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Publication date: Jan 2020
Nominated for a Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a First Novel.
“A stark and frightening novel. Horror fans should definitely seek this one
out.” – Booklist
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My Review
This book is very much character driven. The author takes his time developing his characters. For some, it may seem like maybe too much time. Not for me. If I’d not gotten a grasp on what makes them tick, I wouldn’t have cared for the story at all.
And it’s also a slow burner. You don’t get instant horror. There were even some parts that lagged for me. But then things really started happening. At first I was confused. Couldn’t grasp what was happening. Once I did, everything turned upside down. I wasn’t sure who was crazy. The patients or the people who ran the asylum. Or both.
If you like psychological horror that makes you think, I recommend you give this a go. I enjoyed it and would happily read more by this author.
4 STARS
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Synopsis
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When a troubled psychiatrist loses funding to perform clinical trials on an
experimental cure for schizophrenia, he begins testing it on his asylum’s
criminally insane, triggering a series of side effects that opens the mind of
his hospital’s most dangerous patient, setting his inner demons free.
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FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing.
Launched recently in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and
the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.
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About Author Brian Kirk
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Brian Kirk is an author of dark thrillers and psychological
suspense. His debut novel, We Are Monsters, was released
in July 2015 and was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award®
for Superior Achievement in a First Novel.
His short fiction has been published in many notable magazines and
anthologies. Most recently, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories and Behold!
Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders, where his work appears
alongside multiple New York Times bestselling authors, and received an
honorable mention in Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year compilation.
During the day, Brian works as a freelance marketing and creative consultant.
His experience working on large, integrated advertising campaigns for
international companies has helped him build an effective author platform,
and makes him a strong marketing ally for his publishing partners. In
addition, Brian has an eye for emerging media trends and an ability to
integrate storytelling into new technologies and platforms.
Alan M. Clark’s Jack the Ripper Victims Series is comprised of five novels, one for each of the canonical victims of the murderer. These stories are not only meant to appeal to those interested in the horror that was the Autumn of Terror, but also those interested in the struggles of women in the 19th century. They are well-researched, fictional dramatic stories meant to help readers walk in the shoes of the victims and give a sense of the world as each of the women may have experienced it. The timelines for the stories run mostly concurrently, so it doesn’t matter in what order the books in the series are read. They are simultaneously drama, mystery, thriller, historical fiction, and horror. They are novels concerning horror that happened.
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A Brutal Chill in August
The First Victim of Jack the Ripper
by Alan M. Clark
Genre: Crime Horror
Publisher: IFD Publishing
Publication Date: December 7, 2019
We all know about Jack the Ripper, the serial murderer who terrorized Whitechapel and confounded police in 1888, but how much do we really know about his victims?
Pursued by one demon into the clutches of another, the ordinary life of Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols is made extraordinary by horrible, inhuman circumstance. Jack the Ripper’s first victim comes to life in this sensitive and intimate fictionalized portrait, from humble beginnings, to building a family with an abusive husband, her escape into poverty and the workhouse, alcoholism, and finally abandoned on the streets of London where the Whitechapel Murderer found her.
With A Brutal Chill in August, Alan M. Clark gives readers an uncompromising and terrifying look at the nearly forgotten human story behind one of the most sensational crimes in history. This is horror that happened.
The song sung by the ghost that haunts Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols
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Apologies to the Cat’s Meat Man
The Second Victim of Jack the Ripper
Publication Date: June 9, 2017
This novel is part of the Jack the Ripper Victims Series. Each novel in the series is a stand-alone story.
Annie Chapman led a hard, lower class life in filthy 19th century London. Late in life, circumstances and and her choices led her to earn her crust by solicitation. After a bruising brawl with another woman over money and a man, she lost her lodgings and found herself sleeping rough. That dangerous turn of events delivered her into the hands of London’s most notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper.
Contrasting her last week alive with the experiences of her earlier life, the author helps readers understand how she might have made the decisions that put her in the wrong place at the wrong time
This novel is part of the Jack the Ripper Victims Series. Each novel in the series is a stand-alone story.
An imaginative reconstruction of the life of Elizabeth Stride, the third victim of Jack the Ripper. The beast of poverty and disease had stalked Elizabeth all her life, waiting for the right moment to take her down. To survive, she listened to the two extremes within herself–Bess, the innocent child of hope, and Liza, the cynical, hardbitten opportunist. While Bess paints rosy pictures of what lies ahead and Liza warns of dangers everywhere, the beast, in the guise of a man offering something better, circles ever closer.
In Victorian London, the greatest city of the richest country in the world, the industrial revolution has created a world of decadence and prosperity, but also one of unimaginable squalor and suffering. Filth, decay, danger, sorrow, and death are ever-present in the streets. Catherine Eddowes is found murdered gruesomely in the city’s East End. When the police make their report, the only indicators of her life are the possessions carried on her person, likely everything she owned in the world. In Of Thimble and Threat, Alan M. Clark tells the heartbreaking story of Catherine Eddowes, the fourth victim of Jack the Ripper, explaining the origin and acquisition of the items found with her at the time of her death, chronicling her life from childhood to adulthood, motherhood, her descent into alcoholism, and finally her death. Of Thimble and Threat is a story of the intense love between a mother and a child, a story of poverty and loss, fierce independence, and unconquerable will. It is the devastating portrayal of a self-perpetuated descent into Hell, a lucid view into the darkest parts of the human heart.
A novel that beats back our assumptions about the time of Jack the Ripper. Not the grim story of an unfortunate drunken prostitute killed before her time, but one of a young woman alive with all the emotional complexity of women today. Running from a man wanting her to pay for her crimes against his brother, Mary Jane Kelly must recover a valuable hidden necklace and sell it to gain the funds to leave London and start over elsewhere. Driven by powerful, if at times conflicting emotion, she runs the dystopian labyrinth of the East End, and tries to sneak past the deadly menace that bars her exit.
Although THE PROSTITUTE’S PRICE is a standalone tale, and part of the Jack the Ripper Victims Series, it is also a companion story to the novel, THE ASSASSIN’S COIN, by John Linwood Grant. The gain a broader experience of each novel, read both.
Author and illustrator, Alan M. Clark grew up in Tennessee in a house full of bones and old medical books. His awards include the World Fantasy Award and four Chesley Awards. He is the author of seventeen books, including twelve novels, a couple of novellas, four collections of fiction, some of them lavishly illustrated, and a nonfiction full-color book of his artwork. Mr. Clark’s company, IFD Publishing, has released 42 titles of various editions, including traditional books, both paperback and hardcover, audio books, and ebooks by such authors as F. Paul Wilson, Elizabeth Engstrom, and Jeremy Robert Johnson. Alan M. Clark and his wife, Melody, live in Oregon. www.alanmclark.com Visit his blog: https://ifdpublishing.com/blog
A beer bottle thrown carelessly at the windshield of a passing car sends the vehicle careening off the road, and the lives of high school seniors Denny Ford, his foster sister Jen McKnatt, and her sometimes boyfriend Brody Erwin, spinning out of control.
Over the next several days as the three experience increasingly bizarre, frightening, and seemingly unrelated events, they are forced to examine the ramifications of their actions and how their lives have been irrevocably altered.
What they’ve done can never be undone.
After all, it only takes one bottle toss to turn their world cockeyed forever.
Praise for Howard Odentz
“A simmering psychological thriller bolstered by a dynamic narrative voice and a few unexpected twists.” —Kirkus Reviews on What We Kill
“This author has a real knack for the weird and the wonderful.” —TheMostSublime.com
Author and playwright Howard Odentz is a lifelong resident of the gray area between Western Massachusetts and North Central Connecticut. His love of the region is evident in his writing as he often incorporates the foothills of the Berkshires and the small towns of the Bay and Nutmeg states into his work.
In addition to The Dead (A Lot) Series, he has written the horror novel Bloody Bloody Apple, the short story collection Little Killers A to Z, and a couple of horror-themed, musical comedies produced for the stage.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
My Teaser for this week is from
Nightfall
by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski
Genre: Horror / YA
Teaser from page 74 in the hard cover.
“Everything that we’ve been doing, we do for one simple reason. For generations, it has kept us safe. Every household in Bliss follows these directions, and upon return to our homes fourteen years later, everything is in perfect order. ”
~~~~~
Synopsis
After fourteen years of Day comes fourteen years of Night. Be sure not to get left in the dark.
On Marin’s island, sunrise doesn’t come every twenty-four hours – it comes every twenty-eight years. Now the sun is just a sliver of light on the horizon. The weather is turning cold. The shadows are growing long. The dark is rising. And soon it will be Night.
The eerie Evening sunset is causing the tide to begin its slow roll out hundreds of miles, and so Marin, along with her twin brother Kana and the rest of the islanders, must frantically begin preparations to sail south, where they will wait out the long Night. But first the house must be made ready for their departure. Locks must be taken off doors. Furniture must be arranged just so. Tables must be set as if for dinner. The rituals are bizzare – unnerving, even – but none of the adults will discuss why things must be this way. And then just as the ships are about to sail, the twins’ friend Line goes missing. Marin and Kana know where he has gone, and that the only way to rescue him is to do it themselves. And surely the ships will wait?
Because Night is falling. Their island is changing. And something is stirring in the dark.
The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find a sentence or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.
Then go over to Freda’s Voice and leave your link so we can visit your 56!
My 56 for this week is from:
Boy In The Box
by Marc E. Fitch
Genre: Horror
From page 56 in the paperback.
But then the figure stepped closer to the lamplight, and suddenly Jonathan could make out its features. The face was a crude mask of wood with poorly carved slits for eyes, mouth and nose and primitive designs of dull color painted on the flat face. Upon its head were the antlers of a tremendous stag, which reached like bony fingers up into the night.
I’m well into this one and it sure has some eerie atmosphere.
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Synopsis
“This is what true horror is meant to be, quiet and thoughtful, an eerie sense of something lurking just ahead in your path with no way of escape; BOY IN THE BOX by Marc E. Fitch is the haunting guilt that reminds us mistakes from the past can return at any time, and in the worst of ways.” — Eric J. Guignard, award-winning author and editor, including That Which Grows Wild and A World of Horror Ten years ago a mysterious and tragic hunting accident deep in the Adirondack Mountains left a boy buried in a storied piece of land known as Coombs’ Gulch and four friends with a terrible secret. Now, Jonathan Hollis and brothers Michael and Conner Braddick must return to the place that changed their lives forever in order to keep their secret buried. What they don’t realize is that they are walking into a trap — one set decades earlier by a supernatural being who is not confined by time or place: a demon that demands a sacrifice. FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
My Teaser for this week is from
The Forever House
by Tim Waggoner
Genre: Horror
Teaser from page 67 in the paperback.
All she could make out were the silhouettes of several large trees in the Raineses’ backyard. Nothing that might account for the weird sound that –
Her thoughts slammed to a halt as realization set in. There were no trees in the Raineses’ backyard. Not a one.
~~~~~
Synopsis
“Bram Stoker Award-winner Tim Waggoner consistently delivers the goods when it comes to hard-hitting horror fiction, with compelling characters and dangerous horrors at every turn.” – This is Horror In Rockridge, Ohio, a sinister family moves into a sleepy cul de sac. The Eldreds feed on the negative emotions of humans, creating nightmarish realms within their house to entrap their prey. Neighbors are lured into the Eldreds’ home and faced with challenges designed to heighten their darkest emotions so their inhuman captors can feed and feed well. If the humans are to have any hope of survival, they’ll have to learn to overcome their prejudices and resentments toward one another and work together. But which will prove more deadly in the end, the Eldred . . . or each other? FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.
David Tocher, Nancy Kilpatrick, Caitlin Marceau, Tyner Gillies,
Jen Frankel, Pat Flewwelling, Repo Kempt, Colleen Anderson, Karen Dales,
Judith Baron, Vanessa C Hawkins, Joe Powers, Robin Rowland, Sarah C Walker
“CANADIAN DREADFUL showcases some of Canada’s best voices in horror fiction.
This anthology is a harrowing tour of the northern landscape that
will leave you both dazzled and terrified.” ~David Morrell, New
York Times best-selling author of Murder as a Fine Art
In the pages of this anthology, you will not find the Canada you are
accustomed to, nor a Canada that the world has grown to know and
love. Between the covers, you will discover a dark landscape that
will challenge your perspective. From sea to shining sea, stories of
a darker Canada will arise, and within them all a kernel of truth.
Stories of sacrifice, cannibalism, ghosts, and mystical forests, the
authors will plunge you into the country that is Canadian Dreadful.
AUTHORS:
Colleen Anderson, Judith Baron, Karen Dales, Pat Flewwelling, Jen Frankel,
Tyner Gillies, Vanessa C Hawkins, Repo Kempt, Nancy Kilpatrick,
Caitlin Marceau, Joe Powers, Robin Rowland, David Tocher, and Sara C Walker.
168 Horror, Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense Short Stories
by Tobias Wade
Publisher: Haunted House Publishing LLC
Publication Date: February 1, 2019
The news said 33 miners were trapped when the mine collapsed.
And why wouldn’t they? 33 people were pulled out of the ground.
The men were buried 700 meters below the surface. There was no way in or out.
But the miners who were rescued all said the same thing:
They said there were only 32 miners during the cave in. That they counted and they counted—every day—every few hours to make sure everyone was taken care of.
Then one day they count again, and there were 33. A stranger was in their midst.
Something escaped from the earth during that rescue that never should have seen the light of day.
Demons, monsters, psychopaths, undead, mad-experiments, and terrifying paranormal encounters.
The last confession from a serial killer will take your breath away.
Why should you be afraid to leave an audio-recorder on overnight?
What could go wrong if you meet the Devil on Tinder?
Why does your reflection smile more than you do?
The Grim Reaper’s scythe isn’t to harvest you. He’s there to protect you from what’s waiting on the other side.
Early readers are saying:
“As a huge horror nut I love being freaked out of my mind, being taken for a dark spin, and then being left with goosebumps dotted on my skin.”
★★★★★ Review
“From the first story to the last, this book was enjoyable in that spine-tingling kind of way. It’s been a very long time since I’ve read anything that has wormed its way into my brain and had me thinking about it hours or days later.”
★★★★★ Review
“I swear there isn’t a clunker on here. You’d think even a solid compilation would have one or two lame ducks, but every last story in here is thrilling and terrifying and fantastic.”
★★★★★ Review
Fast, exciting, satisfying stories, filled with compelling mysteries and shocking twists.
Mega-collection with 168 chilling stories, over 700 pages include Amazon-Bestselling Collections 51, 52, and 53 Sleepless Nights, as well as 12 bonus tales from Brutal Bedtime Stories.
Easy to fit in a story during the day, or to keep you awake all night long.
Former neuroscience researcher, born again horror writer. During my studies, it struck me as odd that I could learn so much about why humans behave without understanding the intricacies of human nature. It occurred to me that I learned more about the depths of human experience from reading Dostoyevsky than I ever had from my text books, and I was inspired to write.
Download my horror collection for free and see all my publications at:
2010 Independent Publisher Book Awards Silver Medal Winner for Horror
#1 Free Best Seller in Horror Anthologies
Twenty-six short stories of occult, metaphysical, and fantastical horror that will follow you to the visions of your sleep.
The Dark Verse is a multiverse of Lovecraftian horror, spanning different realms and times, that touches upon evils that transcend the knowable. Whether a galactic entity that casts flesh off the wicked, a scientist harnessing the power of metamorphosis, or a diabolical overlord that torments souls in a dimension of unrelenting pain, there is no escape from the occult horrors that await you within the innumerable folios of The Dark Verse.
This is Sharkchild’s first collection of grim and ethereal tales.
2019 National Indie Excellence Awards Winner for Horror
2019 Book Excellence Awards Finalist for Horror
Twenty-six short stories of occult, metaphysical, and fantastical horror that will follow you to the visions of your sleep.
The Dark Verse is a multiverse of Lovecraftian horror, spanning different realms and times, that touches upon evils that transcend the knowable. Whether a stadium audience dazzled by the mystic power of alchemy, a gargantuan entity that plummets to the earth calling out a single human’s name, or a world where all doorways leading to it usher death, there is no escape from the occult horrors that await you within the innumerable folios of The Dark Verse.
This is Sharkchild’s fourth collection of grim and ethereal tales and can be enjoyed independently from the other Dark Verse volumes.
Thirteen short stories and a novella of occult, metaphysical, and fantastical horror that will follow you to the visions of your sleep. Whether a cosmic assassin able to annihilate any living entity across all of existence, a universe where physical size is a direct relationship to magical power, or a realm where money is made of living and dead flesh, there is no escape from the occult horrors that await you within the innumerable folios of The Dark Verse.
This is Sharkchild’s fifth collection of grim and ethereal tales. It is currently being funded on Kickstarter and is estimated to release at the end of Spring 2020. Back the book now and get your name on its pages.
M. AMANUENSIS SHARKCHILD is an award-winning author and publisher of a growing series of Lovecraftian horror short stories called The Dark Verse and of the dark fantasy novel, The Spirit Collectors. His self-published books are praised for their illustrious hardcover binding and artwork and have won six awards. The Dark Verse is also a podcast through which Sharkchild releases new short stories on a regular basis. The style and atmosphere of his writing is often compared to the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
He lives in lurid wakefulness and lucid dreams, overtaken by visions that uncontrollably seethe in a torrent of horror and fantasy. As a zealot of the imagination, he embraces the strange, the bizarre, and the great unknown. His path of creation has only just begun.
Some of Sharkchild’s other projects include Dark Energy Discoveries and Gravescabs. Dark Energy Discoveries is an EBM music project containing his rich vocal layers and soundscapes that are embodied by a virtual group of inter-dimensional beings who have joined forces to explore the ever-expanding reaches of existence. Gravescabs are reversible plush covers that are placed over a base plush toy called a Skell.
Horror and science fiction are a blend of genres I’m drawn to time and time again. Throw in a frozen environment and a group of people who are cut off from help and have to make their own way and it’s like icing on the cake. And discovering aliens is the sprinkles on top.
I was quickly drawn into the story. Formed a bond with one of the characters right away and soon met some others I liked. There was one that I had my doubts about. He did some stupid, selfish things when things started going wrong. But he eventually kind of won me over.
A group of people arrive in Antarctica to investigate an anomaly discovered by NASA. They find a huge rift in the ice and decide to risk going down to see what’s there. A storm blows in and they’re forced to wait it out under the ice so they decide to do some further exploring. What they find is unbelievable. An alien ship. Knowing that the rift is growing and that the ship will soon be lost, they enter. Nothing can prepare them for what’s inside.
As I mentioned before, I was quickly pulled into the story. And once the group entered the ship it was break neck speed to the finish. There’s something, or some things alive. Not sweet little creatures from outer space. These are big, strong, fast and very, very hungry. As they run from one bad situation to another, they are forced deeper and deeper into the ship. It’s a race against time to find a way out before the ship slips into the sea.
Some seriously edge of your seat encounters happened throughout the book. From scary, to a bit gory, to bewildering. I was completely invested in discovering the fate of these characters.
And the ending was out of this world. I had to read it again. And think about it. And I came to the conclusion that it was nuts, but great too. I had to laugh. Talk about not seeing it coming.
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Humans have always looked to the stars for signs of Extraterrestrials.
They have been looking in the wrong place.
They are already here, entombed in a spaceship beneath Antarctic ice for thousands of years.
The ice is melting and they will soon be free.
A huge rift in the ice is discovered in Antarctica that stretches for 18 miles, (29 km) and 820 feet (250 meters) apart at its widest point.
When environmental scientists enter the ice rift to check out an anomaly on NASA’s satellite scans of the area, they discover something far more life threatening than the raging blizzard trapping them in the rift. They are unarmed and unprepared for their ensuing fight for survival.
Note – Though Ice Rift – Salvage, is a continuation of the story from Ice Rift,
it was brought about by readers feedback saying they would like to read a
follow up on the book. Ice Rift can be read as a complete story. There is no
cliffhanger or abrupt ending.
The spaceship entombed in the huge iceberg calved from the Pine Island Glacier
drifts towards the warmer air and ocean temperatures of the South Atlantic. The
race is on to claim the alien technology before the ice melts and releases its
hold on the trapped alien vessel.
The mission: Board the spaceship and salvage as much alien technology as possible before the doomed vessel sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
The obstacles: A disintegrating iceberg, a collapsing spaceship, an armed Russian salvage force intent on claiming alien technology for themselves, an approaching storm, and the biggest obstacle of all—the spacecraft’s alien inhabitants.
The aliens have another mission—survival—and when opposing species clash, there can be only one victor.
Ice Rift – Salvage is the sequel to Ice Rift, which needs to be read first to gain the most enjoyment from the story.
ICE RIFT – SIBERIA is the 3rd book in the best selling Ice Rift series. Ice Rift and Ice Rift – Salvage need to be read first to gain maximum enjoyment from this novel.
Having stowed aboard the Russian vehicle transporting the alien weaponry
salvaged from the doomed Antarctic spaceship, the surviving fragment of EV1L
arrives at a secret underground complex in the remote wilderness of the Siberian tundra.
It will hide.
It will feed and grow.
It will breed.
When all is ready, EV1L and her hoard of vicious offspring will emerge from the facility and head for the nearest city to start their conquest of Earth.
When the Americans intercept a plea for help from the secret facility and learn of the alien menace, a crack team is rushed to Siberia. Their mission is to destroy the alien creatures before they escape.
If they fail, it could bring about the end of human civilization.
Ben was born in England, but currently lives in Germany.
He loves to laugh and make others laugh, something which he is particularly good at. He is a joker, a hoaxer and someone who loves mysteries, especially if they involve a long lost treasure.
Apart from writing he likes nothing better than to be travelling in his motorhome around Europe seeking out mysteries and hunting for long lost treasures, which invariably lead him below ground to explore caves, caverns and old mines. These then become ideas he can use in his books.
Currently based in Germany, if he is writing a book with a location in Europe, he will often drive to the area to get a feel of the place, the smells and the sounds of the
streets, the people and the landscape, and will write down descriptions for later use.
Ben’s research into the mysteries he has sought to solve is so thorough he often discovers snippets of information no one else has. His research has been used in many documentaries and his hoaxed discoveries detailed in his Lost Tomb of the
Knights Templar book were featured in a Hollywood movie.
