Brimstone Press / February 2009
Reviewed by: Blu Gilliand

Australia, with its mix of vast, untamed wilderness and beautiful cities, has its share of dark corners. The tales in this collection, written largely by those unknown outside their native country’s shores, do a fantastic job of shining a flickering light into those deep shadows, exposing ideas and legends that are simultaneously terrifying and beautiful.

“Subtle Invasion,” written by David Conyers, stands out in this fine collection as one of the best. Strange plant-like growths which Conyers describes as having “hooked and barbed intrusions” appear on the narrator’s property one day. Even as he charts the slow takeover of his land by these strange plants, reports begin circulating of similar growth in various spots around the world. You can guess the rest from there, but that’s beside the point – Conyers generates a fair amount of suspense with such a seemingly innocuous enemy.

Gary Kemble’s “Dead Air” takes the zombie story to new heights, literally, as a harried passenger finds himself thousands of feet over the ocean just as a very Romero-like rise of the living dead takes place in the cramped confines of an airliner. Action packed and featuring a light dose of humor, Kemble displays a sure touch.

Joanne Anderton also ventures into Romero territory with “Trail of Dead.” Anderton’s tale works thanks to its unique mix of characterization and action, and because it ventures out of typical zombie lore to include witchcraft.

There are fewer fantasy tales than horror in this collection, and those which are included have a decidedly darker bent, so don’t let their presence throw you off if you’re looking primarily for scares. Those can be found here, and in abundance. This collection is refreshing in that it not only introduces a big batch of new authors to be on the lookout for, but it delivers plenty of new twists and approaches to standard horror fare. Seek this one out, and check the publisher’s site for news on Volume Four, which should hopefully be out soon in the New Year.

Purchase Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror Volume Three edited by Angela Challis.

Sam’s Dot Publishing / February 2010
Reviewed by: Joan Turner

A unique concept binds the tales in Connie Corcoran-Wilson’s debut short story collection, Hellfire and Damnation. Unified by the theme of Dante’s Inferno and its nine circles of hell, each story corresponds to the sin represented by the circle in which it appears and each takes readers deeper into the bowels of Hell.

The gates of hell swing open with actual words of condemned prisoners awaiting execution on death row in Wilson’s “Hotter than Hell.” The journey then continues down through each ever-darkening level to the icy hot core of Hades itself.

In the first circle of hell, Limbo, where the souls of children who die in original sin are said to reside, we find “Rachael & David” in an unforgettably haunting story of two youngsters from the Edgewood Children’s Center for emotionally disturbed children.

Other outstanding stories include “Love Never Dies,” a completely fresh and original take on the zombie theme and one of best the book has to offer. “Hell to Pay” concerns the lengths an Amish father goes to for his daughter and “On Eagles’ Wings” is the story of a ten-year-old girl abducted by a cult leader and indoctrinated into a bizarre religion. “Going through Hell” involves a serial killer and the desperation of his latest victim. “An American Girl” – the collection’s final story – is a cold-blooded and horrifying account of teen murder.

Subjects of many of the tales in the collection seemed ripped straight from the headlines, and Wilson’s cool and matter-of-fact style serve only to make the stories more disturbing.

Three of the stories – among them the chilling “Rachael & David” – were taken from accounts told to Wilson by residents along famed Route 66. With an Introduction by William F. Nolan and fifteen potent and nightmarish tales, Hellfire and Damnation is a terrifying collection guaranteed to keep you awake at night.

Purchase Hellfire and Damnation by Connie Corcoran-Wilson.

Skullvines Press / October 2009
Reviewed by: Michele Lee

Black Jack Derringer: The Ace of Spades is like one of those little four-piece Whitman's Samplers. You end up with a good idea of what the story's going to be, but it's over and gone just when you're really ready for more.

Wild Alice West is not a woman for breeding or homemaking or any of the other things the Wild West-flavored land called the Skillet considers women good for. She's a bounty hunter, plagued by a bit of bad luck, a mouth that constantly gets her in trouble, a society that can't respect her and the fastest shot she's ever met. (She's humble too.)

Only now she's stuck in a little no-horse town, where the local sheriff cheated her out of her bounty, her mount was stolen and the only jobs people are willing to give her involve all the womanly work she finds demeaning.

That's where she discovers Mr. Treen, a slender, red-eyed albino card sharp who’s also stirring up a little trouble of his own. Except the man who lacks a first name possesses strange and disturbing abilities, a sense of humor from another time, and a deep, dark secret that he isn't even fully aware of.

An unlikely pair, they nevertheless team up to save themselves, and begrudgingly the town when it comes under attack from a wicked gang of land pirates. But things aren't always easier with a partner at your side.

If "Weird Western" sought a definition, this novella could easily fit it. There are hints of the Skillet being a post apocalyptic world, though there is heavy technology mixed with near-magic like abilities. Mutants are the underdogs of the world, be they human-like or equine (like Goliath, Alice's armor-skinned mount). Yet the sensibilities and daily life are throwbacks to the old west of the 1800 and 1900s. Other exotic creatures make an appearance, like pirates and military-built doomsday devices, fusing into a solid whole with plenty to explore.

This first installment in the Black Jack Derringer series is a very fun and exciting story, perfect for urban fantasy, pop science fiction, and cross genre fans. There's a dark brutality to the tale as well, which could hook horror fans looking for something unique — because if Black Jack Derringer is anything, it's unique.

Purchase Black Jack Derringer Book 1: The Ace of Spades by K. H. Koehler.

SterlingHouse Publishers / October 2008
Reviewed by: Joan Turner

The prologue of Midnight Revelations sets the stage for this Southern Gothic mystery, Volume 1 in Sterlinghouse’s Dark Whispers Series, but the past family drama sweeps readers into a story involving too many familiar tropes of the genre. Fortunately for readers, Bence injects enough originality into the tale to keep it interesting.

When David and Sara Miller and their young son, Jack, move into an aging farmhouse in northern Virginia, Sara feels like she has come home. The horse farm offers a hundred acres of land for their six horses and dogs and seems the perfect place where she and David can rebuild their troubled marriage.

While shopping in a local antique store, Sara buys a grotesque old mirror, and learns from the proprietor that it came from her new home. He also confides that dark rumors circulate about the place, but dismisses the stories as gossip.

Right on cue, mysterious events begin taking place as soon as she arrives home with the mirror. A woman’s distorted image appears and disappears in the old glass, nightmares trouble Sara and her adoptive mother, and Sara witnesses a ghostly apparition just as Jack suffers a near fatal accident.

Sara, convinced the house is possessed, turns to the local Catholic Church for help, and with each new twist and turn, the story becomes more bizarre.

The author’s strengths lie in characterization and pacing. While at times the dialogue seems stilted and burdened with unnecessary tags (“Leila said smartly,” “he insisted,” “Leila said with excitement”) and the ending seems somewhat contrived, suspense keeps the reader turning pages.

Midnight Revelations blends reality and the paranormal in a mystery spiced with supernatural elements and suspense. A good quick read worthy enough of a reader’s time.

Purchase Midnight Revelations by Karen M. Bence.  

Pinnacle / February 2010
Reviewed by: Rick R. Reed

Synopsis: The bodies are found in towns and cities around Puget Sound. The young women who are the victims had nothing in common — except the agony of their final moments. But somebody carefully chose them to stalk, capture, and torture... a depraved killer whose cunning is matched only by the depth of his bloodlust. But the dying has only just begun. And next victim will be the most shocking of all...

Review: Before Gregg Olsen began writing crime novels, he wrote true crime books. I was a fan of his work even before a chance encounter on MySpace made us cyberfriends. I loved his profiles, especially of females ensnared in crime: Mary Kay Letourneau, Sharon Nelson, and Tanya Reid spring immediately to mind.

But when Olsen began penning crime novels, spinning tales out of his history of reporting on and investigating real crime in the real world, I became an even bigger fan. I think that’s because, maybe more than any other writer working in the suspense/thriller/crime genre, Olsen can be counted upon to deliver a tale that has the ring of authenticity. You get the feeling, as you read Olsen’s fiction, that this could really happen — and that makes his novels all the more compelling. The fact that Olsen is at liberty, in a fictional world, to delve even deeper into crime, letting his well-informed background and imagination roam free, makes his novels some of the best stuff around today when it comes to fiction that explores crime in all its aspects.

Victim Six is no exception. This is Olsen’s fourth novel and he gets better with each outing. He always had the ability to write about crime, its victims, and its villains in a way that was utterly believable, but it’s obvious his craft as a writer of fiction continues to grow in terms of characterization, pacing, and plotting. Victim Six is a riveting, one-sitting kind of read that spins a serial killer tale that goes above and beyond what jaded readers of the genre have come to expect.

For one, and I’ve said this before, Olsen’s background in true crime gives him unique insight into the minds of killers. Many other authors write about police procedure and past and potential victims, but few can gives us the kind of insight Olsen does into the criminal mind. All of his novels delve into the killers’ stories as much as their victims and investigators, making for a well-balanced and terrifying read. Olsen knows that one thing readers of true crime and fictional misdeeds really want to know is “what in the world were they thinking?” when it comes to antagonist’s choices and compulsions.

For another, Olsen gives us something unusual in the canon of crime writing, either real or imagined: a pair of serial killers, male and female, and fully realized. His killers in Victim Six are a married couple and their killings play into their sick codependence. It’s unique, original, and makes for a disquieting and wholly original read.

I only have a couple of small quibbles with Olsen’s Victim Six: one is the ending, which seems formulaic and predictable once you’ve gotten into the story. I would have liked to see a few more twists as we got to the final few pages, rather than the tidy wrap-up Olsen gives us. And that leads me to my second quibble: in his other crime novels, Olsen builds the suspense a bit better, ratcheting it up with complications and true character terror. Here he goes a bit more from A to B to C, leaving me a bit unsatisfied. I wish that Olsen had given us more suspense which might have been achieved by delving into the “why” of his killers. Victim Six is an excellent read, and one I highly recommend, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more heart-pounding suspense from such an original story and such deliciously evil villains.

Purchase Victim Six by Gregg Olsen.

Columnist Rick R. Reed is the author of twelve novels and has short fiction in more than twenty anthologies. He lives in Seattle, WA. Find out more about the author at his official author website.

Amber Quill Press / December 2009
Reviewed by: Rick R. Reed

Synopsis: Nick Harper has a nice life, a nice job, and a nice girl. Until Labor Day Weekend, when the Phantasmagoria Traveling Wonder Show comes to town.

Seduced by the dark and wickedly erotic charms of both the Phantasmagoria and Torturo, a man known in the freak sideshow as The Pain King, Nick embarks on a journey of self-discovery, love, and pain.

But the show is not what it seems. It changes those who come with it in ways they can never imagine, not even in their worst nightmares.

And Nick's changes are just beginning...

Review: Next to Six Feet Under – one of my all-time-favorite television series – was Carnivale, which was also a product of HBO. It had a weird, convincing, apocalyptic sense of dread about it that I loved. Its story of a traveling carnival and sideshow was gripping, creepy, and in many cases, universal.

Alive on the Inside has a lot in common with that show. It’s the story of a traveling carnival and sideshow called the Phantasmagoria and it’s also replete with a slightly creepy midway, freaks, geeks, and a sinister not-quite-out-of-sight overseeing presence. And while it wouldn’t be fair to compare Carnivale and Alive on the Inside, this new book from two authors whose work I admit to being completely unfamiliar with is original, scary, and thought provoking in its own way.

Alive on the Inside takes the horror story and turns it on its head, making it a one of the most original love stories you may ever come across. Like a geek biting the head off a live chicken, this story of love and a kind of redemption is one that’s hard to look away from, but one that you wish at times you could. It’s by turns gruesome, shocking, tender, poignant, and nauseating (but in a good way fans of horror will understand). Underneath the dread, terror, and mystery of the Phantasmagoria is the continuing thread of an unquenchable timeless love between two wounded men: Nick, a closeted homosexual whose journey to self-acceptance, confidence and eventually, self-love is breathtaking; and Torturo, the “King of Pain” who helps bring Nick to that final place. Theirs is a story that, like other erotic romances, is one that never does run smooth, but is undeniably steeped in a deep and abiding love. Sparrow and Brooks give us two lovers who, by turns, are passionate in their love, lust, and yes, hate and who feed off each other’s best and worst. It’s heady, compelling stuff.

Along the way, readers are immersed in a startlingly original horror tale. I know I found the book hard to put down as I turned pages, searching for answers to the enigma that was the Phantasmagoria. All is revealed toward the end, and while I will not reveal those secrets, I will say that their solutions are somewhat predictable but richly satisfying and imaginative.

Alive on the Inside comes from a gay romance imprint, a place where readers of horror may not be tempted to search for their next nightmare fix, but trust me, this book is a unique and terrifying find…one that will haunt your nightmares as well as your most depraved fantasies.

Purchase Alive on the Inside by Angelia Sparrow and Naomi Brooks.

Columnist Rick R. Reed is the author of eleven novels and has short fiction in more than twenty anthologies. He lives in Seattle, WA. Find out more about the author at his official author website.

Knopf / July 2009
Reviewed by: Beth Harrington

In the sequel to his debut mystery thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, it seems that Stieg Larsson – who was regrettably not alive to enjoy his literary success – predicted the reactions that readers would have to the characters that he created. Namely, that they would crave to become immersed in the world of the weird, aloof, yet irresistibly brilliant cyber-whiz Lisbeth Salander, who was introduced alongside investigator-cum-journalist Mikael Blomkvist. Thus, in The Girl Who Played With Fire, a sequel that can be read independently of its predecessor, Larsson revolves his novel around the miniscule, introverted heroine who was dubbed “the coolest crime-fighting sidekick to come along in many years” by the Washington Post.

The opening scenes of the novel locate Salander – a recent billionaire due to her hacking enterprises – enjoying a vacation in the Caribbean, studying mathematical texts and drinking rum and cokes as the island prepares for a hurricane. She returns to her native Sweden only to quickly find herself the suspect in a string of homicides that involve two reporters who were going to write an expose` on the sex trade for Millennium, the magazine that Blomkvist edits. The case builds against Salander as the police investigation becomes tainted by corruption and fixates on salacious tabloid motives regarding Salander’s tumultuous teenage years spent in mental institutions and foster homes, as well as her unorthodox friends — an S&M dominatrix and a fringe rock band. Nevertheless, Salander manages to accrue a diverse group of allies, including her former employer at a prestigious security firm, a renowned boxing champion, and Blomkvist himself.

In The Girl Who Played with Fire, Larsson has revived a cast of characters who are vivid, likeable, and usually complex. Readers who loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will really appreciate Salander’s cleverness and unassuming wit in evading capture by the bumbling and bigoted police force, as well as the fleshed-out details of her past. A third-person omniscient narrative allows the point-of-view to skip between characters, revealing the motivations of Blomkvist, Salander, the police detectives, and even the killers themselves as their identities begin to emerge.

The primary problem with The Girl Who Played with Fire is its length: a whopping five hundred and twelve pages. It is actually not so much the book’s length but rather why the book is so long that constitutes the issue. Larsson crams his text with the most mundane details of his characters’ ordinary lives. Every meal, every article of clothing, and every coffee and cigarette break taken by a major character is recorded. In the context of some thrillers, the minutiae of characters’ lives can subtly reveal valuable clues that guide readers in the direction of identifying the culprit, but in this novel, that is not the case. Nor do these details ever seem to provide insight into the personalities of characters in ways that Larsson does not already do anyway. Meanwhile, the murders that are the point of the book do not happen until one-third of the way through the text. Larsson is also prone to a certain oversimplification in terms of how his characters view his heroine and how that relates to their morality as a whole. Characters who like and admire his standoffish, perplexing heroine are always good and sympathetic, while those who dislike her are portrayed as villains whose dislike of her stems from their own inherent corruption, misogyny, and unpleasantness.

Overall, The Girl Who Played with Fire will not necessarily have readers burning through the pages at midnight – or at least, if they are, it will be at the expense of skipping extraneous passages about the furniture of Salander’s apartment – but it still remains a fascinating and engaging read. As it is the second installment in a purported trilogy, the novel’s conclusion does not tie up the loose ends nicely, leaving open speculation as to how Lisbeth Salander will fare in her ultimate finale.

Purchase The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson.