Not a short story collection for the faint hearted.

Overall this was a bit inconsistent but pretty enjoyable collection with a couple of stand out stories.

 

'Foreigner" - D.F. Noble

 

Creepy, gory and highly disturbing, one man is taken over by something otherworldly that wears him like a skin using him to rape and murder his family and neighbours.

Very engaging story with a truly unique feel to it.

 

'Lips' - Jesse Wheeler

 

A man is cursed by a gypsy when he takes something precious from her. The curse gives him lady parts where his lips should be and an insatiable need for man juice.

 

Be warned, there's a lot of sex and violence in this but I thought there was some really good writing in the collection. For those that aren't bothered by gore and sex you could do worse than give this a shot.

 

 

So, how do you top a pair of kinky lesbians in a long distance-relationship, one of whom has a fetish for snakes, and one of whom likes to watch? Well, if the story is Loch Ness Lay by Kevin Strange, then you give Margo something truly monstrous with which to feed her fetish.

Circus freak show girl turned cryptozoologist, Margo just landed the gig of a lifetime as an expert for the reality show "Finding Nessie." Having celebrated virtually with her girlfriend, she heads to Scotland and seduces her way aboard the crew's boat. You can probably guess where it goes from there, and you're largely right (whether you like it or not), but it's Margo's means and motivations that put a truly horrifying spin on the story.

This is a story laced by, infused with, and defined by violence. It's as incredible as it is impossible, with Margo's past compelling her to sacrifice all and everyone for the monstrous equivalent of revenge sex. Yes, boys and girls, the Loch Ness Monster is real . . . and it's hungry for more than one flavor of human flesh. As for the patented Strange twist at the end, this has to be one of my favorites, with twist piled upon twist upon twist as he tears through the final couple of pages.

Assuming I believed in Hell, I'm completely and utterly convinced that I would be headed there on a suicidal express train for having read, much less enjoyed, Holey Matrimony. This is the kind of story that WTF Friday was invented for. It's weird, perverse, blasphemous, and monstrous in equal measure, with an awkward clash of the arousing and the amusing.

The story starts out simply enough, with a henpecked husband careening off the Met Street bridge and into the waters below. Just when he figures he's about to take his final breath, he's not only saved, but saved by guy who puts the 'save' in 'savior' - yes, Jesus Christ himself! Together, they look down upon the paramedics trying to save John's life . . . while Jesus begins playing the weird seducer. As if that weren't awkward enough, it turns out John isn't just a closeted gay man, and not even just a closeted gay man with green scales below the neckline, but a closeted gay man with green scales below the neckline and three (count 'em, three!) penises.

Yeah, it gets even weirder from there, with some of the most blasphemous use of hands and holes you can imagine, but things are not what they seem (the tentacles are a  dead giveaway). I really have to hand it to Kevin Strange, he pulls no punches with his imagination. Lest you think this is just a blatant, empty attempt to offend and horrify, however, there is a story behind it all, and a few final twists that almost - I say almost - bring a semblance of normality to the story. At least, that is, until the final line.

 

There are a few freebies mixed in with the buys. Both Seabiscuit and The Bank Holiday Murders were fantastic price drops this week, way too good to pass up. :)

Guts was a family man until a virus started infecting people, turning them into monsters. "The Infestation" progressed quickly and the government, seeing no way to contain it, decided to set off nuclear missiles that caused extreme radiation. The radiation filters the sun in such a way that its rays are hazardous to the viral-vampires and the humans. The vampires flash-burn and humans, over time, start to mutate.

Guts wakes up in a motel with no memory and some chick knocking at the door asking for help. He knows better than to answer, but he hasn't been with a woman in a while, he's feeling frisky. From that moment on we, the reader, are thrown into some sick, titty-twisting, nipple/neck-biting shit. There are queens who want to suffocate you with their tentacles while injecting eggs into your belly and ejaculating Pogs (creatures who wear human faces as masks to blend in) shoot jello-jism that ignites once lit.

There's some new, intelligent vampires, making big plans, but Guts is just as big and just as bad and he's on a mission to eliminate every one of them in this apocalyptic tale featuring real bloodsuckers who only want you for their next meal.

This read was not "as" bizarro as some of Kevin's other reads which was kinda unexpected, but in a good, "go on with yo bad self," kinda way. There was a lull in the story after the halfway point when Guts (who I kept picturing as Duke Nuke 'Em) was trying to get his mind right, and a few repetitive fight scenes that took away from the impact and pacing of the read.

With that being said, this was a fun, freak-filled read that I'd easily recommend to seasoned bizarro readers and those interested in dipping their toes into new, infectious waters.