BookLove First Half 2009 Recap
January
1. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher- Ghosts, vampires, Dresden getting beat up–a lot. 3 1/2 stars
2. Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher- Possessed animals, finally full visuals of the characters, nice teaser for the series, but on the expensive side. 3 1/2 stars
3. Sacred Book of the Werewolf- Long, very long, distracted, rambling, funny, great ending, if you can make it that far. 3 stars
4. Northlanders volume 1- A Viking revenge story? Gore, violence, sex, damn almost-moral ending! 3 1/2 stars
5. HellBlazer: Original Sins- Ugh, 80s comic art, fantastic stories, leaves off mid scene–boo! 4 Stars
6. Storm Front Comic #1 & #2- Oh look, it’s a cartoon version of the first book, not at all bad, nothing new though. 3 Stars.
7. Apex January 2009- Good stories, two great ones at the end (one with a monster house and one reprint from History is Dead) 4 stars.
8. Evil Penguins by Elia Anie- Hilarious, but no staying power, good gift for people you don’t know (like those secret gift exchanges). 3 stars
February
9. A Practical Guide to Faeries- D&D for kids–seriously– but it’s pretty, fun and kids and role players will love it. 4 stars
10. Murky Depths #6- One of my favorite mags. The stories won’t be soul-shattering, but they will be entertaining and deliciously cross genre. Great graphic strips in this issue. 4 stars.
11. HebrewPunk by Lavie Tidhar- Nazi werewolves, drugged out mystics, immortal Jews and blood banks run by angels, what’s not to love? 4 stars
12. The Lesser of Two Evils by Zoe Whitten- Strong, fun characters of negligible morality chasing down a serial child killer, science plus paranormal=rock! 4 stars
13. VAMPS by Nancy A. Collins- Mean Girls meets vampires. I hated Lilith, but like Cally. Will probably keep reading the series as a guilty pleasure. (sort of like watching a soap opera) 3.5 stars
14. Pride by Rachel Vincent-The continuing adventures of a female werecat trying to break the Old Boy’s Club and be valued as something other than the current and future contents of her uterus. I love this series, 5 stars!
15. The Monster Within Idea by R. Thomas Riley- A bunch of supernatural horror stories. Either they hit or miss completely, 4 stars.
March
16. Unspeakable Horror- A mix of horror types from high brow to more action and horror”ish”. All well written, but not all a single fan’s style. 4 stars
17. Watchmen-I missed the bus on this one. 3 stars
18. Dead Witness by Joylene Butler- Not ready for prime time. 2.5 stars.
19. Something Wicked #9- An average mix of horror and dark SF. 3 stars.
20. Apex Magazine, February 2009- Two thumbs up. Go read it. 4 Stars.
21. Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre- A unique, Mexican and 90s police movie flavored urban fantasy. 4 stars
April
22. Apex Magazine, March 2009- Very Nicely done. Bravo! 5 stars
23. The Black Act by Louise Bohmer- Pretty and sensory, but not fast paced. 3 Stars
24. The Blue Mirror by Kathe Koja- Wow, Like Twilight, but good. Real good, and no vampires. 5 stars
25. Hollow-Eyed Mary by Andre Duza- Excellent on every level. Brutal, beautiful and engaging, but very horror. 4 stars.
26. Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews- So awesome. Kick ass urban fantasy without too much romance or angst or super powered vaginas. 5 stars.
27. Bestial by William D. Carl- More than campy werewolf fun, there’s some clever writing here too. 4 stars
28. Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster by Mark McLaughlin & Michael McCarty- Excellent! Love it, srsly could not stop reading it. 5 Stars.
29. Afraid by Jack Kilborn- Strong thriller, tighter than Stephen King, less amped up than David Morrell. Very readable. 4.5 stars
30. Skin Tight by Ann Aguirre- There’s an under appreciated segment of the romance community who are going to love this when it comes out…next year. 4.5 stars
31. Splattered Beauty by Brandon Ford- An homage to scream queens and B-movies 5 stars for what it is, 3 stars as a book in the larger picture of the horror literature
May
32. A Dangerous Climate by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro- Excellent, smooth and detail, more historical fiction than horror. 4 stars
33. Black Jack Derringer Book 1: The Ace of Spades-If you like weird SF westerns you should buy this. 4.5 Stars.
34. Apex Magazine, April 2009- Excellent show by guest editor Michael A. Burstein 4.5 stars.
35. The Convent of the Pure by Sara M. Harvey- An excellent dark fantasy w/ steampunk elements, but not long enough. 4 stars
36. Thin Them Out by Kim Paffenroth, Julia Sevin & R.J. Sevin-Very pretty in places, too short, more suggestion than story, but well written. 3.5 stars
37. Dying to Live: Life Sentence by Kim Paffenroth- Excellent intelligent zombie horror. Give me more horror like this! 4.5 stars
38. Blood Bar by Norm Applegate- DNF
39. An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris- Dark mystery with the touch of supernatural. Another great book in this series. 4 stars
40. Buffy: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon- I didn’t realize how much I missed Buffy until I picked this one up. Now I can’t wait until volume two arrives. 4.5 stars.
41. Tales From the Crypt #3: Zombilicious- No zombies đ Slick packaging, cheesy product, 3 stars (if you like that kind of thing).
42. Killing Kiss by Sam Stone- A fine traditional vampire book. No “vampire porn” here, 4 stars
June
43. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs- A nice paranormal with action and plot, but not mega drama. 4 stars.
44. Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn- Ugh, whiny MC, jolting pace, a lot of uncomfortable emotional abuse. 1 star
45. Apex Magazine, May 2009- Another more-fantasy issue, lyrical stories but last issue for who knows how long. 4 stars
46. Tales from the Crypt #4: Crypt-Keeping it Real- This is the best the Crypt series gets. 4 stars
47. The Big Guy & Rusty the Boy Robot- Awesome, awesome! Five stars and go watch the cartoon on YouTube!
48. Symptoms of a Broken Heart by Cory Cramer-A nice read with two strong, not clichĂ© female horror leads that aren’t lesbians! 4.5 stars.
49. Escape of the Living Dead- Solid sex, violence and zombie fun graphic novel. Not much new though 4 stars.
50. Heaven’s Bones by Samantha Henderson- Lovely writing, loosely Ravenloft rich details. 4 stars
Rot Interior Art
Rot will have eight full page pieces of interior black and white art by up and coming artist Mechelle Sizemore. Here’s a few to get you salivating (and I’m not even going to show you my favorite one.) And you should know that while ebook versions of Rot will be available through Horror Mall the ebook will NOT include the extra art.
Private Lessons available for download
Forgot to post about this yesterday. Here’s the page. My formatting skills are questionable (the pdf is pretty, not so sure about the others, I am gratefully open to tips if anyone would like to give them) but the story is good. Enjoy!
First Official ROT review!
Woohoo!!
Rot leaves readers questioning the value of human life, both before and after death. The zombies portrayed have a humanity that many of the living employees of Silver Springs do not display. The employees see nothing human in their charges, and so they feel justified in committing terrible crimes simply because âthey arenât like us.â
Read Zoe’s full review here. (She says it would appeal to fans of literary horror. Have I committed literary??)