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Book Review: A Love Not Deceased by Eric Kapitan

A Love Not Deceased by Eric Kapitan

Self published, expected February 2020

ISBN: 978-1-082219-35-1

Available: paperback

Eric Kapitan’s A Love Not Deceased is an eclectic mix of romance, sex, murder, and overall weirdness. The story has a bit of everything, done to the right amount. The sex isn’t too graphic, the gore isn’t over the top, every part fits together. It’s a strange romance that will appeal to a non-romantic horror fan. The only real drawback is the ending: it came too soon. This story had more room to run: it’s a shame it didn’t.

Maggie, the story’s protagonist, is a wonderful study in contrast. She’s 31, looking for True Romance, and saving herself for Mr. Right. Casual sex and one night flings are NOT her thing. Her current means of supporting herself, oddly enough, consists of customer service over the phone for a national sex toys company, and self-publishing erotica novels for “lonely and horny soccer moms”. She has a deep-seated fear of losing those she loves, since she lost both her parents at an early age. She finally meets her Mr. Right: Mike, a nice, stable, self-supporting fellow, who introduces Maggie to the world of sub/dom relationships… and she finds herself loving it. Minor spoiler ahead: tragedy strikes when Mike unexpectedly is murdered, and Maggie begins her descent into madness, with her actions getting increasingly crazy and bloody.

The writing is a nice balance of exposition and dialogue, with a slightly dark overall tone. The author shows he can write all situations equally well: the part describing Maggie losing her dad is genuinely touching, and will yank on your heartstrings. There’s also some unexpected humor to lighten the mood. The dialogue of some of Maggie’s conversations with her sex toy customers was hilarious, and the parts where Maggie and Mike act like excited kids over tattoos and rock concert tickets help to make them genuinely likable characters. The first 50 pages of the story are strictly the background scenery for setting up the characters for the actual plot. However, it’s written well, and will hold your interest. The last 40 pages are where the story cuts loose, with Maggie losing Mike, then going nuts. Kapitan adds in a nice touch here, since a couple of the chapters are still written from Mike’s point of view, even though he’s dead… or is he?

It’s a quick story, and at 91 pages double-spaced, it’s a breeze to get through. This brings up the only negative: the story ends just when it kicks into high gear. Most of it is a slow buildup to Maggie’s spiral into insanity. Just when it hits the overload point, and it feels like the story is about take off at a breakneck pace for the finish line, it ends. It would have been nice to see it keep going– there was a lot of potential left on the table.

Contains: violence, profanity, sex

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Kirsten, Reply

Book Review: The Bone Cutters by Renee S. DeCamillis

The Bone Cutters by Renee S. DeCamillis

Eraserhead Press, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1621052937

Available: Paperback

This has been a banner year for introducing stellar new horror writers to the world. Renee S. DeCamillis shows she is one of these with her novella The Bone Cutters, one of the strangest, but coolest, entries of 2019. Fans of Gwendolyn Kiste or Cody Goodfellow will definitely want to seek this out.

The novella is a wonderful form for horror, giving the reader and author just enough time to grow into the story, fall for the characters, and then leave both with a scar on the soul. DeCamillis’ story touches on elements of the familiar, but makes it her own.

Dory, the main character, wakes up in a mental ward with no idea how she got there, but learns she has been “blue-papered”– committed without consent. In other hands than DeCamillis’, this could have turned out to be just another horror tale in a tired setting, but the story takes a hard left when Dory attends her first group meeting. The people in the group have strange scars signaling that they are addicts of a new kind. These people are “dusters,” the titular “bone cutters”. who carve into their own– or others’ — bodies, to get high off the dust within. They dig and scrape until they procure enough of the material from the bones to give themselves a high unknown to other addicts. Because Dory is a “freshie”– a newbie who hasn’t been dusted yet– she becomes their prime target. Dory has nobody to help her until she meets the enigmatic custodian, Tommy, whose past may tie into the patients from whom Dory is trying to escape.

To say more about the plot would give away too much. Just dive in and enjoy.

DeCamillis doesn’t mess around with frills here. Her writing is as razor sharp as the cutting tools the patients use. Not a word is wasted in this lean tale that grabs hold from the get go, and drags the reader through a surreal experience that evokes One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, if written by Clive Barker. The ending arrives way too fast, but it will leave readers jonesing for another hit of this new writer.

A recommended novella to be added to a fine 2019.

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on September 13, 2019 by Kirsten, 1 comment

Book List: Horror Novellas You Don’t Have To Put Down

I’m a pretty fast reader, but sometimes a full length novel is just too long. It’s so hard for me to stop once I start, even if I know I need to! I’ve had to swear off certain authors or series because the books were so long, and compelling, that they consumed entire days of my life (I will never forgive George R.R. Martin for the loss of two weeks of my life to a series where he still hasn’t written the conclusion SIX YEARS LATER) If you aren’t a fast reader, then long novels can be intimidating. That’s what makes novellas great. If you’re a fast reader, you can speed right through them and go back to truly enjoy them again at your leisure. They’re just about perfect for travel– small enough to pack away and long enough to keep you engaged on your flight or train, without taking over your entire vacation. The novella length is perfect for a certain kind of horror story, too– it has to move fast and the words have to be carefully chosen in order to have maximum impact in a compact size. I asked for some recommendations from the people following Monster Librarian’s Facebook page,and checked with a few other horror lovers, and a number of them mentioned the same titles. Here’s a short list of 14 novellas recommended by horror lovers, that will be perfect for your summer reading, if you haven’t picked them up already. And if any of them pique your interest, feel free to click on the book’s image. It will take you straight to Amazon, and since we are an Amazon affiliate, you’ll be helping us out, too. As always, not every book is appropriate for every reader, and while we’ve reviewed some of these, you read at your own risk.

If you feel that the list could use some additions, feel free to contribute your suggestions below!

Cabal by Clive Barker