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Apocrypha Sequence: Deviance
Apocrypha Sequence: Deviance explores the darkness within the human heart. Set foot inside the morgue at Stratton Memorial Hospital, a place where the scales of life and death have tipped in the wrong direction, and wander the city beyond, where fantasies of sex, drugs, and violence can become frighteningly real. Redemption may be found under a scalpel, in an alley, or sometimes, by embracing the darkest corner of the soul.
The Apocrypha Sequence is a series of dark fantasy collections with interwoven themes and interconnected stories from Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Australia's master of the macabre. Also in the Apocrypha Sequence: Divinity, Inferno, and Insanity.
The Apocrypha Sequence is a series of dark fantasy collections with interwoven themes and interconnected stories from Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Australia's master of the macabre. Also in the Apocrypha Sequence: Divinity, Inferno, and Insanity.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
56 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 18, 2011
22 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Shane Jiraiya Cummings
32 books35 followersShane Jiraiya Cummings has been acknowledged as "one of Australia’s leading voices in dark fantasy". Shane is the author of the forthcoming Yokai Wars series (Circle of Tears, Clockwork Legion, and Blight of the Underworld) and the dark fiction books The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After, Shards, the Apocrypha Sequence (Deviance, Divinity, Insanity, and Inferno), and the Ravenous Gods cycle (Requiem for the Burning God and Dreams of Destruction). He has won the Australian Shadows Award and two Ditmar Awards, and he has been nominated for more than twenty other major awards, including Spain's Premios Ignotus.
Shane is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association and former Vice President of the Australian Horror Writers Association. When he is not writing, Shane is an editor and journalist by day. By night (and on weekends), he can be found indulging in hobbies such as playing the guitar, photography, sword fighting, and testing the limits of his new cruiser motorcycle.
In his youth, Shane was trained in the deadly arts of the ninja, and the name Jiraiya (lit. "Young Thunder", after the legendary ninja Jiraiya) was bestowed upon him by his sensei.
Shane was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. He lived for many years in Perth, Western Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand, but he recently returned to his old home town to revisit the ghosts of his past.
More information on Shane (including his free fiction) can be found online at www.jiraiya.com.au.
Shane is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association and former Vice President of the Australian Horror Writers Association. When he is not writing, Shane is an editor and journalist by day. By night (and on weekends), he can be found indulging in hobbies such as playing the guitar, photography, sword fighting, and testing the limits of his new cruiser motorcycle.
In his youth, Shane was trained in the deadly arts of the ninja, and the name Jiraiya (lit. "Young Thunder", after the legendary ninja Jiraiya) was bestowed upon him by his sensei.
Shane was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. He lived for many years in Perth, Western Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand, but he recently returned to his old home town to revisit the ghosts of his past.
More information on Shane (including his free fiction) can be found online at www.jiraiya.com.au.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 31, 2012
This collection of short stories really blew me away. The man writes some really great characters, but what I love about this collection is that he creates a whole sort of mythos around the character, and then gives us just a glimpse inside it. Each story has a richly thought-out background, and we step in as readers just when it gets juicy for the character, the height of their experience within it... and then the author pulls us right back out again.
I love stories like that, but I definitely want to read some of his longer works to see how much he can draw out and develop a set of characters and their situation beyond just a handful of (e-)pages.
I've bought the other three books in this sequence and am VERY MUCH looking forward to reading them.
I love stories like that, but I definitely want to read some of his longer works to see how much he can draw out and develop a set of characters and their situation beyond just a handful of (e-)pages.
I've bought the other three books in this sequence and am VERY MUCH looking forward to reading them.
January 11, 2012
This is one of the first collections that i have read by Shane Cummings and i was pleasantly surprised. Each of the stories contain a twisted darkness that keeps the reader entertained and looking for more. I am pleased to say that Shane has caught my attention and that this will not be the last collection i read by a long shot.
May 24, 2013
I didn't know what to expect with this book.. this book was weird and SO FREAKING AWESOME!!!! I loved every story and I kept trying to figure out what the twist would be a head of time.. if you love horror books PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!!!!!
April 2, 2013
Apocrypha Sequence: Deviance is one of a group of anthologies by writer Shane Jiraiya Cummings. In Deviance the stories definitely take a walk on the dark and disturbing side. There are five stories total in Deviance; Hear no Evil, The Cutting Room, Interlude, With Lavender, Dark Hearth Alley(An Urban Fable), and Wrack.
The writing is dark, not for the faint of heart. They walk the line between gore and horror. Some of the stories are longer than others, but all are the type that keep you turning the page wanting to read more. But because of their length some are stories unto themselves while others just seem to be scenes from a bigger novel. I recently read a review done of an anthology and the way it was written I feel would work well with this book. Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali's reviewed each story individually so that is what I am going to do here.***
Hear No Evil – Blaine is a boilermaker who’s been in a horrific accident that leaves him unable to hear. Yet somehow he still hears screams coming from somewhere in the hospital that he wakes up in. This was one of the more complete stories in the novel. Loved the attention to detail of how Blaine is relating to the world around him without his hearing. The descriptions are creepy and it has a twist ending that is chilling.
The Cutting Room – Gary and Parrish are coroners that have a very undead body on their hands. This one had more gore than Hear No Evil. I really get creeped out by autopsies so this one already had me spooked even before the weird stuff started happening. Again the authors descriptive writing really had me hooked.
Interlude, With Lavender – This is the least creepy and gory story in the bunch. Two men find themselves with their own deceased bodies. This one I kinda wondered about. It wasn’t gory and it really wasn’t scary it just seemed like a scene from a bigger story. It was well written though and I would definitely want to read more.
Dark Hearth Alley (An Urban Fable) – This is another complete story. It is about Miri and Joe and the serial killer X who is stalking the people of the slums where they live. I liked the descriptions. Again they were creepy, but they portrayed the area the main characters found themselves in with grim and gritty detail. The twists and turns were also unexpected.
Wrack – A truly gruesome picture into the heart of a man and what he is willing to do to survive. I didn’t like the main character, but he isn’t supposed to be liked. In fact I would go so far as to say that the author meant for him to be hated. Again this is one of the stories that seems to be just a beginning to a bigger story.
Would I want to read it the rest of it? Hmmm. Not sure. I really disliked the main character and since it was told from his point of view, well, I don’t know if I could get into a larger tale. However it was very well written and still drew me in.
Overall I enjoyed the whole anthology. While it wasn’t my usual choice of genre it was well written and drew me in. I finished the book in one sitting simply because I really wanted to see where the author was going to take me next.
The writing is dark, not for the faint of heart. They walk the line between gore and horror. Some of the stories are longer than others, but all are the type that keep you turning the page wanting to read more. But because of their length some are stories unto themselves while others just seem to be scenes from a bigger novel. I recently read a review done of an anthology and the way it was written I feel would work well with this book. Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali's reviewed each story individually so that is what I am going to do here.***
Hear No Evil – Blaine is a boilermaker who’s been in a horrific accident that leaves him unable to hear. Yet somehow he still hears screams coming from somewhere in the hospital that he wakes up in. This was one of the more complete stories in the novel. Loved the attention to detail of how Blaine is relating to the world around him without his hearing. The descriptions are creepy and it has a twist ending that is chilling.
The Cutting Room – Gary and Parrish are coroners that have a very undead body on their hands. This one had more gore than Hear No Evil. I really get creeped out by autopsies so this one already had me spooked even before the weird stuff started happening. Again the authors descriptive writing really had me hooked.
Interlude, With Lavender – This is the least creepy and gory story in the bunch. Two men find themselves with their own deceased bodies. This one I kinda wondered about. It wasn’t gory and it really wasn’t scary it just seemed like a scene from a bigger story. It was well written though and I would definitely want to read more.
Dark Hearth Alley (An Urban Fable) – This is another complete story. It is about Miri and Joe and the serial killer X who is stalking the people of the slums where they live. I liked the descriptions. Again they were creepy, but they portrayed the area the main characters found themselves in with grim and gritty detail. The twists and turns were also unexpected.
Wrack – A truly gruesome picture into the heart of a man and what he is willing to do to survive. I didn’t like the main character, but he isn’t supposed to be liked. In fact I would go so far as to say that the author meant for him to be hated. Again this is one of the stories that seems to be just a beginning to a bigger story.
Would I want to read it the rest of it? Hmmm. Not sure. I really disliked the main character and since it was told from his point of view, well, I don’t know if I could get into a larger tale. However it was very well written and still drew me in.
Overall I enjoyed the whole anthology. While it wasn’t my usual choice of genre it was well written and drew me in. I finished the book in one sitting simply because I really wanted to see where the author was going to take me next.
November 16, 2012
I first discovered Cummings in a Scott Nicholson collection of short dark horror stories. I liked his morgue story so much that I decided to see what else he had to offer in one of his own collections.
Deviance is a collection of very disturbing and very creative short dark horror stories. They're mostly chilling without being over the top in terms of gore and shock value which I found to be a refreshing change of pace. A lot of writers in this genre tend to lean too much on shock value in order to make up for thin stories. That's not the case with this collection. The atmosphere and deranged goings on serve as a dismal backdrop for the characters and how they react to the sick twisted world they inhabit.
Very good stuff.
Deviance is a collection of very disturbing and very creative short dark horror stories. They're mostly chilling without being over the top in terms of gore and shock value which I found to be a refreshing change of pace. A lot of writers in this genre tend to lean too much on shock value in order to make up for thin stories. That's not the case with this collection. The atmosphere and deranged goings on serve as a dismal backdrop for the characters and how they react to the sick twisted world they inhabit.
Very good stuff.
June 2, 2012
This compilation of short stories is sure to please fans of the macabre, fantasy, and outright madness. I preferred some stories over others as is common with a collection of shorts. Fans of this collection will be delighted to know that the Kindle edition of this book is currently free on Amazon. Additionally delightful is that there are 3 more books in this series at low cost on Amazon for the Kindle. The author is from Australia. I stumbled upon this book by accident and am glad I did. I now have a new author to add to my list in the horror and macabre category. Enjoy. And happy...nightmares.
July 11, 2014
A few of the stories blew me away, but others left me wanting. Overall, I believe this Aussie author is a horror writer to watch for and I will happily buy more of his work. If you love horror, I highly recommend this anthology. Each story takes place in the same hospital and if you ever find yourself wandering an empty hall as I have, these stories will come back and bite you.
October 20, 2017
Five creepy / disturbing short stories:
The first three are in a hospital setting, the fourth is in a location similar to Las Vegas or other heavy-vice destination. The last is in an Anywhere kind of town.
Can't really talk about them more without spoilers. The book description suits the results.
The first three are in a hospital setting, the fourth is in a location similar to Las Vegas or other heavy-vice destination. The last is in an Anywhere kind of town.
Can't really talk about them more without spoilers. The book description suits the results.
Want to read
August 22, 2018#Erotica #Freebie #Horror
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Moeafv
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2nYJbIj
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2o1luPy
Subscribe for FREE: https://goo.gl/SrUf3e
Merged review:
#Erotica #Freebie #Horror
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Moeafv
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2nYJbIj
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2o1luPy
Subscribe for FREE: https://goo.gl/SrUf3e
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Moeafv
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2nYJbIj
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2o1luPy
Subscribe for FREE: https://goo.gl/SrUf3e
Merged review:
#Erotica #Freebie #Horror
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Moeafv
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2nYJbIj
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2o1luPy
Subscribe for FREE: https://goo.gl/SrUf3e
November 27, 2011
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
July 21, 2011
Had a hard time forcing myself to finish this book.
August 12, 2016
Very dark, caught my attention, and kept it, quickly.
February 24, 2015
Some very eerie stories early on, followed by some curious ones afterward. A worthwhile read.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews