“After there is great trouble among mankind, a greater one is prepared. The great mover of the universe will renew time, rain, blood, thirst, famine, steel weapons and disease. In the heavens, a fire seen.” – Michel de Nostredame

Quantum mechanics broke the mold of the previous framework, classical mechanics, by establishing that the predictions of science are necessarily probabilistic. – Brian Greene

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power. – George Bernard Shaw

It starts out simply enough. But then, doesn’t everything? Almost as a joke: “A woman walks in for a psychic reading . . .” The only thing is, the woman gets more than she asked for. And when that woman is crazy, well, interesting things can happen.

But that is another part of the story, isn’t it? For Helen Wilson, a 62-year-old psychic who give half-hour readings for $25 is much more than she seems, though even she doesn’t realize it. But others soon will.

In another part of town, really bad people are doing what they usually do – really bad things. Luigi Nicolo is one of those people, though he is admittedly more of a yippy little Rat Terrier than a rabid attack dog. But Luigi was part of the pack, a small time thug on the leash of a very big, very vicious and coldly brutal mafia family. A family led by one Anthony Christopher Nicolo – AC for short. And what is about to happen with AC and his “family” could bring about the end of the world. For Luigi and Helen are about to cross paths. And when they do, forces which have been held in abeyance for thousands of years will rise up – and who and what controls those forces may control the world.

“Earthshaking fire from the center of the Earth
Will cause tremors around the New City.
Two great rocks will war for a long time,
Then Arethusa will redden a new river.” – Michel de Nostredame – Latinized to Nostradamus

The thing I most admired about Brian Evans “Horrorscope” is how quirky it is. It should have been trite, with its ubiquitous Evil Mafia Family, Unasumming Psychic, Good But Burned Out Cop tropes. Instead, Evans twists the expected into something entirely new, bringing a fresh aspect to his literary world. The penultimate twist he throws in is one I haven’t noted before in the Horror/Fantasy genre, as he reaches back in time to bring forward an ordinary object, turning it into an item of wonder and power beyond belief. For the table that Helen Wilson uses is not just any table – it is a piece beyond compare – the writing table of Michel de Nostredame. Beautifully carved in the signs of the Zodiac, this table has travelled the world, appearing and then disappearing, apparently at its own whim. And now, it sits in the humble home of a 62-year-old woman who will try to point you to the right path – if you are willing to follow. But AC Nicolo is certainly not looking for the path of good. And where the path he travels leads is what makes this one of the better horror genre books I have read this year.

There are drawbacks. Mr. Evans could use a good editorial staff. The language, especially in the descriptions of the mafia and the happenings surrounding them, needs to be tightened up. There are repetitive phrases and over descriptive areas that could definitely stand to be trimmed. It slows the narrative and causes unnecessary distractions to an “edge-of-the-seat” feeling necessary in the genre. This is more an outcome of inexperience than of incapability, and a sharp red pencil could help a lot of that. However, I was able to overlook that once I truly got into the story and things began to move quickly into the true story line. I hope Mr. Evans will find someone to sharpen his work – it could raise the book from merely good to excellent.

Brian sent me one of his favorite excerpts from the book:

People ran for their lives as they saw what they could not possibly be seeing walk right by them. The Cancer was on a mission to find something, or someone, and nothing was going to get in its way. Looking from left to right, moving full-steam ahead, the Cancer stopped only when it walked past a restaurant that had a water tank filled with about a hundred crabs piled onto one another as they waited to be dinner for some patron. Looking at the crabs in the tank, the Cancer swiped its claw right through the window of the restaurant, slicing the tank clear in half as the crabs found freedom on the streets of Chinatown, all heading for the sewers. It wasn’t gonna be a beautiful sandy beach, but for the crabs, it sure did beat being next to a salad.

If that doesn’t tweak your fancy, nothing will!

Overall, I will recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the horror genre, but fantasy lovers should enjoy the book also.

This book was provided to me by the author in return for a realistic review. I would rate this 3.5 stars, but would happily raise that to 4-stars given a good edit. Read below for more information on Brian Evans his mother, Helen Marie Bousquet. The book, Horrorscope is currently in negotiations to be a major motion picture, and will also be a comic book series.

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I don’t know what is more interesting, the story of Horrorscope came about, or the story of Brian himself. Author, actor, singer, and composer, with a little bit of con-man thrown in. Evans grew up in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and soon became a big-band music fanatic, and a huge fan of crooners like Frank Sinatra. He moved to Los Angeles in 1986 to pursue a career in the entertainment business, landing roles in commercials, then television series such as Beverly Hills 90210 and Full House, as well as the New Line Cinema production of Book of Love.

As an author, he wrote an autobiography, Dreamer, in 1994, and was one of the writers and creators of the potential comic book series Horrorscope. As a singer, he has released several albums, mostly in Canada. In June of 1993 he was convicted of felony theft for impersonating radio personality Casey Kasem and charging nearly $3,000 to a Los Angeles travel agency in Mr. Kasem's name. Sentenced to six months probation, he violated that probation by leaving the state of California in 1993 to sing the national anthem at an Fenway Park, filming a video with William Shatner playing the umpire, a gambit that landed him in prison for a year.

Tragically, on October 5, 2012, Brian’s beloved mother, Helen Marie Bousquet died after what should have been a simple knee surgery. Evans stated that his mother, who suffered from sleep apnea, was not monitored by hospital staff, did not have her sleep apnea machine, and “was dosed out on morphine” at the time of her death. Her death has led to multiple lawsuits against the system which owned the hospital, the city of Hampton Beach Selectmen and other entities. Now, Evans is fighting for the rights of hospital patients and others in his bid to become a Hawaii State Senator.

Horrorscope II is in the writing process as we speak!