Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 365

Review: A BOO-TIFUL HALLOWEEN by Angela Shori

A short, little poem about Halloween, this is an adorable children’s book for young toddlers, I’d say. Illustrations are simple and colorful. In fact, the whole thing’s practically a kid’s coloring book. The monsters, it seems, are rendered with a combination of watercolor paint and Crayola.
It’s sweet, not scary—just perfect for babies. An okay first book.

My rating: 3 stars

Review: LONELY SOULS by Karice Bolton

With her pending coronation into the witch coven on the way, suddenly it seemed that life was never going to be the same for Triss, especially with her mother gone missing.
Then a creature appears before her? A lost soul? "The lonely souls have been summoned?" What does that mean?
Story has the natural type of magic with the knowledge of plants and herbs utilized within. It was an insipid story with a gradual pace leading up to a mystery of "lonely souls," which doesn't concern the reader as much as it should. It was mostly Triss talking to her friends and how she can't afford to have feelings for Logan, who seems more like a cousin than anything else.
Story is about wiccan folklore and the history of black magic. Well, let me tell you, there's not much "magic" happening in this book.
My rating:  2 stars

Review: SCARY MARY by S.A. Hunter

Mary is your average, gloomy high school girl, except for one thing: she can hear ghosts, which was a skill that has been bestowed upon her ever since she was born. All the kids at school tease Mary for being “the freak,” and, like in the movie Carrie, she tries to get back at her tormentors with her creepy, gothic attitude. When asked if she was a witch, she’d play along by saying that the coven would meet in the graveyard on BYOB (Bring Your Own Blood) night. In summation, she is the most frightening kid in school—hence, the name, Scary Mary.
I loved how Mary would freak out the people at school with her “witchy” powers. She was this shy, sarcastic, unique outcast—she was my kind of girl. Rachel was sort of like a sidekick that was fascinated with this voodoo stuff, which made her a terrific friend to have. I couldn’t stand that Vicky, who was the mean, popular cheerleader we all love to hate. But why was Cy, the new boy, so fascinated with Mary? No boy ever liked Mary as she wasn’t Susie High School. If I were her, I’d do anything to turn him off, too.  But he was just so funny and cute, and I loved how he always chose Mary over Vicky.
One day, Mary was over at Cy’s house, where “she absorbed the normality” of his life (548,) and suddenly heard a mysterious voice—a ghost. After a frightful incident with a Ouija board, Mary discovered how dangerous the spirit was. Now, it was up to her to get rid of it before he could hurt someone.
A good YA novel filled with paranormal mystery and intrigue. The writing was okay, but I felt that some sentences could’ve been merged together for better flow and fewer repetitions. And, although the cover doesn’t entirely lend to “horror and gruesome” with the sinister girl set against a dark background, it’s a cute and funny story; it was almost like reading a Goosebumps books.
 Note to self: Add sequel to TBR list - Stalking Shadows My rating: 4 stars   

Review: UNDER THE BED by Jeffrey Hurwitz

18-year old Jack Cross is a scared, little boy trapped in a quarterback's body. Every night he goes to bed and every morning he wakes up with a mask of horror, surrounded by the bloody remnants of a decaying man. Whoa, talk about some freaky sh#t!

What starts off as a compelling and psychotic rendition of Linda Blair on The Exorcist soon turns into a twisted and ambiguous story line. Was Jack a vampire? Was his bed-wetting issue part of his transition as a young boy? And what's all this about seeping into a dark underworld under the bed? Weird.
The element of the Mickey Mouse nightlight was both comforting and unsettling, for Mickey, "usually a symbol of good and fun" is still "a mere rat, savage and primitive." (20) I wouldn't be able to sleep either if I thought Mickey was trying to eat me. But was he trying to eat him, thus turning him into this flesh-eating beast? I don't get it.
Although the words were full of gaudy horror, the story was quite vague. It seemed that Jack was this self-made monster with an obsessive fear and repressed childhood issues. He really needed therapy actually.
I'd like to say that this would be a decent, scary story for teens, like those Goosebump books I used to read, but I just felt that there were too many holes in it, which could be translated to mystery, but, in this case, they were black nothings of confusion.
My rating: 2.5 stars     

Review: 1979 by Steve Anderson

In this collection of short stories, Steven Anderson takes you on a ride through 1979.
In "Garage Wine," a couple of teens take a crack at booze-making.
A side-burned stranger regales a little girl with tales of his boyhood in "Melvin."
With elements like railroad tracks, mill yards, and rafts, I wondered what part of the country these stories were taking place. Was it Kansas or something?
I liked how the Southern, country-style dialogue was rendered in true, raw form, similar to what you'd find in classics like Of Mice and Men or Huckleberry Finn. Although the stories capture that Old Towne ambiance (this was 1979, but it felt more like 1879,) they were also somewhat average, long, and full of history. You'll actually feel like your grandpa is talking to you.
Coming from the 80's I couldn't really relate to this book. But if this was what 1979 was like, then "Wake me up before you Go-Go."
My rating: 2.5 stars    

Review: BECOMING MOON by Craig A. Hart

"There was something about writing in the same place every day that turned task to chore. It stunted the imagination. It dampened the enthusiasm. It blunted the honed edge of my prose. I found repetition distracting and, in the throes of boredom, became a master of avoidance. At those times I was much better at not writing, becoming intensely productive in all things unrelated." (3)

So our aspiring, young writer hits the road, where he encounters Nigel Moon, bestselling author. The writer seeks out this author in hopes that his experience and wisdom would rub off.
"The life of a starving artist is only romantic on the big screen or the printed page. I lived it and quickly discovered I didn’t enjoy suffering for my art. Didn’t mean I loved it less; just that I was more materialistic than I thought." (12)
"We’re a strange breed. I don’t trust naturally happy, well-adjusted writers. I’ve never met an artist enamored with life. I don’t think the two can coexist." (13)
At this point, I have to say that I am awestruck by Nigel Moon. He appears to be standoffish and ill-tempered. In fact, you probably wouldn't think of him as a bestselling author. But what sets him apart are his words, words full of candid reverence, words so brutal yet lovely.
"Artists tend to be crap at business." (14) Yeah, that's true.
"My art has become my nemesis. Because of the goddamn dollar.” (15)
It's hard to say what the writer felt after meeting Moon, especially after that Hemmingway parable (God, did he really shoot himself because he couldn't come up with anything?) but, nevertheless, he continues on with his mission to "begin writing...or, at least, begin the attempts at writing." But what happens when a once-brilliant writer now devoid of words asks you to write the final book in his contract?

In part two, the writer talks of becoming an atheist as a young boy in his sorely religious town, where his father was the pastor. Rewinding in time, the boy relives days of his childhood, reminiscing on his resentment for God, the church, and his father. The reader will enjoy the boy's foolish mischief driven by his wild-eye naiveté in the presence of a holy town. 
"If your past experiences, even one of them, had been different, you'd be a different person. Perhaps only slightly different, but different." (113)
Well-written, engaging, and completely relatable, Becoming the Moon is a tantalizing tale of desolated loss and strenuous yearning. As artists, we crave the written word and dream of literary excellence without the compromise of prideful integrity. It is a true portrayal of an artist's passion ruminative in sorrowful and intellectual prose. Story is about a struggle, a struggle at seeking out what was lost or never had; it is a test of ethics and survival of a true work of art in the face of "the system."
"We artists are nothing; it is the art. We are only conduits. When the artist becomes the art, the art itself dies." (143)
"The world owes the artist nothing...the artist is the one who owes the world." (150)
My rating: 5 stars

Review: EBENEZER SCROOGE: GHOST HUNTER by Charles Dickens and Jaqueline Kyle

Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost Hunter expands the original text of Charles Dicken’s classic with all-new scenes of malicious ghosts, soul devouring wraiths, deadly doppelgangers and other terrors from the netherworld. Our story opens seven years after Marley’s violent death. Ebenezer Scrooge has given up ghost hunting and embraced an inevitable slow death by alcohol poisoning. When the spectre of his deceased partner appears to him on Christmas Eve, Scrooge learns that he must face three Ghosts – one who will try to help him, one who will try to harm him and one that cannot be killed.

In a story that spans a lifetime of torment, Scrooge must face the demons of his past and his failures in the present in order to prevent the horror that is his future. The stakes for Scrooge’s soul have never been higher than in this wicked retelling of the classic, A Christmas Carol.





My thoughts: We've all heard the classic of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and this book seemed to have an interesting twist. Scrooge, a ghost hunter? That was new.

Of course, Scrooge was still the misanthropic curmudgeon who despises Christmas, keeping uniform of the Dickens tale. Even the language followed suit.
However, story started off a bit slow and it took me a while to understand the context. What began as vaguely nondescript eventually turns into an Old Fashion ghost story--a languid, convoluted ghost story.
The book had an interesting concept, but I just feel that the story drawled on too much to gain any interest. A solid good effort, but not my cup of tea.
My rating: 2 stars


 

Review: THE HAUNT by L. Marshall James

Strange, annoying phone calls have been happening a lot lately for Brad. When he picks it up, there’s no answer. Just silence.

For a short story, it just took forever to get to the nitty gritty, the essential meat of it all. It mainly centered on this good-for-nothing redneck spending all his time drinking beer and fixing his truck. When was the ghost coming? Of course, there has to be a ghost. What else haunts people?
Although the ending was the best part, it still felt rather lukewarm to me. This is an okay story for a quick 5-minute read.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: BEFORE THE RIPCORD BROKE by Charlie Close

"A very short story works the way a photograph does, or a one panel cartoon, or a moment in a movie trailer. It shows just enough to spark our imagination and invites us to do the rest. Ready? Let’s begin."

In "Silent Pie," a waitress is captivated by the same, quiet diner and wonders what a conversation would be like with him.
"Before the Ripcord Broke" just had an appealing quote: "He held his arms out wide to the approaching earth. To live life – not with a period, but an exclamation point!" (27)
These stories were generated from a fascinating concept. Like a painting or sculpture, they give you a shot, a glimpse of a picture from the story. Never revealing the whole story, they provoke questions and inspire the reader to kind of come up with the story in a series of "what ifs." What if you talked to this guy, what would he say? What if you cheated, how would you feel? What if you wandered into the woods, what would happen? 
The author states at the beginning that most of them are "very short stories"--in fact, they're sentences. I'm sorry, but one sentence is not a story. How can it be? A photograph or a cartoon can actually show a lot more of a story, and I guess a sentence can too, but not so much. Example: "I wrote a scripture, now lost." Sure, you might wonder how this person lost the scripture, but other than that, there's really nothing more there. There is no plot or characters, and it certainly didn't do anything for me. I guess I'm used to being more involved with a story. That's the way it's been, and that's the way I like it.
I've never read short stories like these. Typically, I'm used to stories (even short ones) having a beginning, a middle, and an end, which these stories had none of, but it was kind of fun experimenting with the open-ended questions.  Of course, not every story was great, but they certainly opened up my views on the traditional structure, how there are many forms and styles to it. Basically, writing is an art, and there is no right or wrong. That's what I love about art!
My rating: 3 stars

Review: COURAGE RESURRECTED by R. Scott Mackey

Ray Courage has received a startling message from his wife. The problem was that his wife died in a fatal car accident 13 years ago. What’s going on here? Who sent that message, that strange, bone-chilling message?
I was instantly lured by the gripping introduction as questions tickled my mind. Could the wife still be alive? And why would she think that Ray tried to kill her? What really happened the day that she “died?” This then provokes Ray to investigate.
It would seem that the wife’s apparent death may have had something to do with the custody battle of a web domain and the lynches of a Russian mafia. Of course, I failed to see the connection in all that. It almost felt like this all deviated from the “dead” wife, but I had to trust that the author would make something from this labyrinth of cryptic clues and superfluous storyline.
Courage Resurrected is a complex mystery thriller that both stimulates and lulls the reader. While riveted to discover the whereabouts of the wife and who is behind all those perplexing emails, you are also quelled by the intricacy of the case, which, like a ripple, largely spans out into less prominent and more ambiguous forms. I mean, who were Mastrov and Lobo? What could they possibly have to do with what happened to Ray’s wife? And what’s up with “Crazy Zebra Way?” Frankly, all the confusion pacified what started off as a compelling mystery read.  The story was well-written for the most part, but I just wasn’t that excited with it.
My rating: 3.5 stars