Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Book Review: Gods of the Dark Web by Lucas Mangum

Gods of the Dark WebGods of the Dark Web by Lucas Mangum

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


There are so many good things to say about "Gods of the Dark Web" that I hope I can cover them all in this review. This is Lucas Mangum's first release on Deadite Press and earns him is spot among contemporaries like Brian Keene and Ed Lee. The story moves along a breakneck pace that starts from the first age and never stops until the brutal last page. I love the idea that ancient gods have found physical form among outdated computer and networking equipment and that they have a cult of followers who use the dark web to track and capture people to use as sacrifices. GOTDW is narrative driven, the characters exist to either be horrible people or have horrible things happen to them. Sometimes both. There are many horrors within the book's scant 93 pages, most of which are far to explicit to describe in a review. There's disembowelings, infanticide, cannibalism, golden showers, and sexual degradation packed into nearly every page. Mangum's descriptive powers are as strong as his imagination and take the reader deep into a world so horrifying that you want to put down the book, but can't because it's so good.

I'd really love seeing this story eventually fleshed out into a longer work. An extra 50-100 pages could easily bring the characters more life and give them a more detailed back story and, of course, many more gruesome delights to shock and scare. GOTDW is a must read for fans of cosmic and extreme horror.



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Monday, February 26, 2018

Book Review: Butt Stuff by Jeff O'Brien

Butt Stuff (The Book)Butt Stuff by Jeff O'Brien

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Jeff O'Brien is such a national treasure that Nicholas Cage regularly shows up at his place of work and tries to save him from being stolen by Sean Bean. O'Brien usually writes tales about large breasted reanimated corpses, barbarians, and goth girls who can hide large object in small orifices. Butt Stuff is much different. These short stories are still weird, bizarre, and laugh out loud funny but contain themes such as alien butt probing, obscure VHS pornography, trickster glory holes, and an alternate reality where The New Radicals were more than just a one-hit wonder. This new direction for Jeff O'Brien seems to suit him just fine. I'm looking forward to more.



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Friday, February 23, 2018

Book Review: If You Died Tomorrow I would Eat Your Corpse by Wrath James White

If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your CorpseIf You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse by Wrath James White

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Many of the poems in "If You Died Tomorrow I would Eat Your Corpse" are confessions of love by Wrath James White to his wife. But this is Wrath James White and these are no normal love poems. Each page is filled with vivid descriptions of explicit sex and consensual violence. Flesh is bruised, blood is spilled, tears are shed. White rounds out his collection with two short stories, one untitled and one called "Her Nightmare," which is my favorite entry out of all of the excellent entries. The story is about a woman named Sheila who made a dark deal with a nasty demon so she would never have disappointing sex again. When the demon comes to collect his final debt, it is a gloriously bloody ending to, well, one of the worst mothers in history. If you like extreme horror and violent sex, this will probably be right up your alley.



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Thursday, February 22, 2018

Book Review: He Digs A Hole by Danger Slater

He Digs a HoleHe Digs a Hole by Danger Slater

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Harrison Moss is having one helluva mid-life crisis. He chops off his hands, replaces then with gardening tools, and begins digging a hole in his backyard. A really big hole. A hole so big and so deep that eventually Harrison, his long-suffering wife Tabitha, their house, and their entire neighborhood are swallowed up when the hole gives way to a horrifying underworld where the bugs are the humans. They go through all the motions humans do. They go to work, they live in houses, they party in clubs. They don't know why they do it. They just do it, because it is the routine, and routine is law. This is one of the many metaphors Slater uses to point out the horrible boredom of everyday life and almost everyone is willing to settle because it seems to be the thing everyone else is doing. "He Digs A Hole" is beautifully written and Slater's creative use of the narrator makes it a lot of fun to read.



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Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Book Review: Help Me Find My Car Keys and We Can Drive Out! by Jon Konrath.

Help Me Find My Car Keys And We Can Drive Out!Help Me Find My Car Keys And We Can Drive Out! by Jon Konrath

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Jon Konrath writes stories for morbidly obese Nyquil addicts who like to pleasure themselves with Minions "massagers" while eating Lunchables. i am one of those people, so I liked it a lot.



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