recent read; BLACK HONEY by Steve Van Samson

 

BLACK HONEY (And Other Unsavory Things) is a powerhouse eclectic collection of chilling tales. Touches of Hammer films, modern horror, wry humor, and twisted slices of everyday life can be experienced in this honeycomb of eleven tales of terror.

Come for the fantastic stories by Steve Van Samson, and stay for the incredible interior art by Derek Rook. It's a winning combination you won't soon forget!

Interview, Feb 28, 2023 at DMR Books

 I'm at the Independent Author Spotlight over at DMR Books today.

DMR Books Independent Author Spotlight 

Favorite Reads, 2022

A little late but it's still the first half of January 2023. These are my top ten (plus a few) reads of 2022. Not necessarily books that were published in 2022, just the favorites. I read a total of 65 books over the course of the year, not counting individual comics, or various short stories outside of any book I completed.

In no particular order;

GOOD OMENS by Terry Prachtett & Neil Gaiman

DAYBREAK 2250 (Star Man's Son) by Andre Norton

HIERO'S JOURNEY by Sterling E. Lanier

ROAD OF BONES by Christopher Golden

HONOUR GUARD by Dan Abnett

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF SHORT SPY NOVELS (ed. Bill Pronzini)

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF FOLK HORROR (ed. Stephen Jones)

FRIGHT TRAIN (ed. The Switch House Gang)

DEEPER by James A. Moore

THE BLOOD OGRE by Craig McDonald

THE LONG TOMORROW by Leigh Brackett

(Non-fiction)
THE RACE UNDERGROUND by Doug Most

FIFTY-NINE IN '84 by Edward Achorn

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL by Kenney Jones

Interviews & chats with me

Just wanted to note that over on the left side (if you're viewing via a web browser, not a 'mobile' reduced page,) above my Current Reading List, there is now a list of links to interviews I've done.

On the subject of book reviews

The other day on Facebook, a writer friend asked;

What’s a guy gotta do to get book reviews around here? Seriously. All answers appreciated.

 Most everyone replied they had no idea anymore.

I certainly don't.

I am more focused on Amazon reviews in this post, though there are certainly other venues; goodreads, blogs, etc.

Not complaining, just observing; the anthologies I've appeared in barely have reviews.

Personally, for me, the notion of reviewing just isn't on my radar much anymore. It started with backing off any negative reviews. As a writer myself I feel uncomfortable doing that. It might just not be smart as a 'career' move, either.

But now I'm kind of burned out on reviewing anything--even if I like something.

Maybe it's the fact I come from a Pre-Internet world. Pre-Internet, if I enjoyed something I just enjoyed it. I'd tell some people maybe, or it would come up in conversation, but I didn't need to announce it to the world.

I know, we live in a new paradigm. I know authors need the help--I'm one of them.
 
Amazon's back-&-forth 'policies' on pulling reviews--especially if you are friends with writers--haven't helped. And it is disturbing behavior. How does Amazon determine you are friends? Clearly they must be trawling our social media.

On the flip side of that, Amazon hardly police unjust one-star reviews. Ones that are done out of spite, or "I never read this genre but I'll review this anyway."

I also wonder if Amazon reviews mean anything lately. Other than occasionally hunting up some non-fiction cold, I don't read Amazon reviews to influence my purchases. Most books I buy are on recommendations from other sources--and most of those are recommendations, not reviews.

Also seeing as how nearly every book on Amazon--if they get enough reviews--end up with such a mix from one-star to five-star that the reviews aren't even useful.

I have no evidence that anyone else feels the way I do. But I do wonder.

How about you? Have you burned out on posting reviews, even short ones? Do you feel like the weight of Amazon reviews don't matter to you as much as they did?  Did they ever?

What about reviews from sources other than Amazon?

2018 reading round up

I'm falling short of my Goodreads 2018 challenge. As of tonight, I've read 59 of the 70 books goal. I set that number (70) with graphic novels in mind, as last year they inflated my total. I read a lot of enjoyable stuff this year, and fewer graphic novels than I expected.

There are some stragglers - books not listed on Goodreads, like HIGH ADVENTURE 'zine (long enough to consider a book) and individual comics or comic 'zines (CREEPY.)  Plus read-throughs on two of my own novels. (Hey, it takes time.)

Highlights from the list;

THE LAST SACRIFICE by James A. Moore
EMPEROR MOLLUSK VERSUS THE SINISTER BRAIN by A. Lee Martinez
MARROW DUST by Steve Van Samson
GIL'S ALL FRIGHT DINER by A. Lee Martinez
TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR by Edgar Rice Burroughs
RETURN TO THE LOST LEVEL by Brian Keene
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE by Ian Fleming
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES by Arthur Conan Doyle
DARKER THAN YOU THINK by Jack Williamson
A HELL WITHIN by James A. Moore & Charles R. Rutledge
TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD by Fritz Leiber
CEMETERY WORLD by Clifford D. Simak
AT THE MERCY OF BEASTS by Ed Kurtz
MEMO FROM TURNER by Tim Willocks
PULP ERA WRITING TIPS (edited by Bryce Beattie)
THE BEASTS OF VALHALLA by George C. Chesbro
BLACK PULP (edited by Tommy Hancock)

THE GREAT DISASTER (DC Comics SHOWCASE)
DOC SAVAGE: THE SPIDER'S WEB (Dynamite Entertainment comic)

Best wishes for 2019!

recent read; Return to the Lost Level

RETURN TO THE LOST LEVEL by Brian Keene

Keene returns to THE LOST LEVEL with a worthy sequel!

Picking up where THE LOST LEVEL left off, Aaron Pace's adopted tribe has been raided by Anunnaki snake-men. Pace and the surviving villagers set off on a rescue mission, enduring hazards, danger, and hardship all along the way. Pterodactyls, Anunnaki, deadly flora, and other lost world features all hinder their efforts. Along the way they adopt a baby triceratops, and encounter Ambrose Bierce, too.

Keene sprinkles tantalizing bits of his own mythos throughout the story. The framing device also leaves a reader wondering about Pace's final fate in the Lost Level.

RETURN TO THE LOST LEVEL leaves the reader on a tantalizing cliffhanger promising more. I eagerly anticipate the next entry in the saga of Aaron Pace in the Lost Level.

recent read; MAMA TRIED

MAMA TRIED, edited by James R. Tuck
Down & Out Books, 2016

(I'd originally written this review for my blog but decided to pass it along to Jim Cornelius for FRONTIER PARTISANS)

Joe Lansdale prefaced one of his most famous stories with a note that is was "a story that does not flinch."

Although Lansdale is not in this anthology, I think that concept and spirit permeate this anthology. These stories do not flinch. They dig into criminal worlds, telling taut stories that kept me engaged throughout.

For more details, please visit the post at Frontier Partisans.

recent reads (listens) ; back to basics

I've been rather lazy about book reviews lately. Part of that is I've been reading older stuff by authors who have passed on - so they don't necessarily need the Amazon/goodreads review bumps.

I've surpassed my goodreads reading goal (65 books) for 2017. Yes, that includes some graphic novels but not nearly as many as last year. Audiobooks have helped - I listen to them on my daily commute.

Two recent listens;

THUNDERBALL by Ian Fleming, read by (actor) Jason Isaacs.

This was absolutely stellar. If you're a Bond fan, you should try this when you have time. I am going to press on with these and finish off the original Fleming books. This particular run of audios features British celebrity readers. Looking forward to more though I'm a little disappointed Isaacs didn't perform any of the others.

THE VALLEY OF FEAR by Arthur Conan Doyle, read by Derek Jacobi.

A fun reading. Jacobi works solidly with accents, including Americans. I'm only getting to the original Sherlock Holmes tales now - largely thanks to the influence of Charles R. Rutledge (also responsible for my interest in Burroughs's original Tarzan tales, too.) My only complaint is that this story - like A STUDY IN SCARLET - features a second half prequel story set in America without Holmes at all. However, I didn't feel quite as cheated as with A STUDY IN SCARLET, because here the midpoint reveal doesn't come out of the blue.

Aside from audios, Rutledge is also responsible for kindling my interest in Solar Pons.

Pons was August Derleth's Holmes pastiche who went on to a life of his own, with Basil Copper continuing the stories in the 1970s. Recently, Copper's tales came back into print in paperback from PS Publishing in the UK.

Also, a Kickstarter campaign launched brand new stories written by David Marcum with the permission of the Derleth estate. Marcum is a Holmes/Pons aficionado. (The campaign was successful. If you missed out, the book can be ordered from Amazon.)

Because the original Derleth tales are now the ones out-of-print, I hope this campaign carries on to reprint the original Derleth stories in the near future.

Not sure how long I'll be deep diving on thrillers, mystery and crime but I might be here a while.

WICKED HAUNTED is here!

WICKED HAUNTED officially launches today!

I posted about this anthology in August when my story, "East Boston Relief Station," was accepted.

Note that the Kindle edition is at a launch sale price for the next week, $2.99! (regular e-price will be $4.99) Or, feel free to buy a print edition. Or both! ;)

Get yourself some groovy ghost stories!

The TRUE GRIT experiment

I'd never seen the movie, TRUE GRIT. Neither the first version with John Wayne (1969) nor the newer version from the Coen brothers (2010.)  And I had never read the novel.

During my vacation, I decided to consume and compare all three. I listened to the audiobook and then watched both films.

I loved the novel. Straightforward and harrowing at the same time. The audio narration by Donna Tartt is stellar.

1969
First thing that hit me was the score. It is dated and unflattering. The sweeping strings just seem out-of-place in a post-spaghetti Western. On top of that, it starts with a theme song with embarrassingly bad lyrics.

Until the end, the movie followed the novel plot points almost exactly. The dialog was nearly exact from the novel, too. The denouement ending was invented around a point at the ending of the novel and was not in the novel.

It's still a grand, fun Western and a Wayne classic for a reason.

2010
The first thing that hit me was how much better the soundtrack was.

This version had a fair number of minor changes in the plot that kept me guessing. Ironically though, I think the tone and characters were closer to the novel. The ending adheres to the novel, too.

I think I prefer the 2010 version.

It was fun experiment. Fortunately, each movie and the novel all had more highlights than lowlights.

I want to do more of this. I've seen both versions of 3:10 TO YUMA but I still need to read the story. And I've seen SHANE but I still need to read the novel.

recent read; Planet of the Apes: Tales From The Forbidden Zone

Planet of the Apes: Tales From The Forbidden Zone

This is the book apocalyptic apes dream of.

It's hard to be unbiased about this book because I am an ApeHead since childhood. Anything new in the Planet of the Apes realm is like a nostalgia life preserver. I discussed that recently.

Tales from the Forbidden Zone gives us sixteen tales set across the various Planet of the Apes classic universes. Meaning - the original five movies, television series and Saturday morning cartoon. It does not include the 2001 movie or the recent movies.

The stories are enjoyable. I preferred some more than others but that is the nature of anthologies. Rather than delineate all sixteen, I will mention a few of my favorites. Your mileage may vary.

"Unfired" by Dan Abnett starts off the book with a bang, focusing on a group of underground mutants (Beneath the Planet of the Apes) making a daring pilgrimage across the open wilderness.

"The Unknown Ape" by Andrew E.C. Gaska starts in the cartoon universe (Return to the Planet of the Apes,) but we soon learn that Planet of the Apes time travel also creates the ability to cross dimensions into the other Apes realities. This is a fun crossover.

"Message in a Bottle" by Dayton Ward is an intriguing story in the television series setting. It almost serves as the first step in a 'season two' arc, bringing the astronauts' story back to its science fiction roots and away from "The Fugitive with Apes" rut the show quickly fell into. As a fan who wished for exactly that in regards to the show, this story really stood out.

"Milo's Tale" by Ty Templeton explains how Cornelius and Zira met Milo and came to be on the spaceship (Escape from the Planet of the Apes.) It also delivers a convincing backstory for Milo, explaining how he was such a knowledgeable ape given the primitiveness of the society presented in the original Planet of the Apes.

Finally, Jonathan Maberry closes out the tome with "Banana Republic," exploring the political machinations and alliances of ape society, coupled with the discovery of an ancient place of evil.

Tales from the Forbidden Zone is a welcome addition to the Planet of the Apes universe. If you enjoy that universe, you'll enjoy this book. Perhaps if it performs well, there could be another volume. So, buy yours today and go ape!

It's a mad house! Go ape!

"Weaponized nostalgia." - Chuck Wendig

The world has gone ape. Yes, in more ways than one. I'll stick with the non-political one.

My childhood crossed the 1970s-80s. I was a child in the 70s, teenager in the early 80s.

In hindsight, my first fandom was PLANET OF THE APES. I was an ApeHead.

What also surprised me, in hindsight, is how much of the fandom marketing machine I missed. It's also a bit of a shock to remember how much merchandise was available. It really was the first franchise merchandise blitz out of Hollywood. Sure other movies and shows had toys and a few coloring books, but POTA really went ape.

I watched the movies, the short-lived television show, and the short-lived cartoon. I had the action figures. I had activity books. I had the Topps trading cards of the t.v. series.

But I never knew about the novelizations. I spotted one in the library during junior-high years later. I never knew a thing about the comics, either, surprisingly enough.

Now, Titan Books are allowing me to relive my childhood and then some.

First, they've released an anthology of new stories set in all three universes - movies, t.v., cartoon.

 But wait! There's more!

Two omnibuses collecting the original movie novelizations are coming, too.

 
Wait. Not done. They are also publishing an omnibus of the original television episode novelizations.

Nope. Still not done. Not yet available but listed in Tales from the Forbidden Zone (and personally confirmed for me) a fourth omnibus with the original novelizations of the cartoon series.

Stop the presses.

Nope, can't.

Also rumored - perhaps a collection of the comics.

Tangent to Titan Books - The Topps Trading Cards book.

I knew the t.v. cards, I had those. I didn't know there had been cards from the original movie, too.

Last night, I picked up the new #1 of the PLANET OF THE APES / GREEN LANTERN cross-over comic.

Yeah. Combining the Apes with Green Lantern with the old Mego action figures packaging for the artwork.

Talk about weaponized nostalgia!

If nothing else, it will be a great year to be an ApeHead!

recent read; Warriors of the Wildlands

Warriors of the Wildlands by Jim Cornelius

For years now, on his blog site Frontier Partisans, Jim Cornelius has been focused on illuminating those men (and women) who lived on the edges of history. The edges where civilization pushed into the aboriginal and the world was shaded in gray. The frontier lands and the combatants such clashes created or molded. He also highlights current events and people who evoke such spirits (and sometimes ghosts.)

With Warriors of the Wildlands, Jim turns his pen to bringing together treatises on such people in the printed form. But this is no mere re-tread of his blog. Some of the historic figures explored have featured on his blog but the book expands on them. And the book includes plenty of new characters, too.

Wisely, Jim focuses on three eras to consolidate the spirit he wants to illuminate to modern readers.

We start in the Ohio Valley frontier of the late 1700s and early 1800s. The first "Western" frontier of the U.S. Manifest Destiny expansion. Bloody, hard fought engagements constantly raged in the area - French & Indian War, American Revolution, the War of 1812, continuing battles with displaced natives - until the native populations were finally quelled.

No collection of tales such as this can ignore the classic American West of the 1800s. We meet frontier fighters from both native America and American settlers expanding into their lands. Jim also brings us south, into Mexican-American skirmishes and disagreements.

Finally, we cross the Atlantic and are embroiled in late 1800s through early 1900s battles of Empires in Africa, right through and including World War I partisan operations.

The one modern touchstone is provided in the Epilogue, where Jim draws a straight line of ancestry from the guerrilla, scouting, and indigenous recruiting tactics of the Frontier Partisans of the past to allied operations in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda, the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden.

Many people find history dry or not worth their time. And some history books read like phone books. This book is a balm against such books and attitudes. These characters of the frontiers, these warriors, come to life and their (sometimes astonishing) exploits leap off the pages of Warriors of the Wildlands.

Put this on your bookshelf - especially if you enjoy learning the finer details of history.

recent read; Dead on the Bones

Dead on the Bones by Joe R. Lansdale

Dead on the Bones gathers some of Lansdale's pulpier adventure tales (though a murder-mystery and horror find their way into the table of contents, too.)

The tales are all enjoyable and excellent. If you only know Lansdale from his crime noir capers, this will surprise you with its change of pace. If you like pulp, you'll enjoy it. If you like Lansdale, you'll enjoy it.

In the introduction, "Pulp Fury," Lansdale writes about how he came to his crime and pulp sensibilities through early television programs. Many of the shows adapted old pulp stories for material. It's an interesting note that Lansdale points out - pulp didn't really go away. It shifted formats.

"The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning"
Lansdale channels Poe, bringing us a new adventure of C. Auguste Dupin and the unnamed narrator, the dynamic duo from "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."

"The Redheaded Dead"
Lansdale's Weird West hero, Reverend Jebediah Mercer, takes on a vampire in this quick moving, tight story.

"King of the Cheap Romance"
Lansdale's entry from the Old Mars anthology. Angela King must transport vaccine and her father's corpse across the frozen Martian landscape. Oh, and keep one step ahead of the ice shark the entire way.

"Naked Angel"
 A murder mystery with a victim found in a block of ice. In an alley. In Los Angeles.

"Dead on the Bones"
A horror story about murder, revenge, boxing, and voodoo.

"Tarzan and the Land That Time Forgot"
ERB sent Tarzan to the Earth's Core but never got around to sending him to Caprona. Lansdale does here, with a story faithful to ERB's Tarzan and worlds. The story first appeared in the Baen anthology, Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs

"Under the Warrior Star"
An early attempt at a sword-&-planet novella, this one is a lot of fun. It hits all the correct sword-&-planet notes along the way.

"Wizard of the Trees"
Lansdale's entry from the Old Venus anthology. More sword-&-planet, featuring an ex-buffalo soldier transported to the jungles of Venus.

If you're reading this post, then you probably have similar reading tastes to mine. If so, you want this book. Lansdale + pulp = gold!

recent read; This Is Halloween

This Is Halloween by James A. Moore

James A. Moore serves up ten chilling tales dripping with Halloween atmosphere. Monsters, ghosts, malevolent haunted houses, deep dark woods. They are all here - waiting for you.

Jim pulled together a collection of previously published tales. Many take place on Halloween. If not exactly on Halloween, some of the other tales are still perfect reads for the season. Some of the stories are loosely connected by location. The Bedlam Woods are a dangerous place and many tales can be told about that dark forest. The town of Wellman, Georgia--featured in Moore & Rutledge's novels Blind Shadows and Congregations of the Dead--also makes an appearance in one story.

The scent of candle-singed jack-o-lanterns will stay with you long after you close the cover!

p.s. - Look at that gorgeous cover art by Dan Brereton!

recent read; The Dracula Tape

THE DRACULA TAPE by Fred Saberhagen

I am a traditionalist. I like my good guys good and my bad guys bad. But, in the hands of Fred Saberhagen, the flipping of traditional roles in THE DRACULA TAPE, I was still entertained. You see, Dracula isn't all bad. Yes, he's a vampire and he's no saint. But Bram Stoker's novel was a bit of a smear campaign built on misunderstanding. Van Helsing was a bumbling fool.

Saberhagen did a great job of following the original novel and inverting everything a reader thinks they know. Saberhagen drops wonderful bits of history along the way. Some of the deconstruction of the Dracula myth goes beyond mere misinterpretations. Crucifixes? Vlad fought the Muslim hordes! Why would the cross bother him?

I enjoyed the first half of this novel which is very clever indeed with turning all the elements of DRACULA 180 degrees. I did feel, though, that as the book progressed, and Saberhagen created scenes and conversations completely outside the realm of the original novel, the effort lost steam.

And his conceit on how Dracula survived his staking missed some salient points of Stoker's folklore, in my opinion.

Fun, worth a read. You do need to have read DRACULA to fully appreciate what Saberhagen was doing. Looking forward to more entries in Saberhagen's Dracula series now that the beginning has been established.

p.s. - I listened to the audiobook via Audible, and the narration by Robin Bloodworth is excellent.

recent read; Best New Horror: Volume 25 edited by Stephen Jones

It's hard to go wrong with any of these The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror anthologies from Stephen Jones.

This volume came out in 2014, and contains stories from 2013. It also includes a dense "Introduction: Horror in 2013" which informs about all manner of publications in the horror field for 2013. The only drawback is that titles are embedded in the prose. You'll need to distill your own list, if you are interested in following up on any of the mentioned books.

The stories are all quality, I don't need to review each one. A few weren't to my taste, which is nearly always a given with any anthology. Some of my favorites were "Click-clack the Rattlebag" by Neil Gaiman, "The Middle Park" by Michael Chislett, "Into The Water" by Simon Kurt Unsworth (an Innsmouthian tale,) and "The Sixteenth Step" by Robert Shearman.

The volume also includes the entire novella, "Whitstable" by Stephen Volk, featuring a fictionalized account of Peter Cushing's off-screen life as he deals with a real life monster. Well done and worth the read.

The thick volume ends with "Necrology: 2013," which, sadly, is an "in memoriam" essay. Many people were lost to the horror field in 2013.

As I said at the top, you can't really go wrong with any of these. Worth having. Worth reading.

p.s.; Jones has been republishing earlier volumes through PS Publishing for e-book editions. New ones are e-book and hardcover. (Dropping the The Mammoth Book Of... moniker.) They have new EC Comic style covers, too.

recent listen; SNOWBLIND by Christopher Golden

It would be hard to review this one without using words that might be mistaken as puns. But, make no mistake, this is a chilling novel. It is chilling in the horror, the suspense and the absolute veracity Golden brings to his descriptions of howling blizzards.

In the city of Coventry, Massachusetts, a blizzard arrives. This storm comes with more than snow, wind and cold. Creatures exist in the storm. They are strange, ephemeral and deadly. By the time the storm winds down, multiple mysterious deaths from the storm rock the community.

Twelve years later, another storm threatens, and the dead do not rest easy. They know what the storm is bringing. They are scared. And if the ghosts are scared, what horrors await the living?

Golden does a great job of putting the cold of this story into your bones. He establishes a solid cast of characters. They are believable, and distinct. The tension really ratchets up as the book heads toward its conclusion.

Highly recommended.

Reading all over the map

Summer isn't quite done, but I'm anxious for autumn. Mostly, I want to get in the right (write) mood for drafting horror and ghost stories. Sure, I can do it anytime, but atmosphere helps.

I signed up (i.e.; spent money) and joined Audible, so any full novel 'reads' I do for a while will be in that manner. I've already been through James A. Moore's THE SILENT ARMY, the first Sherlock Holmes, A STUDY IN SCARLET and I just finished THE BEASTS OF TARZAN.

For real reading, I'm jumping around various anthologies and collections, mostly horror. Algernon Blackwood's ANCIENT SORCERIES. THE BEST OF NEW HORROR Vol. 25.  Reading my co-authors in CARNACKI: THE LOST CASES.

Plus some comics. Got in the mood for Iron Man last night, so started on IRON MAN, ESSENTIAL VOL 2.

Oh, and going back to my Weird New England roots - also reading about THE GREAT NEW ENGLAND SEA SERPENT. (blame that one on the whale watch we went on last week)