Book Review: Let Sleeping Gods Lie by David J. West
One of my 2020 goals was to read more books. I have a to-be-read pile of both physical and ebooks that is ginormous! I'm definitely in the category of people who like to buy books which may or may not ever get read. However, I'm trying to make a steadfast effort this year to make a dent into that pile. The first book I finished, was Let Sleeping Gods Lie by David J. West.
The back cover blurb reads as follows:
Louis L'Amour Meets Lovecraft
​Porter Rockwell, wanted for a murder he did not commit, is hiding out in Old California selling whiskey to thirsty forty-niners. When his friends dig up some monstrous bones and a peculiar book and offer to sell it for a helluva price, Porter can't resist the mystery.
But when both his night bartender and the sellers are murdered at his saloon Porter has to find out what the mysterious artifacts are all about. With some Native American legends, Sasquatch, Lovecraftian horror, and murderous bandits thrown in, not even bullets and blades can stop Rockwell from leaving a swath of righteous carnage in his wake.
Let Sleeping Gods Lie is a weird western fantasy in the vein of classic pulp fiction and Louis L'Amour books. If you like frontier justice, larger-than-life characters, and witty humor, then you will LOVE the first installment of the Cowboys and Cthulhu series.
Buy Let Sleeping Gods Lie to get lost in a horrific weird western adventure today!
I've read several of West's other books, to include his other Porter Rockwell stories. I enjoy West's style of writing as it is very reminiscent of the old pulp adventure stories from back in the day. Now, unless you're new to my blog, you'll know that I'm a sucker for Lovecraftian tales, so when I saw that West was finally merging his Old West stories with Lovecraftian mythos, I was all in. His other Porter Rockwell stories merely touched at the weird and dark, while this one plunges right in with both feet. Here's the review I left on Amazon and Goodreads:
West delivers a story that reads like it's a masterful blend of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft! I'm a sucker for weird westerns and West never fails to deliver. This story is action packed and hits all the right notes. I loved all the nods to Lovecraft.
West can also paint a scene. All throughout the book there was some wonderful imagery, but this one bit stuck with me:
They rounded a bend and came head on against a like-minded group of riders. Stoney's men, the Mountain Hounds. When a hard rain falls, who was hit with the first drop? Impossible to say, but the thunder certainly sounded. Pistols and rifles were drawn and fired. Horses and men screamed as they careened together, an avalanche of flesh and lead.
Bottom line, if you like westerns and if you like Lovecraft, then this is the book for you. Do yourself a favor and read it.
In Dreams We Rot by Betty Rocksteady: Book Review
I just finished this collection of short stories by Betty Rocksteady and I have to say I'm impressed. Most of the stories contained within have been previously published in other anthologies with a few brand new ones for her fans. Many of the stories are very short and quick reads, however, a lot of them stuck with me for long after I was finished reading them. Rocksteady has an uncanny ability to weave a tale that is equal parts ambiguous (in a good way), visceral, and disturbing. A lot of her tales hint at things ancient and deadly and part of a bigger mythos all her own.
Rocksteady is described as an author of cat mythos, cosmic sex, and bizarro fiction and after reading this collection, it's not hard to see how she came by those descriptors. I got a big kick out of her tales involving cat mythos. My favorite was near the beginning titled, "Tiny Bones Beneath Their Feet" about an enormous colony of cats and a mysterious path of bones leading away from the house.
Some of the stories were downright disturbing. I found "Postpartum" particularly chilling about a single mother dealing with postpartum depression. She soon finds some purpose in taxidermy and that purpose begins to overtake her very being. Rocksteady's voice blends real-world horrors such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, and the awkward with frightening horrors. The horror she pulls from is mainly cosmic, speaking to creatures and beings that are unknowable and make you feel very insignificant. Her horrors creep (and sometimes wriggle or crawl) in and take over your sense of self until there is nothing left. Some of my favorite reads in this collection that really tapped into the cosmic horror were: "Elephants That Aren't" about an artist who starts drawing strange creatures but doesn't have any recollection of doing so; "The Language of Mud" about a spot in the grass that makes people disappear; "The Taste of Sand on Your Lips" which is a small collection of 55, 55-word stories that are bizarrely interconnected and tell a tale that could possibly make you go mad.
If you like strange, well-written horror, then you need to check out, In Dreams We Rot as you won't be disappointed. Rocksteady's voice is unique and she is elevating horror fiction with her words. Her collection has made me reevaluate my own writing and challenged me to make my future stories even better.
You can pre-order In Dreams We Rot here:
In Dreams We Rot
​Also, if you want to see my earlier interview with Rocksteady, you can check it out here:
The Awesome Interview
Book Review: Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman
I recently finished the book, Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman. If you recognize the name, it's probably because he is the author of Bird Box which recently was made into a film by Netflix and has gained a lot of attention. I picked up Unbury Carol back in the day because I enjoyed reading Bird Box and Carol is a western horror which is right up my alley.
The book is about a woman named Carol who has a disease that puts her in a coma-like state. She can appear dead to the untrained eye as all her vitals slow down. In the book, there are only a few people who know about her condition: her husband, Dwight, her close friend, John Bowie, and her ex-fling, James Moxie. Moxie is an infamous outlaw, made famous from a gun-duel he won years ago where it seemed like he never drew his weapon, yet his opponent died of a gunshot wound. Everyone believed he won through the use of magic and his name went down in history. Carol's close friend John Bowie dies, taking Carol's secret to his grave. Once he dies, Dwight enacts a plan to basically bury Carol once she slips into another one of her episodes and inherit her money.
Carol decides she wants another person to confide in and begins to tell one of her staff members but falls into a coma-like sleep before she can get the word out. However, before succumbing to the disease, she told her staff/friend that she used to be involved with James Moxie and for whatever reason, the help sends word to Mr. Moxie.
Once he gets word of what happened, he drops everything and hits the Trail (yes, it's personified in the book as a character) and heads towards Carol to save her from being buried alive. Dwight hears of this and hires a notorious hitman to track down and kill Moxie before he can arrive, a man who has a penchant for lighting fires.
Let's get into the good with this book. First off, the setting and the characters were intriguing. I love westerns, and really love weird westerns or western horror stories. I think the setting is ripe for those crossovers. What was fun about this book, is that Malerman puts in small bits of the supernatural. For example, whenever Carol slips into one of her episodes, she goes to a shadowy realm she's dubbed, Howltown. While there, there is an entity known as Rot that pesters her, angry that she keeps 'dying' but doesn't decay like a good corpse should. Rot manifests in other ways throughout the book to harass Moxie and stop his journey back to Carol.
Moxie himself is an interesting character, living off the results of that legendary duel so many years ago. As a reader you begin to wonder if it actually happened, or if it was blown out of proportion. I'll get into a bit a later in the spoiler section.
The story is cinematic in scope, as I could see this playing out in the big screen and being entertaining. However, the story drags in parts, which leads me to the bads of Unbury Carol.
There were a lot of times we'd get chapters dealing with minor characters in the story, such as the grave-diggers, the staff, or some random guy in some random town. Quite frankly, these sections probably could have been removed without much ill effect to the overall narrative. I was only interested in Moxie, his pursuer, Carol, Dwight, and somewhat with the sheriff. I will be honest that I didn't' read this book fast. I read it over the period of a few months, picking it up and putting it back down. It was interesting enough that I wanted to finish it, but not gripping enough that I HAD to finish it immediately.
Second, Carol herself was kind of a non-player through the story. Her scenes in the book didn't have much impact overall until the end. I wanted her to have more of a part, and I suppose in a way that same frustration was felt by her as she wanted to have more of a part. I'll be honest though, that my want for her to have more of part clashes with my feelings for the ending and I don't know what to make of it.
Third, in reality, Dwight could have ended this by smothering her in her one of her comas and then the whole book wouldn't have happened. I couldn't forget that point as I read the story and whenever Dwight would show up in a scene all agitated with Moxie coming and the sheriff putting the pressure on his investigation, it was hard to wonder why Dwight never did such a thing to begin with. I mean, if he's willing to bury her alive, why wouldn't he be just as willing to cover her face with a pillow?
Before I get to my main issue with the book, I want to give my overall opinion. Because my main issue will get into spoilers. Overall, it's a good read. If you like westerns, and you like horror, give it a read. I give the story maybe 6/10 overall. Now, on to the last point and spoilers.
Still here? That means you're cool with spoilers. Last chance to veer off if you don't want to know. My main problem with the book is the ending. In my opinion, this whole story was about James Moxie riding to save Carol from an untimely death and coming to terms with the decision he made many years ago to leave her in the first place. It's a redemption arc for him. When he finally gets through all the obstacles and is about to dig up Carol from the ground, we find that she escaped last minute because she came to and used some crazy mechanical casket contraption that her mother built for Carol before she died and had delivered with instructions that her daughter be buried in it.
One, this casket was never really mentioned before. Which I get it, it would have given away the ending and suspense. But come on! This whole story is about Moxie coming for her. Then in one fell swoop, his entire journey is invalidated. I felt like I was cheated. And don't get me wrong, I am super happy that Carol was able to take care of herself, but with all the lead up to what was supposed to happen, it didn't feel right.
Next, let's talk about Moxie's power to fire his gun with magic. That was a fun little mystery…until the end once again. For starters, we never know if he can do it through some supernatural ability or not. He never talks about what happened during that duel, and there is a scene when he's detained by a sheriff in a town along the Trail and the deputies are messing with his gun. When he finally decides that they aren't going to let him out, the gun goes off by itself, seemingly by Moxie's will. At that point, my mouth was open and I was like, holy shit, he can do magic. Then, at the end he kills Carol's husband, Dwight, by rigging up multiple pistols with string to fire, possibly implying that he was using strings the whole time to pull off his magical shooting pistol trick. However, the whole thing just doesn't sit well with me or explain much.
Anyway, it was a cool story overall, but the ending fell short for me and left me with a taste of Rot in my mouth.
Book Review: Bad Man by Dathan Auerbach
If you haven't read, Bad Man, by Dathan Auerbach then you're missing out. I was first introduced to Auerbach with his debut novel, Penpal which is an excellent read as well. With his latest novel we're thrown into a world of tension and weirdness when Ben loses his little brother, Eric (who is three years old at the time) at a supermarket. One moment the boy is there, the next, he's gone. Fast-forward five years and we get to see the emotional and psychological toll of such an event on both Ben and his parents.
Eric was never found and Ben is convinced that the police didn't do a good enough job. He is also convinced that Eric is still alive. He suspects multiple folks and as we go through the novel, we start to see that Ben's point-of-view is skewed. To say that strange things start happening once Ben starts working the night shift at the very grocery store that the event occurred, would be an understatement. Auerbach has a way with words that get under your skin, and the imagery he can paint it quite vivid. On top of that, his characters are top notch. They've all got their secrets and those little hooks kept me reading going. The way Auerbach weaved the narrative together is masterful. Many times I had to go on to the next chapter because of a bombshell chapter-end. Thanks for the late nights.
Auerbach's characters are full of depths and secrets. As the story evolves, you're left wondering who's hiding what, and how it could be connected. The tone and atmosphere that Auerbach builds is rich and tense, and the dark imagery that he shows us is creepy as hell.
I highly recommend this book. It's been quite a while since I read such a creepy and disturbing read.
​Check it out here.
Review of the Apparition by Michaelbrent Collings
​I picked up a copy of Apparition by Michaelbrent Collings at the last Life, the Universe, and Everything symposium a couple of months ago. For those of you who don't know Michaelbrent, he's billed as a Bestselling author and does quite well in the market. I've seen a lot of his work at the local conventions, as well as online, and finally decided to pick something up. The back cover blurb caught my eye and intrigued me:
Every year, thousands of children are killed... by their own parents.
Now, Shane Wills is about to discover why. About to discover an evil that has existed since the beginning of time.
An evil that invades loving parents and turns them into something else. An evil that feeds on the blood and despair of dying children.
An evil that most people will never know, because they cannot perceive the APPARITION.
To top that, his father was at the booth helping sell the books and he told me something along the lines of, that's the only book of my son's that I can't read. It's too disturbing. Whether true or not, it was a great marketing technique.
The story begins with the protagonist waking up in the middle of the night to his wife trying to kill their daughter with a knife. It quickly spirals into a tale of ghosts, unearthly entities, and constant thoughts of filicide that the protagonist can't shake.
The story itself is a fast-paced, cinematic read that would make a great horror flick. In fact, many times while I was reading it, it felt as if I were watching movie. On that same note, sometimes I felt like the scares were there for no apparent reason other than to be creepy (#notreallyaproblemnowisit?). I loved the little snippets before each chapter and overall I found the content to be somewhat disturbing. Whether that was due to the fact that I have kids and the thought of killing my own children is horrible, I'm not sure.
Overall the book is a fun read with some great twists and turns throughout the narrative. I loved the ending and the final confrontation. If you haven't read Michaelbrent Collings, then this is a great book to start with. Fans of horror, both books and movie alike, should find this read entertaining.