Review: Seasons of Pain by Imowen Lodestone
★★★½ 
Content warning for violence, sexual and partly graphic; general sexuality; abuse, substance use, and some forms of self-harm.
Jesse M. Lelrick is a Witch; well, she was a Witch. To anyone who asks, who has any right to ask, she’ll tell them flatly that she doesn’t do that anymore, she gave up her powers, and now she’s just your average college girl. She knows it’s a lie; she was cast out by her kuven and her personal struggles merely pushed her to distance herself from the practice, yet it’s still inside her, pushing for space between depression, self-destruction, and […]
The disconcerting tale of Kai by Derek Vasconi follows the harbored Satsuki Takamoto, a girl living through a downward spiral of social exclusion, universal envy and ever-deepening depression; in comparison, Seul Bi Rissiello – a resident of Evanston, Illinois – is caring for the mentally ill as she strives for meaning in her life after the brutal loss of her parents in gruesome circumstance. Although unaware of each others existences, both girls live a seemingly poetic tandem of suffering as an unexpected thread ties their tortures together.
In the year 2030, humanity is devastated by a terrifying plague that forces survivors into a life of cloistered fear. A quarantine is built into a city, known as Colloseo, where Colloseo Super Max Prison houses some of the worst examples of the surviving human race. When a military genius comes up with a new super-soldier program using these violent outcasts, twenty-year-old Dylan is inducted into a series of experiments to enhance his body and replace his mind. The plan goes awry, forcing one doctor to gift the former Dylan a chance at free will in order to save the […]
Nightmares Unhinged: Twenty Tales of Terror is a horror anthology put together with the collaboration of authors Joshua Viola and Steve Rasnic Tem along with a multitude of contributors, all with a central theme of bad dreams. As elaborated in the foreword, the essence of nightmare could almost be described as pleasant, whereas a night terror – or a “nightmare unhinged” – is a far more potent, deep fear that the collection hopes to evoke.
Nine Tenths of the Law by Glenn H. Mitchell is a pulse-pounding noir novel that takes a serious turn for the dark. The center of this tale is Detective Ben Ricci, a fair mess of a police detective with a drug-addled past and drug-addled wife. Continuously under suspicion for his bad behavior, Ricci becomes embroiled in solving a horrifying crime in which a young man has been disemboweled with supernatural underpinnings – taking him to investigate an immortal mannequin, a family of witches, a book on the occult, and the murderous spirit of a dead child. Part crime fiction, part […]
Donald Trump: Zombie Hunter is the raucous and topical satire of the man of the moment, Donald Trump, as he wins the presidency, fixes everything overnight, and then is attacked by a hoard of zombies, all of which come in the form of his current opponents: Chris Christie and Rand Paul, among others. The story is filled with amusing references to moments from the campaign trail – such as Trump taking on John McCain’s heroism. If you’re a fan of the horror crossover genre, it’s a unique take that’s at once funny and revolting.
Declassified Events by Fouad Kazan is an action-driven science fiction/horror novel about cruel and unusual experiments being conducted at a research island – think The Island of Doctor Moreau – but the hybrid creatures are being turned into weapons. Criminal Chris Hopkins is stolen out of prison and taken to the aptly-named Predator Island. Hopkins must struggle to navigate this horrifying environment. He doesn’t just have to escape the creatures, but becoming one one of the creatures himself.