Dark Entities by David Dunwoody

Dark Entities
by David Dunwoody
Dark Regions Press, 2009
ISBN: 1-888993-65-0
Trade Paperback
112 pages
Horror


Meet David Dunwoody’s Dark Entities. They crawl across, under and over each page. They’ll get into your head; you’ll feel them in your gut. And if you have any empathy for your fellow man, you’ll be greatly disturbed.

Dunwoody writes a tight, effective and mesmerizing short story. His chosen genre is HORROR, and he isn’t playing around. Not only does Dunwoody frighten and disturb, he’s damned good at it. If you’re looking for something new in horror fiction, Dark Regions Press presents New Voices of Horror 1, Dark Entities by David Dunwoody.

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In The Clay

Detective Kaufman accidently finds a severed finger inside a decorative clay pot. When he tracks the pot back to its maker, he isn’t prepared for what he finds… A King without a face, a lot full of dead people who aren’t really people and a truth he just can’t accept.


Brownlee’s Blue Flame

Death is patient. It/he/she lives in an endless cave rimmed with billions of candles. One goes out, and he marks its passing by snuffing the wick. A new candle bursts into flame—a new life. But then something strange happens, something unique, unknown. This troubles Death enough that
he steps into the world of the living for the first time in hundreds of years. But the answers found lead to more questions and the suggestion of a time to end all times. Read on my friends and watch as death has an identity crisis. It’s a thing of dark and disturbing beauty.


The Ambrosia Supper Club

Vetta likes her job as a hostess at The Ambrosia Supper Club. She also likes her strange Boss, Mr. Clith. It’s too bad, really, because tonight is the last for both Clith and the Club. You see, a party of ten with no reservation insists they’ll be stopping by for dinner, and they won’t take no for an answer. Despite all her efforts to dissuade, the men show up and have their expected meal. I would suggest that life will never be the same for Vetta.


Minotaur

As instinctively as a child steps on the ant crossing his path, so does the hunter search for you in your evening cornfields. He is the Minotaur waiting at the end of the maze, and you will not believe what you see.


Hell’s Razor

The Devil is Sue’s constant companion. They’re like a couple of old friends risen from forced proximity. Until Mom, Dad and her 18th birthday have passed away. Then the truth will out. And Sue won’t like it at all. But who would have guessed the Devil would like it a lot less?


Sunset

Tanner, a man caught up in a fight for his life (his wife wants a divorce), has built a wonderful boat and has headed out to sea on holiday with his two boys and the disgruntled wife. But as is often the case, our troubles travel with us. He can’t even get his wife to enjoy a sunset with him.

While visiting an island he knows, Tanner runs into an old friend. He’s so pleased with the chance meeting and so burdened by the obvious failure of his reconciliation attempt with his wife, Tanner misses the casual but serious warning uttered by his friend: which, paraphrased, urges him to stay away from uncharted islands in the area.

Tanner finds out–the hard way–that there are things much worse than a failed marriage.


A Carrion To Wounded Souls

Twilight Man’s mind was shattered due to a nasty head injury. Before that he was just a serial rapist and murderer. Come take a ride with insanity… Is the mind-vulture hovering close by real or imagined?


Birthright

A unique vision of Hell on the brink of civil war–all because one fallen angel wants to go home.


The Abbot and The Dragon

Mankind done in by its endless quest for knowledge. Now, in a post apocalyptic world, a doomed man stumbles across the recorded and completely meaningless truth.


New Eyes

A self-blinded man who’s life has been spent without purpose might just have found a reprieve, a small bit to play. It depends on whether or not he and death can work out a deal. Oh, I didn’t tell you? The man can now see death and spirits of pestilence and…


The Run

They came to the little island between Athens and Crete to run. Some of the best in the world. And it was because they were runners that they escaped the first attack. But Rafe knows something the others don’t. The things that came out of the sea aren’t of the sea, and they aren’t killing people because they’re hungry for food. No, what the monsters want is much more horrifying. Abe knows it for a fact. Because he’s number one on their hit list…


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010

Serpent’s Tooth by Toni V. Sweeney

Serpent’s Tooth
by Toni V. Sweeney
Published by Class Act Books, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-935048-55-8
and 978-1-935048-55-4
eBook and Print
335 pages
Romance and Horror

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The year is 2009. Melissa Powers, a forty-something Librarian from the Southern U.S., is on a cruise to help her recover from the recent loss of her mother. On the first day of her vacation, an enigmatic and gorgeous man begins to follow Melissa around the ship. She’s not sure how to take such obvious interest, but its not long before choice is taken away from Melissa.

Meet Travis Brandt, a man full of secrets, including the fact that he’s attracted to Melissa because she reminds him of his former wife. The reader wants to like Travis, especially as he quickly wins Melissa’s heart with his potent charisma. But it’s not just secrets with this man; there are also many lies.

Melissa is as bright as she is beautiful and immediately begins to unravel the enigma Travis represents. Her first discovery? Travis Brandt is none other than the man known as Hildebrant, a movie and singing star who disappeared 20 years ago and has been legally declared dead. The man owned the box office, and his band Serpent’s Tooth was sitting atop the world of music, but he just walked away from it all.

A former fan of Hildebrant and head over heels in love with Travis, Melissa spends the entire cruise with him, then after an agreed upon waiting period of about 3 months she marries the mysterious fellow. Whisked away to an isolated ranch in Nebraska, Melissa struggles to adapt to a completely alien lifestyle. She also continues to catch Travis in lies… He doesn’t want children, but he loves being around them. He has a strange scar on one hand that he explains away in yet another lie. He doesn’t tell Melissa he has an adult, adopted child until after they are married.

Yet the man obviously adores his new wife. We also want to be happy for Melissa, but the reader is made more and more aware of Travis’ dark past through an ongoing series of flashbacks that reveal the evil of his life, just as Melissa, herself, moves closer and closer to the truth.

Finally, all is revealed to both the reader and Melissa. We struggle to understand what Travis has done and what the cost may be to Melissa and her—surprise!—newly expected baby. Surely, Travis, Melissa and their child will be able to overcome the terrible secret hidden in Hildebrant’s past. Or is that just wishful thinking?

Serpent’s Tooth is an interesting mix of romance and horror. The slow and steady build-up to the terrifying conclusion of the book is a daring experiment and quite typical of Toni V. Sweeney. She’s an author who doesn’t seem afraid of anything. Every book and short story I’ve read by this author is so different from what has come before, you just can’t say this is a writer of romance or horror or even humour. It’s harder yet to determine her specific voice. This says a lot for Sweeney’s talent and her approach to writing. I fully expect bigger and better works to come.

The only thing I can criticize is there seemed to be some typographic issues with the text (for example: “putting on the black lacpe eignoir lying on a nearby chair”). Nothing serious, nor did it mar my reading experience. I mention it only because the problem is easy to spot and, thus, should have been caught during proofing.

To conclude: the more I read Toni V. Sweeney, the more I like her work. This is an author who is learning and developing at a speedy rate. Try Serpent’s Tooth. It’s unique and, I think, worth reading: it will surely make romance enthusiasts uncomfortable, and it will show horror fans that slice and dice just doesn’t stand up to understated and/or realistic horror.

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010

Still Life by Joy Fielding

Still Life
by Joy Fielding
Seal Books,
February 2009
ISBN: 978–1-4000-2578-7
Mass Market Paperback
363 pages
Thriller/Horror

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Casey Marshall has it all: beauty, millions, a job she loves, good friends and a perfect husband. Yes, Casey has it all, until the afternoon she’s run down by a truck traveling at 50 miles per hour. Nearly every bone in her body is broken and Casey ends up on life-support, in a coma.

It’s a tragic story with a long, lingering end we’ve all heard of before. Except that Casey isn’t brain dead. She can hear. And with therapy and time, her body begins to regain some of its functions. First, Casey is able to breathe on her own, then her sense of smell begins to return, as does the ability to make the smallest of movements.

Doesn’t sound much like a thriller or a horror story, does it? Well… have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall so you could listen in on private conversations undetected? Casey is that fly. And what she learns, she doesn’t like…

Someone tried to kill her. Her self-destructive and completely unreliable sister has  motive. So does her husband. Maybe even one of her two best friends is the culprit; it’s easy to believe the worst, especially when Casey discovers the woman’s deep, dark secret.

Day after day, for months, Casey listens to the conversations of all the people in her life as they each cross paths with the other in Casey’s hospital room, none of them believing that Casey can hear them. Until the person behind the murder attempt begins to suspect Casey may not just recover, but that she’s much farther along that pathway than anyone suspects.

Casey now begins a battle for her life. She knows who tried to kill her, and she knows it’s just a matter of time before the murderer finds an opportunity to finish the job. Add in a nurses aid who mistreats Casey when they are alone and who is doing her best to seduce Casey’s husband, and you have a lot of tension springing off the page.

Joy Fielding’s Still Life is kind of a leisurely yet disturbing read. When Casey’s situation is outlined, many a reader is going to remember the conversations they’ve had about this very subject: an active mind trapped in an unresponsive body. “Just put me out of my misery,” is a comment I’ve heard many times. This is a scenario straight out of our nightmares. Then there’s the fear we could be mistreated or taken advantage of by our caretakers: we’ve all seen the commercials about abuse of the elderly; I, personally, have witnessed the abuse of people with developmental handicaps. When you can’t speak for yourself, who will? And is this person who you thought he or she was?

Fielding asks these questions and many more, treating us to a disturbing thriller (something I call horror) about who lives behind the faces of the people of our lives. She even—gently—asks who are you behind your mask?

Still Life is the perfect follow-up to the kind of character studies (facelifts, I call them) she treated us to in Heartstopper.

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010

Review of ‘Once Bitten’

Once Bitten
Kalayna Price
Bell Bridge Books
ISBN: 978-0-9802453-9-4
272 pages
January, 2009
Urban Fantasy/Vampires/Shapeshifters

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Kita Nekai is not having a good day, but her next few days are going to get a lot worse. A shapeshifter by birth, she is on the run from the responsibilities of clan leadership that await her at her native Firth. While trying to stay ahead of hunters that are ordered to return her, she makes a few wrong turns and comes face to face with her (married) ex-boyfriend.

Readers of Once Bitten by Kalayna Price might find that just the brief introduction is already a lifetime’s worth of baggage. Hold on! Kita’s life is about to get worse. After introducing a vampire, rogue shifters, more shapeshifter hunters, a vampire council, demons, a supernatural judge, an apprentice mage scholar and a bloody trail of victims, the reader realizes that this fantasy/horror novel is a tad different from the rest. Did I mention that Kita only has 72 hours to reintroduce order to the city so aptly named ‘Haven?’

While the average horror writer might capitulate at the sheer volume of plot material, Kalayna Price unerringly weaves a solid plot with few tangents. This should not come as a surprise, seeing that she is a NaNoWriMo success story – a surefire hallmark of a writer who values the craft of writing as much as its science.

Dear reader, I must confess that before reading Once Bitten I had never heard of Urban Fantasy as a genre. After the introduction I received by this author, I will be sure to pick up more works with this designation. Speaking of “more,” ever since its publication date in January of 2009, Ms. Price was busy and penned a follow-up book that firmly establishes the now undead Kita Nekai as the main character of a new series.

This is a book that should find its way onto the shelves of the Urban Fantasy curious and vampire fiction aficionados who are sure to catch on to a few behind the scenes (or perhaps lore?) bits of humor that are cleverly worked in. Kalayna Price makes the plot work and does so with flying colors.

The editors, too—Debra Dixon and Deborah Smith—deserve huge kudos for the excellent job done in this department. It is always a joy to read a well-edited book that does not feature missing bits and pieces.

This is a great book for the more mature teen, an adult, vampire aficionado or Urban Fantasy reader.

***

For the sake of full disclosure: let the kind reader please take notice that I received a copy of Once Bitten – free of charge – from Mr. Clayton Bye.

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X

Reviewer’s Note: readers may notice that this week both my novel review site and this horror blog offer up my opinion on books targeting juveniles and/or young adults, although the authors of Daniel X claim their book is for people from 10 to 110. I just want to reassure you–this is an adult site. However, I review everything I read and have decided this is where I want to showcase the books. Enjoy!


The Dangerous Days Of Daniel X
by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
Little, Brown and Company
July 21, 2008
ISBN: 9780316002929
Hardcover
238 pages
Science Fiction/Horror/
For Children and Young Adults

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James Patterson, bestselling author of  The Alex Cross series, has joined talents with Michael Ledwidge to produce a novel for young people. The cover claims the book is suitable for readers from 10 to 110, but based on what my own children enjoy, I would say The Dangerous Days of Daniel X is perfect for preteens.

Written in a lighthearted, don’t you dare take me seriously manner, Daniel X could just as easily have been a comic book or a graphic novel. Falling solidly into the science fiction genre, I’m still going to consider the book as horror—because of my belief that the market for this piece of fiction is children, as well as young adults.

What is The Dangerous Days Of Daniel X about? Why slimy, gruesome, brain-sucking aliens, of course. The premise is simple… Nasty aliens have found earth and are in the process of preparing it for colonization (bad for us). Nice aliens, Daniel X and his parents and friends, are trying to eliminate the nasty aliens (good for us).

However, in the hands of the sparse prose Patterson is so well known for, and with chapters just a few pages long that, each for the most part, represent a new scene or battle, this book simply roars along. I started reading and when I set the book down to take a small break, I was surprised to find I was only 30 pages from the end of the story. Damned if I didn’t enjoy the whole experience. I guess I’m still a kid at heart.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010

The Second Horseman by Kyle Mills

I reviewed The Second Horseman by the bestselling author Kyle Mills when it first came out in 2006. Recently, I had occasion to revisit the book, and while the novel is classified as a thriller, the things that bothered me about it seem even more pertinent today. In fact, the overall tone of the book and the twisted mores of its characters still disturb me. So, I said to myself… Why not include the title on my horror blog and challenge you, my readers, to try The Second Horseman for yourselves? Tell me: is it horror, a thriller or just flawed writing? Maybe it’s a combination of all three. Or, perhaps, its a subtle statement regarding today’s establishment. I’d like to hear your opinions.


The Second Horseman
By Kyle Mills
St. Martin’s Press
August, 2006
ISBN: 978-0-312-33575-5
Hardcover
290 pages
Thriller

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Brandon Vale has been broken out of jail by the man who put him there. Now, instead of having just one year left to serve, Brandon’s looking at another twenty-five. The only solution is to get out of the country and permanently change his face. No sweat. All Brandon has to do is agree to steal $200,000,000 as it’s transported from Las Vegas to a San Francisco bank, use the money to buy 12 nuclear warheads from insane Ukranian mobsters and avoid being rewarded for his hard work with a shallow, unmarked grave.

The nightmare in which Brandon finds himself is the brainchild of Edwin Hamdi, the President’s national security advisor. Using the services of a defense contractor who peddles intelligence (a private equivalent of the CIA), Hamdi intends to take the warheads off the market by any means necessary.

But what drives a man like Hamdi to such drastic measures? Why do government decision makers believe this threat is a hoax? The Second Horseman answers both questions as the author takes us inside one man’s terrifying solution to conflict in the middle east.

A troubling study of the consequences of contract espionage, government sponsored terrorism and flawed US foreign policy, this fast moving and well written thriller may surprise you. Kyle Mills has populated his novel with characters unfettered by traditional mores. No one is portrayed as either good or bad. Instead, we’re given characters who are deeply committed and terribly flawed…

Richard Scanlon, the man responsible for framing Brandon, is a former FBI agent who now shadows the CIA at his government’s behest and works outside the law he spent most of his life enforcing. Beautiful Catherine Juarez cherishes her country and its laws but doesn’t put up much of a fight when Scanlon pushes her into illegal field work. Edwin Hamdi? This respected political and cultural expert is so determined to secure world peace that his actions have become indistinguishable from those he wants to stop. And never forget Brandon Vale, a charming thief who uses everyone. This guy operates so far outside the confines of society even he doesn’t know how deep the lies go.

Mills appears to recognize the problem his ensemble poses for the reader: important characters express a certain amount of regret for choices made, and several of them go out of their way to tell us that Brandon Vale isn’t a bad man. The effort wasn’t enough, though. I couldn’t get myself to care about Brandon. And the other characters seemed flat.

These are flaws you wouldn’t expect in a book as well written as The Second Horseman. So I had to ask myself, are the characters emotionally disengaged for a reason?  Are they numb?

Maybe that’s the point. If a society doesn’t abide by its own principles, what’s left?

The Second Horseman was an interesting read.

Copyright © 2010 Clayton Clifford Bye

Under The Dome by Stephen King

Under The Dome
by Stephen King
Scribner, Nov 2009
ISBN: 9781439148501
Hardcover
1088 pages
Horror

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Dale “Barbie”  Barbara has had enough of Chester’s Mill. With little more than the clothes on his back he’s trying to hitch a ride to anywhere else. But his wish is not to be. An invisible barrier, which turns out to be a dome of immense proportions, drops into place before him; and directly in front of a twin engine Seneca aircraft, which crashes into the dome, strewing shredded metal and body parts on the outer side of the barrier; and directly on top of a woodchuck, slicing the animal in half.

It’s October 21 and the mayhem has just begun. Cars, a pulp-truck and countless birds also find high speed deaths as they run themselves up against the dome. Amidst the horrors caused by the dome, a young man with a brain tumour becomes a murderer. His father, Big Jim Rennie, one of the town’s select-men, “praise God,” decides he’s the fellow to take control of the strange situation Chester’s Mill has found itself in: after all, with his town basically seceded from the rest of the world, a god fearing man who knows how to get things done is exactly what’s needed.

Within days this small town in Maine becomes a pressure cooker with no relief valve… As Rennie, ever the opportunist, purposely winds people up and devises situations intended to make the town turn to him for guidance. He doesn’t mind sacrificing a few for the sake of the town… As Barbie is catapulted into a position that places him in direct opposition to Rennie, and requires him to play a part in polarizing townspeople into factions, a them or us kind of mentality… As every single inhabitant is forcibly confronted with his or her true self—good, bad or indifferent…

Join Stephen King as he allows you to view the virtual destruction of an entire town, one person and situation at a time, just as if you were an all knowing and invisible observer. Some of these people, realizing there will be no rain or fresh air or replenishment of food and other supplies, search for answers as to the origin and nature of the dome. The average inhabitants of The Mill just watch and wait for the government to break them out. But as they deal with their ever more frightening reality, each of them begins to unravel in their own way—even select-man Rennie.

Under the Dome is disturbing if not heartbreaking. Stephen King has taken off his gloves for this story. Anyone, whether we empathize with them or not, will behave according to their nature and meet their destiny irregardless of what we feel for them. Bad guys have good moments; good girls have bad ideas. Those we come to care about may die in an instant, while others turn to choices as disturbing as anything King has ever written. People who should, perhaps, be put down like one would put down a dying animal live on to do nightmarish things.

I groaned at the prospect of having to read a 1088 page horror novel in just a few days. But believe me when I say the whining ended very quickly. Under The Dome is further proof, if not the culmination, of a change in King’s writing that probably began with Lisey’s Story (2006). Many people have blamed King’s evolvement into a different kind of author on his tragic, near-death accident in 1999, and I’m sure it played a part. Personally, I have the sense that King is simply bringing maturity (and perhaps reflection) to his new works. Why on earth would anyone expect him to be writing the same way or about the same topics he dealt with 20 or 30 years ago? It makes sense that he now spends time commenting on such things as religion and small-town politics. Readers should also feel no surprise that his monsters are becoming more and more human with each book and story. This is a man who almost retired several years ago. How can you not expect him to be reflective? And, given his brilliance as a story teller (I still maintain he’s the best we have), it’s a wonderful thing to see his changes displayed so completely by his characters.

Under The Dome is a fantastic accomplishment. To not only hold a story of this magnitude together for over a 1,000 pages, but to have it positively race? Unbelievable. To pull me into a doomed town and keep me watching the horrors unfold (knowing no character is safe)? Genius. Many reviewers are saying this may be his best work since The Stand (1978).

This is a novel that reminds me strongly of an old story called The Nets of Space by Emil Petaja (1969) and, to a certain extent, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1953). There are also similarities to King’s own The Mist (1980). Unfortunately, if you haven’t read these books, explaining why they have certain likenesses to Under The Dome would be to introduce fundamental spoilers. Let’s just say that Under The Dome shows us exactly how and why the “masks” come off regular, every day people, and it also suggests that if people feel completely isolated, cut off, or beyond reprimand, then it doesn’t matter to them whether aberrant behaviour is observed or not.

A friend of mine wanted me to let her know if I thought reading Under The Dome was worth the time investment. If you like horror and/or a fascinating story no one else could possibly tell, then my answer is a resounding “Yes.”


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010

Review of ‘The Iron Gospels’

The Iron Gospels
William Hache
Nightbox Publications
ISBN: 978-0-9813132-0-7
236 pages
Print
Psychological Horror

Imagine that you wake up in a small tent; you are sweaty and muddy; you know you are David Banner but you have no idea who that is; there are people waiting on you and treating you with almost religious reverence. You overhear mention of the name ‘John Cauliflower’ and his designation as prophet. What goes through your mind?

Readers of The Iron Gospels by William Hache begin their journey of the imagination at exactly this point. Seeing though the eyes of Banner, they experience an odd group of people who seem a mix between a cargo cult and religious fanatics. Stepping out of synch with the group is grounds for capital punishment. Initially horrified and anxious to get away, Banner gradually comes to terms with his place but goes a number of shocking steps further.

Dear reader, I must confess that I have mixed feelings about The Iron Gospels. I give high marks to the originality of the work and the idea behind it. William Hache’s ability to take a character, simplify his psyche by removing past baggage and then show the gradual change of core values is nothing short of genius.

That being said, I am not quite certain to whom to recommend this book. It is not the kind of work you will read with a bag of Doritos by your side in search of light literary enjoyment or escape; it is not the stuff from which tales of horror are generally woven. It is not suited for preteens and the finer nuances of the work may be lost on teens. You wouldn’t give it to the pastor’s wife or buy a few copies for the guys from the golf course. In short, The Iron Gospels will prove to be an acquired taste that may well develop a following in its own right.

Even as the author’s originality deserves the highest marks, the same cannot be said for the editing. While the occasional error is to be expected, a number of punctuation errors and some redundant words take away from the professional appearance of the work.

A look at the publisher’s website – Nightbox Publications – shows that The Iron Gospels is the only work published there and, according to Authors Den, it seems that the author is also the publisher. The odds are good that adding an editor to the new publishing house’s staff will make Mr. Hache’s next work even better.

***

For the sake of full disclosure: let the kind reader please take notice that I received a review copy of The Iron Gospels – free of charge – from Mr. Clayton Bye.

Bloody Passion by Laura Tolomei

Bloody Passion
Laura Tolomei
eXtasy Books
Oct 31, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-55487-417-0
eBook
158 Pages
Dark Fantasy, Gay, Horror, Ménage, Paranormal, Shape Shifting, Halloween, m/f, m/m, m/m/m

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Cedric was brought to a Druid for training when he was just a boy. “…he has dark connections,” claimed his mother. Perhaps, but these did not show through until one day, many years later, when his mentor abruptly left their village, claiming the darkness around Cedric and that which would certainly follow was too great to be overcome.

Sure enough, a creature of the night arrives and begins to steal the village’s animals as prey. The resultant hiring of a hunter and the friendship between he (Rory), the Druid (Cedric) and a young man named Newlyn, seals the fate of all involved.

One beast is killed, only to release an even greater and more evil monster. To capture this one, Cedric must solve the puzzle of a terrible nightmare that has plagued him for years, one he intuitively knows will reveal things better left buried.

In Bloody Passion Laura Tolomei has written a tight short story about the true, mixed nature of man, and what can happen if that nature is not controlled or put to work for the forces of good. I say short story, because the rest of her novel is filled with page after page of explicit male on male sex and an occasional m/m/m or m/f/m Ménage à trois.

This brings me to the critical portion of my review. First, Laura has/had no way of knowing I have publicly stated I will read no further works from eXtasy books. She sent me the book for review because we are internet friends. Having agreed in advance to the review, I will complete it.

There are the two issues I have with eXtasy books: Regarding the first book I read from this company, they stated quite clearly they were not taking editorial responsibility for the work being published; second, the sex was so much more prevalent than story, that I felt the story was nothing but a structure on which to hang the erotica. I went so far as to say there was an uncomfortable similarity to pornography.

Laura’s book? First of all, the editorial disclaimer does not appear in this book. Second, the overall calibre of writing is very good, although I did pick up on several misspelled, missing and misused words that a competent proofreader should have caught. The mistakes did not affect my reading experience. Third, while I feel there was again a disproportionate amount of sex to story, the work felt like a legitimate piece of fiction.

Bloody Passion went beyond my comfort zone for M/M erotica, but the book kept me engaged from start to finish. Laura Tolomei writes this type of fiction with a sure hand and obvious skill. If sizzling hot m/m erotica interests you, then I would say Bloody Passion will reward you for your time.


Copyright: © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009

Something Different For Stephen King Fans

Just After Sunset
by Stephen King
Pocket Books
October 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4165-8665-4
539 Pages
Mass Market Paperback
Horror/Collection

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Stephen King’s latest offering of short stories, Just After Sunset, disappointed me when I first read it. I was expecting to be drawn into some horrendous places and to have any number of heroes sacrificed to the writing Gods. Didn’t happen. In fact some of the stories have what, considering this is Stephen King we’re talking about, I would call happy endings.

So, I read the story notes at the back, and I reworked each story. Turns out, for this offering, Mr. King has decided to do away with fairly straightforward horror and offer us stories with meaning. I find that King not only poses some interesting questions, but he suggests some unusual answers. My verdict after revisiting Just After Sunset? A thoughtful, mature and sometimes freaky collection he should be proud of.

Willa – I didn’t like this ghost story, possibly because I just finished a similar story by a different author. Both deal with emotions after death, obviously offering up the assumption that some part of us goes on living after our bodies die. Stephen King’s story suggests that love and compassion and loyalty could all carry over with the soul. Such happenings could lead to interesting situations when it comes time for each individual to cross over. Willa presents us with one of these.

The Gingerbread Girl – A story reminiscent of Duma Key, The Gingerbread Girl gives us a woman trying to literally run away from the tragic death of her baby and a marriage she no longer wants. Having moved into her father’s place on one of Florida’s many keys, Janet has complete freedom to run as much and often as she wishes. Deep down she knows this will be the place that heals her. She’s right, but not in the way she thinks. Because Janet is about to stumble upon a murder, and the murderer, who is very good at what he does, easily adds her to the equation, so to speak. What Janet learns from her captor is frightening enough to bring her back to life–if she can beat him at his own game.

Harvey’s Dream – Janet is analyzing her life and husband of thirty years. It’s not a pleasant set of thoughts. How could she know that in a few minutes she would give everything she has to return those boring, petty thoughts. You see, her husband, Harvey has had a dream. And as Harvey relates the dream, Janet is drawn into a very real nightmare she cannot stop.

Rest Stop – A frightening situation proves to an author that “under the right circumstances, anyone could end up anywhere, doing anything.” He also realizes this means there are endless stories he can write using his favourite character. How does this transformation come about? The author has to call on his alter ego, his pen name, for the strength and hardness of character to deal with the problem at hand. The results are surprising.

Stationary Bike – Richard Sifkitz creates art for dollars. Advertising, commissions, whatever. So imagine his surprise when he suddenly finds himself painting purely for himself. What brings on the change? High cholesterol, too much weight and his commitment to ride his exercise bike every day. Life is good… except there’s something weird going on with his paintings. Also reminiscent of Duma Key, Stationary Bike looks at art as a doorway into some very strange and dangerous places.

The Things They Left Behind – A man suffering from survivor guilt after 9/11 discovers that there is much about the world he doesn’t understand. Yet, his questioning in the face of quiet terror finally leads him past what seems to be a demonic (or at least a very hurtful) game to an answer so simple and beautiful it changes his and the lives of many others forever.

Graduation Afternoon – The rules regarding the pettiness and bigotry of the well-positioned in society continue to operate as a family watches (in brilliant detail) the end of their world, just as their guest (from the wrong side of several million dollars) turns to her own form of country simplicity and takes her usual pragmatic look forward. Are we really such rigid creatures of habit?

N. – Standing stones have long been associated with ancient ritual, power, magic and even as portals to other worlds. Stephen King bundles all these suppositions into one very strange tale about people who spend their lives keeping our world the beautiful place it is. This is a long piece that deals with the concept of reality as a very thin barrier between what we know and the endless, horrifying possibilities that await a chance to come on in.

The Cat From Hell – The best hit man in the business matches his skills against a strange cat in a battle that leaves the loser surprised, out of business and an empty shell of his/its former self.

The New York Times At Special Bargain Rates – An offer that won’t be repeated, just like the strange phone call Anne gets on the day of her husband’s funeral. What would you say or do if your husband of 30 years, dead for two days, called you on his cell phone, in which the battery is dying? Stephen King imagines for us.

Mute – The hitch-hiker: we’ve heard and seen every variation of this story, right? Not a chance! In Mute, Stephen King brings us an amazing, original and damned scary story of generousity and retribution, all wrapped up with a big red bow these kinds of pieces call the moral of the story. His bottom line? You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into when you pick up a hitch-hiker.

Ayana – Godless miracles that carry a strange price tag. Ayana is a commentary on what and how we label things we don’t understand, evoking the name of God or whispering about magic (as examples) when sometimes things… just… are.

A Very Tight Place – Stephen King has been spending part of each year in Florida for a number of years now. As you might expect, The Keys have become a risky place to visit or live. In A Very Tight Place an aging day trader learns (via one of King’s most gruesome settings) that getting along with one’s neighbour is much more than a friendly suggestion.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye