Has it been a minute since you’ve checked the gallery? Swing by and see what you’ve missed. Today’s additions include a psycho quote from Bret Easton Ellis, (American Psycho that is!), and some sharp words provided by Shaun Hupp.
The Maniacs With Knives post led me to obsess over Rayne Havok even more, (if you’re wondering…check out the review, haha!!) But – I’m dying on this new background I’m working on for Boy’s Will Be Boys. I’m trying to be TOO clever, I think. We’ll see. BOLO for new Ed Lee, and Wrath James White #BleedingMemes, posting soon!
Well, like most things in life, tonight’s discussion can be summed up in the words of Bukowski…
Keep checking back even during the remodeling, just wear your mask to avoid the dust and debris 😉 Until next time…
After six years and more than fifty authors, theUnholy 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 byRichard 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 byAdrian 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 byC. 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!
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!)
The Bloody Book Blogger 