REVIEW: HALF-MADE GIRLS by Sam Witt

REVIEW: HALF-MADE GIRLS by Sam Witt (A Pitchfork County Novel) From the very first pages, HALF-MADE GIRLS grabbed it spot in the pantheon of my all-time favorite books. Like the Appalachian magic of Manly Wade Wellman, and the Alvin Maker Tales of Orson Scott Card, HALF-MADE GIRLS and its background locale of a horribly cursed count where darkness and evil magicks rule, is simultaneously fascinating, compelling, intriguing, and totally terrifying. Night Marshal Joe Hark cleans up the dirty deeds and sorcerous overflows of Pitchfork County, a position he inherited from his late father. His son harbors a demonic secret; his daughter is ridden by the dead the way vodou worshippers are ridden by the Loa. Pitchfork County: no one wants to live there, but what a great place to read about. I'll be distraught if this doesn't expand into a very long series. I reviewed a digital copy from Story Cartel provided for review purposes. No fees were exchanged.REVIEW: HALF-MADE GIRLS by Sam Witt (A Pitchfork County Novel) From the very first pages, HALF-MADE GIRLS grabbed it spot in the pantheon of my all-time favorite books. Like the Appalachian magic of Manly Wade Wellman, and the Alvin Maker Tales of Orson Scott Card, HALF-MADE GIRLS and its background locale of a horribly cursed count where darkness and evil magicks rule, is simultaneously fascinating, compelling, intriguing, and totally terrifying. Night Marshal Joe Hark cleans up the dirty deeds and sorcerous overflows of Pitchfork County, a position he inherited from his late father. His son harbors a demonic secret; his daughter is ridden by the dead the way vodou worshippers are ridden by the Loa. Pitchfork County: no one wants to live there, but what a great place to read about. I'll be distraught if this doesn't expand into a very long series.

Review: 2084 by Melanie Schulz

Review: 2084 by Melanie Schulz

An electrifying dystopian, set  in a society where individuals are judged by genetics as to their use for society. Genetic "defects" not only means lesser in everything possible; it affects whom one can befriend and eventually mate. The "rulers" of this society--the oligarchy--are the Nephilim, strictly regulated to keep them separate from "lessers."

I reviewed a digital copy provided by Story Cartel for review purposes. No fees were exchanged.

REVIEW: GO KILL CRAZY by Bryan Smith

REVIEW: GO KILL CRAZY by Bryan Smith 

 The name Bryan Smith in the author position guarantees uproarious, outrageous pulp noir throughout the story. Mr. Smith does have a few peers in this category but his position is his own, and unassailable. In GO KILL CRAZY he gives us a trio of unlikely, surprising, but incredibly talented and viciously sadistic assassins: not contract killers, but a trio of lovely ladies demonstrating "girls just want to have fun." Lana, Desiree, and Echo bring man-hating and man-bashing to an entirely new level. Stomachs will churn and eyes will shutter in shock; but Bryan Smith and this intrepid, ghastly, trio will keep rolling on.

Review: DARK INTELLIGENCE by Neal Asher (Transformation Book 1)

Review:  DARK INTELLIGENCE by Neal Asher (TRANSFORMATION BOOK 1)

Gloriously engrossing science fiction in the classic mode, both military space opera and expansive futuristic philosophizing, DARK INTELLIGENCE is the first in an all-new series by accomplished and prolific author Neal Asher. From a soldier killed in battle against seriously ugly, hostile aggressive, aliens, to the renegade AI (artificial intelligence) who resurrects, repairs, and restores him a century later, and beyond--this new series set in the Polity universe will have readers enrapt.

I reviewed a digital ARC provided by the publisher via edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com, for review purposes. No fees were exchanged.

Review: GHOSTS ON THE WAY TO GRAY LAKE by DAVID BAIN

Review: GHOSTS ON THE WAY TO GRAY LAKE by David Bain

This is a short piece, encompassing exactly what the title promises: ghosts, on the way to Gray Lake, discussed, pondered, and instilling fear in two young men, Dennison and Johnny, pretending to be brave and macho on a nerve-wrending drive out to the lake--in zero-visibility fog, to a voluminously haunted locale. Instead of ghost tales around a campfire, the two boys scare each other in the car.

GHOSTS ON THE WAY TO GRAY LAKE is a good short introduction to one of David Bain's trademark locales, and to his taut, smooth, writing style; plus it's scary.

Review: THE LURKING SEASON by Kristopher Rufty

REVIEW  THE LURKING SEASON by Kristopher Rufty

Beginning like a slasher film (guts, Gore, and powerful reader's hook, not surprising since the author is also a screenwriter and director of horror), THE LURKING SEASON resurrects the Haunchies, those nasty little creatures from his earlier book LURKERS. For little tiny things, these creatures are evil, ubiquitous, and unavoidable. Three years ago, they were thought to have been eradicated from rural Doverton, Wisconsin, after a forest fire destroyed their woods habitat and much of the town. But evil is never truly destroyed, and now the Haunchies return --and boy, are they hungry.

Review: THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS by Sara Blaedel

Review:  THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS by Sara Blaedel.   Release

This entry into the annals of Scandinavian crime fiction explodes with one of the strongest "reader's hook" opener this reviewer has ever read! A woman, no name given, escapes..but from what, and to where? Louise Rick, newly technical manager of the recently constituted Special Search Agency (formed to deal with the suspected 20% of annual missing persons which might be the result of homicide) is charged with discovering the identity of a woman never reported missing: a fatality, with a childhood broken bone never treated, no dental care ever, and a serious burn scar.

Review: JAGGANATH by

Review: JAGGANATH

An immediately engrossing, literally rip-roaring (literally rips, roars, deaths, and devouring on nearly every page) apocalyptic and dystopian thriller (so little of humanity is left, that civilization is only small enclaves of "citizen-soldiers"), JAGGANATH demands to be a one-session read, because who could sleep before completing its tale? I loved the excellent writing and construction, the implacability of the destroyer, its Cthulhu-ian nature, the valiant yet fatally flawed human defenders,and little Lily, the one "human" the omnipotent destroyer can't absorb nor destroy. JAGGANATH was a joy to read (and a candidate for rereading). 

I reviewed an ARC generously provided by the author for review purposes; no fees were exchanged.

Review: MINDBRIDGE by Joe Haldeman

REVIEW: MINDBRIDGE by Joe Haldeman Award-winning author Joe Haldeman' s trademark philosophical science fiction is much in evidence in this futuristic tale of universal exploration, made possible by the implications of a new theory of astrophysics.Delineated through the character if "Tamer" Jacques Lefavre (son if the physicist who devoted his lifetime to disproving this theory), MINDBRIDGE explores alien telepathy, and the existence of an ancient species of star explorers.

Review: THE GENTLEMAN AND THE LAMPLIGHTER by Summer Devon

Review: THE GENTLEMAN ND THE LAMPLIGHTER

Gay entanglements were considered a scandal and a crime in Victorian England, as much as in the English Navy of the 18th century, when such behavior was punished by flogging and hanging. A Victorian noble must hide his feelings, even to the point of arranged marriage, for concealment. When Woolver ("Wool") marries, then commits suicide, his beloved Giles cannot recover, living a half-life in the void. But sometimes the Universe has plans for us-- and for Giles, from out of the shadows will come a lamplighter, to light up his soul.

Review: WITCH ISLAND by David Bernstein

  Review:  WITCH ISLAND by David Bernstein

Exciting and implacably terrifying "classic" horror from the ever-thrilling author David Bernstein, WITCH ISLAND interweaves a brutal crime more than a century old with contemporary spookiness and horror. In a tiny upstate New York community in 1904, religious bigotry combines with fear of the different to result in an accidental death plus burning at the stake of a falsely-accused witch. A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs, with the unjustly accused becoming that character of which she was accused, leading to superstition and horror for 4 generations.