Beth Tabler's Blog, page 158
October 8, 2022
Review – A SEA OF CINDERS by Adam R. Bishop
Full disclosure: I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and the receiving of the ARC in no way influenced my review.
For epic high fantasy, shaded a bit dark, “A Sea of Cinders”, Adam Bishop’s debut novel, is a good book that has me interested in what the rest of the “Voice of No Quarter” series has in store, after reading this engaging opening installment.
The novel is set in the land of Cellagor, one hundred years after a bloody war has transpired between Elves and Men. An Age of Tranquility has brought nearly completely undisturbed peace between the two races. But peace can only last so long, as men grow idle, and some dream of revenge, acquiring new lands, and increasing their personal power and glory.
One such man is King Dadro of House Braxis, the powerful king of Havelmir, set in the northern part of Cellagor. Dadro wants revenge for the death of his ancestors who fought the Elves in the past. Dadro believes he can pounce when the Elves are in a weak moment, and conceives a plan to vanquish his hated Elven rivals. This plan involves using the prisoners Dadro has captured and kept imprisoned in his dungeons.
Dadro’s idea is for the prisoners to douse the forests that the Elves inhabit, treasure and protect, with an accelerant, so that his soldiers can set the forest alight and destroy the Elves in the process. Dadro promises the prisoners freedom, if they succeed in their task, and manage to survive. But William, a foreign prisoner who’s been one of Dadro’s captives, learns differently. William finds out that Dadro will execute the prisoners who manage to survive the conflagration in the forest. Aided by his friend Baldric, another prisoner, a plan is conceived for the pair to escape with their lives, and for Williams return to his beloved sea-side homeland.
Instead, during this escape attempt, the pair of friends are drawn deeper to the ancient war between Elves and Men, and honour calls them to try and protect the Elves from the megalomaniac Dadro’s aspirations, which will draw all of the realms into needless bloodshed, and possibly lead to the extinction of the entire Elven species.
The heart-warming friendship between William and Baldric is the heart of this novel, and it is a pleasure to read. The plucky, resourceful, and optimistic Baldric provides a nice counterpoint to the more taciturn, sometimes brooding, and cautious William. Their banter, loyalty to one another, and innate goodness make them wonderful, and very relatable characters to read.
The villainous characters are fairly clear cut in the novel, and one will not find a lot of shades of grey, but they are fairly well drawn, and appropriately detestable. You’ll love waiting for them to receive their comeuppance, relish their defeats, and boo their victories.
Additionally, for those who don’t find some well-tested and beloved fantasy tropes comforting, as I do, this book may not be for you. That said, there are some great twists and surprises that I didn’t see coming, and this rousing tale of adventure, epic warfare, camaraderie, overcoming prejudice amongst the Elven and Human races should delight classic fantasy fans.
I’m curious to see where the author takes his tale in book 2, and will be looking out with anticipation for the sequel!
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October 7, 2022
Review – The Builders by Daniel Polansky
Daniel Polansky creates an anthropomorphic dark world in The Builders. These are not sweet, cuddly animals; if you try to pet one, you are liable to lose a hand or worse. The driving force of The Builders is revenge, and who doesn’t like a little bit of revenge?
I read The Builders blindly; it was recommended to me by a friend. I told him I was looking for something quick and dark that I could sink my proverbial teeth in to. What I didn’t expect was anthropomorphism. Usually, when you have a story with Anthromophism, it can go one of two ways. Sweet and cuddly, “hey, look the animals are behaving just like us.” Or, “Jesus Christ, the animals are behaving just like us.” It is an excellent way to spell out what we consider the better angels of our nature. Humanity at its finest. Wilbur, the pig, making friends with a spider. We usually are Wilbur the pig getting sold off to the market.
But that is not the world that Polanksy gives us.
There is nothing kind or forgiving about these animals. Instead, Polansky gives us a mouse, a stoat, an opossum, a badger, a salamander, a mole, an owl and a revenge plot dripping with fresh blood and cracking bones for his motley crew. Years after the smoke has cleared, the bodies buried, and the crew separated to make their way in the world, the need for revenge still runs hot, but it might be a dish served cold to their enemies.
Even though each of the characters, the animals, has a definitive personality and viewpoint, kudos to Polansky, the story’s main character and lynchpin is a battle-hardened and scarred old mouse known as the Captain. It is he who travels from place to place and plucks the team members from their lives like bruised apples plucked from a tree. Some of his crew consider this an excellent opportunity, while others have put away violence for good. Or at least until Captain comes calling.
The dastardly antagonists of the story are a skunk and a myriad of vile henchmen. As things often do with best-laid plans, things go awry, and bullets fly across the pages.
I loved this story, and it turned me on to Polanksy’s stories. The Builders is concise and tightly written, which turns out to be a double-edged sword. If the story had only a few characters, I could quickly become attached to them and gain a depth of understanding of their personality. But, because this book has many characters and a short length, some of the characters start to muddle together, which is a shame. I could easily read a 600-page novel with this crew and be very happy. Here’s to hoping Polanksy will write short stories with some of these characters.
The Builders is an easy dark fantasy novel to love. If you like your fantasy revenge filled, furred, and ferocious this is book for you.
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Indie Cyberpunk Recommendations V
Cyberpunk is a genre that hit its peak in the Eighties but has still carried on like the little Replicant that could ever since. Really, it’s now split between present day cyberpunk (Watch_Dogs, Mr. Robot, Hackers) and far future experiences (The Expanse, Altered Carbon). However, I think the best place to find cyberpunk novels these days is the indie writing scene.
There’s something decidedly cyberpunk about going to writers not affiliated with the big corporations to get your fix about cybernetically enhanced humans, transhumanist themes, social satire, and street samurai action. Cyberpunk comes in many forms and just because we’re living in a world where everyone has a computer monitored by sinister corporate forces trying to sell us stuff doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it still.
As an author of indie cyberpunk Agent G, Daughter of the Cyber Dragons, I am always on the look for more of these books and love to share the gems that I have managed to find in a genre that is sometimes considered to be past its prime than undergoing a renaissance. After all, what is our time if not one where corporations run amuck and technology is rapidly outpacing our ability to deal with it?
1.You can be a Cyborg when you're Olderby Richard Roberts
The bleak future of West Angel City, Vanity Rose is having a great time. She has a loving robot caretaker, a fake elf for a sister, and she roams the walls of West Angel’s endless skyscrapers every night, thanks to her precious gravity shoes. What Vanity doesn’t have are money and adventure, but she has a plan to get both. She’s going to walk the dark side, joining the thieves and mercenaries who get paid to do all the little jobs that make a corrupt city go around. She’ll only have to deal with killer robots, vengeance-crazed and not very bright computer programs, cyborg vampires, telepathic capybaras, mean girl mech pilots, and have every homemade weapon in the city pointed at her. Fourteen is old enough for that, right?
About You Can Be A Cyborg When You Are Older
I’m already shooting myself in the foot by making this my first entry but this is a Young Adult novel cyberpunk parody by the author of the Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain series. Vanity Rose is a fourteen-year-old with dreams of being a street criminal in an orphanage of children being raised by a malfunctioning robot. It’s a wild and bizarre world where a good chunk of the population has joined a transhumanist cult where you spend all your money transforming yourself into World of Warcraft characters.
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2.Prime Suspects: A Clone Detective Mysteryby Jim Bernheimer
Free admission that Jim Bernheimer was the publisher of my Supervillainy Saga and Agent G novels so if you feel my opinion of his work is irreversibly tainted, go ahead and ignore it. For those who still want to know what I think of this book, I think this is a short but awesome little work. What’s the premise? In the future clones have become the predominant labor force with each taken from the best at their profession. Which is great for the Prime of any line as they get 10% of all their clones’ salaries but sucks for the rest of them. Dave Bagini-42 is the latest in his line and has a hell of a mission with his birth: someone has murdered his Prime and the suspect is one of the other 41 clones who all have a motive to kill their creator. It’s less than 200 pages but a really effective little bit of fiction with a lot of heart. I also found the resolution to be entirely believable and wanted to see more adventures with the character.
About Prime Suspects: A Clone Mystery
Homicide detective David Bagini awakens on a strange world only to discover he is, in fact, the forty-second clone of the Bagini line. Having no memories of why his Prime entered into a clone contract, he wants answers. The first problem is his Prime has been murdered and Bagini Forty-Two is now in charge of the investigation. The second problem is all the clues point at one of his fellow clones and they already know all his tricks. How can he solve his own murder when all the suspects have his name and face?
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3.Arvektby Craig Lea Gordon
Arvekt is a great example of classic 1980s cyberpunk. If you like ninja cyborgs working for all-powerful super computers with questions of augmented reality. I really enjoyed this book, which had a kind of hyper-kinetic and fascinating characters that charge head on into the reader. I love Tannis and her relationship with Ix as she struggles to figure out whether she’s insane or the only one seeing things clearly. The ending feels like it precludes any sequels but I understand there’s a prequel already out.
About Arvekt
Will the battle for humanity be fought in reality? Or in her mind? Tannis Ord is a black-ops cyborg assassin. A highly-trained human-weapon, dedicated to hunting down the last of the brain hacking syndicates. There’s just one problem…
Her mind was broken from a psychotic episode. Neural programming erased her trauma, gave her a fresh start. But when an old brain hacker cult resurfaces, and a sentient AI is set to govern the entire human population, she starts seeing things. Horrors that can’t possibly be real… that make no sense… that only she can see. Ix, their AI Guardian, is abducting innocent citizens from the streets in broad daylight. And it’s using the Augmented Reality it has thrown over the world as cover. Is the AI hellbent on humanities destruction? Or is her mind tearing itself apart again?
ARvekt is an explosive story, fusing action and intrigue into a journey full of twists and turns where you won’t know what’s real and what isn’t. If you enjoy books with amazing plots and characters, set in a stunning futuristic world, then input ARvekt into your brain now.
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4.The Blueprintby Wesley Cross
A nice bridge novel between technothriller and cyberpunk. I really enjoyed seeing how “our” world might evolve into a cyberpunk dystopia. They’re a lot more focused on white collar crime and hacking with “normal” methods than just about any cyberpunk work other than Mr. Robot. I also like the use of multiple POVs that show both the good as well as the bad among the sides. It’s a bit too black and white in its morality but that’s a small complaint. Sort of like Tom Clancy for the Hackers set.
About The Blueprint
Corporate warfare. Human augmentation. Jason Hunt didn’t sign up for any of this. But to survive, he’d need to beat nearly impossible odds in this internationally best-selling science-fiction thriller. There’s a corporate cabal that wants to rule the world. Some might say it has been doing it already for decades by whatever means necessary. But they are no longer content to hide in the shadows. They want to become true masters.
Jason Hunt knows nothing about that world. But when his wife becomes ill, he finds himself pitted against the cabal that might hold the key to her survival. To save her, he needs to embrace technology he doesn’t understand, take over a billion-dollar company without a billion dollars, outsmart professional assassins, and land a contract with the DOD. But even that might not be enough.
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5.Neon Helixby Nik Whittaker
Neon Helix is a classic and fun cyberpunk tale with the premise being that a journalist, an ex-cop, an enslaved brainwashed hotel manager, and a mad priest are all parts of a complex puzxle that eventually comes together at the end. I really enjoyed the book and think it’s one of the better indie cyberpunk stories I’ve read. It’s a bit on the heroic side but that’s just a flaw if you’re a cynical old fart like myself.
About A Wizard's Forge
“If you want an injection of cyberpunk high tech low life, this book will give it to you in spades.”- Amazon Review.
Ex-Cop and Private Detective Xander Draven had resorted to protection work when he is visited by the synthetic replica of a murdered CEO’s grieving widow who wants him to track down the killer. Meanwhile, Julian Travitz, a hacker/reporter and his A.I. companion Quartzig, are searching for the next big story and become drawn into the dark past of technology megacorporation CyberBionics.
Along the way, they encounter clones, rogue A.I.’s, psychopaths, priests, and plans that could change the status quo of the city forever. If you like fast-paced, high-tech, futuristic thrillers with a diverse range of unique characters, then step into the Neon Helix Universe today!
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Games – You Should Play Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG
Mothership is a sci-fi horror roleplaying game where you and your crew try to survive in the most inhospitable environment in the universe: outer space! You’ll excavate dangerous derelict spacecraft, explore strange unknown worlds, exterminate hostile alien life, and examine the horrors that encroach upon your every move.
My Thoughts
Of the RPGs I’ve reviewed in this column, I think Mothership is likely the least well-known, and that’s a shame, because it really is a fantastic system and setting, with rules that work very well at keeping the dread up.
Science fiction and horror go together perfectly. Space will kill you. The aliens, who are truly inhuman, will destroy you.
Mothership is about exploring the dangerous, uncharted parts of space. Characters pick from one of four classes: scientist, teamster, android, and marine. Scientists are out learning about the edge of the known universe. Teamsters are your workers—everyone from pilots to engineers to miners. Androids are smart and strong, but inhuman. Marines are your fighters.
Character creation is designed to be easy. You have four stats—Strength, Speed, Intellect, and Combat. You roll 6 d10 per stat, and each class comes with pre-determined saves: Sanity, Fear, Body, and Armor. You want these numbers high, and the goal is to roll under them.
Skills are flat bonuses to a specific kind of roll. If you’re trained, your skill gives you an additional 10%. If you’re an expert, it’s 15%. If you’ve mastered it, it’s 20%. That’s it. However, the further to Mastery you get the more specific the area. One can be trained in piloting, but mastery includes understanding hyperspace. One can be trained in First Aid, but mastery includes Surgery.
Equipment is pre-packaged with combinations of gear, again to speed up character creation.
That’s important, because characters die a lot.
Far more than the other systems I’ve explained in this column, Mothership is merciless. Not only do you need to keep your body safe, your mind is equally vulnerable. Stress is constant, and makes your panic rolls worse—and panic rolls can be devastating, if you roll poorly. Worse, the more other players panic, the more you’re likely to—each other player panicking increases your own panic roll.
Panic can include everything from getting an adrenaline boost that’s actually useful to being paranoid, gaining new phobias, or having a heart attack and dying instantly. The lower you roll, the better your panic, but stress adds to your panic, making those low rolls very difficult and rare.
The pre-created modules created for Mothership, like Bloom, Moon Base Blues, and The Haunting of Ypsilon 14, are all top-notch. I don’t tend to use pre-generated content from most systems, but these ones are the rare exception.
With Halloween coming up, I’d definitely recommend picking up a copy of Mothership. It’d make a fantastic one-shot or a campaign.
Check Out Some of My Other RPG ReviewsGames – You Should Play 7th Sea by Chaosium Inc.
Games – You Should Play Numenera by Monte Cook Games
Games – You Should Play Burning Wheel
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October 6, 2022
Review – Hardwired: 30th Anniversary Edition by Walter Jon Williams
Cyberpunk is a genre that arose organically during the 1980s as advancing technology as well as a culture of corporate greed set against the backdrop of the Cold War led to a mixture of nihilism as well as utopian skepticism. Basically, many people believed that science would definitely change the world but that the problems of human society would remain the same. People might visit the moon but would they ever deal with systemic poverty or racism? Probably not. Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, and Pat Cadigan all contributed the basis for what would eventually become a thriving subset of dystopian science fiction.
Somewhat overlooked but every bit as influential is Walter Jon William’s Hardwired. It was the chief influence of Mike Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk 2020 and several other works that were the basis for our popular image of a future gone horribly wrong. It’s interesting that the book is actually closer to a Western in many ways than an urban crime noir as so many cyberpunk books. The technology is there but it is a rugged desert in Texas where the majority of the action takes place versus Blade Runner’s Los Angeles or Gibson’s Sprawl. This helps differentiate it from many of its contemporaries and is another reason I recommend the book so highly.
The premise is centered around two iconic characters. Cowboy is a rich smuggler who drives around the wastelands of a post-apocalyptic Earth inside a neural-linked tank that provides him access to the firepower necessary to do his job. He’s given a questionable job that will take him through bandit-ridden territory to deliver medicine that may come from the people he hates most in the world. Sarah is a high(ish)-class prostitute who is taking care of her junkie brother when she undergoes plastic surgery to seduce a rich “Orbital” on behalf of a mysterious client. If they’re on the level, it could mean an escape from the hell of the Earth but that’s a big if.
The world is a fascinating one with the people of Earth having become citizens in a Third World hellhole following their defeat at the hands of the aforementioned Orbitals. The megacorporations based there now control the world’s economy as they devastated humanity’s infrastructure with mass-drivers after a brutal but short-lived war that ended in the favor of those with the ultimate high ground. It’s not quite Mad Max, Earth has technology as well as society, but they depend on the whims of the solar system’s elite. It reminded me a bit of anime’s Gundam and if not for the timing, I’d wonder if the creator was partially inspired by Hardwired.
This is a gritty and dark novel but also a fairly short one. Neither Sarah or Cowboy’s story last very long and don’t intersect but are still able to paint a vivid picture of their awful society. They are both criminals but the society they live in is so manifestly unjust that any actions they take, no matter how cruel, seem justified. Betrayal and treachery are things both of them are prepared for but still manage to hit them because they can’t turn down the jobs they know are too good to be true. It adds to the tragedy and pathos of the novel.
I will say that some of the novel’s elements haven’t aged particularly well and readers should be forewarned. Sarah is hired to seduce a Orbital that has changed from an old male body to a beautiful young female body despite the former being heterosexual. The latter is depicted as simply indulging a personal vice rather than being a transwoman but its easy to see how many readers would have assumed so. “Princess” is certainly not meant to be a character any sympathy or understanding other than being a rich old male psychopath with a Sapphic fetish. This element is the only one that bothered me in an otherwise fantastic book.
In conclusion, Hardwired is required reading for any true cyberpunk fan and doesn’t take much time to read. I picked up the 30th Anniversary version that contains additional material from the author that I feel is well worth reading. This is a book that, upon completion, I immediately re-read in order to fully soak up the world created. The audiobook is also excellent and one that I recommend for its excellent narration.
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Review – WHEN GRAVITY FAILS by George Alec Effinger
WHEN GRAVITY FAILS by George Alec Effinger is one of the seminal works of science fiction but, sadly, has fallen out of reading order for a lot of modern fans. Which is a sham because it does belong there with Neuromancer, Snow Crash, Hardwired, and Synners. It still has a lot of respect but is something that should probably come up more. It is dark, gritty, imaginative, and presents a vision of the future that not only remains internally consistent but socially relevant. Has it aged 100% well? Not entirely, no, but better than a lot of other fiction from the Eighties.
The premise is that in an undisclosed period of time both the United States and Soviet Union have fallen into competing states as the Cold War didn’t turn hot but both economies collapsed. So, the book is half right. Instead, the Middle East rather than China or Japan has risen to become the dominant power in the world alongside a united Europe. None of this particularly matters, though, because the world for our protagonist begins and end with the Budayeen.
The Budayeen is the Red Light District in an unnamed city somewhere in the Levant. I’m going to guess it’s in Syria, possibly Damascus, but it’s a bit like trying to guess where Springfield is. The Budayeen is full of cybernetically modified sex workers, many of whom are trans, and caters to every possible impulse. Whether sex, drugs, or cybernetic modifications. George Alec Effinger supposedly incorporated many elements of the French Quarter into his book and I have to wonder whether it was different in the Seventies since it is like a much seedier Mos Eisley.
The protagonist is Marid Audran, a self-described small-time hustler who is quite content with his life of grifting and drug use. He has a part-time girlfriend names Yasmin, one of the trans sex workers, and generally has managed to stay on everyone’s good side by acting as a neutral party during business deals. This goes out the window when another associate of his, Nikki, stiffs him on a deal he negotiated to buy out her contract. Right after his latest employer, a Russian politician, is killed right in front of him by a guy modded to be James Bond. Believe me, that’s the least strange element of Marid’s adventures. By the end, he’ll have dealt with everything from international intrigue to alleged serial killers.
The Budayeen is one of those fictional locations that leaps off the page so well that you can taste the air, however foul, and believe in the characters as real people. George Alec Effinger has a talent for writing eccentric larger-than-life characters that stick in your mind. Mike Pondsmith created a roleplaying game supplement for the Budayeen and I can understand why. It’s the kind of place that would be very fun to wander around and experience in a roleplaying game.
Technologically, the book explores two pieces of technology that are interesting to see the results of in “Moddies” and “Daddies.” Neuroscience has advanced in this world to the point that you can upload skills [Moddies] to learn new languages, kung fu, or whatever but only so long as you have the program uploaded via cartridge. Remove it and, poof, it’s gone. Daddies are the more extreme version where people can upload an entirely new personality to replace your existing one. Want to be James Bond, Nero Wolf, or Jesus? All available. For those who like scifi that explores unique tech, I think this is definitely appealing.
The book has some flaws: Marid Audran is a protagonist who needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the plot by outside forces. Dead friends or not, he wants nothing to do with solving crimes or dealing with dangerous people with guns. Which, to me, says that he’s probably in the wrong business as well as location. George’s handling of trans issues has not aged “entirely” well and can probably be put under the trope: “Fair for its day.” Trans characters are treated as normal and an every day part of life but after the fifth or sixth sex worker described in such terms, it starts to look a bit fetishistic. Plus, we’ve come a long way in terms of the psychology of gender, transitioning, and so on that certainly isn’t apparent here in a 1986 book. Race issues are also, um, interesting with Marid as a person of color in a city of very few white people who occasionally refers to himself as a racial slur.
Still, this is a book that is one of those rare occassions that I do feel like I was transported into another world. It is cyberpunk with an emphasis on the PUNK as the world is sleazy, dark, and full of corruption but that just makes it interesting. I think it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for some great crime fiction but don’t mind something that deals with some truly gruesome subject matter. Marid’s experiences are not for the faint of heart and would come with multiple warnings today given he’s dealing with a misogynist serial killer among other unpleasant people.
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October 5, 2022
What is Horror? Thrilling Books That Are Worth the Scare
Horror novels ask that question continuously.
Are ghosts scary? How about science fiction aliens? Or is psychological crime horror what gives you goose bumps? Horror is a difficult genre to pinpoint. Horror novels, or thriller novels in general are more than B-movie scares and gore. There is a place for that in the genre, but the horror genre encompasses so much more. Each reader has their thing that gives them chills. For myself as a reader, the good ole’ fashioned scares as a child do me in. The proverbial and unescapable boogie man that is waiting to corner me when I least expect it. Or, child demons or pretty much anything with kids. Yech.
I have put together my top 15 horror novels that have given me chills and thrills for years on many a reread. I have included both my favorite book and my favorite horror book. The books are all from different types of horror and represent various styles. I noted different types of horror novels with an asterisk. I also tried to limit the Stephen King books to two. He has written many amazing books and I could do an entire list of his work.
1. - Religious HorrorThe ExorcistBy William Peter Blatty
“We mourn the blossoms of May because they are to whither; but we know that May is one day to have its revenge upon November, by the revolution of that solemn circle which never stops—which teaches us in our height of hope, ever to be sober, and in our depth of desolation, never to despair.”
About The Exorcist
Georgetown, Washington D.C. Actress and divorced mother Chris MacNeil starts to experience ‘difficulties’ with her usually sweet-natured eleven-year-old daughter Regan. The child becomes afflicted by spasms, convulsions and unsettling amnesiac episodes; these abruptly worsen into violent fits of appalling foul-mouthed curses, accompanied by physical mutation. Medical science is baffled by Regan’s plight and, in her increasing despair, Chris turns to troubled priest and psychiatrist Damien Karras, who immediately recognises something profoundly malevolent in Regan’s distorted fetures and speech. On Karras’s recommendation, the Church summons Father Merrin, a specialist in the exorcism of demons . . .
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2. - Psychological HorrorThe Silence of the Lambsby Thomas Harris
“When the Fox hears the Rabbit scream he comes a-runnin’, but not to help.”
About Silence of the Lambs
A serial murderer known only by a grotesquely apt nickname—Buffalo Bill—is stalking women. He has a purpose, but no one can fathom it, for the bodies are discovered in different states. Clarice Starling, a young trainee at the FBI Academy, is surprised to be summoned by Jack Crawford, chief of the Bureau’s Behavioral Science section. Her assignment: to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter—Hannibal the Cannibal—who is kept under close watch in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
Dr. Lecter is a former psychiatrist with a grisly history, unusual tastes, and an intense curiosity about the darker corners of the mind. His intimate understanding of the killer and of Clarice herself form the core of “The Silence of the Lambs”—an ingenious, masterfully written book and an unforgettable classic of suspense fiction.
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3. - Ghost HorrorThe Shiningby Stephen King
“Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I’m not gonna hurt ya. I’m just going to bash your brains in.”
About The Shining
Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote…and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.
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4. - Society HorrorThe Long Walkby Stephen King
“They’re animals, all right. But why are you so goddam sure that makes us human beings?
About The Long Walk
Against the wishes of his mother, sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty is about to compete in the annual grueling match of stamina and wits known as The Long Walk. One hundred boys must keep a steady pace of four miles per hour without ever stopping… with the winner being awarded “The Prize” – anything he wants for the rest of his life. But, as part of this national tournament that sweeps through a dystopian America year after year, there are some harsh rules that Garraty and ninety-nine others must adhere to in order to beat out the rest. There is no finish line – the winner is the last man standing. Contestants cannot receive any outside aid whatsoever. Slow down under the speed limit and you’re given a warning. Three warnings and you’re out of the game – permanently…
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5. - Psychological HorrorThe Only Good Indiansby Stephen Graham Jones
“This is all you really need, isn’t it? Just one good friend. Somebody you can be stupid with. Somebody who’ll peel you up off the ground, prop you against the wall.”
Read Our Review of The Only Good Indians
About The Only Good IndiansThe creeping horror of Paul Tremblay meets Tommy Orange’s There There in a dark novel of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones.
Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.
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6. - Slasher HorrorClown in the Cornfieldby Adam Cesare
“We’re from where we’re from,” she says back. “Scars are part of the deal, aren’t they?”
About Clown in the Cornfield
Set a year after the first book, it looks at how the surviving characters are dealing with fame and infamy when a new threat, wearing an old clown mask, reaches out to upend their lives.
“And if you had any favorite characters in Clown in a Cornfield, I’m preemptively sorry. #FrendoLives” – Adam Cesare
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7. - Gothic HorrorMexican Gothicby Silvia Moreno-Garcia
“Books, moonlight, melodrama.”
About Mexican Gothic
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemí’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.
Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.
And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.
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8. - Psychological HorrorA Head Full of Ghostsby Paul Tremblay
“Ideas. I’m possessed by ideas. Ideas that are as old as humanity, maybe older, right? Maybe those ideas were out there just floating around before us, just waiting to be thought up. Maybe we don’t think them, we pluck them out from another dimension or another mind.”
Our Interview with Paul TremblayRead Our Review of A Head Full of Ghosts About A Head Full of Ghosts
The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.
To her parents’ despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie’s descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts’ plight. With John, Marjorie’s father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.
Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface–and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.
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9. - Zombie HorrorThe Postby Kevin A. MunozRead Our Review of The Post About The Post
Ten years after the world’s oil went sour and a pandemic killed most of the population, Sam Edison is the chief of police of The Little Five, a walled-in community near Atlanta, Georgia. Those who survived share the world with what are known as hollow-heads: creatures who are no longer fully human.
A man and a pregnant teenager arrive at the gate and are welcomed into the town. They begin to settle in when suddenly both are murdered by an unknown assailant. In the course of investigation, Chief Edison discovers that the girl was fleeing a life of sexual slavery, and that some members of the Atlanta community were complicit in the human trafficking network that had ensnared her.
In retaliation for Edison’s discoveries, agents of the network abduct the stepdaughter of the town’s mayor. Sam Edison and three companions track the kidnappers to Athens, Georgia, where they discover that the entire city is engaged in human trafficking. By the time Edison has recovered the kidnapped girl, the other three rescuers have been killed, leaving Edison alone to bring the mayor’s stepdaughter home. Further complicating their return is Sam’s realization that a prominent member of the community is in truth the ringleader of the slave-trading network. Against such great odds, will Sam ever make it to Little Five alive?
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10. - ComicHorrorUzumaki: Spiral into Horror, Vol. 1by Junji Ito About Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror, Vol. 1
Shortly after Shuichi Saito’s father becomes obsessed with spirals — snail shells, whirlpools, and man-made patterns — he dies mysteriously, his body positioned in the shape of a twisted coil. Soon, the entire town is afflicted with a snail-like disease
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First Chapter, First Paragraph – The Regulators by Stephen King
“When there’s no more room in hell, this artifact said, the dead will walk the earth.”
Check It Out
What is The Regulators About? There’s a place in Wentworth, Ohio, where summer is in full swing. It’s called Poplar Street. Up until now it’s been a nice place to live. The idling red van around the corner is about to change all that. Let the battle against evil begin. Here come…The Regulators
First Chapter, First Paragraph of Cycle of The Regulators
Poplar Street/3:45 P.M./July 15, 1996
Summer’s here. Not just summer, either, not this year, but the apotheosis of summer, the avatar of summer, high green perfect central Ohio summer dead-smash in the middle of July, white sun glaring out of that fabled faded Levi’s sky, the sound of kids hol- lering back and forth through the Bear Street Woods at the top of the hill, the tink! of Little League bats from the ballfield on the other side of the woods, the sound of power-mowers, the sound of muscle-cars out on Highway 19, the sound of Rollerblades on the cement sidewalks and smooth macadam of Poplar Street, the sound of radios—Cleveland Indians baseball (the rare day game) competing with Tina Turner belting out “Nutbush City Limits,” the one that goes “Twenty-five is the speed limit, motorcycles not allowed in it”—and surrounding everything like an auditory edging of lace, the soothing, silky hiss of lawn sprinklers.
Summer in Wentworth, Ohio, oh boy, can you dig it. Summer here on Poplar Street, which runs straight through the middle of that fabled faded American dream with the smell of hotdogs in the air and a few burst paper remains of Fourth of July firecrackers still lying here and there in the gutters. It’s been a hot July, a perfect good old by God blue-ribbon jeezer of a July, no doubt about it, but if you want to know the truth, it’s also been a dry July, with no water but the occasional flipped spray of a hose to stir those last shreds of Chinese paper from where they lie. That may change today; there’s an occasional rumble of thunder from the west, and those watching The Weather Channel (there’s plenty of cable TV on Poplar Street, you bet) know that thunderstorms are expected later on. Maybe even a tornado, al- though that’s unlikely.
First Chapter, First Paragraph -; Cryptofauna by Patrick Canning
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#SPFBO8 Review and Cut – A Journey of Black and Red by Alex Gilbert
As much as I hoped, A Journey of Black and Red by Alex Gilbert did not get its hooks in me.
Firstly, I want to commend the author on the effort they put into the stream-of-conscious type first-person narration of the main character. As a reader, you become intimately involved in every feeling, desire, and passing thought that the main character Ariane has. Ariane is a southern belle type of woman in the south in the 1800s. There are certain sensibilities and characterizations that one associates with this era that the author hints at. It helps explain some of Ariane’s thoughts, reactions, and rationales. However, one of the initial problems I ran into was that the author’s style of dialog left me disconnected from the world Ariane found herself in.
For example, the first few lines of the book are:
“Where… where am I?
I take a deep breath in, which promptly turns into a coughing fit as I spit… something on the ground.
Agh! Disgusting. This is entirely too disgraceful.
I hope there is no one around to witness my shame! The thought is born and dies in an instant.
I struggle to remain calm, but I can already feel the onset of panic. I smell dampness, old stones, and rust.
This is not my bedroom, nor is it any hospital I would be sent to. What has happened? I am lost.”
Description-wise, the author nails Ariane’s confusion about her situation. Still, as a reader, I need more visual descriptions of the situation around Ariane, so I can anchor her to a point. It wasn’t enough to see the world through Ariane’s eyes because if I have no anchor point to build her situation on and around, Ariane can not fully flesh out to me. She is in a room, and it smells damp. It could be anything from a castle to a battleship. Obviously, as we go on a bit, we realize that it is a cell. But I still lack a connection to the outside world. This might be entirely me as a reader, so your results may vary.
I want to be clear that there is a lot of good going on in the story. The political intrigue that Ariane faces is interesting. And, you slowly see her blossom and come into her own. I also enjoyed how Gilbert wrote the vampires to be more animalistic and less human. These are creatures that suck blood, heal, and are unbelievably strong. They are hunters, pure and simple, and should behave that way. There are no sparkly vampires in Ariane’s world.
I think if I had continued the story, I DNF at 23%; I would see Ariane fight, learn, and earn her place among the creatures of vampire society. She would become the dangerous huntress. And going by all of the super 5-star ratings for the novel, if you like vampire fiction and first-person narrative style, this is absolutely the book for you. But due to my lack of connection to the world outside Ariane’s inner monologue, I had to cut this.
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October 4, 2022
Review – GODLESS LANDS by Sean Crow
Unique, gut-punching, terrifying, brilliant! Those are just some of the words I would use to describe the post- apocalyptic grimdark fantasy “Godless Lands” by author Sean Crow.
The setting of the book is a horrific medieval-inspired world which has fallen victim to the aforementioned blight. This has destabilized everything. The ruling monarch and family have perished. Food is extremely scarce. Most former major cities have become walled fortresses, hoarding the remnants of edible food for its denizens. Zombie-like rabid former humans caused by the Blight, known as Withers, ravage the lawless open countryside – the Godless Lands – consuming human flesh.
From the chaos, with most of the nobility dead or ineffective during the epidemic, Baron Taegis of Brightridge has arisen as a man with a plan. He’s locked down his domains, forcibly evicted anyone displaying signs of the Blight, and with his servants called “Doves” rooting out and killing anyone infected, while his methods are barbaric, some semblance of order has been maintained amongst the chaos.
Taegis’ right hand man is known as Arlo “The Death Knight”. Arlo roams the streets, efficiently executing anyone who carries the disease. A former great warrior, who felt compelled to put down his own family once they became sick, he is tortured by their memory, but committed to doing what he believes is saving lives, by killing those who spread the Blight. He has faith in his overlord, Taegis, but Taegis seems to be losing his grip on reality. Still, Arlo can’t refuse his lord’s directive to track down Taegis’ wife and daughter who have escaped Taegis and run off into the Godless Lands.
Ferris, a Blight-infected former soldier, who is half-Withers, has yet retained his humanity. He’s a vagrant in the Godless Lands, but by chance he encounters the fleeing Bethany and Katrina, Taegis’ estranged wife and daughter. Knowing they have little hope to survive in the Godless Lands, Ferris decides to help them find relative safety. He takes the risk to lead them to a sheltered community known as the Farm, where Ferris once lived. But the Farm’s inhabitants are endangered by Ferris’ actions, because the brutal, cannibalistic Butcher of Riven is hunting for the secret location of the farm, planning to dine on the flesh of its dwellers.
The characters in “Godless Lands” were exceptionally well done. Forced into more “grey” behaviours by the Blight, the reader sees how the characters are presented with difficult moral decisions where survival is paramount, and honour is a shaky concept when one facing death by disease or starvation, and violence becomes the fallback for self-preservation.
Arlo was one of my favourite players. He believes those who shelter dying infected are selfish and dangerous to society as a whole. He carries the scars of what he does, hoping to hold onto some shred of the concept of “honour”, but feeling he’s failing miserably. He seems immune to the Blight, though by rights he should have died of it a long time ago considering all the exposure he’s had to it. He’s duty-bound, complicated, and overall a great character.
The pragmatic members of the farm, like Donovan, Zia, Rigby, Danny, and Igs are characters the reader will definitely root for, as noble people who are forced to make terrible sacrifices to protect their community. Ultimately they are striving for peace, some sense of normalcy amidst the madness, love, family, and some kind of future for the next generation. They will pull at your heart strings, and you will mourn when not all of them make it out alive.
The themes in the book are extremely compelling. What do we as humans turn into in our most desperate times? Crow’s answer would seem to be: typically, animals, but with exceptions. We see the best and worst of human nature in the novel, and everything in between. Madness, torture, cannibalism, dementia, euthanasia, PTSD, despair, and more are challenging issues touched in the novel. But the book is surely not without hope and optimism, and the devotion to family and friends, self-sacrifice, and valour displayed by some of the characters truly shines through.
Less than 250 pages, this book is written in a lean and efficient fashion, with tight, impactful prose, while still allowing plenty of space to get to know the characters, their motivations and thought processes very well. The action scenes are fantastic, tense, some downright scary. With the addition of the prospect of the Withers taking a bite out of your favourite characters, adding palpable dread to the narrative, at times the book felt like a horror novel.
A fantastic dark fantasy novel about what happens when a medieval-like society degenerates into near depravity, “Godless Lands” is a small book that packs a lot of great elements into its relatively few pages. Highly recommended!
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