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Book Review: Voices of the Damned by Barbie Wilde

Voices of the Damned by Barbie Wilde
Short,Scary Tales Publications, 2015
ISBN-13: 978-1909640351
Available: Hardcover (new and used), Kindle edition
Inside these covers are eleven slices of hell from the mind of a new visionary of horror. Barbie Wilde appears to have vacationed in Dante’s creation and taken terror a couple of steps further.

Voices of the Damned, Wilde’s first collection of short stories, picks up where The Venus Complex, the author’s excellent debut crime novel, left off.   First off, this is a gorgeous book. The cover art, by none other than Clive Barker, sets the tone for a book written by a Cenobite herself.  Introducing each story is an exquisitely disturbing full-size image by artists including Barker, Nick Percival, Steve McGinnis, Danele Serra, Eric Gross, Tara Bush, Vincent Sammy, and Ben Baldwin.

The collection kicks off with “Sister Cilice,” the tale of how a nun falls from grace, first seen in Hellbound Hearts, the tribute anthology based on Barker’s “Hellraiser” world. Wilde continues the story with “The Cicilium Pandoric” and “The Cicilium Rebellion”, creating a full trilogy that explores the existence of the Cenobite she portrayed in Hellraiser II. Other highlights in this collection include “Zulu Zombies” and “American Mutant”. These epitomize Wilde’s style and vision.

A Barbie Wilde story can be filled with as much eroticism as it is with horror, and this collection shows her skill at interweaving them. Her writing exhibits unbridled brutality and fresh honesty in characterizations, never shying away from the grotesque or weird.  Inhibitions are nowhere to be found here, which is a very good thing. This writer becomes darker and bolder by the story. One can only wonder where her imagination will head next. It will likely be a nightmare many will embrace for years to come. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Dave Simms
Posted on November 30, 2015 by , Reply

Book Review: Little Boy Blu by Cara Brookins

Little Boy Blu by Cara Brookins

The Wild Rose Press, Inc., 2014

ISBN: 978-1628306903

Available: Paperback, Kindle

 

Novels set in Appalachia will always hold a certain mystique: there’s a certain air about the location found only in a few places in America. In Little Boy Blu, readers will find themselves immersed in a dense atmosphere comprised of heavy forests, mountains, moonshine stills, and a culture that entices, amazes, and often frightens those outside of this geographic microcosm. This is what makes Cara Brookins’ tale so tantalizing.

Brookins is the author of the very successful Timeshifters series, and has now penned what just might become a staple in the genre. Based on true stories of the “blue” people of Kentucky, Little Boy Blu centers around a family living far away from the mainstream, deep within the woods, where time and civilization often fail to penetrate. Blu Tracey was born with an anomaly—he’s the only one in his family who does not sport the blue-tinged skin. This characteristic gives them a disturbing bond and also places a target on their souls.

Blu’s mother sold out her family for a reality show, but her pseudo-fame didn’t quite pan out the way she had planned. Her own story is chronicled alongside Blu’s during a journey where he discovers that someone is trying to kill him. But is the killer from the world outside their own, or from someplace much closer?

 Many threads weave together into a story as profound as the mountain song that echoes through the hills and flows down the rivers and streams which bisect Blu’s world. Little Boy Blu is Southern Gothic crossbred with a tight thriller. It sings with Brookins’ stylish writing, smoother than the ‘shine found in those hills, but just as potent. Her characters are the backbone of the story,   and will entice just before punching the reader in the heart with twists and turns that work on so many levels. Tough to categorize but very easy to love, I recommend giving this fine novel a shot. Recommended for age 15 and up.

Contains: N/A

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on August 22, 2015 by , Reply

Book Review: A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay


A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

William Morrow, 2015

ISBN-13: 978-0062363237

Available: Hardcover and Kindle

Once in a while, a book comes along that does more than stand out from the pack. It wields a power so strong, sings its story with such dissonant melody, and builds characters that you both love and dislike. These books keep you rooting for a happy ending on every page even though all signs point to a black place that seems unavoidable. A Head Full of Ghosts is a novel that deserves praise from every reviewer.

The plot centers on a New England family being slowly torn apart by a mysterious illness affecting their teenage daughter. A television crew moves in to film a reality show about her descent and to record the family falling apart, naming it “The Possession.” A priest is invited in to help despite a decided conflict of faith between family members. Although there have been plenty of stories of possession, this one stands alone.The subtlety of the storytelling and the characterization of the family themselves, the Barretts, drives A Head Full of Ghosts on a slow burn that will have readers scrambling to figure out the mystery of what lives between the pages.

Is fourteen-year-old Marjorie truly possessed? Mentally ill? Or just seeking attention in a family on its last thread of sanity?

Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry, narrates the tale. She watches her sibling descend and transform into someone else—someone she once knew. Merry spins her tale, from the first signs of the “possession,” to the invasion of the television crew, to the religious fervor that festers both inside the house and out in the society where the Barretts must still survive. Her innocent voice fuels the story as readers are allowed to view Merry’s family through her young eyes and ears, as yet unaware of the evils of the mind and soul. The relationship between her and Marjorie is touching and frightening and written superbly by Tremblay. Providing some counterpoint is a blogger who interjects her views on the history of the family through an analysis of the television show. Her connection is slowly revealed and seamlessly strengthens the novel in a manner which elevates the initial intrusion on the narrative into something that becomes essential.

Paul Tremblay has created something special here. Call it a psychological thriller or a mystery, a horror-filled supernatural tale, a dark family drama, or something else. But don’t dismiss it as just another possible “demon-within” story. It is one of the few novels that is sure to leave you chilled and unsettled. Hopefully, by this time next year, all of the critics will have been proven right, the novel will rack up accolades from every dark corner, and readers will cherish A Head Full of Ghosts as a modern classic. Highly recommended for adults.

 

Contains intense psychological horror

Reviewed by David Simms

 

 

Posted on July 15, 2015 by , Reply
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