The View from the Cheap Seats

I was lucky enough to get a review copy of The View from the Cheap Seats, and after reading it, Ive come to one inescapable conclusion: Neil Gaiman is an evil genius with supernatural powers. It's the only explanation. How else could he write a book that's a collection of speeches, introductions, and essays that's not only a great read, but makes me want to run out and buy copies of all of the books he writes about.

The book includes a selection of nonfiction that Gaiman has written throughout his career. The earliest seems to be a review of a book called [Gumshoe] the he wrote for Punch back in 1989, and the most ones dating to 2015. He writes on a lot of topics. There are plenty of essays on books and comics as would be expected from a professional in those fields. There are also several on music including a few, to no surprise on [[Amanda Palmer]]. There are even some deeply moving essays, including tributes to deceased writers and friends and an article on the plight of Syrian refugees.

If you're a fan of science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books, or just like good essays, then this is book is a must have.

After the Funeral

Considering how many books I read, it's surprising that I'd never read an Agatha Christie novel until I read After the Funeral, and the only reason I read that is because the publisher sent me a review copy. Now, you might wonder why a publisher would send out review copies of a book that was originally published more than 50 years ago. Apparently, the Christie estate has authorized Sophie Hannah to write a new Poirot novel called The Monogram Murders, and the publisher had her choose her favorite Poirot novel and write an introduction for a new edition, She chose After the Funeral for its "nontransferable motive."

This book certainly had one of the most peculiar motives I've read. In fact this is one of the few mysteries I've read where I didn't have any idea who the killer was until the end of the book. Despite being a Poirot mystery, Poirot isn't in the book very much.  The book spends most of it time with the family of the victim(s).  They are a strange lot.

I really enjoyed the book and will have to add Agatha Christie to the ever growing list of authors whose books I really have to read.

Halfway House

I haven't read a lot of Weston Ochse's books, but I thought all the ones I've read are great, including Halfway House. An orphan who may be the son of the king of rock and roll is searching for his birthright. A local gang leader is fighting to save San Pedro, California from a violent invasion by MS-13. An elderly surf bum is reconnecting with his estranged daughter. There's also a dead bruja who is devouring the souls of anyone who dies in San Pedro so she can sustain the curse she cast on a group of Japanese soldiers who murdered her daughter.

I thought the characters were well done, except for the villains who were a bit two dimensional. The plot did, perhaps take a bit too long to get to the titular Halfway House, but the events leading up to that part were still interesting. This is a great book for any horror fan.

The 6th Extinction

Wow! I've been a fan of the Sigma Force series for a few years now, and I just loved The 6th Extinction. This is the 10th book in the series, and it's still going strong. As with all the previous books, there's a good mix of history and real-world science. Unlike in the previous books, the history isn't as central to the plot, though.

Very often in the previous books, Sigma Force would be perusing clues found in the historical record while being chased by bad guys. In this on, they're still being chased by bad guys, but the historical part only includes a few mentions of Darwin, Admiral Byrd, and a secret Nazi Antarctic submarine base.

There are gunfights, explosions, a threat (or three) to the safety of the world, and a trip through a truly alien world. It;s great fun, and it's scary to think how much of the science is real.

City of Stairs

City of Stairs is definitely not your typical otherworldly fantasy. For one thing, it eschews the typical pseudo-medieval setting in favor of something closer to the late 19th/early20th century. The world has trains, guns, gas lighting, cameras, and telegraphs. It is not a steampunk novel though (if you were wondering).

Besides having a fairly distinctive setting, this book also draws a good bit from the mystery and spy thriller genres. The main character is a spy who goes to the city of Bulikov to investigate the murder of a professor who she greatly admired. Along the way she finds rebellion, political intrigue, and gods.

The gods are what makes this book a fantasy. Long ago, the gods led the people of the continent to conquer the world.  Two generation before this story began, a man called the Kaj led a rebellion against the continentals and killed their gods. Of course as you can guess, it turns out that some of the gods survived and their followers are causing trouble.

This was a really great book. Besides being a fantasy/mystery/thriller, it also deals with issues of colonialism, religious fanatacism, and the nature of divinity. This was a really great book.

December Park

Ronald Malfi is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers. He is very good at writing entertaining stories with really great characters. Naturally when I got the chance to get a review copy of his next novel, I knew I'd have to take it. I'd be crazy not too, because Malfi is just that good.

Unlike most of his books that I've read, December Park is not a horror novel. This is definitely more of a crime novel or a mystery, and also a coming of age story. It's set in a small Maryland town in the 90s where teenagers have begun to disappear. The police have no leads, and the papers are blaming the disappearances on a serial killer they've dubbed the Piper, so a group of high school boys decide to amke like the Hardy Boys and try to solve the case themselves.

I just couldn't help but care about the boys. I also just couldn't figure out who the Piper was going to turn out to be, which is fairly rare for me in these types of books. Trust me, you'll want to read this book when it comes out.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite writers, so when I was given the opportunity to get a review copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane,I jumped at the chance. This book is awesome. In fact, I think it might be my new favorite Gaiman novel.

This is a story that manages to be both creepy and magical. It's about a young boy who discovers that one his parents' lodgers has committed suicide in the family car. This leads to a strange series of events involving the decidedly peculiar Hempstock family, a strange otherworldly being that tries to give people what they want, and some really nasty varmints.

I don't want to go into any specific details, because I want to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. This book was very disturbing, especially some of the scenes between the young protagonist and his father. The villain was scary. The Hempstocks were wonderful.

This is a book that you shouldn't miss.

Shatnerquest

It's been nearly a year since I reviewed Jeff Burk's Shatnerquake, and since he has a sequel out, it's time to review it. Shatnerquest isn't really a sequel in the sense that it continues the story of the previous book, and William Shatner isn't the main character in this as he was in Shatnerquake. This is a very odd sort of sequel that could almost not be a sequel if it wasn't for some passing references to the previous book in one of the scenes that Shatner appears in.

This book starts out at a Magic: The Gathering tournament at a media convention in Pennsylvania. Just as one of our heroes is about to lay some card-based smack down on a really obnoxious Klingon, the world ends. Giant flaming boulders rain down from the sky, and our three heroes and their cat are seemingly the only survivors. The heroes head home, only to discover that their hometown is being destroyed by Godzilla, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, and various other giant monsters. With nothing better to do, they head across country to save William Shatner.

Along the way, the have some weird adventures. Their obnoxious Klingon enemy returns as the head of a Klingon white supremacist biker gang. They meet a cult of cannibalistic James Kirk worshipers. There are zombie Borg, a gas station-attendant Dalek, and a steampunk town. Also, as anyone who has seen the book's cover can guess, Shatner has grown to gigantic size and become Shatzilla.

This was a really fun and funny bizarro romp. I liked it even more than the first one. I just hope that Jeff Burk realizes that no one takes duologies seriously, so he must now write a third Shatner book to make it a trilogy.

Ex-Patiots

As a general rule, I've had just about enough of zombie fiction. There have been so many zombie novels published since the beginning of the current zombie craze that the overall quality has gone downhill. Luckily, Ex-Patriots, by Peter Clines, is an exception. This was actually a really entertaining book.

It's a sequel to his previous zombie novel, Ex-Heroes.The gist of that story is that shortly before the zombie apocalypse began, super heroes started to show up. Unfortunately, they weren't enough to stop the zombie hordes, so after the world ended, the heroes protected the surviving members of humanity in the remains of a Hollywood film studio. They are menaced by a street gang that seems to be able to control the zombies, or exes as they're referred to in the book.

Ex-Patriots takes place several months after the previous novel. The heroes are discovered by a nearby military base that was working on a secret super soldier project. Unfortunately, the zombie controlling villain from the previous novel turns out to still be around, along with a new foe.

This book has the required gore of any successful zombie novel.It also has a good bit of humor, and some generally likable (and hateable characters). This book--and the first one--are well worth the time of any zombie or superhero fan. Also, apparently there will be a third book, which I eagerly await.

NOS4A2

OK, once again I have been slacking on the reviews here. I have read several bizarro novels that I could have been reviewing--and getting points for--but I just haven't gotten around to it. I have also received review copies of books, which I really should be reviewing, and I'm going to try to review them, at the very least.

I got a review copy of Joe Hill's NOS4A2.This was a really cool novel. It's about a girl (and later woman) who discovers that she has the ability to ride through a bridge that no longer exists to find things that have been lost, but who loses a bit of herself as the price for making this journey. It's also the story of a man who is over a century old, who takes children to a magical place called Christmas Land, where they'll stay young  and happy forever, but at the cost of their humanity. Naturally, these two eventually meet, and become enemies.

I don't want to spoil the story for you, so I won't go into any more detail, but I will say that this is a great book.  Anybody who likes horror should get this.

Geek and Sundry

Did I ever tell you that I am a lazy lazy, lazy man? I mean, I have at least three book reviews that I should be writing. Two of them would earn me Bizarro Brigade points, and the other is for a book I got a review copy of from William Morrow. This is not a review of one of them. This is about a YouTube channel, and I'm writing it to get an entry in a contest to win something or other. I forget what, exactly.

I am talking about Geek & Sundry, who produce lots of geeky web content, most of which, I don't watch. I do however watch TableTop with Wil Wheaton, because I love tabletop games.  Also, I think his beard has evil, hypnotic powers. It's a great series where you get to see lots of geek celebrities playing games, and I've learned about a lot of games I want to try out.  Here's an embedded video of the episode about one of my favorite games:

Since this is a review blog, of sorts, I'll give Tabletop (and the rest of Geek & Sundry) five yo-yos.

Stardust: The Gift Edition

I first read Stardust years ago in a cheap, paperback edition, and it is a great story. A few months ago, I was offered the opportunity to get a review copy of Stardust: The Gift Edition, which is a brand new hardcover edition of Neil Gaiman's classic tale. Naturally, I jumped on the opportunity as you can probably tell since I'm reviewing it.

For those who aren't familiar with the story, Stardust is a fairy tale for adults. The story starts off with the tale of Dunstan Thorn and how he fell in love with an imprisoned fairy princess and had a child named Tristran with her. Many years later, this child, now a young man, heads off into Fairy to find a fallen star after making a foolish promise to a young woman. While there, he has a bunch of adventures that would take far too long to explain in detail. It's a cool story that's well worth reading.

You may wonder what it is about the Gift Edition that's so special. Well, like I already said, it a hardcover. In fact, it's a very nice looking hardcover. The cover looks a lot like the sort of covers they had back before the invention of dust jackets. It's just the image of a falling star with the title and the author's name that has been (I assume) stamped on with some sort of goldish-looking foil. It's very classy, and if you want a nice looking copy to sit on your shelf, this is the one for you.

Besides that, it has some cool extras. There's a new introduction by Gaiman. There's an excerpt of an unfinished novel that Stardust was originally going to be a sort of prequel to. There are also some new illustrations by Charles Vess. All of this makes it a great book to by if you love Stardust, don't have the original heavily-illustrated DC comics version, and want an illustrated copy (or want to read the extras).

Zombies and Shit

After reading Carlton Mellick III's Zombies and Shit, I think it's safe to say that I have a new favorite zombie novel. The book describes itself as "Battle Royale meets Return of the Living Dead," and unlike most comparisons on the back covers of books, this one is accurate.

A group of twenty people wake up to find that they've been dumped in the middle of a zombie-infested city and are now the unwilling contestants on a reality show called Zombie Survival. Each contestant is given a weapon and told that the only way out is to make it to a helicopter on the other side of the city. Unfortunately, there's only one seat on the helicopter, so only one person gets to return to civilization.

There are quite a lot of interesting characters. As with much of bizarro, there is a strong punk influence, and several of the characters are punks including the members of a punk street gang and a squad of "merc punks," who are professional zombie killers. Then there's a washed-up writer and his back-stabbing wife, an inventor, an underage prostitute, the former host of the  show, a Nazi, a genetically engineered killing machine, and a cybernetic Mr. T.

That's right, Mr. T is a character in this book, and I pity the fool who doesn't read it.

Shadow Show

I always find that I have a little trouble when writing reviews of anthologies. If I write about each story, the review ends up being way too long. If I only talk about the stories that stood out the most to me, then I feel like I've slighted the writers I don't mention. If I don't go into detail on any of the stories, then I feel like I'm not doing my job, even if it is a job that I'm not getting paid for. In the case of Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury, I think I'm going to fall somewhere between option 2 and option 3.

I suppose I should start off by saying that this is a really great collection. Usually when I read an anthology, there's at least one story where I wonder what the editors where thinking when they included it. Not this time, though. I enjoyed all the stories in this anthology.

Ray Bradbury was a genius. He was one of the best writers of the 20th century. I think that this book isn't great just because it's a collection of great stories inspired by Bradbury. It's also great because it shows how much Bradbury influenced the great writers who came after him, (and Harlan Ellison® who was a contemporary). It's also great to see that while Bradbury is most often thought of a science fiction writer, this book also includes stories by fantasy, horror, and more mainstream writers.


This book is a fitting to one of our best writers. Anyone who is a fan of Ray Bradbury should give it a try. Anyone who isn't a fan of Ray Bradbury, should pick up some of his books and become a fan.

DarkWalker

I loved John Urbancik's DarkWalker.This was a really cool, fun book that I had a hard time putting down. It's really a dark (or maybe urban) fantasy about a man who has the ability to see the creatures of the night--vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc.--and has some sort of supernatural protection from them, but he's only allowed to watch and can't interfere.  This causes some trouble when he falls in love and has to rescue his lover from an imp, which turns his protection into a sort of psychic signal advertising him as an all you can eat buffet for monsters.

There's all kinds of other stuff. There are lots of monsters of all sorts. There's a sexy vampire, who kidnaps the hero and tries to help him because she falls in love with him. There's a tough as nails vampire hunter who helps the hero because it gives him a chance to kill monsters. There's even a demon with a sinister agenda.

I wouldn't call it the most original thing ever, since books about people who are aware of a secret world of monsters that coexists with our own are a dime a dozen these days. Still, if you're a big fan of horror or fantasy, you should check this book out.

Enchanted

I love fantasy. That's why I was happy to pick up a copy of Alethea Kontis's Enchanted when she was doing a signing at my local bookstore last month. Since it's a fairly recent release, I figure I should try and write a review of it now that I read it.

This was a good book. It's one of the fairy tale-style fantasies, with the conceit that all (or almost all) of the great fairy tale adventures center around the members of the Woodcutter family. The book centers on the youngest Woodcutter, Sunday, who finds a talking frog in the woods and falls in love.

After that, you start getting fairy godmothers showing up, and there are balls and villains and heroes. At its heart, it's a story of family and love. I had a hard time putting this book down, and I hope there's going to be a sequel, because I really want to know what happened to the mysteriously vanished Jack Woodcutter. Yes, he's the Jack from all the fairy tales.

Bloodline

The first time I read one of James Rollins' Sigma Force stories was way back in 2007 when I read the Thriller anthology. Despite the fact that I didn't actually mention that story in the review, I really enjoyed it. A few years later, I received unrequested review copies of The Doomsday Key and The Devil Colony, and despite reading them, I never got around to writing reviews for them. They did inspire me to buy the rest of the series, though. Last week, I received a review copy of the latest Sigma Force novel, Bloodline: A Sigma Force Novel, and this time I'm going to review it.

For anyone who may not be familiar with the series, Sigma Force is a secret government organization that's part of  DARPA. It's a team of former soldiers, mostly ex-special forces, who also hold advanced scientific degrees. They battle against scientific threats to the world, mostly in the form of a criminal organization called the Guild. Most of the stories are tied to the historical record and cutting edge science. It's better than I make it sound.

In this story, the Guild has kidnapped the president's daughter, and agent Gray Pierce and former assassin Seichan, along with non-team members Tucker Wayne and his dog Kane, are sent to rescue her. The whole series of events is part of a centuries long plot by the Guild--which includes members of the president's family--to unlock the secrets of immortality.

This is a great adventure story. You should get it and the rest of the series.

All You Can Eat

I was lucky enough to be added to Deadite Press's reviewers list, and received a review copy of Shane McKenzie's All You Can Eat from them. It was a cool book.

You can look at it as a sort of zombie novel. They aren't the shambling, undead sort of zombies. These are waddling, grotesquely obese living zombies.  This is caused by a Chinese restaurant whose owner added a secret ingredient to the buffet to make people like his food. The problem is, he added too much, and now anyone who eats his food becomes obsessed with it to the exclusion of all else. If they can't get at his buffet, his patrons will eat anything else they can get their hands on, including other people.

This was a great, fun, gory story that horror fans will enjoy. The only thing that I expect to see complaints about--and I always see somebody complaining about this stuff on Amazon--is the length. As with much of what Deadite publishes, this is a novella. At least that's what I assume it would be classified at as the actual story only runs for about 110 pages.  As far as I'm concerned, anyone who would complain about that is a moron.

The Killing Moon

I love fantasy novels, but these days I don't really read that many of them any more. This is because most epic fantasy has been taken over by these large ever expanding series where you have to read a dozen books (and wait a decade or so if it's an ongoing series) before you finally get he whole story.

You don't have to worry about that with The Killing Moon. This is essentially a stand-alone epic fantasy. Yeah, it's part of the series, but this doesn't have one of those annoying cliff-hanger ending where you need to pick up book two to find out what happens next.

The story is interesting. It's set in a city with a priesthood that can siphon power from dreams to use in magic. In the process they often kill people, but that's usually reserved for the dying or those deemed corrupt.

The problem is that there is corruption in the leader of the priesthood and in the city's Prince. This leads to a nasty monster called a Reaper killing people.

I really liked this book. Even though I've been trying to avoid getting into any new series, I expect I'll pick up the sequel at some point.

Bizaro Fiction Month Bonus: All Monster Action!

Originally, there were only going to be thirty reviews for Bizarro Fiction Month, well plus the extra mini reviews from day one. Then about midway through the month, I got emailed a review copy of a new book. When I read it, I loved it so much, I knew I'd have to make a bonus post so I could include it. The book in question is Cody Goodfellow's All-Monster Action!

Seriously, this book was freaking awesome. the bulk of the book is about kaiju, which--for those unfamiliar with the term--is the name for those giant monsters that destroy Tokyo in Japanese monster movies. This longer story was preceded by four short stories, and I might as well talk about them first.

First up was a little World War II story called "Doorway to the Sky." It's about a group of soldiers who are stationed on an Island in the Pacific. Also on the Island is a group of natives who are members of a cargo cult. The natives make their own radio that somehow summons a very strange visitor. This story was great.

The second story was "Venus of Santa Cruz." This is basically about a male cop who starts to have sex with a giant, female-shaped fungus. It's a very strange story, and was also pretty good.

The third story is "Wage of the Dinosaurs." This story is about an unhappy young man who works in a dispensary that helps unpleasant, rich, old  women relive their memories. One day, he gets fed up and hocks a loogie into the mix for an extremely unpleasant woman. This makes things go chaotic. This was a great story.

The final short was "The Care & Feeding of Sea Monkies." This was about a man who decided he wanted to get it on with a species of gigantic krill. This was a good story too.

The main story, "All Monster Action!," is, as I said,  about kaiju. This story is divided into three parts, and It's set in a world much like our own, only where scientists have figured out how to create kaiju. One of these scientists is the evil Dr. Otaku, who, in part one,  creates a monster for North Korea and sends it to attack the USA. America has its own kaiju defender, Steve, who tries to fight it off. In part two, Steve's replacement, IKE, leads an assault on Dr. Otaku's island lair. In the final part, the Earth's cities have become rampaging kaiju intent on destroying the planet, and flying saucers are attacking.

This story was just awesome. What a great story.