Showing posts with label Short Story Collection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Short Story Collection. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

John the Balladeer (Silver John #6) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: John the Balladeer
Series: Silver John #6
Author: Manly Wade Wellman
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Folk Fantasy
Pages: 222
Words: 90K
Publish: 1988



This was a good end to my Silver John read by Manly Wade Wellman. I will say though, Wellman likes telling us that the women in the stories (if they are bad) don’t wear underwear. Make of that what you will.

This was a collection of the short stories that Wellman wrote about Silver John from 1951-1987 and showcases many of the instances that John references in the full novels. We also get the story of how John and Evadaire meet and marry. There is a section of what I’d call “micro-fiction”, little stories 1-2 paragraphs long that still manage to tell a whole story. I was actually quite impressed with the ability of Wellman to get an Idea across with so few words. No blather and filler here!

I don’t see myself ever re-reading these Silver John books. I enjoyed my time with them, really enjoyed the covers and it brought back good memories of seeing the books in the public library in the 90’s. Speaking of covers, I’m including the 2023 re-release version here. Not sure why, as it seems like the artist was on drugs when he drew it, but it still captures that fey and wild feel of American Folklore that Wellman was going for with Silver John.




★★★☆☆


From the Publisher & Table of Contents


In John the Balladeer, Manly Wade Wellman created one of the great characters in all of horror and fantasy literature. Armed with his silver-stringed guitar and an endless trove of folk songs, John travels the backwoods of Appalachia, battling supernatural evil with his own brand of down-home charm and endless resourcefulness. In these tales, John wanders the Southern mountains, encountering hoodoo men and witch women, strange supernatural beasts, malevolent spirits, and even George Washington's ghost.

Edited by horror legend Karl Edward Wagner, this volume contains the complete John the Balladeer stories in their original, unaltered form, as they first appeared in magazines and anthologies between 1951 and 1987. Also featured is a foreword by Wellman's friend and literary executor David Drake and an introduction by Wagner.


Introduction to the
Electronic Publication
of John the Balladeer

O Ugly Bird!
The Desrick on Yandro
Vandy, Vandy
One Other
Call Me From the Valley
The Little Black Train
Shiver in the Pines
Walk Like a Mountain
On the Hills and Everywhere
Old Devlins Was A-Waiting
Nine Yards of Other Cloth
Wonder as I Wander:
Farther Down the Trail
Trill Coster's Burden
The Spring
Owls Hoot in the Daytime
Can These Bones Live?
Nobody Ever Goes There
Where Did She Wander?



Sunday, August 03, 2025

Behind the Death Ball 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Behind the Death Ball
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 155
Words: 58K
Publish: 1974


Whenever I see August Derleth’s name in these collections, I grimace, because I know I am getting a “Solar Pons” story. Pons is a poorly executed Sherlock Holmes ripoff and Derleth’s story telling just isn’t up to the original. So I grit my teeth, read as fast as I can and try to get it done with, much like eating broccoli. Thankfully, other stories were much better.

Voodoo Doll had an ending I simply did not see coming. I WAS expecting the voodoo doll (it was going to be a toyline) to end up having real power, but when it was given to the little girl who always broke her toys, well, the story ends with one of the creators sitting in a chair while his head is on the other side of the room. It was absolutely ghoulish :-D

The Hitchhikers was also rather ghoulish. It had something like 4-5 double crosses within the story and it was like getting walloped with a couple of left-right-left-right-right in the boxing ring. I did see the final double cross coming, but it was so obvious that I didn’t feel “clever” knowing it was coming. It had that “inevitable” feel more than anything.

The Fat Jow stories, unlike the Solar Pons, are always a good read. I suspect Fat Jow is a ripoff of Charlie Chan, but I am not familiar enough with Chan to know for sure. Jow is a student of human nature and the stories just kind of flow, not a lot of drama. But they still have kick and I like that.

The final story, The Ghost & Mr. Grebner, was amusing, quiet and yet possibly horrific. It didn’t strike me as horrific when I read it, unlike The Hitchhikers. In fact, I thought it was a gentle, amusing end to the collection. A widower is contemplating marriage to a widow and his dead wife’s ghost appears to him and tells him “no”. He argues with the ghost in that distracted, old man way and the ghost goes away. Mr Grebner proposes and leaves the building. Once he gets to the street, he sees a crowd clustered around a body that obviously came from the apartment he was just in. And it ends. So we’re left with that ambiguity of did the ghost somehow force the widow out the window? Is Mr Grebner completely insane and he threw the widow out the window? Is he having hallucinations about everything? We simply don’t know. The entire story is written in that distracted old man way. He doesn’t question talking to his wife’s ghost, he’s more concerned about what is for dinner. It’s a very mellow story and I thought it was a great book end to this collection.

★★★✬☆


Publisher’s Blurb & Table of Contents
Any artist is only as good as his audience. That master orchestrator of terror, Alfred Hitchcock, is no exception. What good is his fearful brand of fiendish fun if he's no nerves to twist, no teeth to set chattering, no vocal chords to strum into high notes of terrified hysteria? That’s where you come in, dear reader. Just put yourself in his skillful hands. He’ll give you a screaming good time with personally selected stories & novelettes by masters of menace & the macabre


1. Perfect Shot-Lawrence Treat

2. The Amateur Philologist-August Derleth

3. The Glint-Arthur Porges

4. The Seventh Man-Helen Nielsen

5. Voodoo Doll-Henry Slesar

6. A Friendly Exorcise-Talmage Powell

7. Many Women Too Many-C.B. Gilford

8. Till Death-Fletcher Flora

9. The Hitchhikers-Bruce Hunsberger

10. Store Cop-Ed Lacy

11. Doom Signal-John Lutz

12. See What’s in the Bag-Hal Ellson

13. Fat Jow & the Walking Woman-Robert Alan Blair

14. The Ghost & Mr. Grebner-Syd Hoff




Friday, July 18, 2025

Monster Hunter Files (MHI #7) 4Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Monster Hunter Files
Series: MHI #7
Author: Larry Correia
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 300
Words: 117K
Publish: 2017



When I originally read this back in ‘17, I gave it 4stars. I was hoping that maybe I could inch this up a halfstar, but sadly, the Jane Yellowrock story ("She Bitch, Killer of Kits") still kept that from happening, again. I just dislike Jane Yellowrock, period. I did skip the John Ringo story, as it was just a chapter from the final Monster Hunter Memoirs book and I’ve since read that trilogy.

When I went to read this, this time, I saw Schmidt’s name on the cover and thought “huh, that name sounds familiar”. Turns out he had compiled and edited a couple of Predator collections that I had read, namely Eyes of the Demon and If It Bleeds. Eyes was just a horrible collection of modern writers who didn’t know diddly squat about the Predators and Schmidt should have been ashamed of himself for allowing such a collection. That is the reason he’s not getting a spot in the “Authors” part of the info block from me this time around. He’s a dink.

And on to the positive.

I think that A Knight of the Enchanted Forest was once again my favorite story. I never thought about dipping pepperoni pizza in ranch dressing before this story and to be honest, while it does sound yummy (in an excess kind of way), I still haven’t worked up the courage to actually try it. Maybe 2025 will be the year! (actually, make that exclamation point a question mark, I’m still not brave enough)

Mr Natural by Jody Nye was the story about a group of hippies who raised a demon that enhanced nature, but at the cost of human sacrifice. That was the story that I talked about shooting hippies and commies and ended up getting in trouble in a group over on Librarything about it. Ahhh, good memories, that’s what that is :-)

"Huffman Strikes Back" was a surprise, in a good way. Of course, it was coauthored by The Dink, so I’m giving ALL the credit to the co-author, Julie Frost. This story was about the brother of the werewolf that Owen Zastava Pitt (the main character in the MHI series) threw out of a skyscraper in the first book. Huffman was just as insane and twisted as his brother. He was also just as petty and small minded. It was good to see him get his!

Another good re-read in the MHI universe and I am happy to report that the series is holding strong. Onward!

★★★★☆


Publishers Blurb and Table of Contents

For well over a century, Monster Hunter International has kept the world safe from supernatural threats small and large—and in some cases very, very large. Now, join us as MHI opens their archives for the first time. From experienced Hunters on their toughest cases, to total newbies' initial encounters with the supernatural, The Monster Hunter Files reveals the secret history of the world's most elite monster fighting force.

Discover what happened when Agent Franks took on the Nazis in World War Two. Uncover how the Vatican’s Combat Exorcists deal with Old Ones in Mexico. And find out exactly what takes place in a turf war between trailer park elves and gnomes. From the most powerful of mystical beings to MHI’s humble janitor, see the world of professional monster hunting like never before.


Introduction by Albert Lee

"Thistle" by Larry Correia

"Small Problems" by Jim Butcher

"Darkness Under the Mountain" by Mike Kupari

"A Knight of the Enchanted Forest" by Jessica Day George

"The Manticore Sanction" by John C. Wright

"The Dead Yard" by Maurice Broaddus

"The Bride" by Brad R. Torgersen

"She Bitch, Killer of Kits" by Faith Hunter

"Mr. Natural" by Jody Lynn Nye

"Sons of the Father" by Quincey J. Allen

"The Troll Factory" by Alex Shvartsman

"Keep Kaiju Weird" by Kim May

"The Gift" by Steve Diamond

"The Case of the Ghastly Spectre" by John Ringo

"Huffman Strikes Back" by Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Julie Frost

"Hunter Born" by Sarah A. Hoyt

"Hitler's Dog" by Jonathan Maberry

Afterword

Biographies




Wednesday, July 09, 2025

Casebook of the Black Widowers (The Black Widowers #3) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Casebook of the Black Widowers
Series: The Black Widowers #3
Authors: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 161
Words: 75K
Publish: 1980


Another enjoyable set of short stories. The secrets and mysteries involved here were much less “intense” than in previous books, just a step up from cozy in my opinion and I enjoyed the more laid back feeling.

Onward!

★★★☆☆


From Wikipedia.org

Every month, the Black Widowers convene for sumptuous food, fine wine, and a cosmically baffling mystery. Attended by Henry, the all-knowing waiter, these gentle rogues ponder such imponderables as: * the one-syllable middle name that represents what every schoolboy knows, yet doesn't... * a murder by solar eclipse very far out in space... * a Soviet spy's dying message utilizing a Scrabble set and a newspaper sports page... * a satanic cult leader's Martian connection... * a computer criminal's strange equation of Christmas and Halloween... * an ancient symbol that provides the key to a woman's mysterious disappearance...

Contents:

* The Cross of Lorraine
* The Family Man
* The Sports Page
* Second Best
* The Missing Item
* The Next Day
* Irrelevance!
* None So Blind
* The Backward Look
* What Time Is It?
* Middle Name
* To the Barest



Thursday, June 05, 2025

Bone Swans 2Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Bone Swans
Series: -----
Author: Claire Cooney
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 236
Words: 95K
Publish: 2015



Last year Bookforager reviewed this collection. In her review, she sounded exactly how I felt when I would read a Patricia McKillip book. As McKillip is now dead and will not be writing any more stories, I was hoping that maybe this Cooney girl could pick up the slack. Saying I had high hopes was putting it mildly.

Things got off to a rocky start. There was an introduction by Gene Wolfe, as he knew Cooney. I despise Wolfe’s writings, so when he praises someone, that’s a big old warning sign to me. I knew that biased me so I went into the actual stories determined not to let Wolfe ruin this for me. No fear on that account, Cooney did that all by herself with no help from anyone.

I have described McKillip’s writing as fire and silk, rounded stones in a small brook creating that soothing babbling sound. Her writing was poetry in lyrical form. Cooney had that same poetical format and even I could appreciate it. However, Cooney was rotting granite (if you have ever come into contact with rotting rock, you know how vile it is) in the midst of a swamp of effluent. Every story set my teeth on edge. My back was completely riled. I hated this collection. I’m not going to go into specifics in this review because I don’t want to give any more of my time to even thinking about Cooney. I know nothing about her beyond the introduction by Wolfe and I want to keep it that way.

If you are curious about the book’s contents, read Bookforager’s review. She did an admirable job and I have no hesitation about recommending her review.

★★☆☆☆


From the Publisher & ToC

A swan princess hunted for her bones, a broken musician and his silver pipe, and a rat named Maurice bring justice to a town under fell enchantment. A gang of courageous kids confronts both a plague-destroyed world and an afterlife infested with clowns but robbed of laughter. In an island city, the murder of a child unites two lovers, but vengeance will part them. Only human sacrifice will save a city trapped in ice and darkness. Gold spun out of straw has a price, but not the one you expect.

Introducing C. S. E. Cooney

Life on the Sun

The Bone Swans of Amandale

Martyr’s Gem

How the Milkmaid Struck a Bargain with the Crooked One

The Big Bah-Ha


Sunday, June 01, 2025

A Choice of Evils 4Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: A Choice of Evils
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 343
Words: 134K
Publish: 1983


In March of ‘24, I read “Portraits of Murder”, a large collection of short stories that I assumed would be my last hurrah with the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series. I tried a couple of issues of the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, but the less said about that, the better. Portraits was the 28th volume I’d read and I had assumed I had pretty much drained the well dry. Therefore imagine my surprise when I came across a website dedicated to the “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” books that listed them all out. Turns out there were at least another 22. So let the screaming recommence!

One thing that I have come to realize about these collections vs the magazine is that I “need” a lot more stories all together than the magazines can provide. Each story is like a little cream puff of villainy and one or even four will just leave you wanting more. You need a surfeit of them, a gluttonous feast that leaves you in a food coma for the next 8-12hrs. THAT is what these collections attempt to do and definitely succeeded here.

With collections like these, I never even attempt to take notes for each story. There are 34 stories here. Can you imagine the size of this review if I tried to write out notes for 34 stories? I could probably do a short story review for the entire month if I reviewed one short story a day. Maybe some month I’ll do that if I don’t feel like reading. I hear that reading slumps still exist in our world, so maybe it will hit me too. You could only be so lucky ;-)

The one story that did really stand out to me was “Knight of the Road” by Thomasina Weber. It’s about a conman who travels up and down the major highways of the East Coast of the US looking for women to bamboozle and steal their money. He gets conned himself and the story ends with him looking forward to meeting that woman again so they can team up. It just had that self-effacing, ironic biting humor that can appeal to me. It was also one of the few stories that didn’t involve murder or violence in one way or another. It was clever.

So Alfie’s back baby and he’s here to stay until you’re sick of him.

*slow clap

★★★★☆


Table of Contents:

The Battered Mailbox by Stanley Cohen

Center of Attention by Dan J. Marlowe

Lesson for a Pro by Stephen Wasylyk

Aftermath of Death by Talmage Powell — AHMM 8(7)

Enough Rope for Two by Clark Howard

A Change for the Better by Arthur Porges

A Killing in the Market by Robert Bloch

Do It Yourself by Charles Mergendahl

Lost and Found by James Michael Ullman — AHMM 18(8)

Passport in Order by Lawrence Block

Moonlight Gardener by Robert L. Fish

Courtesy Call by Sonora Morrow

Restored Evidence by Patrick O'Keeffe

The Standoff by Frank Sisk

A Fine and Private Place by Virginia Long

Dead, You Know by John Lutz — AHMM 13(1)

A Certain Power by Edward D. Hoch

Hunters by Borden Deal

The Driver by William Brittain

Class Reunion by Charles Boeckman

Mean Cop by W. Sherwood Hartman — AHMM 13(11)

Kill, If You Want Me! by Richard Deming

Welcome to My Prison by Jack Ritchie

Come into My Parlor by Gloria Amoury

Lend Me Your Ears by Edward Wellen

Killer Scent by Joe E. Hensley

Dear Corpus Delicti by William Link and Richard Levinson

Knight of the Road by Thomasina Weber — AHMM 8(9)

The Truth that Kills by Donald Olson — AHMM 17(12)

Where is Thy Sting? by John F. Suter

Anatomy of an Anatomy by Donald E. Westlake

Murder Me Twice by Lawrence Treat

Not a Laughing Matter by Evan Hunter

The Graft is Green by Harold Q. Masur




Saturday, May 10, 2025

More Tales of the Black Widowers (The Black Widowers #2) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: More Tales of the Black Widowers
Series: The Black Widowers #2
Authors: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 197
Words: 77K
Publish: 1976


This was exactly more of the same from Tales of the Black Widowers. I am ok with that. I love short story collections and Asimov was master of that craft. Having him switch from Science Fiction to Mystery hasn’t changed anything in his story telling ability. Thankfully.

I probably would have bumped this up half a star since I enjoyed the stories just as much as before, but once again, the interpersonal interactions between the members of the Black Widowers Club just grated on my nerves. They are jerks to each other, they are jerks to the invited guest and I can only imagine what they must be like out in the world at large. I find it very unpleasant. Reading these Tales is like having some of that sweet and sour sauce and I’m not a fan of the sour.

This cover is very well done, in that it contrasts with the first cover (which was solid white, with one black widow spider). I like little flourishes like that. It doesn’t actually make the stories themselves any better or worse, but it adds to the overall “insert pretentious french phrase about making things better in small ways”. There, now that you haven’t learned anything at Bookstoogiversity, class is dismissed!

ps,
Thanks to Scuffed Granny, I am experimenting with the "Excerpt" part of blogging. You shouldn't notice anything different unless you read my posts in the WP Reader OR get the email for each post. To you email people, let me know what you think. 

★★★☆☆


From Wikipedia.org

This book is the second of six that describe mysteries solved by the Black Widowers, based on a literary dining club Asimov belonged to known as the Trap Door Spiders. It collects twelve stories by Asimov, nine reprinted from mystery or science fiction magazines and three previously unpublished, together with a general introduction, and an afterword following each story by the author. Each story involves the club members' knowledge of trivia.

Contents

  • "Introduction"

  • "When No Man Pursueth"

  • "Quicker Than the Eye"

  • "The Iron Gem"

  • "The Three Numbers"

  • "Nothing Like Murder"

  • "No Smoking"

  • "Season's Greetings!"

  • "The One and Only East"

  • "Earthset and Evening Star"

  • "Friday the Thirteenth"

  • "The Unabridged"

  • "The Ultimate Crime"



Tuesday, April 01, 2025

The Wild Adventures of Cthulhu #2 (Cthulhu Anthology #22) 1Star

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Wild Adventures of Cthulhu #2
Series: Cthulhu Anthology #22

Editor: Will Murray
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 210
Words: 77K


The first story in this anthology ends like this:

All mysteries are contained in the Great Mystery. The Great Mystery has authority over all lesser mysteries. Lesser mysteries have no power over the Great Mystery. Wakan Tanka is far more powerful than they. I walk with Wakiya medicine. So I partake of that power.

Thus, the Great Spirit is elevated so far above Cthulhu and his ilk that humanity doesn’t need to worry. Then you have a later story about a preacher of Christianity and it goes as you’d expect. God and Jesus are denigrated and spit upon and shown to be impotent and powerless before Cthulhu.

I’m stopping reading these anthologies. The hypocrisy shown here finally pushed me over the edge. I’ll revisit the idea of reading more cosmic horror later this year or early in ‘26.

Not exactly the way I wanted to start the month.

★☆☆☆☆


Table of Contents

Introduction             5

God General Nakji             7

Evacuation Day             31

The Hindmarsh Abomination             46

Moonday             60

Smoking Mirror             88

In The Lightless Chambers of Hellish N’gah-Kthun  100

The Purple Emperor              127

The Cow-Men of Coburn             134

The Arcade             149

The Wild Ones of Weirport             158




Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Tales of the Black Widowers (The Black Widowers #1) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Tales of the Black Widowers
Series: The Black Widowers #1
Authors: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 179
Words: 69K


This was a collection of short stories (as are all the books in this series) and so I knew that I would enjoy them. Asimov was an absolute master of the short story, and whether it was in SF or Mystery (as in here), he knew how to convey the most info in the shortest amount of words and STILL knock your lights out with a hidden right hook to the jaw.

So you would think this would have had a higher rating. I did too. And it would have, except for one thing, that was consistent across all the stories. The members of the club are petty and argue about the stupidest little thing, and generally made me wonder WHY they were all in the same club. They did not seem to hate each other, but they also didn’t seem to click with each other like friends do. If this was my introduction to friendship, I would want no part of it.

Without that aspect, the stories and mini-mysteries would have gotten an easy 4stars from me. Quick and punchy and never overstaying it’s welcome. Asimov also talks about each story, where it was published and something interesting about it. But! And this is most important, he does it AFTER the story is done. I get to read the story, make up my own mind about it and then he throws his own light on it. I’ve read too many anthologies where the editor thought their words and ideas were the most important and put them before the story, thus ruining the whole thing for me. Asimov was smart enough to know that The Stories the Thing. Because of that, I was able to enjoy what he wrote about them. Most of the stuff he talked about was title changes. The mystery magazine would change the title and he’d talk about why he agreed or didn’t with that decision. It also led to talking about whether he kept the title change for the story in his own book or used the original. It was all done with a very light hand and there wasn’t a note of bitterness or acrimony in it all.

I am looking forward to the rest of the series but am hoping the members become less pigheaded to each other.

★★★☆☆


From Wikipedia.org

This book is the first of six that describe mysteries solved by the Black Widowers, based on a literary dining club Asimov belonged to known as the Trap Door Spiders. It collects twelve stories by Asimov, nine reprinted from mystery magazines and three previously unpublished, together with a general introduction, and an afterword following each story by the author. Each story involves the club members' knowledge of trivia.


  • "The Acquisitive Chuckle"

  • "Ph as in Phony"

  • "Truth to Tell"

  • "Go, Little Book!"

  • "Early Sunday Morning"

  • "The Obvious Factor"

  • "The Pointing Finger"

  • "Miss What?"

  • "The Lullaby of Broadway"

  • "Yankee Doodle Went to Town"

  • "The Curious Omission"

  • "Out of Sight"



Wednesday, March 12, 2025

The Wild Adventures of Cthulhu Vol 1 (Cthulhu Anthology #21) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Wild Adventures of Cthulhu Vol 1
Series: Cthulhu Anthology #21
Editor: Will Murray
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 199
Words: 66K


Will Murray wrote Cthulhu short stories for various magazines and collections and they all had the overarching element of being connected by an organization that was trying to prevent the intrusion of the elder gods into our dimension. Each story was standalone, not necessarily dependent on previous stories OR future stories and if one story contradicted how our world ended, it didn’t matter, because what did matter was that the elder gods WOULD break through, period.

I had only read one of these stories before, so the novelty of them all was pretty good. My usual complaint occurred, which didn’t surprise me. One of the top men of the top secret organization (CEES? I can’t remember what ridiculous thing it was called. It made sense when reading but as soon as I stopped I simply forgot because it had no real world application) was a devout Christian and when the elder gods broke into our world and were eradicating humanity, said leader went insane, spouted some specific blasphemies about God and Jesus and then blew his head off with his service pistol. What concerned me about it was that it didn’t concern me.

I am thinking that I have gotten too used to such things, and that isn’t good. So I’ve got one more Cthulhu anthology on my ereader and once I’ve read that, I’m going to take a break from the cosmic horror for the rest of the year. Let my standards reset to what they should be. Repeated exposure to blasphemy is doing what it always does, it dulls and I refuse to accept that in my life.

★★☆☆


Table of Contents

Introduction

To Clear the Earth

The Eldridge Collection

Rude Awakening

A Trillion Young

Static

The Sothis Radiant

Dark Redeemer

What Brings the Void

The Hour of Our Triumph

Black Fire



Thursday, February 20, 2025

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (September 2012) 2Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
Series: September 2012
Editor: Linda Landrigan
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 122
Words: 45K

Yeah, no. This was no better than the previous editions of this magazine and the stories didn’t have any oomph, any chutzpah, any “grab me by the throat and choke me to death”ness. Landrigan either can’t get a decent set of short stories to publish, or she doesn’t know what a good story is OR, and this is my bet, what she thinks is a good story is so vastly different from everyone else’s definition that it’s impossible to get a good story here. So I’m done with this magazine. I’m going to hunt down as many of the old “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” books as I can. At least those old stories had some guts.

Man, this just not my week for getting along with various series. DCI Roderick Alleyn got kicked to the curb. Then I savaged Conan, which just shouldn’t have been possible. Now I’m striking out with an ongoing publication that carries Alfred Hitchcock’s name. If it weren’t for me reading that Nero Wolfe book on Monday, this week would have been a complete reading waste. I haven’t had a week this bad in YEARS. It also means my average for February is going to plummet like the temperatures outdoors.




★★☆☆☆


Table of Contents:

Department: EDITOR'S NOTE: ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE by Linda Landrigan

Department: THE LINEUP

Fiction: THE VAUDEVILLE DETECTIVE by Garnett Elliott

Department: MYSTERIOUS PHOTOGRAPH

Fiction: BEEHIVE ROUND by Martin Limon

Fiction: BIG WATTS by Doc Finch

Fiction: FOOL'S GOLD by Dee Long

Department: BOOKED & PRINTED by Robert C. Hahn

Fiction: BRUTAL by Robert Lopresti

Fiction: THE BEST LAID PLANS by Jim Ingraham

Mystery Classic: NIGHT AT THE INN by Georgette Heyer, selected and Introduced by Jane K. Cleland

Department: THE STORY THAT WON

Department: COMING IN OCTOBER 2012


Tuesday, January 28, 2025

That Is Not Dead (Cthulhu Anthology #20) 1Star

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: That Is Not Dead
Series: Cthulhu Anthology #20
Editor: Darrell Schweitzer
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 212
Words: 82K


Last time I read something edited by Schweitzer, it was Cthulhu’s Reign. I enjoyed that. This time, there was a story, by Schweitzer himself, that was out and out blasphemous. While I usually will dnf a book with issues like that, in a collection of short stories I feel ok with not. But the rating tanked right down to 1star. I was surprised, because there was a story by S.T. Joshi and he’s a total twat, so I was expecting HIS story to be the one I hated on.

It also leads to another observation about the Cthulhu Mythos that continues to bug me. It is always Christianity and Jehovah and Jesus that get the shaft in these stories. Always. No Buddha getting his serenity all butt raped. No Allah eating shit and saying he likes it. Not even Joseph Smith for goodness sake! The least they could do is make his magic glasses eat his brains or something. But nope, none of that now. And I wonder why. I have some ideas but they are pure conjecture and baseless speculation.

So really, while I enjoyed some of these stories, the ones I didn’t dragged me down paths I didn’t really want to perambulate on and I feel like I was mugged. That is NOT the feeling I want when I read a book.

★☆☆☆☆


From Wikipedia

The book collects fourteen short stories by various authors, with an introduction by the editor. All share the Cthulhu Mythos setting originated by H. P. Lovecraft, but unlike his stories, which generally take place in modern times, they are set in previous historical eras. The effect is to take the Mythos from the realm of contemporary horror into that of historical fiction. The stories are presented in chronological order from the 2nd millennium BC to the late 19th century, with the last set in the present but looking back to medieval events

TOC

  • "Introduction: Horror of the Carnivàle" (Darrell Schweitzer)

  • "Egypt, 1200 BC: Herald of Chaos" (Keith Taylor)

  • "Mesopotamia, second millennium BC: What a Girl Needs" (Esther Friesner)

  • "Judaea, second century AD: The Horn of the World’s Ending" (John Langan)

  • "Central Asia, second century AD: Monsters in the Mountains at the Edge of the World" (Jay Lake)

  • "Palestine, Asia Minor, and Central Asia; late eleventh and mid twelfth centuries AD: Come, Follow Me" (Darrell Schweitzer)

  • "England, 1605: Ophiuchus" (Don Webb)

  • "Russia, late seventeenth century: Of Queens and Pawns" (Lois H. Gresh)

  • "Mexico, 1753: Smoking Mirror" (Will Murray)

  • "France, 1762: Incident at Ferney" (S. T. Joshi)

  • "Arizona Territory, 1781: Anno Domini Azathoth" (John R. Fultz)

  • "Massachusetts, USA, early twentieth century. Italy, early nineteenth century: Slowness" (Don Webb)

  • "Massachusetts, USA, and Spain, late nineteenth century: The Salamanca Encounter" (Richard A. Lupoff)

  • "Seattle, Washington, USA, 1889: Old Time Entombed" (W. H. Pugmire)

  • "England, twenty-first century and the Middle Ages: Nine Drowned Churches" (Harry Turtledove)



Thursday, January 09, 2025

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (July/August 2012) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
Series: July/August 2012
Editor: Linda Landrigan
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 207
Words: 81K


With this being a double issue of the magazine, there were more stories, but there was a longer novella size story at the end, a story that won the Black Orchid novella award. Some award given by hoity toity gate keepers of Rex Stout’s stories, ooh lah lah. Whatever, I stick my thumb in their eyes and drag their pathetic brains out, as they writhe in agony while I watch them slowly die.

I was fully prepared to hate that novella, just for winning. But you know what? It was decent. “I” never would have given it an award, but it did help bring the quality of writing up for this magazine.

More stories helped though. Made me feel like I was reading one of Hitchcock’s old anthology books instead of a dodgy ezine.

This was interesting enough that I’ll try the next one.

★★★☆☆


Table of Contents:

Department: EDITOR'S NOTE: DETECTION ON THE DOUBLE by Linda Landrigan

Department: THE LINEUP

Fiction: THE BEST THING FOR THE LIVER by Janice Law

Fiction: AUTUMN CHILL by John H. Dirckx

Fiction: MARLEY'S RESCUE by John C. Boland

Department: MYSTERIOUS PHOTOGRAPH

Fiction: DEATH ON THE RANGE by Elaine Menge

Fiction: ASSIGNMENT IN CLAY by Donald Moffitt

Fiction: BURNING DAYLIGHT by David Edgerley Gates

Fiction: TIGHTENING OF THE BOND by R. T. Lawton

Fiction: GHOST NEGLIGENCE by John Shepphird

Department: BOOKED & PRINTED by Robert C. Hahn

Fiction: 364 DAYS by John R. Corrigan

Black Orchid Novella Award: INNER FIRE by Jolie McLarren Swann

Department: THE STORY THAT WON

Department: COMING IN SEPTEMBER 2012


Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (June 2012) 3Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
Series: June 2012
Editor: Linda Landrigan
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 123
Words: 47K


Slightly better than the previous magazine, but not by much. Weighing in at only 120+ pages, this doesn’t feel like a collection; which to be fair, it isn’t, it is a magazine. But that has made me realize that I’m not a fan of magazine length collections of stories.

Also, these really feel like reject stories that weren’t good enough for anywhere else. My bias is definitely playing a big part of that, but these stories just don’t have the verve, the snap, the creepiness that the stories in the old “Alfred Hitchcock Presents…” books had. Part of that is because the stories are trying to ape those by using the 1920’s through the 1980’s as their setting but with 2010’s sensibilities. You can’t do that successfully and none of these authors did.

I’ll read the rest of what I’ve got available for this magazine, but after that I’ll go deep diving on the dark net and dig up whatever old collection of Alfred Hitchcock’s collections from back in the day that I can find.

I guess this magazine just leaves a faint aftertaste of disappointment in my literary mouth.

★★★☆☆


Table of Contents:

Click to Open

Department: EDITOR’S NOTE: CRIME TIME by Linda Landrigan

Department: THE LINEUP

Fiction: THE SELLOUT by Mike Cooper

Fiction: THEA’S FIRST HUSBAND by B.K. Stevens

Fiction: CUPS AND VARLETS by Kenneth Wishnia

Fiction: LAST SUPPER by Jane K. Cleland

Department: MYSTERIOUS PHOTOGRAPH

Fiction: THE POT HUNTERS by David Hagerty

Department: BOOKED & PRINTED by Robert C. Hahn

Mystery Classic: AFTERNOON OF A PHONY by Cornell Woolrich, Selected and Introduced by Francis M. Nevins

Department: THE STORY THAT WON

Department: COMING IN JULY 2012

Monday, October 14, 2024

Predator: If It Bleeds 3Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Predator: If It Bleeds
Series: —–
Author: Bryan Schmidt
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 292
Words: 115K


Much, much better than that horrible Eyes of the Demon collection. At the same time, some of these stories just felt like they were missing something. Like the author had heard about the Predator but hadn’t actually seen any of the movies or read any of the comics. Yet some of stories were so spot on that it felt like a good starter script for another “good” Predator movie.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with this collection and I think I’ll let it stay in my personal library for if I ever decide to re-read it.

★★★☆☆


Table of Contents:

Click to Open

INTRODUCTION by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

DEVIL DOGS by Tim Lebbon

STONEWALL’S LAST STAND by Jeremy Robinson

REMATCH by Steve Perry

MAY BLOOD PAVE MY WAY HOME by Weston Ochse

STORM BLOOD by Peter J. Wacks and David Boop

LAST REPORT FROM THE KSS PSYCHOPOMP by Jennifer Brozek

SKELD’S KEEP by S. D. Perry

INDIGENOUS SPECIES by Kevin J. Anderson

BLOOD AND SAND by Mira Grant

TIN WARRIOR by John Shirley

THREE SPARKS by Larry Correia

THE PILOT by Andrew Mayne

BUFFALO JUMP by Wendy N. Wagner

DRUG WAR by Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Holly Roberds

RECON by Dayton Ward

GAMEWORLD by Jonathan Maberry

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (May 2012) 3Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
Series: May 2012
Editor: Linda Landrigan
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 115
Words: 41K


Having finished up the collections of old Hitchcock anthologies that I had on hand, I found a couple of the “new” Mystery Magazines and decided to try them out. This was touted (on the cover) as the “humor issue” and I’m afraid the writers took that to mean “light and whimsical” instead of as funny.

The stories themselves barely passed muster and if I’d had to read a whole book, instead of a magazine, of them, I think I can safely say this would have gotten 2.5stars. These were the kind of stories that get salted between good stories in the old collections; that way you didn’t notice their mediocrity as much. You just forgot about them. But here, all you had was mediocre and so while I have already forgotten them, I can’t collectively forget them.

I have several issues of this magazine to try out. What does give me hope is that you can still get subscriptions (paper or digital) to AHMM, so they must have done something correct to keep on going this long. I just hope I find out what, because this issue was not very good.

What I am afraid of is that people are so undiscriminating in their reading tastes that anything with Hitchcock’s name will draw them in and they will accept any old sock as a “good story” when it really isn’t.

I’m just being really negative right now though. So here’s to a brighter future in later issues!

★★★☆☆


Table of Contents – click to open

Department: EDITOR’S NOTE: UNEXPECTED by Linda Landrigan

Department: THE LINEUP

Fiction: SHANKS COMMENCES by Robert Lopresti

Fiction: LEWIS AND CLARK by John M. Floyd

Fiction: SPRING BREAK by R.T. Lawton

Department: MYSTERIOUS PHOTOGRAPH: DOGWATCH

Fiction: WIND POWER by Eve Fisher

Department: BOOKED & PRINTED by Robert C. Hahn

Fiction: FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY by Ron Goulart

Fiction: FASHIONED FOR MURDER by Shauna Washington

Fiction: MR. CROCKETT AND THE BEAR by Evan Lewis

Fiction: CARRY-ON by Wayne J. Gardiner

Department: THE STORY THAT WON

Department: COMING IN JUNE 2012

Sunday, September 01, 2024

Cthulhu Resurgent (Cthulhu: Harrison Peel #2) 2.5Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Cthulhu Resurgent
Series: Cthulhu: Harrison Peel #2
Editor: David Conyers
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Short Story Collection
Pages: 262
Words: 108K


This is where I get off the Harrison Peel train. Once again, he goes through some mind breaking experiences (his fiance is killed in front of his eyes by a shoggoth masquerading as a human) and while not shrugging it off, pretty much does shrug it off. He should have been left a mindless, gibbering wreck. Instead, he just soldiers on. Usually, that’s what I want. But as I discussed in the review for the first book (Cthulhu Reloaded), that is NOT what I want, or any true fan wants, when it comes to Cosmic Horror. Conyers continues to snub his nose at convention, so I say “phooiey” to him!

Not a very good start to my reading month, now is it?

★★✬☆☆


Table of Contents & From the Publisher:

Click to Open
  • “The Spiraling Worm” (2007) (by David Conyers and John Sunseri)
  • “The Road to Afghanistan” (2013)
  • “The Eye of Infinity” (2014)
  • “The Temporal Deception” (2015) (by David Conyers and C. J. Henderson)
  • “The Gravity Museum” (2021)

Humans are a mistake. The laws of physics prove it.

Army intelligence officer Major Harrison Peel has spent a lifetime fighting eldritch horrors, constantly clawing through the veil of reality ready to annihilate our world. But how do you win the war when these alien gods — and not terrestrial life — are the true nature of reality? In Antarctica, a new threat emerges. Shape-shifting aliens called Shoggoths that can mimic people and integrate into human society, who are manipulating us from within. Then Peel discovers their true intensions… If Peel can’t defeat these Shoggoths abominations, they won’t just destroy us, but enslave humanity into a billion years of servitude…

A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle #1) 5Stars

  This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards...