Happy Sunday and friends, do I have some bangers for you today. We are going to start off in Hollywood at Brandon Bowers mansion, then lose ourselves to fit in, then lose more of ourselves before ending with some letters home.
Whew!
Let’s get started.
STARLET
By Danger Slater
Releasing August 27, 2024
What happens when a down-home gal gets her chance to impress a well-known and extremely popular actor? Shenanigans. And because Danger wrote it, double shenanigans.
Imagine AMERICAN NARCISSUS by Chandler Morrison but throw in body horror and paparazzi. I know, that’s a humdinger but trust me, it not only makes sense but is a stellar novel.
Slater gives us 10% Hollywood superficiality, 30% bizarro, 30% body horror, and 30% splatterpunk to equal 100% perfection. I’m not giving much away because I’m not going to ruin any of the insanity he has in store for you but know, he serves it like a Hollywood actress trying to stay of “the” casting couch.
5/5.
TINY OBLIVIONS AND MUTUAL SELF DESTRUCTIONS
By Maxwell I. Gold
Where do I even start with this collection. Whatever Gold eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner we all need because he is doing everything right.
TINY OBLIVIONS is brilliance. I mean, I know that’s a simple sentence, but it’s not simple to explain. Gold constructs a world that is both familiar and fantasy while grounding the reader in realism and relatability.
What’s it about? Well, it’s poetry so what I see may not even be close to what Gold was going for but here’s my interpretation. Our main character is on a journey, one that many before us have been forced to endure. (I will be referencing the main character as “they” because it’s not clear what sex they are.) They travel on a ship to a new land. Gold writes it so that the reader is on a slave ship, a ship from WW2 to America, or just starting anew.
The main character realizes that they must remove pieces of themselves in order to fit in to societal expectations, sexual identity, career, as well as self. Add on to this, the possibility that they may be dealing with addiction and/or mental illness, it is so much deeper than one expects.
I’m not saying this lightly, but I feel like Maxwell is one of the most important poets of the 21st century. This collection should be studied at the academic level because it is a semester’s worth alone. I just need you to read it so you can see what I mean. (If this isn’t a fangirl review, I don’t know what is.) And when you read it, read aloud. Feel how each word flows off your tongue when it’s in an upbeat part, and how you stutter step the words in the more oppressive scenes. It’s … remarkable.
10/5. Nothing else would do it justice.
DEVOTEE
By Ash Ericmore
Charles is a bad boy, he stalks women. Well, a woman, Lauren. When his plans go awry and he has to get a little bloody, Lauren is there to lend a hand… or take one.
This one got me. I didn’t see the twists coming. (Every book has a twist so it’s not a spoiler, Nonsense Nelly.) While it’s not as humor filled as say, The Smalls series or Alex Cole, this one is more psychological and darker. I love when Ash does things different, switches it up for us. And this one does just that.
Make sure to wear that neck brace because there’s a 100% chance of whiplash in DEVOTEE.
5/5.
DEAD LETTERS - EPISODES OF EPISTOLARY HORROR
Edited by Jacob Steven Mohr
(I reviewed the first ten stories on 12/2/23)
Continuing (so damn late) with the last ten stories in this anthology and I may have saved the best for last.
The Behavioral Patterns of the Displaced Siberian Sirens by Amanda Blake - Sirens in Siberia enjoy both men and women. A very interesting play on the trope.
Something Cool Behind the Waterfall by Nat Reiher - Rachel starts playing a video game and finds a secret area thanks to an online helper… but can she follow the directions perfectly?
RE: The Hand (of God) by J.A.W. McCarthy - Katie hates her job and hates it even more when she can’t seem to leave it.
Berkey Family Vacation 1988 by Jacob Steven Mohr - Bodie and her family have a condo on the beach. What comes out of the water isn’t what went in.
A Testament of Wonders by Kyle Toucher - When Bacchus takes over as leader after overthrowing elders on the Oregon Trail, things go from bad to worse.
The Samhain Tapes by Colin Leonard - If you are asked to play a game called Spindly Fingers, just say pass. (This has the feel of a Martin McDonough play).
Drawn Home by Red Lagoe - New friends is what Katie wanted after her parents divorce. A weird need to check an abandoned cave is not what she needed.
Queen of This Carnival Creation by J. Rohr - Courtney goes down a rabbit hole and gets much more than what she bargains for.
The Second Death by Christina Wilder - What happens when your favorite band puts out a video that drives you crazy?
The whole anthology is amazing and has such a diverse and eclectic story range. I was worried that the epistolary format would get a bit overdone with twenty-one stories, but I was 100% wrong.
A HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND 5/5.
Amazon.com: Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror eBook : Files, Gemma, Publishing, Crystal Lake, Barb, Patrick, Henriques, Sandra, Stewart, Gregg, Allec, Justin, Jiang, Ai, Rosenberg, Zachary, Miranda, G. Nicholas, Madden, T.T. , Hogan, Liam, B. White, Gordon, Ruth Verona, Emily, M. Blake, Amanda, Reiher, Nat, McCarthy, J.A.W. , Toucher, Kyle, Leonard, Colin, Lagoe, Red, Rohr, J., Wilder, Christina, Mohr, Jacob Steven: Kindle Store
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