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Book Review: The Gambling Bug by Dan Graffeo

The Gambling Bug by Dan Graffeo

Great Old Ones Publishing, 2015

ISBN-13: 978-0692532294

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

“My name is Lance, and I’m a gambling addict.” A chorus of five voices call out a welcome in unison at the weekly meeting of Gamblers’ Anonymous, held in the small back room of St. Reese’s Church. Lance, Eve, Isabelle, Everett and Suzanna are conflicted gamblers that have dug themselves in deep. They are led by Cliff Ronicah, the only gambler of the bunch who has beaten “The Bug”. They need all the help and support they can get. The Gambling Bug will not let go without a fight. No one is safe from his tools of temptation. He wants them all back in his fold. It is a fight for their lives!

I thought this story had a really interesting premise: a group of gambling addicts trying to get help and reform are tempted by Satan to continue to slip. Unfortunately, this work was just not up to the task of telling the story. I only read to page 120 of 281 before calling it quits. Each page had at least two errors in either grammar, spelling, or style. The author did too much “telling” and not enough “showing”, the pacing was sluggish, and the plot was not going much of anywhere. The book did have some good points. The characters were distinctive and easy to keep separate from each other. The Gambling Bug/Satan in particular was a strong, well-written character. While The Gambling Bug has a promising idea behind it, and some interesting characters, the book needs a lot of editing before it is readable and ready for public consumption. I have not read any of this author’s previous work. Not Recommended.

Reviewed by Aaron Fletcher

Posted on January 17, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: Alabaster: The Good, The Bad, and the Bird by Caitlin R. Kiernan, art by Daniel Warren Johnson


Alabaster: The Good, the Bad, and the Bird by Caitlin R. Kiernan, art by Daniel Warren Johnson

Dark Horse, 2016

ISBN: 9781616557966

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, comiXology

 

The trade paperback opens with a woman in the fetal position, filled in with the night sky, against a stark white background, and narration about personal devils, the mind, and a pale horse. What unfolds is a story of death, resurrection, revenge, and the journey of Dancy Flammarion from death to life. Set in the American South, Dancy, an albino woman, is dragged out of death, despite her refusal to the Angel to return, by twin sisters with questionable reasons for bringing Dancy back. The sisters pray to an old goddess, partake in blood rituals, and control ancient beasts that take someone from Dancy, a woman she loves more than life itself. To fight the twins and powers of darkness, it will take Dancy, returned from the dead, the strength of the woman she loves, and a small snarky bird who speaks to those who understand with a Southern accent.

This is not the first story to feature Dancy Flammarion, but it is the first I have read. The story is compelling enough that I want to seek out the other works that Kiernan has written about her. Dancy is incredibly strong, physically and emotionally, and is a well-written character. She’s mysterious in this volume, and I have to know more about her. I recommend this book if you like a good supernatural tale. Recommended.

This volume collects Alabaster: The Good, the Bad, and the Bird #1-5.

Contains: blood, gore, nudity

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker


Posted on November 13, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: Dark Seed by Simon West-Bulford

Dark Seed by Simon West-Bulford

Medallion Press, 2016

ASIN: B01JMJLOPO

Available: Kindle edition

 

Simon West-Bulford has written an intriguing, historical, Gothic tale of an ancient evil that threatens to engulf the world through the foibles of humans.  The story is told through the journals of a British archaeologist, Lord Edward Cephas Hargraven (1891), and a teacher, Dr. Alexander Drenn (1923).

We learn that despite ominous warnings from a colleague, Hargraven brought a relic back from a dig in South America.  Years later, Hargraven disappears, and Drenn awakens one night during an earthquake and finds his village enveloped in darkness and fog.  Villagers are missing, or were grotesquely slain by monsters.  Drenn and four villagers– a chaplain, an actress, a housekeeper and a strongman– are trapped in Hargraven’s manor.  Someone, or something, is gruesomely murdering them, one by one, as in an Agatha Christie mystery.

What evil did Hargraven bring to the village?  Is it a catastrophic product of Darwinian evolution?  Can Drenn and his companions stop it from destroying England and the world, village by village, and city by city?

Bulford’s characters have convincing voices appropriate to their era and backgrounds.  For example, Drenn writes in his journal, “ I am an educated man, though unremarkable in achievement; my legacy will be appreciated only by those whose make acquaintance of my students; and should any of them speak kindly of their tutor, Dr. Alexander Drenn, then this is satisfaction enough for me.”

The author’s descriptions are vivid and inventive.  Drenn witnesses the destruction of his village and watches a demon murder a young girl.  He himself kills a crazed, possessed villager.  His thoughts are in turmoil while he rests, sleepless in his deserted home.  “My mind could not settle.  It seethed and swayed and spun through churning seas of events and emotions that vied for attention like the endless tuning of an orchestra denied a performance.”

Dark Seed is an entertaining, chilling read.  West-Bulford has written several other novels, novellas and short stories encompassing fantasy, science fiction, mystery and the occult. Recommended.

Contains: graphic violence and gore

Reviewed by Robert D. Yee

Posted on October 12, 2016 by , Reply
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