Slap Happy Fun Time

    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 ...

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 ...

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 simpl...

 Clown Fellas - Carlton Mellick III  3/5                                                       I received the latest CMII novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.      I've just finished an advanced copy of the latest CMIII novel and I have to admit I'm still not sure what to write. I've been a fan of bizarro for almost five years and I often wondered what would happen if mainstream publishers decided finally start releasing bizarro titles. We now have the answer. Carlton's latest release is being published by the Random House imprint Hydra, and I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand this Carlton Mellick III. The guy's an underground legend and I delved into this with the idea that it would be an instant classic. Problem is this doesn't feel like a Mellick book. This is being touted as ...