My Review of Craig Wallwork’s Quintessence of Dust

I’ve known of Craig Wallwork for quite awhile. We both frequent The Velvet forums, though him more so than me. A lot like the other writers on The Velvet his work was one that I always meant to check out. His name has sat on that ever growing list of people I want to read. With the publication of Warmed and Bound, an anthology from The Velvet, that finally changed. After reading Craig’s story, Bruised Flesh, I wanted to kick myself for waiting so long to check his work out. Coincidentally, right after I finished reading W&B I came across the pre-order for his first book, Quintessence of Dust. I jumped all over that. It was really cool that while waiting for my copy of the book to arrive Kuboa Press made a few of their titles available for free on smashwords. I was able to download QoD and read it before the physical book was in my hands.
This is a collection of eleven stories, all well written and most are a bit twisted. There is one common factor that binds all these stories together, and that is Mr. Wallwork’s amazing talent. From the emotional impact of a father and his young daughter fighting to survive in Night Holds A Scythe; to one man’s duty to be there for his best friend, who happens to be a Minotaur, in Men of Honor. These stories are original, interesting, and extremely well written. Craig Wallwork seems to have quite the imagination, and he possesses the skills to expertly convey said imagination onto paper.
It would almost be too difficult to pick a favorite from this collection, but if pressed, I really enjoyed Morning Birdsong quite a bit. The character of Ralph was both humorous yet heroic when the time called for it. There could be a larger story behind this short one, and I would be all for reading it.
These stories will pull you into their world and you will know these characters like they are your friends, or your neighbors, or someone sitting next to you on the train. There is no doubt in my mind that Craig Wallwork is a name we’ll be seeing more of, and I for one am grateful. He writes the kind of stories that keeps me reading books, and he writes them better than a lot of the big names.

Buy it Here Quintessence of Dust

New Story at The Mustache Factor

My Bizarro flash fiction piece Jerry’s Beard is up at The Mustache Factor. I’m pretty happy about this, first of all because I really like this story a lot. Secondly, I’ve been wanting to get something up at TMF for awhile. They post quite a bit of really good weird, Bizarro flash fiction. I hope to get another story together soon and try to submit to them, after I finish this Bizarro workshop I’m doing.

My Review of Andersen Prunty’s Pray You Die Alone

Pray You Die Alone is another great collection of short horror stories. Prunty is skilled at creating horror with lots of dread and twisted elements. There’s not much bizarro in this one, which is why it reminds me a lot of another of his collections, Sunruined. The seven stories contained in this book are excellent, each in different ways.

The opener, The Summer of Flies is a creepy tale of Marcus, who starts to wonder if he is the last person left in town. When he meets Ellen, she convinces him that she knows where the bodies of everyone else are, and that they should try to find the killer.

In the second story, Death Tripping in New Orleans, it has been two years since Tod survived a terrible car crash. Following a voice to New Orleans Tod finds himself face to face with the truth of his past.

Durning is the story of Christina from Durning, Ohio. When Adam agrees to go back to Christinas home to meet the family he gets a surprise he never dreamed of.

In Air Cathedral we have serial killer Arthur. Desperate to find the Air Cathedral, Arthur has killed countless times, but will this time finally bring him what he wants?

The Nowhere Room is the tale of Anna, who after having mental attacks for years decides it’s time to head back home. She needs to go back to the Nowhere Room and face what happened all those years ago.

The story Black Rosita’s Man is about a blues guitarist like no other named Alistar Doos. Nathan East goes to hear Alistar play and try to find the answers to a friends disappearance.

Closing out the book is the story Rayles, which may be the most bizarre of the bunch. The town was once a place for dreams, but that was before Rayles got sick. Now the town is more of a prison. As bad as the people want to escape, what will they find past the town limits?

Each story showcases Prunty’s vivid imagination as he ushers his characters through horrific situations. I recommend this for anyone who is interested in checking out Andersen Prunty’s work for the first time. And if you are already a fan of his work, you will definitely dig this collection.

Buy it here Pray You Die Alone

My Review of Cameron Pierce’s Gargoyle Girls of Spider Island

Cameron Pierce was one of the first bizarro authors that I read, starting with Abortion Arcade. Since then I have read a few more of his books and stories, each one has been original and entertaining. Gargoyle Girls of Spider Island followed right along with everything else I have read by him, but I think this may be my least favorite of his books. This was still a good read, entertaining and imaginative in a bizarre and grotesque way.
The book starts out like a B-rated horror movie, with a few young adults cruising the high seas on one of their dad’s boats. They encounter some pirates on some pretty bad waters and have a little scuffle, which leads to one boat being sunk and the survivors heading for the nearest shore. This particular land that they end up at is Spider Island. From here things go from island paradise to monster fest. Pierce keeps the action cranked up and the weird factor increases consistently throughout the book.
I have read quite a few bizarro books, and I am quite the fan of the genre. But this book may have some of the sickest scenes I’ve read. There are some truly disgusting moments in this book. There are probably worse books out there as far as that goes, but I haven’t been reading them. Still, if you’re a fan of bizarro and of Pierce, you will enjoy this book.

Buy it here Gargoyle Girls of Spider Island

My Review of William Pauley 3′s The Brothers Crunk

This has been the first book I’ve read by William Pauley 3 but it will not be the last. This book is described as an 8 bit Fack-It-All adventure, and it definitely is an adventure. It will take you to some weird and very interesting places. Page after page you will not know where you are headed, but believe me you will still continue on with the journey, and it is worth it.
The cover of The Brothers Crunk may be one of the best book covers I’ve ever seen. It looks like an old school Nintendo game, complete with the black plastic sleeve, simple yet extremely effective. It was the first thing that put this book on my radar. It should be noted that the cover was done by Brandon Duncan who has created many notable covers for books by authors like Andersen Prunty and D. Harlan Wilson.
Set in a post-apocalyptic Japan, TBC is the story of brothers Divey and Reynold who are traveling brackfas burrito salesmen. After a wreck in the desert that costs them their van, Divey comes across what amounts to part of a metal skeleton. This is where the story really takes off into uncharted territories. An attack from some wasp women ends with the awakening of the cyborg Vandeboom and the real beginning of the adventure that has Reynold searching for his missing brother. Throughout this you will get plenty of Nintendo references, from old controllers to games, most will remember from childhood.
I’ve read that this book is set in the same universe as another book by William Pauley 3, Doom Magnetic, and may have ties to it. I am looking forward to reading that book next. I was definitely impressed with my first foray into the odd mind of Pauley. He has the ability to create humorous and interesting characters, throw them into a completely absurd world and craft a uniquely believable story.

By it here The Brothers Crunk on Amazon

My Review of Stephen Graham Jones’ Zombie Bake-Off

Even though the market for the zombie genre is getting over-saturated I’m still a pretty big fan of the living dead. What I mean by big fan is really more toward the visual side, movies, television shows, and video games. It wasn’t until here recently that I started reading books and stories featuring the undead. I used to think that a good zombie apocalypse would be hard to translate to the written word in an entertaining way. I have since realized I was wrong.
This book starts out like a lot of horror movies, with kids out partying and getting into trouble. While out joy riding in one of their dads bakery truck they run over what appears to be a drunk guy. They do the horror movie thing and try to cover it up, because that always works so well. The real meat of the story takes place the next day at a convention center, which is rented to a group called Recipe Days during the day time. In the evening the convention center is rented to pro wrestlers coming to do a show. The two groups over lap when the wrestlers show up early. After intimidating the ladies from Recipe Days they help themselves to some doughnuts from a certain bakery truck. What follows is one extremely entertaining read. Once the action kicks in it does not let up.
SGJ treats us to a unique and interesting Zombie story where the survivors are not your normal one-dimensional horror fare. His characters are very real, intelligent people fighting for their lives. Also, with his zombies he adds some new interesting twists.
Jones is a master storyteller, I have enjoyed everything I’ve read from him quite a bit, and this book was no exception. I have been having trouble reading paper books in a decent amount of time, recently I read e-books because I get through them faster. But I read this as a paper book and it kept me turning the pages and so engrossed in the story that I finished it in about a week. I recommend this book to not only zombie lovers, but anyone who likes action on top of a good story.

Buy it here Zombie Bake-Off on Amazon