Tales of Outre Noir (anthology)

Tales of Outre Noir. An Anthology

Edited by Mark Slade. Nightside Press

I wasn't sure what to expect when I delved into this short anthology. Man I was in for a pleasant surprise. This book is filled with crime and comedy, in the form of short stories, scripts and the bizarre. I mostly enjoyed the crime stories for example the opening tale in emails only. Brilliant. What a way to open.

What follows is often a collection of tales filled with surprises. "Company Man" has the best opening ever. 

A few of my favorites are: 

The many indiscretions of agent 592 by Holly Rae Garcia

Skin Flicks by Hesse Rawlins

Company Man by Tom Pitts

A few negatives: 

Some of the humor seemed slapstick, a lot didn't hit the mark. 

Some of the stories are written with passive passages mixed with active. A few tales seemed over the top in police brutality--might have worked in the 80's but not these days.

 

The negatives, are only a few and don't distract from the positives. 

This collection (as a whole) is excellent. I really enjoyed it. If you like dark noir and bizarre tales, then this in the anthology for you. 

PS: Might what to correct the misspelling on the Kindle page :-) 

The Horror Zine's Book of Ghost Stories

Hellbound Books

257 pages

Format: Kindle Edition

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I received a copy of this novel in exchange for a review. 

This is a collection of short stories from greats like: Bentley Little, Graham Masterton & Dawn Harris, Joe R. Lansdale, Elizabeth Massie, Tim Waggoner, Kitty Kane, Sebastian Crow, Maureen O'Leary, Jeff Parsons and many, many more. Let me add: Nicholas Pascall, Derek Austin Johnson, Christian A. Larsen. 

Starts off with a bang in a short poem by D. J. Tyrer about a haunted house. 

I don't jump around in collections and read my favs first. I like to find new favorites, so I read from start to end. Let's call it OCD.

The opening story is fun, but not scary. The tension was missing. It is horror, but lacked punch. The next story really makes up for it. It's a real kicker. A ouiji board and a dark spirit. 

A haunted house is next on the list, followed by a questionable story by Bentley Little. This tale had a good build up, great action, smooth writing. The mechanics of writing are all there. But the ending ruined it for me. 

For this reviewer, many stories were fun, a few (5) were brilliant and some were lacking. All collections are like this. I'm not going to name any titles or the reasons I noted for not meshing with me. 

Here's a run-down of what you'll find in this fine collection: 

Harry Houdini debunks spiritualists then he meets Dorothy / A funeral for the dead / A gift from an unknown uncle with a cryptic message /  A haunted school / A murderer hears the voices of his victims / an abused wife on the run finds an abandoned farm (what could possibly go wrong especially when the truth comes out) / A battle with rats / Ghost Hunters / Haunted Hotels and Houses / Acceptance of death and Cutting Mustard. 

Top picks: 

Warm - Nicholas Pascall

Proof of Afterlife - Derek Austin Johnson

Filling Station - Joe R. Lansdale

Cutting the Mustard - Graham Masterton & Dawn Harris 

Something to Nibble On - Christian A. Larsen

8/10

Hidden Paths Phillip Jackson

 Walking the path of history

Walking Historical Kyoto Omnibus Edition. 

If you are looking for a book with walking/hiking maps filled with backstory history and photos to boot, then look no further, Mr. Jackson has filled the requirement. 

I've lived in Japan a total of 18 years and I've been to Kyoto so many times, I've lost count. But I NEVER knew of these paths.

A lot of history I did not know fills this book. If you visit Kyoto, bring this book with you. A lot of the buildings still stand and seeing them with the history background notes, makes it feel like you know them—you can feel or sense the aura. 

Also, Mr. Jackson gives directions of how to get to these walks.

Screaming Metal by Made in DNA

 "Fool! I refuse to wait any longer! Raise me!" And from here the action kicks off.

Made in DNA wrote this book via Twitter, tweet by tweet. So, each paragraph is 25 words or less.
The story starts off with the ending of a massive battle and barely lets up from there. It revolves around a three crew team of "bounty" hunters. They search and track down Metals. Finding one is a big payday. However, until now, no human had ever found or interacted with an operational Metal.

Nothing is ever easy and as the captain, Priyanka, and her team of Deshel and Suen (surely a psychopath), quickly realize the colony of "Shake Hands" blames them for acts of terrorism when a warship catches fire. Now, time is against them. They have only two days, or three at most, to get their payday out of the junkyard.

If you like your fiction hardcore, Anime-like, then Made in DNA has written another brilliant book that you'll devour. The third of his I've read.

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I'm Back

 Long time no see, fellas. I was able to restore this site and I've spent the last few hours upload books covers that had disappeared. I'm slowly getting them all back.  

Why come back after 6 years???? Well, I've been offered two books out of the blue asking for a review, one is from a press I know and the other is a new press to me. 

The two books are: THE HORROR ZINE'S BOOK OF GHOST STORIES -- Hellbound Books

NIGHTSIDE: TALES OF OUTRE NOIR

Keep an eye out from them.

Advert time: 

My latest book: http://scorchedearth.threeand10.com

Deets and video at the above site. 

House of Horrors by Carole Gill

House of Horrors

Carole Gill

Creativa 2014

 

Quote: Father Satan, give me forth the woman, Anna

  

If you are looking for a book that you can read a few pages here and few pages there (especially on short commutes) this is not the book for you. Gill has put together a book with enough horror to fill your quota for the year. In these pages you will find vampires, werewolves, DaVinci, a touch of SF, zombies, and more.  

If you are a fan of Gill's Blackstone Vampire Series, you will love the prequel (although it is far too short and should be expanded into a novella, at least) and there is the return of Eco.

All the short stories in this collection are fresh and enjoyable. Some more than others and many have unexpected endings, for example Beacon. You'll love it and it opens the anthology.  

As a reviewer I was thinking of reviewing each story and judging each on its own merit, but this collection is too large with too much to enjoy. If I were to pick my favourite story, it would be: First. This tale kicks the rear of all the other tales in my opinion.

As with opinion, each has their own and with all these tantalising tales to devour, I'm sure you'll find several you'll like and a few you'll love.

Fin

Amped by Daniel H. Wilson

Finished AMPED by Daniel H. Wilson.

It was okay, but I kind of expected more due to critics praises. It was a good story of us verses them and it was a well written book and easy to read. One downer was the lack of empathy I had for the main characters. The bad guys were well done and all characters were well formed but something was missing. There was no spark between the love interest and the only REAL character was Nick, a kid with a Rubik cube.

Still, all in all, it was a fun and quick read and a glimpse into a possible future as technology advances.

What are Amps? People with an illness can get a computer chip attached to their frontal lobe and it cures almost everything. Naturally the military went overboard and created 12 super amps with five levels of tactics, speed, recovery, everything to be a perfect weapon.

Owen Grey was in an accident in high school which left his brain severely damaged. His father, an implant doctor, gets his hands on the only thing that can save his son's life -- a 13th military amp, called a Zenith. Whereas the other 12 Zeniths have 5 levels of skills, Owen's father added something special.

Now it's his time to prove himself as the world is turned on its head and people with implants (any implant) are legally discriminated against and forced into small groups to protect themselves as jobs, money and housing is stripped from them.


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