Themed anthologies are all the rage at the moment and Crystal Lake Publishing usually gets it right with the ones they publish. Welcome to the Show features 17 stories about the goings on at The Shantyman – a legendary music venue. I sure had high hopes for this book being a big music fan and…
CV Hunt’s Cockblock is about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the testicles. In fact, a swift and full-blooded blow to this region of the male physique is the only way to bring the sex-crazed perverts running amok throughout the story to their knees. But let me back up a little… Cockblock is what you…
12 Gauge is a collection of three very different novellas from Dustin LaValley. Novella 1 was my favourite of the three; It ticked all the boxes for this reader. The other two were damn entertaining, particularly The Deceived, which came a close second. Let’s get stuck into what I thought… Spinner starts out as…
I’ve followed Rich Hawkins for quite some time now (not in a stalker breaking into his house sniffing his underwear kind of way). I’d know his writing style simply by reading a few sentences. With Maniac Gods, Rich brings us a tale steeped in woe, rain and gore. What’s not to like?! If you’ve…
My previous experience with drabbles left me a little underwhelmed. The book I read certainly wasn’t a bad book, but it didn’t set my pulse racing either. Drabbledark is my second attempt and I had a little more success with this anthology. With the stories only being 100 words in length, you’re going to get…
When two authors rub shoulders together and decide to write a novel, it can either be a huge success or a complete disaster. Thankfully, Matt Hayward and Patrick Lacey drink from the same cup, or so it seems. Practitioners is a seamless read. Both authors show equal skill in awakening the reader to the…
Siphon is the debut novella from A. A. Medina and is published by Hindered Souls Press. For Dr Gary Phillips, life is a little mundane. He is a hematopathologist at a medical centre; a medical centre at which he despises his boss and fantasises about a co-worker, stalking her constantly on social media. Sometimes…
Very little in life is easy. It’s the same with reviewing books. Sometimes I enjoy a book and yet I get to the end and say to myself “How the hell am I going to sum this one up?”. Such is the case with Jeremiah Israel’s Live On No Evil. This is a strange one, make…
Andrew Cull has pulled together his recent short stories and the novella, Knock and You Will See Me into one collection called Bones. Cull is a writer I’m only just becoming familiar with. The novella, Knock and You Will See Me was a hit for this reader. I enjoy character driven horror stories and that…
Calvin Demmer’s debut collection features 23 stories in which the author leaves no stone unturned. Demmer runs the gamut of genre fiction and in doing so gives us a varied, often stunning journey through his imagination. Flash fiction is something that either works for you or it doesn’t. Unlike a recent drabble anthology I…
