The nitty-gritty: A unique combination of elements comes together in this lush, fairy tale-inspired story. The Sisters of the Winter Wood is a beautifully written story with elements I loved and others that didn’t work quite as well, so I guess you could say this was sort of a mixed bag for me. I’m pushing […]
The nitty-gritty: Gritty, fast paced and full of humor, C.T. Phipps takes the tried and true vampire genre and gives it a unique spin. A good half of the thugs present pulled out pistols, crossbows, swords, and bats with silver spikes, and one guy grew what look to be Wolverine’s claws. “Damn,” David said, surveying the […]
The nitty-gritty: Grady Hendrix’s latest hums with frenetic energy, a dark and dangerous, pulse-pounding love letter to the power of music. A girl with a guitar never has to apologize for anything. I became a Grady Hendrix fan after reading Horrorstör several years ago, and I enjoyed My Best Friend’s Exorcism (although not quite as […]
The nitty-gritty: Full of mystery and adventure, The Night Crossing offers up fascinating history and supernatural eeriness in equal measure. I had no idea what to expect when I started reading The Night Crossing, only that real life author Bram Stoker was the main character in the story. I was sort of expecting a tale […]
The nitty-gritty: Romantic and thrilling, Phoenix Unbound is a fantastic start to a new series. You know those times when you start reading a book and you’re immediately swept up in the writing, the story and the characters? Well, this was one of those times for me. After a couple of pages I knew I […]
The nitty-gritty: Although I didn’t enjoy all the stories in this collection, I’m still a big fan of Mamatas and his unending, quirky imagination, and some of these stories will be hard to forget. I have read and enjoyed a couple of Nick Mamatas’ novels, and I thought it would be interesting to see how […]
The nitty-gritty: Delightfully twisted and disturbing, The Mouth of the Dark is part Tales from the Dark Side, part Poltergeist, and completely bat shit crazy. The launch of small publisher Flame Tree Press caught my attention last month when they were blasted all over the internet—good marketing, guys!—and I was curious enough to head over […]
The nitty-gritty: Disturbing and atmospheric, The Chrysalis combines traditional horror elements with solid character development and delivers a cautionary tale about addiction. The Chrysalis is being described by a lot of readers on Goodreads as “science fiction,” but I just don’t get that. To me, this was pretty clearly a horror story, and while it […]
The nitty-gritty: A tense and violent thriller with surprisingly sympathetic characters and surprises at every turn, Vicious Rumer will be a hit with readers who like their stories on the gritty side. I did a thing I don’t normally do: I accepted a review request directly from an author, and I actually had a blast […]
The nitty-gritty: Full of humor, emotion and plenty of thrilling fight scenes, Bloody Rose is a worthy sequel that you don’t want to miss. Tam pulled a strand of windblown hair from her eyes. “Aren’t all druins immortal?” Tam asked. “Essentially, yes,” said Freecloud. The coin in his hand vanished with a flick of his […]