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novelbloglover's review
4.0
Book Review
Title: Vices and Virtues
Author: Ashley Franz Holzmann
Genre: Horror/ Anthology
Rating: ****
Review: As with my other anthology or collection reviews I will talk about these stories individually. There were many stories I liked in this anthology and many that would work well as full-length novels but there were a few that just didn’t deliver on the horror side of things.
The Girl Who Died by C. K. Walker
In the girl who died we are introduced to an ordinary very forgettable girl who just wishes someone would remember her. She is very into nature, love animals and spends a lot of time in the forest behind her home with her Forest Family. One day she comes across a dead animal which she buries as she has done for so many others but when she returns home she is struck with a hungry that no amount of food can get rid of and a chill that she can’t shake despite the very warm weather. As the days pass she gets sicker and sicker until her rather horrible parents ask a neighbour who is a doctor to come and see her. The doctor realises he saw this infection in an animal a few days before and immediately contacts the CDC (centre for disease control) who tell him to quarantine the girl, but she dies before more help can arrive. After her death she becomes a passenger in her own body while she kills and eats several members of her own family. It turns out she has become a zombie; patient zero.
I Loved You So Much by Christopher Bloodworth
This story while short was very entertaining, it is about a young boy who finds an egg out which a monster hatches. The boy loves his pet, feeds it and watches it grows. Even when it eats his whole family he still loves it but decides to release it into the forest, so it won’t get killed or tested on. In the end it seems like the boy went to prison for the murder of his family, but he vows if he ever gets out he will find his friend in the forest and live there forever, very creepy.
In The Throes by Rona Vaselaar
In the Throes had a really interesting premise and would work amazingly as a full-length novel. We are introduced to a girl who can feel the pain of other and tries to help them any way she can. Things spiral out of control when her best commits suicide and she can’t function or cope with her power, when an old man takes pity on her and lets her stay at his house. However, one night she awakes in so much pain and barely has time to call the police before passing out. When she awakes in the hospital she learns that the man she had been staying with had been holding children hostage and killing them for possibly years with an undetermined number of bodies recovered but only six survivors.
The Compliant by J.L Spencer
This is one of my favourite stories so far. It is about 3 friends who are in a lot of gambling debt to some dangerous men, so they decide to stage a pseudo kidnapping for ransom which all goes fine until they learn the one boy Zach decided to bring along a gun. After they get 25,000 Zach gets greedy and wants to demand more but the other two resists however they back down because of the gun. After a few days the pseudo kidnapping morphs into a real one and when Corey tries to back out Zach accidently kills him and then himself. What I liked about this story was it is never clear with Treavor is found or if the truth is ever revealed or if the gangsters even found Treavor afterwards.
Constance by Adam Gray
In Constance we are introduced to two perspectives of Constance and Annie, living their normal lives until things start to go really wrong. All I am going to say about this story is it seems like both women having issues in the form of mental health problems and drug addiction, but it is completely up to the reader to decide who is right or wrong.
The Lonely Man by Kristopher J. Patten
This story was brilliant it is about a female astronaut travelling into space to scout on Mars. There was another astronaut called Bell sent decades before her, but he is assumed long dead. However, when she arrives on Mars he is still alive at over 100 years old and she wants to know why. Bell begins to talk about God and how God has sustained him for so long with the necessary food and water supplies. In an explosion she is injured and needs medical attention or infection will kill her, so Bell convinces her to let God help her, but it turns out God isn’t what she thought. It turns out God is an alien species intent of learning how humans think, using up all the solar systems resources and then moving on and at first, she resists but in the end, she can’t deny that if it can heal the sick and raise the dead then humans will follow it blindly. The take on faith being the wool over someone’s eyes here was very interesting yet it has a ring of truth that makes a story truly compelling.
Marina by Rafael Marmol
Marina is a relatively normal story of a group of college friends having a summer holiday with the aim of partying and bedding as many women as they can until one of the boys spots a beautiful woman in a bar one night. Despite not talking to her he can’t forget her and be chance he comes across her again and then end up drinking and partying for the rest of the night. She confesses that she wants to have sex on the beach which he readily agrees to but when they get down to it she begins to transform into a hideous sex creature similar to a siren. After the encounter he feels terrible and sick, but the doctors can’t find anything wrong with him. On one of his final nights at the beach house he expels what can only be discussed as eggs, hundreds of them. While this happens periodically it doesn’t matter until he gets married and his wife gets pregnant and he belly is full of eggs. This story was more of a psychological horror than body horror but still a great story.
My Time Is Very Valuable by J.D. Patrick
In this story we meet Daniel a straight A student until he starts university where he is just scraping a B, so he decides to get his roommate Mike to help him out. Mike ends up giving him a pill which not only keep him awake but improve his intelligence. As finishing university with the best degree possible Daniel moves onto bigger and better things with the warning from his supplier Gregory to spend his time wisely. As years of doing well his pill supply starts running out so he tracks down Gregory who tells him his time is almost up. Daniel is presented with a pill that counts down his remaining time and a choice. I really liked the idea in this story that someone ambition can be their undoing, who really like a full-length novel of this as it would make a great sci-fi thriller, maybe.
Birthmarked by J.L Spencer
Birthmarked was a great story that I would have devoured more of but was the perfect length. This story has many similarities to Carrie by Stephen King. We meet Lynne was has an unusual skin condition that isolated her from society but some days the condition disappears all together and she decides for one day she wants to feel normal, so she goes to the movies with a boy she really likes. Halfway through the movie Lynne’s condition reappears and she hurries to the bathroom taking all her medicines to try and make it disappear again and she kills herself in the process and while her cold mother isn’t moved by this news, her warning early in the story because very clear in that moment.
Given Form by S.M. Piper
Given form is the story of Ellen Fields an artist and sculptor employed to work on a piece of sea marble. As she is beginning working there is some tension between her and her employer over what the finished piece will look like but she continues on. However, as the piece gets closer and closer to beginning finished it comes alive in a sense. When Ellen makes a mistake, the statue screams until she fixes it with pieces of herself. She shows her employer how pieces of her own skin become marble when applied to the statue making a true masterpiece, but it doesn’t stop there even after the statue is deemed complete it demands more from Ellen until she gives in. A very creepy story and could work well as a novella.
Dammit, Janet by Ashley Franz Holzmann
This story like a previous one is a psychological horror. We are introduced to Janet, who in my opinion might be either a sociopath or a psychopath because she doesn’t have normal human emotional responses or attachments, but she is ambitious. Janet is living her life waiting for something to happen but not willing to work for it until she meets Dave, a Hollywood actor and she realises he holds the keys to everything he wants so she becomes his mistress of sorts leaving her husband and children behind without a second thought, but it turns out Dave might not be all he seems.
Heart Full of Love by L Chan
In this story we meet Dave in a future we prosthetic are created for every part of the human body, Dave himself has a prosthetic pancreas and is told he made need a prosthetic heart in the future. We learn that Dave was having an affair with a woman called Natalie but had to end it because his wife became pregnant, but he is haunted by weird sounds and phrases spoken and written by others. It turns out that Dave murdered his lover to end their affair and when he tries to kill himself and fails, he ends up with a prosthetic heart which might have been the one he cut from Natalie’s chest. This story gave me serious Edgar Allan Poe vibes and would highly recommend it.
Sesshoseki by Kristopher J. Patten
This story is by far one of my favourites purely because it is set in my favourite country; Japan. We meet Stevens a CIA agent working in Japan meeting her contact Yuto but Benkei turns up instead because Yuto has been murdered by a faction of a gang called the Sumiyosha. It turns out the gangsters are planning a terror attack, the reason Yuto was killed and they are searching for the stone which was apparently taken from Yuto but neither the agents or the gang have it, meaning Yuto hid it before he was killed and now they have to find it before the gang do. The stone itself is very strange as it interacts strangely with the human brain and can cause people to be extremely violent and commit suicide. Stevens is taken to Yuto’s apartment to search for it and she finds it in his safe room, she also learns Benkei isn’t with the PSIA but is part of a religious sect sworn to protect people from the stone and they have to take it to Ayokigahara or the forest of suicides to neutralize it. As they hike through the forest to a shire Stevens knows there is something wrong with Ayokigahara and the Sesshoseki and when the reach the shire she finally realises what is wrong. After a shocking twist and bloody battle Stevens while safe for now realises that there may be a second Sesshoseki somewhere in Japan. This would make an amazing full-length novel as you could really delve into Japanese folklore and mythology as well as the country’s history while maintain a modern paranormal/psychological body horror novel that in movies Japan is well known for.
The Sand Quarry by Manen Lyset
This is the story of Emily and her two cousins Joshua and Parker who are staying with Parker’s abusive mother. Despite the boys not really liking Emily they are forced to play together every day. One day the three children are playing, and Emily suggests they go to the quarry where she can explore and play without being picked on by the boy and the boys readily agree. They arrive at the quarry and play for several hours when Parker dares Emily to climb a vertical dune known as the devil’s drop and while she fails at first, she is determined and makes it the second time, clearly impressing the boys who agree she can play with them from now on. However, as night falls Joshua and Emily want to return home as they are scared by the rumours that the quarry is haunted, but Parker wants to stay so they all stay. Things take a deadly turn when skeletal parts rise from the sand and drag down Joshua despite Parker and Emily’s attempts to save him, they immediately run home and Emily’s aunt phones the police and the search through the night and the following day, but no sign of Joshua is found. After her cousin’s death Emily returns home to her parents and Parker is sent to his father after his mother is found to be unfit. Years pass, and Emily decides to return to the quarry once more where she finds Parker’s hat which Joshua had been wearing the night he died, and she realised all the trinkets they had collected there belonged to someone claimed by the quarry.
Chaucer’s Horses by Christina Ferrari
The premise of Chaucer’s horses is an author named Bee writes a book called Chaucer’s horse from a strange dream she had and happens to be the exact copy of an Italian novel of the same name written by Tornaquinci T. Tornaquinci who died 3 years prior but has never been translated into English. Bee travels to Italy to remedy the situation but the family is very strange however, she is given permission to roam the house as she pleases. During her exploration Bee comes across a door to a basement marking with the symbol of alchemy and there she finds Tornaquinci T. Tornaquinci himself alive and well despite his apparent suicide. It turns out he discovered the secret to eternal life but cannot allow his family to continue publishing his novel as people will ask question, so he needs a suitable vessel to continue his work. He sent the dream to Bee about Chaucer’s horses and lured her to Italy in order for him to “possess” her body. This again is a story that would work well as a full-length novel and one I would definitely buy.
Biserka by Kristopher J. Patten
Biserka is the finally story in this anthology, we are introduced to Javor Markovic who works on a cargo ship which in a huge storm loses power, the captain concerned about leaks sends men to check the ship over. While he finds several puddle of bioluminescent water Javor finds no leaks but there are threads connecting one of the puddles to the engine almost like the water is alive. When he tries to dislodge it a second thread attacks Javor burning him. We then jump to the Yugoslavian state during a time of war where Javor was a solider, after one successful mission he is given a girl called Biserka as a reward, but he can’t hurt her and when he tries to help her escape with him, his commander kills her. We then jump back to the present where Javor knows something is on the ship but can’t convince anyone else as they think it is a jellyfish sting which can cause hallucinations. However, he investigates and finds Biserka’s spirit wandering around and he follows her until he can’t anymore when the creature pounces.
Title: Vices and Virtues
Author: Ashley Franz Holzmann
Genre: Horror/ Anthology
Rating: ****
Review: As with my other anthology or collection reviews I will talk about these stories individually. There were many stories I liked in this anthology and many that would work well as full-length novels but there were a few that just didn’t deliver on the horror side of things.
The Girl Who Died by C. K. Walker
In the girl who died we are introduced to an ordinary very forgettable girl who just wishes someone would remember her. She is very into nature, love animals and spends a lot of time in the forest behind her home with her Forest Family. One day she comes across a dead animal which she buries as she has done for so many others but when she returns home she is struck with a hungry that no amount of food can get rid of and a chill that she can’t shake despite the very warm weather. As the days pass she gets sicker and sicker until her rather horrible parents ask a neighbour who is a doctor to come and see her. The doctor realises he saw this infection in an animal a few days before and immediately contacts the CDC (centre for disease control) who tell him to quarantine the girl, but she dies before more help can arrive. After her death she becomes a passenger in her own body while she kills and eats several members of her own family. It turns out she has become a zombie; patient zero.
I Loved You So Much by Christopher Bloodworth
This story while short was very entertaining, it is about a young boy who finds an egg out which a monster hatches. The boy loves his pet, feeds it and watches it grows. Even when it eats his whole family he still loves it but decides to release it into the forest, so it won’t get killed or tested on. In the end it seems like the boy went to prison for the murder of his family, but he vows if he ever gets out he will find his friend in the forest and live there forever, very creepy.
In The Throes by Rona Vaselaar
In the Throes had a really interesting premise and would work amazingly as a full-length novel. We are introduced to a girl who can feel the pain of other and tries to help them any way she can. Things spiral out of control when her best commits suicide and she can’t function or cope with her power, when an old man takes pity on her and lets her stay at his house. However, one night she awakes in so much pain and barely has time to call the police before passing out. When she awakes in the hospital she learns that the man she had been staying with had been holding children hostage and killing them for possibly years with an undetermined number of bodies recovered but only six survivors.
The Compliant by J.L Spencer
This is one of my favourite stories so far. It is about 3 friends who are in a lot of gambling debt to some dangerous men, so they decide to stage a pseudo kidnapping for ransom which all goes fine until they learn the one boy Zach decided to bring along a gun. After they get 25,000 Zach gets greedy and wants to demand more but the other two resists however they back down because of the gun. After a few days the pseudo kidnapping morphs into a real one and when Corey tries to back out Zach accidently kills him and then himself. What I liked about this story was it is never clear with Treavor is found or if the truth is ever revealed or if the gangsters even found Treavor afterwards.
Constance by Adam Gray
In Constance we are introduced to two perspectives of Constance and Annie, living their normal lives until things start to go really wrong. All I am going to say about this story is it seems like both women having issues in the form of mental health problems and drug addiction, but it is completely up to the reader to decide who is right or wrong.
The Lonely Man by Kristopher J. Patten
This story was brilliant it is about a female astronaut travelling into space to scout on Mars. There was another astronaut called Bell sent decades before her, but he is assumed long dead. However, when she arrives on Mars he is still alive at over 100 years old and she wants to know why. Bell begins to talk about God and how God has sustained him for so long with the necessary food and water supplies. In an explosion she is injured and needs medical attention or infection will kill her, so Bell convinces her to let God help her, but it turns out God isn’t what she thought. It turns out God is an alien species intent of learning how humans think, using up all the solar systems resources and then moving on and at first, she resists but in the end, she can’t deny that if it can heal the sick and raise the dead then humans will follow it blindly. The take on faith being the wool over someone’s eyes here was very interesting yet it has a ring of truth that makes a story truly compelling.
Marina by Rafael Marmol
Marina is a relatively normal story of a group of college friends having a summer holiday with the aim of partying and bedding as many women as they can until one of the boys spots a beautiful woman in a bar one night. Despite not talking to her he can’t forget her and be chance he comes across her again and then end up drinking and partying for the rest of the night. She confesses that she wants to have sex on the beach which he readily agrees to but when they get down to it she begins to transform into a hideous sex creature similar to a siren. After the encounter he feels terrible and sick, but the doctors can’t find anything wrong with him. On one of his final nights at the beach house he expels what can only be discussed as eggs, hundreds of them. While this happens periodically it doesn’t matter until he gets married and his wife gets pregnant and he belly is full of eggs. This story was more of a psychological horror than body horror but still a great story.
My Time Is Very Valuable by J.D. Patrick
In this story we meet Daniel a straight A student until he starts university where he is just scraping a B, so he decides to get his roommate Mike to help him out. Mike ends up giving him a pill which not only keep him awake but improve his intelligence. As finishing university with the best degree possible Daniel moves onto bigger and better things with the warning from his supplier Gregory to spend his time wisely. As years of doing well his pill supply starts running out so he tracks down Gregory who tells him his time is almost up. Daniel is presented with a pill that counts down his remaining time and a choice. I really liked the idea in this story that someone ambition can be their undoing, who really like a full-length novel of this as it would make a great sci-fi thriller, maybe.
Birthmarked by J.L Spencer
Birthmarked was a great story that I would have devoured more of but was the perfect length. This story has many similarities to Carrie by Stephen King. We meet Lynne was has an unusual skin condition that isolated her from society but some days the condition disappears all together and she decides for one day she wants to feel normal, so she goes to the movies with a boy she really likes. Halfway through the movie Lynne’s condition reappears and she hurries to the bathroom taking all her medicines to try and make it disappear again and she kills herself in the process and while her cold mother isn’t moved by this news, her warning early in the story because very clear in that moment.
Given Form by S.M. Piper
Given form is the story of Ellen Fields an artist and sculptor employed to work on a piece of sea marble. As she is beginning working there is some tension between her and her employer over what the finished piece will look like but she continues on. However, as the piece gets closer and closer to beginning finished it comes alive in a sense. When Ellen makes a mistake, the statue screams until she fixes it with pieces of herself. She shows her employer how pieces of her own skin become marble when applied to the statue making a true masterpiece, but it doesn’t stop there even after the statue is deemed complete it demands more from Ellen until she gives in. A very creepy story and could work well as a novella.
Dammit, Janet by Ashley Franz Holzmann
This story like a previous one is a psychological horror. We are introduced to Janet, who in my opinion might be either a sociopath or a psychopath because she doesn’t have normal human emotional responses or attachments, but she is ambitious. Janet is living her life waiting for something to happen but not willing to work for it until she meets Dave, a Hollywood actor and she realises he holds the keys to everything he wants so she becomes his mistress of sorts leaving her husband and children behind without a second thought, but it turns out Dave might not be all he seems.
Heart Full of Love by L Chan
In this story we meet Dave in a future we prosthetic are created for every part of the human body, Dave himself has a prosthetic pancreas and is told he made need a prosthetic heart in the future. We learn that Dave was having an affair with a woman called Natalie but had to end it because his wife became pregnant, but he is haunted by weird sounds and phrases spoken and written by others. It turns out that Dave murdered his lover to end their affair and when he tries to kill himself and fails, he ends up with a prosthetic heart which might have been the one he cut from Natalie’s chest. This story gave me serious Edgar Allan Poe vibes and would highly recommend it.
Sesshoseki by Kristopher J. Patten
This story is by far one of my favourites purely because it is set in my favourite country; Japan. We meet Stevens a CIA agent working in Japan meeting her contact Yuto but Benkei turns up instead because Yuto has been murdered by a faction of a gang called the Sumiyosha. It turns out the gangsters are planning a terror attack, the reason Yuto was killed and they are searching for the stone which was apparently taken from Yuto but neither the agents or the gang have it, meaning Yuto hid it before he was killed and now they have to find it before the gang do. The stone itself is very strange as it interacts strangely with the human brain and can cause people to be extremely violent and commit suicide. Stevens is taken to Yuto’s apartment to search for it and she finds it in his safe room, she also learns Benkei isn’t with the PSIA but is part of a religious sect sworn to protect people from the stone and they have to take it to Ayokigahara or the forest of suicides to neutralize it. As they hike through the forest to a shire Stevens knows there is something wrong with Ayokigahara and the Sesshoseki and when the reach the shire she finally realises what is wrong. After a shocking twist and bloody battle Stevens while safe for now realises that there may be a second Sesshoseki somewhere in Japan. This would make an amazing full-length novel as you could really delve into Japanese folklore and mythology as well as the country’s history while maintain a modern paranormal/psychological body horror novel that in movies Japan is well known for.
The Sand Quarry by Manen Lyset
This is the story of Emily and her two cousins Joshua and Parker who are staying with Parker’s abusive mother. Despite the boys not really liking Emily they are forced to play together every day. One day the three children are playing, and Emily suggests they go to the quarry where she can explore and play without being picked on by the boy and the boys readily agree. They arrive at the quarry and play for several hours when Parker dares Emily to climb a vertical dune known as the devil’s drop and while she fails at first, she is determined and makes it the second time, clearly impressing the boys who agree she can play with them from now on. However, as night falls Joshua and Emily want to return home as they are scared by the rumours that the quarry is haunted, but Parker wants to stay so they all stay. Things take a deadly turn when skeletal parts rise from the sand and drag down Joshua despite Parker and Emily’s attempts to save him, they immediately run home and Emily’s aunt phones the police and the search through the night and the following day, but no sign of Joshua is found. After her cousin’s death Emily returns home to her parents and Parker is sent to his father after his mother is found to be unfit. Years pass, and Emily decides to return to the quarry once more where she finds Parker’s hat which Joshua had been wearing the night he died, and she realised all the trinkets they had collected there belonged to someone claimed by the quarry.
Chaucer’s Horses by Christina Ferrari
The premise of Chaucer’s horses is an author named Bee writes a book called Chaucer’s horse from a strange dream she had and happens to be the exact copy of an Italian novel of the same name written by Tornaquinci T. Tornaquinci who died 3 years prior but has never been translated into English. Bee travels to Italy to remedy the situation but the family is very strange however, she is given permission to roam the house as she pleases. During her exploration Bee comes across a door to a basement marking with the symbol of alchemy and there she finds Tornaquinci T. Tornaquinci himself alive and well despite his apparent suicide. It turns out he discovered the secret to eternal life but cannot allow his family to continue publishing his novel as people will ask question, so he needs a suitable vessel to continue his work. He sent the dream to Bee about Chaucer’s horses and lured her to Italy in order for him to “possess” her body. This again is a story that would work well as a full-length novel and one I would definitely buy.
Biserka by Kristopher J. Patten
Biserka is the finally story in this anthology, we are introduced to Javor Markovic who works on a cargo ship which in a huge storm loses power, the captain concerned about leaks sends men to check the ship over. While he finds several puddle of bioluminescent water Javor finds no leaks but there are threads connecting one of the puddles to the engine almost like the water is alive. When he tries to dislodge it a second thread attacks Javor burning him. We then jump to the Yugoslavian state during a time of war where Javor was a solider, after one successful mission he is given a girl called Biserka as a reward, but he can’t hurt her and when he tries to help her escape with him, his commander kills her. We then jump back to the present where Javor knows something is on the ship but can’t convince anyone else as they think it is a jellyfish sting which can cause hallucinations. However, he investigates and finds Biserka’s spirit wandering around and he follows her until he can’t anymore when the creature pounces.
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