Reviews

The Ecstasy of Agony By Wrath James White

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Brutality, poetry, sex, and wry humor are swirled together in a dizzying cacophony of horror in a way that could only come from Wrath James White. As much fun as it is to run a marathon, by delving into his longer-form fiction, there’s something truly delightful about accompanying the man on a sprint–or a series of sprints, as is the case in The Ecstasy of Agony.

I’d previously had the pleasure of reading a couple of the stories in the anthologies where they’d first been published, and the even greater pleasure of hearing him recite a couple of the poems that he’s included in this collection, but there was so much more in store. From a fitness routine adopted to survive a zombie apocalypse, to a violent video game that feels all-too-real, to the tale of a man who uses his penis as a weapon, this collection has a little bit of everything. If you’re familiar with White’s work, you really should have some idea what to expect.

It’s not all violence and gore, though. There are strangely touching and somber tones within the cacophony, including a sad reflection on how “dead or in prison” can turn out and how a monster can experience a change of heart. That isn’t to say there’s any shortage of violence, gore, sex, and body horror all throughout…because it just wouldn’t be Wrath James White without it.

A masterful collection by a masterful writer, but trigger warnings are in order–this is not for the overly sensitive reader.

Afterlife: Ghostland Trilogy Book 2 By Duncan Ralston, Narrated By Joe Hempel

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Months have passed since the dramatic cataclysm at Ghostland, and the world has not yet come to an end…but the once tranquil life for people living in Duck Falls is over, as the town becomes a beacon for both activists and curiosity-seeking tourists. Ben Laramie has become a hero following the sacrifice of his life to get his best friend, Lilian Roth, to safety…and to keep Rex Garrote and the monstrous etherials he commands trapped within the confines of the former amusement park.

While Ben may have died, that hasn’t stopped him from striving to fulfill his mission to stop Garrote, as he and Lilian work alongside Ghosts Are People Too in order to assemble an army capable of fighting Garrote when the inevitable war arrives. With each day that passes, fewer people believe in Ben’s prediction of a coming battle or the danger Garrote still poses…but nothing will sway him from the mission at hand, not betrayal, torture, or even the convincing manipulation of Rex Garrote himself, as he shows Ben they may have a common enemy in Garrote’s former benefactor.

When a ghost-hunting reality television crew ventures into Ghostland, the true danger of the place becomes painfully obvious to people everywhere. Events are set in motion that could bring Garrote closer to achieving his ultimate outcome, but if Ben can’t find trustworthy allies, the war may be lost before it begins.

Taking the story out of the amusement park was a bold and necessary move. Ralston introduces us to a whole new cast of compelling characters while we follow Ben and Lilian in their quest to save the world from a threat it refuses to acknowledge exists. The frustration is palpable, and the stakes feel higher. Ralston guides us through a narrative replete with twists and turns, stumbling blocks, and dead ends…making it feel as if the haunted house aspect has simply grown to encompass the surrounding environment. In all ways, this is an excellent follow-up to the fantastic tale the author brought us with Ghostland.

As always, Joe Hempel provides excellent narration, a voice with richness and tone that brings the story to life for the listener.

The Naked Clone: A Nick Nolte Mystery By Conor Lastowka, Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett, & Sean Thomason

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Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and RiffTrax are sure to recognize some of the names associated with this fantastically bizarre Hollywood mystery. Those same fans are sure to find a treasure trove of hilarious–and deeply unsettling–glimpses into the life of Mr. Nick Nolte, People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive (1992).

Imagine, if you will, Nick Nolte decided he wasn’t going to come back from his temporary exposure to homelessness when he was preparing for the 1986 classic, Down and Out In Beverly Hills. Imagine he decided that living on the streets of Los Angeles was preferable to the lifestyle of an A-list celebrity and that life as an indigent private detective might just be the life for him. That’s where we find ourselves when we begin delving into the world this collaborative team has created for our perusal.

Studio executives are going missing…and it all has something to do with clones. But there’s no need to worry, Nick Nolte is on the case.

I don’t want to give anything away, because you need to experience this for yourself, but you’ll surely enjoy it as you stumble across a cast of characters you’re familiar with, as we traverse the underbelly of Los Angeles, searching for answers, but finding violence and betrayal…and a fair amount of lunacy.

Transcendental Mutilation by Ryan Harding

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It’s worth taking time to meditate upon Ryan Harding’s Transcendental Mutilation. The author is an absolute master of body horror. He builds from an unsettling tone with the carefully selected words he uses to build the nightmares he’s crafted for the reader’s exploration…nudging you along until you find yourself trapped in the phantasmagoric prison from which the only way out is through.

While the influences of Clive Barker and David Cronenberg are infused throughout, Harding takes the reader on a journey only his feverish imagination could birth. Fans of his previous work will be pleased to see references to familiar characters, organizations, and concepts sprinkled throughout the stories contained within this collection. But Harding isn’t content to rest upon his laurels and retread the same ground, he boldly ventures off the beaten path and veers away from anything comfortable and familiar, to bring us an offering suitable to the monstrous deity lurking beneath some forgotten, abandoned town…and within the author’s mind.

There’s a lesson in some of these tales–one that a great many people could stand to learn–that is to behave in a civilized manner and treat people with respect and empathy, or risk finding a truly hellish reward awaiting you…perhaps sooner than you expect.

Revenge porn, shipwrecks, the dangers associated with new technology (and the abuse thereof), and tantalizing–terrifying–glimpses through the thin shroud that separates our world from a place far more chaotic and monstrous are only some of the things you’ll find scattered throughout these pages…but I assure you there’s nothing that will disappoint.

This Is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau

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Caitlin Marceau’s This Is Where We Talk Things Out is haunting. That’s the best word I can think of…haunting.

We know where it’s going as we read along. We predict the next twist or turn ahead of Miller as the narrative progresses, but that predictability of outcome does nothing to extract the thrill and terror from the story unfolding before us. We silently scream at the deaf page as we beg Miller to do something differently…anything differently. All that’s left for us to guess at is the final act, how it will all turn out…and we dread that it will go poorly for Miller, we hope for a happy ending.

The relationship between Sylvie and her daughter isn’t an uncommon one, but that sad reality only makes the story feel more real and serves to hammer home the impact of each new horror awaiting us.

When Miller joins her estranged mother for a weekend of reconnection and patching things up, it’s against the advisement of her partner–and against the wishes of the reader, helpless to do anything but bear silent witness. Miller, like so many children of abusive parents, feels like she’s somehow responsible for everything that’s gone wrong, and as if it’s up to her to suffer through the ordeal and give her mother a fair chance. The sheer number of red flags Miller disregards along the way is staggering–but also far too true-to-life–as her mother gaslights her and plays the victim in their every exchange.

You will see where this is going, but you will continue reading all the way to the end…willingly traumatizing yourself every step of the way. Caitlin Marceau is a voice in indie horror to look out for because she’s got a voice that will bring you pain.

You can also purchase this title by going to http://www.godless.com or by following the link below:

This is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau

Devil’s Creek by Todd Keisling, Narrated by Danny Campbell

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After reading Scanlines by Todd Keisling, the bar was set quite high. Devil’s Creek absolutely did not disappoint.

Old-time religion never seems quite as horrific and awful as it does in stories of small, backwoods towns, and Keisling captures that magnificently with this story. Decades ago, a twisted minister, Jacob Masters, preached an unholy gospel of sacrifice and cruelty, turning members of families against one another as he sewed his seeds within the flock. Six children he fathered were rescued by their disillusioned grandparents, who were far too late to save their own children…just before the church went up in flames and its congregation went to a mass grave.

In the present day, we revisit the town of Stauford, Kentucky as Jack reluctantly returns home to handle the estate of the grandmother who saved him from the cult Masters had built. But old wounds aren’t as healed as they might have seemed, and something troubling seems to be stirring at Devil’s Creek.

What Jack finds instead of closure, are secrets that threaten to shatter not only his sanity but the world around him. As Jack’s nightmares become a reality, he and his half-siblings are forced to take sides and take a stand against a nameless horror that waits beneath the unhallowed ground where the old church once stood.

The story Keisling weaves is a compelling one, and he further displays his knack for crafting something that gets under the skin and sticks with the reader long after the end.

Danny Campbell provided excellent narration for the audiobook edition of the novel and made it easy to follow the cast of characters as they descend into the pits of a nightmarish hell on earth.

Dark Disasters: A Dark Dozen Anthology, Edited by Candace Nola

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I’ll start by saying the same thing I did for my blurb when I read an advance copy of this anthology: “The only thing disastrous about Dark Disasters is the impact it will have on readers. In these pages, you will find devastation of all kinds, but it’s the emotional or psychological devastation that will have the most lasting effects. There were no drills in school to prepare me for what I experienced in these pages. Nola has done it again…lightning strikes thrice, which is fitting, considering the subject matter.”

This is the third of the Dark Dozen anthologies edited by Candace Nola and released under her imprint of Uncomfortably Dark Horror. I had the privilege of reading advance copies of all three, the first and third to supply a blurb, the second because I was one of the contributing authors…and it has been a pleasure all three times.

This anthology is focused, as you might expect, on horror taking place during–or because of–natural disasters. We have rainstorms, landslides, wildfires, blizzards, and so much more…and those are often only the beginning of the horrors facing the characters populating these tales. There are vampires, something akin to cymothoa exigua (the god-awful parasites that replace the tongues of certain fish), ghosts, sentient mud, and all sorts of other nightmarish things awaiting the reader brave enough to thumb through these pages. There’s no conceivable way someone could read this anthology and feel a sense of disappointment, not if they’re looking for horror or hoping to feel their skin crawling.

Be careful, though…there might be a storm coming.

You can also purchase this title by going to http://www.godless.com or clicking the link below:

DARK DISASTERS: A Dark Dozen Anthology

The Shadow Within by Eric Butler, Narrated by Micah Cottingham

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Eric Butler takes us on a soothing vacation to small-town America in The Shadow Within. Like many small towns, there aren’t a lot of amenities available, law enforcement is minimal and the members are unprepared for major events, sinister forces influence the people, the land and people are cursed, and horrors lurk in the shadows. If this isn’t your idea of what small towns are like, then we’ve been reading vastly different books. Nevertheless, when Jack and Jill go up this hill, there’s little more than disaster and trauma awaiting them.

Jack heads to the countryside with his children and new girlfriend, hoping to introduce them to each other under relaxing and peaceful conditions at the family home he hadn’t visited in years. Everything seems like it might be going well, and then Butler pulls the rug out from under you. Of course, you had to know this was going to happen. It’s that kind of book, isn’t it?

There’s no way Jack and his family could be prepared for what happens when a monster comes home. A centuries-old evil presence that found a host within a troubled young man with a propensity for violence has returned to the place they were bound…and the kindred spirits delight in the graphic torture and murder of anyone who crosses their path.

Butler introduces you to his characters, lets you get to know them, and then proceeds to put them through absolute hell in the most captivating ways. He pulls no punches and forces you to witness the atrocities…sometimes after the fact, but often while they’re happening. You may find yourself discomforted at times…but again, it’s that kind of book, isn’t it?

The narration from Micah Cottingham is fantastic, and it does the narrative justice.

You can also obtain this title for yourself by going to http://www.godless.com

The Shadow Within: Author Preferred Edition by Eric Butler

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby, Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White

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With All the Sinners Bleed, S. A. Cosby further cements himself–in my mind at least–as one of the greatest living authors writing today. His characters breathe from the page, forcing themselves to feel as real to the reader as they are to the man writing them. This novel is no exception.

Sheriff Titus Crown is the first black sheriff in a Virginia county where racism is still alive and well, as it is in far too many places in the real world. A former FBI agent haunted by the traumatic events of his past, Sheriff Crown is thrust into the midst of a horrific nightmare of child torture and murder when a young man kills a well-loved high school teacher in broad daylight before being shot by deputies. The investigation unveils monstrous secrets hiding beneath the surface of a small town, connected with an evangelical church…as the latent tension and bigotry within the community come to a boil while a monster roams free, hidden in plain sight.

There’s humor, horror, drama, and suspense alike within this story, as with all of Cosby’s books. The narrative is as heartbreaking as it is thrilling, and the fleshed-out family dynamics for Sheriff Crown are so true-to-life as to feel like we’re learning about a real man facing impossible odds.

The narration provided by Adam Lazarre-White is as spectacular as always, and I sincerely hope he continues as the voice attached to Cosby’s novels.

Redshift by Thomas R. Clark

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Thomas R. Clark is usually known for his excellent explorations of folk-horror stomping grounds, dubbed the Master of Splatterfolk by some–and for good reason.

Redshift takes us away from that familiar environment as he takes us to a far-future, spacefaring realm where the consequences of FTL travel are devastating and horrific…and dealt with quickly and without remorse. But what happens when the side effects of interstellar travel aren’t immediately addressed?

This is where Redshift leads us, as we witness first-hand how terrifying and traumatic space travel truly is for those who venture beyond the atmosphere. Clark provides us with an intimate glimpse of the things we sweep under the rug in a way that is graphic, gory, and glorious.

You can read this for yourself by going to http://www.godless.com at the following link:

Redshift by Thomas R. Clark