Author: Robert R. Best

Genre: Horror

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: This is a book of nine short stories created by Robert R. Best. I have to say I found this set of stories really enjoyable to listen to. The cheerful mayhem created by the wide variety of things that kill (from a wife to a grandmother to a hooker) is tons of fun to listen to.

If I had to pick (and I am) I’d say “Hooker” and “The Wife’s Confession” are my two favorite in his collection, though “Nipping it in the Bud” is just damned creepy – as is “Boil Order”.

Anyway, for a quick and interesting collection of short stories in the horror/dark fantasy genre, check out All Kinds of Things Kill. It’s free for goodness sakes!

If you’d like to purchase a book to support this author – check out Robert R. Best on Amazon.com

Author: Phil Rossi

Genre: Horror/Sci Fi

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: Crescent is a free podiobook and is also for for sale on Amazon, so if you would prefer not to listen to it, or just want to support the author, go ahead and buy the book. Either way, though, I recommend listening to Notes from the Vault by Phil Rossi before reading or listening to Crescent. It will make the experience so much cooler.

Crescent is an awesome Sci Fi/Horror mashup about a haunted space station. Though the place is only half completed for some unknown reason, people live and work on the station. A young salvage hauler named Gerry and his ship, Bean, are employed by the corrupt mayor of Crescent Station – Kendall, to haul suspicious salvage.  After the first salvage run, Gerry wants to get off that station, but he has a contract to wait out and Kendall is not a man to mess with.  Plus, now Gerry’s got a girlfriend on the station.  So, when an archeologist asks Gerry to haul some salvage at a high rate of pay, Gerry agrees.   The salvage turns out to contain something which should have stayed off the station.

To make matters worse, someone has woken the beast in the lowest decks of Crescent – in a place called the Vault.  Strange things start happening in the station.  Areas are flooded, a chill wind rushes down main street, people die for no good reason.  Crescent Station comes to life.

This book is extremely creepy, visceral and intense.  There is sex, violence, drugs and lots and lots of death.  I’d say I hope you enjoy it, but I’m not sure that’s the right word.

Book: The Dead That Walk

Genre: Horror

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: The Dead That Walk is a short story book with zombie-esque shorts by authors like Joe Hill, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Kim Newman and many many more wonderful authors.

“What’s this?” you ask, “Julia actually read a book about zombies?  What is the world coming to?”

I know, I know, I actually did read an entire book full of zombie short stories. When I went to Portland, Oregon for my birthday in December, I went to the awesome bookstore – Powells – and looked around for a fantastic book. To be honest, I was looking for The Living Dead, which has several of the same authors, but also includes Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin.  Anyway, I didn’t find that book, so I got The Dead That Walk and found out that a) I loved it and b) it didn’t give me nightmares.  So, maybe I’ve outgrown the whole nightmare part of zombies.

One really cool thing about this collection is that there are so many different types of zombie stories here.  There is a traditional, voodoo zombie story, there’s several brain eating stories, there’s a story which points up how humanity could be affected by the walking dead, without actually showing you any zombies.  Some of these stories are chilling in how much they point to man’s inhumanity to man, while others are actually very touching and sweet.  I think it was an extremely well put-together collection with a story for pretty much anyone.

Also, I’ve come to really enjoy short story collections.  They are nice if you want to take a little break from a full length novel you may be reading, or something to read on your lunch break.  Also, I don’t feel obligated to read them like I do with a short story magazine.  With a magazine, you’re going to get another one in a month or two, so you’d better be done with your current issue by then.  With a book of short stories, you can be leisurely, you can skip stories only to come back to them later.   It doesn’t matter.  There’s no rush.

So, if you like zombies or zombie stories, check out The Dead That Walk. If you buy it from the link I provide here, Amazon will pay me.

Horror
For those friends and family members who like the thrill of fear crawling up their spines when they read:

- Salem’s Lot or The Shining or really anything by Stephen King
Salem’s Lot is a classic vampire novel (they don’t glitter) in which few survive and evil vampires overrun the town of Salem. The Shining is a freaky book that is WAY better than the movie and will send shivers up your spines. It’s a horror must read.

Because I’m such a King fan, I’ll recommend a few other books by him for your friends who love horror:
- It (I’m reading it right now and it’s scaring the crap out of me).
- Duma Key which I reviewed.
- Carrie which is an extremely disturbing story about a telekinetic misfit who kills most of her high school.
- Cujo – a tragic story about a rabid dog, a child and a mother.
Obviously Stephen King has written a ton, so just dive in.

- Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Works
This is a great compilation of Poe works. My favorite is The Masque of the Red Death. Extremely scary.

- Tales of H. P. Lovecraft
H.P. Lovecraft is the king of weird horror. It’s a compilation of H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories. I wouldn’t say his stuff scares me, but it’s pretty creepy.

- Infected by Scott Sigler
I’ve reviewed Infected previously and I still absolutely love it. The sequel is Contagious, which also absolutely rocks. I reviewed that one too. They are awesome books, horrific, extremely bloody and macabre.

- Crescent by Phil Rossi
I haven’t reviewed this one yet, but Crescent is a Sci Fi/Horror novel about a haunted space station which wants to consume every living inhabitant. It’s definitely rated R, so don’t get it for any young folk.

- Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
This is a graphic novel series about the Locke family who, because of the father’s horrific murder, have moved to the family home “Keyhouse”. They think they’ve gotten away from their past, but the ghost haunting the well of Keyhouse proves them wrong in a macabre and bloody scene.

I’ve reviewed the first Locke and Key novel and am in the process of reading the rest of them. Book 2 – Locke & Key: Head Games is a great extension to the story. I can’t wait to read more.

- Pseudopod CDs
No Horror fan’s collection of books would be complete without a subscription to Pseudopod(which is free). Barring that, get them one of the cds of this fantastic podcast of short fiction. I happen to love all three of the podcasts in the Escape Pod/Pseudopod/Pod Castle network, but Pseudopod is what any horror fan needs to accompany them through their journey through short fiction. (I don’t get paid to recommend these guys, I just love them and the short stories they provide really are awesome.)

Podiobook: Eden

Performed by: Phil Rossi

Genre: Sci Fi/Horror

Julia Rating: 10

Comments:
Phil Rossi is a new author and has a book out now called Crescent which I will review later, but I also give that one a 10.

Edenis a novella about a giant tree, growing in space, named Eden. A space station is set up specifically to study this tree, its movements and find out why and how it’s there. The station occupants see non-existant winds rustle the tree’s leaves, they see leaves flutter off into space and are entranced by the tree’s magnificence.

However, this beauty comes with a price (doesn’t it always?). Strange, unsubstancial, squidlike creatures pass through the station, ghost children haunt the hallways and scientists begin to go mad.

Scientist Malcolm Reynolds is shipped out to assess the feasability of keeping the station, run by a past lover of Malcolm’s, at Eden.  Malcolm gets much more than he bargained for while at the station.  The longer he’s there, the more he becomes involved in the mystery, beauty and curse of Eden.

Check out Eden at Podiobooks.com and Buy Phil Rossi’s other book – Crescent – on Amazon.com

Book: The Graveyard Book

Genre: Supernatural/Horror/YA

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: Neil Gaiman’s newest book – The Graveyard Book – is considered to be for children, but I beg to differ.  The main character – who’s name is Nobody – grows up during the duration of the book, but I think that’s the only thing that makes it a YA book. 

Nobody Owens (so named because he is “nobody but himself”) has been raised in a graveyard by ghosts.  His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Owens and his guardian is a mysterious creature of the night named Silas.  When Silas has to travel, the werewolf Miss Lupescu takes care of Nobody. 

During his life he has many adventures of which most children wouldn’t even dream.  He run into goblins, watches ancient traditions reenacted and has a man hunting him for unknown reasons.  It’s an exciting, fun and adventurous book.  I hope Neil Gaiman makes more of a series out of it, but I kind of doubt he will.  I know I want to read more about Nobody!

Book: Strange Candy

Genre: Horror/Fantasy/Sci Fi

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: I really bit off more than I could chew here.  When choosing books, I thought, “Hey, it’s a book of short stories – let’s shake things up”.  I had never read Laurell Hamilton before and I didn’t know what a fantastic writer she was. 

Strange Candyreally is, well, strange.  But it really contains candy for the imagination.  I truly loved this book.  There are Anita Blake shorts, a story set in Anita’s world, two stories of Sidra Ironfist, along with a horrific sci fi story and several other gems. 

From this book I’ll be checking out the Anita Blake series.  I’m really excited.

Book: Duma Key

Genre: Horror

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: As you can tell, I am a Stephen King fan.  I believe that Duma Key is the most recent King novel and I loved it.  It was a slow starter, but I think it was worth it.  There is tons of foreshadowing in this one, it was incredibly suspenseful… making you wonder who was going to die and when through the majority of the book.  

There were factors of Carrie in this one – not just that it’s about a telepathic-type story.  Throughout Carrie there are newspaper articles, but throughout this book there are emails interspersed.

The story is about a man named Edgar Freemantle – a construction executive/millionaire – who suffers a traumatic brain injury when his truck is crushed by a defunct tractor.  He becomes estranged from his wife and, under direction from his psychologist, moves to Duma Key in Florida.  There he discovers a painting ability he never knew he had.  As the ability grows, things start happening – both on the Key and off that make Edgar believe he can paint things into existance. 

Little does he know – there is a force on the Key that becomes more powerful the more he develops his ability… and that’s all I’m going to tell you. 

If you want to read Duma Key, buy it off my website – It’ll send you directly to Amazon, but I will get a little commission off of your purchase.

Book: Acceptable Risk

Genre: Medical Thriller/Horror

Julia Rating: 8

Comments: Acceptable Risk is my first Robin Cook novel. He writes medical thrillers about truely terrifying medical situations, which could actually happen.  That is what Acceptable Risk is about.  A medical doctor (Edward) decides to create a new mind-altering drug from a mold found in the basement at his girlfriend’s (Kim) ancestor’s home.  Kim’s ancestor was declared a witch (named Elizabeth) during the Salem witch trials and there appeared to be irrefutable evidence that she was, in fact, a witch. 

While Edward goes ahead with his research on the drug, Kim finds out more and more disturbing things about Elizabeth.  Kim thinks some of the things Elizabeth did was because of the mold which she was eating in her food.  Then, Edward decides to take the drugs himself to test efficacity.  It seems to work, but a series of attacks in the neighborhood make one wonder – are there acceptable risks to the new wonder drug?  If so, how acceptable are they?

I really liked the story, but I think it started out far too slow, there was too much explaining and the dialog was strained.  But, the book dragged me along and made me want to know what was going on.  So, all in all it was a decent thriller.

Also, I found this book has been made into a movie.  If anyone has seen the movie, let me know if it’s any good.