Category Archives: Science Fiction and Fantasy

July 13, 2023 · 1:00 am

A Review of Jathniel, the Immortal

Title: Jathniel, The Immortal

Author: Eugene Roy

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: April 29, 2023

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, LGBTQ+, Contemporary

Length: 42 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

‘Angel Of Death’ Jathniel’s assignment at an elementary school shooting challenges his faith, and breaks his heart. But, like all Transitional Guides, he is supposed to be emotionally sterile. As a means of reset, Jathniel is thrust into unknown territory – life as a mortal canine, where he is granted the experience of love in its purest form, trusting and unconditional.

Review:

Content Warning: Car accident, mass shootings, death of a child, death of a pet, HIV.

Love comes in many different forms.

Jathniel’s reaction to each of his new assignments made me smile. I can’t go into a lot of detail about those moments without giving away spoilers, but I was delighted by how adaptive he was to new situation. The one where he was transformed into dog and had to adjust to a world where he understood the humans perfectly well but they weren’t able to return the favour well at all was especially fun. It truly felt like the author had tapped into dog psychology in those scenes, and I chuckled along as Jathniel adjusted to being someone’s pet instead of the powerful spirit being he had normally been.

My only piece of constructive criticism for this short story has to do with the ending. I found myself getting a little confused about one character’s transformation into someone else, and I would have benefited from a longer explanation about what was going on there. As much as I loved the rest of it, this scene did hold me back from going for a full five-star rating there.

The world building was fabulous. Did I want to dive deeper into it? Of course, but I was also satisfied with how much the author shared about what Jathniel did as an Angel of Death and why he was able to move so seamlessly from one death to the next. If Mr. Roy ever decides to write a sequel, I hope I’ll be the first person in line to read and review it. This was something I was thrilled to have stumbled up, and I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to it yet.

Jathniel, The Immortal made me yearn for more.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Eugene Roy, Fantasy, LGBT, Paranormal, Self-Published, Short Stories

July 6, 2023 · 12:00 am

A Review of The First Kiss

Title: The First Kiss

Author: Greg Krojac

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: September 16, 2020

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction

Length: 28 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A night that begins with Daniel and Melody sharing a romantic meal at a swanky restaurant culminates in a disturbing discovery.

Review:

Content Warning: Grief and brief references to Covid-19, blood, and gore.

Rules are meant to be followed, right?

The character development was perfect for something of this length. Obviously, there’s not as much space to explore anyone’s personalities in twenty-eight pages as there would be in a full-length novel, but I thought the author did a good job of sharing enough about Daniel and Melody’s tragic pasts to explain why they would be willing to take such a big risk together. Grief can make someone do all sorts of things that they probably wouldn’t think to do otherwise.

As much as I wanted to give this story a higher rating, there were too many things about it that I found far-fetched even for the horror and science fiction genres. For example, the way people consumed food in this futuristic world was wildly different from how the vast majority of us do so right now. It was so out of the ordinary that it pulled me out of the storyline as I came up with several alternatives that would have been more rational for them. This pattern was repeated a few more times as more about the main characters’ lives was revealed. I know this is vague, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers while still sharing my reasons for choosing a three star rating. If only the plot holes had been given more time to resolve themselves.

With that being said, I was intrigued by the world building. Melody and Daniel live in a place and time that was heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though many years have since passed, their culture remembers those terrible days vividly and have not forgotten any of the horror of it. There were only brief mentions of Covid-19 in this tale which I thought was a good choice. Alluding to it was more than enough given the fact that it’s still such an intimate and terrible part of many people’s lives today.

The First Kiss was creative.

2 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Greg Krojac, Horror, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Short Stories

June 29, 2023 · 1:00 am

A Review of Love’s Refrain – A Victorian Ghost Story

Title: Love’s Refrain – a Victorian Ghost Story

Author: Steven Glick

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 18, 2018

Genres: LGBTQ, Paranormal, Historical

Length: 100 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A ghost from the past. A chance meeting in the present. A terrifying séance. Charlotte Stanton’s perfect married life is turned upside down when a secret love she buried long ago hauntingly returns. Still the question remains: are the supernatural events intruding upon Charlotte’s life happening only in her mind? Is she heading down a path toward madness? Set in Boston’s Gilded Age and accompanied by period drawings and silhouettes, LOVE’S REFRAIN explores one woman’s search for love, and the power of the past to emancipate the present.

Review:

It’s never too late to make things right.

Charlotte stirred up so many different emotions in me. Sometimes I felt endless empathy for her, while in other scenes I shook my head in frustration at how naive and sheltered she was. Surely the average adult would have figured out some of the stuff that she found so confusing much faster than she did! With that being said, I appreciated how nuanced her personality was, and I’d much rather read about a realistically flawed character than someone who always made the right decision. The more I got to know her, the more I liked her. If the author ever writes a sequel, I’d sure like to follow along on more of her journey.

I would have loved to see more details included in this story. For example, we never learned how Charlotte met her husband or what killed the ghost who was haunting Charlotte. That cause of death could have been a good way to get to know the deceased and explain why she was so attached to the protagonist. I also had some questions about the ending as far as the practicalities of life Charlotte would need to face after the final scene was wrapped up. While I can’t go into detail about that without giving away spoilers, it was yet another moment in this tale when having more details would have made the storyline richer in my opinion.

Spiritualism is one of those topics that I don’t think is discussed enough in fiction, especially in paranormal stories set in the late 1800s. I was pleased to see how much attention it received here. Whether you already know a lot about this movement or nothing at all, don’t worry. The most important details will be spelled out clearly, and everything else will be a happy bonus for those of us who do have preexisting knowledge of it. Some of the most interesting scenes were the ones that explored the various responses to the spiritualist movement from different portions of society. Many different points of view were represented, and I thought the author did a good job of showing why so many people were drawn to it and what they hoped to get out of speaking to their dead loved ones.

Love’s Refrain – a Victorian Ghost Story made me smile.

6 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2010s, Book Reviews, Gothic, Historical, LGBT, Paranormal, Self-Published, Steven Glick

June 22, 2023 · 1:00 am

Romantic Horror: A Review of Samfah

Title: Samfah

Author: JR Martin

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: March 16, 2023

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Historical, and dash of Psychological Horror

Length: 10 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Looking for an enchanting, action-packed adventure that will leave you breathless? Look no further than “Samfah” – the must-read fantasy short story of the year! Follow the journey of a young girl who mysteriously vanishes into the depths of the sea, leaving her loved ones devastated and searching for answers. As her family struggles to come to terms with her disappearance, she discovers the incredible secrets hidden beneath the waves – a mystical, underwater world full of magic and wonder.

Review:

Content Warning: Kidnapping and a death from natural(ish?) causes. I will be discussing the kidnapping in this review.

If you like weird fiction, keep reading.

Anyone who reads my reviews regularly knows that I like stories that keep the reader on their toes and mix genres together in new and different ways. This is one of those tales. It resisted any attempt to classify it into a single genre, and it defied my expectations of what horror, fantasy, and romance should be every time I thought the plot was veering off a little more into one of those directions, In short, it was creative and it had something for readers who like any of those genres even if you might not generally be into all three of them. I encourage you all to take a risk on this. It’s (probably) not what you think it will be.

I wish the author had dove more deeply into the character development. For example, Samfah’s relationship with her future husband, Arkan, fascinated me, and yet little time was spent exploring what he was like as an individual or why he withheld certain facts from her when he lured her deep into the ocean and promised her a life of luxury if she stayed forever. Was he simply being romantic or was there some other motive for his decisions? I could come up with arguments for several different logical interpretations of his actions, some of which were much darker than others. If I’d had more material to work with, I would have happily bumped my star rating up to at least a four.

The eerie first scene did an excellent job of grabbing my attention. Samfah did not seem to be in full control of her mind and body when she slowly wandered into the ocean despite not knowing how to swim. I shuddered as she soon entered waters that were over her head and needed to figure out what to do next. What an intense way to introduce a character and setting to an audience! I commend the author for taking this risk and trusting readers to figure out certain things on our own before later confirming whether or not our guesses were correct.

Samfah kept me on my toes.

4 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Fantasy, Historical, Horror, JR Martin, Mermaids, Psychological Horror, Romance, Self-Published

June 15, 2023 · 1:00 am

A Review of Ambrose & Ed

Title: Ambrose & Ed

Author: Eugene Roy

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 9, 2022

Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Contemporary

Length: 16 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Edna can be a bit scatterbrained. Ambrose can sometimes be careless. But together they have a loving oath that transcends realm and time.

Review:

Content Warning: Death from natural causes.

Nothing can stand in the way of true love.

Ambrose and Ed were so gentle and sweet. I loved hearing about the many happy years they’d had together, and I hoped they would somehow realize how their quiet, wholesome choices had improved the lives of everyone who knew them. These are the sorts of characters I love to read about, and I could have followed them through an entire novel and still wanted more.

The only thing preventing me from giving this short story a full five-star rating was how confusing I found the characters. Ambrose and Ed’s many children and grandchildren were mentioned, but none of them actually showed up in the storyline. I struggled to keep track of all of their names and wished that this portion had either been slimmed down or expanded so that I could get to know their extended family as well as I did the two protagonists. Either option would have worked well in my opinion. It was simply confusing for me as a reader to be introduced to so many characters and then never go any further with that information.

The ending made me smile. While I don’t share spoilers in my reviews, this is one of those tales that isn’t meant to surprise anyone. You may very well be like me and know how it’s going to end as soon as you finished the first sentence, but there’s so much more to good storytelling than writing twists. Mr. Roy pulled me into this world so kindly that I didn’t want to leave it. That, to me, is every bit as valuable as being thrilled by an exciting battle scene or shocked by how the clues in a mystery fit together.

Ambrose & Ed was a heartwarming fusion of the romance and paranormal genres that I’d recommend to fans of either one even if you’re generally not into both of them.

No Ordinary River: A Review of Badwater

Title: Badwater

Author: Travis Liebert

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: November 8, 2019

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 27 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Review

“I’ve been a search and rescue diver for twelve years. We see a lot of strange and disgusting things. But what I saw last week has me questioning both my job and reality.”

There’s a place in the river where not even search and rescue divers are supposed to go. It’s called Badwater.

But when Joseph Albright dives into this forbidden region, he discovers something beyond comprehension.

Intent on solving a mystery as old as the earth itself, he comes into contact with forces beyond fathom.

Get this riveting new horror story and learn of the terrors that pervade our world.

Content Warning: Drowning and body horror.

A strong current might drown you in this river, but even if that happens it will be the least of your worries.

Joseph was a sympathetic and memorable protagonist. I appreciated how cautious he was around water and how seriously he took his work as a search and rescue diver. These were important things to establish early on in order to explain his later behaviour. They also endeared me to him as a character because I knew how knowledgable he was about safely enjoying the water and how drowning can happen to even the strongest swimmer. If the author ever writes a sequel, I’d sure like to learn more about this world and the other people in it.

My only reason for choosing a three star rating had to do with a plot hole that the narrator never closed. It involved what the powers of the character who controlled Badwater actually were and how far they could be stretched or pushed back against. In some scenes, this character seemed nearly all-powerful, while in others there appeared to be loopholes to the rules. I would have loved to see this clarified as it was the only thing that prevented me from choosing a much higher rating. Everything else about this tale was deliciously scary.

The folklore elements of the storyline were top-notch. They shared enough information for this reader to know what was happening but also left plenty of little details up to my imagination. I also enjoyed taking note of the slight differences in how various characters reacted to the legends about Badwater and why no one was ever supposed to go there. Not only did this make everything feel realistic, it encouraged me to keep reading so I could come up with my own theories about which versions made the most sense to me.

Badwater was a spooky summer read.

A Review of Employment Interview With a Vampire

Title: Employment Interview With a Vampire

Author: J Bennett

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: January 8, 2014

Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary

Length: 65 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Deidre finds herself out of a job, out of luck, and out of time. The rent is past due, and the list of her employable skills is smaller than the balance of her checking account. Deidre has one shot at staying out of a fast food restaurant uniform.

A mysterious gentleman with certain “peculiarities” is seeking a housekeeper.

Deidre squeezes into her only nice pair of slacks, tames her wild orange hair, and starts off for the job interview that will either change her life… or end it!

Get ready for a very different kind of vampire story… While Deidre’s potential boss possesses a wicked set of fangs and a hankering for a certain ruby refreshment (preferably served fresh and hot), he’s also got a fashion sense that hasn’t been cool since the 1800s. Nathaniel adamantly prefers the telegraph over the telephone, votes for Eisenhower in every election, and isn’t so sure these horseless carriages will catch on.

Can Deidre survive her employment interview with a vampire and somehow convince her potential boss that corsets and petticoats aren’t the fashion of the day?

Oh, and what’s she going to do about that geriatric vampire hunter sneaking around the haunted mansion?

If you’re looking for a fun and funny supernatural story with a relatable (and often exasperated) heroine, then you’ve found it! Welcome to the first funny vampire novella in The Vampire’s Housekeeper Chronicles series!

No one does funny new adult vampire fiction like J Bennett.

Review:

Content Warning: A few mildly sexist comments. A little bit of body shaming involving the style and cut of clothing Deidre was wearing.

No one has been exasperated to death by a vampire yet, but there’s still time to change that.

Deidre was one of those characters that is hard to explain in a few short sentences. Most of the vampire stories I read are fairly violent, so I spend the first few scenes worried that her naivety and stubbornness was about to lead to her untimely and terrible death. Luckily for her, those traits turned out to be assets when dealing with this particular vampire. I appreciate the way the author flirted with the various interpretations of what a vampire is like as well as the reader’s expectations of what a heroine should do in this genre. Deidre sometimes joined in with the gentle fun that was being poked at certain tropes, and that made me like her even more. She understood the absurdity of her situation, and she leaned into it so hard that I can’t imagine how campy and delightful her future adventures might be.

While I understand that this is the introduction to a series, I would have liked to see more conflict included in this tale that didn’t involve Nathaniel making inappropriate comments about Deidre’s clothing and marital prospects. As much as it made sense for someone who was a few hundred years old to say those things, I found them a little repetitive as time wore on and wished the author had included other examples of how wildly out of touch he was with modern times. There were plenty of other things he found baffling about our era, and I would have gone with a full five-star rating if his rants had included a wider range of topics or if some other sort of conflict had been brought up to reveal the many differences between him and Deidre.

With that being said, Nathaniel was a refreshing take on what a vampire might realistically be like. Of course he would struggle to adapt to changing times, especially given how socially isolated vampires must remain in order to avoid the sun and people who want to kill them. Honestly, I could see Nathaniel being much more offensive than he turned out to be, so it was interesting to think about the perspective changes he had made over the years and who might have encouraged him to rethink his expectations of what various types of people ought to do. There is so much more room here to explore, and I’ll be curious to see how his relationship with Deidre evolves over time.

Employment Interview With a Vampire was a clever twist on vampire fiction.

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Tagged as 2010s, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Fantasy, Humour, J Bennett, Novella, Self-Published, Vampire

May 25, 2023 · 1:00 am

No Easy Way Out: A Review of Take Care of Your Body

Title: Take Care of Your Body

Author: Elton Gahr

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: March 2, 2022

Genres: Science Fiction, Contemporary

Length: 18 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Frank is a new kind of personal trainer. The kind that switches bodies with the ultra rich so they can get the benefits of working out without the effort. But his new client has done the unthinkable, escaping with Frank’s body while leaving Frank to answer for his crimes.
Now Frank has to track down his own body and force his client to return it before the FBI can catch him.

Review:

Shortcuts can make life easier…if all goes well.

Some of my favourite scenes were the ones that described how careful Frank was when exercising in other people’s bodies. Exercise is one of those things that can be a great deal of fun, a terribly dull chore, or something in-between those two extremes depending on the person involved and what types of movement they actually enjoy doing. Observing Frank’s reaction to his work was fascinating. He respected his clients and did everything he could to help them slowly become stronger and healthier while he was in control of their bodies. It was nice to see how much he cared about perfect strangers.

I had some trouble understanding what was happening in the final scene and needed to read it over again a couple of time to make sure I understood what the author was trying to say. Part of this was due to a character who wasn’t very good at thinking through the logical conclusions of his actions. While he was an interesting person who needed to be written that way for other portions of the storyline to flow nicely, I did find myself wishing for a clearer description of what was happening in that last scene so that both he and I could figure out what was going on there.

The world building was well done. There wasn’t a great deal of time to explain how this mysterious conscious-swapping technology worked given that the author only had eighteen pages to work with, but he explained enough about it for me to understand the basics. Honestly, that was all that was needed before Frank’s dilemma began, so I was happy to quickly move on to how he was going to get his stolen body back before it was too late.

Take Care of Your Body was a wild ride.

A Review of The Life and Lies of Danny Diaz

Title: The Life and Lies of Danny Diaz

Author: Andy Paine

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: January 21, 2021

Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary

Length: 46 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

An ageing rocker, a journalist, and a small, seemingly inconsequential object. This is the tale of the greatest musical theft in history.

Such a small, seemingly inconsequential object. Yet for ageing rocker Danny Diaz, journalist Henry Lapthorne, and indeed the entire population, it is an object that has aided in the greatest musical theft in history, forever altering the historical landscape of music as we know it.

After years of wilful deceit, Danny’s life has come full circle as he reaches out to the one man who forever doubted him, intent on telling his story, and finding peace with his past. For Henry, it is the story of a lifetime, an unbelievable tale of addiction, regret, and redemption. But can it possibly be true? Or is it just another ruse? Is this tale the fulfilment of Henry’s career, or yet another deception in the decades long animosity between two men who know each other so well, and yet not at all.

Review:

Content Warning: Theft, suicide, and deceit. The suicide was mentioned briefly and with no details at all about how it was accomplished.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch…or a free song.

The character development was excellent. Danny was never unlikeable, but he certainly was naive and a little selfish when I first met him. It was rewarding to get to know his personality better and see how the object he carried around for years changed him in all sorts of ways. Without giving away spoilers, this transformation of his was the best part of the entire plot because of how he reacted to it and what he did once he realized how much power he possessed.

I adored the ambiguous corners of this story. The things Danny didn’t know about the small object in his possession were somehow just as intriguing as the many other things he was sure about. After I finished the final paragraph, I sat back and came up with my own theories about the subjects he had partial to no knowledge of. Discovering the limits of Danny’s understanding somehow made him feel both more relatable and more interesting. After all, many of us readers are living with little mysteries every day that we won’t ever fully solve either!

Another memorable thing about this short story was the uneasy relationship between Danny and the narrator who was a reporter who hoped to interview such an important musician. The reporter and Danny both had understandable reasons to be a little wary of each other, so it was rewarding to see them gradually let their guards down and connect with each other as fellow human beings. This was something that was gently hinted at in the first scene, so do keep an eye out for it as the plot progresses.

The Life and Lies of Danny Diaz was a thought-provoking and thrilling read.

6 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Andy Paine, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Fantasy, Self-Published, Short Story

May 11, 2023 · 1:00 am

Local Legends: A Review of Come in the Water

Title: Come in the Water

Author: K.C. Hastings

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 19, 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary

Length: 11 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

There’s something in the lake, and I don’t mean the giant catfish.

Review:

Content Warning: Murder, drowning, a small amount of blood.

Beware what the locals say. Sometimes they know more than anyone else.

One of the biggest strengths of this short story was how arrogant and yet still likeable the unnamed protagonist was. While I certainly wouldn’t want to live with her, I was intrigued by how certain she was that she had everything figured out. Her confidence was admirable even if it sometimes lead her into some pretty dangerous decisions. It can be easier to write a kind and sweet character than one who had such a major personality flaw, so I tip my cap to the author for pulling this off so nicely.

Given how unfamiliar the main character seemed to be with Oklahoma, I was surprised by how quickly she brushed off the scary legends the locals shared with her in the first scene. I would have understood if she didn’t believe every detail of them, but it struck me as odd for her not to be willing to listen to their warnings at all. If only the narrator had given more clues about why she behaved this way. Even if the string of recent deaths all had natural causes, shouldn’t she at least taken heed of how dangerous swimming could be in that area? I wish this had been explored as it would have gone a long way to provide some additional character and plot development.

The horror elements of the plot were deliciously scary and well done. Even the nicest lakes can feel a little eerie even on a clear sunny day when you stare into their murky depths, and that’s even more true for lakes that have disturbing legends attached to them.

Come in the Water is making me think twice about going swimming in a lake this summer!

2 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Fantasy, Horror, K.C. Hastings, Monster, Sea Monster, Self-Published, Short Story

Category Archives: Science Fiction and Fantasy

A Review of Jathniel, the Immortal

A Review of The First Kiss

A Review of Love’s Refrain – A Victorian Ghost Story

Romantic Horror: A Review of Samfah

A Review of Ambrose & Ed

No Ordinary River: A Review of Badwater

A Review of Employment Interview With a Vampire

No Easy Way Out: A Review of Take Care of Your Body

A Review of The Life and Lies of Danny Diaz

Local Legends: A Review of Come in the Water

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