Horror
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Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey – REVIEW
Just Like Home bleeds from the core. It’s a meteorite crashing into your orbit and turning your world upside down. Viscerally intimate. Just Like Home…Jesus Christ on a burning bike! A story that defied the rules of reality, but do you think it cares? Nope, the rule book was torn up and buried. A story with an original plot, strong characters, and a writing style that could cut glass. Just Like Home is the living embodiment of a house being the keeper of secrets. It sees all, breathes all, and doesn’t say anything. It soaks up the blood and pumps it into the walls, it doesn’t make a mess anymore…
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Parachute by Holly Rae Garcia – REVIEW
Move over H.P Lovecraft there’s a new cosmic horror genius in town! A pitch black concept that beguiles and unnerves in equal measure Parachute came along at just the right time. In a genre that can be incredibly hard to stand out from the crowd, Holly Rae Garcia has done just that. She hasn’t just stood out but she’s floating into space. She has proven that stories can still be unique, can still scare you, it can make you fall in love with reading again. Horror is like a drug, well it’s my drug of choice. It stops me from catastrophising life, dwelling on all the hurt and anguish in…
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REVIEW: A Puppet Scorned by Jamie Kort
A Puppet Scorned…is like nothing I have ever read before. I understand everything and yet nothing. Two fornicating sock puppets. A product of lovemaking. A devilish vengeance. This is what I enjoy about indie stories – sometimes you will get something that comes out of the left-field but you end up enjoying it way more than you expected! The euphemism between sex and socks isn’t lost on me. It’s such a crazy concept that it had to be good, right? RIGHT. Camille and Brad are two sock puppets who enjoy the more debasing activities in life – a dusty attic is a perfect backdrop to – using knitting needles as…
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REVIEW: The Five Turns of the Wheel by Stephanie Ellis
The Five Turns of the Wheel. Folklore meets blood. One look at the intriguing cover hints at its secrets and its mystique. A skull with a gaping hole being claimed by the mud and the autumnal leaves. We are all reclaimed by the mud eventually and Stephanie Ellis does a stellar job of making it a constant theme throughout the story. The illustration mirrors the intricacies held within the pages of this dark folklore tale. I came to this story for the author but stayed for the vivid imagery that is a true testament to Ellis’s mastery. The Five Turns of the Wheel – a yearly event to allow the…
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REVIEW: Below by Kev Harrison
Below has everything you would come to expect from Kev Harrison. Right from the start, we have the folklore contact. A dangerous mine that has a history of caving in. A grandfather with hero status. A presenter looking for her big break. The characters have bigger balls than I, the mere thought of being caved in is enough for me to put the breaks on. The breath you rely on running short, the darkness making you question reality, only your thoughts for company, no siree, I am out! This is the third novella I have read from Kev Harrison (previously read The Balance and Warding) and it gives us something…
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REVIEW: In the Arctic Sun by Rowan Hill
In the Arctic Sun is Rowan Hill’s debut novella that promises to mess with your head. I’ve had the pleasure of reading Hill’s short stories and have always been transfixed with the atmosphere her writing always creates. The story perfectly examines the emotional turmoil the body can go through when they are robbed of sleep. Sleep deprivation is a torture method for a reason! The Arctic sun. Alaskan setting. Oil digging disrupting the fabric of her peace. It’s a no-brainer. So, did In the Arctic Sun deliver? Does a bear shit in the woods? The prologue opens and gives the reader an immediate sense of place. You are in…
