Alexander Pyles's Blog, page 6
August 31, 2019
Review: Prime Meridian
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Few books have impacted me, personally, as PRIME MERIDIAN by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This one blindsided me by the relatively unassuming(but beautiful) cover. I really couldn’t be more happy with this literary, sci-fi novella.
Amelia is in a hard place. She finds herself trying to shoestring her budget as she lives with her sister in near-future Mexico City. All of the typical problems of an urban city center are exasperated here, with cruel industries squeezing the have-nots. Amelia works as...
August 29, 2019
Review: To Be Devoured
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It normally takes a lot of me to be disgusted, but Sara Tantlinger’s TO BE DEVOURED may be the grossest book I have read all year, yet she makes it beautiful. After being familiar with her poetry for several years, and fresh off her Stoker award winning poetry collection, THE DEVIL’S DREAMLAND, Tantlinger’s first novella is a satisfyingly gruesome, psychological horror.
Disclaimer: This goes almost without saying that this story contains visceral gore/body mutilation/body horror, so stay awa...
August 27, 2019
Review: Summoned
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I’ve been wanting to dig into Mckayla Eaton’s writing for a while, so I jumped on the chance to receive an e-ARC of her debut novel, SUMMONED. What I discovered was a fun fantasy, though subtly-layered in the tradition of YA. Set up as the first of THE DEMON SUMMONER trilogy, Eaton has made an engrossing addition to the shelves of coming-of-age, YA fantasies.
Alton is seventeen and bored. He wished he had a tutor that he could actually present a challenge to his wits and abilities. Then Prof...
August 24, 2019
Review: The Withered King
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It’s been a long time since I have read anything that splices so many genres together and Ricardo Victoria really takes the blender to science fiction and fantasy in his debut novel.
Small disclosure: He sent me an e-ARC of his book that released on August 20th from Shadow Dragon Press in exchange for a review.
The reader primarily follows Fionn blessed by a power called “The Gift” and wielder of an arcane Tempest blade. Haunted by regrets and guilt, he agrees to help Gaby and Alex as they t...
August 22, 2019
Review: Embers of War
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Gareth L. Powell has managed to create a modern piece of space opera without the typical glitz and glam and is better for it. Instead, EMBERS OF WAR engages the affects of violence and the impossibility of ignoring the aftermath of such violence.
This has to be one of my most enjoyable reads of this sub-genre to date, which isn’t a surprise being that is a British Science Fiction Association Award winner for Best Novel in 2018. I read this in about three or four sittings, holding onto the bo...
August 20, 2019
Book Release: Monsters
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And here is another Black Hare press anthology, you all should know the drill by now!
I have five micro fiction stories in this one and a few I’m honestly pretty proud of. I’ll have the list below like always. As with the other anthologies, I’m alongside 100+ other authors and their terrifying little yarns.
There’s a whole lot of stuff covered in this, from your regular ‘ol monsters like werewolves and vampires, but there might even be a few new monsters or maybe the monsters are just…us?
Ho...
August 17, 2019
Review: The Fearing Pt. 2 – Water & Wind
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And we are back with Part two of John F. D. Taff’s THE FEARING: WATER & WIND! The next installment releases from Grey Matter Press on August 20th, so be sure to pick up your copy asap!
The first part landed with somewhat mixed results for me, even though I still enjoyed it, but with novel serialization’s sometimes the stakes just have to heat up some and here, they swamping the reader.
The introduction of Reverend Mark Hubert in Savannah is a welcome addition, since his witness of the mother...
August 15, 2019
Review: The Fisherman
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Few books really nail the mythic scope of Lovecraft, but John Langan’s THE FISHERMAN, goes far deeper, while the tentacles of cosmic horror writhes around it.
Oh and it should be noted it won the 2016 Bram Stoker for best novel!
Following Abe and Dan, two widowers, who have found one another’s love for fishing a place of fellowship, are lured by a mysterious creek. In upstate New York, there is the Dutchman’s Creek, which flows from the Ashokan Reservoir, only not many have heard of this cre...
August 13, 2019
Review: Ballad of the Whisky Robber
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Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives and Broken Hearts, is maybe the longest title ever, but Julian Rubinstein writes a hell of a story, yet it’s all true. This was our nonfiction read for this month in my local book club and while it didn’t ring all the bells for me, it was still really enjoyable.
Julian Rubinstein writes an exhaustive portrayal of Attila Ambrus as he comes to Hungary and becomes the cou...
August 10, 2019
Review: The Renegade God
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Matt Spencer I think, gets a sense when it’s been too long since I reviewed one his books and he just sends me one to review. I mean, maybe he actually didn’t do that, but he did send this to me out of the blue, which was a great surprise and pleasure.
Back ito his world dark fantasy world of CHANGING OF THE GUARD(that I reviewed a couple months back), we are given the sister and brother rogues, Tia and Ketz. When they piss off the wrong bounty hunter, their hands are forced onto the securit...
