You should know me by now.  I love to promote talented indie filmmakers and authors and their projects, but when it comes time to toot my own horn I find it difficult to promote myself.  But this time it’s a little different.  I’m really proud that the two anthologies I have short stories in have hit the stores (in both soft bound and eBook versions).  I’m really excited because these are my first two stories to get published.

The first short story, titled “Jessi’s Awakening,” is found in the zombie anthology HEADSHOTS ONLY (published by Open Casket Press) and was just released this past August 1st.  My other story, “The Joke’s on Him,” is found in the TALES OF BIGFOOT anthology (published by Living Dead Press), and was released at the end of July 2011.  Both are available from amazon.com in both soft cover and eBook forms.

Look; I’m obviously not gonna review the two anthologies that I have stories in.  I’m not a douche!!  But I think they are fun stories and I have good company in both anthologies and am surrounded by fun, gory stories.  I’m always telling you to support indie horror, and I’m not gonna stop now!!  Read some new voices in the horror field, and I’d love to read what you think about my stories and the anthology in general.  So check it out and then leave me a review here at wreckhousemagazine.com and/or anythinghorror.com!!

Just click on the book covers to take you to the link on amazon.com.  Hope you enjoy them, and this is just a very small taste of what’s to come when my novel is published from LIBRARY OF THE LIVING DEAD later this year.  :-)

Stay Bloody!!!

My love affair with anthologies continues, and UNDEAD TALES is a huge winner!!  Considering the publisher, Rymfire Books, is pretty much a brand new small upstart publisher, editor Armand Rosamilia, was able to collect some pretty big time zombie authors for this collection.  As Rosamilia writes in his forward, “Sure, I have a ton of great zombie anthologies, featuring some great, well-known authors … But I wanted to create my own ultimate anthology.”  Well Armand; you have!!

Rosamilia collects 25 zombie short stories that offer many different points of view and themes.  We get one story from the point of view of an American pitbull (“My Name is Riley”), from the zombie’s point of view (“I Forget my Own Name”) and even a story that takes place back in Ancient Roman times (“How Do You Kill What’s Already Dead”).  And for something different, eight of the 25 stories are one-page poems by Rich Orth.  Now when you have a collection of 25 stories and poems, you figure (at least I did) that you’re gonna get a few shit bombs.  Well for my money I only came across one story that I out and out hated.  P. David Puffinburger’s “Feast of the Dead” stands out like the proverbial turd in the punchbowl.  It’s full of editing errors (28 that I caught in about ten pages), and the story meanders all over the place.  It also has a pro-longed, detailed rape scene that really has no place in this anthology.  It’s a lazy, immature story, and considering the quality of all the other stories, this is a rare lapse for Rosamilia.  Who knows; maybe Rosamilia and Puffinburger are buddies and he was trying to give him a break.

“Until Hell Calls Our Names,” by W.D. Gagliani, is set in the Old Wild West in 1899 and was a really nice surprise.  I generally don’t like stories set in the Old West, and I definitely am not a fan of the “voodoo zombie” sub-genre.  But Gagliani is a brilliant writer who has a crisp writing style and is an expert with details.  “Hard Choices,” by Todd Sprague, is one of the edgier stories that has a despicable anti-hero who at times seems selfish, cowardly, and is the epitome of a ‘douche bag’.  We also get a mixed message here.  As much of a fucktard the anti-hero/narrator is, by the end of the story he’s a survivor while other, braver characters have gone extinct.  We also get a short and sweet entry by Eric S. Brown titled “Breaking Out;” about the beginning of the end of all that we hold near and dear.

But by far, and this should come as no surprise to frequent readers of anythinghorror.com, the strongest story in the anthology is Joe McKinney’s “Resurrecting Mindy.”  McKinney keeps proving over and over again that he’s the freshest voice writing in the zombie genre today.  “Resurrecting Mindy” tells the story of Kevin, who might just be the last human left alive after the zombie apocalypse, trying to reconnect with an old friend/lover he stumbles upon one day while out scavenging for supplies.  McKinney explores new ideas that proves there’s a lot of (a-hem) life left in the zombie genre.  Best of all is that “Resurrecting Mindy” is like a zombie version of O. Henry’s “Gift of the Magi.”  Seriously, it’s a really brilliant and clever story.  When the hell is McKinney gonna write a script?!??!

If you’ve ever scanned your local Barnes and Noble you’ll no doubt know that there’s a ton of zombie anthologies lining the shelves.  Well let me tell you that UNDEAD TALES is hands down one of the strongest zombie anthologies that I’ve read.  So if you’re looking for a fun collection of short stories that all examine various aspects of the zombie apocalypse, then this is the anthology for you.  Check this one out!!

My Summary:

Editor:  Armand Rosamilia

Plot:  4.5 out of 5 stars (for the overall anthology)

Gore:  7 out of 10 skulls (for the overall anthology)

Zombie Mayhem:  4.5 out of 5 brains (for the overall anthology)

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Just finished reading this anthology of short stories from author Brandon Ford.  Ford already has three novels under his belt (CRYSTAL BAY, SPLATTERED BEAUTY, and PAY PHONE) and also has short stories in seven different anthology collections.  But with DECAYED ETCHINGS Ford showcases 18 of his own stories collected in one anthology.  This is the first work I’ve read from Brandon Ford and in many ways he hits the mark by giving us some interesting, well-developed characters and, in some cases, puts them in some very interesting situations.  What surprised me the most, though, is that the majority of stories here really aren’t “horror” stories.  To be fair, Ford never claims that they are, but the description of the book does say that Ford “delivers 18 brand new, never before published tales of the dark, twisted, and macabre.”  This kind of implies that we’re dealing with the horror genre.  The stories are good, have you, and some of them are excellent, but at most I’d call them “thrillers” or “suspense stories” more so than horror.  Let’s look at some of them.

The first story, “Goodbye, Elsie,” is about a man, Victor, who isn’t taking the break up with his wife very well.  He snaps and starts trashing his apartment and anything that was Elsie’s.  As the story progresses we learn a few things about Victor that paints a different story of what caused the break up and there’s even an interesting element that Ford throws in but never fully explores.  “Goodbye, Elsie” has interesting and well developed characters, but it falters a little with the ending.  These are elements I see over and again in Ford’s writings.

“Band of Gold” is by far Ford’s goriest story as Bill frantically searches for his wedding band that he lost when he was cheating on his wife with a prostitute.  He thinks he knows where he lost his ring and he’ll do anything to get it back … and he does indeed do anything!!  We again get some fantastic character development as Bill goes from a rather meek guy to one determined to find his ring.  The motivation for Bill turning as dark as he did was there and I totally bought into this dark turn.  The gore comes at you suddenly in this one and it was very well done.  But, as mentioned above, the ending isn’t all that strong.  We get such a solid build up, great character arc, and gore, that it’s a shame he ends the story on such a rather bland note.  Ending aside, though, this is a story worth checking out.

Other strong stories include “A Walk in the Park,” “My Sacred Slumber” (which has a really dark ending that stuck with me after reading it), “I’m Up Here,” and “Famous Last Words.”  These stories are also the one’s that have more of a horror-ish feel to them (except “Famous Last Words.”  Not very horrific, but it’s a great story).  Most of the stories in DECAYED ETCHINGS would make great TWILIGHT ZONE episodes (as long as the endings were re-worked).  Most aren’t gory, but they all seem to have a rather ironic edge to them (like many TWILIGHT ZONE eps have).  Ford’s strength is no doubt in the characters he builds in each story.  I found myself able to relate to many of them and I cared what happened to them.  I’m definitely going to check out one, if not all, of his novels.  If he can create such rich, detailed characters in 10-12 pages, I definitely gotta see what he can do with a few characters over a hundred pages.

DECAYED ETCHINGS is overall an enjoyable collection of Brandon Ford’s short stories.  His ability to create rich, textured characters and set up a creepy atmosphere is second to none.  But I would like to see Ford work on the endings of his stories more in order to give each entry that “punch” readers will be looking for.  Check out DECAYED ETCHINGS; you’ll have a fun time with it.  Check out the collection here.

My Summary:

Author:  Brandon Ford

Plot:  3 out of 5 stars (for the overall anthology)

Gore:  3 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

At the end of May I posted my review of the rather short zombie novel LAKEWOOD MEMORIAL, written by Robert Best.  LAKEWOOD MEMORIAL was a really fast and violent read about a mother (Angie) trying to get to her kids (Dalton and Maylee) while she fights her way out of the small town hospital which is infested with zombies.  Well I was ecstatic when I realized that LAKEWOOD MEMORIAL was only book one of a zombie trilogy!!  I was excited at the prospect of reading two more zombie novels from Robert Best.  Well I just finished book two, ASHTON MEMORIAL, and I’m happy to say that Best keeps the momentum rolling.

ASHTON MEMORIAL picks up minutes after the end of book one.  Angie, now reunited with her kids Maylee (who’s days away from her 15th birthday) and Dayton (who’s around 8-10 years old), are still teamed up with Parker.  They still need to fight their way out of the parking lot of the Lakewood Memorial Hospital, and they’ve all decided to stick together and go to the nearby town of Ashton to look for Parker’s daughters and look up Angie’s estranged brother.  Nothing is easy for our band of exhausted traveler/survivors as they encounter horde after horde of the living dead.  We also discover that not only those individuals directly bitten by the infected become zombies, but the long dead and buried folk have also crawled outta their graves to join the party as well.

Those familiar with Best’s writing style will be happy to hear that he’s in top form here.  He’s even managed to polish and improve upon his already unique writing style.  ASHTON MEMORIAL is a much more ambitious novel (clocking in at 313 pages, compared to LAKEWOOD MEMORIAL’s 160 pages) and he juggles two main story lines and a lot more main characters with ease.  The action here takes place at the titular Ashton Memorial Zoo; a state of the art, high-tech zoo that affords the people locked up inside it a pretty safe haven from the undead.  But sometimes monsters come wearing very human, uninfected masks, and Best does a really solid job developing the two main antagonists, Gregory and Lee.  Gregory was the more believable of the two antagonists.  I had some trouble with the motivations and character arc whereby Lee was turned into a raving lunatic.  That’s a small criticism in an otherwise solid read.

And the zombies are back and badder than ever.  I also like that Best doesn’t choose whether he has the slow, plodding Romero-esque zombies, or the more “recent” fast zombies.  Best doesn’t decide because he uses both.  The zombies are all in various stages of decay, and this is what determines their agility and speed.  The zombies that crawled outta the ground are very slow and lumbering.  People freshly bit with the majority of their bodies intact are faster and very threatening.  Makes sense to me!!  Best’s descriptions of the zombie violence have gotten way more detailed and juicy, and he never goes longer than two pages without interjecting some violent zombie action.  Best does what I like in a zombie novel … he has nice character development with the human characters while never forgetting that he’s writing a zombie novel!!  Gore hounds will be satisfied.

ASHTON MEMORIAL is a really fun, gory, violent, enjoyable, foul-mouthed (very foul-mouthed) read, and I can’t wait for book 3 to come out … get moving Robert!!  Definitely check this one out.

My Summary:

Author:  Robert Best

Plot:  3.5 out of 5 stars

Gore:  9 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  5 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

You know by now that I enjoy me some literary mash-ups.  Even though I thought the original PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES was overrated, the sequels more than made up for it (I especially enjoyed DREADFULLY EVER AFTER).  And then I was lucky enough to review THE MEOWMORPHOSIS, the graphic novel PINOCCHIO THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (Deggsy did that review), and other such fun zombie mash-ups like SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE FLYING ZOMBIE DEATH MONKEYS, the Star Wars zombie novel DEATH TROOPERS, and NIGHT OF THE LIVING TREKKIES, in which there’s a zombie outbreak at a Star Trek convention.  I enjoy them all and love a few of them!!  So when author Bob McLain contacted me asking if I’d like to review his novella, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DEAD DWARFS, I thought about it for a second and then wrote back to McLain, “HELL yeah!!”

If there’s a more accurate title for a novel out there, I haven’t seen it!!  We get exactly what we’re promised here:  A zombie outbreak occurs in the Disney world of Snow White, and no one is safe from the threat of the quickly growing undead horde.  But even though most of the world associates Snow White with Disney, McLain, in his Forward, tells us that he “based this story on the original fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.”  Interesting choice.  I never read the original Grimm “Snow White” story, but I can tell you that as twisted as the Grimm Brothers were, they got nothing on McLain!!  McLain writes a really fun and fast-paced novella that tears through the usually happy and innocent world of Disney like a chainsaw through butter.  All the characters are here:  The Huntsman, the evil Queen, Snow White, all the Dwarfs (although their names have changed; more on this later), and a few extra characters get thrown into the mix to ensure a high body count.

I enjoy McLain’s writing style; it’s fast-paced and when it comes time for zombies tearing apart our most cherished childhood characters, he is extremely descriptive.  After the initial outbreak, the action ends up at the seven dwarfs little cottage where the little guys try and barricade themselves up and fight off the ravenous undead horde surrounding their home.  To avoid copyright infringement (I’d sooner fuck with a platoon of the undead before messing with Disney lawyers!!) McLain changes the names of the dwarfs to Grouchy, Sawbones, Gesundheit, Reticent, Dippy, Sluggish, and Grinny.  I think it’s pretty easy to determine which is which.  And this might be an influence from the Brothers Grimm story, but the dwarfs in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DEAD DWARFS kick some serious ass!!  Sure they work in their gold and precious stones’ mine and sing and have fun, but they also drive pick axes through zombie skulls and have no problem putting their fellow dwarves down as they succumb to the virus.

We don’t get a whole lot of detailed writing here as McLain keeps everything on the surface.  There’s no background stories on any of the characters and there’s no superfluous side plots going on.  We only get the main story of the zombie outbreak affecting the “universe” of Snow White.  But we do get the promise of more mayhem to come in other Disney kingdoms:

High above, the blue bird circled, tweeting in outrage at the carnage that had come to its forest. As [name left out to avoid a spoiler] was devoured, the blue bird turned and flew as fast as it could to Cinderella’s Kingdom.

It didn’t see … two of the dead Dwarfs pointing with two fingers to its flight.  Their moans caught the attention of the others.

I sure hope Cinderella can sharped the tips of her glass slippers!!

McLain is actually planning on expanding the carnage and violence of the SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DEAD DWARFS novella into a full length novel, ONCE UPON A ZOMBIE, in which

flesh-eating, blood-swilling ghouls tear through fairy tale lands featuring such childhood favorites as Snow White, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and many others. And Winnie the Pooh. Yes, it’s a damn shame, but Winnie the Pooh, too.

I say go for it Bob, but I’d like to see a more mature writing style for the full-length novel, and I have no doubt McLain has it in him.  The style in the novella works but I can see it getting tiresome in a full-length book.

Fast-paced and violent with a lot of zombie carnage (seriously; A LOT) make SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DEAD DWARFS a really fun read.  If the literary mash-up can take on Franz Kafka, then why not Disney?  Hell, Disney is a plump, fresh apple ready to be picked and zombified, and McLain is off to a good start.  Check this one out, it’s available in kindle edition from amazon.com here.

My Summary:

Author:  Bob McLain

Plot:  3 out of 5 stars

Gore:  7.5 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  5 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

I’m excited.  Very excited.  For a long time now I’ve been avoiding vampire films and novels because I hate the direction vampires have been taken in contemporary times.  Like Derek wrote in his review of STAKE LAND (click here), leaving aside the extremely effeminate vampires of the TWILIGHT series, I also hate the romanticized, tortured soul vampire variety.  The recent film PRIEST (click here) was going in the right direction having violent, bloody-thirsty vampires, but due to horrible execution it ultimately fell flat on its face.  But then this past week I watched STAKE LAND and read the novella BURDEN KANSAS and suddenly my faith in vicious, scary, and blood-thirsty vampires is being restored.

BURDEN KANSAS, written by Alan Ryker, takes place in the titular location.  It’s a small cattle-raising and farming community that seems like a throwback to a simpler time.  As the novella opens, the local ranchers are experiencing some kind of creature feeding on their cattle.  Sometimes the cattle are being slaughtered and other times they’re left alive and just being fed upon.  Slowly but surely the creatures feeding on the cattle become unsatisfied with the bovine blood and start moving up the food chain.  And guess who’s next in line — humans.

Let me tell ya that I absolutely love this novella and it’s a top contender for my favorite novella of the year so far.  Ryker’s writing is extremely polished and it sure as hell fooled me that he only has four books under his belt, all of them written in 2011 (check them out here).  BURDEN KANSAS is full of great characters and the story arc will have you thinking you know where everything is going, but Ryker proves he has a few tricks up his sleeves.  The main character Keith is a fantastic character that is an old-school ass-kicking cowboy who is having trouble letting go of the past.  His character is so well developed that you feel Keith is part of your own family by the last page.

The vampires here are exactly what vampires should be:  violent, blood-hungry beasts who live solely by instinct and exhibit no higher intellectual faculties other than the basic instinct of survival.  Ryker’s vampires are fast as hell and would no sooner kill you than look at you.  But one character who gets bitten and survives stumbles upon a way to hold onto his higher intellectual faculties through his transformation.  It’s a fantastic scene that works within the universe Ryker creates (it reminded me a lot of the “intelligent zombie” in David Wellington’s zombie trilogy).

I’m not gonna go any more in-depth into BURDEN KANSAS.  This 140-page novella will have you turning the pages faster than the victims turn into vampires (I read it in two sittings).  Go grab a copy today (available in both book and kindle editions) and support the kinds of vampires that true horror fans love to see!!  This is a fantastic novel and I loved every second of it!!

Author:  Alan Ryker

Plot:  4.5 out of 5

Gore:  7 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Reading all these horror novels lately has been a huge investment.  Not just in my time, but it takes an emotional toll as well.  I’m being introduced to a lot of characters and getting to know them, watch them (hopefully) develop, and then most of them die!!  It really is taxing.  So to break it up I’ve been trying to read some horror comics and novellas between bigger, full-length novels.  Yesterday I read the novella TWITCH and a twisted little comic called GURLIMANN’S BIZARRE BAZAAR.

TWITCH tells the story of T. Roberts McBaily (simply known as McB), the owner of a carnival who is buying his latest acquisition for his freak show; the oddity simply known as Twitch.  Twitch is a twisted and deformed little guy with a big white eye.  Twitch is as tragic a character as he is creepy and scary, and he may not be as innocent as everyone makes him out to be.  After a brief introduction of both Twitch and McB, we are then introduced to a handful of characters who go through McB’s freak show exhibit and see, among other oddities, Twitch.  Some are horrified while others are down right mean and cruel.  But those who’re cruel to Twitch often times find themselves the victim of bizarre and deadly accidents.  Are they indeed accidents, or is there some kind of supernatural force at work here?

I really enjoy author Thomas Scopel’s writing style here.  It’s quick paced and very lyrical in some places.  He describes a lot with very few words and really hits his stride when he describes death scenes.  I really only had two problems with TWITCH (two problems, have you, that didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of the novella).  First was Scopel’s pattern of introducing characters, giving us a little background on them, and then killing them off … all within the same paragraph.  This gets a little redundant as this pattern happens with five characters in a row.  The problem is we really don’t get to make much of an emotional connection to any of the characters before they’re dispatched, and therefore its really not all that upsetting when they die.  But on the plus side we get a high body count in this 74 page novella!!

The other weakness with TWITCH was Twitch’s origin story.  After we get all the action and death that takes place at McB’s carnival, Scopel then switches gears and gives us where Twitch came from (which happens over 350 years ago, in the 1692’s).  It’s not a bad origin story, but the way it’s presented it completely halts the action of the novella up to that point.  It felt like we got two short novellas thrown together (Twitch’s origin and Twitch in the present day) and Scopel just combined the two to give us TWITCH.  These are minor critiques, and in no way prevented me from enjoying the story overall.  I think with some editing and reformatting, Scopel could easily convert TWITCH into a full-length novel and infuse the origin story within the body of the story.  He could also then give us some characters we really relate to and care for instead of just introducing them for the sole reason of killing them.

But check out TWITCH; its a really fun, quick read that will make you think twice before laughing at someone less fortunate than you!!

Author:  Thomas Scopel

Plot:  3 out of 5 stars

Gore:  2 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

The comic I read, GURLIMANN’S BIZARRE BAZAAR, is pretty hard to nail down.  Is it horror?  Kind of.  Is it a comic?  Sorta, but not in the traditional sense.  Is it entertaining?  Yeah, I think so … at least in the way where you can’t stop reading it.  GURLIMANN’S BIZARRE BAZAAR is more of an illustrated anthology where the titular character, Evelyn Gurlimann, is present in each segment either as the host (who introduces the story) or as an active participant in the story.  Gurlimann serves as a kind of harbinger of  bizarre things to come.  When ya see him you know things are gonna get weird.  Written and illustrated by John Dimes, Gurlimann gets into some odd situations like meeting his hero Magnificent Man and trying to get an out-of-court settlement for a guy with a led pipe sticking out of his head.

I really dig the illustrations and like how Dimes’ made Gurlimann both funny looking and rather frightening.  Some of the story threads are pretty bizarre (hence the title), but they are all really fun to read and look at.  Dimes even wrote to me telling me GURLIMANN’S BIZARRE BAZAAR would be for the “Edward Gorey [and] Charles Addams crowd” and he wasn’t kidding!!  Gorey did a lot of experimentation and was considered by critics to be an amazing surrealist artist, and he’s quoted in an interview with The Boston Globe that “Ideally, if anything [was] any good, it would be indescribable.”  Well this is apropos for GURLIMANN’S BIZARRE BAZAAR!!

If you’re a fan of the bizarre and enjoy darker stories and images then GURLIMANN’S BIZARRE BAZAAR will be up your alley.  I had fun reading through it, but just don’t expect a straight forward narrative.  Check it out.

My Summary:

Writer-Illustrator:  John Dimes

Plot:  2.5 out of 5 (for having a very choppy & confusing story)

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

There is a spoiler in this review, but one that is revealed early in the novel.

Heinous:  hateful, odious; abominable; totally reprehensible … evil

Pretty good name for a horror novel, isn’t it?  HEINOUS stays true to the above definition and follows the exploits of Gavin Wagner, a high school kid who finds something odd in the woods … something, well, heinous.  Before the story begins we get a lot of praise from other authors warning us that Moon’s book is “disturbing,” is a “sunken chest punch in the gut,” and that Moon “weaves a tale of raw brutality and sheer terror that will stay with you long after you finish reading [it].”  Even Moon’s editor, Stephanie Kincaid has a Note From the Editor in the beginning warning us that

“As you travel through the torturous mind of Moon, you’ll bear witness to strange and terrible things. He’ll speak what you thought was unspeakable, imagine what you thought was inconceivable. And once your poor psyche has been bludgeoned until it resembles roadkill … well, then you’ll know he’s good and warmed up and ready for the real pain to begin.”

These are all some big, bold claims, and I must admit that after reading all this praise about how hardcore Moon is, I kinda feel like I was getting a hard sell.  You all know from various reviews I’ve written (THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE sticks out) that I’m very wary about over-hyped films and novels.  Instead of letting the project speak for itself, it feels like we’re getting a carnival barker shouting us to “Step right up, step right up and read the most hardcore, disturbing, mind blowing author of all time …”  But all this aside, two questions  are staring us square in the face:  Is HEINOUS a good novel, and does it live up to the hype?  Let’s find out.

HEINOUS, published by The Library of Bizarro Horror, does a lot of things right.  The main characters are kept minimal, the writing is fast paced and at times very beautifully written, and Moon’s blood and guts descriptions are very detailed.  Gavin and best buddy Joshua are exploring in the woods when they find the entrance to a hidden cave.  Gavin is drawn to it while Joshua begs Gavin to just turn and walk away.  Gavin should of listened.  Something ancient and very evil finds and merges with Gavin, forever changing the course of his life.  This ancient evil tells Gavin that its been around since time began and it lives to kill, rape, and torture and it feasts on the misery, pain, and suffering of its victims.  The creature constantly flashes images of its past horrible deeds in Gavin’s mind and essentially breaks him down in order to do his bidding.  But what I like here is that Gavin is no choirboy.  Gavin has a side that not even Joshua has seen.  Is there really an ancient demon inside Gavin, controlling him and making him commit such horrendous acts, or has Gavin lost his mind and created an alter ego in order to carry out and perform such horrible acts?

Unfortunately what could’ve been an interesting approach to this story is kind of ignored in favor of giving us a straight-forward “dude-possessed-by-a-demon” story.  Luckily it’s a great story, but I think it could’ve been so much more.  The character of Gavin is extremely well-written and the majority of HEINOUS follows him as he battles his conscience and the urge within himself to just give into the creature.  Gavin is a really rich and detailed character … one not often found in horror novels.  He has a dark side within himself that he at times seems to embrace, but there’s also a “good kid” side to him that struggles against the demon inside.  The scene where Heinous, the name Gavin gives to the demon inside himself, finally breaks Gavin and becomes a willing participant in Heinous’ exploits is an excellent and really compelling scene.

But, I’m sure you’re wondering, how hardcore is HEINOUS?  Well I can tell you that there is much carnage, death, destruction, and human suffering in Moon’s 200 pages, but most of it occurs in the past tense.  The majority of the “hardcore” scenes are Heinous’ memories that he flashes inside Gavin’s mind to drive him crazy and break him down.  Sure the scenes are well written and very explicit, but having most of the violent scenes done in the past (in some cases the very distant past) kind of distances the reader from what’s happening in the present.  It kinda feels like we’re reading Heinous’ memoirs.

Moon gives us some great build-ups that end up fizzling out.  Almost as soon as Heinous takes over Gavin’s body we know (as does Gavin) that things aren’t gonna end well for his parents.  Moon does a terrific job building up the tension every time Gavin is around his parents … is Heinous gonna finally snap and give into its bloodlust on the parents?  Moon creates a pressure-cooker of tension and then never really follows through; you’ll feel a little let down.  After the above-mentioned scene where Heinous finally breaks Gavin and he becomes a willing participant to Heinous’ desires, Gavin then goes on a killing spree over a long period of time (the chapter this part’s in is titled “Decades that Bleed”).  Unfortunately we really aren’t witnesses to any of this carnage.  Odd choice in my opinion.

But don’t get me wrong; HEINOUS is a solid novel that will more than satisfy the lover of hardcore horror.  The “hardcore” scenes are extremely well written and Moon paints some truly disturbing images that jump off the page.  Just wait until you read about the first person Heinous has Gavin kill.  The scene grabs you by the throat and I found myself holding my breath until the scene was over.  But having the majority of the carnage happen in the past and Moon’s decision to alternate between chapters of Gavin’s dreams and his daily life didn’t help with the flow of the novel.  The “dream chapters,” as beautifully written as they are, removed me from the action of the main narrative.  And for my money I would’ve loved to have seen Heinous end up being nothing more than Gavin’s fractured psyche.  That could’ve been a great twist that would’ve elevated this novel a hundred-fold.

Forget about the hype in the beginning of this novel.  Reality can never live up to the hype, and that’s a shame because Moon doesn’t need to go on a campaign of hard-selling HEINOUS.  HEINOUS is a solid, well-written novel with a fantastic character in Gavin and some really disturbing and chilling scenes.  Check this one out; just ignore all the “praise” in the beginning of the book.

My Summary:

Author:  Jonathan Moon

Plot:  3 out of 5 stars (would’ve been a 4 but the “dream chapters” removed me from the flow of the novel)

Gore:  8 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

No; I’m not reviewing two different novels.  This is one novel with two different titles that has an interesting back story.  Author Jeffrey Thomas Crooms originally contacted me asking if I’d be interested in reviewing his novel UNITED STATES OF THE LIVING DEAD.  With a title like that what did you think I told him??  He then wrote back telling me he was having “artistic differences” with the publisher and it would take a little time getting me a copy.  Luckily he and the publisher (Living Dead Press) came to an agreement.  The publisher wanted to change the title and made some editing choices that Crooms just wasn’t happy with.  He asked to be released from his contract and the publisher at first agreed and then offered him a unique proposition.  Living Dead Press was going to publish both Crooms’ version and the publisher’s version in one book.  Crooms gets what he wants (his original title and his edited-the-way-he-wants-it version), and the publisher gets his version.  Since I was on the cusp of being published myself this really interested me.  I immediately tucked into Crooms’ version (which is the LIVING DEAD version) and then I read the publisher’s version (which is the ARMAGEDDON version).  Let’s get to it.

UNITED STATES OF THE LIVING DEAD (the author’s version) essentially chronicles the most devastating and prolonged terrorist attack on the U.S.  It begins with Solaris flight 323 flying into New York’s JFK airport from Israel with every passenger and the entire flight crew dead.  Experts from the National Security Safety Headquarters Complex in Groom Lake, Nevada are called in to clean up the mess and figure out what caused the incident.  This set up encompasses the two prologues and the first two chapters.  And then we get to the third chapter.  Hhmmm; how to describe the third chapter.  Things begin to fall apart starting with chapter three.  How?  Well for one, the action up now has been taking place in the future, yet we don’t know that until chapter three.  The novel begins (much to my surprise) in the year 2053 and as chapter three begins we skip to 2055.  We get “hovercopters” and “hovertrams” and the good guys carry around “hand canons.”  Odd choice having this occur in the future.  If Croom’s set this in the present, the impact could have been far greater on the reader.

In chapter three we’re introduced to the EuroEastern League of Nations.  These are the bad guys who are hell-bent on destroying America and dividing it up into new territories for the League to rule over.  The Prime Minister of the EuroEastern League is Iblis Huang and he plans on unleashing “Operation Apocalypse” on American soil to destroy us, and on pages 29-30 in the novel we get Huang’s entire plan explicitly fleshed out for us.  Another odd choice.  It could’ve been more suspenseful if we got the plot unfolded over many chapters.  Huang, himself, comes across more as a James Bond “super villain” (I pictured him with an eye patch and a scar covering his cheek and head) and the EuroEastern League of Nations reads more like the Legion of Doom from the 1970’s-80’s cartoon SUPER FRIENDS.  Everything reads so over the top (the diabolical plans, the more evil than evil villains) that it’s hard to relate to what’s going on.

After the attack is carried out on U.S. soil (in downtown Manhattan), our main characters must race to Jericho before noon the next day in order to save America from the final phase of the attack.  The first phase released genetically modified mosquitos that carry a deadly virus that kills and reanimates dead bodies.  Our heroes in this race are Major Dylan Christovpher (who was dishonorably discharged from the Marines), General Bishop, Lt. Christie Burnett, and special agents Gellar and Kryzinski (who are from CTU; the C.I.A.’s counter terrorism unit).

Crooms has a solid idea for a zombie novel … he really does.  The EuroEastern League of Nations is a little over the top but the modified mosquitos carrying a bio-engineered virus is a pretty frightening idea.  Choosing to set UNITED STATES OF THE LIVING DEAD in the future distances the reader from the action and there really was no reason this couldn’t have taken place “now.”  The other main problem with the author’s version is, to be blunt, that it’s kind of a mess.  He’s all over the place and loses focus many times during the novel.  As I read this and made notes in the margins I have a ton of question marks everywhere.  It’s not that I didn’t understand what was going on, it’s just that often times things didn’t belong or elements came out of left field.  For example, before the terrorist attack occurs we get the following passage:

[D]irectly across the street, a slow-moving, lumbering, thirty-something, African American businessman zombie in a black suit holding a latte in one hand and a human hand in the other, moved undetected down the crowded sidewalk.

What??  Where the hell did the zombie come from?  How could there be a zombie before the attacks?  I’m guessing this was a passage Crooms added to give the novel more zombies in order to justify his title, UNITED STATES OF THE LIVING DEAD.

There are many examples of confusing passages that just leave you scratching your head.  One of the biggest is when the group is desperately trying to get to Jericho in order to save what remains of the U.S.  Towards the end of their journey they decide to stop at Enchanted Wonderland to ride some rides and have some fun.  Wait; what?  Yeah you read that correctly.  This happens in chapter 13, and since there’s a total of 15 chapters, this side trip really ruins both the flow of the narrative and the intensity of the action. The characters were having fun, going on rides, and acting like there was no longer any danger.  And then to cap it all off we get an Epilogue that is terrible … ST. ELSEWHERE-series-finale terrible (this is completely left out in the publisher’s edited version).

I know it seems like I’m being pretty hard on Crooms’ UNITED STATES OF THE LIVING DEAD novel, but he has such a solid idea and an obvious love of the horror genre that it was frustrating to read such an unfocused novel, especially when he had an editor who was willing to work with him to tighten and clear things up.  I’m not saying the publisher’s version is better, but it does clear up many passages and completely eliminates many of those “head scratching” moments.  It’s tough to edit your own work (I know this first hand), so be grateful when you have the opportunity to work with someone willing to work with you to make what you wrote the best possible novel it could be.  I hesitantly recommend UNITED STATES OF THE LIVING DEAD/ARMAGEDDON if you have the patience to read both the author’s and the publisher’s versions.  Together they make an enjoyable read.

My Summary:

Author:  Jeffrey Thomas Crooms

Plot:  2 out of 5 stars

Gore:  4 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  2 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

I vowed to start reviewing more horror novels in 2011 and boy have I been staying true to that promise!!  I’m reading my 31st novel this year, and I also have Anything Horror writer Derek O’Brien reading like a demon!!  But sometimes it’s nice to take a break from all the full length novels and read something a little shorter and more casual.  This past week I was lucky enough to read two such fun and light hearted books.  The first, THE ZOMBIE HANDBOOK (2011), is a gorgeous looking coffee table book that sets out to historically explore real zombies and even gives the reader some true life stories.

THE ZOMBIE HANDBOOK (who’s complete title is THE ZOMBIE HANDBOOK: AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ZOMBIES AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, HOW TO AVOID THEM) is written by Dr. Robert Curran.  Curran is no stranger to the supernatural having previously penned THE HANDBOOK OF ANGELS AND FALLEN ANGELS, THE WEREWOLF HANDBOOK, BIBLIO VAMPIRO (and vampire handbook), and THE GHOST HANDBOOK.  Curran does an incredible amount of research into zombies and gives the reader an in-depth history of zombies and all the many incarnations zombies have taken over the years.  He divides THE ZOMBIE HANDBOOK into the following chapters:  “What is a Zombie,” “Types of Zombies,” “Zombie Tales,” and “Zombie Armies.”  We get the expected discussion of voodoo zombies (in much detail) and I really enjoyed how Curran connected the voodoo zombies of Africa to the slaves brought to the Southern U.S.  Great stuff.

But what I found most interesting was what Curran calls “perhaps one of the oldest forms of walking dead” stories, and it comes from Ireland!!  The story involves the Marbh Bheo (the night-walking dead).  These creatures often “roamed the roads at certain times of the year, sometimes to take revenge for old grievances.”

It’s nice to know my ancestors are steeped in zombie lore!!

THE ZOMBIE HANDBOOK is both a great and intelligent read that will give you some great background on zombies and some really fascinating true stories of real-life zombie incidences throughout history.  It’s a solid, informative, and fun read.

Author:  Dr. Robert Curran

Plot:  4 out of 5 stars

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  5 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

The other book I read last week is the novella, THE MASK OF ROMEK by T.C. McQueen.  THE MASK OF ROMEK follows John Henry Darrow, an immortal, who along with a group of other immortals battles the forces of evil in Arkham.  McQueen sets his world in a Lovecraftian-influenced universe and does a great job capturing the feel of the Cthulhu mythos.

After being introduced to Darrow we then jump ahead to 2009 where Darrow’s friend, Dr. Marcus Lockhart, needs his help in figuring out why the Mesoamerican display being put together at Miskatonic University was ransacked and torn apart.  They need to uncover who ransacked it and what they took before it’s too late (I bet it’s a mask!!).  McQueen does a really nice job here unravelling the mystery as we’re introduced and get to know the main characters.  McQueen’s writing style is both crisp and flows nicely and he effortlessly moves between describing the past and explaining what’s going on in the present.

I also really liked McQueen’s choice of writing THE MASK OF ROMEK in the style of a journal.  This gives the novella an old noir detective story feel to it.  Plus being written as a journal, we get lots of hints about other past cases Darrow worked on … cases I hope McQueen comes back to and examines closer.

McQueen has done a great job in his debut novella.  I would love to see more of Darrow and Lockhart and would definitely love to read more about their supernatural adventures as they battle the Lovecraftian forces of evil.  THE MASK OF ROMEK is a fun, fast read that leaves you wanting more.  Nice job!!

Author:  T.C. McQueen

Plot:  3.5 out of 5 stars

Gore:  1 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  2 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer