Undivine Interventions: Reviews of Horror Novels, Past and Present.

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What a blessing it is to be me. To find a publisher like Bloodshot Books, who is committed to putting out the best horror fiction there is, to the masses. To read authors like Justin M. Woodward, who writes books that pull the heartstrings, turn the stomach and terrify the reader. There's a whole lot of people stuck reading whatever is stuck on Target endcaps, and to be immersed in such killer novels makes me feel lucky. It gives me a reason to continue to keep this blog going, and posting reviews on the standard sites, to somehow contribute to this wonderful art. To spread the gospel of the modern horror novel in 2018, not under the guise of "dark fantasy" or "paranormal thriller", but HORROR, is only worthwhile when there are books being produced that are, in fact, worthwhile. If there's a book that's worthwhile, it is absolutely Tamer Animals. Buy it, read it, own it and be blessed like me. Tamer Animals is the third novel by Woodward, but the ...

Let us start with some reality. The blog has gotten to the point where I am getting daily requests for review of books. Many of them are self-published and I am totally into that. I think, by and large, the future of horror fiction lie within the underground. How cool would it be for me to find THAT one up-and-comer who is selling a billion books with movie deals and all that cool shit in a few years, when way-back-when my little ol' blog was one of the first places to give them a look!? Very cool, indeed. However, I started thinking about this while reading Finale, and cemented the thought yesterday when I got three review requests in the same day. So... here it goes... I love reading. I love reading horror, almost exclusively. I love sharing my thoughts on these books with the world. I've heard countless times now that I have inspired people to add books to their to-be-read pile. That is amazing. AMAZING. Literally, the only reason to do this is because A. I love the ge...

It's a pretty loud non-secret of mine that since running the blog, and digging more deeply into the obscure titles of Horror fiction, my favorite discovery has been R. Patrick Gates. I try to read one of his books quarterly, as I make my way through his back catalog, trying to maintain fairness to all the other books on my to-be-read list, but often times, I get a bit greedy and need to catapult one of his books to the top of my list. His fourth novel here, Deathwalker, is a shining example of why. Gates' writing style is just a perfect match for me as a reader. It's fast, frenzied and no-holds-barred. When I pick up a R. Patrick Gates book, I am married to it in ways that few other writers can muster. Despite my adoration, I heed absolute warning to readers new to the author. He goes places that other writers will not, often in violent and perverse ways, that will absolutely alienate some. I would be lying if there weren't strange pangs of guilt tapping on my skull ...

Here's a book I was sent by an author based in Copenhagen, for an honest review. I know very little about the author, or the title prior to this read and review. What I have gathered is that this was originally written in 2011 in the author's native language, and according to what I've read, popular enough to warrant a  "coming soon" film adaptation, and an English translation, which has arrived now. In it's marketing, it declares it's a novel on the "tradition of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hostel, and Saw." Indeed, it is, especially if you consider "tradition" to be a total knock off. Also, it's hardly a novel, running at about 160 pages, much more a novella. Even still, that's a stretch, as it has enough material to warrant a short story, simply drawn out to fulfill a longer format. Two girls working at a gas station, during "the finale", some big sports event on Denmark, that turns the place into a ghost town. ...

I imagine/recall a time perpetuated by reading books like Mongster. It's the early 90s. The reader and prospective buyer of such books, is inside the local book chain...for me it was between Waldenbooks or a smaller company, Discount Booksellers. In either one, the audience had a good six towering shelves to choose from. All lined with books screaming "BUY ME, BUY ME! I WAS WRITTEN BY THE NEXT STEPHEN KING!" and several loud alarms garrishly blare such. Sometimes it was a quote by King himself, others it was a review blurb saying so. Other times, it was just some loud and flashy artwork that promised that while it wasn't King quality, if you liked spooky stuff, you'd like this one. Of course, by the early nineties, the genre had been run into the ground, leaving the writers and publishers to grasp at straws to figure out how to sell these damn books. I think the pressure of the industry niche's looming doom inadvertently put pressure on the author of this s...

Real quick. Two days from now and I will have been running this blog for a year. I just wanted to say thank you to all of my readership, the authors and publishers who send me books for review, all the suggestions made by fellow readers. It makes doing this more meaningful than I ever hoped it would be. Here's to another year of reading and reviewing! And with this, I have come to a conclusion. So far, in my experience, if Zebra puts it out, it's just not good. A fellow reader and reviewer whose opinion I honor and trust, Leon, the paperback maniac, (if you haven't checked out his YouTube channel, it's a must see... check it out here ), referred to this book as the best Zebra offered in its heyday of putting out an endless supply of horror reading. If this is THE BEST, and I do believe it is, I am hesitant to do much more exploration of their titles. It's fine, honestly. Nothing is absolutely awful here. The artwork is particularly awesome. I will say it's e...