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Book Review – In the Tall Grass (Kindle Single) by Joe Hill and Stephen King

October 26, 2012 1 comment

In the Tall Grass (Kindle Single) by Joe Hill and Stephen King

Book Description:

In the Tall Grass begins with a sister and brother who pull off to the side of the road after hearing a young boy crying for help from beyond the tall grass.

Within minutes they are disoriented, in deeper than seems possible, and they’ve lost one another. The boy’s cries are more and more desperate.

What follows is a terrifying, entertaining, and masterfully told tale, as only Stephen King and Joe Hill can deliver.

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In the Tall Grass  (Kindle Single) is a new short story by horror legend Stephen King and his son Joe Hill that should carry a warning – DON’T read on full stomach! (I read it after a pleasant lunch of grilled chicken sandwich, and was so sick to my stomach when I got to the end of the story. I was just thankful I hadn’t been eating sardines….)

What can I say about this Kindle single? Well, I definitely don’t see myself reading it again. It starts out great – super creepy – when the brother and sister first hear a kid’s cries for help coming from the field of grass, and they set of in pursuit. Cal and Becky were really likable characters, and I was all tied up in knots worrying about them. And the suspense just ratcheted up the longer they were stuck in the grass looking for the kid (And then each other).

But then, the story suddenly changed direction – I won’t give spoilers – but that’s when I ended up way more grossed out than scared. Pity – I really enjoyed reading it before things turned disgusting.

But then, maybe if you like that type of horror – you’ll probably like this way more than me?

 

In the Tall Grass (Kindle Single) by Joe Hill and Stephen King (Scribner) is available on Amazon as a Kindle Single.

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Indie Saturday – Author Nipaporn Baldwin on “The Society On Da Run: Dragons and Cicadas” (Space Dragon Series)

July 14, 2012 1 comment

Today, we have author Nipaporn Baldwin featured on the blog’s ‘Indie Saturday‘ for her collected edition of stories “The Society On Da Run: Dragons and Cicadas” (Space Dragon Series).


Nipaporn Baldwin writes :

My Journey as a Teen Author

I’ve been writing The Society On Da Run for years. It first started out in the pages of my notebook as a furry comic that was akin to The Lion King. A year later, as my harem of notebooks grew, the stories became akin to many anime songs and programs I had been watching at the time (Rozen Maiden having the biggest impact on the story). Along the road it progressed into a story of dragons and became more complex with every story.

I came across Lulu in early 2009 (feels like yesterday) and I became wishy washy with my book length. I asked myself silly questions like:

Should I make it short?
Should I make it long?
If it’s long, they’ll get all of the stories but the price will be horrendous!
If it’s short, they’ll come back for more or they might not come back at all! They’ll miss out on good stories!

It was madness.

I found out about Smashwords thanks to a friend at the Written Word spruz site. In October of last year I fulfilled my dream of releasing The Society On Da Run as a periodical. That marked my first foray into ebook publishing and it was perfect timing, Skyrim (a popular game) was about to be released.

And then what happened?

I offered the first issue for free as part of a Read to Review on Goodreads and (to my horror) it received bad reviews. Before that a nice young man loved the first issue and it’s subsequent stories. When I posted poems and excerpts on Lulu Poetry, Facebook and the Written Word, they were met with acclaim and helped me form friendships with fellow poets and writers. Why did the people from R2R hate it? Somehow those bad reviews hit me like a dumbbell. I didnt comment saying they were wrong, which is what a lot of authors seem to do. Instead I thanked them for their reviews. And then I listened to those reviews. I got depressed and cancelled the periodical. It hurt me to my core. I then embarked on the journey of combining every story from the original manuscript and creating a new genre in hopes of avoiding bad reviews.

ENTER DRAGONS AND CICADAS!!!!!

242,000 words out of 300,000 (or 500! Gasp!), 777 pages and NO BOUNDARIES! Each month I’ll add a story to it! Sounds perfect!

BUT…

I missed the periodical series. I missed going onto the Smashwords platform to publish. I missed editing the covers. The more I focused on Dragons and Cicadas, the more I missed the old days. I’ll be going back to the peridical very soon (if I haven’t already).

My book has gone through many changes in the last 7 (or 8) years. I bet you’re wondering: what is it about?

I’ll tell you: it’s short stories and poetry about anything I can think of but a lot of stories are about the space dragon empire, Draconizica, and their war with humanity. They are sick of being slaves to humans. They are tired of being reaped and killed for their bodily resources (the hallmark of the black market). World leaders are no help in the situation so Ashuton Karrucci, the dragon prince and god of dragons, declares war on humanity. The story isn’t “dragons in space.” I made sure to give my dragons a proper background so it wouldn’t feel like I was trying to coin something. I gave them a Conlang (which was HARD), I gave knowledge about their technology, origins, species types, leadership, their science companies, their cyborgs/androids and plenty of other stuff. They are Wyverns, Six-Limbers, bipedal soldiers and Shifters (for you Paranormal Romance gals) and they have a place within the High Divine (my version of a heavily structured Heaven) and They ARE NOT magical. They vary from fluff dragons to brutal savages, just like humans, except they have reasons for being brutal and follow a moral code. There’s also a Wikipage for them: http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Space_Dragon_Empire_(Draconizica)

The dragons have rivals: Crotonians. They are brutal to aliens outside their race but are caring to each other. They are not fully fleshed out in Dragons and Cicadas (it’s only 230k words out of 300ish). The Crotonians are wasp-like beings that live in a hivemind. They have human forms and act like regular people. They are on the same technology level as the dragons and they also have a place within the High Divine. In The Society On Da Run‘s early days, the Crotonians were suppose to be demons whom called themselves Skepretorials (first it was Skedar, which is Swedish for spoons). They would kidnap senators and take over the British parliament.

Then I added more races! An empire of Owls and a godlike race of scientists called Alma Maters, Cicada Gods and the Crozethians. I didn’t want to dilute it with too many races, so I left it at that.

The journey has been long and hard but I enjoyed every moment of it. Crafting such a large universe has taught me a LOT. There’s so much more I want to say about The Society On Da Run (like my strategic use of Interracial Relationships) but I am out of time.

Thank you for reading through my journey and everything I had to say about my book. Links are below! Haste la vista, everypony!

I am a teenage African American poetess trying to open up a new avenue in the world of Dragons: Space Dragons!! And I WILL make it “work.” My stories are mostly flash fiction, short stories and (best of all) poetry. I’d love to one day have my own panel at Comic Con where I can do book signings and talk about my book. An author can dream a reality! (Biography from Smashwords)


“The Society On Da Run: Dragons and Cicadas” (Space Dragon Series) by Nipaporn Baldwin is available on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Thedragonchild (also on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, including Amazon which is slowly catching up with the periodical.)

You can also check out Nipaporn Baldwin’s Amazon Author’s page for more info!

To learn more about Nipaporn Baldwin, follow  her on her website: dragonshortstories. Be sure to visit the dragonshortstories blog for more about Dragons and Cicadas! Also check out her Facebook page: thedragongod, Twitter: @Thedragonchild and Goodreads page. Drop by and say hi to her!

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Do you want to be a featured ‘Indie Saturday’ author too? Go here for more info!

Read an embedded sample of “The Society On Da Run: Dragons and Cicadas” after the jump!

Read more…

Book Review – The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries by Henning Mankell

June 7, 2012 Leave a comment

Book Description:

At last, a key addition to the Kurt Wallander mystery series: the book of short mysteries that takes us back to the beginning. Here we meet Wallander the twenty-one-year-old patrolman on his first criminal investigation, Wallander the young father facing an unexpected danger on Christmas Eve, Wallander on the brink of middle age solving a case of poisoning, the newly separated Wallander investigating the murder of a local photographer, and Wallander the veteran detective discovering unexpected connections between a downed mystery plane and the assassination of a pair of spinster sisters. Over the course of these five mysteries, he comes into his own as a murder detective, defined by his simultaneously methodical and instinctive work, and is increasingly haunted from witnessing the worst aspects of an atomized society.

Written from the unique perspective of an author looking back upon his own creation to discover his origins, these mysteries are vintage Mankell. Essential reading for all Wallander fans, The Pyramid is also a wonderful showcase for Mankell’s powers as a writer “whose works transcend their chosen genre to become thrilling and moral literature” (Michael Ondaatje).

About the Author
Internationally bestselling novelist and playwright HENNING MANKELL has received the German Tolerance Prize and the U.K.’s Golden Dagger Award and has been nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize three times. His Kurt Wallander mysteries have been published in thirty-three countries and consistently top the bestseller lists in Europe.

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As it says in the book description quoted above: The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries by Henning Mankell is “essential reading for all Wallander fans“. It truly is (speaking as a fan myself!) If you’ve ever wondered about Kurt Wallander’s character pre his debut in Faceless Killers: The First Kurt Wallander Mystery as a world-weary middle-aged veteran detective, well, you’ve got a precious gift from Henning Mankell!

The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries is a collection of three short stories (Wallander’s First Case, The Man with the Mask and The Man on the Beach), a novelete (The Death of the Photographer), and a novella (The Pyramid) which span the years between 1969 (when Kurt was still a young enthusiastic beat cop in Malmo) until 1989 (Kurt in full form in a puzzling case leading directly to Faceless Killers). Hop along for the ride as we travel back in time, and watch Wallander grow into the great (if burnt-out) detective we know in the series. Along the way, Henning Mankell gives us Kurt’s back story and fills us in on the people from Kurt’s past – his ex-wife Mona (interestingly, the problems in their relationship are already evident even when they were just dating), his father (and yes, they had a rocky relationship even in the early days), his old mentor Detective Hemberg from the Malmo police force (who was the first to recognize Kurt’s gift as a detective) and his second mentor and former colleague Rydberg (the Ystad detective who we briefly met in Faceless Killers).

Even though this collection is kind of being sold as best enjoyed by fans who have followed all the books and want more insight into Kurt’s character, IMO the mysteries are interesting enough even for those who haven’t read the whole series yet. Admittedly, Wallander’s First Case and The Man with the Mask were a bit too short to be completely satisfying for me, but starting with The Man on the Beach, Henning Mankell hits his stride with some ingenious plotting. My personal favorite was The Death of the Photographer where Kurt delves into the case of a brutally murdered photographer who had a bizarre hobby. The Pyramid reads pretty much like a shorter Kurt Wallander mystery novel, and I’d actually recommend new fans to read this novella first before Faceless Killers (since he’s actually more sympathetic/likeable in The Pyramid and not yet the exhausted self-destructive mess he was in Faceless Killers).

The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries by Henning Mankell is available on Amazon as a Kindle edition, Hardcover edition, Paperback edition and Audible Audio Edition. * Also available in Amazon UK

The eBook is also available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo books and the Apple iBookstore.

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Book Review – Short Story Anthology: A Land of Ash (edited by David Dalglish)

October 9, 2011 Leave a comment

Book Description:

The Yellowstone Caldera has erupted once every 600,000 years. We’re 40,000 years overdue.

Lava flows stretch for hundreds of miles. A cloud of ash billows east, burying the Midwest, destroying crops, and falling upon the Atlantic Coast like a warm, dead snow. The remnants of the United States flees south as the global temperatures plummet.

Amid this total devastation are stories of families, friends, sons and fathers and wives: the survivors. Within are eleven stories focusing on the human element of such a catastrophe, from an elderly couple gathering to await their death to a father sealing his shelter in hopes of keeping the air breathable for his daughter. Contributing to this collection include many popular and up-and-coming independent authors, including David McAfee, Daniel Arenson, and more.

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This self-published short story anthology A Land of Ash (ed by David Dalglish) has a very interesting (if grim) concept – to tell the stories of ordinary people who are caught in the eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera – a natural disaster of such proportions that it kills millions in an instant  and plunges the US (and pretty much the rest of the world) into nuclear winter-like conditions. Here’s the eleven stories included:

  • David Dalglish – One Last Dinner Party, Shelter, Toward the Storm, A Harmless American, Secret Mission and Let It Contine
  • David McAfee – Alone on the Mountain
  • Daniel Arenson – Beach Puppies
  • Michael Crane – Last Words
  • John Fitch V – Refugees
  • Robert J. Duperre – The One That Matters

The anthology follows a sort of arc – the first four short stories focus on the events immediately before and during the disaster,  and feature ordinary people who meet the fire and ash from the eruption with mostly quiet dignity and courage. The next stories focus on the weeks after the eruption, giving us a glimpse of how the survivors are coping (or rather, not coping), and lastly, two stories set months after when there is maybe a glimmer of hope and rescue.

There are a couple of outstanding short stories in the anthology IMO: “Shelter” (a heartbreaking story  of a young father who keeps his  6-year-old daughter as safe as he can for as long as he can with a couple rolls of duct-tape), “A Harmless American” (IMO the best but most horrifying one – this story really hit me hard – about an armed Mexican guarding the Rio Grande border against desperate American refugees and facing a crossroads when he finds a helpless 4-year-old girl), and “Secret Mission” (about a young boy stuck surviving in an increasingly desperate stadium/shelter who finds a momentary escape). “Beach Puppies” (a tale about friends gathered together to meet their end was a bit too short, but features an unexpected twist that had me thinking about what my own choices would have been,very thought provoking). Be warned though, the prevailing atmosphere is almost one of a monotony of depression & hopeless despair, and tragedy still strikes even at the point when rescue seems most imminent.  My main complaint on the collection would be that I didn’t expect the stories to be pretty much ALL disheartening and depressing – surely the contributing authors could have rustled up an inspiring story or two just to give readers a change in pace? Just saying.

If you like to read post-apocalyptic stories, check this anthology out. I for one wasn’t disappointed with my purchase, but like I’ve mentioned, be forewarned that this will not be leaving you with any warm and fuzzy feelings (quite the opposite in fact). Overall, I found the writing for this anthology pretty good and not amateurish at all, especially from the editor David Dalglish (I’ll definitely be checking out his full length books based on this anthology), and it was a good way to meet some indie writers who aren’t familiar to me.

A Land of Ash (edited by David Dalglish) is available on Amazon as a Kindle and Paperback edition.

The eBook is also available at B&N and Kobo Books


For a second opinion – here’s some reviews of A Land of Ash by other bloggers:


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Book Review – Mile 81 by Stephen King

September 5, 2011 Leave a comment

Book Description:

With the heart of Stand By Me and the genius horror of Christine, Mile 81 is Stephen King unleashing his imagination as he drives past one of those road signs…

At Mile 81 on the Maine Turnpike is a boarded up rest stop on a highway in Maine. It’s a place where high school kids drink and get into the kind of trouble high school kids have always gotten into. It’s the place where Pete Simmons goes when his older brother, who’s supposed to be looking out for him, heads off to the gravel pit to play “paratroopers over the side.” Pete, armed only with the magnifying glass he got for his tenth birthday, finds a discarded bottle of vodka in the boarded up burger shack and drinks enough to pass out.

Not much later, a mud-covered station wagon (which is strange because there hadn’t been any rain in New England for over a week) veers into the Mile 81 rest area, ignoring the sign that says “closed, no services.” The driver’s door opens but nobody gets out.

Doug Clayton, an insurance man from Bangor, is driving his Prius to a conference in Portland. On the backseat are his briefcase and suitcase and in the passenger bucket is a King James Bible, what Doug calls “the ultimate insurance manual,” but it isn’t going to save Doug when he decides to be the Good Samaritan and help the guy in the broken down wagon. He pulls up behind it, puts on his four-ways, and then notices that the wagon has no plates.

Ten minutes later, Julianne Vernon, pulling a horse trailer, spots the Prius and the wagon, and pulls over. Julianne finds Doug Clayton’s cracked cell phone near the wagon door — and gets too close herself. By the time Pete Simmons wakes up from his vodka nap, there are a half a dozen cars at the Mile 81 rest stop. Two kids — Rachel and Blake Lussier — and one horse named Deedee are the only living left. Unless you maybe count the wagon.

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Mile 81  (Kindle Single) is a new short story by Stephen King that should tide his fans over while waiting for the release of  11/22/63: A Novel in November (especially since it contains an exclusive excerpt from that new book about a teacher time traveling to stop the assassination of Kennedy).

Mile 81  has an entertaining concept (which I won’t spoil, but here’s a strong hint – think Christine and From a Buick 8, but with young kids involved). This is supposed to be a horror short, but I found myself inappropriately laughing out loud at the ridiculousness of certain sections. It’s very pulpy cheese (Tales from the Crypt-like), so don’t be reading this short story with high expectations. Still pretty entertaining though (just not scary enough and really too short).  The ending is pretty abrupt and not really adequately explained – I would’ve preferred this short story lengthened to novella length if only to flesh out the ‘villain’ more.

I’ve always liked the way Stephen King writes his young characters – and the spunky characters of 10-year-old Pete Simmons and 6-year-old Rachel Lussier are classic King, but I did find it very odd that the kids were swearing so much. (Maybe he meant to make the children a little older?)

Mile 81 by Stephen King (Scribner) is available on Amazon as a Kindle Single. You can also get the short story at B&N.


For a second opinion – here’s some reviews of Mile 81 by other bloggers:


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Book Review – Ashes by Scott Nicholson

February 17, 2011 Leave a comment

Book Description:

A collection of 12 supernatural stories by bestselling author Scott Nicholson, including “Scarecrow Boy,” “Dog Person” and “Sewing Circle.”

From the author of THE RED CHURCH, SPEED DATING WITH THE DEAD, DISINTEGRATION, DRUMMER BOY, and the collections FLOWERS, CURTAINS, and THE FIRST, these stories visit haunted islands, disturbed families, and a lighthouse occupied by Edgar Allan Poe. From the mystery of the paranormal to the spiritual exploration of fear, Nicholson serves up chills, thrills, ghosts stories, and paranormal fantasy. Collected from the pages of Cemetery Dance Magazine, The Book of Dark Wisdom, Black Static, and more.

Exclusive introduction by Jonathan Maberry, author of THE DRAGON FACTORY and GHOST ROAD BLUES. The afterword explores the origins of the stories. Visit Scott Nicholson at Author Central or at www.hauntedcomputer.com

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I downloaded Ashes (A Collection of Dark Fiction) by Scott Nicholson for free at Kobo Books and read it on the Kobo iPhone app. I don’t know why the Kindle edition says there are 12 short stories, but the Kobo copy I downloaded has 16 stories in all. (Just an aside, page turns on the Kobo app are slow, just like I noticed with iBooks. Don’t know what Amazon did differently with the Kindle app since the page turns are noticeably faster)

Here’s what I have in the TOC of the Kobo copy:

1. Timing Chains of the Heart, 2. Dog Person, 3. The October Girls, 4. Murdermouth, 5. Sung Li, 6. In the Family, 7. Work in Progress, 8. She Climbs a Winding Stair, 9. Watermelon, 10. The Meek, 11. The Weight of Silence, 12. The Hounds of Love, 13. Penance, 14. Scarecrow, 15. Last Writes, 16. Sewing Circle

According to the author’s afterword, the stories in the collection were written from 2000-2006 when he was struggling with personal traumas like “alcoholism, depression, fatherhood, divorce…” Well, I guess that accounts for the dark (not necessarily scary) atmosphere that’s the common link among the short stories. And the span of time covered may also account for the uneven quality of writing. I thought that there were some stories in the collection that should have remained in the author’s archives for further development, but there’s some pretty outstanding stories in the mix too that I’ll mention here.

The best for me was the weird and creepy ‘Murdermouth‘ written from the point of view of a very hungry imprisoned Zombie who is on display as one of the acts in a traveling carnival/circus. It’s gruesome and horrifying, and there’s an underlying dark humor mixed with heartbreak to the thankless situation the Zombie is in that really struck home to me. If you only read one short story from this collection, let it be this one.

A close second for me would be the chilling ‘The Night is An Ally‘ where we follow German 1st Lt Heinz Wolfram and his Third Company soldiers as they carry out their orders to “relocate” Jews in the course of one terrible and unforgiveable night. In his afterword, Mr Nicholson said that he wanted to delve into what would turn ordinary and decent men into cold-blooded killers, and I thought he did a great job illustrating that via Heinz Wolfram, a man who ordinarily has no appetite for killing, but who rationalizes his crimes by filtering responsibility through the chain of command and dehumanizing the process in the interest of “efficiency”.

Third best for me was ‘Penance‘ – a post-apocalyptic future narrated by a young girl, Ruth, who is nailed inside her plaque-infested house with her dying family members. What makes the whole thing extra sinister is the religious fervor that colors all the characters’ reactions. This is one story that I do hope the author one day dusts off and turns into a full length novel. I’d love the full treatment for this, from the time the outbreak occured and the aftermath.

The Meek‘ is set at a post-apocalyptic Australia overrun with killer zombie sheep – I kid you not. This sounds like the plot of a really terrible movie, but I thought that Mr Nicholson made it work 😉 We follow Lucas, on the run from a killer ram, as he is “rescued” by a mysterious man who may have a worse fate planned for him. I don’t know, the whole thing seemed stupid to me, but at the same time, I thought the story was original and I liked that there were some unexpected twists in it.

I wondered why ‘The Weight of Silence‘ was included in the collection at first, since it was about a young mother consumed by grief, barely coping with the aftermath of SIDS. Well, at least until we learn that something more sinister may be afoot. The twist wasn’t as well executed as I wanted, but I thought that the writing overall was pretty good for this story.

Maybe you’ll like the rest of the stories in the collection, but I found them to be either weak, or just didn’t resonate or interest me. Overall, I do think the writing is pretty good, smooth flowing, pretty rich imagery, and some really original ideas. I’m now looking forward to checking out more of Scott Nicholson’s writing 🙂

Ashes (A Collection of Dark Fiction) by Scott Nicholson is available on Amazon as a Kindle edition ($0.99) and also for $0.99 on B&N Nook.

Or you can also get this ebook collection for FREE at Sony eBookstore and Kobo Books.

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Book Review – Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

February 13, 2011 4 comments

Book Description:

I believe there is another man inside every man, a stranger . . . writes Wilfred Leland James in the early pages of the riveting confession that makes up “1922,” the first in this pitch-black quartet of mesmerizing tales from Stephen King. For James, that stranger is awakened when his wife, Arlette, proposes selling off the family homestead and moving to Omaha, setting in motion a gruesome train of murder and madness.

In “Big Driver,” a cozy-mystery writer named Tess encounters the stranger along a back road in Massachusetts when she takes a shortcut home after a book-club engagement. Violated and left for dead, Tess plots a revenge that will bring her face-to-face with another stranger: the one inside herself.

Fair Extension,” the shortest of these tales, is perhaps the nastiest and certainly the funniest. Making a deal with the devil not only saves Dave Streeter from a fatal cancer but provides rich recompense for a lifetime of resentment.

When her husband of more than twenty years is away on one of his business trips, Darcy Anderson looks for batteries in the garage. Her toe knocks up against a box under a worktable and she discovers the stranger inside her husband. It’s a horrifying discovery, rendered with bristling intensity, and it definitively ends “A Good Marriage“.

Like Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight, which generated such enduring films as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me, Full Dark, No Stars proves Stephen King a master of the long story form.

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Speaking as a King fan who wasn’t too impressed with his bloated (and dragging) last novel Under the Dome, I’m happy to report that with this four-novella collection Full Dark, No Stars, Stephen King has his writing mojo back! Yes, the Kindle edition is a bit expensive at $14.99, and yes, it would have been nice if it was at least the same price as the paperback, but I’m pretty happy with this one. Full Dark, No Stars is a more-than-solid effort from Stephen King, with King once again excelling in telling us stories about ordinary people who find themselves in pretty horrifying situations (that we all hope & pray we never have to deal with ourselves. Ever).

What I’m most impressed with is how authentic and distinctive each voice is in the four stories. A farmer recounts the unravelling of his life after he commits a murder in “1922“. In “Big Driver,” a cozy mystery author, who is raped and left for dead, exacts revenge from those who wronged her. A dying man makes a deal with the devil in “Fair Extension” and in “A Good Marriage“, a wife discovers that a monster lurks within her loving husband of 30 years. All four stories are richly detailed and superbly characterized with very real characters that will have you cringing or shuddering with them as they face their hells on earth. The strongest stories for me were “A Good Marriage” and “Big Driver” – maybe because they featured strong women characters who I liked and could sympathize with, whether or not I agreed with the choices they made. If I were to pick the weakest, it would have to be “Fair Extension” which ended on an IMO unfinished way – I just figure that deals with the devil ought to always result in some personal bad consequences 😉

For those worried that the stories are too scary, I wouldn’t really describe them as outright scary. They’re gruesome and grim and can be creepy – but not the type that makes you scared of the dark afterwards. Like I’ve said, I thought that Stephen King really delivered in showing us the dark side of humanity in this book, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Full Dark, No Stars to both the longtime King fan or to new readers who have yet to read him.

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King is available on Amazon as a Kindle edition ($14.99), Hardcover ($15.17), Paperback ($9.99) or Audible Audio Edition ($23.95).

The eBook is also available for $14.99 on B&N Nook, Sony eBookstore. Kobo Books has the book listed at $16.29.

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FREE E-Book Downloads from Paulo Coelho

December 25, 2009 Leave a comment
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Just saw this Christmas message from Paulo Coelho’s twitter:

Excellent 2010! I will be back in January, but as promised, here my free books: http://bit.ly/8di87z

He is giving away some of his books until the first week of January (he actually wants to give away more, but he doesn’t own the rights to most of his books’ translations), and the books are basically in all the major e-book formats (ePub, Mobipocket/Kindle, PDF, Sony Reader, iLiad). Very nice gift to the fans, thank you Mr Coelho!

The FREE E-books are:

  • The Way of the Bow
  • Stories for Parents, Children and Grandchildren
  • Warrior of the Light

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