Bad Juju vol 1 by R. Van Saint

Bad Juju: Volume 1
Ebook By R. Van Saint
$2.99
Published: Dec. 20, 2010
Category: Fiction » Anthologies » Short stories - single author
Words: 15268
review based on PDF version converted to epub for Kobo.

R. Van Saint has given us readers a grand collection of stories. The scope and style of writing will grab you by the coat tails. Most of these stories have a twist. I dare say the first story and the last two are the best of this collection, although the others do not pale in comparison. Each story is lined up perfectly which is something you don't see very often in single author collections and each story moves smoothly from one onto the next.

I do however have one grumble and that is with the tale, The Secret of Mothers, it took too long to get into the story and that none of the characters were likable (maybe that was the point?).  R. Van Saint also tells several of the stories in an omnipresent point of view, a lot of authors who use this style fail (including me) but R. Van Saint nails it on the head. This is how she pulls you into the stories and makes you a witness to the oncoming action.

We get to see several sides of humanity strung together in this volume and R. Van Saint's storytelling ability is smooth and will hook you in. Most of these stories fit in the spec-fic genre and one is definitely Bizzaro and even if you don't like these genres you will enjoy these tales. The tales are simply captivating and the book, although short, is well worth the price of a download.

A guaranteed fun ride. Perfect for a cold or wet day inside, not so perfect for a short train or car ride as once you start the story, you won't want to stop.

77%

The House on Blackstone Moor by Carole Gill

The house on Blackstone Moore
Carole Gill
Published by Vamplit Publishing
(c) 2010

Review based on epub version for the Kobo e-reader

Gothic horror. Not really my cup of tea, but Carole Gill's novel is a smooth read from page one and onwards. Chapter one is interesting and thrusts the reader straight into the world of Rose Baines with a nice tag at the end that forces a page turn.

Coming home to see her family slaughtered by her father, she is struck weak and taken to an insane asylum to recover, where on her first night in a solo room she is abused. This is just the start of the horrors she will soon be faced with. There are sex rituals, sacrifice, vampires, demons (I like Eco, he is demented and brilliantly so), children vamps, and the leader, Louis Dartion, oh and gypsies.

All Gothic fans will love this book and Carole has created characters we can all identify with. Rose is a shy and uncomfortable around strangers and has a tendency to faint. Louis Dartion is the opposite but he too has a soft side. Some of the characters are in the story to move the plot along but most are interesting characters, like Dartion's wife, Marta and Reverend Hobbs.

Secrets will be exposed that will rock Rose's world and throw her life in turmoil. The amount of twists and turns this book takes will leave your head spinning and guessing until the end. And the journey Rose takes in this book is truly epic and you'll enjoy reading her exploits and adventure late into the night.  

71%

The Spectrum Collection, Anthology

The Spectrum Collection from Dark Continents Publishing
Kobo ebook review
Pages 104 (Kobo epub version)

Spectrum is an interesting collection of stories and poetry from a new publisher entering the market. I know a couple of the writers in this collection but everyone else was new, and to tell the truth, there were several surprises in this nice -- yet short -- collection. All the stories are spec fiction in nature and all bar one really hooked me.

We have a ghost story with a bit of a twist and very well thought out; a struggling writer facing rejection who is a vampire in a world where The Happening occurred causing zombies, mutants and a lack of blood. We have a twisted story about a goat, to say more would give it away. There are a couple of zombie stories one had more oomph than the other (and that's just my opinion). It's hard to get oomph in a zombie story these days, but these do it well. In this collection, though, there is one clear winner: Lemminaid by Carson Buckingham. The execution of this short story won me over, as well as the build up, the twist and the characters.

All the stories here are awesome and well worth your hard earned dosh. You won't go wrong with this collection in your e-reader or on your shelf. If you like spec fic, if you like to smirk after each story and nod your head thinking 'neat', then check out these writers and their stories here-in.

82%

Ikigami - The Ultimate Limit by Mase Motoro

This is a bit of a different review for this here blog. BUT, I just finished reading Ikigami (English Version) and I was shocked to actually like it. I'm not a graphic novel reader and I out grew comics years ago. I know several adults who still get enjoyment from them but they don't work for me. Not usually. But, when I was in Kinokuniya bookstore the other day, I was looking at the over-priced English book section and happened on this series. The cover caught my attention. And I purchased the book based on the back cover blurb. (The book was wrapped in plastic so I couldn't open it and take a quick read.) And, based on the back cover blurb, I purchased 3 books of the five in the series. The sixth book in the series wasn't there.

What's on the back cover?

Dear Citizen: Thank you for your loyalty. You've no doubt noticed that the world is a troubled place. People are apathetic, lazy, unmotivated. You've probably asked yourself WHY ISN'T ANYTHING BEING DONE TO STOP THIS SYSTEMATIC DECLINE? Rest assured that measures are being taken. Beginning immediately, we will randomly select a different citizen each day who will be killed within 24 hours of notification. We believe this will help remind all people how precious life is and how important it is to be a productive, active member of society. Thank you for your continued attention and your cooperation and participation... CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE BEEN RANDOMLY SELECTED BY THE GOVERNMENT...TO DIE IN 24 HOURS!

Now, is that a back cover blurb or is it a back cover blurb?

The story itself is really good. There are two stories here including the role of the Ikigami delivered - just a city office worker.

The manga starts off introducing us to a slightly future world when all school children are immunized. In the injection is a nano-bomb, but only 1000 get this planted in them. The bombs are set to go off at a certain time and the government knows who and when and they prepares an Ikigami for them. The person is notified 24 hours before they die. The children are kind-of brainwashed into believing this is for the good of the country. Mase Motoro also spends some time on building the back story and creating a government ideal that is almost believable.

The first story is revenge on being bullied. Standard fare but a good warm up and an excellent way to tell us what happens if the person who gets the ikigami commits crimes. The second story is about a couple of buskers, one gets a contract to sing and in doing so he gives up on his best friend. Later, one of the gets an ikigami and tries to make up with his friend and be all-he-can-be  the only way he knows how.

Throughout this book, there are interjections of the real story, the office worker, Fujimoto, and his job of delivering the ikigamis and his wondering if this law is actually a good thing. But these worries he must keep to himself, as it is the duty of any citizen who learns of / hears a person being a social miscreant to report them. All social miscreants will be dealt with in the appropriate manner.

I'm not a manga reader by a long shot, the only other manga I read was GTO, but I saw the movie first. This manga series is (so far) pretty darn good and I'm onto the second manga now.

71%
 





 

Secret Story by Ramsey Campbell

Secret Story by Ramsey Campbell

(c) 2006

Publisher: Tor

398 pages

US mass market edition

The back cover of this book is what hooked me, and I guess it hooked a lot of other writers. The book (according to the back) is about a writer who dreams of chucking it all in to become a famous author. But that’s where the cover blurb and the actual story seem to drift apart. For this review I will start by typing up the back cover:

You're an underpaid civil servant who dreams of chucking it all to become a famous author. You live with your overbearing mother who always seems to interrupt when you're writing a key scene. Your imagination is dark, your inspiration the terrible things that can happen to a young woman travelling alone. . .

Your terrifying short story about a horrible murder on an underground train is to be published. Even better, it will be made into a movie.

A pretty young journalist is pursuing you.

Except.

You've been fired.

The journalist wants an interview, not a date.

The film's director wants you to make a few changes in your story.

And, worst of all, your imagination has run dry.

You'll just have to kill someone new. . .

So, that’s the back cover and naturally I’d read that and run up to the counter, hand over my dosh and rushed home to settle in for a good read. But; the style of the writing was a tad hard to get used to, it’s very British, which isn’t usually a problem for me (most of the lit in NZ comes from the UK), except this one took me awhile to get used to it. Scene changes would start with someone talking, then other people would talk and I had no idea there were other people about until they spoke. The back blurb covers only the first half of the book. But what really put me off reading was an unbelievable reaction to an unbelievable scene involving the wife of his best friend.

About the story: Dudley is crazy. He has been for a long time and his mother thinks all the drugs she did in her youth are to blame. What she doesn’t know is that the stories Dudley is writing are factual. Chapter two is the best chapter in this book; it’s about a murder at the train station (tube/subway) and it forms the backbone of this book. His mother sends this story into a competition and it is accepted for publication winning the top spot. The story is shown to an indie director who wants to film it and would like Dudley’s assistance with writing the script to keep it as real as possible. He agrees.

After a reading (pre-launch) someone recognizes the story as a real event and informs the parents of the girl killed at the subway, and they naturally kick up a mega media stink and Dudley’s story is pulled from publication. But the editor likes Dudley and offers him a spot in issue two of the magazine. The movie is changed as well. They won’t show that scene but Dudley has to come up with something else.

The book drags on a bit from here on in, don’t get me wrong the storylines are interesting and the character developments are excellent, but I am left to wonder why most scenes were written. I saw little point to most of them.

The ending is as expected but don’t skip the epilogue (like most readers), you’ll nod your head though most of it.

In short: this book is long winded but a decent read. The style is interesting as are the characters.

67%

Brainjack by Brian Falkner

Brainjack by Brian Falkner
ISBN: 978-1-921150-95-1
Walker Books Australia
(c) 2009 / 438 pages
Winner of the Sir Julius Vogel award for YA fiction

Deciding to test the YA waters myself (as a writer of fantastical stories), I thought I should read some YA first. I am glad I picked up Brian Falkner’s book. This is the first YA book I’ve finished, and basically couldn’t stop reading. It was the prologue that got me reading the book and deciding to purchase a copy. Here’s the first few lines: Right now, as you are reading this prologue, I am shifting through the contents of your computer. Yes, your computer. You. The one holding the book.

Brainjack is a cracker of a read for a YA book. It is intelligent and fast paced. It is a very plot focused book, but that’s not a bad thing. We meet young Sam who likes to hack into unhackable places. Wanting a couple of new laptops and Nuro-Connectors, Sam hacks into Telecomerica and gets arrested. Locked up, Sam wants out and finds out there is a computer in the library. It is locked down with several protection decides so hackers won’t have access to temptation. But Sam is no ordinary hacker. He’s a natural and a locked down computer has a work around.

Having broken into the computer he makes plans for an escape. He almost doesn’t make it. Hitting the city he jumps in a cab and discovers everything he’s been through from breaking into the White House for a convention and breaking out of jail was all part of a job interview. The CDD want Sam working for them.

A couple of months later, a cyber attack introduces them to a phantom on the Internet. The phantom takes out the cyber terrorists and then spammers the very next day. The phantom is taking out the things it believes to be wrong or bad and the CDD needs to find it and take it out. They are worried that the phantom might take out anything it sees as bad or a threat.

Soon enough a war breaks out between Nuro users and non-nuro users.

Set in the near future, this book tells a tale where being online is the main way of life. It’s engrossing with techno terms described in a way everyone would understand. The writing is straight to the point and runs smoothly from paragraph.


79%

Kiss me like you love me by Wednesday Lee Friday

Kiss me like you love me by Wednesday Lee Friday
Kobo ebook version (converted by reviewer)
StoneGarden.net Publishing (February 14, 2010)
# ISBN-10: 1600761615
# ISBN-13: 978-1600761614
246 pages


Wow. I'm a fan. this book takes an ordinary storyline and grips you right through to the last page. Wednesday writes so well that the words flew by and always in rhythm. The book is told in first person by different viewpoints and we get to see how this serial killer was made and what drives him to do what he does. Bringing the red, is the perfect description for a reader to completely understand what's happening to him. It's always 'their' fault.

I will need to get a paperback copy of this for my bookcase.

One would think, the story of a serial killer would be dull and ordinary, but Kiss me like you Love me is anything but. It's filled with interesting plots and background stories told in a way that draws you in. And you can't leave a chapter half way through like other books. No. You need to finish the chapter.

Get it. You'll like it.