Slap Happy Fun Time

     Monsters Don't Cry - Shane McKenzie  5/5   http://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Dont-Cry-Shane-McKenzie-ebook/dp/B01948RUK6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1451168718&sr=1-1&keywords=shane+mckenzie                                                          I received a copy of Shane's new book directly from Deadite and I immediately started reading it. Shane has a unique writing style that is reminiscent of guys like Edward Lee. I'm a huge fan of the guy and have a ton of his stuff on my Kindle. When you read McKenzie's stuff you should know that it's not going to be pleasant at all. This is true balls out splatterpunk. Tons of gore, and sheer all out mayhem. Underneath that mayhem though is a talented writer. If he was just a guy that filled his books with gore he wouldn't be one of my favorite writers. Gore is nice, but there has to be a story to hold it all together.      Monsters has one hell of a premise and as I read it I could

The Ritalin Orgy - Matthew Dexter   5/5    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0988748819?keywords=The%20Ritalin%20Orgy&qid=1450670765&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1                                                                                         I received a copy of orgy from Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review. It's funny how I have to say that with some of these reviews. I have no idea why, and who knows, maybe some people actually lie when they read a review copy. All I know is that I have to say that somewhere in this review. Anyway this is not your common variety feel good novel of the year. It isn't much on taking the route of most popular fiction and being predictable either. Does anyone only read safe novels anymore? Let's be honest here and say what should be said. We need novels like this because they're gritty and dark, but sometimes when you have a novel that's good who cares about rules! Rules shouldn't not exist in fiction an

A BigBoobenstein Family Christmas - Jeff O'Brien 5/5   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018CWL4Q6?keywords=Jeff%20O%27Brien&qid=1450492916&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2                                                                       'Tis the season to be jolly and what better way to chase away those blues than with a twisted Christmas tale? During the holidays I try and read as many Christmas themed stories as I can, but this year I am way way behind on reviews. I did want to read a couple of stories though and I had to check out O'Brien's latest tale of the Boobenstein saga. This is the kind of book you should read while sipping eggnog and wearing an ugly sweater.       Here's the deal. O'Brien writes like a twelve year old with ADD and that's not a bad thing. One of the reasons I like this guy so much is because he writes stories that read like classic 80's B-rate horror films. As I read this it was obvious that O'Brien doe

    Whispers Volume 2: A Second Collection - Stuart Keane  5/5   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0167FX8NW?keywords=Stuart%20Keane&qid=1450303737&ref_=sr_1_4&sr=8-4                                                                                Stuart Keane has had a busy few months. First Cine, then Grin, and now Whispers Vol 2. For a lot of writers that would be overkill. You have to space out your output a little, or else you start to piss off your fan base. Stuart's fans actually prefer that he release his work this way. We hate a long wait. Whispers is a collection of short stories that are both old and new. Like Whispers they feature some pieces that were in other anthologies and some that are new to the collection. Either way it's a win win because it allows us time to breath until his next full length release and for the Keane collector's it's a chance to have all of these stories in one collection. What a collection we have here folks!

     Time Eaters - Jay Wilburn 3/5   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ES5Q98K/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1                                                                            I snagged a copy of this from Netgalley and it was interesting for a bit and then seemed a drag a bit. It's one of those novels that borrows a lot from other genres but stays original. The premise itself is interesting, but as it nears its conclusion it just becomes a bit boring. This is a book in which you have to pay attention. If you lose track or fail to pay attention then you're going to be hopelessly lost. It goes into two time frames, Before and after and these are essential to the stories narrative. It wouldn't be a proper time travel novel without these two narratives. The problem is that it all becomes so overwhelming that by the end I was just glad it was over. It wasn't bad mind you just a bit boring. I like how the story is set up, and I like the premise,

           Mother Fucking Black Skull Of Death - Matthew Vaughn 5/5    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018MP0TKK?keywords=Matthew%20Vaughn&qid=1449298950&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1                                                                           I have to tell you that being an avid reader has made these blogs possible, but it's the folks writing these books that make all of this possible. I've been posting reviews on this blog for awhile now and I've been given some really good shit to review. When Matthew reached out to me asking if I'd be interested in reviewing his latest book all I had to do was see the cover and I said yes. How could not say no to a book with a title like this? I've been wanting to read his stuff for awhile now, but I just haven't had the time. Now that I had a copy of this I had to dive in and read it. It's a Morbidbooks release which means that all the normal rules of fiction no longer apply.

      Kyle M Scott - Consumed Vol 2 5/5  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018PJKRTQ?keywords=Kyle%20Scott&qid=1449266903&ref_=sr_1_9&sr=8-9                                                                      Kyle was kind enough to give me a copy of Consumed to review and I was pretty excited because I have been waiting for this volume for a long time. I'm a huge fan of this guy's work and you can see that with each release he's growing as a writer. He's not content to just gross you out he has the ability to make you think a little. Each of these stories has an underlying message and it's your job as the reader to figure out what that message is. The fact is that Kyle is a damn good writer. He knows how to balance the sheer insanity and gore into a story so that it's a piece of the work itself. These are characters that you can also sympathize with a little.      As a collection it holds up pretty damn well. The second volume is actually

     The Shaun Hupp Collection Vol 1 5/5    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016MTLPJW?keywords=The%20Shaun%20Hupp%20collection&qid=1448889254&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1                                                                                       For about I week I kept hearing about this book. Even got invited to the release party on Facebook, but I fell asleep. I did buy a copy though and dove in not long after. After hearing about this book so much I wondered if the hype was worth it. Let's be honest and admit that there are a lot of indie horror writers vying for your attention. I'm one of them. Facebook is a great way to get noticed. Of course if you write a terrible book it's just a waste of everyone's time.       The collection is reality based horror. There's no zombies or other cliched monsters running amok. These are far worse because they just so happen to be people that we're supposed to trust. That's what makes these s

    Realms Of The Dead - William Todd Rose 2/5                                                                Here we have two novellas in one nice convenient ebook. It's not exactly a horror story even though there are elements of horror involved. It deals more with death and the herding of wayward souls. Not what I normally read but these two novellas were actually well written and would make an excellent movie or television series. I think the main problem I had was that it seemed to drag a bit and the books themselves aren't very long. The idea of a guy herding souls like cattle sounds interesting and it is for the most part. William has a knack for telling a great story and you almost become a participant due to his various descriptions of the cutscenes.      I'm just not a big fan of these kinds of novels. I struggled to finish it because my mind kept drifting. Maybe it was due to the books being so short. There is a lot of great ideas housed withing these pa

Benjamin - Pedro Proenca 5/5    http://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-Pedro-Proen%C3%A7a-ebook/dp/B0172PA8VG                                                    If you look at my Goodreads reviews you'll see that I was a huge fan and supporter of Bizarro fiction. I had become bored with popular fiction and bizarro was exactly what I had been looking for. It was insane and didn't follow any rules. Unfortunately I began to drift away from the genre but occasionally I'd peek back in when the right book came along.      Pedro was kind enough to give me a copy of Benjamin and I have to say that this guy truly loves this genre and it shows in his writing. Instead of emulating his heroes in the genre he takes that influence and creates something unique and truly bizarre. This is why I started reading bizarro. As a debut it's quite strong and you can see that Pedro is finding his voice, but make no mistake, this is a debut to be proud of.      Benjamin is a story about de

      Monsterland - Michael Phillip Cash  3/5                                                                         I snagged this off of Netgalley based on the cover and then the blurb. It sounds intriguing and as a horror fan this looked like a win, This a premise that hadn't been done before, and it felt to me like it would be a nice spin on Jurassic Park. It starts out strong but then kind of falters at the end. It's not a bad novel but it just feels like it needs less of a morality play and way more gore. These are legendary monsters in a theme park! I expected things to go sour, but I thought that there would be more blood, more focus on the monsters themselves. These are the stars of the novel, and their pissed off. I want to see the vengeance played it in a more violent fashion! What I got though was a novel meant maybe for teens? I dunno, but the thing is you have the mad scientist who seems like the world's savior, but is really well you'll just h

     A Head Full Of Ghosts - Paul Tremblay 5/5                                                                      I have been hearing about this book for quite awhile now, but sadly I'm one of those people that balk at paying 12.99 for a digital book, and will only fork over 12-13 dollars for a physical copy if it's written by an indie writer I want to support. So when Head dropped to a buck ninety nine I clicked the buy button and allowed it to sit on my Kindle app for awhile. Surely you've heard about this book. Stephen King has said that it scared the hell out of him and I've read Stephen King's latest books and the only thing scary about him is that he's still writing. The question is, should you read Ghosts? Does it live up to the praise, and hype it's received?     It does. There are certain parts of this book that had me flinging my tablet onto the couch and announcing that I was done. Fuck this book. The thing is that Tremblay has wri

      Flashes Of Darkness: Halloween Special 2015: A Flash Fiction Collection 5/5   http://www.amazon.com/Flashes-Darkness-Halloween-Special-Collection-ebook/dp/B017UK76PE/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8                                                                                                                                  Maybe I shouldn't review this because I have a story here, but if you take my piece out of it it's still an interesting little book. In October Dark Chapter Press held a contest for writers to take part in. You were given a team and had to create a flash fiction piece about werewolves, zombies, or vampires. These are genres that have been done to death so the challenge here was to breath new life into them. Sounds simple until you realize that the word count is only 1k. It was a lot of fun to take part in a contest like this and as a writer there's only so much you can do with so few words. Dark Chapter Press knew that it could be done, but

     Stuart Keane - Grin 5/5      http://www.amazon.com/Grin-Stuart-Keane-ebook/dp/B017EHJ98U/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8                                                 I cannot say enough good things about Stuart. This is a guy knows horror and he has a knack for going deep into the muck and the mire of the dark side of humanity. If you see Stuart's name on a book then you know it's going to be good. He shows us that the monsters sometimes wear human faces and in Grin they will slaughter your whole family and leave you disfigured. Reading Grin you can't help but feel Dani's pain and look forward to the moment when she finally sets out to get her revenge. I thought  that Cine was Keane's best book, but I was wrong. The thing about Keane is that with each book he evolves, and that's what a writer does. You can see that he's at that point where he can write whatever he wants and you know that it's going to knock you on your ass. That's just how Keane

    GodBomb - Kit Power 5/5        http://www.amazon.com/GodBomb-Kit-Power-ebook/dp/B0141HK0FM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446879922&sr=8-1&keywords=God+Bomb                                                                                             When I heard about GodBomb I wasn't sure what to expect. Books like these sometimes just don't live up to the hype, and often become mired in whatever agenda the author has in mind. The only book I can compare it too would be Stephen King's Rage. This is a book that King himself pulled out of circulation due to it resembling current events. The reason I bring Rage up is because it made me think and after I read it I couldn't stop thinking about it. GodBomb is the exactly the same kind of novel. You simply don't read it. You become absorbed in it and you may even find that your holding your breath as events unfold. There's no way to stop it and it everything happens so fast that you sometimes have to

     The Other Boy Ian Taylor & Rosi Taylor  5/5   http://www.amazon.com/The-Other-Boy-Ian-Taylor-ebook/dp/B016N3I2E8                                                            I was given a copy of The Other Boy in exchange for an honest review and figured that I would wait until the day of launch to post this. Here's the deal. You need to click the above link now and pre-order this bad boy so you can begin reading it the day it comes out on November 10. Believe me when I tell you that this is one novella you do not wanna miss. Ian and Taylor have captured something here that goes beyond just your ordinary ghost story and becomes something else entirely. Some might even say it's a bit cliche but you know what? I love horror stories like this and it takes some of the darkest elements of the genre and twists it into something unique. The thing that I love most is that just when you think you have it all figured out you find out you don't.      The Other Boy is

The Antichrist Of Kokomo County - David Skinner 4/5   http://www.amazon.com/The-Antichrist-Kokomo-County-Novel-ebook/dp/B0150SA5S8                                                                So say your father and you are told that your son is in fact the Antichrist? What would you do? How would you react? That is the hilarious premise behind David Skinner's debut novel and it's the kind of book that could easily slide into two directions. The first would be a dark twisted novel about the child growing up evil. or you could turn it into a dark black comedy which is what Skinner has done. I received a copy of Antichrist from Netgalley and I was bit intrigued by the premise, but this is a novel that takes quite a few twists and turns and explores what happens when a father is told that he will be great, but ends up being unremarkable, and completely average. This is a guy that never achieves anything and finds out that his son is the Antichrist who also just happens t

      Hung Hounds - Donald Armfield 5/5     http://www.amazon.com/Hung-Hounds-Donald-Armfield/dp/1505506883                                                               When bizarro fiction is done right it's a true mind bending experience. Imagine for a second taking everything you think you know about writing and throw in a porn star with an enormous schlong, a monkey, some mermaids, and trans dimensional mutts that have huge schlongs. You have a pretty good idea of what you're in for and the kicker is that while you're reading it you never know what to expect. Armfield writes like a kid with ADD and the kid has been handed king sized Pixie Stix. The plot is easy to follow and the beautiful thing about this novel is that it keeps you on your toes. This is a bizarro novel that doesn't just imitate other books, it actually give the genre a much needed kick in the ass.      The plot seems pretty straight forward, but here is where Armfeld shines. He throws so

Hexad - Andrew Lennon & Matt Hickman   5/5   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015URXLXK?keywords=Hexad&qid=1445318305&ref_=sr_1_3&s=digital-text&sr=1-3                                                            Sometimes you pick up a title that features a couple of new authors and you begin to see a pattern emerge. One writer is actually better than the other and after awhile you notice that the other writer is carrying the entire book on his shoulders. Ever have that experience? It's not pretty and if anything you wonder how these two people got together in the first place. Was it an idea that they both had and figured fuck it; Let's do a book together! It would be almost as painful as having sex with Rosie O'Donnell. It's a moment you immediately regret and wish you could take back. The book game has changed a lot over the last few years and anyone with a keyboard can self publish a damn book. Widens the landscape for a whole lot of shit

     Dee Snider - Shut Up And Give Me The Mic  - Dee Snider 5/5                                                                          Let's go ahead and get the disclaimer out of the way. This will no doubt contain a lot of foul language because this is the memoir of the legendary Dee mother fucking Snider of the one and only Twisted fuckin' Sister. While Kiss may have been my first foray into heavy metal it was without a doubt the boys in Twisted that blew the doors wide open and showed me just how awesome heavy metal was and could be. I was probably eleven when I was at Kenny Kessler's house and he pulled out this tape of a band that I had never heard of. The label of the tape itself was in German (at the time I had no idea that there were such a thing as imports!), and the music was heavy as fuck and no other band at the time looked like these guys. Talk about groundbreaking!                                                 I headed to Big Lots to get

Here's The The deal: Don't Touch Me  - Howie Mandel, and Josh Young  3/5                                                                                                                      This is one of those biographies that I was quite interested in reading for obvious reasons. The problem that I had was if I had to give it a bad review someone would just call me an asshole for disliking it. This is a guy that suffers from OCD and ADHD and he probably had a hard time writing this book so I should be fair. As both a reader and a reviewer it's not helping anyone if I lie and say that I liked a book simply because the author has mental health issues. That's not how this works. I read the book and give you an honest opinion, If that makes me an asshole so be it. I think if I lied and told you it was a brilliant book and you bought and thought it sucked you would still call me an asshole for lying.       The fact is that the book feels like someone with ADHD wr

Dark Screams Vol 5 - Brian James Freeman, And Richard Chizmar                                                          Let's be honest and admit that for horror fans the Dark Scream series is shaping up nicely. It took me a long to appreciate the benefits of anthologies, but as a writer I can appreciate them more because I've been in quite a few and when done right they have the potential to get you noticed. The Dark Screams series is interesting because it takes established writers and puts them together with newer names in one small, well priced digital book. I received this from Netgalley and wasn't sure how well it would stack up against the last volume, but I was pleasantly surprised. The editors have picked some real gems and I can see why this series is still going strong.      Each story here is solid and while I didn't find a stand out like I did in Vol. 4 I found it just as enjoyable. Let's be honest here and admit that if you're a fan of hor

Dark Screams Vol 4  - Edited By    Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar 5/5                                                           I received a copy of Dark Screams Vol 4 from Netgalley and let's be honest here and admit that the line up here is pretty damn impressive. Clive Barker and Ray Garton alongside Heather Graham, Lisa Morton, and Ed Gorman. This is a line up you would expect big things from and while it does come in at a short 16o pages there's little wiggle room to screw things up. I have never heard of this anthology series before but I'm glad I picked this up. While the Garton, and Barker stories are good the real reason to buy this is because of The Brasher Girl. This story is a homage or a rip off of classic Stephen King and it's creepy and makes you long for the days when horror used to be simple. This is a story that builds up slowly without a great deal of gore. It's a story about obsession and yes, even insanity. If you

     Michael Faun - Gillian's Marsh 5/5                                                                                            http://www.amazon.com/Gillians-Marsh-Michael-Faun-ebook/dp/B00XIHLSNU     Michael Faun's newest novella may be short but sometimes the shortest books pack the biggest punch. If you've ever read Michael's work you know that he often mixes in a variety of genres to create something unique, but this time he's written a straight up horror novel that holds back just a little and the results are quite stunning. Taking the idea of the occult and the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials and blending them together you get Gillian Marsh. This is by far the best novel that Faun has written. This is a writer who has attempted to stretch beyond his comfort zone and it works.      Gillian's Marsh has a classic horror feel to it while keeping just a hint of splatterpunk. As a writer Faun knows how to create a readable story, and the deta

Cine - Stuart Keane 5/5                                                                I started Cine after reading another novel knowing that I should have just gone to bed. I knew better, yet I started at about 12 A.M. early Monday and finally finished at about two. I was late to work and it's all Stuart's fault. See, Stuart is the kind of writer that writes stuff that is highly addicting. You want to stop reading yet you just can't tear your eyes away. Cine is probably the best book that Keane has written. It takes it's influence from guys like Barker, and yes even Laymon and presents a story that flows like blood from a freshly severed vein. This is a guy that loves horror and it shows.      If you've read the blurb you know what the story is about and I can tell you that the next time you're in a movie theater and the lights go down you're going to get a little nervous.  Cine is about greed, and desire. At it's core the ugliness that socie

    The  Andy Peloquin interview:       I was supposed to post this earlier this month and totally forgot. It's been a busy month, You can find links to his  J. Ellington Ashton Press release at the bottom. I also have a review here as well. I urge everyone to check it out.  . Q: Blades Of The Destroyer is your latest release from JEA. How did you come up with the Hunter? I've always loved "bad guys". Villains usually prove to be the more interesting characters in classic (often clichéd) fantasy novels, so the idea of telling the story from the perspective of the "bad guy" was totally intriguing. Trying to find a way to make my readers identify/relate to this dark, cynical, cold, murderous character was a huge challenge, and one I'm thrilled to take on.  Q: How long have you been writing? Off and on, since the age of 15. I have been a professional copywriter for almost five years, but I only started writing fiction two years ago. Making the decisi

     Stealing Propeller Hats From The Dead - David James Keaton 3/5                                                            I received Propeller Hats from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and I felt at times that this was exactly what the zombie genre needed. Keaton takes a dark sense of humor and injects it right into his new book. No matter what you call it, be it spoof, or homage to the zombie genre it's a pretty decent book. Keaton is a talented writer that knows that zombie genre is the perfect genre to make fun of. Each of these stories take the genre in a new and interesting direction. These zombies aren't what you're expecting and that's why this book is so good.    Keaton is obviously a fan and that's why this works as well as it does. We all watch whatever zombie film we can get our hands on because nothing excites us more than the undead. Keaton shows us that it's okay to take the piss to the genre because it's an easy targe