Love is a Crematorium and Other Tales by Mercedes M. Yardley

 

A woman builds her lover from carefully scavenged pieces and parts. A young girl is groomed for madness by one who loves her most. A neurodivergent boy organizes his life, and loss, by the ticking of a clock. And love can be the most splendid and destructive force in the entire world.

Love is a Crematorium and Other Tales is a collection of seventeen stories that are both bleak and beautiful, devastating and sweet. Enter the crematorium to experience grief, starlit nights, and gorgeous tragedy that make our souls burn from the inside out.

Beautiful and sickening, disturbing and hopeful. Wonderful, warped, haunting and heartbreaking are all words that come to mind when I reflect on what I've just read. These incredible stories put me through the wringer.

A mother's love, a sister's trauma, and an abused beaten-down daughter felt all too real in these tales. 

I thought I might be in for something more lighthearted as I began to read about a woman with sentient hair but no. Even the surreal and fantastical managed to rip my heart out.

There are stories with impossible situations and others that could happen and do happen. The title story and "Clock" are especially hard-hitting. If I seem to be cutting this review short it's because I'm sitting here stunned.

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications.

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Movie Review- Lyvia's House

 

Stonecutter Media is proud to announce the North American release of the mystery thriller LYVIA’S HOUSE, a film inspired by the real-life murders committed in northern California by Juan Corona in 1971, from director Niko Volonakis and writer/producer Patricia V. Davis, author of the beloved Secret Spice Café book series. Stonecutter Media will release the film exclusively on Vudu/Fandango at Home and local cable & satellite providers on October 1, with additional platforms including iTunes/Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Google Play to follow October 15.

When a young journalist suspects the disappearance of a beautiful artist is connected to murders that took place 20 years earlier, she uncovers a reality she never could have imagined. Inspired by true events.

Up-and-coming journalist Tara Manning has a job she loves and a posh lifestyle in Lake Las Vegas. Everything changes when she falls in love with aspiring architect, Johnny Beers, and he asks her to move in with him, six hundred miles away, to a house previously owned by an Italian artist named Lyvia.

After a whirlwind romance, Tara, a young journalist agrees to move 600 miles from home to be with her new boyfriend Johnny in a rural California town. She expects to keep her job by way of the internet and is dismayed to find very limited phone service and a lack of internet in their home.

Our first hint that something is off with this romance is the way Johnny seems intent on keeping Tara isolated. He promises satellite internet but never delivers. He appears upset when Tara becomes friendly with a postal worker who tells her how she can get online. Again he is upset when she mentions speaking to a local on her walk in the woods, and  he seems nervous when she wants to use the internet in the local bar. 

It seems to take longer for Tara to start digging into this behavior than I would expect from the inquisitive mind of a journalist but if one is willing to suspend disbelief you could say she was blinded by love.

The cinematography was gorgeous. This is a movie I would describe as visually stunning  Flashbacks and dream sequences gave a surreal quality to this film. The best acting performances were Ann Marie Gideon as the sharp-as-a-tack postal worker and Andrew Diego as the mentally and emotionally challenged young man who is dealing with past and present trauma. There were times I wanted to scream at Tara to pack up and get the hell out of there but of course had she listened we could not have had such a suspenseful climax and shocking reveal.

 I enjoyed this twisted Indie thriller and gave it 8 out of 10 stars on IMDB

Watch the trailer here

Directed by: Niko Volonakis

Written by: Patricia V. Davis

Starring: Tara Nichol Caldwell, Joshua Malekos, Danielle Octavien,

Ann Marie Gideon, Andrew Diego, Deborah Tucker, Brit Zane, Cami Oh

Produced by: Patricia V. Davis

Executive Produced by Pete Davis, Nicholas Levis,

Joni Cuquet

Cinematography by: Cody Martin

Edited by: Niko Volonakis

Music Composed by: Niko Volonakis

Mischief Night Massacre: Ten Tales of Halloween by Jason Parent

 

Halloween. For the costumed child skipping along a safe, well-lit street, pillow case chock full of candy, it is a night of magic and mischief, delightful frights met with sugar-toothed grins. But for the would-be revelers in these tales, Halloween is a horrifying ordeal the likes of which many will not survive. And those who do make it to November may wish they hadn’t.

In this collection, Jason Parent gathers ten tales that embody the holiday in ways surely to surprise and delight the most avid horror reader. From traditional settings like amusement parks, Halloween parties, and haunted houses to more obscure locales where you might think terror couldn’t possibly find you, each story will have you breathing a little faster, startling at every bump in the night.

It's no secret that Halloween is my favorite holiday and these stories are a perfect way to kick off spooky season. 

In these tales you will step into an abandoned house that suddenly looks like the most expensive haunted attraction you've ever seen, take a haunted hayride with a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, attend a killer Halloween party, watch a bully regret his attempt to steal candy from the wrong kid, go on a carnival ride where rumor has it some people are never seen again, and more.

If I had to pick one favorite it would be Rain, If you ever had your trick or treating canceled by the weather, and you think you're over it now that you are a mature adult, this will bring it all back. Georgie was so looking forward to being the Incredible Hulk, and trick-or-treating with his best friend. The rain has totally ruined his plans. But as his father begins to tell him a scary story about another dark and stormy night in the past, things take a terrifying turn.

This was a fun and freaky read with more treats than tricks that I would recommend to anyone who loves Halloween or those like me who keep Halloween in our hearts all year long.

My thanks to the author for the complimentary copy.

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Somewhere by Matthew Reed Williams

 

Alrighty, in case you are wondering why I'm showing you the back cover, I seem to have finished this book before there is a pre-order link or even a Goodreads page that I can point you to with a synopsis. 

Somewhere is about a young man named Lee, who is on his own for the first time. He is fresh out of college and out of his parents' home.

He finds himself in a picturesque town in Missouri called Somewhere that does not appear on any maps and has Twilight Zone vibes. 

All the residents are friendly, if a little odd.

He lands a job and settles into his rented attic room, and right away things turn weird.

Before long, the town of Somewhere reminded me of the old Neil Young Lyrics: "Once you're gone, you can't come back." 

His new friends seem reluctant to let him leave to spend the holidays with his parents. You'll find out why later, but that was one of the creepiest parts of this story.

There is more telling than showing in this book which is not a style I usually enjoy. Explaining to me what is happening instead of portraying it through the story and stating information about the characters instead of letting them take on a life of their own can take away from an otherwise great reading experience.

Still. the spooky atmosphere kept me turning the pages long past my bedtime.

This debut novel will be published in October 2024.

My thanks to the author for the advance copy.