Nikolas P. Robinson's Blog, page 31

Horrorgasm by Nikki Noir

Molly Massacre’s HorrorGasm page on FANdom is successfully drawing subscribers with her horror-themed camgirl antics. She’s generating income at a rate most girls on FANdom would probably kill for, but everything is far from perfect. Molly wants out of the life she’s living with her narcissistic, domineering, drug-dealing boyfriend, Chad.
With the assistance of her best friend (and business manager), Selena, Molly has a plan to escape from her boyfriend and to start a new life. For her final HorrorGasm performance, with a Texas Chainsaw Massacre-inspired vibrator, Molly raffles off the chance to go on a date with her, and the plan seems to be wildly successful.
Unfortunately, Chad’s increasingly erratic behavior and the white knight fantasy of a HorrorGasm subscriber, Dylan, send the plan off the rails. Will Molly Massacre’s HorrorGasm ultimately lead to true horror? You’ll have to read the story to find out.
Unlike a lot of Noir’s fiction I’ve read, there is no supernatural/paranormal element to this tale. Horrorgasm is a straightforward thriller with a heavy erotic component. Don’t dismiss this story for the lack of surreal horror. Nikki Noir is no one-trick pony, and she’ll have you speeding through the pages, desperate to see where she leads you.

Horrorgasm is a Godless Exclusive title and you can obtain it for yourself at http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app on your smartphone, tablet, or Kindle device. The link is below:

Horrorgasm by Nikki Noir

Knuckle Supper: Ultimate Gutter Fix Edition by Drew Stepek

If like me, of the two major vampire films released in 1987, you prefer the Kathryn Bigelow directed Near Dark over Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys, Knuckle Supper is the vampire novel for you. The Lost Boys may have had the audience and the soundtrack, but Near Dark had the brutality, originality, and grittiness that befitted the monsters at the heart of the story. Knuckle Supper carries that tradition into 21st-century horror literature.
Stepek writes vampires the way one might expect from someone who wants to take the monsters back from the L. J. Smiths and Stephenie Meyers of the world, restoring them to the darkness and underground where they belong. It’s difficult for me to describe what he’s put together in these pages that race past the reader at a rapid-fire pace. Knuckle Supper is, in effect, Anne Rice meets Irvine Welsh, Near Dark meets Requiem for a Dream, and a little bit The Warriors meets 30 Days of Night. If that doesn’t intrigue you, I honestly don’t know how else I can try to describe it without just reading the book to you, and we know I’m not going to do that.
We meet RJ and Dez as they’re preparing to murder a pimp in the home they’re squatting in, a steadily depreciating house once belonging to a former child star turned heroin addict.
RJ, Dez, and the rest of the Knucklers aren’t your typical Hollywood vampires, even though they live in Los Angeles. Blood isn’t their only addiction. They need heroin to survive. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as spiking a needle into their veins to get their fix. They need blood to carry the high into their starving, desiccated internal organs. Enter the pimp they’re about to have for supper.
The (almost) 13-year-old prostitute carelessly tossed into the bathroom is all but forgotten as RJ and Dez make a mess of the place in their desperate chase for a fix. Against his better judgment, and displaying more humanity than his peers, RJ decides not to kill the young girl. This act of uncharacteristic decency is how Bait becomes part of his family. It’s also how everything begins to spiral out of control, ultimately bringing RJ face-to-face with The Cloth, an organization he’d dismissed as nothing but a vampire’s boogeyman, and the painful truth at the core of what RJ actually is.
Drew Stepek introduces readers to a Los Angeles populated by a different sort of gang, consisting of a wholly different kind of gangster from what we’ve become familiar with from popular culture. The city is divided up between tenuously allied gangs of vampires, each feeding and dealing on their own turf. Brutal, far from immortal, and impulsive, Stepek’s vampires are prone to massive errors in judgment, and it’s only a matter of time before the flimsy alliances fracture and violence ensues.
There’s more to this story than drug addiction and graphic violence, though there’s plenty of both. There’s also a depth and character to this story that underscores the superficial, splattery elements of the narrative.

You can obtain a copy of Knuckle Supper as well as the sequel, Knuckle Balled, by going to http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app to your preferred mobile device: The link to this title on both Godless and Amazon are below:

Knuckle Supper by Drew Stepek

Brand New Cherry Flavor by Todd Grimson, narrated by Marguerite Gavin

Brand New Cherry Flavor is a book packed with originality and uniqueness. There’s a potential within this story, a barely suppressed tension and horror seething just below the surface, that sadly never quite reaches fruition. My comment on wasted potential is not to suggest I didn’t enjoy the story because it was surprisingly enjoyable. I feel almost as though the lack of gratification or fulfillment was an intentional stroke by the author. Consider it a page from the Bret Easton Ellis playbook, metafictional and intentionally subverting the expectation of the readers.
Lisa Nova is, for the most part, not a likable character. Throughout the narrative, she fluctuates between appearing vapid and slyly witty while perpetually coming across as shallow. Being unlikeable does not, however, make her unsympathetic. Witnessing as her life spins out of control with an increasing cost in collateral damage, it would be challenging to dismiss her plight.
We join the tale just as Lisa’s passed over for a promised role as the Assistant Director on a major film project. This position had been promised to her by Lou Burke, the man she’d been having an affair with up until that point. As a concession, her now-former lover sends her to meet with people who will capitalize on her looks by paying her to star in a pornography adjacent film. Lou Burke, or as Lisa repeatedly refers to him, “Lou Greenwood, Lou Adolph, Lou Burke,” is a class act. He deserves to have a fork stabbed into his leg.
Incensed, and seeking revenge, Lisa goes to her ex-boyfriend, Code, to inquire about a hitman she’d heard about through him. This leads her to Boro, and the rest of the story evolves in its phantasmagoric way from that interaction.
Traveling from Hollywood to Brazil, from Brazil to New York, and from New York back to Hollywood, Lisa discovers that Boro has not only taken the job of destroying Lou Burke–and his family–but is also providing Lisa with the power to shape the world around her in ways many people could only dream of.
Psychic tattoos, a mythological white jaguar, zombies (of the voodoo variety), drugs of all flavors and varieties, magical filmmaking, mirrors that show the past, and a garden of human limbs are only some of the more bizarre elements of this story.
Though I enjoyed this book a good deal less than I would have liked, I can certainly understand the appeal it has for other readers/listeners.
The audiobook narration supplied by Marguerite Gavin made the story more enjoyable than it might have been without such a competent narrator. She certainly managed to fully convey the character of Lisa Nova better than I think many narrators could.

The Whorehouse That Jack Built Part One: The Celestial by Kevin Sweeny

Kevin Sweeny’s The Whorehouse That Jack Built could be best described as what one might arrive at if they attempted to blend Hellraiser with The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, and set the tale in the late 1800s. There’s plenty of humor, though of a darker variety, and there’s a whole lot of focus on the place where pleasure meets pain in a sublime confluence.
For the dying and the insane, a choice is given to cross the rubicon, to enter the Half-World in the Undiscovered Country. By giving up everything, the damned are provided with a chance to experience something no living soul, a single night of pleasure beyond anything available in Heaven or on Earth. All it costs is everything.
We’re first introduced to this in-between house of carnal delights as Clem approaches the door with his old dog, Lady, by his side. Lady is no stranger to Clem’s sexual predilections, having served as his partner since she was a small pup.
Aside from his blood, sweat, seed, and soul, Lady is the final sacrifice Clem makes as he crosses the threshold. Will he regret this decision or will the unearthly pleasures provided in the countless rooms of the whorehouse be sufficient to assuage the loss of his beloved Lady?
As a dog lover–of a vastly different definition–I was not fond of Clem. Clem’s part in this narrative also includes language that, while appropriate to the time and the location, might offend some readers. It’s no less enjoyable for these things. Hell, it’s probably more enjoyable for the historical authenticity and the attention to detail Sweeny included.
We’re next introduced to the albino preacher who arrives at the Half-World doors for an entirely different purpose, contrary to those of the usual guests. This new arrival comes just as the story comes to its end, leaving us wishing for more.
Thankfully, the second installment in this series is already available, and there is more to come.

This title is a Godless exclusive that can be found at http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app on your choice of mobile devices. The link is below:

The Whorehouse That Jack Built (Part 1 -The Celestial) by Kevin Sweeney

We Need To Do Something (2021)

If you’re unfamiliar with We Need To Do Something, I recommend that you sift through my earlier blog posts for my review of the novella by Max Booth III. Published in spring of 2020, Max’s We Need To Do Something set an unexpectedly appropriate tone for a year that frequently included the term “shelter in place.” Deeply disturbing and claustrophobic, the novella got under the skin of almost everyone who read it. It was no surprise that the screenplay Max adapted from his novella managed to capture attention. Now we have the opportunity to watch the result of more than a year of hard work from Max and the cast and crew involved in the production.
We Need To Do Something is a tale of a dysfunctional, broken family taking shelter in a bathroom as a tornado warning precedes a massive and destructive cataclysmic event taking place in the world outside of their confinement. Trapped by a fallen tree, the family bonds dissolve as panic sets in. Revealed in flashbacks, we learn that the daughter, Melissa, might have something to do with what begins to feel more like the end of the world than merely a storm.
To say that Sean King O’Grady captured the foreboding atmosphere and quirky humor of the story is an understatement. I sincerely believe he’ll have a lot of attention after this particular movie makes the waves it surely will. I don’t doubt Max had plenty of input on set as an Executive Producer, and the screenwriter of the project, but it required a quality director with vision and attention to detail no matter how much consultation the writer provided.
Largely a single-location shoot, the set was an important character in and of itself. The bathroom where the family found themselves trapped as a storm–and whatever else–raged beyond the walls needed to be perfect in its way. The art department nailed the bathroom design.
Pat Healy’s performance as the angry, alcoholic father, Robert, is eerily well done. Vinessa Shaw captures the humor and sympathetic nature of Diane, the mother who, desperate to hold everything together, had been planning to leave her awful husband until the storm forced them into captivity. The true stars are Sierra McCormick and John James Cronin, Melissa and Bobby, respectively. The two of them portrayed siblings so well as to make one feel as if they’d been living together for years. Melissa was brought to life as a confused, terrified teenager wracked with guilt over the witchcraft she’d performed with her girlfriend, Amy, and the belief that they’d been responsible for everything happening. Bobby was believable as the equally adorable and annoying younger brother, so much so that the events are no less heartbreaking and painful than they were when reading the novella.
While the production wasn’t at all what I’d pictured in my imagination, it triumphantly came to replace the things I’d seen in my mind’s eye while reading the book more than a year ago.
I can only imagine how proud Max Booth III must be, having seen his vision brought to life in this new way, with such spectacular quality. It’s especially gratifying, I suspect, to have seen the “good boy” scene played out on screen. Anyone who has read the novella will know precisely what I’m talking about. It’s truly the turning point of the story, where the reader/viewer realizes there’s something horrifying taking place.
We all need to do something, indeed. We Need To See This Movie!

I Eat Babies by Gerhard Jason Geick

Continuing a tradition started by none other than the author of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift, Geick presents not only a strong defense for the consumption of babies, but an entertaining glimpse into the future.
With food scarcity a real concern, what better solution than to devour babies and unwanted children?
As presented in A Modest Proposal, the argument was that it serves a twofold solution, removal of a hungry mouth from circulation and a suitable meal provided for those who might otherwise be starving. I Eat Babies provides us with a refreshed and reinvigorated baby eating platform for the modern age.
Using the drabble form, Geick succeeds in packing a hugely amusing–albeit perverse–collection of themed snippets of story into small packages. The important thing is that he does it well.
Personally, I have to say this is a successful teaser for his upcoming collection of drabbles, double drabbles, and pentadrabbles.
While I understand that this medium might not be for everyone, this collection has been made available for potential readers at no cost, so there’s no reason not to give it a chance. I know I will be picking up the new collection when it becomes available.
Maybe we can enjoy the new collection together, over a main course of baby stew?

This collection is available from http://www.godless.com or through the Godless app on your preferred mobile platform. The link is below:

I Eat Babies (Dark Drabbles Vol. 1.5) by Gerhard Jason Geick

Fish Pie Face Fuck! by Sean Hawker

Jon and Spence live alone with what’s left of their mother. Alone, that is, until Jon brings Wendy home. Wendy, steadily decaying and host to insects and parasites of all kinds since Jon left her rotting in the woods until he couldn’t restrain himself from bringing his new lover home.
That is where the story begins, but it’s nowhere near the end.
Grotesque, violent, sexually explicit, and perversely hilarious, Sean Hawker introduces us to the world of The Cotswold Muff Mangler and his mentally deficient sibling. More than that, he introduces us to a form of afterlife that is utterly, horrifically awful. Think Return of the Living Dead, where the deceased remain aware and capable of receiving gradually diminished sensory input as they rot. Now imagine being at the mercy of a dude who takes you back to a home that resembles a landfill only to have his way with you in every disgusting manner possible. Yeah, it’s sort of chilling to think about it. I recommend not thinking about it if you can avoid doing so.
Thanks to our author, I find myself wanting to attend a Godless Horrors Lit Fest in some seedy dive of a bar/pub in a rundown, needle park region of a city. If there’s a guarantee of Simon McHardy filling an inflatable koala with semen, I think the venue will be packed!
There are no sympathetic characters in this story, but that’s a feature, not a bug. If you’ve enjoyed Hawkman’s other material, you’re sure to love this one. You’ll never look at a Halloween mask fashioned from gorilla foreskin the same way again.

This title is a http://www.godless.com exclusive. You can obtain it for yourself by going to the website or downloading the app on your preferred mobile device. The link is below:

Fish Pie Face Fuck! by Sean Hawker

Cucumbers & Comforters by Nikki Noir

Nikki Noir has an exceptional talent for blending supernatural elements with splatterpunk sensibilities. If you haven’t read the Black Planet installments–or the collection of the first four–you are seriously missing out on a writer who is easily one of the best emerging voices of indie horror. If, however, you want to avoid diving into a series, you’re in luck. Nikki has several stand-alone short stories like this fantastic tale.
Jen is still an outsider at school, even after spending a year in the new town where her family moved. One of her only friends is a young boy named Dale, a special boy from an unhappy home. Jen met Dale hanging out near the river, and she began telling him stories. One of those stories Jen shared concerns the Japanese myth of the Kappa. Dale internalized that particular myth and began playacting as a Kappa near the water. But Dale has been missing for a couple of weeks.
Heading home after a party where she’d gotten into an unpleasant verbal exchange with one of the popular girls, Jen is startled and pleased to discover Dale hanging out on one of the rocks near the river. She attempts to take him home, but he resists, insistent on playing a Kappa. Leaving him with the cucumber she’d carried with her–the favorite treat of one of those supernatural creatures–Jen races off to bring attention to Dale’s presence near the river.
From there, Cucumbers & Comforters becomes a barrage of sex, sexual violence, unraveling mysteries, sinister family drama, and myths seemingly come to life. There may be no amount of childlike security found in carrying cucumbers or hiding beneath comforters that will save Jen from the awful repercussions of the events set in motion the night of the party…but you’ll have to read the story to find out for yourself.
If you’re in the mood to read about glowing orbs brutally extracted from human anuses, taboo sexual trysts, and murder, you are in the right place. This is a voyage Nikki Noir is the perfect host to guide you on.

You can obtain your own copy of Cucumbers & Comforters from http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app on the mobile device of your choice. The link is below:

Cucumbers and Comforters by Nikki Noir

The Doze by Drew Stepek

The Doze takes the unrelenting violence and satisfying splash of gore and viscera from the previous two Godless League installments and runs headlong into a concrete wall with it. Of course, this concrete is the fluid manifestation of Jack Slaughterdozer.
If you’re trying to figure out just what sort of superhero The Doze might be, think a little bit Sandman, a little bit Green Lantern, maybe a touch of Venom, and a whole lot of Hulk–plus just a smidge of Lennie Small, for those who read Of Mice and Men. The Doze can transform himself from an already dangerous man into a giant formed of living concrete, able to transform himself into seemingly anything he can imagine–and his imagination for causing damage is virtually unlimited. When assholes from Construction Mercenary Union Local 222 show up to demolish Slaughterdozer’s home in the landfill on behalf of Globoshame Construction Corporation, all hell breaks loose in the most graphic, over-the-top manner one could imagine. I’m pro-union, but these guys deserve what’s coming to them.
Running counter to the excessive violence and concrete climax, there’s a story of tragedy and pain, with the loss of Slaughterdozer’s family and the painful cost of illiteracy.
Stepek takes readers on a rollercoaster of highs and lows that shouldn’t even be possible within such a short tale, but he guides us masterfully through the loops and whirls, and we reach the end exhausted and fighting back tears.

You can pick up The Doze, as well as the other Godless League titles, by going to http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app on your mobile device. The link is below:

Godless League #3 (The Doze – "Home") by Drew Stepek

Sweet Tooth by Matthew A. Clarke

If you take a dash of Brave New World, toss in a healthy dose of Bladerunner, and blend it all with a bit of sadism, you’ll end up with Sweet Tooth by Matthew A. Clarke. It’s a short story that overall feels like a transcript for an episode of Black Mirror.
The ultra-wealthy have finally done away with the poor and undesirable, and they’ve replaced those forgotten and discarded people with Hollows. Hollows are manufactured in bulk to perform the menial tasks and services the ruling class deems beneath them.
Candy is such a hollow, designed to be an escort–though not in a sexual sense, as she isn’t equipped with the necessary parts.
In tribute to the banality of all existence, we first discover Candy is becoming aware beyond her programming because she’s unhappy about someone else deciding how her hair should look. Other Candy models are disappearing, and there appears to be a man involved in those disappearances. Our Candy finds herself in the predicament of needing to unravel the mystery behind the missing hollows while maintaining her facade of going along with her base programming.
In a sense, this is a truly depressing, dystopian vision of a possible future, extrapolating on the income inequality and class warfare we already experience. More than that, it showcases that no amount of weeding out undesirables based on social status will erase the sort of people who become serial killers today. Those types of people will always find a new group of “less dead” as criminologist Steven Egger refers to the typical victims of serial murderers. Clarke captures that grim reality in this story.
Is there a happy ending?
Is such a thing even possible in a world like that?
You’ll have to read the damn story for yourself to find out.

Sweet Tooth is a Godless exclusive title available at http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app on the mobile device you utilize for reading digital texts. The link for the story is below:

Sweet Tooth by Matthew A. Clarke