BOOK REVIEW--Play Dead by Kody Boye

PLAY DEAD is a awesome collection of creepy short stories that will definitely hold your interest! This was also a free book provided by the author a while back, but in my opinion, he should officially have his work published with a publishing house! I love this guy--he's so straightforward and blunt and to-the-point with everything, including his life---which makes him so REAL in a world full of cookie cutter jerkoffs.

Now onto his book.

Lamia was eerie. very eerie. A guy who lost his wife meets a 'monster' on the beach one night, the lamia, and this man comes close to losing his life if not for the ghost of his dead wife!

Rage felt like a losing-all-hope-for-humanity type of situation when animals become infected with a plague that causes them to go fucking bonkers. A man and his son and a woman try to flee for their lives, and you REALLY feel for these folks and what they go through to survive.

Pig was a story that seems like it could have been a spin-off of Rage, but as a more isolated situation. A huge-ass pig in the Florida Everglades gets a taste of human flesh and becomes a man-eater, literally. For the people of the area, it becomes a case of "kill this sucker or be killed" and the pig won't give up without a fight!

Lastly we have a story of the same books title, Play Dead. A group of kids have developed some sort of sick twisted game in which they have to go out in the middle of the woods, and perform certain little 'ritualistic' acts in order to keep up their reputation of being cool, in a way, and some of the characters in this story made me want to slap the crap out of them for their typical highschoolish b.s.-- but hey, they're teens, and most teens do the typical stupid stuff. But the game starts to go pretty wrong when a demonic creature of sorts get involved and people start to die for their foolish acts.

Boye can weave tales that will pull you in and writes characters that are very believable, characters you can feel sympathy for, while wanting to absolutely kill the bad guys in the stories. I'll be looking forward to checking out more of his work. Absolutely 5 stars!

Find him at http://kodyboye.com/ or http://kody-boye.livejournal.com/ . Actually, he's scattered all over the net, facebook, twitter, myspace and youtube, so go check him out asap!

BOOK REVIEW: ABRAXAS:THE HAYWIRE HALLOWEEN

OH MY GOD....if you're a Halloween freak, you are in for an ABSOLUTE treat with this novella! Like I mentioned in the review of the chapter sneak peek, Abraxas: The Haywire Halloween has Abraxas vampire clan member Jonathan, wanting to go out for Halloween. On their travels, he finds a skeleton key pendant that helps him unknowingly unleash his secret wish for everyday to be Halloween. That's when all hell breaks loose! Whatever people are dressed up as, they become it, and heaven help you if you're wearing a rubber mask! Everything from paper bats to rubber mice come alive, and even...you guessed it...the dead. (Which has the same affect for folks dressed up like zombies too!) And I liked the 'nod' to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"---thanks to Kurt, who can't stand zombies whatsoever, lol. I LOVE this guy!!With Kiera's help, they soon discover a creepy little demon with goat's eyes named Ock who is the mischief maker, so the clansters set off to make things right, by getting rid of him for good.

Despite all of the chaos, all the characters bounce off each other so well, you feel like youre right there with them, witnessing the mayhem. The vivid descriptions of everything happening is just awesome, and the action is nonstop. Jonathan quickly learns to be careful of what he wants, because Ock looks for 'loopholes' in his wishes, making the wishes more wosre than what he wants--and Jonathan uses his last and final wish to end themadness, along with a banishing ritual that they all join in to get rid of him--which sounded really, really disgusting, lol.

Halloween lovers, this book is so kick ass, it's OFF my 5-star scale, lol. This is a crazy as hell horror-comedy romp you won't be disappointed with.

BOOK REVIEW: THE ZOMBIE COOKBOOK by Various Authors

WOW! I LOVED this book!! The Zombie Cookbook is comprised of several short stories, poems, and recipes that include the use of zombies. I'll go over each one individually.
"The Wokking Dead" by Ms. Fabian is a funny 'ZombieBusters' type of story, taking place in a Korean restaurant, Seoul Food. Using paint thinner, chainsaws, flame throwers and even Super Soakers loaded with their own zombie-killing concoctions, this group of 'Busters is not one to be played with! "Secret Ingredient" by Ms. Haselton, has Annie and Sam, owners of the L-Double-J Ranch, hiring a zombie named Clete to help her out in the kitchen! Although Anne is definitely not fond of having a zombie in her kitchen, despite Sam's defense that Clete is well-trained, and can cook a damn fine meal, she can only tolerate this very mismatched cooking duo for so long, and comes up with a tricky tactic to put an end to things once and for all. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer! "A Zombie Named Clete" by the same author is a tiny tribute poem to the zombie in the aforementioned story. "Beer-Battered Zombie" is a recipe by Ms. Butcher that had me in a fit of tears--You'll be saying "Ew!" while laughing your head off at the same time! "The Right Recipe" by Ms. Neiswender tells the tale of Paul Clemmons, Food Editor of Zombie Cookbookery Publications International. Checking through his emails containing comments about the latest book of zombie recipes, (while ignoring the badly-spelled death threats) he gets an unexpected surprise from a pizza delivery person that'll put him in the position of the one being eaten instead of the zombies! "Quick & Easy Zombie Pastie" by Ms. Sender is another recipe that made me say, "Holy crap!" while laughing my butt off again. This particular recipe invloves the use of puffer fish as well, and does double duty as a 'refreshing smoothie'! "Express Cuisine" by Ms. Marshallsay, has Ruby, a tired secretary trying to get home on the train, facing a grave dilemma and a bloody brawl when a few zombies are discovered on board, the reason for the dilemma even more strange! "Brain Food" by Ms. Girtman is a flash fiction piece that packs a lot of the 'yuck' factor as a zombie husband tries a bit of an experiment on his quickly-decaying wife. "Brain Salad for Dummies" by Mr.Virtes was a very amusing short containing ingredients to keep a zombie off your trail while you escape them. (Leaving a TV on helps a whole lot too!) "A Zombie’s APB" by Cinsearae S. has the tale being told by a ranting, raving, ticked-off zombie, fed up with eating humans, as he claims we don't taste good anymore! Being so over-medicated, and pumped full of 'chemicals' and with occasional non-organic parts in our bodies, he gives a few hilarious incidents that prove his point, not to mention an idea to lure in only 'au natural' people for his kind to eat! "My Big Fat Zombie Wedding" by Ms. Fabian was a really cute, 'wedding of the century' story, as a human and zombie get married, not to mention the other paranormal guests that come to the reception, plus a special recipe for an 'Intel on Ice'--almost tempting, except for one ingerdient, lol! I also loved the cool intro from a special metal band from Amsterdam, called "The Zombie Cookbook"! Check them out at thezombiecookbook.com! Lastly, the artwork contained in this tome, done by George Silliman, compliments the book perfectly, not to mention the book cover itself, done by Ms. Santiago!
The Zombie Cookbook is kick-ass, 'pee-your-pants' funny, and definitely worth checking out! For those with a dark, twisted, sick sense of humor, GET THIS!! 5 Stars! Available at DamnationBooks.com! Find it HERE!

BOOK REVIEW: ROADS TO RUIN by John Neumeister

Now this was a fun entertaining read! Roads to Ruin is a short story collection, dotted with poems and pics, all relating somehow to traveling on the road. "Round and Round" is a story of an adulterous man having to repeat getting in an accident over and over and over (in his mad dash to get away from the woman's husband, this is his personal hell!), "Ruin" tells about a traveler who wanders into a witch's house, that in actuality doesn't exist, and "Nothing There" tells a story of a paranoid mother who takes REALLY extreme measures to make sure her daughter remains 'pure' when she goes out on a date with her boyfriend, and "Watch for The Exit" is a hilarious story of a group of friends on a road trip that goes TERRIBLY WRONG when they're followed by a cop with no face...and "D-Tour" is about a disgruntled family on the road, forced to take a detour that becomes oddly...diabolical. I LOVED this collection, and I hope Mr. Neumister comes out with more. GETS A 4 1/2!!! (this review also appears at the book's buy page, HERE)

BOOK REVIEW: ABRAXAS: Seeing Green, Book 4 by Cinsearae Santiago

Ms. Cinsearae does it again! Wow...freaky and creepy. What can I say? Demonic possession is the focus in this installment, as Ryan's covetousness over Christine makes him vulnerable to invasion by a demon of jealousy. (We start seeing hints of it in "Affaires de Coeur" from the last book) Afterward, matters get more pressing as the demon needs to be exorcised before it becomes a more permanent fixture by killing Ryan's soul--and Christine's!--in order to have a chance at gaining Abraxas' powers. The seductiveness of this demon in disguise is so unnerving and eerie, and Christine is sooo conflicted, i felt so bad for her!--I couldn't put this down yet again. I was however, disappointed to see that Edward's out of the picture for now, and I hope he won't be gone from the series entirely. But I am growing fond of 'Jonathan'--he seems like a weird, quirky kid, (especially after checking out another sneak peek from an upcoming Halloween book in this series!) alas, as always, we're left on another cliffhanger, and I REALLY can't wait to see what happens in the next book!!! KUDOS, AND GETS A 5!!! (this review also appears at the books buy page, HERE

BOOK REVIEW: MY PROM DATE'S A VAMPIRE---by Kitty Keswick

This short story was adorable! Typical goth chick (and witch) Wendy stoke gets dumped by her boyfriend just days before the junior prom. Her fave hangout is the local cemetery, where she enjoys eating her Ben & Jerry's icecream! She meets Matt Glascow there, a vampire which she takes to very quickly---who escorts her to the prom. It has a cute, happy ending, although I would have loved to seen this story expanded out a bit more--- I mean, the principle of her school is a werewolf! (Her vampire date encounters him for a split second, which is why the principal 'reveals' himself. After all, vamps and werewolves don't get along well and get quite irked when one steps on the other's 'territory'. ) GETS A 3 1/2! (find this at www.thewildrosepress.com)

Something to give you a good laugh...

And in a fun way! One of my favorite indy authors, Cinsearae S., was guest blogging with another author, Christy Poff, over at AuthorsByAuthors Blogspot for a week. One thing that made me laugh my head off was this crazy-ass interview conducted by HER CHARACTERS out of her "Abraxas" series. Just for the hell of it, if you have time, check out the blog post: "HILARIOUS INTERVIEW WITH..." to see what I mean. That's the most creative interview I've ever seen, lol!

REVIEW: A LOOK INTO THE MIRROR DARKLY by THE GRATISTA VAMPIRE CLAN

I was patiently waiting for the next collection of works from this group, and once more, I'm happy to say I was NOT disappointed. The themes in this anthology might be considered 'touchy' by the more stiffer and mundane-minded, but once you read this, you'll see that it's not what you think.
"Pain" is received on many different levels and can be taken in so many ways. Sometimes, one's pain is another's pleasure. There's a wonderful medley of stories here, some hilarious, some quite sad, and some even mildly erotic. I was quite intrigued with Mr. Mullen's "The Gomorra Incident", as well as Mr. Glascow's "Vinaigrettes of Pain" in which he offers excerpts from stories he's written--which I hope one day to actually read in their entirety! "Contemplating The End" by Spider was a hoot--the ending will throw you for a loop! And my jaw dropped when I read "Hotline", again by Mr. Glascow. (What a twist on the whole 'suicide helpline' thing!!!) Ms. Poff's "Vampires Hurricane Ball" was a spicy treat. Camille, Dominic, Spider, and Phylis give their haunting offerings of poetry, and once again, Ms. Santiago wows the reader with her gothic photography, and I am very much in love with the cover as well. another image that really caught my eye within the book was of a large stone staircase and what looked like the ruins of a piece of a 19th century mansion or something! And although Mr. Boye's story, "Bastion's Pride" was a more conventional piece this time around, it was still dark enough to fit into the category of 'pain of loss' VERY well.
I give this group another round of applause. GETS A 5.

You can find it HERE in print or e-book!

REVIEW: The "Twilight" Series

Yeah, I'm know, I'm late jumping on the Twilight bandwagon. But, I have to say, I'm kinda glad I didn't rush it. I'll give my brief review of each book.
Okay, so the first book was 'meh'. I had to keep in mind that this is a teenager talking and the characters will have teeneageish ways. Okay. Fine. But sometimes I just wanted to strangle Bella. I've never seen or read of a character so clumsy and so uncoordinated that she could trip on her own shadow if possible. That was the one thing that irked me about this one. New Moon was better. I happen to LIKE Jacob. A lot. I love his sarcastic humor. And I just couldn't believe how much Bella pined away over Edward disappearing on her like that. I'm not being hard, but still, get a backbone, girl! Eclipse wasn't bad either, but Breaking Dawn left a lot to be desired. Halfway through the book, I caught myself wondering, 'When is this going to end?' One of the many things that irked me about the last book was the readers got gypped out of reading about Bella and Edward making love for the first time. There's no descriptions whatsoever about the act itself. It's like a 'fade to black' and then it's the next day. WTF?!
Bella's changeover was absolutely hideous. It's not enough that she gets pregnant and has a supervamp growing in her at practically triple speed, but she wants to have the baby while still human, which very nearly kills her. to save her, Edward injects her with his venom, (so that kills the whole 'romantic' changeover thing) and also, despite being a newborn vamp, she's not all psycho crazy like how everyone tell her newborns are. She's her regular boring self. And her first hunt--she goes out in a satin dress and stilettos?!?! (At least she had the sense to take them off.)
And God--is she ever the worry-wort. That got on my nerves too. Even the other freakin' characters in the book kept telling her not to worry about things.
The happy ending was just too cheesy for me. it was like a win-win-win without any real sacrifice. And Bella was right. She was a selfish person. She wanted Edward and Jacob, and in so many ways, she did get them both.
Okay, I can understand the whole vampire craze-thing going on lately, and how folks just loooove happy endings, and need an escape from reality. We all need that every now and then. But I prefer a bit more excitement, tension, something to keep me turning the pages. I found myself taking nearly a month to finish the last book. I can consent to the fact there were a lot of other readers not too satisfied with how this series ended as well, but no matter, Meyer has made her millions and has her fans, so negative comments don't really mean crap to her, lol.
My fave characters out of this series? Jacob and Alice. Not Bella and Edward. Surprise!! They seemed more 'alive' to me than everyone else.
This series just seemed average at best. Not wonderful, but ok. I have yet to see the movie, but again..I'm in no rush.
PS---Renesmee is a HORRIBLE name for a child.