Book Spotlight! Asunder by Kerstin Hall

 Book Spotlight

Here's a book that's on my radar. I haven't had time to read it yet, but it sounds good and I wanted to share it with you. 

"There is no doubt in my mind that Kerstin Hall is one of the great imaginative minds writing fantasy today."—Isabel Cañas, USA Today Bestselling author of Vampires of El Norte

Sabriel meets Witch King in Nommo Award finalist Kerstin Hall's beguiling new standalone novel. A LitHub most anticipated book of 2024.

We choose our own gods here.

Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch being—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with some very dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended.

Ferain is willing to pay a ludicrous sum of money for her help. To save him, Karys inadvertently binds him to her shadow, an act that may doom them both. If they want to survive, they will need to learn to trust one another. Together, they must journey to the heart of a faded empire, all the while haunted by arcane horrors, and the unquiet ghosts of their pasts.

And all too soon, Karys knows her debts will come due.

Available for Pre-order

My thanks to Tordotcom for the gifted copy

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tordotcom (August 20, 2024)

Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 20, 2024

Print length ‏ : ‎ 427 pages

Fantasy Action & Adventure

Creatures of the Night: Vicious Vampire Tales

 Immerse yourself in a world of terror and darkness with three vampire horror novellas.

“Return of the Blood-Feeders” by Simon Clark

Viking vampires, and their latest vicious recruits, swarm through tunnels beneath the present-day town of Leppington. The Norse gods have created a Vampyrrhic army to wreak vengeance on people that turned their backs on Odin. Just two fragile humans stand in their way—a down-at-heel drifter who is struggling to recover from a severe head injury, and a dreamer with a drink problem. Together, they must become extraordinary. Together, they must defeat something that is much, much worse than vampires.

‘Return of the Blood-Feeders’ is set in the world of Simon’s Vampyrrhic series of novels.

“Perspective” by Kevin J. Kennedy-

This is a story of my re-awakening, and vampires. A couple's lives are thrown into turmoil when a body is dumped at their door. The vampires are catapulted into a blood-drenched journey to the gates of hell. Fortunately, they have some werewolf friends who want to come along for the ride.

“Beneath Still Waters” by Gord Rollo On May 16, 2020, disaster struck the small Canadian mining town of Beckley, Nova Scotia. An explosion deep in Shaft 3 unleashed a massive torrent of water from an underground stream, quickly flooding the lower levels and dooming the workers below. Sixty-five people lost their lives that night, the tragedy one of the worst mining disasters in the province’s history. The Red Spruce Gypsum Mine would never reopen.

The town tried to turn the heartbreak into something positive, converting the flooded quarry into a natural swimming hole for people to cool off in during the hot summer months. But something has awakened from within the abandoned mine shafts and staked its territory in the deepest part of the lake. Something ancient. Something savage. Something hungry…

If you're a fan of extreme horror books, gothic suspense, and supernatural terror, this collection is your gateway to fear. Dive into these suspenseful gothic horror novellas and discover why this horror anthology is a must-read for lovers of vampire fiction.

Creatures of the Night contains three bloodthirsty novellas sure to satisfy the cravings of any fan of vampires who do not glitter and are most definitely not looking for love.

In Return of the Blood-Feeders a man who has suffered a traumatic brain injury when vampires stole the woman he loves, will risk his life to save her. Traveling deep underground through claustrophobic tunnels won't be the scariest part of this mission. This was a pulse-pounding story with lots of gory action.

Perspective- When a vampire couple befriends a werewolf couple, demons are no match for them. 

Last but not least, my favorite novella was Beneath Still Waters.

At first I had no idea what this deadly creature even was. Who ever heard of a vampire that lives in a lake? How terrifying! This is a story of Indigenous folklore. This man like creature is more horrifying than a vampire. It's not just drinking the blood of its victims, it's eating their souls. 

These novellas are perfect for anyone looking for unique vampire tales.

My thanks to Crystal Lake Publishing.

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The Dead Thing - Movie Review

Yellow Veil Pictures is excited to return to the Fantasia International Film Festival for the world premiere of Elric Kane's debut solo feature, the obsessive and lust-driven thriller The Dead Thing. The Dead Thing will premiere July 26th as part of the 2024 edition of Fantasia with an encore on July 28.

The Dead Thing is directed by Elric Kane (host of the Pure Cinema podcast and Fangoria's Colors of the Dark podcast) from a script he co-wrote with Webb Wilcoxen. The film is produced by Matt Mercer (Contracted, Bliss) and Monte Yazzie, with Colors of the Dark co-host Rebekah McKendry (Glorious) serving as executive producer. Yellow Veil Pictures is handling worldwide sales.

The Dead Thing stars Blu Hunt ("Sherlock & Daughter", The New Mutants), Ben Smith-Petersen (Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), John Karna ("Scream" the television series, Lady Bird) and Katherine Hughes (Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, "Tell Me Lies").

Of his debut solo feature, Kane shared, "The Dead Thing is a dark exploration of modern love and the technology used to find it. Through one woman's plunge into modern dating, we are able to tell both a scary ghost story, an intimate love story, and examine the issues we face when tethered to our phones." 

Loneliness, desperation, and the dangers of technology are themes featured heavily in The Dead Thing. While I sometimes grew bored with scenes of Alex sitting around the sunlamp doing nothing, the ending made it worth the wait. 

Blu Hunt gives a believable performance as Alex, a woman who is disengaged from life and looking for meaningful connections on her phone instead of in the world around her.

She spends her time working at her boring job, scrolling through men on a dating app, and hooking up with a constant parade of one night stands, never finding anyone worth a second date.

That is until she meets Kyle. The pair hit it off and she looks forward to seeing him again. Except he ghosts her, Pun intended. Unwilling to just forget him, her obsession leads to dark consequences. Once she finds him, will he ever let her go?

"Tell me that you need me!"

This was a supernatural love story with shades of The Invisible Man and reminiscent of Fatal Attraction, in that Kyle will not be ignored! 

If you're in the mood for something crazy, sexy, suspenseful and twisty this is one to watch.

I gave this 7 out of 10 stars on IMDB

My thanks to Yellow Veil Pictures.

 

The Etiquette of Booby Traps by John Boden

 A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm, or surprise a human or other animal, triggered by the presence or actions of the victim.

Here they are stories; small, sturdy and surprising in their levels of camouflage and damage.

-A grieving man grapples with a double whammy of loss by fishing and finds that sometimes you catch more than you expect, if you use the right bait.

-The world splinters in many different ways and scenes in a kaleidoscopic series of prose snapshots

-The young product of a lifetime of abuse grows to find her true course and embrace the trail of smoke it leaves.

-A small coastal village finds something unusual washed upon their shore.

-An abandoned amusement park has strange truths to share with a trio of teenagers.

-A woman mentally spars with the creature that haunts her property.

-Loneliness leads to wanting--and wanting has a voracious appetite, so discovers an introverted fellow in a far from typical morning at the office.

The stories are short and scattered in theme and setting but mind where you step, for they have sharp edges and hair triggers and a few of them bite hard.

The raw emotions and wretched circumstances in these stories did not make for a restful sleep. 

My favorites, or more accurately the ones that hurt the most and kept me awake, were at the beginning and end of the book. The first story, Come Tomorrow and the last story, Tinsel are both heavy with grief. In the former, a man mourns the death of a life cut too short. In the latter, the pain is not negated by having had more time. Another favorite, if that is the right word to use in this case, was Halfway Wrong Don't Make it Alright, which was a story full of abuse, neglect, revenge, and retribution.

Slightly less painful, but no less powerful stories that I can't shake off involve a monstrous tax collector, fish swimming through the air, and a simple glass of water.

The introduction warns that this book is unsafe, but I plowed full steam ahead and devoured it before bedtime. I have to agree. This is a book that will stick with you, and stick to you.

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications.

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