Thursday, January 30, 2020

Ghosters Go Camping by Diana Corbitt

This creepy camping tale is the first is a series of short stories related to the Ghosters middle grade paranormal mystery series. In this story, two of the main characters, Theresa and Joey, are on a camping trip with their grandfather, who tells them a campfire story they will never forget.



The target audience for this short spooky story is middle graders but I see no reason why children of all ages would not enjoy this retelling of the urban legend about the vanishing hitchhiker..
This is exactly the kind of book I used to buy for my own son when he was young and first took an interest in ghost stories.

I received a complimentary copy for review 

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About the author


As you can tell, Diana likes the Game of Thrones books and TV series. She also loves the beach, traveling, and eating popcorn at the movies. Although Diana will watch pretty much any movie to satisfy her craving for popcorn, the scary ones are her go to. Gotta get that rush! />
She loves scary books too, so it's no wonder Steven King has always been her favorite author. A WARNING TO KIDS: King's books can really get to you, so talk to your parents before you read. More than one kept Diana up at night back when she was in high school.

Her work has been published in several online magazines. One short story, "Lumphead Road", was published as a podcast through a combination of narration, acting, music, and sound effects. You can listen to it on the Manor House website. "The Last Witch", another short story, can be found in an anthology of witch related stories titled Wax and Wane, now available on Amazon. />If you like her middle grade novel, Ghosters, try the second book in the series, Ghosters 2 Revenge of the Library Ghost. AND Ghosters 3 Secrets of the Bloody Tower. Diana is currently working on an Adult thriller.Visit her website at: dianacorbitt.com

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott

"You have two days to pass your audition. You better pass it, feller. You’re joining the circus. Ain’t that the best news you ever got?"

Delivered by a trio of psychotic clowns, this ultimatum plunges Jamie into the horrific alternate universe that is the centuries-old Pilo Family Circus, a borderline world between Hell and Earth from which humankind’s greatest tragedies have been perpetrated. Yet in this place—peopled by the gruesome, grotesque, and monstrous—where violence and savagery are the norm, Jamie finds that his worst enemy is himself.

When he applies the white face paint, he is transformed into JJ, the most vicious clown of all. And JJ wants Jamie dead!
 


Jamie is living his ordinary life, working his thankless job, and for some reason living with room mates who treat him badly and steal his food. Those days are coming to an end after Jamie has a strange experience with a clown that he nearly runs down with his car. After witnessing something he will wish he could unsee, Jamie steals a pouch left behind by a clown and with that he seals his fate. Now they want him for their twisted circus and joining up is not voluntary.
I loved this book from start to finish. It's creepy from practically the first page before we even get to the actual circus and meet an unforgettable cast of characters. I've already bought the sequel!

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Wednesday, January 22, 2020

The Black Book of Horror (Anthology)

The Black Book of Horror contains 18 excursions into the realms of terror. Ranging from the supernatural to the macabre, the stories selected for this anthology feature black magic, the dead, monstrous beasts, and things from beyond. There are tales that witness madness, and the evil that man does.

Contents:
CROWS - Frank Nicholas
REGINA vs. ZOSKIA - Mark Samuels
THE OLDER MAN - Gary Fry
POWER - Steve Goodwin
CORDS - Roger B. Pile
THE SOUND OF MUZAK - Sean Parker
SHAPED LIKE A SNAKE - D. F. Lewis
ONLY IN YOUR DREAMS - David A. Sutton
THE WOLF AT JESSIE'S DOOR - Paul Finch
SIZE MATTERS - John L. Probert
SPARE RIB: A ROMANCE - John Kenneth Dunham
FAMILY FISHING - Gary McMahon
SUBTLE INVASION - David Conyers
A PIE WITH THICK GRAVY - D. F. Lewis
LOCK-IN - David A. Riley
LAST CHRISTMAS (I GAVE YOU MY LIFE) - Franklin Marsh
"SHALT THOU KNOW MY NAME?" - Daniel McGachey
TO SUMMON A FLESH EATING DEMON - Charles Black
 

The Black Book Of Horror is the first in a series of horror anthologies published by Mortbury Press. As soon as I saw the gorgeous covers I knew that I wanted the entire set even though I am not familiar with the authors. I did notice some nominations for the British Fantasy Award but winning or losing would not have swayed my desire to get my hands on these books. I don't have a lot of experience with British horror other than having enjoyed the Hammer House of Horror series when I was a kid. Since I have found in my limited experience that British horror tends to be a bit more subtle than what I am used to on this side of the pond, I expected this would be more atmospheric than blood soaked. Well subtle I can take, but vague I can not. Some of these stories were so vague that they seemed more like a wisp of idea for an outline than an actual finished product. For example I could sum up "Spare Rib" as once upon a time a man's wife died but then she came back and he left for work. The End. Seriously that's a story in here. In another story a Nazi skin head and his pals desecrate a grave and then take off their pants and boots. The End.
Not to say they were all bad, there were some 3 and 4 star stories among the duds. The only 5 star mentions go to "Size Matters" more for it's dark humor than for anything frightening. Yes it is a story about a penis enlargement gone wrong, and Lock-In by David A Riley which actually was a scary story about a handful of men trapped in a pub by a creeping black void of nothingness that awaits them outside. 4 stars to Last Christmas (I gave you my life) Family Fishing, and Subtle Invasion.
I'm hoping the rest of the series has more 5 star stories than this did.

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Monday, January 20, 2020

The Shroud by Tim Turner

The Shroud is a science fiction novel that follows three friends from their teen years into adulthood and a dark memory they all share stays with them, deeply buried. As a child, Elvis Rondeau had what he thought was a nightmare. But it was in fact a memory. Other than this nightmare, Elvis had a normal childhood and forgot that scary night. After receiving head injuries in an auto accident, he starts to see things that he thinks are hallucinations at first. Now, that night so many years ago comes back with a new life…





A creepy strain of parasite takes hold in first time author Tim Turner's fast paced sci-fi tale The Shroud.
The first sightings seem to be only a nightmare but Elvis discovers he is not the only one to have glimpsed these bug like creatures in what he originally thought was just a dream.Years later as an adult he and his friends play a crucial role in alerting the world to this unseen menace.
There were a few spots that I thought were a bit repetitive, where I didn't need to be told more than once why it was referred to as The Shroud but over all a solid debut novel with a classic creature feature vibe. 

I received a complimentary copy for review.

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Saturday, January 18, 2020

The Patience of a Dead Man by Michael Clark

He just spent everything on a house in disrepair, but he didn’t know someone was waiting inside.

Tim Russell just put his last dollar on a handyman’s dream; a quaint but dilapidated farmhouse in New Hampshire. Newly single after a messy divorce, his plan is to live in the house as he restores it for resale. To his horror, as soon as the papers are signed and his work starts, ghosts begin to appear. A bone-white little boy. A woman covered in flies. Tim can’t afford to leave and lose it all, so he turns to his real estate agent Holly Burns to help him decide whether he has any shot at solving his haunted problem. Can they solve the mystery before he loses his investment…or maybe his life?



Tim is recently divorced and close to bankrupt after his ex wife  took most of their assets and tied up the sale of their home for 5 years. Losing the biggest part of his business but unable to fathom no longer being his own boss he takes what money he has left and sinks it into a dilapidated farmhouse hoping to fix it up and turn a big enough profit to get back on his feet. From the moment he takes possession of the house there are spooky happenings and strange sounds that simply should not be. There also seems to be the ghost of a child and the foul stench of death and decay emanate from a fly covered corpse that roams the house and grounds at will. Discovery of a journal kept by the previous owner who has documented her own experiences in the home proves to Tim that this haunting is not a figment of his stressed out imagination. He confides in Holly the real estate agent who sold him the house and together they try to solve the mystery of who these spirits were in life and why they have remained after death. Rather than the typical use of flashbacks to reveal the back story of the farm house the author relies more on vivid dreams and the journal to uncover the past. Some readers may take issue with this, but it worked for me, making me feel as if I were in on the investigation.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

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About the author
Michael Clark was raised in New Hampshire and lived in the house The Patience of a Dead Man is based on.

He now lives in Massachusetts with his wife Josi and his dog Bubba.
The Patience of a Dead Man is his first novel, and Dead Woman Scorned is his second. Stay tuned.

Facebook @michaelclarkbooks
Instagram @michaelclarkbooks
Twitter: @mikeclarkbooks

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

The Other People by C.J. Tudor

Description

A gripping new thriller about a man's quest for the daughter no one else believes is still alive, from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man and The Hiding Place.

Driving home one night, stuck behind a rusty old car, Gabe sees a little girl's face appear in the rear window. She mouths one word: 'Daddy.' It's his five-year-old daughter, Izzy.

He never sees her again.

Three years later, Gabe spends his days and nights travelling up and down the motorway, searching for the car that took his daughter, refusing to give up hope, even though most people believe that Izzy is dead.

Fran and her daughter, Alice, also put in a lot of miles on the motorway. Not searching. But running. Trying to keep one step ahead of the people who want to hurt them. Because Fran knows the truth. She knows what really happened to Gabe's daughter.

Then, the car that Gabe saw driving away that night is found, in a lake, with a body inside and Gabe is forced to confront events, not just from the night his daughter disappeared, but from far deeper in his past.

His search leads him to a group called The Other People.

If you have lost a loved one, The Other People want to help. Because they know what loss is like. They know what pain is like. They know what death is like.

There's just one problem . . . they want other people to know it too.
 

Innocent (and less than innocent) people get caught up in an intricate revenge plot in C.J. Tudor's  strikingly dramatic and twisty thriller The Other People.
The action starts immediately and the suspense is almost unbearable at times. The supernatural aspect was only a minor player and yet somehow it was the perfect finishing touch, adding as much flavor to the story as a delicious drizzle of hot fudge over ice cream making it even more satisfying. 

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Bats by William W Johnstone

They’d flown north from Central and South America, appearing one day in the southern wetlands of the U.S. like ominous ink stains in the twilight sky. With each sunset, more appeared, first hundreds then thousands. Massing into a great black cloud of terror, the vampire bats were beating their wings in time with the panicked heartbeats in the towns below.

No one knew how to stop them as they fell onto their prey like dark, deadly shadows. But someone had to find a way. Because somewhere in the night, they had become a threat to more than wild animals and livestock. Somewhere in the night madness took hold as these vampire bats developed a taste for human blood.

 And the feasting had only just begun.



This is a vintage horror from way back in 1993 when the creature feature was still the rage. William Johnstone has long since passed and his books were out of print for years. Many of them have been re-released for Kindle and I grabbed a few plus some used paperbacks from the thrift store.

Our hero is some kind of former spy CIA guy or some such special ops thing that you will probably picture as Liam Neesan or at least I did since he is described as solid and fit but not too good looking. Luckily he pretty much already lives in a fortress since his retirement so his house is the safest place in town.
Some of the language is a bit cringe worthy, and I don't mean swearing. I was a bit put off by the number of derogatory terms the author chose to use because I don't think that was cool even back in 1993. If you can look past that, it's a decent classic horror about giant vampire bats swarming a town, with a high body count, lots of gore and chewed up eyeballs. If that's not enough they've also been spreading rabies to the local wildlife and to the crazy group of satanists too who think these giant bats are the answer to their dark prayers. All in all a it was a pretty good read if you're in the mood for a horror from days gone by.
4 out of 5 stars.

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Friday, January 3, 2020

Bottled by Stephanie Ellis

The house was his, an unwanted and unwelcome inheritance. As a child, Tyler Torrence spent many miserable hours beneath its roof, hating his grandfather and the man’s housekeeper, Mrs. Waites. His only escape during those visits had been via the impossible bottles created by his granddad; bottles holding miniature worlds in which he could lose himself for hours. Sometimes however, he sensed something else living in the house and in the bottles and when he returned home, he took the nightmares with him.Now an adult, Tyler decides one last visit can do no harm, allow him to finally shake off his nightmares. The bottles however, are waiting—and so is Mrs. Waites. As both house and bottles gradually yield up their secrets, it is made clear to Tyler what is expected of him and what will happen should he fail.Is Tyler master or servant of the house?



When Tyler was a child his father disappeared, and his mother grew hateful and bitter. She often sent Tyler to spend time with his grandfather even though she herself would not set foot in his creepy old house, neither knowing nor caring how Tyler was treated there. At long last Grandfather is dead and the house belongs to Tyler... or does Tyler belong to the house? This could be the chance that Tyler needs to get back on his feet and out from under his mother's thumb or it could be a way to trap Tyler's son into the family curse. This was a quick and creepy read that reminded me a bit of Burnt Offerings. (The movie not the book, I still need to read that someday!)

I received an advance copy for review.

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About the author

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Snowball by Gregory Bastianelli

A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highway during a Christmas Eve blizzard and fight for survival against an unnatural force in the storm. The gathered survivors realize a tenuous connection among them means it may not be a coincidence that they all ended up on this highway. An attempt to seek help leads a few of the travelers to a house in the woods where a twisted toymaker with a mystical snow globe is hell bent on playing deadly games with a group of people just trying to get home for the holidays.


A Christmas Eve blizzard wreaks havoc on what at first appears to be a group of random strangers trying to head home for the holiday. An accident  on the highway causes the only 8 vehicles with occupants crazy enough to be out in this weather to become stranded. I love Christmas themed horror and anything to do with storms so while I already expected to love this story I was surprised to find myself mostly reading it in bed at night huddled under the blankets so as not to shiver. This book literally made me cold with the descriptive passages of drifting snow, howling winds  and freezing temperatures. That's before the icy chill of supernatural horror even began. One would think this would be the worst catastrophe these characters had ever experienced, but no, they each have a ghastly story to share of their worst winter memory that makes being caught in a blizzard seem like a day at the beach.
This is the kind of book that makes me wonder why in the world the movie theaters are so full of reboots, remakes, and stale sequels. Film makers should really pick up a book once in a while. You'll want to turn up your heat before you read this one, and if the kids have built a snowman in your yard close the blinds and pull the shades so it can't see you.
5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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About the author
Gregory Bastianelli , a New Hampshire native, graduated from the University of New Hampshire where he studied writing under instructors Mark Smith, Thomas Williams and Theodore Weesner.
He worked for nearly two decades at a small daily newspaper where the highlights of his career were interviewing shock rocker Alice Cooper and B-movie icon Bruce Campbell.

He is the author of the novels, "Jokers Club," "Loonies," and the soon to be released "Snowball."

His pulp horror novella "Lair of the Mole People" appears in the anthology "Men of Mystery Vol. II"