DOA III: Extreme Horror Anthology

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

After six years and more than fifty authors, the Unholy Trinity is complete. This third installment in the DOA series offers thirty stories from the originators of splatterpunk as well as the newest voices in extreme horror.

You’ll laugh…you’ll cry…you’ll vomit
Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Stories from Bentley Little -Jack Ketchum & Edward Lee – Shane Mckenzie – Wrath James White – Richard Christian Matheson – Kristopher Triana – T.M. McLean – Sean Eads & Joshua Viola – T. Fox Dunham – John Skipp – Luciano Marano – Ryan Harding – Kristopher Rufty – Daniel I. Russell – LLoyd Kaufman & Lily Hayes Kaufman – David Sandner – Betty Rocksteady – C.M. Saunders – K. Trap Jones – Hal Bodner – Adrian Ludens – C. Cameron Rossi – Alistair Rennie – Airika Sneve – Christoph Weber – Garrett Cook – Eric J. Guignard – Jeff Strand – Jaap Boekestein – John McNee

NOTCHES by Sean Eads and Joshua Viola
How do you keep track of things? A notch on your bedpost? A notch on your arm?
How do you keep track of things you have lost?

BROKEN HEARTED by T. Fox Dunham
💔 💻 The Perfect Couple. It’s not just a saying, or a wish, thanks to No More Broken Hearts, Inc. 100% perfectly compatible couples world wide – no fighting, no bullshit. What could possibly go wrong?

N WORD by Shane McKenzie
⚰️ 🛀 🤢 Calvin was a regular, horny kid. But he should have thought about that fantasy for a little while longer. No patience these days.

SKIPP’S SPLATTERPUNK ALPHABET SOUFFLE by John Skipp
I don’t normally pick anthology favorites, I try to just hit on each story.
But…SKIPP’S SPLATTERPUNK ALPHABET SOUFFLE is one that should be on everyone’s ‘Must Read’ list.

TAKEAWAY NIGHT by T.M. McLean
💩 I can barely read about emetophilia and/or coprophilia without gagging, and this was tough for a minute. But, I got a chuckle, too. 🤢

BURNT by Luciano Marano
🔥 Vicki is driven by the burn. By the beauty of it. And she just wants her world to be a beautiful place to live. “Burn wards are Satan’s art gallery“.

JUNK by Ryan Harding
🤢 🔪 ☢️ A Viral Virus ss – jam packed with cringe inducing imagery, hilariously grotesque metaphors, and hyperbole for days 😝
My Ryan Harding books look like rainbows; full of highlighted words & phrases that I never want to forget, but sadly cannot seem to slip into every day conversations.

THE PACKAGE by Kristopher Rufty
📦 We all want to do the right thing, love the neighbor and all that. But when your inner freak-tard detector starts binking red, listen to your inner voice. Call me a cunt, but I’ll still be alive!

RED by Richard Christian Matheson
I need to thank this brilliant mind that gave me “Three O’clock High”, (as well as many stories that I’ve loved, but didn’t realize who the author was  😕)

8 OUT OF 10 by Daniel I. Russell
😼 A battle of wills between a mother and her son. 😾

THE MACHINE by Bentley Little
If you think hard enough, you can use anything to jerk off with. But finding out that your dirty little thingamajig was made to be exactly that… it kinda takes some of the romance out of it.

POSTHUMOUS by Lloyd Kaufman & Lily Hays Kaufman
It’s all about your social media followers – don’t pretend like it’s not.

BURY THEM DEEPER by David Sandner
👹 Learning that monsters are human can break your psyche as a kid.

THESE BEAUTIFUL BONES by Betty Rocksteady
💔 🔨 When your girl is coming at you with a hammer in her hand… Do not call her by the wrong name. JS

SUBJECT #270374 by C.M. SAUNDERS
🏥 🚬 🗞️ Deep thoughts & dry humor 💉 🔪
I need to pay more attention to this author.

BEER BATTERED by K. Trap Jones
Deliverence meets Bigfoot – with buddies & beer! 🍺

L’AMUSE BOUCHE by Hal Bodner
Joel considers himself a 9.5/10 on the hotness scale, Why settle for just one guy when there are so many to amuse the mouth? Besides, his dates don’t always walk away as pretty as they were going in…

PROUD PAPA by Adrian Ludens
🍼 As a parent, I can attest to watching my spawn grow up over night. There’s never enough time. The proud papa in this ss doesn’t miss a second.

CRY THE BANSHEE by C. Cameron Rossi
Add another #MichiganMadman to our list!  This madman lives in the urban wilds of Detroit, Michigan – maybe we’ve already crossed paths.

TERRORSLUTS FOR ETERNITY VERSUS THE UNGODHEADS OF THE INTERDIMENSIONALS by Alistair Rennie
👾 This is a little more sci-fi than I’d normally read, but I got into the story. If you know me, that says a lot.

WE BELIEVE IN 5B by Airika Sneve
🥒 🍆 🍌 🌋 An in-house seminar in ‘Unconventional Leadership’. Why do guys go batshit overboard when they are with other ‘bros’?

TAKING ROOT by Christoph Weber
🌿🌱 It may be the end of times, but thank Christ there weren’t any zombies! The couple in this is know how to survive – by any means necessary.

THE BLISS POINT by Wrath James White
⛪ 🍆 OMFG. There’s something wrong with me. 🌋

WOEFUL CITY by Garrett Cook
“Leave your hope behind if you’d enter here”.

RITCHIE by Eric J. Guignard
A duel that lasts more than a lifetime will surely bring some crazy with it at some point in time. But, who’s to say WHAT is crazy?

I’D GIVE ANYTHING FOR YOU by Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee.
How To Lose A Guy In Three Weeks. Sorta.
💍 💔 ‘IGAFY‘ has been published prior to this anthology, but I enjoyed reading again.⛓️ 🔒

HOSTILE by Jeff Strand
💸 🔪 I always look forward to Jeff’s sense of humor – in all it’s flavors.

“…that’s a mentally ill thing to do. That’s for somebody who drools and wears necklaces made out of body parts. I don’t wear necklaces made out of body parts, I will never wear necklaces made out of body parts, and I don’t appreciate you trying to make me feel guilty about not wearing necklaces made out of body parts.”

METAL HEAT by Jaap Boekestein
A fetish can consume your time, but when it becomes YOU… that’s trouble.

REPULSIVE GLAMOUR by John McNee
A drug. A transformation, if you’re one of the lucky ones. A very painful death if your not.
Pssst… Hey, John… ‘Degredatia’ is the best character name ever!

THE BITCH by Kristopher Triana
🔗 This is a tale of terror and revenge, (with some new and interesting forms of brutality!). It also had a couple of twisty turns that took me by surprise! I’ll definately be looking into more work from this author, The Detained is on my Must Read list now (I remember getting BODY ART, and I need to get it in que!) I had to giggle a bit when I read the author bio and learned what Kristopher Triana does for a living, when he’s not writing that is. I have two more books on my Must Read list now, too! 🗜️

* A PERSONAL NOTE TO KRISTOPHER TRIANA:
I’d be very excited to see the New & Improved Emma taken further. Her recently acquired ‘treasure’ is a story begging to be told as well!

BizarroCentral

BloodBoundBooks

Garden of Fiends: Tales of Addiction Horror by Mark Matthews

★★★★★  5 of 5 ★★★★★

* The reality of addiction is darker than any fiction. *
“Drinking and drugging provide the height of human experience.
It’s the promise of heaven on earth,
but the hell that follows is a constant hunger, a cold emptiness.”

Before I read even one story in this ‘reality horror’ anthology – Mark Matthews had me crying so hard that I could barely see. He presents an addiction anthology with compassion, casting no aspersions.

I wan’t to meet Mark Matthews, and give him the tightest hug ever.

“Imagine yourself drowning and being told not to swim to the surface for air.
Obsessions should be so mild.”

I’ll have my full review posted soon – I was going over my notes for this review, and I’m ’emotional’ again…

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THE ABUSE OF ASHLEY COLLINS by Jon Athan

I don’t  know why I ever chose to torture myself and willingly read A CHILD CALLED IT,  but Dave Pelzer broke something inside me – I haven’t been right since.  Knowing that, you’d think I’d have learned a lesson, (yeah, I know… I’m audibly laughing right now, too).  Nope. Years after ‘ACCI’ I decided that I wanted to read THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, and I let Jack Ketchum walk right in and start poking at the wound that David Pelzer left with a big, pointy stick.  I think it was the masochist in me who invited Mendal W. Johnson to drop by and sucker-punch my PTSD in the back of the head.  As far as the ‘Let’s Go Play At The Adams‘ fiction/non-fiction debate’ goes – I’m sticking with IT’S FICTION, but I’m sure all the atrocities have been committed, many times, and on many different Barbaras. 
Like LGPATA, THE ABUSE OF ASHLEY COLLINS is not a true story – but it very well could be. Watching the decreasing sanity, and the elevating brutality of Ashley’s parents demonstrates just how fast situations can escalate. One little poke at the wrong moment, and all control is lost – you can’t come back from certain things.

       

THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION. It is disturbing, and hard to read at times, but the author is not exploiting issues to gain shock value for a horror story. Jon Athan comes at the story from every possible angle, from every p.o.v., and sheds light on problems that most families would keep hidden in the dark. Let me misquote one of my favorite movies before you start reading…

WARNING: This book contains scenes of graphic violence, including violence towards children. This book is about abuse—verbal, physical, and emotional. This book does not feature any explicit sex scenes, but it does discuss sexual abuse. This book is not intended for those easily offended or appalled.

Ashley Collins, a sixteen-year-old girl, has severe behavior issues. She regularly fights with her parents, Logan and Jane. When the fights become personal and physical, Logan and Jane decide to take matters into their own hands. They chain their daughter in the basement and abuse her in an attempt to rescue her from her bad behavior… while delving into their own deviance and depravity.

This is a story of family and abuse. This is a story of violence and discipline. This is the abuse of Ashley Collins.

Jon Athan, author of A Family of Violence, brings you an uncompromising vision of human horror. Can the cycle of abuse be broken?

 

Find The Abuse of Ashley Collins on Goodreads, Amazon, and it’s available through the KU program.

Connect with the author via Twitter – @Jonny_Athan, Facebook,  through the official Jon Athan Website, or his author pages on Goodreads, BookLikes, LibraryThing  & Amazon. You can email him directly at: info@jon-athan.com, or head on over to the West Coast and start stalking him the old fashioned way!

 

Coming Soon from Jon Athan –  An uncompromising new vision of human horror.
Pre-order your copy now – $2.99 Publication Date:  April 7th, 2017

Mason’s Television

Mason Williams is not a normal 13-year-old teenager. He regularly gets in trouble at school. He doesn’t mind getting beaten by his father. He enjoys extremely violent movies. He talks to his television—and his television talks back. With the advice from his television, Mason begins committing violent crimes against his peers in order to achieve infamy…

WARNING: This book contains scenes of graphic violence, disturbing themes, and some sexual references. Most of these scenes involve violence committed by and against minors. This book is not intended for those easily offended or appalled. Please enjoy at your own discretion.

 

*´¯`*.¸¸.*´¯`* Dear Author *´¯`*.¸¸.*´¯`*

Jon Athan,
You knocked another one out of the park!!
I want to touch on a few things from your author notes, and Dear Reader section. I’m adding a ‘SPOILER ALERT’ in case people who haven’t read the story yet don’t scroll through this and see something they shouldn’t 🙂  On my blog is will look like…  Read the rest of this entry →

My 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge So Far…

* 2016 READING CHALLENGE STATS * Participants 2,693,803 / Total Books Pledged 127,845,226 / Books Finished 28,625,135 / Avg. Books Pledged 47 / Challenges Completed [to date] 5,475 / Time Left 95 days / KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK EVERYONE!

I’ve completed the 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge, and have read about 128 of 125 books… so far – (that is just the Goodreads challenge, not Shadow Girl‘s personal goal… I am far from finished!)  Just try to stop me – It’s not even October yet!  

I may be 36 books ahead of [the GR] schedule, but do you realize just how many books on my 2016 Must Read list are not even published yet?! (not to mention my ‘don’t judge me’ list or my ‘guilty pleasure’ list – No. I have no shame).  

OMG, these authors are killing me! 

But, I wouldn’t want to go any other way.

Big, BIG, HUGE thanks to the minds behind the mayhem.

You guys are a large & very important part of my life, and I’m lucky enough to call many of you my friends. Thank you for the journeys so far, and I can’t wait to see where we’re going next!!      P, L & N ♥  ~sg

Check out some of my 2016 Books (so far…)  »

                                                                                                                       

THE TALE OF SAWNEY BEAN: A CANNIBAL HORROR STORY by Kevin J. Kennedy

It’s a *Shpadoinkle* book!

 

As the huge horror fan that I claim to be, I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t know the name Sawney Bean ::hangs head in shame::

Thanks to Kevin J. Kennedy, and this awesome short story I picked up on Amazon – that’s changed! I’ve also done some research of my own since reading this, and it’s all pretty interesting stuff.

“The legend of Sawney Bean has long been discussed and adapted into other stories. There has been discussion on which parts of the tale are fact and which parts are fiction.”

“This is the story from the mans mouth himself. Sawney Beans journey from a twelve year old lad into the leader of the most notorious cannibal family to ever live. He tells the tale of how he met his wife and how they ended up raising a massive inbred clan in a secluded cave not far from the very people they were killing for food.”

“Here Sawney’s side of the story and the true facts of what actually happened. Was he a cold blooded cannibal or just another man trying to do his best for his family?”

If you like Jack Ketchum‘s Offseason, The Hills Have Eyes, or (dare I say…) Cannibal! The Musical, you should definitely pick up this short from KJK.

 

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THE TALE OF SAWNEY BEAN: A CANNIBAL HORROR STORY on Amazon

Kevin J. Kennedy‘s author page on Amazon

THE TALE OF SAWNEY BEAN: A CANNIBAL HORROR STORY on Goodreads

Kevin J. Kennedy‘s author page on Goodreads

Kevin J. Kennedy on Facebook

 

 

 

 

Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road

Near the end of September 2012, Tom Piccirilli went under the knife to have a tennis ball sized tumor removed from his brain (!), and SIXTY FIVE STIRRUP IRON ROAD is what happens when your friends include the Kings of Extreme!
All proceeds from 65SIR go to Tom Piccirilli and his family.
Tom has also been given a nod within the book, lending his name to a rather unhappy loan shark!
I read that Tom had a setback last month, suffering a stroke and another hospital stay. But, I’m happy to say that he is home now, and on the road to recovery!

I’m not entirely sure what happened to my review from the first time I read this. When I realized that it wasn’t on my blog, I pulled it out and started to skim for details – I looked up to see that two hours had passed – I had become another victim of the house! I reread it cover to cover, and I think I enjoyed it even more this time.

The house at Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road has a history stained by the blood and bodily fluids of every person who ever inhabited it. The house was built in the 1930s by Harold & Lucy Pearson. We’ll find out more about them later in the book. THIS story starts ten years ago… with siblings Nicci & Sam Forrestal.
Sam works as a guard at the county detention center, and Nicci… well, Nicci was just released from said detention center. She had spent 30 days inside for doing the same thing that got her fired from her job at Corn Dog Dee-Lites, (let’s just say that she was about to win the gold in the oral Olympics, but that last ‘judge’ whipped out his badge. The cuffs were NOT fun that time!) Her brother has graciously taken her in until she can get back on her feet.
She accuses him of having ulterior motives when she wakes up sticky, crusty, and has a bad, yet very familiar, taste in her mouth.
This leads to the most disgusting, and gag inducing (no pun intended) prologue ever written.
*Coprophilia, emetophilia, urolagnia, mysophilia, zoophilia, and mucophilia, are some of the highlights included, and these are just a prelude to the violent & bloody end of these appx. 30 pages.
If you made it through this, I think you’ll be ok.
Maybe.
Probably not.
But – don’t wuss out on me!

Now, after ten years, Chuck & Arrianne are moving in.
Almost immediately – it begins again. Slowly, at first. But when Arrianne crosses Chuck’s line in the sand, from what’s acceptable kink, to ‘that’s just disgusting’, his thoughts go to denial and blame, and hers go to realizing that it’s the house, and trying to make some sense of it all.
The Diary of Lucy Pearson makes an appearance, and I wish there was more of it. If one of these guys were to publish the entire diary… they’d make a lot of money! (HINT HINT, GUYS!!)
I have to tell you here – I’ve been slowly working on my Library Thing account, so I was paying close attention to places of interest. I made this note, and I’m adding it to show you how brilliant I think I get after not sleeping for extended periods –

Arrianne goes to the Cellar Door pub for a drink and two things stand out:
1 – The pub’s name – Cellar Door.
It may be a nod to Karen Pomeroy / Donnie Darko, it could be used because of it’s phonaesthetics, OR – it’s just a name and I’m looking WAAAAY to deep into things… whatever. I noticed & made a note of it. And, number
2 – The drink she orders is… a WHISKY SOUR 🙂 That has to be on purpose!

The other characters in the story all have their roll to play, and there is a damn good story here. You can feel that the authors had a good time writing this, and their friendship shows – mostly in an annoying sibling kind of way! They name characters and places after each other, and poke fun at each other. By the end, the novelty of lending their fellow author’s names to characters had turned into the names BEING their fellow authors.
By this point, I was about to pee my pants from the absurdities of the deaths, childish bickering between the surviving authors, and a comment to WJW about being the only black man in a horror story – ‘you might have super-powers!’ If that wasn’t hysterical enough, his reply brought tears to my eyes – “There ain’t any magical negroes in an Ed Lee novel”!!
I had to laugh at myself, too. During a particularly disgusting scene I had thrown my left hand up to cover my eyes, but kept reading by peeking through my fingers. Who covers their eyes while reading? I don’t think I’ve ever done that before, but if I had – I’m sure it was while reading the other book I’ve read from Ryan Harding. (I won’t say where in the story that this happened, but, I’ll tell you this – I learned that Ryan is an Eli Roth fan!)
The first time I read this, I had recently finished THE KILLING KIND. I was all warm & fuzzy thinking that Bryan Smith rode off into the bloody sunset with the crazy chick of his dreams. But then, by way of rotation, he wasn’t in the group that wrote the last chapter.

So, the Sixty-Five Million Dollar Question… Will you like it?
I can’t make that call! I did. More so the second time.
I gagged. I was grossed out. But, I also laughed, and I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.
Even seasoned fans may find certain scenes too disturbing, but will still want to own it for their collection.
But – there’s not one page, not one review, that doesn’t warn the reader about what’s inside Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road. Please, don’t read it, then leave a shitty review just because of the content. By all means – be honest about the story! Just remember, it’s all in good fun, and for a good cause. ❤

*While trying to find ‘proper names’ for the acts described, (so I didn't offend anyone too bad), I was stuck under an umbrella term that I found while trying to review THE HAUNTER OF THE THRESHOLD, (which was also written by Ed Lee). 'Paraphilia: sexual interests in objects, situations, or individuals that are highly atypical.'
That just doesn't cut it for this story.
I was able to find an expanded list! 547 listed forms of paraphilia! Go, me!

Tom Piccirilli is the author of more than twenty-five novels including A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN, SHADOW SEASON, THE COLD SPOT, and THE LAST KIND WORDS. He's a four-time winner of the Stoker Award, two-time winner of the International Thriller Award, and has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, and twice for the Edgar Award. Marilyn Stasio of The New York Tims Book Review called THE LAST KIND WORDS, "A caustic thriller…the characters have strong voices and bristle with funny quirks." New York Times bestselling thriller writer Lee Child said of Tom's work, "Perfect crime fiction…a convincing world, a cast of compelling characters, and above all a great story" And Publishers Weekly extols, "Piccirilli's mastery of the hard-boiled idiom is pitch perfect, particularly in the repartee between his characters, while the picture he paints of the criminal corruption conjoining the innocent and guilty in a small Long Island community is as persuasive as it is seamy. Readers who like a bleak streak in their crime fiction will enjoy this well-wrought novel." Keir Graff of Booklist wrote, "There's more life in Piccirilli's THE LAST KIND WORDS (and more heartache, action, and deliverance) than any other novel I've read in the past couple of years." And Kirkus states, "Consigning most of the violence to the past allows Piccirilli (The Fever Kill, 2007, etc.) to dial down the gore while imparting a soulful, shivery edge to this tale of an unhappy family that's assuredly unhappy in its own special way."
Update: 7/15/14 6:55am –
(I just bought a few of Tom Piccirilli’s titles, and have gotten a couple recommendations, so watch for future reviews & discussions!)

https://www.facebook.com/tompiccirilli?fref=nf

http://www.thecoldspot.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sinister-Grin-Press/192775404110112

Brian Keene

Jack Ketchum

Edward Lee

J.F. Gonzalez

Bryan Smith

Wrath James White

Nate Southard

Ryan Harding

Shane McKenzie

I’m Not Sam by Ketchum & McKee

I’m Not Sam by Jack Ketchum

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This has been on my Must Read list for a while.
Now, I’m going to mark it as one that needs to be read again, to give it another chance.

It’s told from the husband’s POV. After a pretty enthusiastic night with his wife, Sam, he wakes up to find her naked, terrified, and not herself. She says her name is Lily, and although she’s speaking from a fully developed woman’s body, Lily is only five years old.

I was immersed in Patrick’s world, and could feel all his emotions in my gut – the early feelings of loss were quickly replaced with pangs of guilty embarrassment when they were in public, to confusion & shame when his body recognized the familiarity of his wife’s form on a child.
I appreciate the reason that the story ends as it does, but I would’ve liked a little bit more… something. It was a little abrupt, and I was left wanting. The additional bit at the end is Sam’s POV. Take the author’s advice – Let some time pass before reading it. (I didn’t.)
I hate the 3/5 rating, so it’s going on the Read Again list.

Visit Jack Ketchum’s International Official Website

More Reviews on Goodreads and on Cover to Cover

Right To Life by Jack Ketchum

Right to Life by Jack Ketchum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book, but the entire time I was reading it – I kept comparing it to Perfect Victim: The True Story of “The Girl in the Box”. The stories aren’t just similar – some details are practically identical (once artistic license is removed).
Colleen Stan was threatened with stories of ‘The Organization’, and the head-box was so detailed that it couldn’t have been from anywhere else.
It’s a good story, but the true story of Colleen Stan is horrifying.
If you’re a fan of True Crime, read Perfect Victim: The True Story of “The Girl in the Box”.

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