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Dead Religion (Book Review)

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Dead Religion Book CoverBook: Dead Religion
Year: 2012
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Author: David Beers
Language: English
Chapters: 32
Pages: 210
Type: Novel

 

David Beers Author PictureAuthor’s Summary: A hotel explodes in Mexico City, and all available evidence points to an American citizen, Alex Valdez, as the terrorist. The FBI is desperate to find the truth before the Mexican government can. Dead Religion follows the trail of FBI agent James Allison, who leaves his family and journeys to Mexico in order to find what secrets lay behind the destroyed hotel and all the lives lost with it. To do that though, Alex Valdez’s life must be laid bare—the blood rite his parents left him and the ‘God’ they felt had been unleashed on the world. Agent Allison races to find the truth in Mexico City, to uncover Valdez’s life, before he finds himself face to face with the same terror.

Review: Dead Religion confronts your fears, it makes you contemplate faith, and proposes many questions; how strong willed do you think you are when one of your most trusting Gods you believe in is coming after you? Well that is the exact thing that Alex Valdez must face in this novel, all in the style of the iconic Stephen King.

There are many characters you cross paths with in Dead Religion. Including the person you follow the most Alex, his wife Brittany, a psychiatrist named Daniel, and James, a FBI Agent who is assigned to investigate and solve a bombing to a hotel in Mexico which causes destruction, mayhem and death to several of Alex’s closet comrades. There are many more people you encounter in Dead Religion, and will learn about them during your reading.

A touch more on the story; during James’ crime solving he finds out if there are terrorists involved or could it be plain insanity? A focal point is on this “plague” that surfaces which when people come in contact with the disease ridden, they get infected and start experiencing hallucinations, nightmares or reality, you must decide. Another device used in Dead Religion is a God who goes by Maux. You have sacrifices, death and strange occurrences that play out and develop into the fight for survival in this bizarre world in which Alex lives in.

The ending was a shock, it never occurred to me that the climax would be so bleak, but hey, this is horror and I appreciate a story not wrapped up in a tight little bow. Dead Religion has many positives, a few a like to outline is; in today’s tumultuous landscape, with rampant religious quandaries, Dead Religion couldn’t of come out at a better time. The story was fascinating and thought-provoking, not as weird as some authors, but still good. My main gripe with this novel is that the story unfolded in a back-and-forth kerfuffle jetting you off to the past and thrusting you back to the present throughout the whole read. I do like sequential novels more, so it was a rougher ride of comprehension for my liking.

The book is available to buy at Amazon on Paperback for $7.99 or you can get the E-Book or Kindle Edition for free, if you have the amazing Amazon Prime Subscription. The cost is the selling point here and comes as an easy recommendation, an inexpensive price point that I appreciate from Mr. Beers. For the cost of a Venti Latte at Starbucks, you can have a few nights of indulging yourself into a strange story while escaping your money woes. My ratings, suggestions and links are below.

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Reviewer: Dark Goddess
Date: 10/26/2012
Rating: 5½/10
Suggestion: Paperback: Buy
Suggestion: E-Book: Buy

Zippered Flesh: Tales Of Body Enhancements Gone Bad! (Book Review)

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Zippered Flesh Book CoverBook: Zippered Flesh: Tales Of Body Enhancements Gone Bad!
Year: 2012
Publisher: Smart Rhino Publications
Author: Various Authors, Edited By Weldon Burge
Language: English
Chapters: 20 Short Stories
Pages: Paperback = 284, E-Book = 285
Type: Anthology

 

Weldon Burge EditorAuthor’s Summary: Monstrous transplants. Appalling amputations. Bizarre implants. Nightmarish forms of body enhancements. Disturbing, perverse, often gut-wrenching stories–all between the covers of this anthology. Here are 20 tales by some of today’s best horror, suspense, and science fiction writers, including Graham Masterton, John Shirley, Scott Nicholson, Michael Laimo, Lisa Mannetti, L.L. Soares, Armand Rosamilia, Aaron J. French, Christopher Nadeau, Michael Bailey, Adrienne Jones, Charles Colyott, J. Gregory Smith, Michael Louis Calvillo, Jezzy Wolfe, Jonathan Templar, P.I. Barrington, Elliott Capon, Rob M. Miller, and Weldon Burge. The stories are not for those who are faint of heart or squeamish, or who are easily offended by nasty language, bloody violence, and freakish body augmentations. You’ve been warned!

Review: Zippered Flesh: Tales Of Body Enhancements Gone Bad is a collection of 20 short stories, most are original even though there are a few republished stories here. This is an anthology style read where I will outline each story briefly. BOOTSTRAP – THE BINDS OF LASOLASTICA; A Scientist, cancer and cloning do mix; IDOL; Family members body parts help a girl perform on-stage again; UNPLUGGED; A recluse encounters aliens; COMFORT; A crazy guy cuts open his dead mother for some womb-style feelings; YOU WITH ME; Drugging women, cutting facial parts and sewing them to oneself is an atrocity; THE SHAPING; Sculpting using real body parts is the key; SOMETHING BORROWED; Borrowing organs doesn’t always work; EQUILIBRIUM; Body parts show up on the doorstep of a family; SAWBONES; Replacing limbs and organs with tools and reptiles; WHIRLING MACHINE MAN; Imagination produces a fairy; SEX OBJECT; Surgery and sex; THE SAD, NOT-SO-SAD, BALLAD OF GOAT-HEAD JEAN, AMBIVALENT DEVIL QUEEN; Women sacrifices and cults; LOCKS OF LOATHE; Receiving organs from a donor causes serial killings; BY HOOK; Curses, fears and more body parts; CREEPING DEATH; It’s addicting to get tattoos, but you don’t think it’s cult related, do you; PARAPHILIA; An amputee tries to make money; INDEPENDENCE DAY; Glamor surgery turns bad when the devil appears; MARVIN’S ANGRY ANGEL; Attaching an angel to your body isn’t always a plus; CHANGE OF HEART; Reversing witch curses causes more harm than good; HEARING MILDRED; A spouses death turns maniacal when voices are heard.

I gave you a quick feel of each story, and overall I would like to state that it was a struggle for me to get through many tales encompassing one overall book. The collection is brutal…nice, but traveling in-and-out of stories got cumbersome. Zippered Flesh is not for the squeamish, it’s detailed, and gore entrenched, cancer ridden with body part mutilations which I personally desire with a book of this nature, but…after reading almost 300 pages and different entanglements it got overbearing.

My favorite story by far was SAWBONES by L. L. SOARES which garnered a 10 rated fictional story. I truly wish the whole book was based around this subject matter. It has several different feels all rolled into one. A person goes through surgery to add saws to his bones, he is a killer, and he crosses paths with a woman that instead of intestines replaces them with a serpent or snake so to speak. It was engaging, climactic and different than any horror story I have ever read. A huge thank you to the author for providing an unparalleled story that grips you to the inner-core. Give us more L. L.!!!

My thought process was similar to another anthology book I read earlier for Horror Palace, which is; my “review mind” had to keep it fresh and not confusing, I wrote down a rating for each individual story. When the book was completed, I totaled up the ratings and divided by 20 which gave me the final overall outcome of Zippered Flesh. It’s the only way to be fair for a book in this written style. Some stories and authors are better than others, way better actually.

The book is available to buy at Amazon on Paperback for $12.78 or you can get the E-Book or Kindle Edition for a mere $2.99. Readers who like short stories and torturous details will definitely get a thrill ride with Zippered Flesh. My ratings, suggestions and links are below.

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Reviewer: Dark Goddess
Date: 10/23/2012
Rating: 5/10
Suggestion: Paperback: Avoid
Suggestion: E-Book: Buy

Working Stiffs (Book Review)

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Working Stiffs Book CoverBook: Working Stiffs
Year: 2012
Publisher: Necro Publications
Author: Lucy Leitner
Language: English
Chapters: N/A
Pages: 248
Type: Novel

 

Lucy Leitner Author PicturePublisher’s Summary: Working Stiffs is a hilarious, action-packed tale of survival in the fast-paced world of pharmaceuticals. Something has gone horribly wrong in the Pro-Well Pharmaceuticals factory and ex-meth dealer Marshall Owens, the company’s owner and drug genius, must keep the surrounding Pittsburgh area from finding out. Unfortunately, the undead assembly line workers have other plans. The infection spreads and chaos reigns supreme as the surviving Pro-Well employees battle their way through offices with whatever weapons they can scrounge from the supply closet. They must get outside. But they don’t know that The General is out there amassing a shambling, rotting army of Pittsburgh’s finest. Will the employees make it? Will two repulsive workers find love in a janitor’s closet? How many office workers can one man take down with the blade of a paper cutter and some staplers? Will Marshall Owens go back to selling meth? And most important of all, will Pro-Well’s stock value plummet? Find out all the answers in this brilliant new horror/comedy novel reminiscent of style of Christopher Moore.

Review: I am going to start this review with my perception of the plot for Working Stiffs; a previous drug-lord named Marshall Owens is the CEO of a Pittsburgh Pharmaceutical company. He creates chemicals that zombiefies or sickens lowlifes in society like the homeless, whores and addicts so he can put them to work at the drug company on the assembly line so he can get out of paying the employees.

These drugs turn the unsuspecting lower rung of society into grotesque gray-looking creatures with rotting teeth and scabbed skin desiring flesh. These working zombies so to speak get chained up and must perform daily duties in the factory in return for human meat that they desperately want. But there is a twist when “The General” doesn’t get turned into a walking dead, somehow escaping the drugs power…and he bands the affected together for a little payback on the money-hungry Mr. Owens.

Working Stiffs has tons of action and very descriptive brutality which I admired. There is blood, guts, gore and body parts all over this book. The author painted an extremely vivid picture in my mind that worked flawlessly. On the downside, it was tough to comprehend on certain occasions; there were many characters to follow while trying to picture in my mind the time allotments that were given instead of chapter breakdowns. Additionally, there were some comedic elements that frankly didn’t work. I never felt a chuckle coming on, moreover I think it was unneeded and took me a touch out of it.

An extra tidbit is that Working Stiffs is a part of a 5 horror book collection of new authors, and if you desire more scary books to read late at night take a peek at; Revelations, Red Town Lost, Last Stand On Zombie Island, Crogian and of course this zombie-comedy novel, Working Stiffs which will be a moderate recommendation by me. I am not particularly a huge fan of zombies but it did have plenty of moments to keep my mind wandering.

The book is available to buy at Amazon on Paperback for $15.95 or you can get the E-Book or Kindle Edition for a mere $4.99. On a side note; there was a limited supply of autographed, hard-bound books available for Working Stiffs, but it’s sold out already, I can see why because zombie lovers will be titillated with this one.  My ratings, suggestions and links are below.

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Reviewer: Dark Goddess
Date: 10/05/2012
Rating: 5.5/10
Suggestion: Paperback: Avoid
Suggestion: E-Book: Buy

Blackstone (Book Review)

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Blackstone Book CoverBook: Blackstone
Year: 2012
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Author: Jared Sandman
Language: English
Chapters: 30
Pages: Paperback = 312, E-Book = 315
Type: Novel

 

Jared Sandman Author PictureAuthor’s Summary: WELCOME TO BLACKSTONE – Designed by a madman, built with inmate labor and home to the nation’s worst criminals, Blackstone Penitentiary was considered the Alcatraz of the Midwest.  Over a one-hundred-year history, it amassed the more odious distinction of being the most haunted location in America. PAROLE WILL BE GRANTED – No longer in operation and left abandoned, it awaits renovation for inclusion to the National Register of Historic Places.  Spearheading the ambitious restoration project is Anthony Creighton, a caretaker seeking to unlock the reformatory’s long-buried secrets.  He enlists four strangers to help in that mission, individuals who possess extraordinary psychic abilities.  Along with a skeptical scientist, the group embarks on the first full-scale paranormal investigation of the notorious prison.  Their goal:  to confirm the existence of life after death. TO ANYONE WHO SURVIVES THE NIGHT – Six guests.  Ten thousand ghosts.  And all of them fighting to escape.

Review: I’ll tell you I was in the mood for a good supernatural book when I started reading Blackstone. Lost souls are trapped in an abandoned penitentiary because the warden tortured the prisoners by conducting experiments with the aid of a perverse doctor. These diabolical men injected the prisoners with a concoction of so called medicine or drugs which turns the unsuspecting inmates sicker and sicker into psychosis and craziness until they die.

Jump to some of the lead characters in the book; Anthony Creighton is the president of the Grant County Historical (a Museum of sorts) in Marion, Indiana. He recruits 5 people to help him investigate paranormal activities in this barbaric and desolate penitentiary. Each one of the 5 people has psychic abilities which grab your attention reading onwards. There are killings; there are thousands of ghosts with no escape from this eerie building.

Blackstone has tons of positives and I am going to be on the vague style because this is one must have book in your collection. The story keeps you guessing and involved which leads to you continue reading without putting the book down. Blackstone is a longer horror novel too, which I am proud to say I was excited with. If a book doesn’t keep you entertained it can become a struggle to get through if you’re not lost into the story.

On closing albeit quick review not to spoil a single drop of the storyline and action, it reminded me of another horror novel by one of the most recognizable authors out there, Stephen King. If you ever seen the TV miniseries Rose Red and enjoyed that, Blackstone is right up your alley. This novel is available as a full printed out Paperback book at Amazon on their publishing platform for $15.00. You can also get the E-Book or Kindle Edition at a low price of $3.99. Blackstone gets the highest marks possible. It is a 10 and should be purchased in one form or another, it is a gripping, vivid and scary story that horror readers will love. My ratings, suggestions and links are below.

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Reviewer: Dark Goddess
Date: 09/26/2012
Rating: 10/10
Suggestion: Paperback: Buy
Suggestion: E-Book: Buy

Weeyatches (Book Review)

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Weeyatches Book CoverBook: Weeyatches
Year: 2012
Publisher: Damnation Books
Author: Patrick MacAdoo
Language: English
Chapters: 31
Pages: 174
Type: Novel

 

Author’s Summary: The devolution WILL be televised. Two young women, both insignificant figures in the magical underworld, find themselves drawn away from their personal concerns and into an odyssey through the Minneapolis sewers, the future, and the past, as they battle against a coalition of wandering sorcerers, a warlock who casts spells through drains and pipes, and the weeyatches, a coven of reality stars/witches, in order to prevent a dystopian catastrophe.

Review: Witch lovers clap your hands because this book is all about an apprentice witch who fights an evil witch. Her name is Dylan and Finn is her master. When they attempt to talk to a malevolent witch named Daphne, Dylan gets captured. With the help of an intriguing person, Mae, who is out for revenge because her brother was killed, Dylan escapes and they make a plan to save Finn, all the while her powers growing stronger.

Along with all of the witches in the novel, you have wizards, warlocks and “drain speakers” who can turn ordinary people into zombie-like creatures. There are an abundance of characters to keep track of and I did like how the story unfolded over time.

The writing style was one that I wasn’t accustom to. There are many time-traveling-like scenarios where the story goes back-and-forth from the past to the present. The reason for this was to alter the events that had happened. Almost like a Sci-Fi type of story. It got quite tedious and cumbersome keeping track of all of the activities going on.

A few positives on Weeyatches; put simply, it was a fascinating story, there were tons of events to keep track of, and it was different than any other witch story I have come across in my 20 years of reading novels. The only thing I wasn’t all that enthused with was to me there was too much time traveler escapades that got confusing, it is a book where you must concentrate all the time or you will be baffled with the story. You do want to make sure you have no interruptions while reading.

Weeyatches is available as a Paperback book at many online locations for $18.99. You can also get the E-Book or electronic edition at a price of $5.95. The book cover graphics are misleading and a touch dull. It doesn’t entice you to pick up the book to read what it is about. After initial publications sell, hopefully the artwork can be updated to appeal to the reading audience on a second edition. My ratings and suggestions are below.

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Reviewer: Dark Goddess
Date: 09/19/2012
Rating: 7/10
Suggestion: Paperback: Buy
Suggestion: E-Book: Buy