B Is For Broken Anthology

BROKEN
B Is For Broken Anthology
Edited by Rhonda Parrish
Publisher: Poise and Pen Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary, Historical, Action/Adventure
Length: Full Length (296 pages)
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Broken people, broken promises, broken dreams and broken objects are just some of the ways these 26 fantastic stories interpret the theme of ‘Broken’. From science fiction to fantasy, horror to superheroes the stories within these pages cover a vast swath of the genres under the speculative fiction umbrella.

Featuring original fiction by:

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Science fiction has a creepy side. You can read about it here.

The titles of these tales give away major spoilers about what happens in them. Ms. Parrish used this same creative technique in her previous anthology, A Is For Apocalypse. Once again I will be referring to the author’s name in this review instead of the titles of their contributions so that other readers will remain just as surprised as I was by what happens in them.

Ms. Cleto caught my attention immediately. It was fun to figure out what a Snow Queen with a rare, magical gift could possibly have in common with an ordinary teenage girl like Gwyn. I enjoyed jumping back and forth between their timelines as I attempted to piece all of the clues together. The ending worked particularly well for the short story form due to how quickly the plots were sketched out.

This doesn’t happen very often when I read anthologies, but I enjoyed every single selection in this book. Some of them would have worked much better as novellas or full-length novels, though, due to their complicated plots. Ms. Simon and Mr. Fosbury’s piece of fiction was a good example of this. It showed what happened to a village midwife named Hessura after she made a difficult choice for one of the pregnant women she had helped. The premise was fascinating, but the plot simply didn’t have quite enough time to fully develop.

As soon as I started reading Mr. Phillips’ entry, I couldn’t wait to discover out what happened next. He described a little girl named Adina who born with an unusual birth defect. Her mother soon figured out how to turn this anomaly into a steady source of income for the family. The character development was incredible, especially considering how quickly the author needed to work in order to pull everything together. I never wanted to stop listening to what Adina had to say.

I’d recommend B Is For Broken to anyone who loves contemporary science fiction as much as I do. There is a lot of great material to explore in this collection!

The Lesson by Joyce Ward

LESSON
The Lesson by Joyce Ward
Publisher: Champagne Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary, Paranormal
Length: Short Story (62 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

A rebellious, young woman and her stoned boyfriend learn an important and frightening lesson after behaving badly in a mortuary.

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Including basic backstories for the two main characters was a smart decision. Early on in this tale they make a decision that I would have otherwise found hard to believe. Knowing what kind of people they were made it easy to understand how their minds work and why they would consider this kind of choice to be a good one.

There was one plot hole that I would have liked to see addressed in this tale. It was something that I definitely would have expected at least one of the characters to notice right away, so figuring out why it wasn’t being mentioned was distracting. Had this not been the case, I would have selected a much higher rating for this story as I really enjoyed everything else about it.

Horror doesn’t always have to include blood. There are plenty of ways to frighten an audience without getting gory, and Ms. Ward spooked me with quite a few of them. I was so interesting in discovering what would happen to Kevin and Pamela next that I read the whole thing in one sitting, and I made sure to keep the lights on for a few hours after I finished it. Some images really shouldn’t be rattling around in my mind in the dark!

The Lesson made me shudder. It’s something I’d recommend to both longterm and brand new fans of the scary side of science fiction.

Gray Shadows Under a Harvest Moon by Roma Gray

GRAY
Gray Shadows Under a Harvest Moon by Roma Gray
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Holiday, Contemporary, Action/Adventure
Length: Short Story (117 pages)
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The path into darkness begins here…

How often have you read a short story and wished you could see what happened after the big ending? In this book, the ending is just the beginning as each short story represents a chapter in an upcoming Roma Gray novel or novel series.

SECTION 1: A collection of six Halloween-flavored short stories. The stories are a mixed assortment of spooky, action adventure, and horror tales.

SECTION 2: Interviews with the fictional characters giving the reader the inside scoop on their upcoming novels.

Never let the adventure end…

Before the purchase, you will think- why you lowest prices for cialis are facing decreasing libido and what the reason behind lower libido. If you are still feeling down before going to your personal doctor, you can check out the centre to sildenafil pfizer find out who is offering what. It makes you long for vardenafil 20mg tab the old times of the day. However, there is more to viagra cheapest online http://amerikabulteni.com/2017/05/31/amerikada-gunun-kelimesi-covfefe/ maintaining adequate penis function than eating right and exercising, and almost every man can benefit from the increased demand. Stories:

1. FEAST ON FAT TUESDAY: At Mardi Gras, a vampire realizes he has become the prey.
2. AND THEN EVERYTHING CHANGED: The discovery of Atlantis changes the world in ways no one could have ever anticipated…or wanted.
3. SUMMER VACATION: A teenager discovers that not only is black magic real, it’s also very unpredictable.
4. THE INVISIBLE CARRIER: A deadly plague is spreading through the Pacific Northwest, but no one can figure out how. It might just be the truth is too strange to believe.
5. UNNATURAL DISASTERS: Governments are isolating disaster sites from the rest of the world. What are they trying to hide?
6. WILL THE REAL MONSTER PLEASE STAND UP? A rampaging mummy, two insane cats, and a secret government agency. For archeologist Alistair Black, it’s turning into a very strange night.

Expecting the unexpected isn’t as easy as it looks.

The interviews with certain key characters were incredibly well done. They provided information that I found both entertaining and completely necessary in order to fully understand what was going on for some of them. I ended up scrolling down to read the interview immediately after finishing each tale, and I was glad I made that decision. They worked much better together, although it’s difficult to go into any specific details here without giving away spoilers.

It took me a little while to settle into some of the plots due to their unique formats. Because each one is part of a much longer work, the pacing was nothing at all like what I would usually expect from a short story. A great deal of time was spent introducing characters and describing the worlds they lived in, and the main sources of conflict were sometimes a little slow to arrive. This makes perfect sense for something full length, but it was occasionally jarring for short fiction.

With that being said, I am eagerly anticipating all of the books that the main characters will be featured in. Every single one of them included something that surprised or intrigued me for completely different reasons. I’ve never seen anything like this done in the science fiction genre before and was impressed by how the author tied it all together. Ms. Gray took a risk here. It paid off quite well.

Gray Shadows Under a Harvest Moon has whetted my appetite for more. If you’re in the mood for something incredibly original, give it a try!

The Sisters: A Mystery of Good and Evil, Horror and Suspense by Don Sloan

 

SISTERS
The Sisters: A Mystery of Good and Evil, Horror and Suspense by Don Sloan
(Book One of the Dark Forces Series)
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Suspense/Mystery, Horror, Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (266 pages)
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In this book, written in the style of Stephen King, two young people on vacation in a small New England seacoast town battle unspeakable horror and solve a hundred-year-old mystery. Fourteen Victorian mansions whisper dark secrets among themselves, and a dangerous shadow roams up and down the wide, wintry boulevard in search of new prey.

Imagine what old buildings would say if they had a way to share what’s really happened behind their closed doors over the years.
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There’s something slightly eerie about owning a house that has been passed from one family to the next for generations. Stories that explore why this can be so potentially creepy are among my favorite ones in the horror genre. Having so many of these homes included in the same tale, then, was a real treat for me. I was able to explore multiple histories instead of only one.

I had some trouble warming up to the beginning of this novel. The pacing of the plot was slow and uneven due to the inclusion of multiple flashbacks to things that happened in and nearby the houses many years ago. It also took me some time to figure out what was happening when the narration temporarily switched over to the houses’ perspectives. I found the writing styles of those sections confusing even after I knew how to interpret them because of how informally they used punctuation marks.

Wow, the antagonist was seriously frightening! One of the reasons why I was so freaked out by this villain is that the plot danced around the topic for such a long time. Wondering who or what Nathan and Sarah might be facing took up a great deal of time because there were so few clues about what was really going on.

The narration regularly switched between the present and past tense. The past tense was used for the contemporary scenes, and the present tense was used for events that happened in the houses a long time ago. While it was an interesting way to differentiate between various points in history, I did find it distracting to switch between the tenses so often. Sticking with one of them would have made my reading experience more comfortable.

Sometimes dreams feel like they’re actually happening. At other times real life can be as hazy as a dream. One of the things I appreciated the most about this book was how easily it was able to capture this uncertainty. It worked well for the premise and kept me on my toes as the characters continued to try to figure out what was happening.

The Sisters: A Mystery of Good and Evil, Horror and Suspense is a good choice for anyone who likes the dark, gory side of science fiction.

The Pendle Curse by Catherine Cavendish

CURSE
The Pendle Curse by Catherine Cavendish
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Horror, Paranormal
Length: Full Length (202 pgs)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Thistledown

Four hundred years ago, ten convicted witches were hanged on Gallows Hill. Now they are back…for vengeance.Laura Phillips’s grief at her husband’s sudden death shows no sign of passing. Even sleep brings her no peace. She experiences vivid, disturbing dreams of a dark, brooding hill,and a man—somehow out of time—who seems to know her. She discovers that the place she has dreamed about exists. Pendle Hill. And she knows she must go there.But as soon as she arrives, the dream becomes a nightmare. She is caught up in a webof witchcraft and evil…and a curse that will not die.

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Laura Phillips is grief stricken over the loss of her husband. As she grieves she is stricken by strange occurrences and dreams that make her question her sanity. She researches landmarks from the dream and is drawn to the mysterious Pendle Hill, a site well known for long ago witch trials. She knows she has to go there but when she does, she steps not into the pleasant and restful vacation she craves but into the arms of an ancient evil waiting for their chance.

This book took off from the get go for me. I’ve read Catherine Cavendish’s work before and have enjoyed her brand of storytelling. In this story, you feel the grief of a woman who has lost her husband and the desperate grasping at anything that gives her life meaning once more. When she begins to dream of a stranger and a very particular hill, she finds out about the place and books a trip. Unfortunately for her, the past is very much alive in Pendle and the witches won’t go quietly.

The historical aspect of the story appealed to me immensely and as Laura got in deeper and deeper, I couldn’t put this book down. It was a bounce back and forth between contemporary and historical settings, with changes in POV as the change occurred. I much prefer third person as the historical portions were done in, but the first person didn’t distract too much from my enjoyment of the book. It was a wonderful horror novel that took all the best elements of the genre and brought to life a time in history that we don’t often think about.

If you love a great story with witches and things that go bump in the night, you need to try this one!

Doppelgänger by Sean Munger

MUNGER
Doppelgänger by Sean Munger
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Historical, Paranormal, Suspense/Mystery, Horror
Length: Full Length (208 pgs)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Thistledown

The house of madness!

Transplanted from her native Sweden to the drawing rooms and gas-lit parlors of Gilded Age New York, Anine Atherton will want for nothing in the lavish row house her rich new husband bought for her. But Anine’s house doesn’t seem to like people. The caretaker hangs himself in the entryway. The maid drops dead her first day on the job. Anine herself is becoming anxious and terrified, and not just because of the ghostly laughter she hears in the middle of the night. Her gentle, charming husband is slowly turning into a domineering brute. And whatever shadowy entity lives in her house, it can read Anine’s mind and use her darkest secrets against her. The last woman to live in the house went insane. Will Anine be next in line?

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Anine Atherton marries a wealthy American and he whisks her off to New York in The Gilded Age. She will want for nothing. Money is no object but when the couple arrives at their newly purchased home they discover something is terribly amiss. The caretaker hired to spruce up the house is found dead and hanging from the stairs, leaving nothing behind save a cryptic diary filled with nonsensical gibberish and self-incriminating information. What drove him to suicide and what is the terrible history of this cursed house?

Their first night there at their new home, Anine is uneasy and thinks she hears movement and laughter coming from the hall outside her room. The next morning another servant turns up dead and thus begins a descent into madness. Every sound is suspect. No servant will apply for the vacant positions until a negro woman takes a chance, much to the anger of Anine’s husband. He begins to change in violent and negative ways and little by little her perfect new world begins to crumble all around her. Snubbed by polite society without a reason why, she despairs of ever fitting in. Her house, she is certain, is haunted and there is not a moment’s peace to be had.

When Anine learns how her husband acquired the house she is mortified. She begins to take steps to counter the growing aggression in the man she thought she loved and attempts to get him to sell the house back to the original owner with some unforeseen consequences that will rock her world to the core.

This book was a page turner from the first. From the ghost story in Sweden to the haunted New York property, author Sean Munger does an amazing job of capturing the feeling of the time and the characters. The psychological aspects of the story were amazing. What is a dooplegänger and what does it have to do with the Athertons? You must read on and see for yourself.

If you love horror with a touch of the past, then this is the bedtime story for you. I just wouldn’t recommend turning out the light.

The After House by Michael Phillip Cash

HOUSE
The After House by Michael Phillip Cash
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Contemporary, Horror, Mystery/Suspense, Paranormal
Length: Full Length (194 pgs)
Heat: Sweet
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Stephanotis

Remy Galway and her daughter Olivia are rebuilding their life after a failed marriage in a 300 year old cottage in historic Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. Little do they know, another occupant is lurking in the haven of their own home. Will the After House be their shelter or their tomb?

When I picked this book to review it was tagged horror. While it does have some ghosts and paranormal elements, if you’re a Stephen King sort of horror fan then I don’t think this is for you. However, if you enjoy a book with mystery, a grumpy ghost, the story of a woman finding her second chance at love, then rush to buy this one.
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The story begins back in the height of the whaling industry and off the coast of Puerto Rico. We meet for the first time Captain Eli Caspar. This chapter reminded me a lot of Moby Dick and pulled me into the story so by the time it switched to modern day I was hooked.

I liked Remy, the main character who moves into Eli’s old house. She’s a wounded soul who you cheer on from the beginning. When bad things start happening to her you read on wanting to know who’s hurting her and if it will be Eli or the new man in her life, Hugh who comes to the rescue.

Eli himself is a wonderful character and you feel yourself cheering him on too in his quest to find his wife and children.

The author does a great job weaving in historical details of the whaling industry and the local culture of this New York seaport. The secondary characters are all great too. It’s a quick read and I think you’ll find yourself smiling at some of the humor and then feeling very content at how Mr. Cash tied everything together at the end of the book.

I’d be more inclined to call this one a paranormal romance than horror and if that’s your sort of book, I highly recommend this entertaining read.

Cult of the Black Jaguar by JG Faherty

CULT
Cult of the Black Jaguar by JG Faherty
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Historical, Action/Adventure
Length: Short Story (47 pages)
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In the depths of the jungle lie mysteries drenched in blood.

Ethan Foster has spent a lifetime as a guide and bodyguard for archeologist Heathcliff Pascal. They’ve survived more adventures than they can count, but now, deep in the jungles of Central America, they discover a secret hidden from the world for centuries: the Cult of the Black Jaguar, presided over by an immortal goddess whose beauty is matched by her cruelty. She needs the blood of a virgin to bring her army back to life, and she’s found one in Heathcliff’s daughter, Jenny. It’s up to Ethan to stop her. It might seem an impossible task, but Ethan has secrets of his own. Dark secrets.
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Before the night is over, blood will be shed, and only one man—or monster—will survive.

The middle of nowhere can be an incredibly exciting place to visit, so long as everyone is prepared for anything to happen there.

Strong, even pacing encouraged me to read this whole thing in one sitting. The first scene plops the reader down into an adventure that is already taking place. It was up to me to put all of the pieces together as everything unfolded. The heavy focus on the plot was a good match for the themes and overall tone of this tale.

There is a pretty large cast of characters here considering that this is a short story. While all of them play important roles and I wouldn’t want to see anyone taken away, it took me a long time to figure out who was who. It would have been really helpful if the narrator had quickly introduced all of the characters in the first scene so that I could have spent more time enjoying the plot itself.

One of the things I look for in horror is a really scary villain. It’s difficult to discuss the antagonist without giving away spoilers, but Mr. Faherty has found a good balance between describing what I should fear and allowing my imagination to fill in some of the details on its own. It’s often more frightening to not know everything, after all!

Cult of the Black Jaguar is not for the faint of heart, but definitely give it a try if you like your horror on the bloody side.

Abram’s Bridge by Glenn Rolfe

BRIDGE
Abram’s Bridge by Glenn Rolfe
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (85 pages)
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

There is a darkness in this town, and it’s buried beneath Abram’s Bridge.

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People living in small towns can be great at keeping secrets, so it should come as no surprise to Lil Ron that his questions about the past aren’t always welcomed. If only he knew who was willing to talk.

It took me a little while to realize how much I liked the dialogue in this piece. Every character has a unique voice, and I was soon able to identify who was speaking simply by paying attention to how they strung their words together. Mr. Rolfe was so good at this that he could have almost written all of the dialogue without ever mentioning who was speaking.

There were many shifts between narrators. This was confusing at times for me, especially since the cast of characters is large for a story of this length. I had trouble keeping track of how everyone was connected. The premise itself was strong, but I couldn’t help but to wonder if it would have worked better as a full-length novel so that there would have been more time to explore Sweet Kate’s life and death in greater detail.

The plot twists in this tale kept me on my toes. While I was able to figure out many of them ahead of time, Mr. Rolfe still surprised me on one or two occasions. What I enjoyed the most about them was how subtle the clues were about what was about to happen. I had to pay very close attention to what was happening in order to make accurate guesses about what might be around the next corner.

I’d recommend Abram’s Bridge to anyone who enjoys contemporary paranormal fiction.

Legacy by JG Faherty

LEGACY
Legacy by JG Faherty
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (58 pages)
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Some gods demand blood!

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Dreams aren’t real, so they’ll never actually come true. Or will they?

Sean’s character development was well done. He was smart and insightful, but he could also be judgemental of other people’s choices and self-centered. I like my protagonists deeply flawed, though, so seeing his weaknesses show up so early on in the plot was a good decision. It helped me get to know him before too many bizarre things started happening.

There were a few things that I never quite understood about how Sean’s family functioned. His parents played a much smaller role in his life than I would have usually expected for a teenage main character. While Sean is definitely old enough to make many of his own decisions, I was surprised by how little his parents seemed to know about what he was up to. It would have been helpful to have some more information about why they appeared to be so disconnected from his life. Even briefly mentioning their reasons for doing so would have earned this book a much higher rating.

The pacing in this story made it almost impossible for me to tear my eyes away from the page until I’d discovered how it all ended. One of the thing I appreciate the most about Mr. Faherty’s writing style is how adept he is at drawing me into the plot. His tales often make me feel as though I’m watching everything unfold on a movie screen in my mind, and this one is no exception to that rule.

Give Legacy a try if you like the dark, creepy side of science fiction.