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the_coycaterpillar_reads's review against another edition
4.0
You know that feeling when an author just has a massively high standard right from the off? Ah you do, excellent…you will bear with me while I go off on a tangent about the sheer quality of writing and scare tactics employed from Mark Cassell. I will need to read more of his work sharpish to gauge just how high his bar of excellence stretches to.
Whilst reading Monster Double Feature I got an insight into just how far Cassell is willing to go. The research and passion for his stories is obvious right from the kick-off. Each story delivered a swift kick to the genitals, but while wearing steel toe caps, I might add.
The first story contained within Monster Double Feature is a short story called River of Nine Tails. This story was originally contained in Corpus Press’ In Darkness, Delight: Creatures of the Night Anthology. A story of a trip down a monstrous river in Vietnam. It’s a story that catapults you onto a rollercoaster with no sick bag in sight! It’s a breeding ground for some of the societal themes that plague it. The story gave me the willies! The descriptions, the fear of being in a foreign country and not being able to speak its language but if this story conveys well, it is that fear and terror is a universal language all on its own.
Monster Double Feature, particularly River of Nine Tails deals with the human condition and just how it seems obsessed with social media. Are we so glued to our phones and portraying a life so sublimely perfect that we forget to not only live our lives but to care more about what others think of us online than the ones that we care about? It was an interesting concept and definitely food for thought.
Reanimation Channel, wow, what a mind-bending concept. The violence, the gore added its own level of intensity, a perfect retelling of Frankenstein’s monster if you like. The story constantly feels like a claustrophobic presence, a shadow in your peripheral vision, its ominous form hovering for all to see and feel. The genres cross paths, we have monster horror and body horror making themselves known. Another story with substance, shocks and bucket loads of darkness.
Monster Double Feature was incredibly well written with a haunting sense of atmosphere. Devoured in under 2 hours.
Whilst reading Monster Double Feature I got an insight into just how far Cassell is willing to go. The research and passion for his stories is obvious right from the kick-off. Each story delivered a swift kick to the genitals, but while wearing steel toe caps, I might add.
The first story contained within Monster Double Feature is a short story called River of Nine Tails. This story was originally contained in Corpus Press’ In Darkness, Delight: Creatures of the Night Anthology. A story of a trip down a monstrous river in Vietnam. It’s a story that catapults you onto a rollercoaster with no sick bag in sight! It’s a breeding ground for some of the societal themes that plague it. The story gave me the willies! The descriptions, the fear of being in a foreign country and not being able to speak its language but if this story conveys well, it is that fear and terror is a universal language all on its own.
Monster Double Feature, particularly River of Nine Tails deals with the human condition and just how it seems obsessed with social media. Are we so glued to our phones and portraying a life so sublimely perfect that we forget to not only live our lives but to care more about what others think of us online than the ones that we care about? It was an interesting concept and definitely food for thought.
Reanimation Channel, wow, what a mind-bending concept. The violence, the gore added its own level of intensity, a perfect retelling of Frankenstein’s monster if you like. The story constantly feels like a claustrophobic presence, a shadow in your peripheral vision, its ominous form hovering for all to see and feel. The genres cross paths, we have monster horror and body horror making themselves known. Another story with substance, shocks and bucket loads of darkness.
Monster Double Feature was incredibly well written with a haunting sense of atmosphere. Devoured in under 2 hours.
brennanlafaro's review
4.0
On August 16th, Mark Cassell is set to release a chapbook, a collection-ette, if you will, featuring two previously published stories. One of Mark’s other books, The Shadow Fabric, is sitting on my shelf waiting for my attention, but in the meantime, I’m diving into a new-to-me author in my favorite way - stories.
Monster Double Feature kicks off with Mark’s contribution to last year’s Corpus Press’ In Darkness, Delight: Creatures Of the Night anthology. The story is called River of Nine Tails and details a tourist’s trip on the titular river in Vietnam. Cassell tells us in the afterword a little about the genesis of the story, and his trip to Vietnam that spurred it on. It certainly lends an air of realism to the horrors that our main character is about to endure, not to mention encouraging me to google “Mekong freshwater stingray”. Seriously, do it. The author’s note also includes some details about the story that I’ll leave the reader to discover on their own.
Given the title of the collection this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but River is a monster story. The monster presented spends a lot of time offscreen, potentially lurking around each corner, waiting to… well, that would spoil the surprise, wouldn’t it? At first glance, the character and the reader, as well, think giant crocodile story, but every further glimpse reveals new details until we’re not quite sure whether what we’re seeing is ancient, alien, or some mixture of both. The terror comes from not knowing any more than the main character does at any given time, and is backed up by Cassell’s liberal use of gore.
Reanimation Channel is a pretty unique story, throwing in a dash of video games, a bit of Frankenstein's monster, and even some vague reminders of The Thing. Scott, the character we follow wasn’t quite as interesting as those in the first story, which makes events late in the story hit not quite as hard. Cassell piles on the body horror, at least that’s my take, in this one. While I found myself thinking I was in for a very direct ethics lesson, the plot takes a turn early on and sends the reader reeling toward an ending that’s more off-the-wall than the wildest guess I could’ve made 30 pages prior.
If you’re reading an author for the first time, you go in looking for a good story, sure, but also to find out if this is someone you’ll be further interested in exploring once this one ends. Monster Double Feature did just that for me - two solid stories that go deep enough to make me want to see what Cassell can do in longform. I already mentioned The Shadow Fabric on my shelf. Maybe, it’s time to pencil that in.
I received a copy from the author for review consideration.
Monster Double Feature kicks off with Mark’s contribution to last year’s Corpus Press’ In Darkness, Delight: Creatures Of the Night anthology. The story is called River of Nine Tails and details a tourist’s trip on the titular river in Vietnam. Cassell tells us in the afterword a little about the genesis of the story, and his trip to Vietnam that spurred it on. It certainly lends an air of realism to the horrors that our main character is about to endure, not to mention encouraging me to google “Mekong freshwater stingray”. Seriously, do it. The author’s note also includes some details about the story that I’ll leave the reader to discover on their own.
Given the title of the collection this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but River is a monster story. The monster presented spends a lot of time offscreen, potentially lurking around each corner, waiting to… well, that would spoil the surprise, wouldn’t it? At first glance, the character and the reader, as well, think giant crocodile story, but every further glimpse reveals new details until we’re not quite sure whether what we’re seeing is ancient, alien, or some mixture of both. The terror comes from not knowing any more than the main character does at any given time, and is backed up by Cassell’s liberal use of gore.
Reanimation Channel is a pretty unique story, throwing in a dash of video games, a bit of Frankenstein's monster, and even some vague reminders of The Thing. Scott, the character we follow wasn’t quite as interesting as those in the first story, which makes events late in the story hit not quite as hard. Cassell piles on the body horror, at least that’s my take, in this one. While I found myself thinking I was in for a very direct ethics lesson, the plot takes a turn early on and sends the reader reeling toward an ending that’s more off-the-wall than the wildest guess I could’ve made 30 pages prior.
If you’re reading an author for the first time, you go in looking for a good story, sure, but also to find out if this is someone you’ll be further interested in exploring once this one ends. Monster Double Feature did just that for me - two solid stories that go deep enough to make me want to see what Cassell can do in longform. I already mentioned The Shadow Fabric on my shelf. Maybe, it’s time to pencil that in.
I received a copy from the author for review consideration.
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