Lots of gore, but please, no more drooling. A Review of Manhunt

 I'd like to add something before I copy my Netgalley review here. On Goodreads, more than 100 people have given Manhunt a one-star rating without having read the book. I know hundreds of people haven't read the book because it's not released until next year. Why are they giving poor reviews? Because the book's characters are mainly trans women and men. The world is full of all kinds of people. Being angry that people exist never got anybody anywhere. It's unfair to give a book, one that the author put years of work into, a poor review solely because there are LGBT characters.

As Oscar Wilde said, "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are either well-written or badly written. That is all."

After getting that off my chest, here is my review:

Manhunt has never ending violence and sex. It would make a good action movie. For my tastes, I'd like a few calming interludes, maybe a witty sidekick, but for nonstop movement and the kind of gore one gets from man/monster/flesh-eating/walking-on-all-fours creatures, it's well written. Most of the characters besides the doctor, Indi, are heartless, even love-making was brutal and inhumane (lots of spitting at lovers) but eventually the main characters' humanity shows through. This may seem like wimping out, but until they show that they can care about someone else, it was difficult to like anybody but the doctor. The villains are suitably evil,

Lots goes on, from hunting diseased, vicious men to working in a spoiled and ruthless billionaire's bunker to a final showdown with the brutal Legion. Yes, Manhunt is grim, but most horror readers aren't looking for cuddles. Except for me--I like cuddly horror. In the book I dealt okay with the shooting, the arrows, the stabbings, the explosions, the flesh-eating, but every time someone spit or drooled I was all gag, gag, gag. I'm funny that way.

Hollywood should come calling for this one. It's action and adventure all the way. They can leave out the drooling, though.

Thanks to Netgalley and Nightfire for allowing me to read an eARC in return for an honest review.

Finalist again! Read my horror on Crystal Lake Publishing's Patreon page.

 My short horror story, A Matter of Death and Time, is a finalist in Crystal Lake Publishing's monthly flash fiction contest. They have this contest every month and you, too, can send a story of 1,000 words or less. Support indie publishing and join Crystal Lake's Patreon page for lots of perks and lots of fine writing, including (sometimes) mine. Or, sign up for their free newsletter and learn how you to can submit to Crystal Lake, a multiple Bram Stoker winner.

Harrow is Harrowing. Review of Harrow by Joy Williams

 Without a doubt, one of the strangest books I've ever read. Both hilarious and sad, with some of the most clever lines I've read in a long time. It's hilarious in that the situations are bizarre. For instance, a mom can't bring herself to tell her little boy that his father just murdered his grandfather, so she had the cake decorator paint the murder scene on the boy's birthday cake. The cake decorator does this by doing a rendition of the oil painting, Saturn Devouring His Children.

If that's not strange enough for you, there's plenty more where that came from.

The sadness comes in because humans have completely destroyed nature and most people either don't care or they see it as a victory over the earth. Harrow is full of peculiar people doing odd things, partly due to the destruction of the earth, but also because nobody seems to have a purpose anymore except for some dotty elderly eco-warriors who waited a little too long to do anything.

Go into this book with the understanding that it's not like most books. Read it knowing that things will be strange and there's no coming back from that. Read it with a sense of humor.

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review Harrow.

Noticed by Ellen Datlow!

 If you know horror, you probably know of Ellen Datlow, horror goddess, horror icon, editor of more than 100 horror anthologies. Although she didn't pick my story for Best Horror of the Year Volume 13, she did mention my name in the introduction, along with editor Mercedes Yardley and some fellow writers in  Arterial Bloom.  It is a true honor and a delight to be recognized by Ms. Datlow. Here's what she had to say about Arterial Bloom.

Arterial Bloom is out now and Best Horror of the Year will be released Nov. 16, 2021.

Like King Kong but with Honkin' Big Spiders instead of a Honkin' Big Furbaby

 Cult of the Spider Queen will never win awards as a literary novel, but it's a rollicking fun read. Think King Kong but with big spiders and no New York or Faye Wray. After a young reporter sneaks a mystery package out of the mail room, he heads to the Amazon to find a missing woman filmmaker and giant spiders. Yikes! You know how you go to horror movies and shout, "Don't go in that room!" Spider Queen makes you wonder why they went down that tributary, why they went on that warship that smelled bad, why they went into that shrine and on and on. But, it wouldn't be much of a horror story if all the characters thought things out. Don't go near that cave! Oh shoot, they did it anyway.

Lots of bodies wrapped up in webs, creepy kidnappers with horns, even a trip to the moon. And spiders! A tad too much smirking for my tastes, but what can I do. Books are a smirk-a-thon anymore.

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review an eArc of Cult of the Spider Queen.