Funny how literature has done what film has not: keeping zombies fresh. The whole apocalypse and survivors-stuck-in-single-location thing has been done to, well, death. While recent zombie movies are content to tread this same path, the folks are Permuted Press know the trick in making the reanimated relevant lies in keeping readers on their toes. THE UNDEAD: FLESH FEAST is the third installment in the small press’ short-story franchise, and perhaps the most inventive yet.
For instance, in a twist on I AM LEGEND, Ryan C. Thomas’ “Spoiled Meat” features a man who can’t get zombies to bite him. He simply can’t bring his miserable, lonely life to an end, no matter how hard he tries. Have you ever read anything like that?
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If there ever were a town ready-made for the NOIR anthology series from Akashic Books, it’s Vegas. From the introduction of LAS VEGAS NOIR, editors Jarret Keene and Todd James Pierce nail it perfectly, bringing up that some of the true crime that happens there could fill a book of its own. We’re not just talking about the founding of the city, but some current high-profile cases. Like other books in the series, it’s spilt up into three categories with a running theme.
The first section, “Sin City,” collects five stories all dealing with people who have made Vegas their life, even if they don’t like it anymore. Starting out is John O’Brien’s “The Tik,” about a self-destructive couple on a night out on the strip. They seem to be playing their own game of preying upon people. O’Brien is probably best known for writing the book LEAVING LAS VEGAS; two days after being optioned for the Oscar-winning movie, he took his own life.
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Allan Guthrie’s new novel SAVAGE NIGHT opens with a page that dares you not to keep reading. I lost the dare and I’m glad I did. In prose almost ruthlessly simple, Guthrie tells us the tale of two Edinburgh small-time crime families who visit enough violence on each other to please Dick Cheney and all people named Scooter.
Former convict Andy Park needs money to to help his invalid wife. His daughter Effie (violent ward material for sure) suggests that they blackmail a sleazebag named Tommy Savage who helped kill her boyfriend’s father. Or something. They demand 50K from Mr. Savage and tell him how they want the money delivered. It is at the money drop that the relentless violence begins with Park’s family threatened. Park defends them with brutal cunning.
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Our monthly depressing look at the search terms that bring pervs to BOOKGASM!
Kazuo Umezu’s CAT EYED BOY ranks as among the most fun I’ve ever had reading horror comics. This is high praise, especially when you consider it’s manga — a format that generally agrees with me about as much as a Payday bar would to someone allergic to peanuts.
The title character fits his name: He’s a boy and he has eyes like a cat. Truth in advertising! He also has ears like a bat, and quite a gift for grotesque storytelling. Apparently there are 11 tales of terror split up between VOLUME ONE and VOLUME TWO, but my review copy amounted to half of the former, containing three stories.
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