Here are some really great titles that I read this past month and my quick reviews on them.

Enjoy.

PASSENGER by Ronald Malfi

Ronald Malfi has done it again! PASSENGER was a fantastic read and so good that I read it all in one sitting.
The description of the book says more than I ever can about the set up but what it does not tell you is how you will feel after finishing this peice; contemplative, thought provoked. An errie mystery in the horror vein. I really cared for the main character and as you read he develops and we understand more about his memories. So in a sense, we see the main characters development progress before our eyes. It was a brilliant trick.
Malfi really knows how to write and he writes in vivid detail. The city streets, the mood, the atmospheare, it was all so well rendered.
Only qualm is its allways too short for me.
In the end though, Passenger was very entertaining and I highly recommend it.
Snatch it up at darkfuse.com

ALL-MONSTER ACTION! by Cody Goodfellow

RAAAAAWWWRRRR!!!
All monster action was serious fun to read. If you love movie monsters and have a hankering for destruction on an epic scale then trust me, this book is for you.
Cody paints my boyish dreams of big ass monsters and destruction. His imagination godzilla in scope and it is evident with each passing story in ALL- MONSTER ACTION. He throws everything at you and more; from a flying translucent man eating manta ray god to a 400 pound albino! My favorite story in the collection is Venus of Santa Cruz.
Oh yes… monster sex…
Hey! And I almost forgot, the book is illustrated and they are sweet looking.
Read this for your monster mash consumption and enjoyment. It was like watching a bad B movie monster flick only with a better plot and better writing.
Get it at swallowdownpress.com or amazon.com.
Its priced to move at $12.00!

HERO by J. F. Gonzalez & Wrath James White

Hero by J. F. Gonzalez and Wrath James White is a cold and razor sharp piece of fiction. It is roughly about a Civil Rights leader named Adelle Smith and her struggle with an angel of death type hospice nurse named Natsinet, who hates the woman she cares for and sees Adelle as the cause of all her pain and racist misery.
The novella runs 164 pages and deals with racial tensions, self hating, torture themes, redemption and heroisim. The story smashes stereotypes, especially in the climatic end scene.
Also the epilogue was particularly touching.
Gonzales and WJW write a seamless work and it is hard to tell where one ended and the other began. That is always a sign of a great writing team, just like Brian Keene and Gonzalez in the Clicker series, when I don’t notice the breaks in the story and things flow smoothly from chapter to chapter.
All in all, Hero is a classic concept story with a hardcore horror twist. If you are into redeeming /revenge stories and like a little hope thrown into the mix, then Hero would be right up your alley.
It is available from Deadite Press for the meager price of $11 bucks for the Trade Paperback or $5 for the digital edition.

DARK HOLLOW by Brian Keene

 Ahh, spring. Love in is the air, birds are singing and the flowers bloom…
so prepare to get banged!
Dark Hollow (Formally The Rutting Season) by Brian Keene is the prequel in his Levi Stoltzfus book series (Which includes the novels Ghost Walk and A Gathering of Crows).
The story is set in the backwoods of Pennsylvania and follows sexually frustrated mystery writer Adam Senft and his dog through a meeting with a not so fabled goat man named Hylinus. The satyr is the embodiment of sexually driven, depravity laced evil and as Adam and the rest of the town soon find out, is growing dangerously out of control.
Keene writes about Le Horn’s Hollow (which is the hollows real name), in such a way that it is truly horrible. He paints it as a shadowy, sinister patch of forest that harbors the dyadic satyr, Hylinus and when I was reading it, I could feel his presence behind my back.
Some critics have stated that Dark Hollow is nothing more than a manifesto of a sexually starved writer, but I disagree. I believe the true horror of Dark Hollow is the surmounting feeling of terror that Adam feels as he watches all those around him succumb to Hylinus’s madness and high sex appetite, and how Adam is helpless to control the situation.
Dark Hollow is also an interesting peak into the life of a real writer and I couldn’t help but think that maybe Brian’s character of Adam was mirrored after his own self.
Probably true. If I am right, I would love to know about it.
As for the pacing of the story, the novel starts out with a rocket ship to horror land but after the first four chapters, you better settle in for a long buildup (but Keene is a fantastic writer so it was easy to keep reading). But I urge you to stay with it because the climax is a shocker and well worth the investment of your time.
I enjoyed reading Dark Hollow and if you’re like me then you’re already a Keene fan and would appreciate the story.
It is available from Deadite Press (www.deaditepress.com) in trade paperback and will cost you $13.00 bucks.

ALL YOU CAN EAT by Shane McKenzie

When I got this in my review mail I said to myself ‘who the hell is Shane McKenzie’? Well now I know and take it from me, the guy knows how to write.
In All You Can Eat, his Novella  debut published by Deadite Press, he delivers a buffet of sick and disgusting gluttony. The story is fast and hard hitting, just like I like them, but the concept of the story is what kept me hungering for more.
Imagine for a moment that you are a worker at a Chinese restaurant that has food so good (A secret recipe) that its patrons gorge themselves and grow larger and larger and larger….
Now the supply has run out and you’re on the menu.
That’s what All You Can Eat is about in a nutshell but it really is a fun read and Jeff Burk at Deadite Press has never steered me wrong in the past.
So if your gullet hankers for a quick, satisfying read, give Shane’s novella a try. You will be full before you know it.
P.S. I don’t apologize for the puns. You can buy it by going to deaditepress.com.

And there you have it.

I have my hands full in July but I’m sure I will be able to squeeze a post or two in when the deadline demon isn’t looking. Till then have a happy 4th of July!