by Barbie Wilde

Voices of the Damned is a collection of short stories by Barbie Wilde that can be graphic, very sexual and sometimes violent in ways that some readers may find disturbing.

The first story, Sister Cilice, is about a woman who was coerced into becoming a nun by parents who repeatedly told her she was sinful. She indulges in self flagellation and is tormented by sexual fantasies about her priest, eventually equating pleasure with pain. She finds an ancient book that guides her to a way to indulge her perverse needs.

The story is dark and disturbing, graphically detailing sado-masochistic acts. The author has invented a new word, scrupulosity, which fits oddly well in context.

The stories that follow have similarly disturbing themes. Zombie gang rape, a creepy kid who can heal or kill with a touch, a soul-sucking succubus, a demon who attacks through sleep paralysis and more. If you have any triggers, there is sure to be at least one of the stories that will confront you with it. There are no holds barred in either horrific torture or graphic sexuality in all its most perverse forms.

The writing itself is good and depicts some of the most disturbing imagery I've ever read far too effectively. Extreme Horror readers will find a real treasure in this one. The book is extremely well presented, with brilliant artwork in full color and a lot of thought put into layout and graphic design.

Though the subject matter may be a little too over the top for my personal taste, I have to appreciate the artistry that has been put into both the visual and verbal presentation of the work. This could well become a collector's item among those who are drawn to the unusual and offbeat in the Horror realm.

It feels weird to give a high star rating to something I actually found difficult to read, but it was only my own squeamishness that caused that difficulty and the quality of the all too effective prose is deserving of the 4.5 stars I've given it.

by Cornelia Grey

This is a very atmospheric story about a genuine magician who gets through life pulling cons and doing what people assume is stage magic, but is helped along by the real thing. One day he gets in trouble with his dodgy doings and is being chased by an angry mob, and in his attempts to get away, joins the Circus of the Damned.

There is an unnecessary amount of gratuitous swearing, but also a lot of action and I was pulled into the story quickly. It took me until chapter three to decide that I really didn't like the main character, Gilbert. He's arrogant and doesn't think, which is not a good recipe for a magician. You would expect him to at least be savvy enough to know what it means when he's offered a place in the circus and warned that it's forever. The word 'damned' might have tipped him off. But he proceeds to try to leave with no thought of the warnings he was given.

The circus is pretty weird and Gilbert, being bi-sexual, takes an interest in the MC who he finds attractive. There is a selection of interesting characters, though none I could identify with personally. The use of pronouns isn't always correct and it can get confusing to tell who is who, but it is imaginative and Gilbert sort of reminds me of the Artful Dodger with his street life background. There are some very funny moments, though the dialogue was flat at times.

About halfway through it begins to read like a m/m Romance novel, which would be okay, but there is some gratuitous sex in graphic detail that I felt was completely unnecessary. It crosses the line into porn and I find that inappropriate in books that are not sold as Erotica. It's suddenly inappropriate for young readers when there could have been a large audience for the book in the 12-18 range. The main characters were also inconsistent in their strength and weaknesses.

Apart from the fact that Gilbert is an idiot (to be fair, he progresses) and the intrusive porn, it's a good story with an interesting premise,  is decently written, has some very imaginative performance scenes and has some poignant elements of love and sacrifice. The strong beginning was not really followed up by the last few chapters being as strong and the author doesn't seem to realize that smoke in a fire makes people choke and die, but overall it was an enjoyable story.

by Anne & Christopher Rice

Curiosity got the better of me on this collaboration. Once upon a time I loved reading Anne Rice's early vampire books and I've enjoyed one book by Christopher Rice (Vines) despite being written in present tense (the ultimate sin).

So, I started reading and my first impression was that it had the tone of those early vampire books and that perhaps the collaboration with her son was what Anne needed to get back on track. I started having some doubts when it became overtly sexual and the emphasis on gay sex started to impede the story flow. I don't object to gay sex, but I generally don't want to read about a lot of sex in general. It also dragged in a few places.

It's the story of Bektaten (totally fictional) who developed a formula to attain eternal life. The formula comes to Ramses and then the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, making them both immortal. Each of them shared their immortality with a few favorites and conflicts ensue.

This isn't, as I had assumed, a new vampire novel. No blood drinking has taken place. The immortality elixer is a new thing, not explored in any previous books I've read by either author, though there are some Ramses books by Anne Rice that I haven't read so this might be a series I just wasn't aware of. The Egyptian theme seems to be a favorite of hers.

The important thing is that I was drawn into the story and began to get to know the characters and all their foibles. My sympathies were naturally with Cleopatra, as she's a favorite historical figure, though not the nicest person in this story. I had some problem with keeping secondary characters in context as they weren't as well-defined as they needed to be, but it all fell into place near the end when the significance of their roles comes to fruition.

I found it interesting how the story explored concepts of reincarnation and afterlife, encompassing a few different belief systems within the plot and the beliefs of the main characters. The end seemed to drag out a long time, but the loose ends were all tidied up while still leaving room for some of the characters to appear in a new story.

by Austin Crawley

This one didn't waste any time getting to the creepy happenings! First scene and I'm already afraid to reach for my cat under the bed.

It also gets points for diversity for a Mexican protagonist. His wife has just died in a sporting accident and at the suggestion of his business partner, he goes away for a while so that his grief won't affect his work. He sees a tabloid story about a post box in an English village where residents send letters to their dead relatives and although he doesn't believe in ghosts or magic post boxes, the village is the sort of place his wife would have liked so he goes there and encounters the sort of strange village residents that make for good Horror movies. At first they just seem quirky, but then some weird stuff starts to happen in relation to the post box.

I liked the main character in this one. He has respect for women, despite the influence of a misogynist uncle, and he's generally a nice guy. The real strength of the book though is the supernatural happenings and the way the reader is smoothly drawn into an ordinary situation turning very strange. There are some genuine chills to be found here!

I've docked half a star because there were three typos. Yes it's only three, but that's three too many. His previous book was completely typo free. A post on his blog says they've been corrected now but it still went out with them.

The post also says the main character's background comes from his own first hand experience, which I found interesting because a couple of people reading this with me didn't think the cultural references were genuine. Apparently they were for a particular time and place.

Overall it was a really good read and left me thinking a lot. Things were explained, but not over explained so that it left me with a lot of contemplation. I would read it again, and might do so on Halloween because those scary bits really had me going!

I've read one other book and a short story by this author and already had him on my authors to watch list. I'll be interested to see what he comes up with next.

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

Not much to say about this besides this was not a book for me. It dragged. Endlessly. I stopped and started this thing about a dozen times and finally finished it because I got tired of seeing it on my NetGalley dashboard. It's a horror novel set during World War I that had way too much dialogue. I mean to the point that I went, please shut up. All of you. Also I feel like I have seen this book played out via movies before. I think at one point I started Googling things and then realized it didn't matter cause I just didn't like this book. It also appears to have been updated and re-released every year according to Goodreads which to me was another bad sign that I wish I had known about before clicking on the damn request button. Mental note, in 2020 I am going to research books before getting click happy on NetGalley.

"The Damned" is the first book in "The Darkest Hand" trilogy. Taking place in 1914 in the city of Arras, a priest is murdered. The Catholic Inquisition (I guess they are still a thing at this point, no, I am not looking that up to see if that's true or just literary license) sends one of their inquisitors, Poldek Tacit (seriously that name was hilariously awful) to investigate. While this is going on with Poldek (seriously, that name sucks) trying to investigate, British and German forces are fighting across No Man's Land. 

I don't even know what to say here. Poldek is found by the Church after he is found holding on to his mother who was murdered and raped. So yeah, we are still using the rape and death of a woman to "mold" men. Cause if women were not there to develop men what good are we? Can we stop doing this in 2020? I would love it. Thank you. 

There's also another character named Sandrine who is trying to get a soldier (British) Henry to leave the area. Yeah it sounds like I just got booted into another book there didn't it? This is the whole freaking book. A lot of stuff happening that doesn't seem connected that drags on forever. 

The writing was so so and the flow was awful. It takes too long to get to the whole who are the damned thing and of course I guessed at it because I have read horror books before. I don't mind if books revel in cliches, but at least make it worth my time. 

The setting of the book as I said above is during World War I. There was so much information being thrown at me I just wanted to scream at some point. I am not one of those people who love to read endless books or watch movies about World War I or World War II. Also every time I read "No Man's Land" I kept thinking of the Wonder Woman scene depicting that place and then started to wish I was just watching that movie all over again (though the third act is a mess). 

I have zero intention of reading books number 2 or 3.