Some book review websites follow the old rule: “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” This is a good idea for a few reasons. One, if you are part of an affiliate program and get a percentage of the sale, you don’t want to discourage people from buying the book. (For this reason, I’m often skeptical of websites that tell you every book they review is the best thing ever written, then encourage you to click on their link to purchase the book.) Continue reading
Jessica Jones Review
So I finally finished watching Jessica Jones. Yeah, I know. Welcome to 2015. Anyway, while it was a great show, there were a few things that bugged me. This review will contain spoilers, so be warned. Continue reading
Weird Tales of Horror by David J. West
Weird Tales of Horror by David J. West is an entertaining collection of short fiction. Some of the stories you’ll find here include Ernest Hemingway meeting a werewolf, how New York City dealt with King Kong’s body after he died, and soldiers encountering ghouls during Operation Desert Shield. Also, Lovecraft’s Nylarthahotep is worked into the Biblical story of King Solomon. Continue reading
Don Juan, Canto 3
When we last left Don Juan, he had been shipwrecked upon a Grecian island, but was brought back to health by a young woman named Haidee. The two fall in love, however, Haidee keeps Juan’s existence a secret from her father Lambro who is a slave trader. Let’s find out what happens next! Continue reading
Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders
A solid collection full of excellent stories. Behold! Oddities, Curiosities & Undefinable Wonders edited by Doug Murano includes both original stories and reprints (although if you haven’t read them yet, they’re new to you). Some of the stories are straight up horror, others are horror-comedy, and still others are straight up comedy. There are also a couple poems, a couple fairy tales, and even a couple stories that I’d classify as literary. Continue reading
Free Book Promotion
I recently noticed that my novelette Sin Lieth at the Door got a one star rating on Amazon. It’s actually not a bad one star rating, all things considered. The reviewer basically says the story just wasn’t their thing. Who can argue with that? Everybody has their own personal preferences and you can’t please everybody. The reviewer even compliments me on my grammar. Continue reading
Apocalypse Utah
As with all anthologies, this one is a mixed bag. Some stories are better than others (which ones are better than which of course depends on your own personal preference). This collection features both pre- and post-apocalyptic stories. They all take place in Utah, although the setting is usually incidental. The end of the world takes different forms from Biblical punishment, zombie virus, non-zombie virus, magic, and one even features cats. A theme I noticed is that most of the stories are pessimistic about human nature. I always wonder why people in stories like this always prey on each other rather than band together against the zombies or crab people or whatever is threatening them. Continue reading
Women in refrigerators
I recently read “eyes I dare not meet in dreams” by Sunny Moraine previously published in Cyborgology, but recently reprinted on Tor.com. It’s about dead girls climbing out of refrigerators to haunt everybody. Since I once had a dream about a woman climbing out of a refrigerator (which I used for a scene in my novel Innocence, In a Sense), I originally thought it was just a surreal dream-like story, especially since it has “dream” in the title. Continue reading
Severance Lost by J. Lloren Quill
This book starts like a video game. Slate, who came from a small mining village, is fighting in a tournament against increasingly more difficult foes. Then he has to decide whether to join the fighters’, mages’, or thieves’ guild. He also gains abilities and magic items along the way. Slate doesn’t seem to have much agency, at least early in the book. He tends to just go along with what others tell him to do and gets by on luck. Continue reading
Impersonations by Walter Jon Williams
In the far future, Earth has been conquered by an alien race known as the Shaa and most buildings are in an alien style. Some of Earth’s ancient landmarks are still intact despite centuries of neglect and earthquakes, but Earth has largely become an amusement park version of itself. Earth history isn’t even interesting to most humans since they grew up on other planets. We’re shown a future in which humans have largely forgotten humanity. Continue reading
