Corporate Wolf by Stuart R. West

If you can't run with the big dogs…rip 'em to shreds.

It was supposed to be a corporate retreat and a series of morale-boosting exercises. It was a weekend Shawn Biltmore nearly didn't survive.
There was something else playing in the woods that night, something other than a bunch of corporate drones with paintball guns.

And it had chosen Shawn as its new chew toy.

The local authorities chalked it up to a bear attack.
So did the doctors.

Shawn knew the truth, however, as much as he wanted to deny it.
But when one of his coworkers is viciously killed, Shawn must face the truth…
He's a killer who needs to be put down.

Or is he?  

 Shawn Biltmore, junior executive at the Lerner Corporation spends his days working his boring job and most nights getting drunk at the bar with his only friend Redmond, a rather repulsive character who is also a junior executive at the same company. It is in this usual state of drunkenness that Shawn becomes separated from Redmond on a team building exercise in the woods. The next thing he knows, he is waking up in a hospital, being told that he has been in a coma after a bear attack. Shawn knows it was nothing so ordinary that attacked him in those woods and not long after he begins to feel the changes in himself one of his annoying coworkers is found dead.
I didn't really feel connected to or invested in any of these characters. I'm not sure if Shawn's clumsy attempts to date his nurse and a coworker were meant to be endearing or humorous. The only enjoyment I got from this story came from the werewolf attacks which were suspenseful, vivid, and frightening. Also, it taught me that goat yoga is an actual thing.

I received a complimentary copy for review.



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About the author
Stuart R. West is a lifelong resident of Kansas, which he considers both a curse and a blessing. It's a curse because...well, it's Kansas. But it's great because…well, it’s Kansas. Lots of cool, strange and creepy things happen in the Midwest, and Stuart takes advantage of them in his books. Call it “Kansas Noir.” Stuart writes thrillers, horror and mysteries usually tinged with humor, both for adult and young adult audiences.

Stuart spent 25 years in the corporate sector and now writes full time. He’s married to a professor of pharmacy (who greatly appreciates the fact he cooks dinner for her every night) and has a 25 year old daughter who’s dabbling in the nefarious world of banking.

To be one of the cool kids on the block, subscribe to the Stuart R. West-Worlds newsletter for upcoming book info, free stuff, and absolutely no recipes: http://eepurl.com/c34zpv.

If you're still reading this, you may as well head on over to Stuart's blog at: http://stuartrwest.blogspot.com/  

Silence in the Woods by J P Choquette

What Castle Rock does for Maine, Monsters in the Green Mountains does for Vermont.In 1917, four friends and photojournalists set out in the woods looking for answers. Why have so many hikers and hunters gone missing in the area of Shiny Creek Trail?

The two couples anticipate a great adventure, one they'll tell their kids about someday. No one imagines the evil lurking in a remote cave. A horrifying discovery leaves one person dead and two others missing.

Two months later, Paul, one of the four, returns to the forest to find his wife. But will he find her before someone-or something-finds him?

Silence in the Woods is the long-awaited prequel to Shadow in the Woods, and delves into the frightening territory of the supernatural and the human mind.

Readers of books by authors like H.P. Lovecraft and John Saul will enjoy this twisty-turning, supernatural survival story set in the remote wilderness. Occult horror fans looking for an edge-of-your-seat suspense minus most of the gore will find a perfect fit with the first book in the "Monsters in the Green Mountains," series.

What is real and what is folklore? Are monsters like Bigfoot still alive in the deepest areas of Vermont's Green Mountains, or just characters in stories told around the campfire? Folk legends come to life in this heart rate-accelerating suspense mystery novel by J.P. Choquette.  


Two married couples who are also best friends venture deep into the woods in hopes of discovering why so many hikers have gone missing in this area. Not all of them will live to share the answer. There is a deliciously creepy atmosphere that hangs over this quartet almost immediately. Although they are all the best of friends Paul's wife Jane sometimes feels that she is an outsider since the trio of pals share a profession and were already friends before she and Paul became a couple. What none of them know is that there is more to fear than just the possibility of running into a legendary beast in the wilderness. There is something evil that whispers in the caves. Something that can infect the mind and twist petty resentments into madness. This was an eerie and suspenseful read.

5 out of 5 stars
I received a complimentary copy for review.

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The Shapes Of Midnight by Joseph Payne Brennan

Description

"Joseph Payne Brennan is one of the most effective writers in the horror genre, and he is certainly one of the writers I have patterned my own career upon," declared Stephen King. "In fact," he added, "The Shapes of Midnight could serve as an exercise-book for the young writer who aspires to pen and publish his or her own weird tales."
A poet as well as a writer of horror fiction, Brennan worked at Yale's Sterling Memorial Library as an acquisitions assistant for over 40 years. He wrote hundreds of stories for Weird Tales and other pulp magazines. This new edition of his increasingly rare compilation, The Shapes of Midnight, presents 10 of his best stories.
Selections include "Diary of a Werewolf," a first-person account of bloody sprees; "The Corpse of Charlie Rull," recounting the rampage of a radioactive zombie; "The Pavilion," which unfolds at an abandoned seaside haunt with something ghastly beneath its pilings; "House of Memory," a wistful look at the past's imaginative grip; "The Willow Platform," featuring the machinations of a self-styled warlock; and other chillingly memorable tales.

This was a short but fun anthology featuring stories of madness, sorrowful memories, and murder.
My favorites were Diary of a Werewolf in which a recovering drug addict begins to feel a strong compulsion to run wild in the woods, and Pavilion in which a murderer returns to the scene of his crime. The rest were just ok reads for me, though others may enjoy them more than I did. If you are into short horror stories give this one a read.

I received a complimentary copy for review.



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About the author
Joseph Payne Brennan was an American writer of fantasy and horror fiction, and also a poet. Brennan's first professional sale came in December 1940 with the publication of the poem, "When Snow Is Hung", which appeared in the Christian Science Monitor Home Forum, and he continued writing poetry up until the time of his death.

He is the father of Noel-Anne Brennan who has published several fantasy novels.

Pieces by Rebecca Rowland and Michael Aloisi

 Thirty boxes. Thirty body parts. Eighteen turned in to authorities.A forensic technician from a quiet Massachusetts suburb does the unthinkable: stalks a local woman, abducts her, divides her body into thirty pieces, and mails the sections to random Americans across the country. Each white postal box that Dennis Sweeney prepares contains an ambiguous note and a piece of Julie Piedmont. Most of Sweeney’s intended recipients contact the authorities about their gruesome packages, but twelve of the parcels go unreported. Pieces, the genre-bending hybrid of crime thriller infused with a short-story vibe, takes a closer look at the body parts that were never recovered and the possible reasons why their recipients never told anyone about their grotesque discoveries. Weaving the accounts together is Dennis’ story as well as Jackson Matthews’, the reporter to whom Dennis chooses to document his sick game.

 

I just finished this book and I am not even sure how to adequately review it. I am imagining someone else describing it to me and had they told me that there were so many characters my first thought would be this may not work for me. Just as too many cooks spoil the soup, too many characters can make a plot hard to follow. Yet that is not at all the case with Pieces, even though there are so many characters with their own story lines they are all brilliant offshoots of the main plot.

Jax is reporter who is unhappy in his job and dreams of giving it up to pursue his art full time. Just as this dream comes closer to fruition he receives a body part of a murder victim from someone claiming to be his number one fan. Included is a demand that he write the story of a lifetime to propel himself back to award winning journalism. Dennis Sweeny is a twisted individual. I don't think there has been a boy with such an odd relationship with his mom since Psycho. Though he gives a reason for sending a body part to his favorite journalist, his reasons for choosing the other recipients of human remains are less clear. Most people report their deliveries to the authorities, but my favorite parts of the book revolve around the remarkable characters who don't report their packages. I would recommend this book for any fan of horror or psychological thrillers.

5 out of 5 stars

 

I received a complimentary copy for review.

 

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About the authors

Rebecca Rowland grew up in Western Massachusetts but spent much of her early adult life in the Boston area. She has taught high school English, worked as a librarian, and freelanced as a copy-editor for graduate students, publishing houses, a celebrity's blog, and a large city union. Her first published work of length was a ghostwritten memoir of a former victims' rights advocate.

She is a proud member of both the American Library Association and the Horror Writers Association, sincerely appreciates sharp satire, quick wit, and well-written psychological horror, and lists her literary influences as Flannery O'Connor, A.M. Homes, and Chuck Palahniuk. Despite her infatuation with the ocean and unwavering distaste for icy weather, she has made a home with her family in a land-locked city of New England.
Visit RowlandBooks.com for more information.

 

Michael Aloisi, known to his fans as AuthorMike, is the author of seven books, including a number one bestseller. He has done book tours in over five countries and twenty states, sold movie/television rights, starred in his own web series, been featured in documentaries and had his books featured in over one hundred media outlets around the world. Mike has an MFA in Writing and currently he lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two children.

Visit: AuthorMike.com to learn more about his books and other projects