Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The Little Book of Horrors

The first time I read anything by Lacey Lane, it was her short about psychotic pumpkins with a penchant for murder and mayhem. I loved the story and the writing style and also loved how it gave a delicious scare- just enough scare without going slasher bait.

Then Lacey began tweeting about the follow up she was working on- The Little Book of Horrors. When I heard the title, I got the song "Little Shop of Horrors" stuck in my head, but that's mostly just how my mind works and how catchy the title sounded. Enclosed within is three tiny terrors designed to delight, so let's begin!

Karma's A Psychopath- What happens when a complete and total dick adopts a tiny marmoset? Bad fashion and exploitation. Scotty is purchased by Stefan to be nothing more than a money making tourist trap. This keeps up until Scotty has had enough and expresses his frustration. Through this, Stefan meets Karma.......in one more ways than one..............

Bloodlust- What happens when your dance class has another side to it? Anastasia and Tatiana take up pole dancing as a means to get a good workout. Anastasia really takes to the classes and the instructor, who grants her a reward. Tatiana, on the other hand, doesn't quite make it that far.

The Monster Within- What happens when you try to find easy street? Rhoda is an aspiring writer who decides that there's not enough hours in the day to work a job and write, so the obvious thing is bag a rich one and off them. Just when it looks like the plan might actually work, Rhoda learns that shiny packages aren't always the best.

Enjoy these tiny tasty treats responsibly!



Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Paying the Ferryman

Paying the Ferryman is a collection of stories where the authors to bring us their take on what the afterlife might look like. The forward written by Hal Bodner is really entertaining because through his fascination with the macabre and being expelled from school, he explains how his views changed over the years and invites the reader to jump in and enjoy the tales of pushing daisies crafted by these authors. Please climb in and see where the river takes us!

Death Blossoms- Brian W Taylor starts our trip with a story about limbo. Styx likes to play games with those who cannot pay Charon for passage and the encounter Armando has is no different. He, along with other recently deceased people, are told if they can make their way to a coin, something good awaits them. Human nature at its finest ensues, but Armando proves that while we all make mistakes, basic human decency is not totally gone. Although you really shouldn't stop to smell those flowers.

Thirty Days In Hell- Rick Scabrous asks to to consider for a moment that Hell is real and is a giant game show that you have to survive. Damion chronicles his journey through this game and once he gets his reward, he does something a little unexpected. Just how did he pull that off?

Side B- Silas Green shows death has a sense of humor about technology. Aaron tries to remember what happened that night. What happened to Lora. All via cassette tape. For all eternity.

Afloat- D.S. Ullery introduces us to Steven. Steven is revealed to be an alcoholic jackass who's been beating his family. Imagine his surprise when he wakes up not understanding what's going on around him and learns he's died. Imagine his surprise when he learns just how much of a bitch karma really can be.

Malefactor- Melodie Romeo's serial killer, Mick, decides he doesn't want to be dead. He wants to live on and keep killing. Satan isn't happy about this and sends minions out to collect Mick, who decides screw that and finds a new body. Bad idea.

There Will Always Be Hell To Pay- Diane Arrelle gives us Hilda, a miserable wretched excuse for a person. Good thing she's just doing what she's paid to do while climbing the corporate ladder.

Purgatory- Bryan Best's wanderer in the Void is doing their best to survive in the afterlife the best way they know how- meeting interesting characters and their ulterior motives. Run!

Pandemonium- Tanya Nehmelman's is trapped in a loop involving a car, a blond kid, weird people on porches and spiders. Wait.....what was that noise?

Seven Minutes- Mariesa Inez guides us through the last moments of Gretta, who is seeing herself in a way she doesn't understand. When the realization sets in, she has only seconds to get out what she needs to say.....and it's certainly nothing about that darn cat.

I Am Human- Rachel Hogan lets us meet Grady Harman, who straight up tells us he's human. However, he soon learns otherwise, but does not embrace what he learns. Regardless of what his future is supposed to hold, he is Grady Harman and he is human.

The Memory Remains- S.H. Roddey's Sarah is stuck in a bad day. She loses control of her car during a storm and goes into the ditch. Luckily there are people kind enough to take her into town......

Maze Walker- Jenner Michaud is pursued by ThemThey like to remind about the evil that is done daily. They won't let anyone forget. You keep going, but can never get away.

Eden In Spring-Scott McCloskey shows a garden, but it's not the type of garden that Derric ever thought he would be a part of, he believed, he thought he would be saved. Derric will be waiting the longest for what he's done. Everyone else has disappeared.

Eternity- Heidi Lane presents her version of the afterlife via Rowan, an addict who has recently overdosed. The reaper tells him to pick a tunnel to see what his version of hell will be. His version involves clowns with an uncanny ability involving balloon art.

Black Tooth Grin- Armand Rosamilia spins a ghost tale about Gilmartin, a musician with killer taste in music. Gimartin becomes aware of what he's become and what he needs to do to make it back on the stage, but first, learn about what Dimebag taught him.

Above The Pay Grade- Brian Fatah Steele talks about those who guide us to where we need to go, so long as we don't give into the despair of those who surrendered themselves. If you can keep your hope and heart, then you can make it, but reminding those of their own situations might be above someone's pay grade.

The Boatman- Eric I. Dean has a conversation with Sharon.....er.....Charon while riding in the boat. They discuss many topics- Charon's career, what happens to the various people who try to cross without Charon's help and other topics. By the end, what needs to happen becomes clear and the life of the boatman continues.

Repetition- Herika R. Raymer wants us to consider that when it's time that we don't necessarily learn anything new. We have what we learned in the existence that we completed, but we reset so we can continue to learn and the madness it can create.

Two Coins- Lee Pletzers has limbo taking place in a desert where Charon has minions and they're really a bunch of assholes. All Dion wanted to do is survive in limbo, but the minions couldn't leave well enough alone. Hope it was worth it!

The Mai'Tas Prophecy- Jerry E. Benns wraps up our journey with the idea there are creatures hunt the things that go bump in the night and those creatures have a chosen one to protect them. Instead, we get Michael, a run of the mill garden variety asshole.

And with that, our journey has come to an end. Did you pay? Oh my.......

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Zombies and Chainsaws (The Dead Rise Book 1)

This book popped up as something to check out while I waited for an anthology to be released in e-reader format. The premise sounded interesting: 4 guys from small town in Iowa venture to a small town in Missouri and encounter the walking dead.

Blogger's Note: Had to Google the city in Iowa and I'll be honest- I damn near kicked myself when I realized how close it is to where I call home in Iowa. The city in Missouri I already knew because I grew up a couple hours away from it.

The story starts off in Adel, IA and most of the action takes place Sedalia, MO. For the map impaired- Adel is roughly 30 minutes away from Des Moines, IA and Sedalia is roughly 90 minutes away from Kansas City, MO. Consult Google Maps if you're not certain where Iowa and Missouri are located. But moving along......

Meet Jude. Jude is a widower scraping by with a tree removal service and raising his 4 year old son with the help of his sister-in-law. Via his former employer (cheapskate with his ex-wife working for him), he gets offered a job to travel with his crew to Missouri to help clear out trees after a massive storm. After a little haggling (thanks to the ex-wife cluing him in to the cheapskate's bottom line for this contract), Jude and his crew are on their way.

At the same time, we're introduced to Phelps. He's the president of a chemical company in Sedalia and after a late night phone call, he shows how much he lacks in ethics. He brings in a couple of lower ranking individuals to get rid of some waste from his company before he's visited by the government and told how his company will need to get up to par with EPA standards, something he says will bankrupt him.

The lower ranking individuals come up with the bright idea to take the chemical leftovers to the cemetery in town because "it's only visited twice a year," (they obviously don't know how death works) and would be the easiest place to dump the stuff without anyone noticing.

We never get to learn what's in the chemical compound, but the dead sure seem to like it because soon they're sprouting up faster than most weeds and they're on a mission- find living things and make them dead things.

Cut back to Jude and his crew. They're in a bar celebrating a job well done and how they'll be getting back on the road home the next day. Attempts are made to enjoy the local "culture," but in a couple of cases, it falls short (but lingering memories and general personality faults are the blame here).

Through various incidents, what happened out in the cemetery spills into town and it's obvious that a couple things need to happen- they need to get out of town and the government needs to be made aware of this. Jude notifies the CDC and the crew work on the getting out of town part. Getting out of town with zombies milling about doesn't prove to be a simple task, compounded when it starts to rain and complicates the situation further (don't drink the kool-aid!)

The CDC arrives, but not in a smooth fashion (not their fault. you witness the same thing and see how calm you'd be!) and we're off to the races to find out the source of this mishap and just how far this is going to go (remember how evaporation works? remember what happens when evaporation happens? and that's how the world ends.)

After a little legwork and a few casualties, they bring the town's zombie problem to Phelps and start working on getting out of town. While successful, they know the storm brewing and set out to notify others.

And this is where we leave this version of the impending zombie apocalypse. Should be interesting to see where the story goes- Does Jude make it home? Does the world take the news seriously? Does the chainsaw wind up with a clever nickname?

Guess we wait to find out! See you next time! 


Saturday, September 26, 2015

Ill-considered Expeditions (Short Sharp Shocks Volume III)

Welcome to the third installment in an anthology series that according to the forward has one loyal fan (seriously, that line left me giggling). Neil Baker gives us a little insight on the workings of this series and the theme of "Imagine Murphy's Law finding you, dragging you into an alley and kicking you until you give in.......then keeps on kicking you because it's fun."

Incident at the Plateau of Tsang- Josh Reynolds kicks things off by showing us the wrong way to lead an expedition through an area that you're not native too. Moral of the story- don't be a self-righteous pompous little bastard because the outcome is a little rippy.

The Root- Jess Landry also teaches us the lesson of not being a self-righteous greedy bastard. You commit murder and sacrifice before you succumb to the one thing you had taunted others with.

The Strange Affair of Bunny Fosdyke- Steve Foreman tells about an expedition to survey a volcano and what happens with the locals. It all seems friendly until you remember your traditions are not their traditions.

Ice Vermin- James Dorr's journal entry about an expedition to map the unknown. The journal reveals the unknown would rather remain unknown, except for the warmth. It welcomes the warmth.

The Secret of Bumare Moto- R. Allen Leider and CJ Henderson remind us about the unintentional consequences of what happens when society tries to move forward and forgets about what's behind them.

The Dig- Stuart Conover's story boils down to this: for the grace of the drums go the horn into the murky depths of mystery from which they emerged and can return. Now, get the #$@% out of my head.

Ghosts of the Spires- Patrick Loveland shows us what happens when you don't learn from the past and push things further than they should be pushed. It's awake now.

The Wood- Franklin Marsh introduces us to a group of friends out for a hike in the woods. A few wrong words split the group up and it becomes disastrous for part of the group. Scarecrow.

Captain Baxter's Journal- Stanley B. Webb's Captain Baxter sets out on a journey to provide supplies to a scientist. Upon arrival, he believes the whole thing mad and "rectifies" the situation.

The Pulsar and The Planet- Ahmed A. Khan has an expedition investigating the landscape of a pulsar, which starts off well enough, but when the ship becomes disabled, survival kicks in. Will it be enough to notice the SOS?

The Room at the Top of the House-  Paul M. Feeny gives us wrong place, wrong time. There's revenge afoot, but innocents are brought into it through no fault of their own.

Hell Island- Matthew Baron's group are on a mission to chart an island near Japan that no one has ever returned from. Their findings of the island fair no better than previous jaunts, but they're returning from the island with something besides bad memories.

Jonathan Stone's Swansong- Gerry Griffiths's Amazon adventure is supposed to be some interesting sites and fun stories to tell back at university. Arrogance can cost you dearly, but at least you won't have survivor's guilt.

In the Chillest Land- Pete Mesling wanted a solo expedition and wound up with one. His explorer starts to feel terrible about how things came to be this way, but they snap out of it in the hopes that someone back home will forgive them.

Povo de Ossos- Nicholas Nacario talks about a native encounter gone awry. Insanity is the journey you know.

The White Goddess- DJ Tyrer wraps up this journey into ill fated territory with the search for the queen of immortality. There's a reason they're called legends, gentlemen.


And thus our journey comes to an end. Happily ever after doesn't always happen and these authors really hammered that home. Can't handle it? Go find a fairy tale. Cheers!

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Cutting the Bloodline

Welcome to the future in England as presented by Angela Trevena.

In an effort to stamp out violent crime, a program was devised to determine on a genetic level if someone is a criminal. If the child is born, it's taken from it's family and sent to live elsewhere. In most cases, the baby is terminated and it has led to a population crisis.

These are the items that Kenton Hicks are researching for his novel about "The Abandoned Generation," children who were born as "defective." Kenton believes there's more to the story than what is being told and wouldn't you know it- there is and there are people who aren't too keen on him writing about it.

On the flip side of things, there are people who want Kenton to write his story, but they want to use it to watch the world burn instead of affecting real change.

The story is about Kenton's journey in writing his book- the people he works with, the people he meets with and interludes with Kenton's family.

Everything shapes up just as you'd expect, but there is some sadness in everyone achieving their goals.

There's a reason why Utopia is fiction folks.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Music of the Gods

As the story begins, Richard Schiver introduces us to Donald and Susan. Donald has the idea to get away for a weekend as a way to work on saving their marriage. Susan believes Donald has lost it because she thinks the marriage was over the moment they said "I do."

Just as Donald admits that they're lost and he's uncertain how to get back on track, a random truck come by and runs them off the road. After a moment to collect themselves, Donald gets out of the car (much to the amusement of Susan) and tries to call for help.

Donald is unable to get a signal, but notices a sign for White Hall, indicating it's only a mile away. Donald persuades Susan to head to White Hall, regardless of her concern about her footwear. When they get close to White Hall, they notice there really isn't any noise- no sounds of nature.

While not much is going on in town, Donald spots a phone booth and Susan starts to hear music. Donald tries to phone for help while Susan tries to find the source of the beautiful music. The phone call doesn't go well, so Donald joins Susan on her quest to find the beautiful music, even if he's not able to hear it.

When they reach a forest line, Donald starts to realize something isn't right. He starts calling out to Susan to make her stop, but she never stops moving.

Soon Donald comes to realize that everything he saw may not be what he actually saw and this is where we leave him.


It's short, sweet and sad. Definitely worth the download!

Let's make a story

So Lacey Lane (@LaceyLaneAuthor) says on Twitter this morning:

Let's make a story. I was walking through the woods ...

and this sounded like fun, so here goes!

I was walking through the woods enjoying a peaceful day when I noticed a squirrel crawling out of an empty coffee cup. Remembering the meme of "Squirrels + Coffee Dear God Help Us," (because random stuff like that happens a lot. I spend way too much time on Google Image search) I decided to choose another path to walk.

As I strolled along listening to the birds sing and enjoying some nice sunshine, suddenly there was a cloudburst and I got drenched ($#@*& Midwest summers). As I tried to get as much water as possible off myself, I noticed I wasn't the only one annoyed by the sudden rain. A couple of rabbits were shaking themselves off and doing a cute face cleaning move with their paws.

The rest of my walk was pretty uneventful and by the time I left the woods, I felt refreshed and ready to start my day.......by hitting the local coffee shop for a hazelnut mocha. What? I was clearly inspired by the possibly caffeinated squirrel in the woods!


Hmm.....you know, I think I should just keep my day job......