Lyrical Press / April 2010
Reviewed by: I.E. Lester

Red Sails' short length is both its weakest feature and almost its saviour. Fifty-five pages just aren’t enough to really develop any of the various elements of the story — plot, location, backstory, characters, or mythos. As a result, none of these are even close to being fully fleshed out elements.

But to be totally honest, had Red Sails been any longer, you would start to notice the cracks where the plot has been cobbled together from a pick 'n' mix selection of recent blockbuster fantasy movies.

The basic concept of this book concerns an 18th Century British soldier named Janek Puzan (not the most British name this reviewer has ever come across) who has been captured and imprisoned aboard a Spanish Galleon called the La Dona Marisol. When the ship is attacked by pirates, he finds himself at the mercy of the pirate captain, a man who sees him as a perfect bit of sport for his men.

This Most Dangerous Game-style concept would seem a pretty reasonable – albeit recycled – plot for a book as short as this. Problem is that the proceedings instantly get a little more complicated. Pirate Captain Absolon Vigoreaux just happens to be a vampire and his ship crewed entirely by werewolves.

Janek, together with a Spanish priest, Timoteo, are put aground on a remote tropical island where they will serve as prey for the crew's hunt — a regular event the captain sets up to keep the crew's bestial natures satisfied.

On the island they meet up with an exotic primitive (and nearly naked) tribe to add a little titillation to the adrenaline-rush plot. Accompanied by a young woman, Janek and the priest set about defeating an entire pack of werewolves; or, to put it another way, one soldier and two non-fighters take on a pack of demonic bests. Sounds a fair fight.

This overloaded narrative results in a story that just doesn't hold up to much scrutiny. So is there anything at all to recommend in this book? Well, yes.

This is when Red Sails’ brief length becomes its greatest strength. At novella length, the pace moves so quickly you can barely pause for breath — never mind consider the preposterous nature of plot. In addition, Erdelac has a decent writing style. And although the concept here is overblown, he doesn't overdo it with the prose. His style is straightforward and unobtrusive.

He just tells a story without over-egging any aspect of it. The gore is presented in a very minimalist manner, just enough description to convince you of vampirism without overlabouring the point. Similarly, the savagery of the attacking werewolves is handled well. He's balanced detail with the reader's pre-existing knowledge of standard horror monsters, thus wisely allowing the reader to fill in the blanks.

Erdelac's bio gives his background as a filmmaker inspired by Errol Flynn movies. This is very apparent in Red Sails, which would make a far better action-adventure screenplay than a book.

Although Red Sails is not a great book, it does have some redeeming features. It's pure romp, throwaway Boys' Own-style adventure fun.

Purchase Red Sails by Edward M. Erdelac.

Bad Moon Books / September 2009
Reviewed by: Martel Sardina

Readers, you are in for a treat. And not just because John R. Little’s The Gray Zone is that good.  (Though it is that good.) I am in the unique position of having read two incarnations of this tale. Today, you’re getting a review of a different sort. I’m going to share my comments from the first time I read this piece and now.

In January of 2009, I attended the Borderlands Press Novel Writing Boot Camp. For those unfamiliar with the Boot Camp experience, each participant in the novel section is required to submit: 1) a synopsis or outline of their novel, 2) a listing of major and secondary characters and their biographies, and 3) the first three chapters of the manuscript. The submission package is sent on to the other participants and the instructors, who will read and critique the stories. The participants and instructors meet in person to discuss the elements crucial to any good story namely: Character/Point of View, Plot/Setting, Grammar/Style, and Dialogue/Narrative Voice. And finally, each participant gives critiques to and receives critiques from the other participants.

When I first read The Gray Zone, it was called “Only Time.”  The critique below is based on the synopsis/outline, character biographies and the sample chapters that John submitted to the Boot Camp.

Working Title: Only Time
Author: John R. Little
 
Rate the story in each of the following categories using 1 through 5 (5 being the best):  Hook, Conflict, Characters, Setting/Mood, Pace/Style, Resolution, Grammar/Spelling and Overall Enjoyment.
 
These eight topics, worth five points each, are a good indicator of if a story is publishable or not. The higher the point total, the likelier the story can be sold.  You can use this Crit Sheet for short stories and novels, published or pre-published.  You can also give it to readers and ask them to rate your story.

Low points in categories indicate what needs to be worked on in the rewrite. Don’t submit stories to agents or editors unless you have a score of at least 35.  (Note: I came across this critique format/criteria in a writing class taught by J.A. Konrath.  Reproduced with permission.)
 
The Hook - Does the story pull the reader in right away and then hold their interest?
 
Rating = 5
 
You had my interest from the get-go. The narrator has a distinct voice and I felt connected to him almost immediately.  I wanted to know what was going to happen and was actually disappointed that I wouldn’t find out when I came to the end of the excerpt.
 
The Conflict - What is at stake in the story, and how is the tension used?
 
Rating = 4
 
You’ve got a lot going on here.  I liked the scene where Achmed almost drowns.  I think you described Henry’s effort to save him honestly.  I sometimes wonder how people who have no medical training suddenly become rescue experts when the story needs them to be. You pulled this off without causing me not to believe that Henry was capable of saving Achmed.
 
When you jump to the first time Henry meets Cassie, I thought the transition worked well.

**Spoiler Alert – Skip the section striked out below**
 
In reading the outline, I am a bit confused about the deaths of Henry’s mother, Alain, and Cassie.  When you get to Part III – scene 11, you say that Henry realizes that the deaths are the consequences of his actions.  With Henry’s mother, it is his inaction that led to her death.  With Alain, I viewed that as an accident.  How is Henry going to be able to relive his life and prevent that from happening?  Or does acting to save his mother, change the course of his life so that Alain’s death never happens?  I could see how Henry could view the deaths as being his fault.  I just had a harder time classifying Alain’s death the same as the other two, so the thought process in scene 11 didn’t completely work for me.  If you can tweak that so the mother’s death is the one that is the beginning of the downward spiral, I think it will make more sense when you get to this point.
 
The Characters - Are these compelling, real people whom the reader cares about?
 
Rating = 5
 
Yes.  I think you have done a good job of fleshing the characters out and making them “real.”
 
Setting and Mood - Does the story make the reader feel like they are really there?
 
Rating = 5
 
The descriptions of Egypt at the beginning are believable.  I’ve never been to Egypt so I don’t know if your descriptions are truly accurate, but I never doubted that your Egypt wasn’t the “real” Egypt.
 
Pace and Style - How well does the writer use the words to move the story along?
 
Rating = 4
 
I read a good number of thrillers, so in some ways, I expect everything I read to move along pretty quickly.  It’s not a fair comparison since your story is obviously not in that genre, but I think things are unfolding as they should.  I was definitely interested as I was reading despite the lack of action in some of the scenes.  I think it is important for you to do the setup to ground the reader in Henry’s world before the time travel begins.  Having the details of his life before Egypt, contrasted with his life in Egypt makes the dilemma more tangible once the time travel begins.  Now we know what he’s lost and is trying to get back.  Yes, the detail may hinder the pacing a bit, but I think as the plot unfolds the reader will not be disappointed by the payoff.
 
Resolution - Does it have a satisfying ending?
 
Rating = ??
 
Based on what I’ve seen so far, I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t get a good mark here.  But without seeing how things in their entirety, I’ll pass on rating the ending for now.
 
Grammar and Spelling - This must be perfect, no exceptions.
 
Rating = 5
 
Overall enjoyment - Was this a story you’d actually buy?
 
Rating = 5
 
Yes.  I think that this is (by far) the best story in the boot camp.  I can’t wait to see what you do with it going forward.
 
Total Score = 33 + ?? for the ending.  I don’t think you will have any trouble selling this manuscript.  It’s an original idea and I wish you the best of luck with it.

Since it’s not a secret that I loved this story then, I’m sure it will come as no surprise that I love what “Only Time” has become. The Gray Zone is a time travel story. It starts in Aswan, Egypt in 1984.  Henry, a Canadian traveler, is nearing the end of his stay in Aswan. Henry is invited to join his host, Mohammed, and his son, Achmed, on a boat ride down the Nile. It is the first time Achmed has been asked by his father to steer the boat and Henry is honored to accept the invitation. The ride starts off pleasant but turns terrifying after an accident causes Achmed to fall into the river. Henry rescues the boy from drowning. As a thank you for saving Achmed’s life, Mohammed gives Henry a vial supposedly stolen from Ramses II’s tomb. The powder inside, once ingested, will give Henry the ability to travel in time.

Henry moves through time revisiting moments from his past, present and gains glimpses of his future. In the past, the memories are very clear. But as he moves forward and into the future, what he sees and experiences makes less sense, especially as he moves closer and closer to a time, he calls “The Gray Zone” which he assumes is close to the point of his eventual death.

That’s all I want to tell you about the plot of this piece. I hope I haven’t given away too much. In his introduction, James A. Moore wonders why more people aren’t reading John R. Little’s works. “For now, he (Little) is like a little secret. I hope that doesn’t last. Some secrets were never meant to be kept.” This reviewer, for one, hopes that you’ll read The Gray Zone and agree.

Purchase The Gray Zone by John R. Little.

Vanguard Press / April 2010
Reviewed By: Daniel R. Robichaud

One part coming of age story and one part atmospheric horror tale, Douglas Clegg's Neverland is one hell of a novel.

Georgia's Gull Island (rather a peninsula with an ambitious geographical name) is hot and humid, a home to flies and jellyfish, and possesses a bloody history. It is an isolated and generally lousy place to spend the summer. However, young Beauregard Jackson's parents are dragging him, his sisters, and infant brother for that very just purpose. Beau's maternal grandmother lives there, and summers offer time for a family reunion. Beau expects to be uncomfortable and annoyed. In addition to the humidity, the grown-ups tend to either drink or bicker (or both). Beau does not expect to discover the family's buried legacy or the darkness of growing up. However, over the novel he does, thanks to his weird cousin Sumter and the remote shack dubbed "Neverland". This is a place where no grown-ups are allowed, where imagination runs free. It is a site of dark miracles, and home to Sumter's god.

In time, Beau and his sisters become involved in Sumter's personal mythos. The four play at blasphemy by writing filthy messages on the walls and sacrificing "inconsequential" animals. Sumter plays high priest, communicating the tenets of a mysterious and monstrous divinity that speaks directly to him, while promising profound changes through a grand sacrifice to come. Worship begins as a game, but soon transforms into something deadly serious.

Originally published in 1991, Neverland was Douglas Clegg's third novel. The years have done little to reduce its effectiveness. Set in an indeterminate summertime between the 1960s and 1980s, the story fuses a rich atmosphere, supernatural born dread, and well drawn characters to create a rather uneasy coming of age story. The Vanguard Press edition is the novel's first trade paperback presentation. The story is accompanied by several eerily effective drawings by Glenn Chadbourne.

Narrator Beau's observations are conveyed with vivid-dream clarity. The voice Clegg adopts for him is touched with equal measures of wonder and regret. Most of the characters are well rounded; some secondary characters come across flat but they are nevertheless effective in their roles. This sensitive attention to personalities intensifies the book's many menacing sequences.

Neverland is something of a seed crystal to Clegg's subsequent novel, The Hour Before Dark, wherein another childhood game calls up a mysterious, malevolent presence. This is not to suggest The Hour Before Dark completely revisits or revises this earlier work. The two novels are thematically comparable yet individual. Still, readers familiar with Hour will find its themes and motifs evident, as well as a snippet or two of dialogue common to both sources (the phrase "I am the Daddy," is equally haunting in both novels). These two books reflect each other, tackling similar material from different viewpoints: in The Hour Before Dark, the haunting presence lingers until the characters reach adulthood, while Neverland tells the tale with a more innocent cast.

Innocent, however, means neither blameless nor stupid. The kids in this novel can be pretty nasty. They make plenty of poor choices. They share their parents' intolerances and failings, but they are also capable of strengths their parents can no longer achieve. In fact, the grown-ups in the story are the novel's least sympathetic characters, behaving childishly when they should know better. Their children instead struggle for a semblance of maturity and often fall short, finding themselves drawn into painful and fearful consequences beyond their understanding.

A strong awareness of horror fiction's history informs this novel. Subtle allusions to works by such authors as M. R. James or Algernon Blackwood pepper the text, adding depth and resonance. However, Neverland's final quarter includes a lengthy section directly tied to one of Arthur Machen's most famous pieces, which is a little disappointing. This section is less a reference than it is a recreation, which is metaficitonally intriguing yet tedious to those familiar with the source material. This particular tale has inspired big works from a host of horror writers – including Bentley Little, H.P. Lovecraft, and Peter Straub – because it's moving, inventive, and creepy. Inclusion makes sense with the world Clegg has created, but its introduction arrives with too heavy a hand.

Readers should also be wary that time's passage is fluid in this book, days blur with little notice. While this emulates the summer days of Bradburian youth, it also makes keeping track of the timeline sometimes difficult. Night falls fast, and days blend. The characters are all at dinner together, and then the children are in Neverland, and then they are back at dinner together. While it promotes the dream-like quality of the narrative, it can be disorienting.

In the end, Neverland's merits outweigh its difficulties. The novel achieves a disturbing otherworldliness and honest empathy. A bad book with good characters is still often a good read; Neverland is a nearly-great book with good characters and is a memorable experience.

Purchase Neverland by Douglas Clegg.

Leisure Books / June 2010
Reviewed by:  Joan Turner

Wayne Lock hadn’t killed anything in years, and even then it had only been one old dog and a few cats. But he wants to so much, even though he doesn’t dare. Not even during intercourse with his girlfriend, Susan, when he has his hands around her neck so tight she can’t breath, and the need to kill is an ache inside him, he still cannot do it, has to turn her loose, and he is so close he feels like a coward for not going through with it.

Angry, Susan leaves, and Wayne resumes his walk up the mountainside alone. He stops to glance over the ledge believing he can desensitize himself to the vertigo he has in this way. Below, he sees something that changes his life forever.

Howard Gardner abused his wife, Carole, physically, emotionally and sexually. Divorced, he continued to stalk her despite a restraining order. Carole and her new man, Lee, have tried everything to dissuade him, but to no avail. In desperation, they decide murder is the only answer.

On the lonely mountain trail, they carry out the deed, unaware that Wayne is watching from above and becoming more excited by the minute. They dare to do what he has only dreamed of doing, and he wants in on it, wants to know what it is like. He wants to ask them. He recognizes Carole’s lover, Lee, as a customer at the tavern where he works, and soon tracks them down. Kidnapping the couple, he begins a murderous road trip with Lee and Carole as his unwilling witnesses.

Counterbalancing the main plot of Wayne Lock and his nightmarish killing spree, the subplot is the story of the policeman, Rule, who knew Carole and Howard when they were married and had arrested Howard for abuse. Rule himself is not without internal conflicts. He is trying to reconcile himself to the breakup with his long-time girlfriend and is suffering from guilt because dedication to his job and putting work before family drove her away.   

Joyride (a.k.a. Roadkill) was published in the U.K. in 1994, by the Berkley Publishing Group in 1995, and as a limited edition by Cemetery Dance Publications in 2008. The new Leisure paperback edition also includes the novella “Weed Species,” a terrifying tale of human depravity.  
 
“Weed species,” Ketchum writes, “is an organism that successfully invades and disturbs natural ecosystems, displacing native species. The term is most often applied to, but not limited to, plants and may include kudzu, water hyacinth, zebra mussel, Burmese python, ecotourism and sociopath.”

Sherry and Owen are two twisted souls with a yen for sadistic sex. The story opens with Sherry’s Christmas gifts to Owen — her teenage sister’s virginity and a camcorder. Disaster happens and from there the plot becomes ever more brutal. One of the abused characters becomes an abuser as well perpetuating the cruelty.   
         
Like Thomas Harris, Jack Ketchum often bases his psychological thrillers on true crime cases, probing the depths of human depravity and laying bare the workings of the sociopathic mind. According to his endnotes “On Writing Joyride,” he found his inspiration for this novel in Zola’s La Bete Humaine and in the lives of killers Howard Unruh and Thomas Eugene Braun whose exploits are detailed in Jay Robert Nash’s Bloodletters and Badmen. The latter also provided original source material for Ketchum’s sensational The Girl Next Door.

The plot of Joyride is relatively straightforward and uncomplicated, but it is a satisfying read nonetheless. “Weed Species” is a disturbing tale delivered in Ketchum’s violently graphic style. Both stories are fast moving and suspenseful with tight prose and well paced narrative action. Jack Ketchum is a master storyteller with keen insight into the dark side of the human psyche.  

Purchase Joyride by Jack Ketchum.

EOS / May 2010
Reviewed by: I.E. Lester

There have been a number of films offering a comedic slant on zombies over the last few years. Some have been good (Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Fido) while others have been truly awful (Zombie Strippers comes immediately to mind).

But humorous takes on the undead in book form haven't been all that common — beyond the current trend for re-writing classic literature or history and mashing it up with zombie gore that started with Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and has been followed by a cavalcade of similar titles such as Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Robin Becker though has, thankfully, come to the rescue of anyone who finds the idea of shambling corpses chasing you and trying to eat your brains funny.

Jack Barnes is – or rather was – a college professor. When a zombie plague is unleashed upon the world, he becomes one of its victims. But Jack is different than other zombies. Undeath may have filled him with the desire to eat human flesh – most especially brains – but he's managed to maintain his intelligence and his ability to read and write.

And so he decides to do what any sane, rational human being might do after having been zombified: He writes a memoir of the whole experience. And through his writing we gain an insight into the zombie mindset — or lack thereof.

Along the way, Professor Jack notices he might not be the only zombie to have retained some human characteristics. He encounters a young boy who is still agile, a nurse who remembers her skills, a soldier who can speak, among others. Intrigued, he sets off on a quest to find the scientist responsible for their respective conditions.

There is only problem: While Jack and his cohorts may have retained their brainpower, only one can actually speak, while only he can actually read. So they have to establish a means of communication to enable them to work together and try to survive the attempts of the remaining humans to kill them.

This book is splendidly light-hearted, a romp with added gray matter, and packed full of reference to the horror genre and modern pop-culture. It's obvious throughout that Becker knows her stuff when it comes to dark fiction. With Brains: A Zombie Memoir, she's taken a friendly sideswipe at zombie fiction in a way that will alienate no one.

Brains: A Zombie Memoir is relatively short, clocking in at just under two hundred pages. When reading it, though, some readers may very well wish it had been even shorter. By halfway through, the jokes start to wear a little thin and the repetition of certain events (i.e. the zombie nurse repairing various characters' injuries) grow tiresome. And the shout-outs to modern media start to feel overdone, as if Becker is trying to reference her entire DVD collection before the story ends. But this is more than just joke after joke about decay and detaching limbs, and these slight faults don’t stop Brains from being a highly entertaining book. It's the literary equivalent to part buddy movie, part road movie, and part a tale of struggle against adversity — all very much tongue in cheek.

Great for refreshing the reading muscles between serious scares.

Purchase Brains: a Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker.

Leisure Books / June 2010
Reviewed by: Joan Turner

Wolf’s Bluff is the third novel in W. D. Gagliani’s action-packed werewolf series, picking up the story of Homicide Detective Nick Lupo where Wolf’s Gambit ends. In the last installment, three mercenaries from the Wolfpaw organization had been murdering members of the reservation tribal council at Eagle River. The killers were werewolves, and up until then, Lupo had believed himself to be the only one afflicted with the curse. Eager to learn if there are more werewolves in Wolfpaw, he travels to Georgia to investigate the organization’s training facilities. There in a confrontation with the group that almost costs him his life, he wonders if any of the members are not werewolves.

Meanwhile, vicious animal attacks are on the rise around Wausau, Wisconsin, the victims mostly homeless people and hikers. Lupo suspects many people reported missing may also number among the dead. Heather Wilson, the female reporter bitten by one of the mercenaries at Eagle River had been presumed drowned, but now she has returned with no explanation, and Lupo believes she may be responsible for the murders. He has her under surveillance. Unknown to either of them, Wausau Detective Sheila Falken is watching Heather as well, and for her own reasons. 

Lupo’s relationship with his girlfriend, Jessie Hardin, the reservation doctor, strained since the Eagle River murders, becomes more flammable with his resolve to investigate Wolfpaw. She fears he may trigger another attack upon them by the mercenaries. She turns to gambling at the new reservation casino to relieve stress, yet the breach between the couple widens when Lupo admits he is following the sexy Heather Wilson. Unknown to either of them, a deadly trap is already being laid.

Internal Affairs officer Griff Killian distrusts Lupo and is obsessed with proving he is a maverick cop and possible murderer. Lupo’s police councilor has secretly turned over confidential information to the IA officer, and Killian dogs Lupo’s trail intent on exposing the detective.  

Interlaced with flashbacks from Lupo’s troubled youth, as recorded in the journals of Caroline Stewart, the reader sees the difficult lifelong struggle Nick Lupo has faced with his affliction and his efforts to control the beast within himself.

Wolf’s Bluff is the most intense and terrifying novel in W. D. Gagliani’s original and unparalleled horror-crime series. The writing is lean and precise, the characterization suburb. Suspense mounts to a fever pitch as the fast-paced, non-stop action builds towards a bloody confrontation. The dramatic narrative delivers punch after punch, ending with a shocking conclusion that leaves the reader reeling. 

Wolf’s Bluff is an excursion into horror that’s not to be missed.

Purchase Wolf's Bluff by W. D. Gagliani.

Fantastic Books / February 2010
Reviewed by: Michele Lee

Slim and unexpected, Animythical Tales by Sarah Totton is a collection of ten tales that have formerly graced the pages of venues like Realms of Fantasy, Fantasy & Science Fiction and Polophony 7. Totton herself is a skilled writer who pens vivid tales of surreal fantasy.

Being far more fantasy than horror immediately puts this collection outside the tastes of the average horror aficionado, however there's no denying there's a dark element to some of Totton's tales. "The Teasewater Five", for example, tells a fanciful tale of a dark nature, centering on a woman who, with the help of her brother, creates a miniature, animated sculpture version of her stillborn son with unexpectedly negative results.

Picking standouts is difficult since all Totton's stories are tempered with strengths of skill and even-timing, as well as settings and characters that stretch the imagination. Favorites are easier to choose, and they include the short, straightforward, yet strikingly dark "The Man with the Seahorse Head", a musing on the nature of parenthood, and "Bluecoat Jack", a tale about the kind of people who trade away their very being to become art.

The stories in Animythical Tales are lyrical and off-beat, betraying a near trademark British precision evocative of masters like Ramsey Campbell. Totton has an almost whimsical take on dark fiction that is both disturbing and enchanting. Readers looking for more fiction outside the traditional horror box will undoubtedly enjoy this one.

Purchase Animythical Tales by Sarah Totton.