019
Review: Dark Things – Joe Zito
Hey gang! Check out my 4.5/5 review for Dark Things by Joe Zito. This is a grimy collection of short stories and vignettes!
http://kendallreviews.com/now-comes-the-darkness-joseph-zito-kendall-reviews/
January 4, 2019
Prologue Teaser
Ok friends! So this will be a little bit of a longer post today! Yesterday over on Twitter and my Facebook Author Page I ran a poll asking what you would like to see as a teaser today, for the my upcoming release The Girl Who Hid in the Trees. This coming-of-age, urban legend tale is already garnering a bit of buzz from the pre-release reviews and I am over the moon with delight!
So today (after counting the votes!) I’m sharing the Prologue as a thank you. In two weeks, on Friday January 18th, I will share the first bonus short story Abraham, Look to the Sky. That story is a gritty, cosmic-horror, flash fiction piece and I think you’ll all like it!
So please keep reading, and enjoy the Prologue!
Prologue
August 5, 1884
“Abigail, don’t stray too far, ok?”
Abigail heard her mom but ignored her. After all, she was now seven years old, and could take care of herself.
She walked through the deep grass beside McConnell’s Forest, plucking petals from the daisy she had picked.
“He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not,” she sung as she casually strolled away from their camp site.
It wasn’t until she had plucked all the petals off the flower and discarded it over her shoulder that she realized she had wandered down the path into the woods. She turned around and around, scared, finding she was lost and unable see her mom.
“Mom?” She called out feebly.
“Mom? Please mom?”
She heard a noise close by.
“Hello?”
Abigail took a few steps towards the sound, and spotted yellowed eyes watching her from behind a bush.
“Who’s there?”
She watched with awe as a girl close to her age danced out from behind the foliage and smiled at her. Her teeth matched the color of her eyes, yellow and dark. Her dress was caked in filth and mud. But the girl smiled and waved.
“Hello, who are you? Can you help me find my mom?” Abigail asked.
The girl giggled and turned, walking down the path away from Abigail, the morning sun cascading a bright aura around her.
“Please, please help me,” she cried out, rushing towards the girl.
Then she was gone. Disappeared.
“What? No, where did you go? Please help me?” She called out.
From behind her the voice sang out.
“Help you? But no one helped me. Now we count, one, two, three.”
Abigail didn’t feel any pain as the girl ripped her spine from her body.
The girl left Abigail there in the path and disappeared into the trees as though she’d never even been there.
The Girl Who Hid in the Trees will be unleashed on Thursday, February 28th, 2019 and will be available in both ebook and paperback format. This fast paced novella will feature a foreword by Gavin Kendall from the horror site Kendall Reviews, as well as three bonus tales; Abraham, Look to the Sky, The Tooth Collector and The Navajo Nightmare.
The cover artwork has been done by Mason McDonald once again, who has previously created the covers for Wagon Buddy, YURI, Left Hand Path: 13 More Tales of Black Magick, Dim the Sun, and the new cover of Invisible.
I’m working to get pre-orders up asap!
For more information, including a full synopsis and pre-release reviews, check out the Goodreads link below!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43255766-the-girl-who-hid-in-the-trees
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January 2, 2019
Upcoming Release: The Girl Who Hid in the Trees by Steve Stred.
Check out this great run-through of my forth coming release ‘The Girl Who Hid in the Trees.’
Thanks to Steve Stred for sending me an e-copy of his soon-to-be-released short story, The Girl Who Hid in the Trees. It will release in ebook and paperback formats on February 28. It will also feature three bonus short stories from Steve.
I hope you enjoy your stay in McConnell’s Forest as much as I did.
The children who live near McConnell’s Forest know better than to risk going into the woods, or at least they should. Years ago, when Jason was a little boy, he lost his older brother when he entered the forest to deflate an ages old urban legend.
Now that Jason is a teenager himself, he wants to learn what happened to his brother and what is really going on in the forest first-hand.
He persuades his group of friends to camp in the forest overnight so they can figure out this legend and try to…
View original post 117 more words
December 21, 2018
‘Poppa?’ – new short story at Kendall Reviews
Hey gang! The great blog Kendall Reviews (where I contribute some reviews!) has been doing a Christmas at Kendall Reviews feature all month.
Today, happens to be my contribution!
So please enjoy my bleak tale ‘Poppa?’
