Come Join Us By The Fire Audiobook by Tor (season 1)

 Hey, I discovered this free to listen to a podcast(audiobook) somehow....either Tor emailed me an ad for it, or I came across it somehow. But that's beside the point. It's free to listen wherever you listen to podcasts. And they have some great authors in this short story collection. I wanted to make a note of my thoughts on this collection as I went through it, so this isn't really for the public....more for my own tracking. But I'm totally okay with anyone reading this. I may just comment on the story who it was by and how many stars I rated it. 

1. No Matter Which Way We Turned by Brian Evanson- this very short story just struck me by how beautifully written it was. This is my first time ever haven read anything by this author, and I loved it. Freaky child...with no real explanation for it, but that didn't matter. 5 stars

2. Daddy by Victor Lavalle - This was a paranoid type story with a creepy payoff. I had read this author before but in a graphic novel. 4 stars. 

3. This Guy by Chuck Wendig- A Groundhog Day horror story about a guy who kills "this guy" in many imaginative ways every day for no fucking reason but that he can. 5 stars

4. Flayed Ed by Richard Kadrey- An Alternative History tale about Ed Gein with a supernatural twist. 4 stars

5. The Pond by Paul Tremblay- This was another very short one and one that just did nothing for me. I found it to be boring and unmoving. 2 stars. \

6. My Body Herself by Carmen Maria Machado-  3 stars.

7. The Girls From the Horror Movie by Gwendolyn Kiste- an average tale of twin final girls. 3 stars

8. Those Deathless Bones by Cassandra Khaw- 5 stars

9. It Washed Up by Joe Lansdale- strange things happen in a seaside town. 3.5 stars. 

10. Stemming the Tide by Simon Strantzas- State park that has an event closed to the public. Zombie short story 3,5 stars.

11. Midnight Caller by Stephen Graham Jones- Summer camp counselor being stalked by a crazed killer 4 stars. 

12. Black Bark by Brian Evenson - strange cowboy fiction 3 stars.

13. The Anatomist's Mnemonic by Priya Sharma - Guy with a hand fetish seeks love and does not end how you think it would. 3 stars. 

14. Rabbit Heart by Alyssa Wong - Weird fiction very short. 2 stars

15.The Beasts of the Earth, The Madness of Men by Brooke Bolander - Sea creature tale 3 stars

16. Cold, Silent, and Dark by Kary English - another tale of the sea 4 stars.

17. When the Zombies Win by Karina Sumner-Smith - Zombies 'nuff said 5 stars.

18. Harold the Spider Man by Paul Tremblay - Eccentric old man collects spiders after the death of his wife 3 stars. 

19. Ponies by Kij Johnson - Ponies and Mean Girls 1 star.

20. Black Neurology by Richard Kadrey - death-themed 3 stars

21. Beware of Owner by Chuck Wendig - cruel father and son harbor a dark secret 5 stars.

22. The Vault of the Sky, The Face of the Deep by Robert Levy-  A senior woman's final days. 2 stars. 

23. Don't Turn on the Lights by Cassandra Khaw -  3 versions of a tale of a gruesome murder. 5 stars. 

24. Wasp & Snake by Livia Llewellyn - Aesop's retelling 3 stars. 

25. Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt - Mysterious truck stop. 3 stars 

26. And When She Was Bad by Nadia Bulkin - Winged creatures revenge 2 stars. 

27. El Charro by John Langan - Mexican vampire story...creepy AF. 4 stars

28. Dream Home by Kat Howard - the title says it all and this was BAD 1 star,

29. Spawning Season by Nicholas Kaufman - Seaside Lovecraftian tale. 4 stars.

30. In Sheep's Clothing by Molly Tanzer - Weird apocalypse where things get primal. 4 stars

31. 57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides by Sam J. Miller - Boy with Mind Control gets his revenge 3 stars. 

32. Was She Wicked? Was She Good? by M. Rickert - Faeries get their revenge on a wicked little girl 3 stars. 

33.A Life That is Not Mine by Kristi DeMeester - swallowing darkness? Strange sickness? 3 stars

34. That Which Does Not Kill You by Lucy A. Snyder - Tale of heartbreak...told in a weird way. 3 stars

35. The Design by China Mieville - Historical horror fiction of a medical student who discovers strange designs on cadavers bones. 3 stars. 

I compiled all of these ratings into an average for a final rating for this book. While there were some really great 4 and 5 stars rated stories overall I gave this an average 3-star rating. If you are a fan of horror it is worth checking out. 

Review: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1

Being a fan of the horror genre and comics in general I am always on the lookout for new horror comics to check out. This one came up as a recommendation on an app that I read some comics on, and I will admit I was intrigued. Also seeing that a writer I have enjoyed reading was the writer for this series also convinced me to want to read this. I was already familiar with Tynion's work on Batman for DC comics.

This series kind of reminds me of the Netflix Stranger Things series, as it's about a couple of "kids" seeking out monsters in the woods. The story starts with a group of boys playing truth or dare and one of the boys mentions that he saw a monster. Of course, his friends think he is making this up. Only kids can see the monsters.

It also has a bad-ass female lead named Erica Slaughter. Not only is she bad-ass but she is a part of a secret monster hunter society. She goes from town to town cleaning up the spread of monsters before they can get out of hand.

The scene where she goes shopping for supplies reminded me of Ash of Evil Dead fame buying his power tools. You know she means business and gore and mayhem will happen. She recruits the survivor from town to show her where the monster can be found. But I will not spoil this for you you have to read it for yourself.

This was a fun and action-packed story one in which I will definitely have to keep up with. I rated this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, and recommend this to any horror fans. Or fans of Stranger Things. I do suggest reading this in physical format as the ebook was somewhat problematic with the splash pages. But the art was great and really made the story more enjoyable. This will be available on May 26,2020. Get your copy down below -

Review: Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer by M. William Phelps

I chose to read this book for Non-Fiction November. I didn't know at the time who the serial killer the title refers to was until I started reading it. The author does not just write true crime novels but he also produces true-crime docuseries such as Dark Minds. While filming this series he used Keith Hunter Jesperson as an advisor under the pseudonym of "Raven". It was while filming this series that the author became "friends" with Jesperson. I say it this way because the author was just using him and was not really friends with him.

I wanted to recommend this book because being that this is based on interviews with the Happyface Killer that this may be the best source for information regarding his case. I know that other books were written about him, and one was even written by the killer's daughter. At one point in the interview process, Jesperson admits to the author that not all of the information in his daughter's book is accurate, and the other book written about his case is full of embellishments and falsely fed information from Happyface. Jesperson admitted to providing false information to make himself seem more interesting. Now I will state that Happyface admits to the author later on that he is a notorious liar and that not everything he says should be believed. But I think this will be the closest to the real story as one can get.

There are some bonus content things such as Jesperson talks about his first victim and how he didn't really want to become a serial killer. Plus the author kind of persuades him to help solve one of his Jane Doe's which the technique they used was very interesting and I will not spoil it here.

Some of the negatives about the book and why I chose to give this a standard rating of 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. The author for some reason chose to use this book as a way to analyze why he is into true crime and to try and rationalize some of his life choices regarding the death of his sister-in-law and his older brother's heroin addiction. These personal matters I felt did not belong in this book, and honestly, he should have written them as a separate piece if he really felt it necessary to share with the world. So as a reader you have to slog through some of his personal issues time and again as you read this. I found his personal family history to be kind of a pain, but they are short sections and he gets right back into the interviews with Happyface.

But overall I found this to be an interesting book about the Happyface serial killer and his case. Down below is a link to purchase a copy of this book for yourself. and if you live outside the US I have another link that offers Free Worldwide shipping and the same discounts.

Review: YouTube Secrets by Sean Cannell & Benji Travis #YouTubeSecrets

So far this has been the best YouTube secrets book I have read about getting tips and tricks to improve your channel. I have read a few that promised this type of stuff while just dangling the promise but never giving up any reward in actual tricks and tips. This book although actually pans out with the secrets needed to develop and grow your channel. I will admit that this is not the typical book that I tend to review, and that is why I chose to review it here and not on my channel.

The book is for those who already have a YouTube channel or those who are thinking of starting a channel. So niche within a niche for books. This is a quick read, and like I mentioned before it actually is what it says it is. The authors give up tips based on their experience in having grown their own channels. I found this book to be worth the time reading because they offer up a lot of tips that you may not have thought of or realized. I chose to research the topic of growing channels due to having my own channel, and like I said there are quite a few duds out there, but this book is not one of them. I won't go into any of the tips...this is a review only. If you want the tips you have to go get the book.

This book has helped me to decide on a plan to grow my own channel, and while this was hands down one of the best books regarding this topic I knew it wouldn't be flawless due to the nature of how fast YouTube changes. Some of the suggested links to further tips and secrets found in the back of the book were broken and gone, such as the best camera....link not found. (So if the authors happen to find this review...PLEASE FIX THAT PART!)

With all of this into consideration, I chose to rate this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodread.com I have a link down below if you would like to pick this up for yourself, and for those not in the US click here for free worldwide shipping and other great deals. 

 

Review: Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Next Door by Roy Wenzl

If you are like me and you have an interest in True Crime, and you already know who BTK is and you just want to learn more about the case than this book is for you.   This is written from the perspective of the people who investigated this case. Not only from the perspective of the detectives but a few of the journalists involved as BTK was sending correspondence to the Witchita Eagle.

Now I had already known a little about BTK prior to reading this book, so a good majority of this was no surprise. I have listened to many a true-crime podcast about this individual. But I figured this would be a good way to get an in-depth look at this case, and I was not wrong in thinking so. This started off with the first murders which were of the Otero family. The authors went over how the killer had done this and we get that this is his first time doing this because he fumbles his way through it and even left a piece of evidence behind which he had to go back for. Often while learning more about this killer we learn that he just didn't get caught due to dumb luck. And if not for his ego he may have literally gotten away with murder.  Each and every individual murder is mentioned in detail in a timeline fashion.

During the trial, the cops were embarrassed and shocked to learn that Dennis Rader was not this brilliant guy who eluded them at all.

"BTK IS A DORK!?!"

Yes! One of the detectives actually said that. I found that hilarious. But the one downside to this book was that the authors decided to mention personal details regarding the lives of journalists and detectives during the 30 plus years it took to catch BTK. It doesn't seem vital to the story that detective XYZ dated so and so during a period of investigation. So yeah there were some slow parts that I felt were very unnecessary to telling this story. Aside from that this is a very informative book on the case. I know that some of the details were direct from the killer and I have to say I think he "romanticized" and embellished a lot of what he told them during the interrogation.

This was a good book for those who may be interested to learn more about BTK. I do not recommend this for those used to True Crime lite, as this does contain some graphic details of rape and murder. Also, this does mention the murder of children. I rated this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com. Below I have a link for those in the US, UK, and Canada to purchase this book. Anyone living outside of those areas I have a link that offers free worldwide shipping and great deals on books.

Review: American Monsters: A History of Monster Lore, Legends, and Sightings in America by Linda S. Godfrey

I admit that I sometimes enjoy reading things of a weird or strange nature. So I came across this title while browsing books and figured I would take a chance on it. I wasn't entirely sure if this book would come across as being similar to the Weekly World News type of rag or be of actual substance.

One of the things I have to mention about this book that I found troubling and kind of boring was the break down of category of monsters. For instance, the author starts the book out by telling of flying monsters, and she tends to be a bit dry in this telling of this particular category. Although I was kind of put off by the mentions of this type of "big birds" but I did learn about a lot of legendary creatures I had never heard of before. And the section on flying creatures was quite long.

It's worth it to get past the flying creatures and sea monsters to get to the better American monsters. Did I mention that all of these creatures are supposed to be of American origin? Once she gets to land creatures is when the book really gets interesting. She discusses everything from dogmen to bigfoot and chupacabras. Even some other strange combos such as pigmen, goatmen, and a cat lady legend from the South.

But apparently, her specialty is the legend of the bigfoot. She does do at least two chapters on the legend of the bigfoot and even describes different types of bigfoot, which to be honest I wasn't aware that they could be classified in different ways. Or such things as batmen and mothmen. I could go on and on about the different legends she mentions. I do appreciate that she often mentions sources while talking about the different creatures, and has conducted personal interviews with people who have recently sighted some of these strange creatures.

This review is not a discussion as to whether these legendary creatures are real or have existed but is based on the content which has been read. I enjoyed reading this book and I am willing to check out another book by this author. I would recommend this to anyone who is into weird stuff, and those who believe that these strange creatures exist or those who are simply curious about the possible existence of strange undiscovered creatures. I rated this book 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com and I hope that you will give this strange compilation of creatures a read. I have a link for those of you from the UK and Canada to pick this book up here. I also have a link to purchase any other books cheaper and with free worldwide shipping here.

Review: Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders

Coming up on the 50th anniversary of the Tate-Labianca murders there seems to be an explosion in the media of things related to this case. From Manson Girls specials on Oxygen to it being hinted at in the new Tarantino film, this crime has not been forgotten. I did not really know who Sharon Tate was. Just that she was an actress and that she had been murdered due to a plot conspired by the Manson Family. Most Baby Boomers I'm sure remembered who she was, but this was my parent's generation and not mine. I only knew her because of how well known this true crime case was. I wanted to learn more about this case so I decided to read this book about it. Written by Greg King and reprinted with updated information. I found this to be an intriguing read.

First off Kudos to King for humanizing the victims of this terrible tragedy. This book starts by introducing Sharon Tate. It's basically a biography of her very short life. From her early years as an Army brat to the start of her film career. While I thought it was good to share that Sharon was a good person and that she had potential as an actress I found the descriptions of some of the films she was in to be too much detail that was not really needed. The detail of whole scenes and plots of films was very unnecessary. I did however appreciated the timeline listing of events from and about all parties involved in these events. Once you get past the listing of Tate's film career the book really starts to get interesting. The details into her marriage with Polanski, and the way her friends were with drugs and lifestyle, etc. I thought it was interesting to learn about Abigail Folger and how she was a humanitarian who donated her time by volunteering at a welfare office and even raised money for charities as well. It was said she felt guilty of her wealth, and I wonder what she would have accomplished if she had lived. 

I also found his information into the Manson Family to be intriguing as well. I learned details about them that I didn't know and about the events of this crime which I also did not know. Especially the updated info regarding the parole hearings and where are they now type info about the criminals who committed the crimes. I can see why he has updated the book over the years. Doris Tate (Sharon's mother) became an advocate for victims rights and really pushed for legislation that has greatly made a difference to the legal system. I recommend this book to anyone interested in this case or someone interested in true crime. Like I mentioned before Greg King did a very good job in putting a face to the victims and showing the lost potential of what could have been. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com. I will have links down below to purchase this book. The UK and Canada get your copy here - Sharon Tate 

All others from the world can shop through my link here - Manson Murders.