With Skull Full of Kisses Michael West throws his tales into the long list of single-author collections available to horror readers today. With ten tales of love and monsters, Skull Full of Kisses gives readers more meat than many other lengthier collections out there.
West’s style is easy to read, but well-paced and well-formed, delivering solid stories page after page….
Full review at DarkScribeMagazine.com
ISBN: 978-0981639000
Despite the flavorful title, Gene O’ Neill’s Taste of Tenderloin doesn’t feature eight stories dedicated to culinary tales, but instead it’s his ode to the San Francisco Tenderloin District, bent on making the area a vivid, magical place all its own.
The first story, “Lost Patrol”, is not necessarily a traditional story with a beginning, middle and end. Instead it’s a character profile, short, but vivid, with a delicate stretch of story surrounding it. Like an appetizer, there’s not much here, but enough to get a good taste of what’s to come.
Next comes “Magic Words”, an old school urban fantasy tale of dark magic and a mysterious homeless woman who one night, taking only a promise for the future as payment, gives a man the exact words he needed to move forward in his life. Unlike a lot of other stories, this one doesn’t try to present a “be careful what you ask for” moral. Instead it just presents itself as it is, adding an element of mysticism to the Tenderloin.
“Tombstones in His Eyes” tackles the overlapping tales of the junkies on the street, using some very interesting symbolism. Again, O’ Neill doesn’t so much tell a story as present a character and their tale, in the good and bad, for the reader’s viewing.
“Bushido” is also lovely, the tale of a man who finds salvation in the streets walking alongside doom. But the imagery and the climax bear a strong resemblance to the previous tale, and so it lessens some of the impact.
“Balance” follows a vet suffering from a disconnect with reality. It’s hard to watch Declan’s version of getting more control over the world around him, since he can’t seem to control his own brain functions. But this story, like the other so far, is present unflinchingly, with little effort to make the reader sympathize with the characters. Instead O’ Neill just beckons you to come and listen.
With “The Apotheosis of Nathan McKee” O’Neill ties the people of the Tenderloin and the stories in this collection together firmly, making each minor, barely mentioned character the owner of their own story. Nathan, interchangeable with the attack victim in “Bushido”, discovers a beating has left him not only for with a complete lack of desire for the booze he used to drug himself, but it’s given him a unique ability. Only he’s not quite sure what to do with it. The first overall positive tale, without a bittersweet touch, it possesses a delicate aspect of intriguing urban fantasy.
In “Bruised Soul” Mickey D, an ex boxer abandoned to the streets by time and suffering from damage taken through the length of his career, hits the streets after a stint in a mental facility, only to discover the good things have gotten that much worse in his absence and the bad things, of course, never change. It’s his new neighbor that piques his interest this time around, an exotic woman named Jenna who seems to have a peculiar ability. Threaded just as finely is an end question, what is real and what has Micky D imagined, without the heavy-handedness of other stories.
Finally is “5150”, the first first person story in the collection. Here the lead might not seem like a true member of the Tenderloin, but by the sad, shattering end of this cop’s life you can see every character story so far caught up in this one tale.
Readers should be warned that these characters seem fleshy and real, their tales often dark and hopeless. It is easy to get pulled into the hopeless feeling of this collection.
Taste of Tenderloin is a tight network of precise details and emotion presented, but firmly held back from influencing the reader in each story. A delicate balance of realism, surrealism and unique storytelling makes it a compelling read.
Eric S. Brown’s Season of Rot is a collection of five zombie novellas that from the first page demonstrates how well-versed Brown is in the zombie genre. In scene after scene, readers will find good guys and bad guys, women and children, all trying to survive the undead plague while holed up in hospitals, military bases and even luxury cruise ships converted for war against the undead.
What’s hard to find is a true sense of storytelling in any of Brown’s offerings…
Full Review at DarkScribe Magazine.
Dark Regions Press kicks off its New Voices of Horror series with a strong – and rotting – foot with this collection of tales from David Dunwoody. It’s clear from line one that Dunwoody knows what he’s doing when it comes to writing good fiction. Inside these pages we see every kind of savage inhuman monster, from the zombies Dunwoody is known for, to demons, werewolves, and things that have no explanation — even in the horror realm…
Full Review at DarkScribe Magazine.
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Trade Paperback: 9780982159613 , $15.95
The Monster Within Idea, R. Thomas Riley’s collection from Apex Publications is an exploration of monsters in all their various forms, supernatural and dark, beneficial and very, very malicious.
“Attrition” the first tale in this collection, is the story of an incarcerated man who is preparing for his release day. To be free all he has to do is walk out, where a vicious tunnel will either deem him worthy of being a part of society, or turn his sentence into a self-fulfilling death penalty.
“Touching God” is a surreal story of two boys trying to escape a personal darkness, only to find that something follows them back to the mundane world. A story of family tragedy, it’s heavily character based with an open ending that implies the worst is yet to come. Continuing with a child’s point of view, “Too Little” tells another short, dark story of victimization and revenge in a lilting, almost playful tone.
“Jenny” is the tale of a jealous lover, a woman who will possess or punish the man she loves. It’s a little too obvious, but a darkly amusing addition to the collection.
“Perfect” also uses a very female point of view, as a woman obsessed with body image imagines that as she airbrushes models’ pictures she also cleans them of their other flaws. If only she could fix her own life as easily.
The next two tales are both zombies stories. “Haven” is a wholly depressing story of a boy who is trying to get to his older sister after a zombie uprising. After days of traveling and barely surviving, he reaches the hospital where his sister works in the maternity ward, which has been overrun with zombie infants. As is often found in zombie tales the desolation is overwhelming and there can really only be one end.
“In the Beginning” could be the start of a longer zombie tale. The imagery of a bio weapon going off at a Six Flags amusement park is chilling, but the story is one readers already know.
Taking readers to the Old West, “The Run” is about a man hired to transport a mysterious package from one town to another. He’s warned not to look at or open the package, but a busted wheel leads him to being trapped in the growing dark, in the woods, with its contents. There’s a feeling of filler to this story, though it fits the theme. The setting doesn’t quite come alive, though the monster within certainly does.
Tales of love gone wrong is one of Riley’s strength, as is evident by the next two tales, both tackling the topic. “Twin Thieves” is a surreal tale, tinged with sadness, of a man trying to make things work between himself and his wife, at any cost, when some things are just meant to be broken.
“Tautology” is darker, displaying a different form of co-dependency and depression with a side order of stalker. As short as many of the other tales, this one is also stronger, despite the only action being the emotional ex-boyfriend repeatedly calling his love. It has a killer and an unexpected ending that makes the tale one of the strongest in the collection.
Going back to the Old West “A Pair of Aces, a Pair of Eights” tells of a gunfighter so loved by the people around him that even Death himself seems to want to take revenge on his killer.
The following tale, “Bubo”, is also primarily set in a bar. But in this bar a yuppie with a last wish finds a creature that shouldn’t be on Earth and learns that most wishes are better off just in your head.
“The Day Luftberry Won It All” is a surprisingly imaginative tale of Luftberry, a pool shark living after the apocalypse when other players are a fast fading commodity. In one of the last “Sin” bars in this semi-science fiction world, he is challenged by a strangely serpentine man. In a game for his soul, literally, Luftberry becomes so preoccupied with winning that he never stops to consider that the prize might not offer much of a victory.
“Just Decoration” is a revenge story that’s simply too short. The revelations are fired at readers like bullets, rather than slowly revealed, making them feel contrived. There’s no time to build up the character, thus their relationships, before suddenly they’re all dead and the reader is left feeling out of the loop.
“The Lesser Evil” pits the young black, ex-thug trying to do good against the stupid white corrupt congressman. A voyage that touches on the splatter scene with a grisly pair of murders with no solid explanation, “The Lesser Evil” is part discourse on racism and politics and part murder mystery.
“The Monster Within Idea” is remarkable for how very little it reveals, which only emphasizes the quest of the mysterious girl trapped in a closet trying to determine what’s real and who she really is. Where it could have delved into stark realism and drama, instead Riley merely hints and leaves the true horror for the reader’s minds to make up.
“Brittle Bones, Plastic Skin” is one of Riley’s best, and it’s a pleasure to say it’s been included in this collection. Here he walks the line between surreal and reality, pitting a man against an ancient evil with the lives of children at stake. Other tales have been told in the same style and fail, but this story maintains a level of dark, paranormal questioning through out, making the point of view changes only add to the robustness of the tale.
One of the longest additions, “The Core of Forgotten” pits a pair of children, bored and a bit criminal on a long summer vacation, against the neighborhood witch, who’s genuinely evil. When the kids’ stop watching the witch and instead break into her house they get more than they bargained for, ending up in a bloody, ruthless showdown with the witch, a demon and stand byers whose interests have turned from merely malicious to wicked.
Finally is “Only Spirits Cry”. An excellent way to end the collection this one is the long, emotional tale of a man who is willing to do almost anything to save his mother from death, because he’s done so before. A delicate weave of old magic, modern setting, childhood magic and unconditional love it’s one hundred percent pure adventure.
Riley’s strength lies in spinning emotional tales, often ones that involve or are told through the point of view of children. While not all the tales in this collection are the best of the best, there are several darkly brilliant gems that readers can be happy to have in one bound volume.
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Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty is a slim volume of poetry with a little of everything, from Jeff Strand style puns and cheesy humor to soulful, evocative stanzas more similar to Edgar Allan Poe and Clive Barker… Full review at Dark Scribe
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Paperback: 978-0-9788676-4-5, $13.95
“The Heist” is an excellent theme setter for this collection. This story has an urban fantasy flavor, only instead of the default setting of the world being based in nature worship-style paganism or Christianity the magic comes from a very distinct Jewish flavor.
Jimmy the Rat (a Jewish vampire), The Tzaddick (an immortal), The Rabbi (a powerful Jewish mystic) and his wickedly constructed golem Goldie come together to take down a mysterious and magical blood bank. Along the way they encounter peculiar versions of zombies and angels and a fortress that will boggle readers with its incredible level of security. It’s the motley crew’s job to break the fortress, to take down the blood bank and of course, collect their fee.
From there HebrewPunk moves to stories focusing on the trio individually.
“Transylvania Mission” pits The Rat against a band of Nazi werewolves searching for Dracula in the hopes of enlisting his help in their war. More could be said, but that, and awesome, sums up this tale.
“Uganda” mixes the Jewish flavor with distinct African ingredients. In this tale it’s the turn of the century and The Rabbi is asked to investigate a tract of land in Eastern Africa which some people hope will become a new Jewish Homeland. Recognized as a mystic by a local tribe, he walks with them, getting a glimpse into the truth of the land, and possibly even the future. While this is a solid, interesting and richly flavored tale it feels unfinished at the end, perhaps because it’s written as if compiled by a third party from multiple sources, a style that lends better to longer works.
Finally comes The Tzaddick in “The Dope Fiend”, a 1920s set tale of voodoo and ghosts and how they surface in the Jewish mythos. Unfortunately this one is the weakest of the four. There are many major secondary characters that move in and out of the story, playing fairly important roles, but there’s a feeling to them as if the reader should know who they are. It’s not, however, guaranteed that they will.
Also a point of discontent with this story is The Tzaddick himself, who often comes off as if being a drug addict is all that he is. While there is a level of realism to this portrayal, in this story it keeps the reader from connecting with The Tzaddick as anything but a drug addict. This, and the previously mentioned crew of secondary characters, overpower the plot itself, as if Tidhar had more fun writing the characters than the story.
Altogether HebrewPunk is a collection that reveals interesting possibilities, especially for the Urban Fantasy genre who should sit up and take notice at how much space there still is in the genre outside the realm of nature based magic systems and romance melodramas.
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