Release Day: Lost in the Shadows is now live!

After an extended delay, I'm happy to announce that the third volume in the ongoing saga of Jacqueline Talbot, "Lost in the Shadows," is now live! This has been many months in the making, and is, without a doubt, my favorite book in this series. Alright, enough about me. How about some promotional info?

_______________________

In the shadows, you can even hide from yourself…

When Jacqueline Talbot was in foster care, she often dreamed of being reunited with her father. Now she sees him every day, along with her long-dead mother. Together, they protect a world on the brink of collapse by fighting monsters from neighboring dimensions. Despite this harrowing existence, Jacqueline is actually happy. So happy, in fact, that she doesn’t realize she doesn’t belong here.

Back in the real world, Mitzy Sarin and the Otakus face problems of their own. Not only are Jacqueline’s friends dealing with the fact that she’s up and disappeared, they also seem to each have developed awe-inspiring new talents. They’ll need them too, because in Jacqueline’s absence, reality is starting to fracture. More and more creatures are slipping through the cracks. Natural disasters abound.

The only way to set the world right again is to get Jacqueline back home. But her friends need to act quickly, because the Nightwatch aren’t the only ones looking for her.

Now available at most outlets:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon (Ebook)

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Google Play

REVIEW: Grim (Reaper's Redemption Book 1)

Rating: 5 out of 5

A while back, I reviewed a fascinating literary novel titled “Anomaly” that chronicled a few days in the life of a tortured gender-fluid character named J. The book completely surprised me, and I fell in love with it. (Unfortunately, that particular title is no longer in print, so the world has lost out on reading it…for now.) So when I found out that the author of that little gem, one Thea Atkinson, had pivoted her peculiar talents toward Urban Fantasy, I just HAD to pick up a copy of “Grim” and see for myself how someone with a unique voice such as hers would tackle the genre.

And let me tell you, she tackled it perfectly.

“Grim” is a gem of a book. It is the story of Ayla, a young girl on the cusp of womanhood whose life has been anything but easy. As a child of the foster care system, she has all the insecurities and hang-ups of someone who’s shuffled from home to home. Her distrust lingers even now that she’s found relative safety living with her grandfather in the town of Dyre (great naming there). She’s a contradiction, as most real people are—flawed yet idealistic, fragile yet brimming with inner strength.

Atkinson doesn’t waste time, as the story starts with a bang, an encounter with a strange, tattooed killer in an old gothic church. It is this initial confrontation, and all the horror that goes with it, that begins a breakneck two days for our young, ornery heroine. There are secrets revealed almost immediately, both supernatural and otherwise. The author sure knows how to frame a fight scene, and the action is excellently paced. When reading this book, there really is not time to stop and catch your breath, which only adds to the urgency of the tale.

As with “Anomaly,” Atkinson shows off her biggest talent: the depth of her characters. The story is told through Ayla’s eyes, so obviously she is very well developed, but the rest of the cast, from her grandfather, to Callum the young and seemingly conflicted firefighter, to Ayla’s witchy friend Sarah, leap of the page in real-time. All three of them are complex individuals disguised as genre tropes, which makes them at once relatable and utterly mysterious.

And oh, the mysteries! One of the areas that I’ve seen most authors struggle with when creating any fantasy world is makeup and definition of the world itself. World-building, if you will. Here, Atkinson shows an almost saintly amount of patience. Even though we learn almost immediately of what Ayla’s big secret is, the functionality around that secret, the rules of engagement, and the underlying mythology are doles out bits and pieces at a time, sprinkled here and there throughout the narrative, slowly building the universe like a puzzle.

Being the first book in a series, of course that puzzle isn’t completed by the time the last chapter comes to a close. But what’s revealed up until that point is more than enough to have the reader pining to get to the next book. Which, really, is what the opening volume of a series is all about.

So yes, “Grim” is a great little book, and way more than it seems at first blush. The earnestness that drips like viscera just below the genus of the common is more than enough to make me honestly say, “More, please, and right freaking now.”

Purchase "Grim" at the following outlets:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
Google Play

NEW BOOK RELEASE: INFINITY TRIALS #2

It's finally here. The 2nd book in the ongoing story of Jacqueline Talbot, "Wolves at the Door," is now available across most platforms. Here's a little about the book:

WOLVES AT THE DOOR

Sometimes, a girl just wants to be a girl...

Now that the cat’s out of the bag, the other secrets regarding Jacqueline Talbot’s past—and future—begin to come clear. It’s a lot for a sixteen-year-old girl to deal with, especially when she’s told that the fate of the world rests on her shoulders. 

Jacqueline now must prepare herself to take on the rest of the Trials; the only problem is, no one’s really sure what they are. Not even her aunt, who seems to know a little too much about everything. 

At least she has her support system to help her through it all. But that system is as fragile as everything else in Jacqueline’s troubled life. Just one small misstep and it could all be over…for everyone.



Purchase now at the following outlets:

Amazon (Ebook)
Amazon (Paperback)
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Google Play

iTunes coming soon!

PROJECT UPDATES: April 2017

It’s a wonderful season here in rural Connecticut. Spring is in the air; the days are getting warmer, the trees are starting to bud, chipmunks and squirrels are skittering about, and the grill’s been broken out on more than one occasion. Also, this is the most productive time of year for me, so allow me to fill you all in on what I’m currently working on, what’s steamrolling down the pipeline, and what’s still to come.

Let’s start with a biggie.

SOULTAKER

The first book in my planned Knights Eternal trilogy, slated to be released by Ragnarok Publications in July of this year. Since the pre-order for the paperback is already up over at Amazon, this is a good time to reveal the splendid cover that artist Pablo Fernandez created:

Amazing, right? I’m pretty damn excited about this tale finally seeing the light of day. I’ll have more on the project as we move closer to the release date.

WOLVES AT THE DOOR

The 2^nd book of The Infinity Trials is finished, coming in at a brisk 344 printed pages. Editing is done, proofing has been completed, and formatting is mostly all set. All I’m waiting on now is a cover, which Jesse Young is currently slaving over and should be finished with…soon-ish. As soon as said cover is done, all it will take is a short amount of workshopping—perhaps two, three days, tops—along with finishing the formatting, and then it will be available for purchase. So get ready for more dark adventures from Jacqueline Talbot and her band of misfits. It’s gonna be a good one.

LOST IN THE SHADOWS

The 3^rdInfinity Trials book is also finished, from a pure writing perspective. I’ll be sending the manuscript out to my editors and proof-readers some time in the next two weeks. Of course, I’ll also need a cover for this one too, which means I’ll be putting Jesse to work again very, very soon. No rest for the wicked, eh?

Right now, we’re looking at a mid- to late-July release. Hopefully, that’ll come to fruition, but I can say, with a smidge of confidence, that we won’t be pushing too far past that time. This is, so far, my favorite of the Jacqueline books, one where I got to experiment a little bit. It's also by far the longest, coming in at a sizable 460 printed pages. I hope you’ll all be as happy with the outcome as I am.

QUEEN OF THE DEAD

As of this moment, I’m approximately 33% finished with the rough draft of this novel, which will be the 4^th—and penultimate—volume of The Infinity Trials. This one has been proving slightly problematic, but in a way that will end up being positive for the reader. I’ve had to keep myself honest, beginning the process of tying up all the loose ends I’ve created over the previous three installments. It can be a painful process, but the payoff will be spectacular. That much I can guarantee.

My soft prediction is that this book will be released a week before Halloween, a good time for something called Queen of the Dead to see the light of day. I’ll certainly keep you updated as progress moves along.

And finally…

WIEDERGEBOREN: THE ETERNAL RETURN OF EDWIN VYSE

As Boy in the Mirror is the only Infinity Trials novel to have been released as of this moment, readers have only just briefly been introduced to Edwin Vyse, who is rather important to the plot moving forward. The character is based on a short story I wrote many years ago. He has a rich history, and I feel that history needs its own outlet, as it’s a little too involved to include fully in the scope of Jacqueline’s story.

My plan is to take the next two months and completely rewrite that original story, lengthening it and turning it into a novelette/novella. I’ll be doing this using what is normally my “reading time,” aka the free moments available to me at my day job. Therefore, the book I’m reading right now—the indomitably awesome Husk, written by old favorite D.P. Prior—will constitute the last review to appear on this blog until this story is finished.

Once completed, I plan on releasing Wiedergeboren as both a cheap read and a freebie gift for those who sign up for my newsletter. For those who’re longstanding fans (I know who you are), I’ll gladly send out a complimentary copy if you so desire.

And…that’s about it for today! We’ll chat again soon, folks. Until then, I’ll keep my nose down, and keep on workin’.

REVIEW: Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love

Rating: 5 out of 5

Life isn’t always cut-and-dry. Sometimes, the most terrible of circumstances can directly lead to the most wondrous acts of creation. A personal tragedy can spur an artist to craft their life’s seminal work. Addiction can result in the addict steering an otherwise ill-fated existence onto a path of hopefulness. Society can rally around a national catastrophe, bringing people together, opening up pathways to communication and goodwill. This is true even on a cosmic scale, when something as violent as the Big Bang leads to the creation of life, itself.

And sometimes, an abused woman and a serial killer can find love, because existence can be the darkest of jokes, whose punch-line is hidden beneath layer after layer of human frailty. It is a play in ten thousand disjointed acts without an ending. A contradiction that is at once both alluring and terrifying.

Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu is all of this, and so much more.

Mercedes Yardley, as an author, is herself a contradiction. Her work is darkly whimsical, gorgeously macabre, optimistically cynical, and outwardly aloof, with a dash of cheerful angst thrown in for good measure. Her gift with prose is magical; she’s very nearly creating long-form poetry, channeling every bit of darkness you could imagine, stuffing it into a black hole, churning and squeezing and choking the emotions for all they’re worth, and spitting out something absolutely breathtaking on the other side.

I really cannot say enough about this book. Sure, you can likely find many antagonists as depraved as Lulu the serial killer. Yes, there have often been Fallen Woman heroines that are as lonely, pathetic, and cursed as Montessa. But you would be hard pressed to find another work of fiction that could demonstrate as much dreadful wonder in their mutual discovery of each other. One is evil, the other tortured; together, their story is somber, ugly, and yet eye-mistingly wonderful.

And yes, there is a message lurking within the beautiful prose, hidden in the glint of Lulu’s First Kill Knife. Buried beneath the layers of Montessa’s abuse. Lingering inside the suffocating miasma of ambiguity that governs both of their thoughts.

But what that message is, is up to you to decide.

That is the last contradiction Yardley has given you.

Damn, how I love this appallingly beautiful book.

I think I’ve found a new favorite.

Purchase this book at:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

The Great Glitterbeard Challenge

In 2011, I was feeling in a rut. I had a book to write, and the idea was solid in my head, but for whatever reason, my inspiration failed me. In order to remedy the situation, I called a good friend of mine and challenged her to a writing competition. The details of the challenge aren't necessarily important; what is important is the fact that simply being engaged in a challenge that I could actually lose spurred me onward. I put my head down and worked, and in forty-eight days later, I put the finishing touches on a little book called Silas.

So here we are, almost five years later, and I find myself in the same position. I've been putting off writing the third book in the Covenant series, and it's time for me to find a way to kick myself in the ass. That means I had to get back in contact with my old friend and together cobble together another challenge that will help put our production into overdrive.

So hey, Mercedes Yardley...I CHALLENGE YOU!

Yup, that's her. And okay, she was the one who actually put forth the challenge to me when I complained about not feeling motivated, but hey, let's not split hairs, okay?

So this is the way this challenge will work: Once the starting gun sounds tomorrow morning, the first writer to reach 90,000 words combined in their various projects wins. It's simple, right? That's the beauty of it. And you know what else is beautiful? The fact that winning pretty much means you're the awesomest awesomesause in awesomeland.

But for the loser...ah, the loser. Here's the catch. Public embarrassment is always a great motivator, right? Of course it is. Which is why Mercedes proposed that the loser has to dress themselves up in a glitter beard, take a picture, and use that as their public profile picture for a whole month. A WHOLE DAMN MONTH! And in case you don't know what such a thing as a glitter beard might look like, well...

Or something like that.

As you can plainly see, this is not a challenge either of is will be keen on losing. Oh the humanity! And to keep myself honest, I'll be sure to post regular word-count updates. When? Not entirely sure. It's a work in progress, I say with a shrug.

So there you have it. Once again, the gauntlet has been thrown, Mrs. Yardley.

Let the best alien being win!

(And I'll likely be greeting everyone glittered up in a few months. Dammit.)

Check out Mercedes' blog, A Broken Laptop, or visit her Amazon Author Page. Trust me, it's worth it.

RELEASE DAY! The Mirror of Souls

Guess what day it is? That's right, it's Thursday!

Er, wait a sec...

Oh, that's right. It's actually the day "The Mirror of Souls", the first book in the new Covenant series, is released! To say I'm a little excited about this series is an understatement. I've been thinking about this plot, and these characters, for so long that it's a little surreal that there's finally words on a printed page for everyone to read. It's been a labor of love and pain, but well worth it. Jacqueline Talbot's live, people!

The book can be purchased in e-book form at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks. Google Play is in the process of uploading, and let's just call ITunes a work-in-progress. For the time being, the paperback is only available at Amazon (all countries).

So please, read and enjoy, and make sure you write a review! As always, I can be contacted via email at rjduperreauthor@gmail.com.

LONG LIVE BOOKS!

THE MIRROR OF SOULS (COVENANT BOOK 1)

Fifteen-year-old Jacqueline Talbot's boyfriend Mal lives in the mirror of her makeup case. But then there's never been anything normal about Jacqueline, nor it seems her new hometown of Mercy Hills.

With rumors of actual monsters in the woods, the popular kids taking an unhealthy interest in her, and the revealing of her own dark past, all Jacqueline wants to do is run away forever with Mal. Too bad he's trapped in the mirror.

But when she learns the ancient forces of the town want to destroy everything she loves, the race is on to free the boy in the mirror, because he just might be the only one who knows how to stop them.

Request for reviews: ARCs now available

As I wrote in my previous blog post, The Mirror of Souls will be live in a scant 21 days. With that in mind, and having received a good number of betas back from my proofreaders, it's about time for me to start sending the call out for reviews.

If you would like an Advance Review Copy of The Mirror of Souls, please email me at rjduperreauthor@gmail.com and write "ARC Request" in the title. In the body of the email, tell me whether you require a .mobi (Kindle), .epub (Nook), or simply a PDF of the book, and I will send it on its way.

All I ask in return for these giveaways is a fair and honest review on Amazon (or whatever platform you use, aka Barnes & Noble or Kobo) when you are finished. Even though the release date for the Kindle isn't until January 22nd, it will be available at most other outlets ten days before that date, and the paperback will be live as well. Any words there, even if it's just a couple, would be greatly appreciated. This I beg of you.

Thank you in advance, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Rob D

COVER REVEAL: THE MIRROR OF SOULS

Three years ago, I wrote a book called Silas. In that book was a young girl named Jacqueline Talbot, whose character I've been thinking about for a long, long time. I said then that I would one day write her story, and a few months ago, I began to do just that.

That's right, folks. The first book in the Covenant series, The Mirror of Souls, is soon to be published. For the first time ever, here's the cover:

Product description:

Fifteen-year-old Jacqueline Talbot’s boyfriend Mal lives in the mirror of her makeup case. But then there’s never been anything normal about Jacqueline, nor it seems her new hometown of Mercy Hills.

With rumors of actual monsters in the woods, the popular kids taking an unhealthy interest in her, and the revealing of her own dark past, all Jacqueline wants to do is run away forever with Mal. Too bad he’s trapped in the mirror.

But when she learns the ancient forces of the town want to destroy everything she loves, the race is on to free the boy in the mirror, because he just might be the only one who knows how to stop them.

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The book is currently on pre-order over at Amazon, and I plan on making it available across most platforms come its January 22nd release. This book (and series) is Young Adult with a horror slant. It'll be my first solo new release in over two years, and I'm quite excited about it. (Writing all those books with David Dalglish sure took a lot out of me!) Currently, I'm working on the 2nd book (The Chalice of Desire), with a tentative publication date at the end of April.

In the meantime, there will be another announcement coming in the next few weeks to add even further excitement! I will also be posting the prologue to The Mirror of Souls shortly. So until then, read a good book, dammit! Preferably one of mine!

THE MIRROR OF SOULS PRE-ORDER (CLICK TO PURCHASE)

All about me!

Would you look at that. I haven’t posted anything to this blog in over a year. To think I used to post three or four times a week. And almost none of them were about myself. Madness!

Well, to keep with the theme, I guess I have to write about myself again. A lot of stuff has gone on since I announced the sale of The Breaking World to 47North, and I should really get all those who’re interested updated.

First off, all three books in the initial run of the fantasy series Dave and I wrote are now complete. Dawn of Swords was published in January, while Wrath of Lions is set to be released on April 22^nd. Add to that the fact that Blood of Gods is perilously close to being sent to copyediting, and you can tell how busy of a year it’s been for me. That’s 620,000 words of fiction written in 15 months. Something I never thought would be accomplished, has been. And I couldn’t be happier.

In other news (and this should’ve been posted a long while back), over the course of two months, from August until October of this past year (and while writing the rough draft of Wrath of Lions), I went through and did a complete re-edit of the entire Rift series. That was something I’ve been pining to do for a very long time. There were just certain things about the series that wore on me, from typos to style to an ending that I (and a number of reader) felt was rushed. So I dove in and made over three thousand corrections, as well as added an extra 10,000 words, most of which come at the book’s climax. Hopefully, the added material will make the final battle feel much more real, and add some much-needed closure for characters that had been unfairly ignored by me. Personally, I think it enhances the story greatly.

As it stands, the revised version of The Rift is only available in the four-book omnibus. For now, the individual books remain the same as they were when they were originally published, though only available in e-book format. The print version of the series is now offered in two separate volumes. Also, unlike when I first put the omnibus together last year, the digital version contains all of Jesse’s awesome artwork. Yay for progress!

Oh, and now The Fall e-book is permanently available for free, so there's that as well.

So we have the Breaking World books and The Rift news. To add to that, there’s a short story I wrote coming down the pike any day now. The story’s called Silence, and it will be included in Shock Totem issue 8.5, which is a collection of love stories told with a horror slant. The story I submitted might be my favorite ever, so I can’t wait for the day that gets released. Oh, and there’s also another short I’m writing for an invite-only anthology called My Peculiar Family. The story’s not finished yet, but it will be in the next day or so, and it’ll be another good one when it is. Thanks, Kristi, for inviting me! That anthology should see the light of day sometime at the end of the summer of 2014.

All of which begs the question: where is Rob going from here? Well, Dave and I still have three more books to write together—Kings of Ruin, Prince of Beasts, and Queen of Lies—in order to finish off our tale of Dezrel’s beginnings. To be honest, after writing the first three books in that series so damn quickly, we’re both suffering from a bit of burnout, so we’re going to put off starting those for a little bit. In the meantime, I’m going to go ahead and write the rough draft of The Mirror of Souls, which was placed on the backburner when the opportunity to work with Dave came about. That story’s all I’ve been able to think about for a couple weeks now, and I can’t wait to dive in. Jacqueline Talbot is calling out to me, folks. Tell my story, she says, and rather creepily at that. I’m getting the shivers just thinking about it!

However, just because I’m writing that book doesn’t mean it’s going to be released anytime soon. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with it. I haven’t decided if I want to self-publish or find a home with an actual publisher (if that’s even an option). Another thing to take into consideration is books 4-6 of The Breaking World. Should the pressure mount to dive into that world once more, that’s something I’ll have to do. If that happens, any public sighting of Jacqueline’s first solo effort would be delayed indefinitely. While I do plan on having the rough draft finished by the end of April, I couldn’t justify putting out a single tome of a four-book series, only to let the readers sway in the wind for a year or two. Nope, not gonna happen.

In other words, everything’s still up in the air. All I do know is that I have two short stories and two more books coming out in the next eight months. And that, in and of itself, is something to be excited about.

Thanks for stopping by and listening, and hopefully I can start keeping this blog a little more active than it’s been.

But no promises. :-)

Rob D

Review: Epitaphs: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

I love short stories. I love to read them, I love to write them. But you know what’s better than a short story? A whole freaking collection of them! And someone recently shipped me over a copy of Epitaphs, a Stoker-nominated collection of tales and poetry from the New England Horror Writers, a group that is very close to my heart. Of course I had to dive right in.

Okay, enough banter. Let’s get down to the daunting task of looking at the stories themselves.

To Sleep, Perchance to Die by Jeffrey C. Pettengill: Well, let’s just say the collection didn’t start out so well for me. Here we have a tale of a CPAP machine gone horribly wrong. The tone just seemed to lag, and honestly the ending seemed a bit campy, though without the fun that camp implies.

The Christopher Chair by Paul McMahon: And here we go! One of the better stories in the collection, about an antique wheelchair blessed by St. Christopher that can supposedly heal the sick…for a price. Atmospheric and full of confliction, McMahon really packs a punch with this one.

A Case of the Quiets by Kurt Newton: The first poem in the collection, and a doozy. It brings to mind horror poetry of old, with a very Poe-esque flow, and comes very close to matching the former master’s penchant for nailing the dark side of human nature coming from within the mundane.

Build-A-Zombie by Scott T. Goudsward: This one was quirky and fun, telling of a boy assembling an unusual gift from a new sort of gift shop. It made me want to know more about the world in which it takes place, which is a good thing.

Not An Ulcer by John Goodrich: Wow. This story, to me, was far and away the best of the bunch. In it a man who hates everything about the world, including himself, literally separates himself from his emotions. It’s “Be careful what you wish for,” taken to the extreme. Tremendous, and the ending gave me chills.

The Possessor Worm by B. Adrian White: A quaint little tale told through emailed correspondences between characters, kind of an updated take of Lovecraft, if you will. In the end the payoff fell a little flat. Still pretty good, however.

Make a Choice by John M. McIlveen: Truly haunting, telling the story of a madman who torments a family for a night, forcing the parents into a decision that no parent would ever—or should ever—have to make. It’s a fantastic exploration of the human condition and how survival of the fittest might not be completely erased from our cellular memory. As an added bonus, the end is shocking because of what doesn’t happen, which surprisingly makes it all the more disturbing.

The Death Room by Michael Allen Todd: Another poem, this one not nearly as good as the first, but I still appreciated the creepy undertones.

Perfect Witness by Rick Hautala: Now this is a twist. A murdered man is brought back to a sort of pseudo-life for a short time in order to testify at the trial of his murderer. The interplay between his thoughts and what might actually be happening in the world outside his rotting brain was really well done. Also, the author hints that this experiment might have grave repercussions down the road. Do I smell a novel coming? Given the author’s enjoyable style, I hope so.

Stony’s Boneyard by Glenn Chadbourne and Holly Newstein: Atmosphere, sorrow, and forgiveness rule the day in this excellently (and traditionally) crafted short. It deals with a tattoo artist and the biker whose back represents the greatest achievement of her life. Unlike a lot of stories in the collection, this one actually ends on a bittersweet note, equal parts solemn and hopeful. Really well done.

Kali’s Promise by Trisha J. Wooldridge: The third poem, and another traditionally-inspired example of getting exactly what you ask for. It’s quite entertaining and told in a repetitive way that added to the tone of dread. I knew it was well written because I guessed the ending after the very first stanza and it still had me captivated.

Sequel by David Bernard: Not my favorite. I’ve seen this sort of plot—about a horror writer who takes his inspiration a bit too literally—many times before. It’s well written, but predictable.

Malfeasance by David North-Martino: This was perhaps the most maddening story in the bunch. Just as with the previous story, I knew how it would end very early on. And yet it was crafted so intricately, I kept thinking no, I’m wrong, there’s a twist here I’m not seeing. But then…it ended just how I thought it would. Disappointing in that regard, yes, but it was still very much worth the read.

Private Beach by Stacey Longo: A fun little romp that harkens back to the pulp horror era, about two beachgoers who of course ignore a No Trespassing sign and pay the price for it.

All Aboard by Christopher Golden: The second-best story in the collection. A disquieting tale of a mother and father’s struggle to come to grips with the death of their child, with a dash of the supernatural thrown in. It really is a heavy-hearted story that thankfully doesn’t come across as heavy-handed. By the end I was on the verge of tears—and I couldn’t tell if they were happy or sad, which is a first for me.

Holiday House by L.L. Soares: This was a decent offering, about a pair of old sisters who live in a ramshackle estate (think Grey Gardens) that might be haunted, or might conceal other, more frightening entities. I particularly liked the ambiguity at the end.

Lines at a Wake by Steven Withrow: A very short poem that brings about one hell of an eerie vibe using an economy of words.

A Deeper Kind of Cold by K. Allen Wood: This one was interesting. On a space station, a woman frets while the love of her life, who is in a rather odd state, struggles to survive a mysterious sickness. The tone was fantastic, and it asks the question of what it is we actually love about a person. Though the ending was fantastic in its grim earnestness, I couldn’t help but think the setting wasn’t used nearly enough. The metaphor of the emptiness of space as compared to the emotional distance between the woman and her mate just never materialized, which I thought was a missed opportunity. That being said, it’s still a wonderful tale. That ending alone is worth the time it takes to read it.

Alone by P. Gardner Goldsmith: A very creepy and very short story of a man wiling his hours away, isolated in his home, as the world may or may not be ending outside. It had a very Twilight Zone vibe to it, which was cool.

Pandora’s Box by Roxanne Dent: I wasn’t the biggest fan of this story, about a woman who suspects her husband is having an affair and gives into her impulse to follow him. The opening sequence completely gives away the twist at the end. If only that had been cut, it would’ve been a much more enjoyable experience.

Chuck the Magic Man Says I Can by Michael Arruda: This was a really fun and idiosyncratic little tale of two sisters staying at their parents’ friends house while they’re away on vacation, friends who just may hold a secret that only the precocious younger daughter can handle. I really enjoyed it.

Burial Board by T.T. Zuma: Very moody period piece about a man and a burial board that does some rather…strange things. Well written, but for some reason it didn’t feel complete to me.

Windblown Shutter by John Grover: A kid sees his mother murdered and is haunted by the memory and the fact he never saw the killer’s face. I found this to be a fabulous study of the cyclical and never-ending effects of grief and guilt, even if the murder mystery fell a little flat.

Cheryl Takes a Trip by Stephen Dorato: Even though it wasn’t my overall favorite, this story, to me, was perhaps the most inventive of any in this collection. When a woman’s spirit is cast from her body after her mysterious death, she decided to go and do the one thing she’d always wanted to do but had never done—take a trip to Bermuda. It’s really a self-exploration piece, focusing on the way fear can rule our lives, and maybe even our deaths. I thought it was great.

Legend of the Wormley Farms by Philip Roberts: A haunted farm draws a trio of brothers into its sticky, legendary web. It lagged a little in the middle, but in the end I was actually quite shocked. I also thoroughly enjoyed how the author delved into the ways familial pressures and support (or lack thereof) can damage young minds.

The Church of Thunder and Lightning by Peter N. Dudar: An interesting choice to end the anthology, about a reporter and her cameraman on a mission to document the odd rituals of a Jim Jones-type cult. The cost of ambition without regard for human decency was certainly on display, and the function of the cult itself was a truly original creation.

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And that’s it! Maybe the longest review I’ve ever written, too.

Overall, I have to say I loved this collection. While every story didn’t ring true to me, the vast majority of them did, and most of those that didn’t were still expertly crafted. There are a variety of unique voices, and in a lot of them you can certainly sense the slightly Puritanical undertones that most people who grew up in New England are saddled with. It’s an anthology well worth your time and money, and the authors are worth keeping an eye on.

You can buy the paperback of Epitaphs here:










And the E-book:

Review: Jenny Pox by J.L. Bryan

Rating: 4.9 out of 5

The teen years. A time of awkwardness and confusion, of inner turmoil and the search for one’s self. Throw into this the pressures of school, the chaos of personal and family relations, and the conflicting messages when discovering of one’s own sexuality, and the stress multiplies. This is hard enough on a normal child, but imagine being someone who has a problem – a real problem such as a deformity, mental handicap, or social deficiency. Then the stress involved with simply growing up becomes that much more difficult.

In a lot of ways, this is the root of the conflict J.L. Bryan explores in his amazing horror yarn, Jenny Pox. He takes the pressures and cruelties of youth, adds in a dash of the supernatural, and what comes out on the other side is beautiful in its viciousness and odd innocence.

Jenny is a lonely child, growing up without a mother, with her alcoholic, depressed father the only loving adult in her life. Jenny is a troubled child, born with a striking physical deficiency – she can’t touch any living thing, lest they die a horrible death as a bane of sickness infuses their bodies…the Jenny pox. So she grows up in solitude, left to imagine what life would be like if she could only be like normal kids, playing, holding hands, kissing, knowing at least the first budding flutter of love.

Her life is spent avoiding people at all costs, and she at all times wears clothes that cover up the majority of her body – including gloves for her hands – that make her an object of ridicule. And when, as a younger child, she has a run-in with the ironically named Ashleigh Goodling, the daughter of the local preacher and a girl who will grow up to be her main foil, the resulting confrontation leads to her being an object of ridicule and fear.

For her part, Ashleigh is the mirror image of Jenny. Strong where Jenny is weak, outgoing where Jenny is introverted, Ashleigh embodies everything Jenny sometimes wishes she could be. Once they reach high school, Ashleigh becomes (of course) the head cheerleader, leader of the student body, and mouthpiece for abstinence and virtue. And this is where the not-so-subtle brilliance of the story lies, for though Ashleigh seems to embody all of the cherished Christian values, her purity is purely surface-level; a disguise to hide her quest for power and domination.

It seems Ashleigh has a “special talent” just as Jenny does – the ability to make people love her. As does Ashleigh’s boyfriend Seth, who can heal most any wound, superficial or mortal. It is in Seth that Jenny eventually finds a like-minded soul, and when she is able to get him out of Ashleigh’s scope of influence, she is allowed to grow as a character, to experience the exhilaration of physical contact and the joy of finally belonging.

The novel is set up much like Stephen King’s Carrie, with the cruel school children – and the rest of the townsfolk – pushing Jenny’s buttons until the final confrontation, when Jenny pretty much loses her mind. The carnage that follows is disturbing yet understandable, not the least of which reason being that Bryan successfully entrenches us in Jenny’s brain, allows us to feel her longing, pain, happiness, and confusion. So when she flips the switch and the story takes a turn down the path of ultimate darkness, though we scream out, no, don’t do that, we completely get why the poor girl goes down the path she does.

Jenny is the perfect metaphor for the everyday lost soul. Even those of us who were in places of popularity in our youths can relate to her much more than the malevolent Ashleigh. Yet this is not the only metaphorical device the author uses. His portrayal of Christian morality as a means of control and subterfuge is inspired; in a way, he’s saying that experimenting while growing up is natural, and that placing false restrictions on ourselves is done not by the ones experiencing the growth, but those wishing to capitalize on the confusion of youth, a way of building an army of likeminded individuals sympathetic with a certain cause, complete with all the prejudices, hatred, and influence that have been passed down through generations. Given the state of our culture today, this is downright frightening.

I think this aspect of the plot may be misconstrued by readers. In presenting us with the iniquity of fanatic belief, Bryan isn’t saying Christianity in itself is bad, but that the way the doctrine is warped and beaten into the heads of our children is dangerous. As a reader I appreciated the message, as a human I wished more people would take a deeper look and understand that diversity and individuality are what drives culture to accomplish great things.

Jenny Pox takes all the tropes of young adult fiction, tosses them in a pot, shakes them up, and then reorganizes them into something meaningful, a novel written for adults using children to explore the deeper reasoning behind our own intolerance. The kids are kids, acting in a way we all did in our youths, not presented as ideals but real people. You will find no damsels in distress here, no characters that derive their meaning from the opinions of the ones they’re infatuated with. Abusive relationships aren’t puffed up as being more than what they are, each character is in charge of their own self-discovery, and misogyny isn’t glorified. Even Jenny, in her weakest state, is a strong individual, one we all can sympathize and grow along with. Even the mystical aspects at the end of the book that set up the rest of the series, and the somewhat clunky execution of the final confrontation (the only reason this book didn’t get a perfect score) don’t take away from this.

Pick up this book. Read it. Enjoy it. Think on it. It’s a great example of horror with heart, of a story that goes against the norm and uses the fantastic to heighten real events, real emotions, real experiences. Yes, I will say that I adore J.L. Bryan’s writing. This is the second book of his that I’ve read, and it seems with each experience, my enjoyment and appreciation for his style and message only grows along with the dazzling characters he’s created. He’s a writer to watch out for, to dive into, to explore.

This certainly won’t be the last book of his I’ll read, and it shouldn’t be for you, either.

Purchase Jenny Pox in ebook format at the following outlets:

Review: The Haunted E-Book by J.L. Bryan

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

It’s a great feeling when you come across an idea you haven’t seen before, isn’t it? I mean, we’ve all read stories of haunted houses, haunted cars, even haunted people…but a haunted ebook? I mean, think about it for a second—even the term didn’t exist ten years or so ago.

Which makes the appropriately-titled The Haunted E-Book, written by J.L. Bryan of Jenny Pox fame, the first of its kind. This is a primacy that all writers yearn for but very few achieve.

On to the story.

Dee is a librarian in rural Georgia, a broken woman stuck in a place she doesn’t want to be simply because she wants to be close to the grave of her deceased friend Lilah. She spends her time reading her Kindle while trying to forget the fact her life’s gone nowhere in a hurry. Her loser townie boyfriend treats her like she isn’t there, which in fact reflects Dee’s view of herself. She’s a shell of a woman, a ghost wafting through the real world, hardly ever seen.

Strange things begin happening right away, when she downloads a book titled—yup—The Haunted E-Book. The book takes over her entire library of digital books, even inserting itself into other stories when she tries to read something different.

And this is where things get very, very interesting, because what we have here is a story within a story…within a story. Dee reads about Madison, who’s reading about Parker, who’s reading about Elaine. And in each incarnation, the person they’re reading about is reading a book called the same thing, only with the individual story being different. It sounds confusing, like looking into two mirrors at the same time and seeing the same image projected over and over again into infinity, but in fact, with the way Bryan constructed the story, it’s quite easy to follow.

The book follows the same pattern with every reader—so-and-so begins to be haunted by a mysterious, shadowy figure with letters stamped on his flesh, and who carries an iron composite stick with which he kills his victims. And how do you fall victim to this sadistic ghost?

Why, you stop reading.

Dee is thrust into the lives of the people she reads about, and her life at home falls apart. Then, following a familiar pattern with tales of hauntings, she is sent on a mission to discover the history behind the book, actually meets a few of the characters she’s read about (who turn out to be people just as real as her), and begins a daring chase in hopes of putting an end to the bad guy once and for all. In a way, it’s the story of one woman coming to grips with who she is, realizing her worth to both herself and the ones who loved her. And since this is horror, this epiphany comes when her life hangs precariously by a thread.

While the last third of The Haunted E-Book does follow a familiar pattern, the hows and whys of the plot make it refreshing. The evil presence behind the haunting is sinister in a subversive way, a “man” whose every action is made out of love—or at least his own twisted definition of it. He’s creepy and evocative of horror tales past, and his backstory, yet another book-within-a-book, is fascinating, as is the description of how he comes to haunt the books in the first place.

In all, I can heartily recommend The Haunted E-Book to anyone who enjoys reading an original, inventive horror yarn, complete with dismemberment, terror, and visceral thrills. It’s a hellride, the journey of one woman who wishes to be reborn while experiencing the most dreadful events of her lifetime. It will chew you up and spit you out, and by the time you read the final page, you’ll be left wondering if the words The End are truthful…or if it’s yet another vehicle of malevolence to lull us into a false sense of security.

Purchase The Haunted E-Book in, ahem, ebook format at the following retailers:

Where on earth has the Journal gone?

Come tomorrow, it will have been exactly one month since I've posted a review on this site. Oh, the horror! I'm here to inform you that I've not left you stranded, my few readers. Rather, I've simply been quite busy.

On January 5th, 2012, I will be releasing the 3rd installment of The Rift, "Death Springs Eternal." In other words, it's been crunch time over in these parts. The beginning of the book stifled me a bit, as I wanted to take it in a bit of a different direction from the previous book, "Dead of Winter." Because of this, my numerous other projects have taken a backseat - reviewing being one of them.

This does not mean to say that I have stopped reading. I haven't. Not in the slightest. In fact, there are five - count 'em, five - books that I still need to craft a review for. I've been pushing them back, as reviews take me usually about an hour or so to write and I've been paranoid about not meeting my deadline. However, I seem to be back on track, so the next review will appear this coming Wednesday, October 26th. The books to be reviewed go as follows:

Fourth Reich Rising by Tom Schwartz
Suspense by Jason Letts
Dance of Death by David Dalglish
The Haunted Ebook by J.L. Bryan
Jenny Pox by J.L. Bryan

Also, in case anyone hasn't noticed, I've removed the submissions page from this site. That's right, I'm no longer accepting submissions. At all. I'll take suggestions, but from now on I will be reading what I want to read. I think part of the reason I've lost a little bit of interest in the reviews is that there have been quite a few books I've started, and then stopped reading after a few pages because they weren't very well written or just didn't interest me. What's the solution? Why, to read what interests me, of course! So that's the way it'll be from now on.

So, that's it for today. Take care all, and see you this Wednesday.

- RJD

THE SILAS BLOG TOUR IS OVER!

And we have a winner!

There were over 450 entrants into the contest, so there was some tough competition. So congratulations goes out to...

KAREN OLIVIA!

Thank you to all of the blogs who participated! It was a fantastic experience for myself, and with the fantastic reception this book has received, things are only looking up from here!

A huge thanks goes out to Kismet Book Touring for organizing this whole shebang. You do great work ladies!

ST Review: The Zombie Feed edited by Jason Sizemore

(Note from the Journal: This review initially appeared on ShockTotem.com - sans ratings)

4.1 out of 5

I love me a good zombie tale. Dawn of the Dead is my favorite movie of all time, Romero is a god to me, and my first book is about those meandering, rotting corpses. So when I was sent The Zombie Feed, the new compilation put out by Apex Publications and edited by Jason Sizemore, for review, I was more than pumped to dive right in.

Inside this volume are 17 tales of zombies in all of their various forms. At first I expected a grouping of run-of-the-mill apocalyptic, undead stories. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered how different the collection is, with how many various directions the authors took what very often are clichéd tropes and plot devices.

In order to adequately break down this fantastic collection, let’s look at The Zombie Feed story by story.

Not Dead by B.J. Burrow: A woman wakes up on her deathbed, questioning if she’s still alive. A touching story of the nature of faith and what really defines humanity. (5/5)

Tomorrow’s Precious Lambs by Monica Valentinelli: An original, if somewhat clunky, take on the origins of the outbreak and the privileged nature of the wealthy. It could’ve been spectacular given the original premise the author came up with, but it falls flat. A little too “Ah, gotcha!” for my taste. (3/5)

Cold Comfort by Nathaniel Tapley: What is this? A zombie tale without a true zombie? A fantastic story dealing with the undead that only exist in the narrator’s head, as a Russian mortician whose wife is cheating on him communes with his recently-departed patients. Ironically enough, in this particular tale it isn’t the dead who should be considered zombies. (5/5)

The Final December Day by Lee Thompson: This one follows more along the lines of a traditional zombie tale. A lone cop, searching for his long-lost partner on his last day on earth, runs across a young photographer. An interesting take on the apocalypse where the zombies are simply drug-addicted, insane humans, and aliens roam the earth. I enjoyed the message, but it fell a little short. This is one short story that begged to be longer. (4/5)

Broken Bough by Daniel I. Russell: A particularly heartbreaking tale of the end of the world, told from the point of view of a young family of three struggling with the ultimate decision. Truly sad, it makes you wonder what you might do should the unthinkable happen. Would you be able to take the actions necessary? Haunting. (5/5)

The Sickness Unto Death by Brandon Alspaugh: A somewhat convoluted tale of the recently departed rising up, remembering their pasts and able to act as human, though they’re no longer living. A bit confusing, and written in a way that I think might seem like the author’s trying to “put one over” on the reader. I’m all for an original, inventive story, but this one seemed too clever for its own good. (2/5)

A Shepherd in the Valley by Maggie Slater: Now this one was creepy. A man, all alone and living in an old airport, has figured out a way to “tame” the dead. A heartening examination of a parent’s love and the sacrifices one must make in the face of absolute terror. (5/5)

Twenty-Three Second Anomaly by Ray Wallace: Eh, I could give or take this one. The story of human experimentation and how exact science can be. Interesting, but the punch isn’t punchy enough and the emotions seems forced. Not bad, but could be better. (3/5)

The Last Generation by Joe Nazare: Another very interesting and not-quite-zombie story. All people have fallen over and entered a state of non-death, and only a few wake up, albeit minus their memories and sense of self. An inventive story, but lacking in some important information (such as how do they remember pop culture references and not their names or pasts) that could have made the story much more affecting. Decent nonetheless. (4/5)

Bitten by Eugene Johnson: One of the few standard zombie tales in the whole collection. A very short story of a bunch of folks trying to protect a house at the end of the world. It is what you’d expect. (3/5)

Lifeboat by Simon McCaffery: A very entertaining story of a group of people surviving the apocalypse by sailing the ocean on a cruise ship. Intriguing and imaginative, the narrative takes twists and turns I never expected, coming out at the end in an intense, hell-bent-for-leather climax. One of the best in the bunch. (5/5)

Rabid Raccoons by Kristen Dearborn: Now this is what I call taking a genre and flipping it on its head. A teen girl does her friend wrong, only to be assailed (possibly mystically) by zombie raccoons. A stupendous job of telling a story from the viewpoint of a young adult, this tale captures the sense of seclusion and fear beautifully. Great story. (5/5)

Zombies on the Moon by Andrew Clark Porter: Another short tale, and while the imagery of a moon cluttered with zombies has stuck with me since I’ve read it, this is another example of a story that could use some fleshing out to be perfect. (4/5)

The Fare by Lucian Soulban: The absolute best story of the bunch. A lonely man in the aftermath of the world’s end hires a mysterious cabbie to help him obtain closure for his past sins. A tremendous study of the human condition, of how guilt can guide our actions after a traumatic event, no matter if we were in the right or not. (5/5)

What’s Next? by Elaine Blose: This is the only story that I don’t think belongs in this collection. It wants to be campy, describing a world where aliens bring about the zombie apocalypse, only to have monster after monster appear in their wake, but it comes off as amateurish. The rest of the stories in this collection are so strong and insightful, it seems entirely out of place. (2/5)

Goddamn Electric by K. Allen Wood: Another ingenious story, imagining a “different” sort of zombie, when the skies open up during an apocalyptic storm and fry everyone who wasn’t smart enough to find shelter. High on anxiety and even (surprisingly) emotion, this story follows an old man who’s lived a long life and isn’t quite ready to give it up. (5/5)

Hipsters in Love by Danger Slater: This is the oddest story of the bunch. I absolutely hated it until I was a couple pages in, when I went back to the beginning and re-read the title. This is a complete farce of a tale, a satire poking fun at a certain segment of our modern culture, complete with kids and their ironic t-shirts worrying about obtaining some Pabst Blue Ribbon in the face of the undead. A highly funny romp, it’s the perfect choice to end this anthology. (5/5)

So that’s it! In all, I’ll say this is well worth the read, and the best zombie anthology to come out in years. Congrats to Apex and to Jason Sizemore. You’ve collected something highly entertaining and even touching. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves this genre of story.

Overall – 70/85 (4.1/5)

Purchase The Zombie Feed in ebook format: