Lamella by Max Halper

Mel Lane assumed his life was on the track it was supposed to be: a career with upward movement, a home, a long-term relationship. That is, until he comes home one day to a girlfriend he knows and a child he doesn't. Stranger still, no one else seems disturbed by the child’s presence—or by its bizarre, inhuman features. Mel is a reasonable man, and he knows there is a reasonable explanation—but once the veil of reality begins to ripple, the world around him becomes something he simply doesn't understand. Worse yet, it's becoming very clear that he may never have understood it quite as well as he thought he did.

He knows there are answers, written somewhere on the walls or in the airwaves, but finding them will mean confronting truths about himself and the people around him as he spirals down a rabbit hole of identity and place that will threaten to upend the delicate balance of his life.

A darkly surreal and thought-provoking story, 'Lamella' is the debut novella of American author Max Halper.

 Lamella is a debut novella that really packs a punch. It's darkly humorous, disturbing, sad, gross, unsettling, and unnerving.

Mel Lane comes home from a lousy day and finds his home life to be something out of Twilight Zone. He and his girlfriend did not have any children when he left for work and yet here she is waiting for him with this odd looking multi-holed baby and acting like it's the most normal thing in the world for him to have fathered it. Nobody else seems to think it's at all unusual so he pretty much just rolls with it because what can you do right? At first he is totally repulsed by baby Lamella but eventually she sort of grows on him. 

There is a very poignant anecdote told in this book about how as children, things just go over our heads but we pretend to get the joke, and we laugh along so as not to be left out. And that as adults perhaps we still do the same thing, pretending to understand the point of life and to know what's going on even though it still flies over our heads. That totally jibes with my first thoughts when starting this book. What the hell did I just read? As crazy as it was I enjoyed every minute of this weird and wild story. The writing flows along like a fast moving river and all you can do is just roll with it.

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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Twelve Days of Christmas Horror Volume 2 by Rick Wood

 From horror master Rick Wood, author of The Sensitives and This Book is Full of Bodies, comes ANOTHER twelve horrifying stories to spook up your Christmas season!
From a festive family of cannibals, to a terrifying present, to a psychotic Santa... here are twelve stories guaranteed to make your Christmas sick and twisted!

Features stories such as:

- The Present
- Christmas With the Cannibals
- 'Twas the Night Before Murder Part Two
- Christmas Night of the Living Dead
- Me and My Christmas Jumper
- Carolling With Killers
- Interview With Krampus November 2020
- Tiny Tim: The Trauma Years
- A Letter From Simon

It's time to bring some horror to your festivities...

I read the first volume last year and upon completion I immediately bought volume 2. I never had a chance to read it until now but as soon as I finished I ordered the new one because they seem to just get better as they go. This is a quick read at 160 pages.  I enjoyed all the stories and the illustrations too. I can't say that I cared much for the poems or reworked Christmas Carols but I did enjoy the stories.

Some of my favorites were Me and My Christmas Jumper in which a lonely, meek, and mild office worker has a drastic personality change. The Present which is written in three installments spread throughout the book, about a mysterious gift that ruins lives, and Christmas Night Of The Living Dead in which a boy who wants to hunt down zombies is made to take his poor old granny along.

Sprinkled with dark humor and seasoned with fear this second volume of Christmas Horror is the perfect recipe for a merry and macabre holiday.

4 out of 5 stars

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The End: A Zombie Story by Tim Turner

 The End is a zombie story that follows two groups of survivors through the post apocalyptic landscape. This novel has strong characters, dark humor and enough horror, suspense and gore for any true fan of the zombie genre.

The End takes place at the start of a zombie apocalypse so the survivors are many, and still learning as they go. We witness their loss of hope that loved ones might recover from being bitten, and their grief when they instead turn into zombies. The characters are likable other than a religious zealot cult leader type who believes this is all part of God's wrath against sinners. Strangers become friends as they work together for their survival and the common good. 

My only criticism would be that there was little to no conflict between them which seemed unlikely. I think some conflict would have made the story a little juicier and more realistic.

 I especially enjoyed the dark humor which gave me a chuckle more than once and local (to me) setting of Rhode Island, with familiar towns that made me feel almost as if I could look out my window and see some of the action.

This is my third read by this Indie author and I would say he is honing his skill and improving his craft with each book.

3.75 out of 5 stars. Rounding up to 4 on Goodreads.

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Ghosts of Christmas Past by Tim Martin (Editor)

 

A present contains a monstrous secret.
An uninvited guest haunts a Christmas party.
A shadow slips across the floor by firelight. A festive entertainment ends in darkness and screams.

Who knows what haunts the night at the dark point of the year? This collection of seasonal chillers looks beneath Christmas cheer to a world of ghosts and horrors, mixing terrifying modern fiction with classic stories by masters of the macabre. From Neil Gaiman and M. R. James to Muriel Spark and E. Nesbit, there are stories here to make the hardiest soul quail - so find a comfy chair, lock the door, ignore the cold breath on your neck and get ready to welcome in the real spirits of Christmas.

I have been dying to read this for over a year, but my anticipation and expectation did not match the reality. I love ghost stories, especially set at Christmas time or even during winter in general when the wind is howling and the snow is drifting higher.

I mostly bought this book because of M.R. James and Neil Gaiman but as it turned out the Gaiman "story" didn't fill an entire page even though they left a ton of blank space to stretch it to the other side. The M. R. James story was written as a series of letters to someone's brother concerning their missing uncle. I may have dozed off during that one.

 Dinner For One by Jenn Ashworth was the only tale I somewhat enjoyed. It was predictable as all get out but compared to the rest of this book it was the one high note. There was really nothing scary or spine tingly even in the one story that I enjoyed although it was well written. This is definitely not what I was hoping for. You might enjoy it more than I did provided you aren't looking for a scare or anything on par with Dickens.

2 out of 5 stars