I became an instant fan of David Niall Wilson’s work when I had read This is My Blood a few months ago. Since reading and reviewing this new personal favorite book of mine, I’ve kept in touch with David here and there. During one of our chats he’d mentioned one of his latest books titled On the Third Day and its subject being deep-rooted in religious themed horror, much like This is My Blood. I was immediately intrigued and I set off to read it as soon as possible.

My original intention was to read it during the week of Easter as the novel revolves around Easter Sunday. Sadly however, this was not to be as my laptop went ill for a few weeks, delaying my reading it (or any of the other books in my E-library waiting to be read and reviewed.)

Remember those long hot summers that never seemed to end? Remember the people your parents said you had to like – even though they quite clearly did not – because they were your relatives? In Neverland, Douglas Clegg has captured these feelings and added a gruesomely scary twist that keeps you turning the pages.

The story starts off as it means to go on, focussing on the main character, Beauregard Monroe. He’s 10, and about to embark on his family’s annual vacation at his grandmother’s house on a swampy island in the Deep South that even the locals leave for the summer. The heat, the humidity, and the mosquitoes, make themselves felt even in a chilly English spring (where I’m reading), as I turn the pages the sultry, sleepy heat flows forth.

When the water levels rise, so do the hungry dead.

This is the premise for Simon Bestwick’s outing for Abaddon Books zombie apocalypse themed, “Tomes of the Dead” series entitled Tide of Souls. The Story Surrounds a polish ex prostitute that has been trained by her father in special forces hand to hand combat, a recently called back to duty British squad commander whose a born leader but who has a dark secret in his past, and a marine biologist that might just have all the answers as to why the dead and the water levels around the earth have risen and taken over, so long as they can keep him upright and off the bottle.

Let me say this, “Tide of Souls” is possibly the best book that Abaddon books has published to date.

k everyone, take your best “Wizard of Oz” impression out of the closet and chant along with me: “ Monsters, Spirits, Demons and ghouls, OH MY!”

As of this last weekend I read “Supernatural: Book of Monsters, Spirits, Demons and Ghouls” and thus wrapping up my three part supernatural quest. If you haven’t been keeping score, my first venture into the quest was tangling with a book that forgot that it was based on the Supernatural TV show and did its own thing. My second part of the quest proved to be an improvement that led me into the depths of John Winchester’s history, mind and research via his journal.

Years ago, I had read the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman and had really enjoyed it, so when the opportunity came up to review a book in her new series, I was pretty intrigued.

WINGS OF WRATH is the second book in the Magister trilogy. I hadn’t read the first book, so that is something to keep in mind when you’re reading my review. Often, series are either structured in a way that you can pick up a book at any point and get into the story pretty quickly, or you have to read the series from the beginning. For many reasons, I felt that I really needed to go back and read the first book…primarily to appreciate a particular character named Kamala.

Previously I mentioned that I generally don’t care for Chaos Space Marine novels (see my Dark Creed review). I think it’s because I have a difficult time seeing how I’ll be able to relate to the characters. How can I root for the bad guys? Dark Creed proved me wrong on that, and since Soul Hunter came in my monthly care package from BL, I was willing to give it a shot. This is the first Aaron Dembski-Bowden book for me as well, so I was anxious to get a taste of what he brings to the table. I wasn’t let down.

Let me say that the author does an excellent job in sucking you in to the whole vibe of, well…darkness. The Night Lords are like the Batman Chapter of Traitor Marines. Darkness and fear. That’s their shtick. They really have it down pat. From the very prologue I was hooked.

So- many of you would ask, what do you get when you take equal parts sleepy panoramic beautiful Irish seaside town, a World War II era biological weapon that turns it’s victims into flesh eating walking dead, and a writer that knows how to develop a plot, believable characters along with action sequences that make you believe that you are right in the thick of it all?

Well, I’ll tell you rather than keep you in suspense. You get Irish born author Derek Gunn’s wonderful first full length outing for the zombie/survival horror fiction publishers Permuted Press, entitled : The Estuary, that’s what.

I’m not only a reviewer for FlamesRising.com, I am a fan. From the features and articles to the reviews, I read and enjoy it all. I’ve even gone as far as purchasing Instant Antagonist: Selfish Succubus, the first product from Flames Rising Press. Therefore, it should go without saying (but I’m saying it anyway) that I read all of Monica Valentinelli scribes on da’ flames, and I believe that she’s one of the best contributors on the site (and coincidentally puts my feeble writing talents to shame). So you can imagine how honored and excited I was to have been given a reviewer’s copy of “The Queen of Crows”, written by Monica V. and published by Flames Rising Press (their first published fiction no less).

Tad Williams returns to his current epic fantasy series with the third (and not-yet-final) installment of a novel entitled “SHADOWRISE.” This particular tome is well over five hundred pages, and continues the story of the betrayal of the Eddon family and the battle between the faeries and the mortals.

If you’ve been following my work here on FlamesRising.com, you might recall that I reviewed SHADOWPLAY, which was the second book in this series. After reading that book, I ended up going back and buying the first volume entitled SHADOWMARCH in order to get caught up on the series. I feel that’s a pretty important distinction to make, since there is a lot that happens between books one, two and now…three.

You may recall that I’ve received a couple of reviewer books based on the “Supernatural” TV series to shoot my way through (if you don’t recall or you just didn’t know, you can click here to read all about it.) If you do, then you may also recall that I was disappointed with my first contestant and was concerned that the WB exec’s had sold out with gusto to earn a quick buck on some lame books at the expense of the fans and their beloved show. Well, I’m happy (and relieved) to report that my second foray into the book series was better than the first. But then again, that’s not saying a lot.

You should, by now, already know about Amanda Feral.(1) The celebutante zombie star of Happy Hour of the Damned and Road Trip of the Living Dead is back in action, returning to Seattle’s night-life scene, albeit with far less cash than she started with. Like the rest of the world, Amanda’s finances are on the rocks, and the only thing that looks like it will save her(2) from the bone-breaking threats of the reapers, to whom she’s indebted, is taking a role on a reality show. Amanda’s no actress, but playing herself to the camera is something she’s perfected.

I’ve not experienced “Dime Novels” before. I’ve never really even seen one before, although growing up my mother owned a “collector book” composed of several dime novel reprints that I once looked through. They’re a format that seems to have died out here in the union long ago. It looks like however, that the “Dime Novel” format could be on the verge of a comeback.

My dad happened upon a new gothic horror series while visiting one of his favorite websites and asked me to check it out. Following his queue I did a little homework and indeed I’d discovered a new book series titled “Jason Dark: Ghost Hunter”, a series written in the spirit of the “Dime Novel” format.

After I got done reading CHANGES by Jim Butcher, the twelfth novel in the Dresden Files series, the first words that popped into my head were, “Holy hell.” First? There is absolutely no way that I can review this book without spoiling something for someone, so consider this a warning – if you don’t want anything spoiled for you, then don’t read this review. Second? If you’re a fan of the Dresden Files, then this is “the” book for you.

Okay, now back to the review. The first chapter opens up with a sucker punch to the gut. (You can read the first chapter of CHANGES on the author’s website.)

On the front cover of my copy of THE STEPSISTER’S SCHEME, there’s a quote. The quote reads:

“These princesses will give Charlie’s Angels’ a serious run for their money, and leave ’em in the dust.” — Esther Fresner, author of Nobody’s Princess.

Immediately, that quote set my expectations that THE STEPSISTER’S SCHEME was going to be a so-called fantasy “popcorn read.” That I was just going to sit back and watch Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty kick a whole lot of troll butt while they flirt their proverbial tiaras off. You know that part where you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? Yeah, guilty as charged.

One of the perks of being a reviewer on Flames Rising are the free E-books. I’ve been given some great books to review that I probably would have never come across and enjoyed otherwise (see my last review of This is My Blood for a great example). Fate and da’ flames have now granted not one, but four advance reader books for yours truly to read and review. Even more interesting is that these books are all based on the “Supernatural” television show!

I really enjoy watching the “Supernatural” show. I’ve been watching it since it first started, I got a few of the seasons on DVD and I’ve been considering checking out the RPG as I am a modern horror RPG junkie.

Fallout is the third volume in the Vampire Apocalypse series written by Derek Gunn. This story picks up almost immediately after the previous book, Descent into Chaos, wraps up. Now, the free humans are still recovering from the events of the previous novel, and have new challenges to face. Burdened by a huge influx of rescued people to their hidden community, the main characters have a lot of challenges weaning them off a deadly serum and integrating them into their new lives as survivors and freedom fighters.

I’ll say from the start that this review will be difficult to write without spoiling something in the story. There is a lot of action in this volume and plenty of twists and turns to the ongoing narrative. So, I’ll attempt to spoil as little as possible in the review, but a few minor bits might slip through in the process…

I discovered Dakota Cassidy through the League of Reluctant Adults, and have been following her blog for ages. She did an excellent back and forth short fiction piece with Mark Henry (Happy Hour of the Damned, Road Trip of the Living Dead, and the forthcoming Battle of the Network Zombies) that appeared on their web sites (a murder in an America’s Top Model-like environment) featuring characters from Mark’s Amanda Feral series and Dakota’s “Accidentals” series. Having fallen in love with her online writing, I put her books on hold through my library.

And I waited. And waited. And waited. And by the time the first book actually arrived through my library system (where apparently it was too popular at the home library for them to ship to me), Dakota’s fourth book, Accidentally Demonic, started appearing early on bookshelves.

When I first sat down to read A DARK MATTER, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Sure, I had read Peter’s work before and I’m pretty familiar with modern horror, but I didn’t know anything about this particular story other than one, little tidbit. In our interview with Peter Straub, he had mentioned that he was inspired by his experiences in Madison, Wisconsin. That little morsel made me curious, because I went to school in Madison and could see how he got the idea for this book. Madison is unique from the rest of the state, because you can study or pursue just about any religion, philosophy or political group in this college town. I could imagine that those same gurus that Peter saw in the 60s might be strolling around State Street today. Needless to say, the concept piqued my curiosity.

I’ve only been a reviewer on da’ flames for about a scant 6 months now (my, how time does fly), but I’ve already read and reviewed some good books within that time. In one particular case however, I decided to read and review a book (Personal Effects- Dark Art) after reading a featured preview. As it turned out, this was a good book and was worth taking the leap and I told myself I would review more featured books in the future. And now I’ve recently read the featured preview of This is My Blood. This preview also grabbed me by the attention and I took another leap of faith. Was my faith rewarded?

Picked up the book last evening, finished reading and turned out the light at exactly 3:33am. Coincidence?
My review? Go out and buy the book, absorb it in one sitting.

That’s it?

I have to admit that is this is a difficult book to read and review as I am forced to set aside any fanboy glee for what is my personal favorite Legion (1ksons) and the Horus Heresy novel I’ve been waiting for since the beginning. Deep breath. I’m a pro. Objectivity. GO!