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Frightful Fall Reviewer Challenge: Seed by Ania Ahlborn
About the book:
In the vine-twisted swamps of Louisiana, the shadows have teeth.
Jack Winter has spent his entire life running from something no one else can see. His childhood is his darkest secret, but after a near fatal accident along a deserted road, the darkness he was sure he’d escaped rears its ugly head… and smiles.
But this time, he isn’t the only one who sees the soulless eyes of his past. This time, his six-year-old daughter Charlie leans into his ear and whispers: "Daddy, I saw it too."
And then she begins to change.
Faced with reliving the nightmares of his childhood, Jack watches his daughter spiral into the shadows that had nearly consumed him twenty years before.
But Charlie isn’t the only one who’s changing.
Jack never outran the darkness. It’s been with him all along.
And it’s hungrier than ever.
A new breed of dark fiction: the subtlety of Seed will haunt you, and the end will wickedly satisfy.
My Two Cents:
Seed rocks! How's that for a review? Seed is classic horror, psychological horror, creepy horror, pee your pants horror. I loved it!
The Jokers Club by Gregory Bastianelli
About the book:
2nd place finish in the JS 2011 horror writing contest.
Diagnosed with a brain tumor, Geoffrey returns to his hometown for a reunion of the Jokers Club (his childhood gang) with the hopes of unearthing the imagination he held in his youth. Upon arriving, he discovers the creative juices that drove his writing many years ago surround him: the tombstone salesman who chisels out names of the dead, the far-sighted barber with the bloodstained smock and the reclusive Tin Man, just to name a few.
Unfortunately Geoffrey’s tumor quickly worsens, bringing on blackouts and hallucinations where he encounters the spectral figure of a court jester who had been his muse as a child. The jester inspires Geoffrey’s work on his manuscript, fueling his writing at a ferocious pace. The dead and the living co-exist in the pages of Geoffrey’s story, in a town where time seems to be frozen in a past that still haunts the present.
When one of the gang is found dead it rattles not only his group of friends, but everyone begins to look at each other as possible suspects. Will the pounding growth in Geoffrey’s head be held at bay long enough for him to discover who is targeting his friends, or will the pages in his unfinished novel rewrite history?
My Two Cents:
There is nothing like a good, creepy horror book that not only scares you but makes you think. The Jokers Club delivered on all levels! I have not read a book like this in a long, long time and I hope there are many more in the works from Mr. Bastianelli.
Review: Play Dead by Anne Frasier
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=readireadi-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00422LMU4&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrTitle: Play Dead
Author: Anne Frasier
Publisher: Onyx
ISBN: 978-0451411372
Fiction, 384 pages
Source: Purchased
CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY
Dark:Stories of Madness, Murder and the Supernatural by Clint Willis-Audio Book Review
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=readireadi-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1560252774&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrTitle: Dark:Stories of Madness, Murder and the Supernatural
Author: Clint Willis and various authors
Narrator: Various
Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc
Audio book, 5h, 15m
Source: library
Summary from Goodreads:
Dark: Stories of Madness, Murder and the Supernatural contains the best writing about the things that scare us the most: murder, ghosts, insanity-and our own vulnerability. Like the other books in the Adrenaline series–including Epic: Stories of Survival from the World’s Highest Peaks and Blood: Stories of Life and Death from the Civil War–Dark examines its subject through the eyes of the world’s most gifted writers. Here they bring us face-to-face with evil in all of its forms, from serial murder to alien abduction.
Dark features real-life accounts of hauntings and other visitations, as well as selections from fiction masters such as Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe and Flannery O’Connor.
Harris, creator of Hannibal Lector, introduces us to a madman who wants to bite off your lips, tie you to a wheelchair and light you on fire. Cabin fever drives hotel caretaker Jack Torrence to filicidal insanity in Stephen King’s The Shining. Patrick McGrath describes the world’s worst mother. Flannery O’Connor offers a vision of hell on a country road.
Like all Adrenaline titles, Dark features only the best writing on its subject–the most frightening stories from fiction and real life. They will scare you: You will feel the malice of murderers, the cold evil of the undead, and the unreasoning hatred of the insane, as well as the suffering of their victims. But these stories offer enlightenment as well: Writers such as Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost and Paul Bowles explore the terrain where compassion overlaps with its opposite. Ultimately, Dark is a book about literature’s greatest theme: the struggle between good and evil.
My Thoughts:
Normally I don’t like enjoy short stories but I am finding listening to them is more enjoyable for me than reading them. Many times I am working while listening and short stories seem to give me a bit more sanctification that I am accomplishing something and if I can’t get right back to it, they are easier to remember.
That being said,I enjoyed this book very much. Some stories better than others of course. I found a nice variety from the good old Poe classics to a pretty gross-out story from Will Self. Something for everyone.
My favorite was THE YELLOW WALLPAPER
Stories include:
The Monkey’s Paw, Smee, The Cask of Amontillado, The Cafeteria and many more. A smorgasbord of short, well written and well read horror. Supernatural, psychological and just plain ewwwwwww. Trust me, you will find something that clicks with you.
Challenges:
Audio Book Challenge
Gothic Reading Challenge
Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenge
No, Daddy, Don’t!: A Father’s Murderous Act of Revenge by Irene Pence- True Crime Book Review
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=readireadi-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B003IKODM0&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrTitle: No, Daddy, Don’t!: A Father’s Murderous Act of Revenge
The horrifying true story of John Battaglia, an abusive husband who committed the ultimate act of violence and betrayal by murdering his two young daughters, as their mother listened helplessly on the telephone.
My Two Cents:
WOW, what a waste of a human! This John Battaglia was really a piece of work. Sicko is too nice a term for this guy. How in the world do you kill your kids just to punish your ex-wife? What kind of monsters do we have walking among us on this earth? There is no punishment that fits this crime.
This was a very well written book. The author does an excellent job of taking us into the sick mind of Battaglia, seeing how he was two different people when it suit him. He can charm your pants off, literally, then turn on a dime and beat the crap out of you. There is not really a whole lot I can say about this book. It is heartbreaking to read and at the same time as repulsed as you are, you stay glued to the pages.
If you are a fan of true crime give this a try but make sure you have your box of tissues close by.
Technorati Tags: Reading+Reading+Life, No+Daddy+Don’t, Irene+Pence, John+Battaglia, murder, children, father, death+penalty, true+crime, book+review
