Dark Moon Digest Issue #22 by Lori Michelle and Max Booth III

 Description
Dark Moon Digest #22 includes the fiction: “Late Fee” by Patrick Lacey, “Horror Junkie” by Michael Schutz-Ryan, “Room 207” by Cooper O’Connor, “Drummer Boy” by Kenneth O’Brien, “The Seventh Date” by Mason Gallaway, “That’s the Price You Pay” by Matt Hayward, “Ion Dissonance” by Benoît Lelièvre, and “Girl Six” by John C. Foster. Also included are Jay Wilburn’s “Bits of the Dead” column, book reviews, and an excerpt from Vincenzo Bilof’s upcoming novel The Violators


Here lies some first rate, freaky, creepy, fiction. Which begs the question, if this is issue #22 where can I get my hands on the first 21? Because I want them all and so will you.
If you like short horror stories you will love these.
In "Late Fee" A spurned lover gets more than he bargained for when he wanders into an old timey 80's style video store.
"Horror Junkie" is a tale of best friends and roommates who share an affinity for horror movies until one of them gets a bit too extreme.
"Room 207"  is probably best left alone but a man on his way to surprise his wife makes a quick stop-over at a motel and lets his curiosity get the best of him. 
In "Drummer Boy" a happily married couple who have been trying to conceive find an antique toy that may bring them luck. Of course not necessarily good luck....
"The Seventh Date" is a tale of a love spell gone wrong.
"That's The Price You Pay" is a story of a shop owner and the strange curios for sale in his antique shop, though there is no charge to see the main attraction in his store.
"Ion Dissonance"  is a story of a young man who can't quite tell where dreams end and reality begins.
In "Girl Six' an interrogation takes a very strange turn. 
All in all these stories were quite unnerving!

I received a complimentary copy for review.

They Call Me Crazy by Kelly Stone Gamble

Description
"Cass Adams is crazy, and everyone in Deacon, Kansas, knows it. But when her good-for-nothing husband, Roland, goes missing, no one suspects that Cass buried him in their unfinished koi pond. Too bad he doesn’t stay there for long. Cass gets arrested on the banks of the Spring River for dumping his corpse after heavy rain partially unearths it.

The police chief wants a quick verdict—he’s running for sheriff and has no time for crazy talk. But like Roland’s corpse, secrets start to surface, and they bring more to light than anybody expected. Everyone in Cass’s life thinks they know her—her psychic grandmother, her promiscuous ex-best friend, her worm-farming brother-in-law, and maybe even her local ghost. But after years of separate silences, no one knows the whole truth. Except Roland. And he’s not talking."

Life in a small town is not the peaceful happy "Mayberry" that some people imagine. This novel portrays a more accurate depiction.
Everybody knows everybody else's business, or at least they think they do. They sure don't mind sharing everyone else's business either if it gets them a bit of attention. So of course it's common knowledge that Cass Adams is just plain crazy, like her mother before her was crazy. Her witch of a grandma might not be all there either. Her Husband Roland is a great guy, at least to your face. Maybe not so great behind closed doors, and maybe Cass isn't so lucky after all to have landed the husband every other girl wanted for their own. Even so, she should not have killed him. Or should she? Maybe he deserved it. Though he didn't even beat up on her all that much. What's a few blows to the top of the head and a degrading insult or two. Who can blame him when she won't even lift a finger to clean up the tar paper hovel of a shack he has her living in. Or maybe she didn't really do it. She says she did but everybody knows she's crazy as a loon, and if that's what everybody thinks it must be true.
This story, told in first person from multiple points of view, with sarcasm and wit kept me up turning pages all night long. I would rate it 5 of 5 stars.

I received a complimentary copy for review

Northwoods by Bill Schweigart

Description

"Some borders should never be crossed. From the author of The Beast of Barcroft comes a waking nightmare of a horror novel that's sure to thrill readers of Stephen King and Bentley Little.

Ex–Delta Force Davis Holland, now an agent for the Customs and Border Protection, has seen it all. But nothing in his experience has prepared him for what he and the local sheriff find one freezing night in the Minnesota woods.

Investigating reports of an illegal border crossing, the two men stumble across a blood-drenched scene of mass murder, barely escaping with their lives . . . and a single clue to the mayhem: a small wooden chest placed at the heart of the massacre. Something deadly has entered Holland's territory, crossing the border from nightmare into reality.

When news of the atrocity reaches wealthy cryptozoologist Richard Severance, he sends a three-person team north to investigate. Not long ago, the members of that team—Ben McKelvie, Lindsay Clark, and Alex Standingcloud—were nearly killed by a vengeful shapeshifter. Now they are walking wounded, haunted by gruesome memories that make normal life impossible. But there is nothing normal about the horror that awaits in the Northwoods."

 

This sequel to The Beast of Barcroft is a creepy, creature packed tale.  This is the further adventures of Ben and Lindsay doing what they do best, getting on each others nerves with snarky but humorous affection, and hunting down deadly supernatural beings.
It will give you shivers, and not just from the icy Minnesota  setting. If you liked the first book you’ll love the second, and if you haven’t read the first book you really should.

 

I received an advance copy for review.

The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee by Talya Tate Boerner

Description
"Ten-year-old Gracie Lee knows a few things. She knows which trees are best for climbing. She knows how to walk through the hallway without making a sound on the hardwood floor. She knows if Daddy's crop gets one more drop of rain, the whole family will pay the price. There are plenty of things Gracie doesn't know. These things keep her awake at night. Gracie longs for something bigger and grander and truer, and feels certain there is more to life beyond school and dull church sermons. She worries about the soldiers in Vietnam and wonders what it must be like to have been born Lisa Marie Presley from Tennessee instead of Gracie Lee Abbott from Arkansas. Mostly, she wishes her Daddy wasn't so mean. Gracie's unchecked imagination leads to adventure, and adventure leads to trouble. She confides in unexpected characters and seeks solace in a mysterious gray house beyond the cotton field. When Gracie faces a difficult family situation, she must make a life-altering decision, one that will test the very essence of her character."

Gracie Lee lives on a farm with her mother, father, little sister and their dog Lucky. She is a nervous worried child, always anxious over everything from whether she will drown during her baptism to how many beers her father has consumed, to what has become of the man from the "pretty gray house." Gracie's mom plays piano at their church. Gracie decides one day during the invitational hymn to go up and speak to Brother Brown about praying for her heavy drinking father with the nasty disposition. From that point on Brother Brown becomes somewhat of a confidante for Gracie as she struggles through a difficult home life. 
As a fan of historical fiction I enjoyed this story, set in the 70s, with references to Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Nixon. I did feel it started off a bit slowly but it was definitely worth sticking with to the end.
I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

I received an advance copy for review