January 26

Evil Penguins: When Cute Penguins Go Bad by Elia Anie

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Click to Buy

Paperback: 9781416961154 , $10.00

*I received this book through a giveaway at GoodReads.com

These penguins live up to their title, they’re evil, really evil. From giving Sponge Bob swirlies to invading China and doing very naughty things with razor wire it seems penguins are responsible for every pop culture, historical and religious evil known to man.

There’s very little reading to do in this book, but there will be a lot of laughing. It’s short, the humor is almost universal and the message is easy to understand. Evil Penguins isn’t the kind of book most people (other than dark humor or penguin fans) would ask for, but it’s perfect for those pesky uncomfortable gift giving situations. Secret Santas, gift exchanges with co-workers you barely know or present games at baby showers or holiday parties. The chances of a recipient not finding something inside these pages hilarious is pretty slim, and it’s likely that said person would be impossible to satisfy anyway.

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January 22

HellBlazer: Original Sins

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Click to Buy

Volume 1
Written by Jamie Delano
Art by John Ridgeway and Alfredo Alcala
Paperback: 1563890526, $19.95

I admit I picked this one up because I really liked the movie. I’d been warned that the movie was nothing like the actual comic, but all the elements of the movie that I enjoyed most were present.

The art is dated and doesn’t add much, but the writing is amazing, especially in the middle story, a supernatural tale of war life and rural reality colliding most violently, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”. “Waiting for the Man” also features some very disturbing sections, but like the rest of this volume it’s full of loose ends and set ups for later plot lines.

A lot of the imagery in the movie did come straight from the comic, as did large portions of the plot. In fact, I have to wonder, other than the comic Constantine being blond and English rather than Keanu Reeves, what the complaint is. The same callous, ballsy Constantine finds himself dragged into paranormal threat after paranormal threat, often by a damsel in distress. While it’s made clear that he’s neutral and not on the side of heaven, hell or the ethereal, most of the plots in HellBlazer: Original Sins have Constantine coming up against the demonic side of things more than anything else.

It’s definitely a good read, filled with strong, emotional writing and gritty, interesting characters. But beware, this volume leaves off, literally, in the middle of a scene so you might want to buy volumes one and two together.

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January 21

Preliminary 2008 Stoker Ballot Announced

Congratulations to all!

2008 Preliminary Stoker Ballot

Superior Achievement in a Novel
Coffin County by Gary Braunbeck (Leisure)
The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford (William Morrow)
Ghost Walk by Brian Keene (Leisure)
The Reach by Nate Kenyon (Leisure)
Duma Key by Stephen King (Scribner)
Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson (Bad Moon/Medallion)
Water Witch by Deborah Leblanc (Dorchester/Leisure)
Bad Moon Rising by Jonathan Maberry (Pinnacle)
Dead and Gone by Harry Shannon (Delirium Books)
The Price by Alexandra Sokoloff (St. Martins)
The Man on the Ceiling by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem (Wizards of the Coast)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Bestial: Werewolf Apocalypse by William D. Carl (Permuted Press)
Apricot Brandy by Lynn César (Juno Books)
Midnight On Mourn Street by Christopher Conlon (Earthling Publications)
Veins by Lawrence C. Connolly (Fantasist Enterprises)
Eternal Vigilance by Gabrielle S. Faust (Immanion Press)
The Gentling Box by Lisa Mannetti (Dark Hart Press)
Monster Behind the Wheel by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin (Delirium Books)
Frozen Blood by Joel A. Sutherland (Lachesis Publishing)
Crimson Orgy by Austin Williams (Borderlands Press)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
“The Lagerstatte” by Laird Barron (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
The Shallow End of the Pool by Adam-Troy Castro (Creeping Hemlock)
Miranda by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
Redemption Roadshow by Weston Ochse (Burning Effigy)
The Confessions of St. Zach by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)
Orpheus and the Pearl by Kim Paffenroth (Magus Press)
“Behold the Child” by Harry Shannon (Brimstone Turnpike)
Just Like Hell by Nate Southard (Thunderstorm Books)
Population Zero by Wrath James White (Cargo Cult Press)
Orgy of Souls by Wrath James White, and Maurice Broaddus (Apex Book Company)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
“The Last Word” by Maria Alexander (Sins of the Sirens)
“Mama Strangelove’s Remedies for Afterlife Disorders, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Mother Death” by C. Dean Andersson (Brutarian)
“Consumed” by Michael Louis Calvillo (Horror Library Volume 3)
“Petrified” by Scott Edelman (Desolate Souls)
“Mechanix” by Christopher Fulbright (Bound for Evil)
The Lost by Sarah Langan (Cemetery Dance Publications)
“The Dude Who Collected Lovecraft” by Nick Mamatas, and Tim Pratt (Chizine)
“The Haven” by John Palisano (Horror Library Vol. 3)
“Turtle” by Lee Thomas (Doorways)
“The Blog at the End of the World” by Paul Tremblay (Chizine)
“Those Eyes” by Mark W. Worthen (Thinner Than Mist)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology
The Undead: Headshot Quartet edited by Christina Bivins and Lane Adamson (Permuted Press)
Like a Chinese Tattoo edited by Bill Breedlove (Dark Arts Books)
Horror Library, Vol. 3 edited by R. J. Cavender (Cutting Block Press)
Abominations edited by Tim Deal (Shroud Publishing)
Beneath the Surface edited by Tim Deal (Shroud Publishing)
Unspeakable Horrors edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helder (Dark Scribe Press)

Superior Achievement in a Collection
The Number 121 to Pennsylvania by Kealan Patrick Burke (Cemetery Dance Publications)
Mama’s Boy and Other Dark Tales by Fran Friel (Apex Publications)
Just After Sunset by Stephen King (Scribner)
Little Creatures by Michael McCarty (Sam’s Dot Publishing)
Other Gods by Stephen Mark Rainey (Dark Regions Press)
The Autopsy and Other Tales by Michael Shea (Centipede)
Sheep and Wolves by Jeremy C. Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Fourtold by Michael Stone (Baysgarth Publications)
Gleefully Macabre Tales by Jeff Strand (Delirium)
Ennui and Other States of Madness by David Niall Wilson (Dark Regions Press)

Superior Achievement in Nonfiction
Shadows Over New England by David Goudsward, and Scott T. Goudsward (BearManor Media)
Bram Stoker’s Notes for Dracula by Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Elizabeth Miller (McFarland)
Spirits and Death in Niagara by Marcy Italiano (Schiffer Publishing)
The New Annotated Dracula by Leslie S. Klinger (W. W. Norton)
Beauty and Dynamite by Alethea Kontis (Apex Publications)
Cheap Scares by Gregory Lamberson (McFarland)
Zombie CSU by Jonathan Maberry (Citadel)
Modern Mythmakers by Michael McCarty (McFarland)
A Hallowe’en Anthology by Lisa Morton (McFarland)
The Book of Lists: Horror by Amy Wallace, Del Howison, and Scott Bradley (Harper)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
The Nightmare Collection by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions Press)
The Phantom World by Gary William Crawford (Sam’s Dot)
Virgin of the Apocalypse by Corrine De Winter (Sam’s Dot Publishing)
The Flayed Man and Other Poems by Phillip A. Ellis (Gothic Press)
Attack Of The Two-Headed Poetry Monster by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty (Skullvines Press)
Ghosts of Past and Future by Darrell Schweitzer (Borgo)

(List aquired from Greg Lamberson’s blog.)

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January 19

Sacred Book of the Werewolf

Click to buy
Click to buy

Viking, 2008
ISBN: 078-0-670-01988-5
Available: New and used

A Hu-Li is a two thousand year old Chinese werefox in the body of a fifteen year old girl playing the role of a Russian prostitute. After
falling for an insatiable Russian werewolf she finds herself caught up in the epic quest for the super-werewolf, a fabled creature among were-beasts, who will someday appear and reveal the truth of all things…

Full Review at Monster Librarian.com

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