Friday, October 25, 2019

The Town That Feared Dusk by Calvin Demmer

Sylvia Bernstein doesn't want to end up on a dead-end path like a former journalism colleague. She begins searching the tabloid's archives for a story that can get her career back on track. A strange bridge, with an abnormally high rate of suicides, seems like the perfect place to start. She journeys to the little town, eager to investigate, but encounters a tale far more sinister than she ever expected...


This is a quick read that features a spooky little town with an unusual bridge that seems to attract suicides. A reporter in need of a rousing story attempts to get the scoop but none of the townspeople are willing to speak openly about it.
Not to be deterred, even when she experiences first hand what happens at dusk, she may come to regret her pursuit of the truth.
 I would have liked to see the back story fleshed out a little more, because there was a very clever and creative idea behind it all.
I received a complimentary copy for review.

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About the author
Calvin Demmer is the author of The Sea Was a Fair Master and The Town That Feared Dusk. When not writing, he is intrigued by that which goes bump in the night and the sciences of our universe.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Slash by Hunter Shea

Five years after Ashley King survived the infamous Resort Massacre, she’s found hanging in her basement by her fiancĂ©, Todd Matthews. She left behind clues as to what really happened that night, clues that may reveal the identity of the killer the press has called The Wraith.

With the help of his friends, Todd goes back to the crumbling Hayden Resort, a death-tinged ruin in the Catskills Mountains. What they find is a haunted history that’s been lying in wait for a fresh set of victims. The Wraith is back, and he’s nothing what they expected.




We already know from the book description that Poor Ashley King was the only one to survive the first killing spree, though she lost all of her friends and most of the memories of that awful night. For 5 years she tried to live a normal life though all the "final girl" fans didn't make it easy for her. When she learns the abandoned resort where her friends had been brutally murdered is about to be demolished it triggers memories that make her take her own life. Devastated and outraged, her fiancĂ©e taunts the killer and heads out to the resort to lie in wait, hoping to lure him out and finish him off. I was hooked on this story from the start, but by the time I was halfway through it was like a breathless race to make it to the finish and see who (if anyone) survived.
Highly recommended for all horror fans and contrary to the title it is not your typical slasher story.
5 out of 5 stars.
I received an advance copy for review.


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About the author
Hunter Shea is the author of over 25 books, with a specialization in cryptozoological horror that includes The Jersey Devil, The Dover Demon, Loch Ness Revenge and many others. As part of the new horror line at Flame Tree Press, his novel Creature has gained critical acclaim. His novel, The Montauk Monster, was named one of the best reads of the summer by Publishers Weekly. A trip to the International Cryptozoology Museum will find several of his cryptid books among the fascinating displays. Living in a true haunted house inspired his Jessica Backman: Death in the Afterlife series (Forest of Shadows, Sinister Entity and Island of the Forbidden). In 2011, he was selected to be a part of the launch of Samhain Publishing’s new horror line alongside legendary author Ramsey Campbell. When he’s not writing thrillers and horror, he also spins tall tales for middle grade readers on Amazon’s highly regarded Rapids reading app.
An avid podcaster, he can be seen and heard on Monster Men, one of the longest running video horror podcasts in the world, and Final Guys, focusing on weekly movie and book reviews. His nostalgic column about the magic of 80s horror, Video Visions, is featured monthly at Cemetery Dance Online. You can find his short stories in a number of anthologies, including Chopping Block Party, The Body Horror Book and Fearful Fathoms II.

A lifetime New Yorker, Hunter is supported by his loving wife and two beautiful daughters. When he’s not studying up on cryptozoology, he’s an avid explorer of the unknown, having spent a night alone on the Queen Mary, searching for the Warren’s famous White Lady of the Union Cemetery and other mysterious places.
You can follow his travails at www.huntershea.com.

Friday, October 18, 2019

What's Wrong with the Baby? by Vincent Courtney





THE FEAR IS GROWING  
From the moment he saw the ancient castle rising out of the picturesque Scottish countryside, filmmaker Dan Martin knew he'd found the ideal location for his vampire horror movie. And nothing could make him leave. Not the eerie legends of soul-stealing beasts of the night…nor a bizarre series of freak accidents. Not even his pregnant wife's tragic miscarriage.

THE TERROR IS BORN  
Except that now there is another fetus growing in Vicki's womb. But little Darian is not going to be a normal baby. The Martins' adopted ten-year-old son Marty will soon find that out. In fact, Marty will soon know exactly what his new brother really is.


I can't resist a creepy baby story. There is something so terrifying about the thought of a baby being able to do more than it should. A baby barely old enough to crawl, knowing more than it should know, dancing a jig when it shouldn't be able to walk yet, scurrying along with evil intent when nobody else is looking. I've just given myself chills and so did this book! One man knows the truth about what this baby really is, but nobody believes him until it's too late. A young boy knows something is wrong with his new baby brother but he doesn't know how to stop it. Refusing to believe, will have deadly consequences in this chilling read from Grinning Skull Press.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

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Sunday, October 13, 2019

The Last Book You'll Ever Read by Scott Hughes

A mysterious book on your doorstep, a man trying to outrun an otherworldly horror, an elderly woman who creates strange concrete creatures, a computer that isn't what it seems, an enigmatic nothingness closing in on someone's house...
The Last Book You'll Ever Read is a collection of five macabre tales that you won't soon forget.






Scott Hughes invites us along for five ominous adventures and spooky good times. Roll down a "Dark Highway" with a murderer, watch what happens when a repo man pays a visit to "Evelelyn's Counrty Depot," and learn the real cost of a free computer from the good folks at "eHhaurio, Inc."
Say good-bye to your troubles (and everything else) as The Color of Nothing" creeps into your home, and finally accept your fate as you become part of The Last Book You'll Ever Read"
I enjoyed these clever and curious tales.
I received a complimentary copy for review.



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About the author
Scott Hughes is a Georgia writer who graduated from Mercer University and then received an MFA in creative writing from Georgia College & State University.

His fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in such publications as Crazyhorse, One Sentence Poems, Entropy, Deep Magic, Carbon Culture Review, Redivider, Redheaded Stepchild, PopMatters, Strange Horizons, Odd Tales of Wonder, and Compaso: Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology.

His collection of horror short stories, The Last Book You’ll Ever Read , is available from Sinister Stoat Press, an imprint of Weasel Press.

He is the Division Head of English at Central Georgia Technical College and is currently finishing a young adult novel, Red Twin. He lives in Macon, Georgia, with his two dogs Bacon and Pip. His poetry collection, The Universe You Swallowed Whole, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in 2020.

For more information, visit https://www.writescott.com