ANNOUNCEMENT: COME SAY HELLO!!

So, this weekend Confessions is taking a break. We won’t be posting anything from tonight until probably Tuesday 3^rd May.

This is largely due to me needing a break but also because I won’t be here!! I am heading to Nottingham for Emcon at the weekend.

This is going to be an experience for me because it is my very first con so I’m going to pop my cherry this weekend.

I am planning on meeting a few authors down there to finally put faces to virtual names and maybe have a beer or two. Oh, and maybe pick up a book or two!

If any of you are going to be down there (or up there) then make sure you say hello. I will be wandering around both Saturday and Sunday and I’m not that hard to notice – bald Irish bloke with specs and more than likely a metal T-shirt on. I would love to meet a few other people that I know of from here.

If you can’t make it, (Nelson voice) Ha Ha!

I’ll see you next week!

Nev.

REVIEW: Adam Howe - Die Dog or eat the Hatchet - Reviewed by Matthew Cash

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Comet Press

Publication Date: 2^nd Nov 2015

Pages: 250

In a Confessions first, we have a second review of a book that was reviewed a couple of months ago. As part of the tour that Adam Howe is involved in, we thought it would be a good idea to get a second perspective on his book, Die Dog or eat the Hatchet.

This time the review has been written by a good friend of Confessions, Matthew Cash. It is hoped that when the all new Confessions site gets up and running that you will be seeing a lot more reviews by Mr Cash.

Enjoy and give it a thumbs up and give Matty-Bob a pat on the back if you think he has a career at being on this side of the ropes!

MATTHEWS REVIEW:


DAMN DIRTY APES

Reggie Levine is a retired boxer turned strip club bouncer.

The hick town of Bigelow is like something straight out of one of my favourite American sitcoms, My Name Is Earl, with its redneck characters and small town establishments.

After local man Lester makes a dramatic entrance to the bar with an even more dramatic tale of how his friend has been snatched by the legendary, sasquatch-esque, Skunk Ape, the town goes nuts. A videographic piece of evidence is believed by some, disbelieved by many, and eagerly re-watched by a few. But the lure of the mythological creature brings out the crazies.

Enter Jameston T Salisbury, Brian Blessed with an elephant gun, Skunk Ape hunter with a story to tell and an even bigger score to settle.

And he'll do whatever it takes to nab himself his prized trophy.

INTERVIEW: ADAM HOWE - PART TWO

Welcome to Part Two of Confessions of a Reviewers’ interview with Adam Howe.

In tonight’s section, Adam starts by answering some specific questions on his last book Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet, continues to talk about his writing and life in general and tackles The Ten Confessions.

One thing is very clear from the interviews that Confessions does and that is the fact that for some reason, all the authors that take part give it their all and tell it straight from the heart. That is also true in this section from Adam tonight.

It’s only Monday but go grab something nice like a pizza and a beer, sit back and relax, but mostly……enjoy!

INTERVIEW: ADAM HOWE - PART ONE

Welcome to Part One of Confessions of a Reviewers’ interview with a gentleman (he hasn’t been called that very often) that I predict will be a household name very shortly and for a very long time, it’s Adam Howe!

If you don’t know a lot, or indeed anything, about Adam, then shame on you, but read on. In this interview, Adam was kind enough to take the time out to give us some detailed and, very candid answers to all the questions I threw at him.

Whether he was honest or not is up to you to decide. I have my doubts about one or two of his answers.

In Part One, tonight, we find out some general information about Adam and his writing and inspirations. Included in this part is a rather embarrassing picture including a really awful jumper, and an even worse shirt!

In Part Two, tomorrow night, Adam will give us some specifics on his last book, Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet and he also takes on the mighty Ten Confessions.

On night three as always, Confessions will feature a review of Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet, but not by me. This one is done by Confessions’ good friend, Matthew Cash.

Nothing left to say other than go grab some nibbles and a drink and sit back, but most of all……enjoy!

REVIEW: Kevin Lucia - Devourer of Souls

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing

Publication Date: 1^st April 2016

Pages: 171

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Devourer of Souls, by Kevin Lucia, was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publisher, Crystal Lake Publishing, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

So, one of the many great things about being a reviewer is obviously the fact that publishers send you nice books to review. I have only recently connected with the mighty Joe Mynhardt, main man at Crystal Lake. I have to say that I am impressed with what I see him doing. He seems to have his finger right on top of the button while being able to juggle loads of other things at the same time. I like his work ethic and it looks like a hell of a lot of people respect what he does, including any authors he looks after.

I was delighted to get my hands on this one as well because I have heard many a good thing about Kevin Lucia’s writing but, embarrassingly, I have to admit to not reading any of his stuff before. I had no idea what this one was about so went at it completely blind. Did I like what I saw?

This book is written as if it is a collection of two stories so I am going to review it as such.

ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW INTERVIEW COMING NEXT WEEK!

I am very pleased to announce that next week; Confessions of a Reviewer will be publishing its latest interview. This time it is with horror writer, noir writer, comedy writer, need to stop now because he writes in more styles in one story than I even know writer, Adam Howe!

Adam is doing a little bit of publicity tour at the minute and I jumped at the chance of getting on board with that one and was delighted when he agreed to do an interview with us here at Confessions.

I’m still not sure what all of the conditions he put in place mean, but I’m sure that will all come to light. I am though, quite frankly, very worried.

GUEST POST: Learning How to Write..........

Learning How to Write with Stephen King’s Night Shift

By

Thomas S. Flowers

Is this really such an odd statement to make? Learning to write with King?

To look upon a legendary talent such as Stephen King and boast of him as a mentor should not be too surprising. If you’re questioning the legendary side of things, I’ll probably ask if you’ve lived and breathed in the 21st century, because even if you are not a fan of the macabre, you should have at some point heard rumor or mention of at least one book, one story, one made for TV special or adaptation to the big screen, something that was once a part of Stephen King.

Now for talent? While some may not care for his work, especially his most recent undertakings, to deny his talent is to deny the evolution of modern pop culture.

REVIEW: Caroline Mitchell - The Silent Twin (Detective Jennifer Knight #3)

Genre: Thriller / Crime / Paranormal

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 14^th April 2016

Pages: 322

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of The Silent Twin by Caroline Mitchell from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Bookouture.

This is the third book I have read by Caroline Mitchell. They have all been in the same series. A trilogy of books about Detective Jennifer Knight. A cop with a gift that many other cops don’t have. Don’t Turn Around was the first instalment and you can read my review of it here.

The second in the series was Time To Die and again, you can read the review here. I have loved the series so far. A crime novel with a paranormal twist brings it closer to the horror books that I love so much. A bit disappointed that this one is the last in the trilogy but as eager as ever to get reading it due to the wonderful stuff that came before.

This is what I thought.

Jennifer Knight is taking on quite possibly the toughest case she is ever likely to have. Abigail and Olivia are twins. Abigail has gone missing. It’s every parent’s nightmare. Their parents are no exception. Except they are. Their father, Nick, is a Police Sergeant and their mother, Joanna, is an eccentric entrepreneur. Is this a kidnapping?

Jennifer is tasked to be their Family Liaison Officer and with an abundance of puzzling clues and puzzling people, she has her hands full in trying to find Abigail and also keep the family peace.

When Jennifer talks to Abigail through her sister Olivia, she thinks she is still alive, but neither know where she is being kept. Someone close isn’t telling the truth and knows more than they are saying.

GUEST POST: Confessions of my Past, Present and Future #30 - Robert E. Dunn 17/04/2016

Confessions of my Past, Present and Future

by

Robert E. Dunn

The Past

The question everyone gets when talking about the book’s they’ve written is, who were your influences? That’s a question, both casual and serious. Casually speaking, it’s basic curiosity to wonder who we think about when we try to be our best. Every author can give you a list of the people that inspired them. All writers are readers by nature. In fact, it is from that nature that the desire to tell our own stories come. An honest list from any of us would give a few surprises, like hearing that your favorite rocker also has a thing for Yo-Yo Ma.

I’ve admitted many times that I grew up on comic books. I had hundreds of copies of 1960’s and early 1970’s comics. They were mostly DC and the old horror comics from Warren like Eerie and Creepy. A lot of us kids on military bases could not come up with the change for all the comics we wanted so we used to trade. That created both an opportunity for more reading and a community within which to share. That’s is an amazing incubator for any writer.

REVIEW: Ty Arthur - Empty

Genre: Sci-Fi / Horror

Publisher: Mirror Matter Press

Publication Date: 22^nd Jan 2016

Pages: 51

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Empty was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author Ty Arthur, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Mirror Matter Press.

If you have your own blog or website, then I urge you to have an open call for submissions every now and again. When you do that, you tend to have people you have never heard of before email you and ask you to review their stuff. This is a brilliant way to get to read new talent that you wouldn’t necessarily read otherwise.

This is exactly what happened when Ty Arthur asked if I would have a look at Empty. This is a brand of horror I don’t read enough of. Horror set in space. I don’t even know if there is an exact genre name for it but I do love it when I come across a good one.

How did Empty turn out?

SHOW-OFF AND TELL #28 - Iain Rob Wright - Hot Zone: An MCU Thriller (Sarah Stone Book #2)

#28 in the show-off and tell is another from one of my favourites, Mr Iain Rob Wright. This is a slightly different one though. It’s one of his thrillers, Hot Zone: An MCU Thriller (Sarah Stone Book 2).

Now this one, again, holds a very special place in my heart for a couple of reasons. The first is really simple. It’s by one of my all-time favourite authors, so to have any of his books on my shelf is just superb. To have a signed copy of his work sitting there makes me very proud indeed.

This is my copy:

REVIEW: John C Foster - Mister White: The Short Story

Genre: Horror / Dark Fiction

Publisher: Grey Matter Press

Publication Date: 12^th Jan 2016

Pages: 41

MY REVIEW:

John C. Foster. Never read anything by him. There has been a hell of a lot of talk about this Mister White fella on social media for a while now. I thought I would pick up the short story ahead of the full novel, just to see what all the fuss is about.

Abel is in Austria. He is an agent for an American Intelligence organisation. He has just had a phone call that he couldn’t understand because the line was so bad, but also because of the mention of the name, Mister White.

Who is Mister White? Why does everyone seem to be scared to mention his name? Abel is about to find out. Then he will realise he should have paid attention to the warnings.

Do not speak his name.

This is just superb. A short story that is quite obviously being used as a teaser. A story to grab your attention and draw you into the mystery of Mister White. A book designed to get you hooked and make you want to get the full novel when it is released. No shame in that. If I had the writing talent of John Foster, I would do exactly the same thing.

I have read a few teasers in my time.

I have never read one as effective as this though.

GUEST POST: Confessions of my Past, Present and Future #29 - Glen Krisch

Confessions of my Past, Present and Future

by

Glen Krisch

The Past

I hate to admit it, but I wasn't much of a reader of fiction before high school. Many authors claim to have written their first novel by the age of ten, and that they started reading while they still wore diapers. My lack of an early reading foundation has always bothered me, but I realize now that real life shaped me more than the books read during my childhood. I read during my formative years, just not novels. Every Sunday morning from the age of about eight or nine, I would read two newspapers pretty much cover to cover. We didn't have a lot of books around my house, but we did have a set of encyclopaedias. I would often sit down and read volumes straight through as if they were any other book. It wasn't until my freshman year of high school that I started to seriously read novels.

Review: Death By Chocolate selected by Matthew Cash

Genre: Horror Anthology

Publisher: KnightWatch Press

Publication Date: 7^th March 2016

Pages: 189

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Death By Chocolate was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the editor, Matthew Cash, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by KnightWatch Press.

So, the second thing by Matthew Cash in a few days. The first was his story, Ankle Biters. You can read my review of that, here.

This time it’s sampling what he can do as an editor. He has brought together the many stories in Death By Chocolate and I have to say, as well as a lot of new names to me, there are a few crackin writers that I have already read in here.

Anthologies and collections seem to be flying at me from everywhere these days. Can this one be unique and entertaining enough to stand out a bit from the rest?

Let’s find out!

REVIEW: Brian Barr - Carolina Daemonic: Confederate Shadows

Genre: Sci-Fi / Steampunk

Publisher: J. Ellington Ashton Press

Publication Date: 14^th Aug 2015

Pages: 333

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Carolina Daemonic: Confederate Shadows was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author Brian Barr, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by J. Ellington Ashton Press.

This was one that was sent to me by Mr Barr the last time I put out a call for anyone looking for help or wanting reviews. Generally, with a blog that is just trying to get a name for itself like Confessions, this gets new books in from authors I have not read before and are trying to push their debuts out into the big bad world. This is one such occasion. This is scary. Probably for the author as well as me. I find it scary because you have no clue what you’re about to read and if you really don’t like it you could be about to deal a very dangerous blow to the author. It can be like walking across a lake of very thin ice.

The year is 2020. The South won the Civil War and things are not very smooth in this new Confederate land. Slavery has just been outlawed but racism is still most people’s middle name. And evil hides in the shadows.

OrbTech is the biggest robotics company in the world, striving forward and not scared to flatten anyone in their way. Titus can’t work for OrbTech even though he is a genius. He is black. They don’t accept blacks.

In a story with many paths that ultimately lead everyone to the same end, Titus will end up in a battle with OrbTech and its enigmatic spokesperson Tobias who he knows from his own sordid past.

Alongside this battle is the battle for the skies and the underground. The battle of the unknown. The battle of dark forces no one even knows exist. The time for the revolution has come.

SHOW-OFF AND TELL #27 - Evans Light - ArborEATum

#27 in the Show-Off and Tell is another from my good friend, excellent writer and all round top bloke, Evans Light.

I have made no secret in the past and I will proudly say it again:

This is my favourite EVER short story / novella. It’s ArborEATum.

When myself and Evans struck up a little trade agreement across the pond last year, this was top of my list to try and get a signed copy of.

This story just totally blew me away. It is so atmospheric and imaginative and creepy and it encapsulates everything that I love about a short horror tale. It is honestly that good. This is one of the few stories that I pick up and read at regular intervals.

Anyway, this is my copy:

GUEST POST: Confessions of my Past, Present and Future #28 - Matthew Cash

Confessions of my Past, Present and Future

by

Matthew Cash

The Past

From the moment I was born I was destined to be a horror fanatic. The night my mother went into labour, the stars had aligned like in that bit in Omen III: The Final Conflict, horses curdled and milk did sweat.

My mother was a massive, massive Hammer Horror (and others of that era) fan, and was an avid collector of regional ghost books, so that genre had always been loitering around me like a weird, sinister, lunatic uncle.

I've read books pretty much constantly since I learnt how to read. I was one of those kids who favoured books over toys.

I have also written stories since I was old enough to write, before I could write I used to dictate to my father.

My first recollection of a book so horrific that I had to stop reading was Roald Dahl’s The Witches. I remember it went into horrific detail about what your typical witch would do to a captured child and it scared the hell out of me. But...once I had put it down I couldn't help but be lured into reading more. It had to be finished.

REVIEW: Matthew Cash - Ankle Biters: Don't Wake The Babies!

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Self Published

Publication Date: 15^th Nov 2015

Pages: 47

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Ankle Biters was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, Matthew Cash, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is self-published.

Right, time to be up front and honest from the very beginning. I have been friends with Matthew Cash on Facebook for about a year now. I have never met the fella face to face. A lot of people would say this is very fortunate for me. I would beg to differ. Matty-Bob, as he is better known, has had a bit of a bad rap. Not entirely his fault, more from situations that show how social media can sometimes be used against a person, but, I won’t go into that here.

I have known he has been writing for a while now. I have offered to read some things before. A couple things didn’t work out but that was purely down to the fact that even though I know him, I will be honest with him about his writing. Mr Cash was wise enough to take some things on board and fix them. This brings me to Ankle Biters. This is the first story written by Matthew Cash that I have sat down to read for enjoyment. To give the fair and honest review. He knows I will be brutally honest.

Here goes then.

Courtney, Bethany, Meghan and Grace are four teenage friends. They act like any normal teenage girls. Nothing too malicious about them, but they do get into mischief from time to time. One night while hanging around in the local cemetery, they dislodge a three-hundred-year old statue that ultimately, falls completely over.

They are too young to know about the legend of Old Ma Lacey or indeed the significance of what they have just done.

Old Ma Lacey was a witch. The statue was keeping her in the ground. The door has been reopened, and she want’s vengeance.

REVIEW: J. Scaddon - Harry Lane is Innocent

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Publisher: Self Published

Publication Date: 10^th Sept 2015

Pages: 95

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Harry Lane is Innocent was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author J Scaddon in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

Anyone who visits the blog regularly will know I love to discover new authors. Jamie Scaddon is name I am sure many of you will not be familiar with. I certainly wasn’t when he sent me an email to see if I would like to review this one. It is certainly not my normal first pick for a book but something drew me to it. I liked the sound of it and decided to give it a go. It took me a while to get to it. I wish it hadn’t.

Harry Lane is twenty-three years old although he has the mind of a six-year-old. He is a gentle giant that is always out to please people, no matter who they are.

His dad has asked him to run an errand for him one dark night. In 1940’s London this involves a long walk. Harry decides to cut through a park. He likes to watch the wildlife in it.

He stumbles across an altercation between a drunk man and a young lady. She has been stabbed and Harry tries to help. She unfortunately dies and Harry has been accused of her murder.

This starts the process of questioning and a trial. For Harry it is daunting and confusing as his mind doesn’t understand what is happening. For his family, it looks like the end for Harry.