Peter Smalls might just be the dumbest of the Smalls siblings; he’s certainly the least competent of the brothers we’ve met thus far. I’m not sure that makes him any less dangerous than the others. He might be more dangerous for being how he is. We’re introduced to Peter just before Peter introduces Theo to his rodent buddy, Petey. Theo had somehow got on the wrong side of a member of the Smalls’ extended family, a cousin who goes by Valentine. Bod and his little buddy, Petey, are there to make things good. This is a win-win scenario for Petey because the little fella hasn’t eaten in a while. Bod’s been hired by the Eastern Europeans to take care of some competition, but he’s going to be in for a couple of surprises when it comes time to take care of business. That is if he can think clearly enough to get to the correct address. While Bod wasn’t quite as entertaining as Bliss and Cockwinder for me, it’s still a Smalls Family story, which makes it an absolute thrill ride of over-the-top violence and depravity. You can’t go wrong with any of these stories. Ash Ericmore continues to exhibit the same cinematic storytelling that made readers all over the world fall in love with this dysfunctional family, cementing himself as the literary amalgam of Guy Ritchie and Eli Roth, with just a touch of Tarantino for flavor.
Bod was Ash Ericmore’s release during the AntiChristmas event at http://www.godless.com for December of 2021. You can check it out for yourself by going to the website or by downloading the app to your mobile device of choice. The link is below:
In the third installment of the Vasectomus Trilogy, Tim Eagle brings us back around to Charles Effucuss, the former courier who supplied Sabre with the fluids he required for his parasitic children. While “Chuckles” was a bit player in the original story, Effucuss fleshes him out in detail. From the moment he begins buying drugs from Sabre, the small-town dynamic of Stevats begins to feel like a force of destiny. Coincidences and happenstance proliferate his everyday life, propelling the young man on a collision course that will take him from isolation and sexism, through the shattered remains of Sue and Sabre’s doomed marriage, to a peculiar sort of fatherhood. The bizarro and body horror elements from Vasectomus are back in full force in this conclusion to the trilogy. As Eagle takes the components he introduced and amplifies them for this final tale, we’re left wondering how and why all of these events came to pass. But perhaps it’s best not to question these things.
Effucuss was released as part of the 31 Days of Godless event at http://www.godless.com for October of 2021. You can find this story for yourself by going to the website or by downloading the Godless app to your mobile device. The link is below:
Tim Eagle’s Walking Free reintroduces us to Sue, sometime after the events of Vasectomus, as she’s about to participate in a peculiar ceremony, presumably something isolated to the town of Stevats. We find her wearing a mask as she takes her turn to publicly share her stories of Sabre. Sue joins in a ritual with other residents who gather together near a bonfire to share these often unflattering and purgative tales that wouldn’t be appropriate at a funeral. Sue’s life before Sabre appears to be one of success and upward mobility, with a bright future ahead of her until she decides that she’s missing only one thing, a family. Unfortunately for Sue, Sabre wasn’t the best choice with that future in mind. We discover that she knew of Sabre’s machinations and that she was pulling strings to get what she wanted long before the events of Vasectomus took place. And though she’s a widow now, is it possible she might just have the family she was searching for, despite Sabre’s protestations? This middle story of the Vasectomus trilogy wasn’t quite as peculiar and captivating as the first installment, but the ending certainly provides a snapshot containing a healthy dose of bizarre and unsettling family.
You can pick up Walking Free and the other two volumes of the Vasectomus Trilogy by going to http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app on your mobile device. The link is below:
In Vasectomus, Tim Eagle invites us to spend some time with Sabre and his wife. They’re an unhappy couple fueled by acrimony and bitterness. The primary source of spite between the two is Sue’s unrelenting insistence that she and Sabre have children and Sabre’s unflinching contempt for the whole concept. A peculiar encounter with the old woman next door interrupts the couple’s most recent argument, and from there, Vasectomus leads us along a strange path blending bizarro and body horror. Eagle gives us a story of secrets, lack of communication, and backstabbing that befits the most absurdly over-the-top soap opera marriages. That is, assuming those soap operas are written by the likes of David Lynch or David Cronenberg. In the first of three tales, Vasectomus introduces us to the strange town of Stevats and the residents living there. Eagle manages to entice readers to return, against all better judgment, by sharing with us a place that thankfully can only exist in the feverish imagination of its author.
You can pick up Vasectomus as well as the two sequel stories by going to http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app to your mobile device of choice. The link is below:
There was no doubt that Ryan Harding would bring the first Fucking Scumbags Burn In Hell season to one Hell of a conclusion. But the way Harding expertly ties it all together, bringing us around full circle, defies even the most liberal expectations. The story of Agent John Kessler, celebrity FBI profiler, is a fascinating and convoluted one. The Profile isn’t solely a story about Kessler, though. It’s the tale of an insidious serial murderer we’ll refer to as The Usurper. Of course, it’s also a story about Sonny Hooper. It would hardly be the Hoopiverse without Hoop making an appearance. I can’t say anything more. As much as I’d love to dive into this and provide a more detailed description of the things I loved about this installment–and there is an awful lot–I have to keep my mouth shut because I don’t want to ruin the fun for anyone else. I will say that the conclusion of this story is one Hell of a captivating, edge-of-the-seat sequence that will leave the reader breathless and dizzy–desperate for more. Thankfully, we have season two to look forward to, and the paperback collecting the whole of season one–including an additional bit of icing on the cake from Drew Stepek himself and an introduction from the always spectacular Rayne Havok. It’s worth mentioning, of course, that Harding didn’t create this in isolation. None of these phenomenal authors contributing to the Hoopiverse did so without the guidance and tutelage of the maestro, Drew Stepek. As outstanding members of the orchestra, they each brought their own flair and their distinct characters to the page, telling us the stories they developed. Like Hooper himself, Drew worked behind the scenes to help everyone bring the individual scumbags to their fitting conclusions, setting the stage for everything that was to come. I suppose, in the end, we should all just call him Hoop.
This final volume of the first season was released as part of the AntiChristmas event at http://www.godless.com and you can pick it up for yourself by going to the website or by downloading the app to your mobile device of choice. The link is below:
The story begins with tightropes and titties, as Perry and his best friend, Devin, enjoy a vacation in a small Mexican town alongside college students from all over America–and the rest of the world. Their enjoyment doesn’t last long, as Diablo Snuff has plans for the revelers, at least the ones they find attractive enough to press-gang into the same sort of service Kong and Nick “Lucky” Luciano were providing in Passion & Pain. If you haven’t read Passion & Pain, hopefully, you’ve read A Foreign Evil, The Grind House, and Slaughter Box. You should still have some idea what I’m talking about if you’ve at least read those three. Personally, I recommend going back and reading both Passion & Pain and Grad Night as well, because they all come together in the pages of The Maddening. It’s wrong to say this story begins with tightropes and titties. It all begins in the pages of A Foreign Evil when Michael drunkenly follows a beautiful woman to a push-button hotel for a night of carnal pleasures that swiftly devolves into a nightmare of unearthly evil and sinister conspiracies. You’ve come all this way, though, so you know all about that. The journey here left its mark on you, I imagine. The Maddening is Carver Pike’s conclusion to the Diablo Snuff series, and this man knows how to end things with a bang. The best way I can think of to describe the events taking place in this novel is to suggest that it’s John Carpenter’s In The Mouth of Madness meets The Purge while managing to be both more horrific and graphic than either of those movies. If that doesn’t sell you on diving into this book, I honestly don’t know why you’d be reading my reviews in the first place. You might not be my target audience, in which case you’re almost definitely not the target audience for Pike’s Diablo Snuff books. The movies were bad enough, allowing incarnations of evil creatures on the screen to infiltrate our world, stalking and murdering the viewers unfortunate enough to witness even small portions of each film. The release of the novels written by the authors who disappeared from The Grand Georgina signals the next stage of the Diablo Snuff master plan as the madness spreads throughout society, irrespective of nation or culture. This plague of lawlessness and insanity is amplified with the release of The Maddening, the book Tobias desperately hoped he could keep from distribution. None of these things are fast or dramatic enough in dismantling society and sewing chaos, and that’s where the app comes into play. Across the world, psychopaths and damaged people compete with one another to commit the most creative and devastating horrors, racking up more money with each rape and murder. Against this horrific backdrop, the members of Psalm 71 must make their way to the heart of the evil that is Diablo Snuff, saving as many innocent lives as they can along the way. Knowing this is the final volume in the Diablo Snuff series, it should come as no surprise that the tale culminates in a battle between the forces of good and evil that crosses the border separating our world from unearthly planes of existence. This is a spiritual clash that would make Frank Peretti envious. If you’re unfamiliar with Frank Peretti’s Christian horror novels, you might be missing out because some of them are surprisingly good; but they’re nowhere near as good as what Pike has laid out for us in the pages of The Maddening. This book is punctuated with set pieces of such depravity and cruel imagination that the reader can’t help but wonder at the apparent limitless creativity brought to the table by Carver Pike where horror is concerned. At its core, this is a story of hope, though. The Maddening–as with the Diablo Snuff series as a whole–is about facing a terrifying evil and refusing to flinch. It’s about standing ground and fighting, even when the easiest solution would be to turn away or to give in. Knowing that you may not survive, that those you love and who stand by your side may fall as well, but persisting in doing what you know must be done; that is the core of it all. In that respect, as in all others, Carver Pike has succeeded in crafting a masterpiece with this book.
Donna just started her job as a waitress at Pimento Patch only to find out the restaurant would be shutting its doors for good.
Along with a skeleton crew of slackers, she accepted the offer of full pay to work overnight cleaning the place up in preparation for the looming vacancy. Unfortunately, this particular Pimento Patch restaurant has a dark history, and a sinister presence has something in store for the five crew members on staff that night.
Prepare for the breadstick massacre, because When You’re Here, You’re Fatalities!
Inspired by my love of Italian Giallo films of the 70s and 80s, as a slasher-ish story taking place in a fictional version of an Olive Garden would almost have to, I think you’re in for a not-so-delicious treat when you check out this new story. Released as part of the Godless AntiChristmas event for December of 2021, you’ll be able to find the link below:
I don’t know that I’d recommend participating in the #DeadSealChallenge, but I’m sure you won’t end up like Gary or Lee. You certainly won’t end up like Johnny Ciao–the self-professed mukbang king. You know what, come to think of it. I think you’ll probably be fine. Never mind the fact that Food Network’s Andrew Zimmern wouldn’t touch kiviak; he’s never been fond of fermented meats. How did we get from fermented meat to the different piece of meat #DeadSealChallenge opens with? It’s a long story. Well, it’s not that long of a story, but it’s a fun short story that you’ll need to read for yourself if you want to figure out how we find our way from the discovery of fermented birds stuffed into a dead seal carcass to a rotting penis on the chopping block. There might be some light necrophilia involved in the process of getting there, but you didn’t hear that from me. Nikki Noir and S. C. Mendes are a match made in hell, or maybe Greenland? Is Greenland that dissimilar from hell? It’s unnerving how real the characters feel as they embark on the most ludicrous get-rich-quick scheme I’ve ever witnessed. It’s unfortunate for Gary and Lee that the story’s descent into madness and body horror is so damn entertaining because it makes it hard to feel bad for them when you’re enjoying it so much as it unfolds.
You can read this for yourself by going to http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app to your mobile device of choice. The link is below:
Amy is a spoiled, entitled, petty, and manipulative monster of a woman. It seems only fitting that she’d find her way into the Hoopiverse with Dani Brown’s The Scratching Post. Arguably the worst quality Amy displays is her solipsism. Her inability to recognize other people as independent, separate beings with perspectives that aren’t her own, manifests in a sort of delusionally cynical outlook and a lack of object permanence. For Amy, other people are only ever motivated by the same things that motivate her. That viewpoint might be less pronounced if she didn’t also surround herself with vapid, terrible people who only serve to reinforce the way she sees things. Thus, if everyone is motivated by the same things, it’s altogether too easy for Amy to see others as nothing more than playthings to be used for her perverse amusement. For years, Amy got away with being a god-awful person, catered to by her mourning parents and pandered to by her social circle, but then Hoop moves in next door. As Amy’s carefully constructed world of gaslighting and self-deception crumbles around her, there’s no way a reader won’t take pleasure in the revolting and nefariously appropriate comeuppance she experiences. Dani Brown brings her deliciously wicked and vile imagination to the table in bringing to life what has to be one of the most disgusting miasmas a reader can imagine. You’d be hard-pressed not to smell hints of the corruption wafting from the screen as you read the descriptions she provides. Like the other installments in the Hoopiverse, we get to witness Hooper forcing empathy onto the monstrous people he sets his sights on. While it isn’t true empathy, being subjected to the experiences of those they’ve hurt, it’s a befitting analog that serves the purpose of showing these hideous men and women the harm they’ve caused in the only way they’ll understand, when it’s hurting them. You’ve got to hit the sociopath where it hurts, and Hooper’s got the skills that pay the bills.
You can pick up The Scratching Post as well as the previous installments in the Fucking Scumbags series by going to http://www.godless.com or by downloading the Godless app to your mobile device. The first season of tales is soon to be collected in a single paperback release if you prefer to wait for a physical book to love and caress with your nasty fingertips, but I recommend picking these up in the meantime. The link is below:
While My Christmas Story by Rayne Havok is not a new story from her, it’s new to me, and it was a perfect tale for her to make available on Godless for the Antichristmas event this December. Lydia’s spending her first Christmas night alone, but her husband is still there…in spirit…in a sense. We’ll go with, “in a sense.” It was bad enough that Henry had gotten her a blender for Christmas this year, but that’s the least of his transgressions…and Lydia is not the forgiving sort. As she decorates her tree with the ornaments Henry provided, it does seem like Lydia is finally getting into the spirit of the holidays, and we can’t help but feel happy for her. While the holiday might have started as a bit of a disappointment, she found a way to make it festive just the same. If you’re familiar with Rayne Havok’s work, you damn well know what to expect…so I’m not going to spell it out for you here. If you’re not familiar with her writing, you’re in for an enchanting, heartwarming tale of Christmas cheer.
This title was released on http://www.godless.com as part of the Antichristmas event for December of 2021. You can pick it up for yourself by going to the website or by downloading the app to your mobile device of choice. The link is below:
Domus Necrophagous 