The reviewing of this book has been some time in the making, mainly due to reasons of ill-health but I also needed to take a bit of a break from the blog. However, now I’m back! In black, some might say as my wardrobe consists of little beyond dark t-shirts and denim. Alas, dear…
Tag: Weird Fiction
Book review: Spungunion – John Boden
John Boden is yet another writer I wish more people were aware of. Whilst his output is infrequent, the quality of the writing is never in doubt and so it continues with his latest story, Spungunion. Spungunion is a fantastic, weird novella, one I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in this place rife with…
Book review: Behold! Oddities, Curiosities and Unidefinable Wonders – Anthology.
Behold! Oddities, Curiosities and Unidefinable Wonders is Crystal Lake Publishing’s BIG anthology for 2017. It features an all-star cast of writers from all over the world, including Neil Gaiman, Bentley Little, Lisa Morton, and Clive Barker to name a few. Last year saw Crystal Lake and editor Doug Murano compile Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories; an incredibly…
Interview: J.S. Breukelaar talks travel, writing, Lit Reactor, weird fiction and her new novel Aletheia.
07-04-17 J.S. Breukelaar is the author of ‘American Monster’ – published in 2014 by Lazy Fascist Press and more recently the supernatural thriller ‘Aletheia’ – published by the excellent Crystal Lake Publishing. Her work has been shortlisted, nominated for numerous awards including Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror List. However, fiction is only a small slice…
Book review: Cartoons in the Suicide Forest – Leza Cantoral
Leza Cantoral’s debut collection of bizarre, erotic, weird fiction is as charming as it is filthy. Cantoral weaves together fairy tales and Disney stories, transforming them into sex-filled fantasies dripping with bodily fluids. Her writing both excites and feels fresh, virgin almost. It’s playful without being too sugar-coated and I really enjoyed this little foray…
Book review: Starr Creek – Nathan Carson
Nathan Carson’s ‘Starr Creek’ has a little bit of everything. At its core, it is a sort of coming-of-age story that reads like a mix between ‘Deliverance’, ‘The Explorers’ and ‘Dazed and Confused’, so you can probably imagine that I had a great time with the book. Firstly, let’s get the little negative out-of-the-way. It…
Book review: Todd Keisling – The Final Reconciliation
Already I have a strong feeling that this novella from Crystal Lake Publishing and Todd Keisling will be amongst my years best. A big call, I know, but for me this story hit all the right notes (see what I did there?!). In the late 1800’s the short stories of Robert W. Chambers called ‘The…
Book review: The Tired Sounds, A Wake – Michael Wehunt
Michael Wehunt announced himself early last year with his sublime collection of weird, quiet horror ‘Greener Pastures’. For a debut collection it really is quite something. A gathering of strange stories that stretch the imagination whilst at the same time leaving you with a great sense of unease and disquiet. With ‘The Tired Sounds, A…
Book review: The Night Marchers – Daniel Braum
I wasn’t entirely sure of what to expect from this collection of short fiction from Daniel Braun. I’d enjoyed his story ‘An American Ghost in Zürich’, which featured in the Grey Matter Press anthology, ‘Savage Beasts’, so I went in to this collection with high expectations. I’ve heard this collection described as ‘strange’, and I’d…
BTB Storytellers episode 5: Chris Kelso talks UNGER HOUSE RADICALS
Hi there, and welcome back to another guest piece for Storytellers. Last week we had Betty Rocksteady talk ‘Arachnophile’ and a special midweek post by Rich Hawkins about ‘The Last Outpost’. This week the focus is on Chris Kelso and his excellent book ‘Unger House Radicals’ which came out earlier this year by the wonderful Crowded…
Grim Reader Reviews 