Fireside Chat with a Grammar Nazi Serial Killer by Ryan Suvaal

January 25, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Fireside Chat with a Grammar Nazi Serial Killer by Ryan Suvaal
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Suspense/Mystery, Horror, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (38 pages)
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Seventeen gruesome killings across the United States, within a span of six months and there is one clear connection among victims. They were all writers.
While media is decorating the murders with sensationalist stories, and law enforcement is playing catch-up, the homicidal maniac remains elusive and secretive.

Things get very interesting, when one day she decides to appear on an internet talk show for an honest fireside chat.

Grammatical errors are always annoying, but sometimes the consequences of these mistakes are more serious than someone feeling a negative emotion about them.

This was such a creative mystery. I never thought I’d say this, but the serial killer made some good points. It is irritating to buy a book only to discover it’s filled with punctuation and grammatical errors! Her solution to this problem was obviously far too harsh and violent, but I strangely enjoyed seeing the world from her perspective for a little while. It was like nothing I’ve never read before.

It would have been nice to have some character development. No one changed as a result of their experiences. Given how much was going on in their lives, that surprised me. I would have expected the main characters to learn something from the things they did and went through. If that had happened, I would have chosen a higher rating as the premise was quite attention-grabbing.

There were definitely some dark moments during the course of the plot. They fit the main character’s persona well, especially once she began explaining her twisted reasons for all of the crimes she committed. This is something that should be read by people who love grisly fiction. The horror elements of this tale were well done and felt completely appropriate for the subject matter, but they definitely were given more attention than the suspenseful sections of the storyline.

I’d recommend Fireside Chat with a Grammar Nazi Serial Killer to anyone who loves horror and mysteries.

Filed Under: Horror, Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Smoke & Mirrors by Eli Celata

January 21, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Smoke & Mirrors by Eli Celata
Publisher: Hidden Helm Press
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (246 pages)
Age Recommendation: 16+
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Death has come to Rochester. Saving the the lost children of Hamelin unleashes the most ruthless enemy Jon has ever faced. Blood saturates his nights, and demons stalk his every step. He might’ve gotten the children out of Shiloh’s void, but he put them in the cross-hairs of an old grudge.

When a trio of Daughters brings their kill list into the Grith, magic users turn against one another. Allies become enemies. Safety counterbalances freedom, and everyone wants a piece of Jon.

Killing Gerhard, one of the Daughters sends Wilhelm running to Jon and Jordan for sanctuary, they must decide who to trust. The mage Jon pulled from the void, or a community of hunters prepared to slaughter children and level cities in the name of Greater Good.

Whether magic is used for good or evil depends on who is performing the spell.

Just like in earlier installments, I was blown away by the world building. Mr. Celata did an excellent job of creating a setting for his characters that feels every bit as real as our world. I could have sworn that I was seeing, hearing, and feeling the same things Jon was as he attempted to protect the children and keep his community from breaking out into war. There was so much attention to detail in these matters that I didn’t want to stop reading until I knew how it would all end for him.

At times I found it hard to keep track of the large cast of characters. It would have been quite helpful to either have a brief recap of who everyone was in the first chapter or to have a list of characters I could reference as I was reading. I’m saying this as someone who has really been enjoying this series so far. If not for my confusion about how everyone knew each other and who they were, I would have happily chosen a much higher rating for this tale. Everything else about it was fantastic.

One of the things I love about this universe is how complicated the rules of magic are in it. I still haven’t figured out all of them, but honestly I don’t think the audience is supposed to quite yet since many of the characters have had similar reactions to the complexity of them all. The author is playing the long game here, and I’m quite curious to see how it will all pan out in the end.

This is the third book in a series. I’d recommend finishing the first two installments, High Summons and Grimm Remains, before diving into this one.

Smoke & Mirrors should be read by anyone who loves wizards or the dark side of the urban fantasy genre.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Skull and Pestle: New Tales of Baba Yaga

January 18, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Skull and Pestle: New Tales of Baba Yaga by Kate Wolford (Editor)
Publisher: World Weaver Press
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (193 pages)
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

She can be the enemy of your nightmares or the spirit guide to your dreams. Her hair is wild and gray. Her teeth are made of iron, and she travels using a giant mortar and pestle and lives in a shack on chicken feet surrounded by a fence of skulls and bones. She is Baba Yaga, a crone who ruthlessly uses the needy and greedy for her own devices. And in this anthology of new stories starring Baba Yaga, she lands in some spectacular scenarios.

A Jewish resistance fighter in World War II Poland must gain the help of Baba Yaga to vanquish three supernatural men and avenge the loss of her comrades. A young mother leaves her family to serve the witch in penance for committing a terrible wrong. One story delves into Baba Yaga’s tragic origins, while another re-examines the classic tale of Vasilisa, following the young girl who comes to Baba Yaga for fire on her own journey from maiden to mother to crone. One tale transports the witch from the forests of Russia to the swamplands of the American South, expertly weaving together Slavic and African-American folklore, and another brings her right into the modern day, as a young boy goes looking for a witch to put a spell on a school bully and gets more than he bargained for.

Not every witch is necessarily evil.

There was danger lurking everywhere for Vasilisa in “Vasilisa the Wise.” Not only did her stepmother not care if she lived or died, Baba Yaga actively tried to come up with tasks this character couldn’t accomplish so the old witch would have an excuse to eat her. I found Baba Yaga’s challenges and threats deliciously frightening. Since I knew almost nothing about this classic fairy tale villain, it was nice to start this anthology off with what I assume was a more traditional telling of who she was and how she liked to behave.

All of the stories in this collection were creative and worth the read. With that being said, I would have liked to see a little more attention paid to the character development in “Boy Meets Witch.” As intrigued as I was to see how Baba Yaga would respond to a young boy seeking her out for advice instead of all of the girls who had been written about in this anthology, I didn’t feel like I got to know Alex Rusnak, the protagonist, as well as I did the protagonists in the other stories. If he’d been equally well-developed, I would have given this collection a five-star rating!

“Baba Yaga: Her Story” was a wonderful take on Baba Yaga’s life before she became such a famous literary figure. When the audience met her in the first scene, she was an abandoned child who didn’t even have a name yet. I was as surprised by that as I was by all of the things that happened to her as she grew older and began to realize just how powerful her magic abilities were. While she definitely was a villain, I still grew to like her as I got to know her better and understood why she occasionally did such harmful things to ordinary people.

Skull and Pestle: New Tales of Baba Yaga should be read by anyone who loves fairy tales.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

TV Review of Santa Clarita Diet — a Netflix Original Series

January 10, 2019 By 3 Comments

TV Review of Santa Clarita Diet (Seasons One and Two) — a Netflix Original Series

Review by Poppy

Show description from Wikipedia:

Joel and Sheila Hammond are everyday suburban real estate agents in Santa Clarita, California. The couple face a series of obstacles when Sheila has a physical transformation into a zombie and starts craving human flesh. With Joel and the family trying to help Sheila through the trying time, they have to deal with neighbors, cultural norms and getting to the bottom of a potentially mythological mystery.

I started watching this show on a whim and fell madly in love.

First, though, a disclaimer: this show is filled to the brim with profanity, blood and gore, sexual innuendo and utterly irreverent and warped humor. Here’s the trailer:

My favorite character on this show has to be Joel (played by Timothy Olyphant). He’s desperately trying to find some kind of normalcy in his life, even though “we have to kill people”. His family is the most important thing to him, and he’ll do (and does do) anything to keep his family together and safe. And he’s just so stinking funny. He’s kind of the straight guy, and his delivery is so perfect.

via GIPHY

I’m also a huge fan of Eric (played by Skyler Gisondo) who manages to make geeky absolutely adorable. His crush on Abby is blushingly sweet and he’s not afraid to be afraid, but he manages to keep it all together, even in the midst of chaos.



via GIPHY

Sheila (played by Drew Barrymore) is okay, but sometimes a little much.

via GIPHY

And sometimes I want to slap Abby (played by Liv Hewson), which may be a credit to her acting ability because her character is supposed to be a relatively typical teenager.

via GIPHY

I’ve watched season one twice now and have started rewatching season two in anticipation for a season three at some point in time early in 2019, and it’s amazing how funny it still is the second time around. Instead of worrying about keeping up with what was happening, I could focus on appreciating the little things I might have missed the first time: small gestures or facial expressions, jokes that were hidden inside regular conversation and more. It wasn’t old and stale, it was even better than my first experience watching.

I’ve told everyone who will listen that they should watch this show. But I feel I should remind everyone once again and say: “This show is jam-packed full of things that are guaranteed to be offensive to someone … blood and gore (graphic and on screen), tons of profanity (like every third word), sex and sexual innuendo, and the casual acceptance of the fact they kill people and Sheila eats them.

If you can deal with that, you should absolutely start watching this show. Right. Now. It’s a hoot.

Filed Under: Horror, Miscellaneous Musings, Reviews, Television Show Tagged With: , ,

January Book of the Month Poll Winner ~ One Taste Too Many by Debra H Goldstein

December 31, 2018 By 1 Comment


One Taste Too Many by Debra H Goldstein
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full length (323 pages)
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Aloe

Voted BoM by LASR Readers 2013 copy

For culinary challenged Sarah Blair, there’s only one thing scarier than cooking from scratch—murder!

Married at eighteen, divorced at twenty‑eight, Sarah Blair reluctantly swaps her luxury lifestyle for a cramped studio apartment and a law firm receptionist job in the tired hometown she never left. With nothing much to show for the last decade but her feisty Siamese cat, RahRah, and some clumsy domestic skills, she’s the polar opposite of her bubbly twin, Emily—an ambitious chef determined to take her culinary ambitions to the top at a local gourmet restaurant . . .

Sarah knew starting over would be messy. But things fall apart completely when her ex drops dead, seemingly poisoned by Emily’s award-winning rhubarb crisp. Now, with RahRah wanted by the woman who broke up her marriage and Emily wanted by the police for murder, Sarah needs to figure out the right recipe to crack the case before time runs out. Unfortunately, for a gal whose idea of good china is floral paper plates, catching the real killer and living to tell about it could mean facing a fate worse than death—being in the kitchen!

Includes quick and easy recipes!

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE!

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Horror, Mainstream Fiction, Mystery/Suspense, Non-Fiction, Other, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: ,

Preparations by Mark Mills

December 19, 2018 By Leave a Comment


Preparations by Mark Mills
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (10 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Ronald T. Turner is prepared for anything. And the zombies are prepared for him.

It’s one thing to read about a character who is well-prepared for a zombie uprising, but I’d never thought about what would happen if the zombies planned ahead, too!

Ronald was a complex guy. I admired him for thinking things through so well before the events of the first scene happened. He was obviously someone who had put a lot of effort into planning for just about everything that could go wrong when zombies began to take over the world. This sharp attention to detail in other parts of his life sometimes irritated me, but I liked the fact that his flaw was such a practical and understandable one. If he were a real person, I’d expect him to behave exactly the way he did in this tale.

I would have liked to see more attention paid to the pacing of this story. While it was a short one, I did notice that there was a lot of variation in how quickly it moved from one scene to the next. Sometimes there was so much going on that I had a little trouble keeping up, while in other scenes Ronald didn’t seem to have quite enough to keep him busy considering the fact that he was in the middle of a zombiepocalypse of all things. A little more attention paid to this detail would have lead me to choosing a much higher rating.

With that being said, the ending was fabulous. Not only did it show off the main character’s longterm obsession with this specific type of monster, it featured something that I’ve never seen anyone else do in this genre. While I obviously can’t go into detail about the twist without giving away spoilers, I enjoyed being surprised by what Ronald was able to come up with when his future was looking bleak.

Preparations should be read by anyone who loves the zombie genre.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Still Standing by Marie Krepps, Aurora Styles, David Quesenberry, Garrison Kelly, and Larry Fort

December 3, 2018 By Leave a Comment


Still Standing by Marie Krepps, Aurora Styles, David Quesenberry, Garrison Kelly, and Larry Fort
Publisher: Hollow Hills
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Historical
Length: Full Length (178 pages)
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Hollow Hills presents Still Standing, an anthology of short stories and poetry about empowerment and healing for victims of bullying and harassment. The royalties from this anthology will go to Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit organization helping those in crisis.
Strap yourself in for an emotional ride:

Savage Beatings: An elf braves ridicule and abuse as a sacrifice for his homeland and people.
We Called It Azimov: A group of scientists come together to create a machine unlike any other. One scientist uses this modern marvel to satisfy her desire for revenge.

The Brave Blacksmith: The legendary Blacksmith must fight his own demons while confronting real enemies to save a sorceress from a dire situation.

Buccaneer’s Beginning: A young elf wants to be a sea captain like her father, but her mother insists she become a mage. She clings to her dreams despite the ridicule and pressure of others.

The Living Tree: An inspirational poem about life itself.

The past doesn’t always dictate what happens in the future.

The pacing of “Savage Beatings” was fast and exciting. I couldn’t wait to find out if the main character, Windham Xavier, would survive all of his violent encounters and find a way to protect his people. There were so many brutal scenes that this tale slipped into the horror genre at times. It wasn’t something I was necessarily expecting to happen, but it did fit the tone of the storyline well.

“We Called It Asimov” grabbed my attention immediately. I was mesmerized by the thought of a scientist using the skills she’d learned in her career to teach other people a lesson. The more I read about why she behaved the way, the more I wanted to know about what would happen to her next. While it did take me a little while to remember who all of the characters were in this story, I enjoyed it quite a bit after that point.

Within the first few sentences of “The Brave Blacksmith,” a princess named Tima lost everyone she loved. I was so surprised by this opening scene that I couldn’t imagine what might happen to this character next. The worldbuilding was handled nicely. Exactly enough time was spent explaining the rules of the society Tima lived in. I felt like i understood her culture well, and that made me want to keep reading until I knew how her adventures would end.

As someone who wasn’t already familiar with the characters in the universe that Aurora Styles’ “Buccaneer’s Beginning” revisited, I was glad to see her taking the time to briefly explain how everyone knew each other before jumping into the plot. It would have been helpful to see more character development in this tale in general. The storyline itself was well done, but I didn’t get a strong sense of the personalities of the people who inhabited that setting or how they were changing as individuals.

One thing I would have liked to see added to David Quesenberry’s “The Living Tree” was a more definite sense of what the tree represented to the speaker. At first I wondered if it was a metaphor for the creative process itself and how all artists and writers are connected by their desires to create beautiful things. The words themselves were beautiful, and I did enjoy reading them quite a bit. I simply needed a little bit stronger of a nudge in the direction of what the author was trying to say about the experience of being alive.

Still Standing should be read by anyone who has ever wished for justice.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Lullaby for a Lost World by Aliette de Bodard

November 28, 2018 By Leave a Comment


Lullaby for a Lost World by Aliette de Bodard
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Historical
Length: Short Story (16 pages)
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Charlotte died to shore up her master’s house. Her bones grew into the foundation and pushed up through the walls, feeding his power and continuing the cycle. As time passes and the ones she loved fade away, the house and the master remain, and she yearns ever more deeply for vengeance.

The dead don’t always rest in peace.

Charlotte was such a sympathetic character. This is never something I thought I’d say about a ghost who had homicidal urges, but she had excellent reasons for behaving the way she did. The people who took her life did so in such a despicable way that I couldn’t help but to hope that she’d find some way to make peace with it. She was young, poor, and defenceless when she died. Any one of those would have made me feel sympathy for her, but for it to happen to someone who fit all three of those groups only increased my urge to find out what her ultimate fate would be.

There was only one small thing I wish had been done differently with this tale, and it had to do with the ending. The final scene was by far the most exciting part of the plot, so I was a bit surprised by how abruptly it ended. It would have been nice to know how that scene turned out even if the narrator wasn’t planning to tell the audience anything else about how she planned to get her revenge for her murder.

This was one of the most grisly things I’ve read this year, and that was a good thing. Charlotte’s death was bloody, violent, and honestly disturbing at times. Learning about why it happened only made me more eager to find out if anyone would ever pay for what they did to this poor girl. I wanted her killers to deal with the consequences of their actions almost as much as she did! It was the only way she’d ever find peace. Knowing how horribly her life had ended was an integral part of understanding why her afterlife was so restless and full of justified anger.

Lullaby for a Lost World was deliciously scary. Anyone who loves their horror grim and ghastly should check it out.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

A Ghost Story by Mark Twain

November 21, 2018 By Leave a Comment


A Ghost Story by Mark Twain
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Historical
Length: Short Story (30 pages)
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

“A Ghost Story” is one of the best-known humorous stories by Mark Twain (pen-name of Samuel Clemens, 1865-1936). First published in 1870, it is set in Nineteenth-Century New York City.

Some ghosts are easier to please than others are.

The world-building was phenomenal, and it happened for a character who spent the entire plot in an old, dusty bedroom of a house whose upper floors hadn’t been used in years! All of the descriptions of the home and the things that happened in were so vivid, though, that I could picture exactly what it would be like to stay there. I was pretty impressed by how the author was able to do this given the fact that there was only one setting for the entire storyline.

There aren’t a lot of characters out there who react sensibly when they realize that a ghost is haunting them. Luckily, one of these such individuals was the narrator of this tale. While he was definitely concerned about all of the scary noises he was hearing, he didn’t overreact. I liked reading about his thought processes as he attempted to figure out how to respond to his late-night visitor. He stayed as calm and logical as anyone could reasonably expect to under those circumstances, and that was refreshing.

Not only did the ending fit the tone of this book perfectly, it also made me laugh. I appreciated the narrator’s sense of humor even more once he realized what was actually making all of the frightening noises outside, and later inside, of his bedroom. Honestly, I didn’t want to stop reading his descriptions of what was going on. While I was satisfied with how everything was resolved in the end, I was also left yearning to know what happened next in a very positive sense.

I’d heartily recommend A Ghost Story to anyone who loves the paranormal genre.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

November Book of the Month Poll Winner ~ Gazelle in the Shadows by Michelle Peach

October 31, 2018 By 1 Comment


Gazelle in the Shadows by Michelle Peach
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Historical, Mystery/Suspense
Length: Full Length (312 pages)
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

Voted BoM by LASR Readers 2013 copy

In the mid 90s, Elizabeth Booth is a young British college student studying Arabic at Durham University. With some travel and work already under her belt, she excels at her studies and is sent to Damascus to immerse herself in the language. Taken aback by the generosity and kindness of the people there, she easy slips into a life in the ancient city. She has friends, her studies, and even a handsome boyfriend. But things aren’t always what they seem. Soon, in a world where mistrust and disloyalty are commonplace, Elizabeth finds herself navigating a web of lies, betrayals, and even murder involving MI6, deadly terrorist factions, and the shadowy Syrian secret police.

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE!

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Horror, Mainstream Fiction, Mystery/Suspense, Non-Fiction, Other, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: ,
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