Review: Midnight Burning

Midnight Burning
by Karissa Laurel

Synopsis

Solina  Mundy  lives  a  quiet  life,  running  the  family  bakery  in  her  small  North  Carolina hometown. But one night, she suffers a vivid nightmare in which a wolfish beast is devouring her twin brother, who lives in Alaska. The next morning, police notify her that Mani is dead. Drivento learn the truth, Solina heads for the Land of the Midnight Sun. Once there, she begins to suspect Mani’s friends know more about his death than they’ve let on. Skyla, an ex-Marine, is the only one willing to help her.


As Solina and Skyla delve into the mystery surrounding Mani’s death, Solina is stunned to learn that her own life is tied to Mani’s friends, his death, and the fate of the entire world. If she can’t learn to control her newfound gifts and keep her friends safe, a long-lost dominion over mortals will rise again, and everything she knows will fall into darkness.

Review

This is the kind of book I live for - some mystery and romance? And and and - mythology is mixed in there? Yes, please! The story has a great pace and it had me reading it from cover to cover (and annoyed when I had to put it down to attend to life - ugh!). I don't want to go into depth with the characters, but they are wonderful and well-rounded characters. It's truly a thrilling book with likable characters. Solina in particular is a strong female character - which any fan of this blog will know how much I love strong female characters/protagonists. 

All in all, this is a thrilling story that will keep you wanting more!

Verdict

So - where's book 2?? *thumbs up*

About the Author

Karissa Laurel always dabbled in writing, but she also wanted to be a chef when she grew up. So she did. After years of working nights, weekends, and holidays, she burnt out and said, “Now what do I do?” She tried a bunch of other things, the most steady of those being a paralegal for state government, but nothing makes her as happy as writing. She has published several short stories and reads “slush” for a couple of short-story markets.

Karissa lives in North Carolina with her kid, her husband, the occasional in-law, and a very hairy husky. She loves to read and has a sweet tooth for speculative fiction. Sometimes her husband convinces her to put down the books and take the motorcycles out for a spin. When it snows, you’ll find her on the slopes.

Karissa also paints and draws and harbors a grand delusion that she might finish a graphic novel someday.

Follow Karissa Online:

Web page: http://www.karissalaurel.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/karissalaurel

Twitter: @karissalaurel

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/KarissaLaurel

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/karissalaurel

Youtube Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0YLj4g3Di0

Review: Songs of the Maniacs

Songs of the Maniacs
by Mickey J. Corrigan

Synopsis

When the real you is someone you don't know, then you sing the songs of the maniacs.

Who are we when we lose everything, including our personalities? From her office at a mental health institute in the tropics, a troubled young woman counsels deeply disturbed clients while coping with her own heightening concerns. These include frightening consciousness lapses, violent memories of a high school sexual relationship, a menacing stalker, and an annoyingly arousing visitor who may or may not be insane. All this on a single stormy day at a time when a new mental health disorder has become epidemic and is threatening to distort memory and identity, unmooring the validity of reality itself.

A seductive and chilling novella, Songs of the Maniacs takes readers on a fascinating descent into the abyss beneath the lush surfaces of contemporary American paradise.

Review

This book had a lot of the aspects I personally enjoy - so this may be biased. This is your warning, reader. 

There is a fantastical element to this work, and at that same time it involves something real (mental illness). Psychological thrillers, of which this is one, are awesome to read because of the detail placed into them. It's important to focus on this book as you're reading it and making sure that you are devoting some time to it. Why, you may ask? Well, you don't want to miss anything!

This story is twisted and takes the reader into some real dark places [of the mind] that not all are ready for. Are you?

Verdict

Read it if the dark and twisted excite you. Skip if you're afraid of the dark. 

About the Author

Mickey J. Corrigan lives and writes and gets into trouble in South Florida. She publishes with pulpy presses with names like Breathless, Champagne and Bottom Drawer. Recent books include the edgy novellas in The Hard Stuff series from The Wild Rose Press (Whiskey Sour Noir, Vodka Warrior, Tequila Dirty); and the thriller Sugar Babies. Salt Publishing recently released the neo-noir novel Songs of the Maniacs.

Links

Website: www.mickeyjcorrigan.com

Publisher: http://www.saltpublishing.com/moderndreams/

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23568383-songs-of-the-maniacs

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Maniacs-Modern-Dreams-Mickey-Corrigan-ebook/dp/B00P2RWCKW/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415715801&sr=1-2&keywords=songs+of+the+maniacs                  

Short Story Friday: PCA

"PCA"
Midnight Paths
by Joe Hart

Book Synopsis

Enter a world where nothing is what it seems. Where darkness never abates, and your deepest fears are just a few steps away. 

Travel to an old house in the country where something hungry waits just beyond the treeline. 

Watch as a young woman, whose life hangs in the balance, receives a visitor from the afterlife. 

Or, journey across an ocean on a romantic voyage that ends in the deepest kind of horror. 

This dark collection of the macabre is sure to chill the bones of even the most stalwart horror aficionado.

Review

"Love does funny things to you, son."

And boy does it! In this story, the reader accompanies Eric, a caregiver, to a patient's home. He's there covering for a co-worker of his. What he finds, however, is something unique.

This is a short story that is able to provide enough suspense and dread within its short number of pages. There is plenty of great description and it's creepy as heck. I look forward to reading more creepy stories from this collection!

Verdict

Dear reader, this collection is not for the faint of heart. This story was so creepy that this collection is now a Short Story Friday favorite! you'll be seeing more from me about this author. 

Top Shelf Short Stories: My Heart is Either Broken

My Heart is Either Broken
by Megan Abbott

I have been skipping around different volumes since I started this short story project (which, btw, aren't you proud I haven't abandoned??? Please leave words of encouragement below haha). However, I was in a coffee house (the "just right" environment) when I started reading this volume and I found myself curious as to how the rest of the stories would be since the first one (see yesterday's post) was awesome. 

Well, I'm so glad I did! Abbott has created an absolutely awesome story that could easily be seen (and has been seen) on the evening news. 

The story is told from Tom's perspective and the reader is thrown right in the middle of his and his wife, Lorie's, horror story. The story revolves around the couple's missing daughter, Shelby. Shelby was last seen with Lorie at a coffee shop. It was apparently at that coffee shop where Lorie asked one of the shop workers, whom Lorie had encountered before, to watch Shelby while she cleaned up in the restroom. When Lorie came out, Shelby and the worker were no where to be seen.

So started the couple's horror. What makes it worse is that from day one, Lorie is the main suspect. This is something Tom finds impossible...until Lorrie starts going to bars dressed as if she were 10 years younger and begins sunbathing in a bikini in the front yard. Then Tom starts remembering details from their past - details he wishes he didn't remember. 

And that's as far as I can go because, damn, this story is really great! It's sad and creepy - a total chiller. Of course, the concept is disturbing, but trust me when I say that what the reader thinks is happening is not the final story. 

Verdict

If you like chillers and mysteries, this one is for you. Dangerous women indeed. Take caution, definitely adult themes involved. Think sex, chilling ideas, etc. 

Review: Dreams of the Dead

Dreams of the Dead
by Thomas Randall

Synopsis

Kara Foster thinks the hardest thing about moving to Japan will be fitting in as an outsider. But dark secrets are stirring at her new school. When Kara befriends Sakura, a fellow outsider whose rebellious nature sets her apart from the crowd, she learns that Sakura's sister was the victim of an unsolved murder on school grounds. And before long, terrible things begin to happen.

It starts with nightmares - strange, otherworldly dreams that wake Kara in terror every night. Then more students start turning up dead, with strange marks on their bodies. Is Sakura getting revenge on those she suspects are responsible for her sister's death? Or has her dead sister come back to take revenge for herself?


Review

I think I should start off with telling you, dear reader, how I very much love horror stories, be it in books, tv or movies. I should also add that my favorite kind of horror stories are Asian ones. So, I might be biased in reviewing my latest read.

This story begins with Kara and her father moving to Japan after the death of Kara's mother. With the worries of attending a new school in a new country comes the eerie feeling of something not being quite right. The sudden unsolved murder/death of a student a few months before has some people on edge. Little does Kara know that the school she's attending and the people within have many secrets to hide.

I haven't read many reviews about this book because I figured someone would ruin it for me. In my opinion, I think that many people do not understand or enjoy Asian horror stories. Maybe they find it too fantasy-like or gruesome, but I love the darkness of the stories. Many of them are about revenge and I think that's a topic we tend to gloss over in our fiction. Dreams of the Dead is a quiet book and that helps the tone for suspense concerning the plot. When I say quiet, by the way, I mean that it's slow and steady in parts which helps build the thrill. I can see how some who are used to action-filled horror stories or movies might be turned off by this, but the Japanese books I've read so far do a really good job at letting the suspense build slowly. I quite enjoy it.

I wish parts of the book had been a bit more detailed and the book longer, in general. Regardless, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to any horror/suspense fan.

Extra

The book is a part of a trilogy called The Waking. Both other books are already out, but I have only been able to find the third in ebook form...which makes me very sad. If anyone knows where I can get an actual copy (if it exists) please let me know!

For fans of:

Ryu Murakami
The Ring
The Grudge
Asian horror

Rating

Review: Asylum: 13 Tales of Terror

Asylum: 13 Tales of Terror
by Matt Drabble

Book Synopsis

Blackwater Heights is a building with a long dark history, some of it is well known but more is shrouded in myth and legend. None more so than that of its founding father Horace Whisker.

Martin Parcell is an ex-journalist with shattered dreams of an author's career. Sidelined through a car crash's injuries, he finds himself forced through governmental austerity measures having to take a custodians position at a private mental health hospital. A writer with undoubted talent, but an author without a story.

He begins his new job deep in depression and drowning under waves of his lost dreams. On his first night he meets Jimmy, his elderly supervisor who has spent most of his life within the hospital walls. Jimmy is nearing retirement age and desperate to rest his weary bones. Jimmy offers Martin a way out for both of them, access to the background histories and stories of the hospital's patients. A collection of 13 tales from the darkly disturbed minds of the residents of Blackwater Heights.


As the long night unwinds, Martin finds himself deeply troubled as the tales unfold before him and threaten to drag him down into their insanity.

Review

I am a sucker for a good horror/thriller story. Ever since I was a kid, summers were made for reading a scary story next to a window, a rolling thunderstorm just outside. With that said, I'm very particular about my horror stories. For example, I kinda dislike Stephen King's writing. I say kinda because I did enjoy Carrie and, of course, many of his short stories.

But I digress. 

(or maybe it's because Drabble reminds me of the good stuff I like from King? Hmmm)

What Matt Drabble has done in his short stories is please the palate of a horror fan that needs to have their attention grabbed! Whoa, tongue twister. What I mean is that, just how some authors need 500 pages to get their point across, there are some authors who succeed in capturing what they need in a small fraction of those pages. That, is what Drabble has done. The characters and stories grabbed my attention and the stories were unique, but tied together. 

This is an interesting read for any horror fan. The stories are entertaining and I dare you not to finish them in one day. Hey, better yet, turn down the lights, turn off the tv and cuddle up with these stories tonight - talk about being afraid of the dark!

About the Author

Born in Bath, England in 1974, a self-professed "funny onion", equal parts sport loving jock and comic book geek.

Loving literature from an early age and reading so many works of varied authors, I took the somewhat foolhardy decision to attempt to write my own novels. I have always been an avid fan of the Horror/Supernatural genres and find that many great works in this field are automatically dismissed due to their subject matter.

I am currently embarking on a yearlong mission to try and attempt to make a dent in the writing market. I have finished 4 novels and am around half way through my 5th, setting myself a rate of 2000 words a day. It is a hard slog to combine the day job and my dream job, but after some success with my 3rd novel, I am re-energised and more determined than ever. 

My third novel "Gated" hit the #1 spot on the Amazon UK free Horror chart and when it went back on sale had a high of #4 on the UK Amazon Horror Chart and #2 on the Horror/Thriller chart.

My 4th Novel is called “Asylum” and is an anthology of short horror stories. It is also an Amazon UK & US Horror/Anthology Chart #1

I am currently in the proofing stages of my 5th novel which is a Horror/Thriller called “Abra-Cadaver”.

Twitter: @MattDrabble01

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/matt.drabble.3