Book 79 of 2010: You Morbid Westphal by Steven Rage

YOU. Yes, “you”… are a poor soul in the hospital on your last legs. And as it is, you’ve “given birth” to one of the most horrible “people” ever possible…

MORBID. Born from “your” rectum, Morbid dispatches many other patients in the hospital in extremely horrendous and painful ways. However, the main suspect of these murders isn’t Morbid, but instead…

WESTPHAL. Living with his ghost step-dad, Sammy, and his pet aborted fetus, Chip, Westphal works as a night shift nurse, getting stuck with all of the worst patients. All those that no one else wants to fool with. Just to get through the day, Westphal has to dope himself up with the strongest narcotics possible and that doesn’t always help make things easier.

These three characters, as well as a host of other interesting “people” make up Steven Rage’s You Morbid Westphal. Both the characters and story format are unique- Rage has created a one-of-a-kind voice with this novella, which has enough story to fill a full-length book. A large chunk of the story follows Westphal day-to-day as he suffers through many horrendous tasks at work, in his dreams, and even just trying to obtain more drugs along the way.

As soon as I read the final chapters of this book I was ready to re-read it. I ended up waiting a few months before doing just that, but after a second read, I would be more than happy to do so yet again… and again… and again… You Morbid Westphal is one of those novellas that never get tiresome, as you pick up something different with each read through. You Morbid Westphal is not for the faint of heart, as it is full of numerous crude scenes that Rage describes in graphic detail. For many seasoned horror/bizarro readers, this will be a plus, but for those that can’t handle things over the top, beware! Highly recommended!

Contains: Adult language, Adult Situations, Sex, Rape, Violence, Gore, Heavy Drug Use

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

Book 76 of 2010: Wild by Lincoln Crisler

not yet released

Book 65 of 2010: ???? ???? ???? by ????? ???????

Proofing project for an author friend

Book 63 of 2010: Sally Pinup by T.M. Wright

Review to follow...

Book 60 of 2010: ????? ????? by ?????

Proofing project... that's all I'm sayin'... ;)

Book 37 of 2010: ????? by ?????? ????????

This was a book I read/proofed to help out a friend of mine. More to come later...

Book 36 of 2010: Crystal Dreams by Kate Douglas

This novella will be released in an anthology called Nocturnal. Crystal Dreams is part of Kate's DemonSlayers series and is a wonderful addition to the series. I'm not dong a full review yet, but since I proofed the book wanted to add it to my "read" list. :)

Book 7 of 2010: Piecemeal June by Jordan Krall

Jordan Krall's first bizarro release through Eraserhead Press, Piecemeal June, is a strong first novel. It is the story of a guy named Kevin who lives above the town's one and only porn shop with his cat, Mithra. Said cat has a habit of bringing various things to Kevin, typically tarot cards, but one day he brings Kevin an ankle... and it's sweating! In the following days Mithra brings Kevin more body parts, and eventually Kevin has the complete makings of a full female. When he puts the female together, to his surprise, she comes to life and tells him her name is June. However, little does Kevin know, but Max Alexander, evil pornographer, and his three crab-human assassins are looking for June and will stop at nothing to get her back. Based on the blurb of the back of this book, I went into Piecemeal June thinking it might be heavy in regards to sex, but after reading it realized there honestly wasn't much to do with sex in the book at all. The book is actually more focused on a deeper love story between the characters in the book as you will see as you read it. Despite this being a "love story", however, Piecemeal June also is quite grotesque in parts. There is one character called Simon, the God of Whores, who is pretty darn foul! The scenes describing him and the things he does may make some readers retch a bit. For those accustomed to reading gross-out kinds of scenes, these parts shouldn't phase them one bit, but to others... I'm just giving fair warning that you might not want to eat right before reading this. All in all, this is a great first novel and I'm looking forward to reading the other works by Krall. Highly Recommended!

Contains: Adult Language, Adult Situations

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

Book 6 of 2010: Zombie Bastard by Jerrod Balzar

Novello Publishers is known for publishing books in the comic horror sub-genre. Their latest release by Jerrod Balzar definitely falls into this category as it starts off with some crazy bathroom humor. Poor Trevor happened to eat some bad Chinese food right before receiving a phone call from his brother saying that his mother had been admitted to the hospital. In his rush to get out the door, he didn't take the time to hit the john and as soon as he hits the road, his stomach started rumbling. Driving through an area where there are no rest stops,e his options appeared to be either to run into the woods somewhere and drop his drawers, or else just have an accident in the car. When he had just about given in to the idea of cutting loose in the woods, he saw a light at the end of the tunnel... a gas station! Said gas station happened to have a really run-down restroom on the side of the building. Rushing into the single stall once the station manager came out, he didn't think twice about there being an audience outside listening to him "go" so he just let everything out. While he continued his business he heard another "guest" enter the room. Trevor heard some struggling over at the sink and the next thing he knew there was a zombie tearing the hinges off the stall door. That's a sure fire way to make someone crap themselves! Luckily, Trevor was in the right spot for that, but then the zombie went to attack and the chase was on!

Balzar has created a great piece of comic horror fiction with Zombie Bastard. Filled with bathroom humor throughout, it still has a great plot. The story behind how the Zombie Bastard came about is quite an interesting tale. Obviously it's about a bastard child, but there is a lot more to it than that, and Balzar describes the tale of the Zombie Bastard and the curse that was put on the town with added humor to give it more flair. The Zombie Bastard himself is an interesting character, as you discover from how he was "created", but one of my favorite characters in the book comes in to play towards the end... The Witch Bitch. The story really ties together when Trevor finally gets to meet her. There is a lot discovered with Trevor's visit to her house and The Witch Bitch amused me both in her actions and just her name alone. I found myself laughing throughout this entire book and would've finished it in one sitting (no pun intended) had I not been interrupted with other things going on in real-life. Definitely a must-read for the comic horror fans out there. Highly Recommended!

Contains: Adult Language, Adult Situations, Bathroom Humor

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

Book 1 of 2010: Chanku Spirit by Kate Douglas

No image available... sorry! But this will be included in Sexy Beast VIII coming out this spring.

Book 80 of 2009: Rot by Michele Lee

Book 73 of 2009: Sausagey Santa by Carlton Mellick III

Sausagey Santa is the story of the Fry family and what happens to them one Christmas season. The Fry family is made of Matthew Fry, with "the sly guy" hairstyle, his wife Decapitron, who thinks she is a Transformer, and their four children. Matthew would love to not be married to Decapitron, but he knows that anything he does against her wishes will cause her to annihilate him, so he is stuck where he is. On Christmas Eve Decapitron allows sits around telling the kids Santa stories. One in particular is about Sausagey Santa and Matthew doesn't approve of his children hearing the story. The tale describes Santa as being made out of meat goo and linked together in order to form the shape of a man. However, this particular Christmas, Santa made quite a ruckus showing up at the Fry household and when Matthew and Decapitron go downstairs to investigate, Matthew is shocked to find that it is Sausagey Santa rather than Santa Claus that is in their house and instead of drinking milk he prefers beer. Santa enjoys a short visit with the Frys and is about to head off when he hears a lot of noise stirring up outside. He informs the Fry family that they are all in danger. They later discover that it is an anti-Christmas spirit that is after Santa and trying to ruin Christmas. Now, with the help of the Fry family and his elves, Sausagey Santa is attempting to salvage Christmas this year!

Readers like to get in the spirit of the season by reading a holiday novel or two, but some don't like those feel good, mushy, happy-go-lucky romance books and such that are easy to find on the shelves during the holiday season. Sausagey Santa is the answer for that are looking for those hard to find books! Also, if not familiar with Carlton Mellick III and/or the greatness of the horror sub-genre, Bizarro, this is a great introduction to both! I can only imagine what possibly inspired the ideas for some of the scenes that are depicted in this novel. In particular, I would one day like discuss with Carlton Mellick III exactly where he came up with the idea for "Television Cake" and that's something you read about in just the first chapter of this treasure of a book. There is much more hidden within the pages of Sausagey Santa and every chapter contains something to make your jaw drop and you're mind to ask "What the f---?!?!" So buy up a copy, make some hot cocoa, and snuggle up in the blankets and read this book! And afterward, I guarantee you'll be hoping that it's the "Original Santa Claus" coming to visit you Christmas Eve rather than Sausagey Santa... unless, of course, you are REALLY twisted!

Contains: Adult Language, Adult Situations, Violence, Sex

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

Book 68 of 2009: Swarm of Flying Eyeballs by Gina Ranalli

Squid Salad Press' second bizarro release, Swarm of Flying Eyeballs, comes from one of the top-selling authors in the genre, Gina Ranalli. In Swarm, the summer school students of a local school are going on a local field trip to a blueberry field. Ron, the poor guy that has to tend to the blueberry fields, watches as the bus pulls up and is a bit disgruntled, since back in the day when he was in school he never got to go on field trips during summer school. Soon, the kids are all picking berries until all of a sudden one of them starts to scream! Ron goes to check on the girl who was screaming, and next thing, both Ron and the girl that was previously screaming are both running and yelling "EYEBALLS!" But what are they talking about? Only the mind of Ranalli and those that have read Swarm know for sure and honestly, I'm not even sure the readers know exactly what Ranalli has in mind once this book comes to such a twisted end. Swarm has the feel of a fun B-horror movie and I could picture the film rolling in my head as I was reading it. The characters that Ranalli has created are brilliant. They vary in age from young kids, to teens, to adults. The weird thing is... it seemed liked a lot of the time the young kids, such as Natalie, our heroine, had more smarts about her then those that should have had more maturity. Of course,, I guess that is how things do seem to be in a lot of real life instances, so Ranalli probably hit that dead on! It's the underlying things such as that, and Ranalli's quirky writing style, that make this such a powerful read. Highly recommended for all fans of the bizarro genre, or even those readers that are hesitant about the genre and just want to consider "dipping their feet in".

Contains: Mild Violence

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

Book 64 of 2009: Devil's Marionette by Maurice Broaddus

Want to re-read before reviewing this one...

Book 63 of 2009: My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent

My Soul to Lose is the prequel to Rachel Vincent's new novel My Soul to Take. At the start of My Soul to Lose, Vincent introduces us to Kaylee Cavanaugh and her best friend, Emma. They are on a trip to the mall and plotting revenge on Kaylee's ex. Unfortunately, while wandering around the mall, Kaylee has what Emma assumes was a "panic attack". Emma pulls her away from the crowds of the food court where the attack first hit her and led her down to Sears. Kaylee was feeling better until she spotted a boy in a wheelchair who appeared to have shadows wrapped around him and then she began to shriek. Next thing Kaylee knows, she finds herself in a psychiatric ward, trying to find a way out and also a way to explain the shadows to herself.

Having been a fan of Vincent's adult Shifters series I was curious to see how her writing style would hold up in the young adult genre, and I have to say I am quite impressed. My Soul to Lose is a great introduction to the Soul Screamers series and leaves you wondering what is going on with this girl, Kaylee. It is also a great introduction to Rachel Vincent that may eventually lead younger readers to discover her adult books. This is a novella, but has a lot packed into it. Several characters in the Soul Screamers world are introduced and you get a bit of background on what has been going on with Kaylee. Readers don’t need to read this prior to reading My Soul to Take, but I think it helps you get more in touch with the characters. Highly Recommended.

Contains: Mild Adult Language

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

Book 62 of 2009: Orgy of Souls by Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus

Review to follow...

Book 60 of 2009: The Gray Zone by John R. Little

The Gray Zone is a time-travel novella that follows the adventures of Henry Davidson. During a visit to Aswan, Egypt, Henry saves a young boy from drowning in the Nile River. In order to reward him, the boy's father, Mohammed, gives Henry a secret powder. After Henry swallows the powder, strange things start to happen. He starts jumping back and forth between the past and future and at times into what he simply describes as the "gray zone", and when in the "gray zone" he is having trouble recalling any events of the past or future. It is a disturbing and haunting feeling for Henry, and makes the powder Mohammed has given him seem more like a curse than a gift

Often horror is written with paranormal elements in order to scare the readers with monsters, but in The Gray Zone, Little completely avoids these things. Instead, he makes us think about what it would be like to live in a world where we can't change the course of our actions based on knowledge of past events. Personally, I've always learned from my mistakes. What if the knowledge of those mistakes were no longer there? Would we all just keep making the same mistakes over and over again? Now THAT is a scary thought! But that is one possibility of living in the "gray zone". Little has written of a very scary "world" in this novella, and I felt sorry for Henry as he struggled to deal with everything. Even if it was just a temporary curse that he might eventually overcome, it was still a nightmare to live through. The Gray Zone is highly imaginative, thought-provoking, and a fast read. The author will keep you wondering what is to come next and keep you turning the pages for more. Highly Recommended.

Contains: Adult Language, Adult Situations

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

Book 58 of 2009: The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton

Lisa Morton's first novella, The Lucid Dreaming, tells the tale of a girl named Spike, a violent paranoid schizophrenic whose condition is currently controlled by a drug called Prolixin. Spike resides in a mental hospital in Oxnard, California, but one day a nurse comes to Spike’s room holding a scalpel, covered in blood, and tells her that she is free. Spike doesn’t wait around to see what the nurse is going to do with the scalpel, and takes off out the door seeing all kinds of horrors around the hospital as she flees. She finds a car and hits the road (despite having never driven in her life). Along the way she meets up with a special boy named Teddy who seems to be affected by whatever is going on. After spending time with him she realizes it's like he's almost in a dreamlike state. She wonders why she isn't affected, but soon realizes it must be the Prolixin she is taking. Spike and Teddy travel through many a state together, but get stopped in Texas by a group of rednecks. Now Spike has to figure out a plan of escape for her and Teddy to get them back on their way and out of redneck hell!

The Lucid Dreaming is one of the best novellas I have ever read. I picked it up one evening and couldn't stop until I was finished. Spike's character has a sassy attitude and comes out with lots of snarky comments that I absolutely loved. The fact that half of the time Spike is leading around Teddy in his sleep makes for interesting moments as well. There were many memorable scenes in the book, but I think my favorite had to be the bathtub scene. That was just a classic moment in the book. I won't say what happened as to avoid spoilers, but it's worth reading the novella just for that scene alone in my opinion. Morton gives the reader a bit of everything within less than 100 pages... action, suspense, thrills, romance, and of course, horror! She's definitely an author to keep an eye out for in the future. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Contains: Adult Language, Adult Situations, Violence

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

Book 55 of 2009: Snarl by Lorne Dixon

When family man Chev Worke decided to pick up some extra money by spending Christmas on the road driving his 18-wheeler, he wasn't expecting to slam into an animal on State Highway 59 and then have his truck die. And he REALLY wasn't expecting said animal to turn out to be a werewolf that belonged to a pack of werewolves that decide to hunt him down, since he has killed one of their own. Given a head start, Chev makes it to a little grocery store in the town of Easter Glen on foot and meets up with some townsfolk. Together they try to make a break for it, but soon Chev learns of a pact that the townsfolk have made with the werewolves. At that point everyone has choices to make. Hopefully they will make the right choices, and make it out alive, but will they?

Lorne Dixon has taken a refreshing look at the world of werewolves. He keeps you clawing at the edge of your seat up until the very end of Snarl. The story is fast-paced throughout, with enough action and plot twists to keep you guessing all the way through so that you aren't sure exactly how things are going to wrap up. It's a very powerful novella and feels more like a full novel. The main character in the story is very likable and you sympathize with him immediately wanting to help him out of his predicament, especially considering he just happened to be "in the wrong place at the wrong time". This is my first experience with the works of Lorne Dixon, but I will definitely be looking into reading more by this fine author as I was highly entertained by Snarl. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Contains: Adult Language, Violence

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

Book 14 of 2009: The Hunger of Empty Vessels by Scott Edelman

Scott Edelman's novella, The Hunger of Empty Vessels, tells the tale of a man named Portabello, who is dealing with divorce and not being able to see his son, Joey, on a regular basis. As the days go on Portabello starts to see someone watching Joey. When bad things seem to happen to him, he believes this "person" is the cause. Portabello decides it is his duty as the father to protect his son, but will protecting his son do more harm than good?

This is the first thing I have ever read by Edelman and I am quite impressed by his writing style. His choice of subject is far scarier than most "monster" type horror books as it hits closer to home with some people and makes them really think. Kudos to Edelman for writing about it in such a lyrical way. Recommended.

(Review also posted on MonsterLibrarian.Com)