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A review by tometrinket
Deadly After Dark by Michael Garrett, Jeff Gelb
3.0
The Hot Blood series are tales of erotic horror, which is the best combination ever. When something as personal and sensitive as sex is mixed with horror, what could possible scare you shitless more? So I set out to explore them all, all 13 books of the series, thus Project Hot Blood.
First, some info about my rating system. The level of paranormal of each story is one to five, one meaning it surely can happen in real life, five meaning it’s utterly something paranormal. The level of sex describes how graphic is the sex in each story, one to five, one being tame a bedtime story told by a nun, five being a detailed script for a hardcore porn movie. My rating’s from one to ten, it’s based on the balance of horror and erotic, so getting five in ‘level of sex’ doesn’t automatically mean an above average rating from me. It’s based on the wtf-ness of the ending, how freaked out I am, how nightmare-generating it is. One being rubbish, ten being masterpiece. It’s time to move on to the fourth book in my Project Hot Blood. Let's begin.
Things of Which We Do Not Speak
Lucy Taylor
What a bitch! I apologize, I just got to get that out of the way but the woman harassing the main character. So it’s about this forceful woman who keeps bugging her lover to hit her during sex. And her lover, he had some dark past which was actually more interesting. It wasn’t a bad story, but the execution should have been better.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 3 It’s okay I guess.
My rating: 6 out of 10
Mr. Torso
Edward Lee
Oh man, this would have been soooo good and soooo Hot Blood. IF. If the ending was as wicked as I had thought it would be. So the story began with torsos and limbs of women turning up in the swamp among other places, and one dedicated detective tried his hardest to solve the crime he became obsessed. Mr Torso is the guy who producing all these limbs and torsos. As to why and how, I leave it to you to find out, but trust me, it’s a fucking delicious story. The ending didn’t go the way I predicted but it was nonetheless a great ending.
Length: 27 pages
Level of Sex: 5 Very graphic, at least the mental picture. Be warned.
My rating: 9 out of 10
Give It to Me, Baby
Sidney Williams
What a sad story. A porn star superfan thought he was calling the porn star of his dream at sex chat lines but instead there was just this call girl who pretended to be the porn star. Poor lonely people, this would be a better world if only we all could have more sex.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 1 Very tame, masturbation mostly.
My rating: 5 out of 10
A Moment of Ecstasy
Graham Watkins
A pair of swingers found a gorgeous pair of swingers and decided to go to their gorgeous house to have some incredible swinger sex. Sounds too good to be true? Well, of course it is. The story ends in blood and tears and mayhem, Hot Blood style. Quite a cruel deduction about human nature, but we are all monsters.
Length: 22 pages
Level of Sex: 3 Vanilla
My rating: 7 out of 10
Immaterial Girl
Michael Garrett
Now, imagine a girl who can turn into anyone in the world by ‘tapping’ into the real person. Wouldn’t that be the girl of your dreams? Guess that’s already creepy as hell all by itself without even revealing what’s happening next.
Length: 17 pages
Level of Sex: 4
My rating: 7 out of 10
The Last Client
Jeff Gelb
Not a bad story but too damn predictable. One third past the story, I already knew what’s going to happen. A hired excort’s last night as an escort and her boss gave an extra nice client for her last. Yup, again, too good to be true, huh?
Length: 12 pages
Level of Sex: 2
My rating: 5 out of 10 Higher if it’s with a different, more unpredictable ending.
Reincarnal
Max Allan Collins
A loooong story with little to offer and for once I can complain about too much build-up. And all that build-up, the ending was such an anti-climax. It wasn’t alas predictable, but it was far worse than any version of my imagination. It’s about this girl who keeps dreaming about this serial killer killing. Not as exciting as it sounds.
Length: 32 pages
Level of Sex: 1 Very very tame.
My rating: 5 out of 10
Yet Another Poisoned Apple For the Fairy Princess
A. R. Morlan
This story takes the usual guys’ locker room talk into a new level, the bizarre level. It’s just about this guy Bob telling a semi-reluctant listener about his strange wife who honestly behaves like a succubus. Or some other as deadly horny creature. Points for the weirdness though.
Length:16 pages
Level of Sex: 1 There was hardly any
My rating: 6 out of 10
Sex Starved
Edo van Belkom
Wickedly awesome! An over-weight man get a hot wife but the wife wouldn’t have sex with him before he lose the weight. The things men are ready to do to get laid. They say that break-ups create body builders. Apparently the severe lack of sex create extreme losers.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 1 Well, I think they didn’t quite reach the point of having sex.
My rating: 9 out of 10
The Rose
Jack Ketchum
A very good depiction of extreme power play of how you can make someone lose the will to survive. It’s also fascinating to witness the breakage of a human-being. In this case, while the story was a good one, it lacked a certain commitment to show all of the ugliness. Too much holding back. I’m not going to comment much on the ending itself, because it was just weird. Or it’s something really deep and symbolic, in which case it would be weird.
Length: 14 pages
Level of Sex: 3
My rating: 6 out of 10
Release of Flesh
Steve Rasnic Tem
Guess this is trying to be poetic? But I’m not the kind that enjoy watching French art movies with sex and nudity. I’m more the ‘I spit on your grave’ kind of gal when it comes to erotic horror. It’s not really suppose to be hot or sexy, it’s about the intimacy and how that much more frightening things get when that level of intimacy is breached. So this story, I just simply didn’t get it? Something about fucking a monster, I guess.
Length: 11 pages
Level of Sex: 4
My rating: 5 out of 10
The Numbers Game
Bentley Little
Oh my gods, can an erotic horror short story get anymore nerdy? Even if I do say so myself, as a proud member of the nerd club. So numbers! That make you uncontrollably horny and shameless. Guess it was a genuine attempt at comedy. In case it wasn’t an attempt at being funny, it’s quite tragic then.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 1 Lots of jerking off
My rating: 5 out of 10
Heretical Visions
Claudia O’Keefe
So it’s like Joan de Arc seeing God and won wars, except in this story, it’s much less holy and much dirtier. I know most people use to Lord’s name in vain while having sex, especially when they are having an orgasm. But claiming about actually seeing God and other godly things when climaxing, that’s kinda pretentious. Too dramatic for my taste.
Length: 21 pages
Level of Sex: 3
My rating: 5 out of 10
Suffer Kate
Graham Masterton
I sort of understand the fascination about controlled suffocation during sex. But in a true Hot Blood style, this story takes that ‘innocent act of love’ and turned it into a deadly obsession. This one is a long one, but I enjoyed it throughout until the bitter end.
Length: 31 pages
Level of Sex: 3 Quite graphic depiction of the male genitals
My rating: 8 out of 10
Review of the whole book
14 stories
Average rating: 6.3
Stories with a rating below 6 out of 10: 9
Stories with a rating 7-8 out of 10: 3
Stories with a rating 9 out of 10: 2
Best stories:
Sex Starved and Mr. Torso
Most erotic story: Mr. Torso
Most memorable stories: Mr. Torso
First, some info about my rating system. The level of paranormal of each story is one to five, one meaning it surely can happen in real life, five meaning it’s utterly something paranormal. The level of sex describes how graphic is the sex in each story, one to five, one being tame a bedtime story told by a nun, five being a detailed script for a hardcore porn movie. My rating’s from one to ten, it’s based on the balance of horror and erotic, so getting five in ‘level of sex’ doesn’t automatically mean an above average rating from me. It’s based on the wtf-ness of the ending, how freaked out I am, how nightmare-generating it is. One being rubbish, ten being masterpiece. It’s time to move on to the fourth book in my Project Hot Blood. Let's begin.
Things of Which We Do Not Speak
Lucy Taylor
What a bitch! I apologize, I just got to get that out of the way but the woman harassing the main character. So it’s about this forceful woman who keeps bugging her lover to hit her during sex. And her lover, he had some dark past which was actually more interesting. It wasn’t a bad story, but the execution should have been better.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 3 It’s okay I guess.
My rating: 6 out of 10
Mr. Torso
Edward Lee
Oh man, this would have been soooo good and soooo Hot Blood. IF. If the ending was as wicked as I had thought it would be. So the story began with torsos and limbs of women turning up in the swamp among other places, and one dedicated detective tried his hardest to solve the crime he became obsessed. Mr Torso is the guy who producing all these limbs and torsos. As to why and how, I leave it to you to find out, but trust me, it’s a fucking delicious story. The ending didn’t go the way I predicted but it was nonetheless a great ending.
Length: 27 pages
Level of Sex: 5 Very graphic, at least the mental picture. Be warned.
My rating: 9 out of 10
Give It to Me, Baby
Sidney Williams
What a sad story. A porn star superfan thought he was calling the porn star of his dream at sex chat lines but instead there was just this call girl who pretended to be the porn star. Poor lonely people, this would be a better world if only we all could have more sex.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 1 Very tame, masturbation mostly.
My rating: 5 out of 10
A Moment of Ecstasy
Graham Watkins
A pair of swingers found a gorgeous pair of swingers and decided to go to their gorgeous house to have some incredible swinger sex. Sounds too good to be true? Well, of course it is. The story ends in blood and tears and mayhem, Hot Blood style. Quite a cruel deduction about human nature, but we are all monsters.
Length: 22 pages
Level of Sex: 3 Vanilla
My rating: 7 out of 10
Immaterial Girl
Michael Garrett
Now, imagine a girl who can turn into anyone in the world by ‘tapping’ into the real person. Wouldn’t that be the girl of your dreams? Guess that’s already creepy as hell all by itself without even revealing what’s happening next.
Length: 17 pages
Level of Sex: 4
My rating: 7 out of 10
The Last Client
Jeff Gelb
Not a bad story but too damn predictable. One third past the story, I already knew what’s going to happen. A hired excort’s last night as an escort and her boss gave an extra nice client for her last. Yup, again, too good to be true, huh?
Length: 12 pages
Level of Sex: 2
My rating: 5 out of 10 Higher if it’s with a different, more unpredictable ending.
Reincarnal
Max Allan Collins
A loooong story with little to offer and for once I can complain about too much build-up. And all that build-up, the ending was such an anti-climax. It wasn’t alas predictable, but it was far worse than any version of my imagination. It’s about this girl who keeps dreaming about this serial killer killing. Not as exciting as it sounds.
Length: 32 pages
Level of Sex: 1 Very very tame.
My rating: 5 out of 10
Yet Another Poisoned Apple For the Fairy Princess
A. R. Morlan
This story takes the usual guys’ locker room talk into a new level, the bizarre level. It’s just about this guy Bob telling a semi-reluctant listener about his strange wife who honestly behaves like a succubus. Or some other as deadly horny creature. Points for the weirdness though.
Length:16 pages
Level of Sex: 1 There was hardly any
My rating: 6 out of 10
Sex Starved
Edo van Belkom
Wickedly awesome! An over-weight man get a hot wife but the wife wouldn’t have sex with him before he lose the weight. The things men are ready to do to get laid. They say that break-ups create body builders. Apparently the severe lack of sex create extreme losers.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 1 Well, I think they didn’t quite reach the point of having sex.
My rating: 9 out of 10
The Rose
Jack Ketchum
A very good depiction of extreme power play of how you can make someone lose the will to survive. It’s also fascinating to witness the breakage of a human-being. In this case, while the story was a good one, it lacked a certain commitment to show all of the ugliness. Too much holding back. I’m not going to comment much on the ending itself, because it was just weird. Or it’s something really deep and symbolic, in which case it would be weird.
Length: 14 pages
Level of Sex: 3
My rating: 6 out of 10
Release of Flesh
Steve Rasnic Tem
Guess this is trying to be poetic? But I’m not the kind that enjoy watching French art movies with sex and nudity. I’m more the ‘I spit on your grave’ kind of gal when it comes to erotic horror. It’s not really suppose to be hot or sexy, it’s about the intimacy and how that much more frightening things get when that level of intimacy is breached. So this story, I just simply didn’t get it? Something about fucking a monster, I guess.
Length: 11 pages
Level of Sex: 4
My rating: 5 out of 10
The Numbers Game
Bentley Little
Oh my gods, can an erotic horror short story get anymore nerdy? Even if I do say so myself, as a proud member of the nerd club. So numbers! That make you uncontrollably horny and shameless. Guess it was a genuine attempt at comedy. In case it wasn’t an attempt at being funny, it’s quite tragic then.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 1 Lots of jerking off
My rating: 5 out of 10
Heretical Visions
Claudia O’Keefe
So it’s like Joan de Arc seeing God and won wars, except in this story, it’s much less holy and much dirtier. I know most people use to Lord’s name in vain while having sex, especially when they are having an orgasm. But claiming about actually seeing God and other godly things when climaxing, that’s kinda pretentious. Too dramatic for my taste.
Length: 21 pages
Level of Sex: 3
My rating: 5 out of 10
Suffer Kate
Graham Masterton
I sort of understand the fascination about controlled suffocation during sex. But in a true Hot Blood style, this story takes that ‘innocent act of love’ and turned it into a deadly obsession. This one is a long one, but I enjoyed it throughout until the bitter end.
Length: 31 pages
Level of Sex: 3 Quite graphic depiction of the male genitals
My rating: 8 out of 10
Review of the whole book
14 stories
Average rating: 6.3
Stories with a rating below 6 out of 10: 9
Stories with a rating 7-8 out of 10: 3
Stories with a rating 9 out of 10: 2
Best stories:
Sex Starved and Mr. Torso
Most erotic story: Mr. Torso
Most memorable stories: Mr. Torso