The Last Storm: #Horror and #Monsters Done Right!

 I'm on a reading roll, it seems. And I think I've found my favorite book of the year.

I hadn't read any of Tim Lebbon's books before, though I saw his book-based movie, The Silence, on Netflix. I was drawn to that because...well, weird monsters/creatures. (See trailer below and here's the book link.)

 So, when I heard about his latest book, The Last Storm, it sounded really good. You can't beat monsters, the apocalypse and a weird premise. 

About the Book:

With global warming out of control, large swathes of North America have been struck by famine and drought and are now known as the Desert. A young woman sets out across this dry, hostile landscape, gradually building an arcane apparatus she believes will bring rain to the parched earth. Her father, Jesse, once, too made rain, but stopped when his abilities caused fatalities, bringing down not just rain but scorpions, strange snakes and spiders. When his daughter Ash inherited this tainted gift, Jesse did his best to stop her. His attempt went tragically wrong, and he believes himself responsible for her death.
 
But now his estranged wife Karina brings news that Ash is still alive. And she’s rainmaking again. 

Review: This has to be one of the best horror novels I've read. A strange tale of an odd family of rainmakers, who bring the rain  - and other things - by hooking their homemade machine into their own veins. But the  parents fear their daughter Ash's "gift" will bring even worse to the earth than what the father did... and it does as she hooks into a strange other world. Her actions open a door to bring down odd, weird creatures and more. I loved Lebbon's book-based movie, The Silence, and this goes beyond that strangeness. It too, would make a great film. He definitely has a "gift" for the monstrous.

 

New #Horror Short Fiction Coming!

 I've got a couple new short horror stories coming out.

* Amanda comes home from school with questions about how a policeman whose car fell into a sinkhole in the 1950s really died.... Was there something under the street? 

Learn the truth in my story, "The Rumor That Refused to Die." It'll appear in the upcoming O for Outbreak anthology in the A to Z Horror series by Red Cape Publishing.

* Also coming: Anjie dreamed for years about going to Paris, but never expected how much the past overshadows the present in my story, "The Ghosts of Paris." Coming in November a Ghosts Anthology from Scare Street.

 

 *  My most recent story: Was there actually a reason for those childhood fears of the monster under the bed? Read my recent story, "Sweet Dreams" in the Spring issue #43 of The Colored Lens. 

(Images: public domain, pixabay.com)

Creepy October #Dracula & #Ghosts Oh My! #Halloween Reviews

 Nothing says Halloween and October better than Dracula and ghosts.

Just finished reading two books that definitely will find their place at the top of your TBR pile!

I love when I find something that hooks me and won't let go to the very last page.

 There's been plenty of talk going around about the recently released Reluctant Immortals, a Dracula tale by Bram Stoker award-winning author Gwendolyn Kiste. Once I saw the cover and heard the premise I was lucky enough to get to the top of the library list.

* Goodreads

About the Book:

Inspired by the untold stories of forgotten women in classic literature— Lucy Westenra, a victim of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester's attic-bound wife in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre—as they band together to combat the toxic men bent on destroying their lives, set against the backdrop of the Summer of Love, Haight-Ashbury, 1967.

Review: I have to admit that going on, I didn't remember all of the story of Jane Eyre, having read it decades ago. But regardless, the book provides abused women of the past a chance to fight their abusers again and get their revenge in a new setting.

I like how Dracula was given some new abilities to escape the traditional methods usually used for his extermination. And it was a real horror treat to have the historic and much maligned Renfield come back into the picture as well. I wasn't quite as sure of the "monster" that inhabits Bertha, making her undead as well, but giving readers a glimpse into Lucy's ability to die and return back to life - and what happens to her when she does - definitely adds a new layer to the story. The revengeful nature of the women felt like it went on a bit too long at times, but overall, this was a unique take on old classics and an enjoyable read. 5 stars 

Literally Dead: Tales of Halloween Hauntings, Gaby Triana , editor. (Releases 9/21)

About the Book: Anthology of 19 short stories presents a plethora of ghostly hauntings. Includes: 

JONATHAN MABERRY - "When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead Across Your Dreams in Pale Battalions Go"
LISA MORTON - "Halloween at the Babylon"
TIM WAGGONER - "No One Sings in the City of the Dead"
JEFF STRAND - "Ghosts of Candies Past"
LEE MURRAY - "The Ghost Cricket"
GWENDOLYN KISTE - "A Scavenger Hunt When the Veil is Thin"
SARA TANTLINGER - "How to Unmake a Ghost"
ALETHEA KONTIS - "The Ghost Lake Mermaid"
CATHERINE CAVENDISH - "The Curiosity at the Back of the Fridge"
SCOTT COLE - "Postcards From Evelyn"
DENNIS K. CROSBY - "Bootsy's House"
STEVE RASNIC TEM - "When They Fall"
CATHERINE McCARTHY - "Soul Cakes"
MAUREEN MANCINI AMATURO - "A Bookstore Made of Skulls"
HENRY HERZ - "The Ghosts of Enerhodar"
JEREMY MEGARGEE - "Always October"
DANA HAMMER - "A Halloween Visit"
DAVID SURFACE - "The Crawlers in the Corn"
EVA ROSLIN - "Pink Lace and Death Gods"

Review: I love haunted and horror shorts and this collection doesn't disappoint. This presents a range of emotions from the sad and haunting tale of the ghost hunter in Jeremy Megargee's Always October, to the sweet Soul Cakes by Catherine McCarthy, and the quirky, odd and funny Ghosts of Candies Past by Jeff Strand. There's surely a story here for everyone! 5 stars

Spooky Sept. Reads #apocalypse #dracula #horror

 Starting the Halloween reading early!

I'm almost finished with The Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste - a "different" kind of Dracula paired up with an evil Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre set in California's 1967 Haight-Ashbury district. (I'm still intrigued and have to read her book, The Rust Maidens.)

Then I'm going to start The Last Storm by Tim Lebbon - an apocalyptic setting where the world is destroyed by drought and famine with a girl whose "tainted" gift conjures up storms, rain, and whatever else. (His book-based movie The Silence had some creepy creatures so I'm anticipating something good here!)