-
“She cast a spell on me with this book.” – THE WITCH AND THE FAITHLESS by Polly J. Mordant reviewed
It is our third visit to the supernaturally-afflicted village of Flammark and we find our gifted hero Emma Blake in a state of turmoil. Her dear friend (and local priest) Will Turner has gone awol, leaving her bereft, and the village has been issued with a replacement priest (the faithless of the title?) who immediately…
-
“You’ll find love on every page.” – Cerys Matthews’ retelling of UNDER MILKWOOD reviewed
As a Dylan Thomas fanboy (my copy of The Dylan Thomas Omnibus never leaves my bedside) I was very excited about getting my hands on a copy of this book. It’s an illustrated retelling of Thomas’s classic ‘play for voices’ that made its debut in 1954. For those that don’t already know, Under Milkwood chronicles…
-
“Thank you for introducing me to Tartan Noir.” – HUNTER’S REVENGE by Val Penny reviewed
The blurb: Hunter by name – Hunter by nature. Detective Inspector Hunter Wilson is a loyal friend and a fair leader. He is called to the scene of a murder in Edinburgh where the corpse has been fatally shot. He is dismayed to find the victim is his friend and colleague, George Reinbold.Hunter must investigate…
-
“This is a book for people who love books.” – ECHO: THE CURSE OF THE BLACKWOOD WITCHES by Yasmine Maher reviewed
Everything about this book is beautiful; the cover, the writing, the story, the titular character, even the formatting! How often do you find yourself saying that about a novel? I even dig the ‘Echo’ logo on the cover. Yes, you can tell that a lot of thought, care, effort and love has gone into creating…
-
Rob Zombie’s THE MUNSTERS reviewed by me and my girlfriend!
My review: Rob Zombie’s THE MUNSTERS serves as a prequel to the classic TV sitcom that originally aired in 1964. Set for the most part in Transylvania, it chronicles how lumbering monster Herman and vampish Lily meet and fall in love, to the ire of Lily’s undead father, The Count. This movie is a very…
-
“Fun, scary and brutal.” – SILENT DAWN by CL Raven reviewed
After reading and thoroughly enjoying The Malignant Dead, a macabre tale of life and death (but mostly death) set in the plague-ravaged gutters of 17th century Edinburgh, I was in the mood for another grisly fix from ghost-chasing, pole-dancing, horror-fixated twins CL Raven, so I picked up Silent Dawn and dived in. This novel is…
-
Say ‘Howdy!’ to Byron Wurd in this extract from FRENZY ISLAND
In the first extract from FRENZY ISLAND that I posted we met the cat-loving heavy metal fan from Arizona, Cynthia Dowley. In the second we met refugees Esperance and Godriva Watara. Now it’s time to meet the bad guy from my forthcoming sci-fi/horror novel: Texan billionaire businessman Byron Wurd. Byron made his fortune with a…
-
Say “Bwakeye!” to Esperance, Godriva and Buki in this extract from FRENZY ISLAND
The story of FRENZY ISLAND kicks off when a small lifeboat full of shipwrecked refugees washes ashore on an unnamed island off the coast of east Africa… “The boat hit shore at 09:27 EAT. We can be exact on this because it was picked up by the perimeter cameras. It was an old open lifeboat,…
-
Say ‘Hey!’ to Cynthia – an extract from FRENZY ISLAND
Cynthia Dowley is one of the main players in my forthcoming sci-fi/horror novel FRENZY ISLAND. She is absolutely, totally and completely my favourite character in the book; a prolifically tattooed twenty-something employee of SpaceWurd who digs heavy metal (favourite bands include Sumo Cyco, Butcher Babies, Stitched Up Heart and Megadeth), has a big ginger cat…
-
“An orgy of raw meat, ingested hair and bile.” – The Feast reviewed
If you’re hungry for a creepy folk-horror tale that’s guaranteed to put you off your dinner, this is it. The Feast is a Welsh language film, subtitled, that centres around a dinner party thrown by a well-to-do family of generally unpleasant people. Glenda, the matriarch, is a prissy perfectionist stewing in her own materialism. Her…
RICHARD E. ROCK
the official virtual lair
RICHARD E. ROCK 