Book Review

Cemetery Tacos and Other Delights

/ Winona Morris / 1 Comment

Cemetery Tacos and Other Delights is a new collection from author Nora B. Peevy. It’s currently slated to arrive in November from JournalStone Publishing, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a coveted ARC copy.

Since the author self described it as a “weird little collection” I went into it fully expecting it to be full on bizarro, and was broadsided when the first story, “Knock, Knock,” turned out to be a straightforward grief centered horror that might or might not have made me tear up a little1. I blame it on the fact that the story revolves around a stuffed animal that plays music when wound up, and I have a musical teddy from my childhood.

That moved into the second story, “The Telling Place.” That one was another straightforward horror involving a family therapist.

By this point I concluded that this “weird little collection” was actually a strong horror collection that I could sink my teeth into.

In the end, Cemetery Tacos and Other Delights did end up serving a couple of weird tales, like “Carnivorous Cows from Outer Space” and even some with a more fantastical or sci-fi element, like “How Romeo and More Saved the World” and even a little humor with “Murder Hornet man Saves Milwaukee (Sort of)”, but those little gems of light serve a pallet cleansers before diving back into the more meaty horrors.

At 14 stories long, it felt way to short to me in the end.

The Author, Nora B. Peevy, has already released a novel, Flesh eating Turtles and a novelette For the Sake of Brigid. Both are currently available on Amazon. She is also a syndicate author for Thrill Ride eZine and The Butchered Writers, and editor for Baynam Books Press and a freelance narrator and editor.

  1. (Let the records show that the defendant cried like a baby….) ↩︎

Feral – A Book Review

/ Winona Morris / Leave a comment

Hello my Wildlings. It has been a while since I came to visit, and I’m sorry I’ve left you alone so long. I’m happy to see you still here, waiting patiently for my return.

I visit today with a book review. It should come as no small surprise to any of you that when I had a chance to read and review a novel called “Feral” that I absolutely jumped at the chance.

I read Feral by MFKR (MFK R on amazon/goodreads) one in one sitting.

It starts with Danielle and Malik moving into a 2 story farmhouse bought sight unseen by Malik who just wanted land of his own, dreaming of starting a small farm. They quickly befriend their neighbors Charlene and Jack, who warn them about the feral dogs in the area.

They didn’t ignore the warning, but didn’t understand the severity of the problem until they witnessed the size and ferocity of the feral pack for themselves. They seem to roam their yard nightly, waking Danielle up with their howling and leaving “gifts” behind.

Meanwhile, the upstairs of the home is in need of extensive repairs, and sooner rather than later. Malik spends much time working on it, and pondering the weird design choices that left behind whole rooms and much spare space in the walls. Walls Danielle swears she hears strange sounds behind.

Then during a snowstorm, they let a stray dog in their home. A dog that makes itself right at home, immediately acts like a guardian to Danielle, and is also very interested in SOMETHING behind the walls…..

This one is a “cozy” horror with a slow build up of suspense until the end. Not a lot of blood, and no gore but TW: Some description of animal injury/death throughout.

While I had a lot of ideas about what was going on with the house and the dog, the end wasn’t exactly what I have figured it would be.

A 5* read that had me immediately checking out some of the authors other work. Not to mention their short story “Cabin in the Woods” can be read in Books of Horror Community Anthology Vol.4 Pt.1 which also happens to house my own story, “Being the Eldest Daughter”

(IMAGE: black and white book cover, a close up of a single dog eye looking at the viewer with the title FERAL in white and red lettering at the top and the author name MFKR in the same lettering at the bottom)

Shock Waves – Book Review

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Shock Waves by Matt Kurtz is the 28th book I’ve finished reading in 2023 so far.

I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review and while I only expected a copy of the book, I got an AUTOGRAPHED copy of the book, along with some extra goodies. My inner goblin squeeed at the trinkets. Not pictured is the small spider, which has scared my youngest son several times, and is almost as much fun as the novel itself.

I love a good creature feature, and this one certainly fit the bill. There was no lacking of creatures in fact.

We start off at the Lone Star Amusement Park. Our boy Danny, who works at the amusement park as the foreman of the Shock Wave coaster, recently found out he’s going to be a father. He’s still pondering what this means for his future when an explosion at a nearby construction site rips open a hell-mouth….or something. Because lots of…things…come pouring out of the new fissure in the earth and are headed right for the park!

Now poor Danny is torn between keeping his riders safe, and going into the park to find his girlfriend, Stacy, who works on another ride.

The park is dark and full of monsters. Some can fly, some are reptilian, some are unseen aside from monstrous tentacles (which brings to mind The Mist which is one of my favorite novella’s).

However, a large number of the creatures seem to be arachnid in nature. Through much of the book whenever a creature was encountered I couldn’t help but play the sound effects of the movie Eight Legged Freaks in my head. It added a little lightheartedness to the massive amount of entrails this book contained.

The only downside to this read was that I didn’t feel any real attachment to the characters. There were a few flashbacks to make us feel more for Danny and Stacy and for us to hope for a safe reunification of the couple, but they fell flat for me. While I absolutely loved every abomination filled minute, I could have cared less if Danny found Stacy in on piece or not. I didn’t mourn any of the fallen comrades either.

If I were someone who gave deeper meaning and underlying themes to what I read then I’d say the monsters poor Danny faces on his way to find Stacy was a metaphor for the terror of upcoming fatherhood. But I’m not one of those people. I take my cave mutants and human evisceration at face value.

If you are also a fan of creepy crawly (and sometimes flappy) creatures from the depth of the earth, and bountiful intestine filled mutilations, or if you just want to know if Danny an Stacy are safely reunited or if “Big Mamma” manages to eviscerate the whole lot of them, then this book is for you!

Available at Amazon in Paperback or with Kindle Unlimited

Killerpede – Book Review

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The 104th book I’ve read this year and last book I’ll read in 2022 was this gem. Killerpede by Marek Z. Turner.

Okay, so, after reading Warm, Dark Places are Best by Mike Duke earlier this year, the prologue of Killerpede bothered me a little bit.

I mean, how many books involving insectile violation do I have to read before Amazon decides I’m an entomophile and starts suggesting I read those bizarro “I made out with a mantis…and liked it” kind of novels?

That being said, I started reading this thing on my lunch break at work today, and finished reading it at home about 10pm today.

So, it must have had something going for it. That something was the fact that it was unapologetically about gaint-ish mutant centipedes eating people.

Well, it tried to be about an old man wanting to revenge his dog’s death and a “plucky female reporter” looking to make a name for herself. And they did show up every other chapter. While every OTHER chapter introduced a new character to be eaten, usually by the end of the same chapter.

And, two of those Characters were named Billy and Georgie, and their last name was Derry, and if that wasn’t a purposeful nod to IT (which this novel doesn’t in the least bit mimic) then it was the worlds most blinding coincidence.

Meanwhile, despite feeding most of a town to giant insects, there wasn’t a lot of gore. At least not what I consider a lot of gore (and I’m not big into extreme horror or splatterpunk so my gore meter may rank higher or lower than yours)

There was a couple of attempts to involve a plot. I felt it in my bones, but they never came to fruition. Points for trying though. So, what we have here is another syfy movie in novel form and I am here for it. I give it 3 stars. Would have been 4 if that plot had ever come into play.

Pirantulas

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Cover of the book Pirantulas by Michael Yowell, featuring a pirannah with spider legs.

Have you ever been watching one of those b grade horror movies on SyFy. You know, the one’s that are usually made in Canda for some reason, have horrible CGI, bad acting and plot holes the size of the grand canyon, but you love it anyway?

I think I just found the book version of that.

Possibly because I was checking out Snow Shark, which was recommended to me when I asked for creature feature books in a horror group I’m in., but amazon thought I might like to read Pirantulas by Michael Yowell.

Given the oversized fish with spider legs on the cover I proved amazon right by immediately checking it out on KU.

Imagine, if you will, a group of freshly graduated scientists. Equally divided two men and two women, they have all been hired by a mysterious millionaire.

Their new job is to combine a tarantula and a piranha into one nightmare creature. And they seem to have very little problem into putting a fishes head, with a neck, onto a tarantula’s body.

They are making this arachno-fish in the name of “medical research” because what other reason would need you to create this thing?

This ends about as well as you think it might.

The whole book is a quick and easy read. I thought, “I’m reading Goosebumps for adults” which is a compliment, not an insult.

This isn’t hardcore horror by any means, but if you’re looking for a fun creature feature romp that reads like a cheesy b-grade horror movie you’ll love it.

I loved it.

Started 12-21-22
Finished 12_23_22
5 Stars