SHOW-OFF AND TELL #14 - Kit Power - GodBomb!

#14 in my Show-off and tell is one of my most recent arrivals. I was expecting this one to come and almost sat on the front step watching for the postman to bring it to me, I was so excited to get my hands on it!

It’s the one and only GodBomb! by Kit power.

I, like many others, have been waiting for a long time to have this in my hands for a few reasons. Number one is purely and simply because it is an absolutely superb novel.

Kit Power has written something here that will stay with me for a very long time and he deserves every accolade coming to him for this work.

This is my copy:

REVIEW: Ian and Rosi Taylor - The Other Boy

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Dark Chapter Press

Publication Date: 10^th Nov 2015

Pages: 126

MY REVIEW:

A copy of The Other Boy was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publishers, Dark Chapter Press in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This is a book I would class as a novella.

Now, for whatever reason, I didn’t fancy this one. Don’t ask me why. I have no idea. I think it may be because I have never heard of either authors. I am generally a bit sceptical of collaborations, especially when it is authors I have never heard of. Very especially if it’s a husband and wife team. I have been there before. It didn’t work out so well.

However, I have faith in the chaps at Dark Chapter Press so decided to give it a go. How did it work out?

Alice and her husband Will have moved into a house in the country with their seven year old son Toby. Things haven’t been good for the family in recent times. Will has been naughty boy and had a fling. This is an attempt to make things better.

The area they have moved too seems to be steeped in pagan history and folklore. There are certain places that are “sacred” to the locals and they don’t seem to like new blood coming into the area. Apart from their neighbour Simon, a sort of Lord of the Manor.

Not long after they move there. Toby briefly disappears during a walk with his dad. No one can explain where he went or what exactly happened. When he comes back he is acting a bit strange. Almost as if he has been replaced by another.

And that my friends is all you are going to get about this little gem.

REVIEW: Duncan Ralston - Salvage

Genre: Horror / Paranormal

Publisher: Forsaken

Publication Date: 10^th Nov 2015

Pages: 304

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Salvage was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author Duncan Ralston in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Forsaken.

So I have read Gristle and Bone which is a short story collection by Mr Ralston. You can read the review of it here. I loved it. It was brutal and horrifying and bloody and just all round good fun. This is his debut novel and labelled as a ghost story. I was hoping for more of the same with all of the above attached. Did I get it?

Owen Saddler’s life is in turmoil. His little sister Lori has just died in a tragic diving accident in Chapel Lake. Some say the lake is haunted. It’s actually a man-made hydroelectric dam that totally covers the old town of Peace Falls.

Owen feels the need to retrace Lori’s footsteps to find out why she was there and how the accident happened.

What follows is a harrowing tale of discovery, taking Owen on a trip that will delve deep into his and his mother’s past, uncovering a trail of deceit, depression, madness and murder. Will Owen survive long enough to uncover the truth?

REVIEW: David C. Hayes - Greasepaint 09/11/2015

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd

Publication Date: 3^rd Nov 2015

Pages: 119

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of Greasepaint by David C. Hayes from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Samhain.

Never read anything by David C. Hayes before but this came out with a bevy of books from Samhain on NetGalley so decided to give it a go along with the others. Novellas are good when it’s an author you have never read before. Being short, they tend to give you a general feel for the authors work in a short space of time. I got my general feeling on this one fairly quickly.

Michael is the only survivor after serial killer Reginald Bent, otherwise known as TV star, Orzo the Clown, is finally caught and killed by the police.

Many years later, the son of Orzo’s sidekick, Dumpy Dan, decides to release a DVD special of all the Orzo the Clown shows ever made. When this happens, people start to die. Michael is plagued by the memory of Orzo. Worse than that, he has seen Orzo again. He has seen him kill again. He knows he is after him. Again.

OK this is probably going to be a short review of a short book. I didn’t like it. I wanted to like it but I just couldn’t.

GUEST POST: Confessions of my Past, Present and Future #17 - Duncan Ralston

Confessions of my Past, Present and Future

by

Duncan Ralston

I was one of those fortunate kids whose parents read bedtime stories to as a child. You know, the kids philosopher Adam Swift said “unfairly disadvantage” children are ones whose parents didn’t read to them. Yeah, I’m one of those fortunate jerks. And while I feel maybe those other children got a raw deal, I certainly wouldn’t go back in time to tell my parents they shouldn’t read to me because little Timmy’s father is semi-literate and can’t read him bedtime stories, thereby depriving Timmy of a lifelong love of reading and perhaps stunting his educational growth.

I don’t think that’s the sort of “level playing field” (as Swift called for in his interview with ABC Radio) that any of us should be considering. I think maybe involving kids in reading more is the answer. Maybe promoting literacy and reading programs the way we used to before all everyone cared about was their new cell phone or the Real Housewives of Whothefuckcares is the key.

Then again, maybe I’m old fashioned.

REVIEW: Angela Marsons - Lost Girls (D.I. Kim Stone #3)

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 6^th Nov 2015

Pages: 359

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of Lost Girls (D.I. Kim Stone #3) by Angela Marsons from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Bookouture.

So number three in the Kim Stone series. It was a no brainer that I was going to try and pick this up for review after reading the first two. You can read my review of Silent Scream (D.I. Kim Stone #1) here and Evil Games (D.I. Kim Stone #2) here. This is a series that, I was hoping, would just keep getting better and better. Was I right?

D.I. Kim Stone and her team have been given a case that they normally wouldn’t have. They have got it against her superiors wishes and only because she was specifically requested. It is a case that will test the resolve of her and her team to the bitter end.

Two young girls have been abducted. Text messages are received from the abductors to advise they are well and to await further instructions. The two families know each other and are best of friends. How long they will stay friends is in doubt after the next text is received. It’s simple and to the point. The abductors want money, but they will only take the money from one family. The highest bidder gets their girl back. The girl from the lowest bidding family dies.

Kim and her team must battle against time and everything else that is thrown at them to try and make sure both girls come back alive.

This is one of those times where the review should read as follows

Bloody amazing. Just go buy the damn thing.

SHOW-OFF AND TELL #13 - Iain Rob Wright - Savage

#13 in my Show-Off and Tell is another one dear to my heart. Savage by Iain Rob Wright.

The reason it holds a special place for me? Well there are a couple actually. It was one of the first books I read by Mr Wright. It was the first book I did a beta read on and it was the first time I ever had my name in print in a book.

Iain Rob Wright is undoubtedly one of the hottest properties around in the British Horror scene and if you haven’t read any of his stuff then shame on you.

Get on over to Amazon and sort that issue out.

This is my copy.

REVIEW: Jonathan Janz - Wolf Land

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd

Publication Date: 3^rd November 2015

Pages: 415

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of Wolf Land by Jonathan Janz from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Samhain Publishing Ltd.

So, giving the fact I have other books by Jonathan Janz and I know how good his writing is, I’m rather embarrassed to say this is only the second thing I have read by him. The other one was The Nightmare Girl and you can read my review of it here. I absolutely loved it so felt I just had to nab this one from NetGalley and give it a whirl. A totally different style of book. Would it give me a totally different result?

Lakeview is a quiet enough town. It’s had its fair share of woes and its fair share of successes. A group of friends gather for a few drinks, a week before their 10^th High School reunion, anticipating a night of drinks and laughs. They didn’t expect the werewolf.

With seven people dead and four people severely injured, the town tries to recover from the disaster and regroup for the reunion.

They didn’t expect the four injured people to start to change. Change into something they never seemed possible. They also didn’t expect the original, centuries old evil to crash the party.

REVIEW: Adam Cesare - The First One You Expect

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Broken River Books

Publication Date: 31^st Jan 2015

Pages: 77

MY REVIEW:

So earlier in the year I read Mercy House by Adam Cesare. You can read my review of it here. I think it was around that time that The First One You Expect dropped to 99p for a while. After reading, and loving, Mercy House, I thought I would risk a quid and pick this little one up as well.

This is a short story and you will have it read in about an hour and a half. Probably take me longer to write my review. So was it worth the one Great British Pound I spent on it?

Tony Anastos hasn’t got a lot. He works part time at his local Stop and Shop and lives in his parent’s basement. Apart from this, he makes ultra-low budget horror movies with his friend, Burt. These normally involve hiring ultra-low budget, ageing strippers to play the roles of the victims with Burt being the killer.

His new co-worker, Anna seems to be very interested in his films. She is young and sexy and eager to appear in his movies. She wants to be famous. Tony sees this as a way out of having to hire the old girls and brings her on board.

When they start a Kickstarter for the next movie, Anna’s methods for the introduction video seem a bit extreme, but they work. From here on in, Tony is just a passenger as everything kicks off around him with devastating effect.

GUEST POST: Confessions of my Past, Present and Future #16 - Jonathan Janz

Confessions of my Past, Present and Future

by

Jonathan Janz

The Past

A transformative moment in my life occurred when I was fourteen. I’d gone to a Hallmark gift shop to buy a card for my mom (or some girl, I can’t really remember, and it doesn’t really matter) and was passing by a rotating rack of paperback novels. Up until that point, I wasn’t a reader. I’d become skilled at pretending to read while in school, but I never actually processed the words in the open book in front of me.

This time, though, something about one book grabbed my attention. It was either the eerie green-and-black cover (which looked like the aurora borealis on a really creepy night) or the weird title, The Tommyknockers. I knew the author’s name, had heard of Stephen King, and had idly wondered about him from time to time. I knew he was supposed to be scary, and scary was good. Horror movies were my favorites back then.

I took the book home, sat out on our dock, and began to read it. It was the summer before my freshman year in high school, and though I didn’t realize it at the time, my life was being changed by the thick paperback in my hands.