Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Dark Screams: Volume Eight- Edited by Brian James Freeman & Richard Chizmar

Description

Available to preorder now at  Amazon ahead of the Halloween publication date!



Friday, August 25, 2017

Money Back Guarantee (Mail Order Massacres) by Hunter Shea

Available for preorder at Amazon
Description
YOUR MONEY BACK OR YOUR LIFE . . .
 
Protect America’s shores with your very own nuclear submarine! Constructed from durable fiberboard material, this submersible is large enough for two kids! Sail off into imaginative international intrigue for just $1.99! If this toy doesn’t float your boat, return it for a full refund!

With her son’s heart set on piloting his own nuclear submarine, Rosemary Lanchester orders the craft advertised on the back of a comic book. What arrives is more sub-standard than submarine, but her son loves the cheap piece of cardboard. Until he and a friend nearly drown when they take the sub for a deep sea dive in the swimming pool.

Enraged, Rosemary reports the toy’s manufacturer to the Better Business Bureau. The company’s customer service center retaliates with threatening phone calls. Then her son and husband mysteriously disappear.

To save her family, Rosemary tracks down the company’s headquarters with the help of her brother—a survivalist with enough toys of his own to wage an all-out war.

And she still wants her $1.99 refunded.


Not to nitpick but my obsessive compulsive nature requires that I state that the money back guarantee was for 5 dollars, not $1.99

Having previously read Optical Delusion and Just Add Water by Hunter Shea I was anxiously awaiting this third installment, and as much as I enjoyed both of those, this is by far my favorite adventure into the horrors of mail order shopping.

Set in the 1980s and steeped in all it's glorious culture of Tupperware parties this fast paced horror takes what should be a mundane ordinary experience and turns it into something horrifying.
Against her better judgment, Rosemary allows herself to be talked into purchasing a toy from an advertisement in the back of a comic book for her son Dwight. Naturally, when it finally arrives it's a piece of junk. When Dwight and his friend nearly drown while playing, Rosemary has quite literally a hell of time trying to track down the elusive "AdventureCo" manufacturer that nobody has ever heard of. Unfortunately for Rosemary, AdventureCo has heard of her, and they do not like complaints.
5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Dawn in Damnation by Clark Casey

Buddy Baker is a dead man. Literally. After gunning down more men than Billy the Kid—and being hung by a rope necktie for his crimes—the jolly, fast-drawing fugitive reckoned he’d earned himself a nonstop ticket to hell. Instead, he finds himself in Damnation: a gun-slinging ghost town located somewhere between heaven and hell.

There are no laws in Damnation. Only two simple rules: If you get shot, you go directly to hell. If you stay alive without shooting anyone for one year, you just might get into heaven.

Hardened outlaws pass the time in the saloon playing poker and wagering on who will get sent to hell next, while trying not to anger the town’s reclusive vampire or the quarrelsome werewolves. Buddy winds up in everyone’s crosshairs after swearing to protect a pretty gal who arrives in Damnation pregnant. Her child might end up a warm-blooded meal for the supernatural residents, or it could be a demon spawn on a mission to destroy them all.



Damnation is somewhere between heaven and hell, the place where you end up if you don't make it to heaven. If you die while you're there (even though you are already dead?) it seems to put you on the fast track to hell. If you can behave yourself and not kill anyone, rumor has it that you might be allowed into heaven after a 1 year stay. So far nobody knows. Oddly enough there is no shortage of bacon here and although you can't starve to death when you are already dead, the townsfolk do seem to enjoy being able to eat piles of bacon strips. Women are few and far between in Damnation, and on the rare occasion one shows up they tend not to last too long. When a pregnant dead woman lands herself in Damnation somehow still carrying a live unborn baby it's an unusual situation even for this odd town.
Although I do enjoy comedy/horror this one just wasn't my cup of tea. I think fans of fantasy may enjoy it more than horror fans.
3 out of 5 stars from me.
I received an advance copy for review

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Lay Me to Rest by E. A. Clark

Description