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camerontrost's reviews
414 reviews
Midnight Echo Issue 7 by Daniel I. Russell
3.0
Midnight Echo is Australia's leading horror magazine and, with a theme of 'taboo', issue seven certainly delivers some unspeakably dark tales, poems and artwork. The reader is offered a collection of fiction that includes blunt and gruesome accounts of cannibalism, explorations of the devastating effects of addiction, and the psychology of troubled individuals. There are also a few supernatural horror tales that fit the theme.
The standard of writing is quite high, although I don't especially like the conclusion to one or two of the tales or the plot of a number of them. The stories that stand out most for me are "I Like to Share", "Symmetry Fades", "Parlour Party", "The Hunting Room", "Dead Inertia", "What the Dark Does" and, in particular, the superb psychological suspense "Driven". An instalment of Mark Farrugia and Greg Chapman's "Allure of the Ancients" provides the reader with a fine work of darkly imaginative graphic fiction.
The standard of writing is quite high, although I don't especially like the conclusion to one or two of the tales or the plot of a number of them. The stories that stand out most for me are "I Like to Share", "Symmetry Fades", "Parlour Party", "The Hunting Room", "Dead Inertia", "What the Dark Does" and, in particular, the superb psychological suspense "Driven". An instalment of Mark Farrugia and Greg Chapman's "Allure of the Ancients" provides the reader with a fine work of darkly imaginative graphic fiction.
Suburban Terrors by Pauline Montagna
4.0
I had read one of these short stories (The Dognappers) before and remembered that I had really liked it. So, when I won a copy of this book as part of an Australia Day Competition (yes, some Aussies actually spend the national day reading), I was chuffed indeed.
It didn't take long to discover that The Dognappers was by no means the only memorable tale in this collection. As a fan and fellow writer of suburban suspense and as a current resident of the fine city of Melbourne, I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. A couple of the tales were predictable, particularly Jim-from-Next-Door and The Hostage Situation, but that didn't bother me as the rides were still full of suspense. Martha and May was a very bizarre piece that was full of twisted imagination. My favourites were In the Loop, a strange train trip, and Last Fare... an even stranger taxi trip.
If you love tales of suburban terror, you'll love this collection. Well done, Pauline!
It didn't take long to discover that The Dognappers was by no means the only memorable tale in this collection. As a fan and fellow writer of suburban suspense and as a current resident of the fine city of Melbourne, I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. A couple of the tales were predictable, particularly Jim-from-Next-Door and The Hostage Situation, but that didn't bother me as the rides were still full of suspense. Martha and May was a very bizarre piece that was full of twisted imagination. My favourites were In the Loop, a strange train trip, and Last Fare... an even stranger taxi trip.
If you love tales of suburban terror, you'll love this collection. Well done, Pauline!
Always Say Die by Elizabeth E.X. Ferrars
3.0
Elizabeth Ferrars' short suspense novel is an enjoyable 1950s mystery about an elderly woman who has gone missing... or has she? Throughout the book, the reader is constantly asked this very question and can't help but share the main character's uneasy sense that somebody (or maybe everybody) is intentionally misleading her. The story reads well and there is plenty of atmosphere throughout as the charcters travel around England. The conclusion suited the story but was fairly shallow - there was no truly gripping incident or startling revelation. All in all, not a bad little mystery if you just happen to come across an old copy somewhere but nothing very impressive and it won't be your piece of cake if you're a serious armchair detective who writes up psychological profiles of each character and analyses all the clues.
100 Stories for Queensland by Joshua Donellan, Jo Hart, Kate Eltham, Jodi Cleghorn
5.0
A great collection of flash fiction written by up-and-coming authors from around the world and published as a flood relief fundraiser for the state of Queensland, Australia. There are all kinds of fascinating tales in this collection, truly something for everyone - kids and adults alike, fans of romance, humour, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery or just quirky little tales. Above all, this collection is an absolute must for ALL Australians.
Isaac Asimov's Ghosts by Ian McDowell, Sheila Williams, Connie Willis, Lisa Goldstein, Kim Antieau, S.N. Dyer, Alexander Jablokov, Terry Bisson, Nisi Shawl, Jack Dann, Cherry Wilder, Esther M. Friesner, R.V. Branham, Gardner Dozois
2.0
The problem with ghost story collections is that the reader knows that every story is going to have something ghostly about it. In order to compensate for this disadvantage in the "surprise department", the stories need to have a really clever twist and lead the reader down unexpected passages. Failing this, they need to be examples of beautifully chilling prose.
With this in mind, only two of the tales in this collection stood out for me and sent a shiver up my spine. The Visitors by Jack Dann and The July Ward by Sharon N. Farber.
With this in mind, only two of the tales in this collection stood out for me and sent a shiver up my spine. The Visitors by Jack Dann and The July Ward by Sharon N. Farber.
Quick Fix: A Taste of Terror by Lindsey Beth Goddard
4.0
Quick Fix is a short collection featuring five chilling stories that thrust the reader into the world of Lindsey Beth Goddard. It all kicks off with "Hair of the Dog", which is my personal favourite. It's a gripping tale about an alcoholic woman and a night drive through the Arizona desert. This beautifully crafted tale offers a warning about dangers both all-too-real and completely unreal. Then we have two monster yarns that create a sense of terror the reader can not only feel but also taste and smell, followed by two tales that are quirkier and more discreet in nature but ultimately as terrifying as the others. This is a delightfully scary collection, although a bit on the short side with only five pieces, and makes for a fine sample of Lindsey's talent and vivid imagination.
Ronnie and Rita by Deborah Sheldon
5.0
Ronnie and Rita, it's like Romeo and Juliet... except they're not very rich... and they're not both really in love, anyway, I gave this story five stars because it is perfect! I wouldn't have changed a single paragraph. The characters are so believable you can practically smell them (not nice) and the plot is edge-of-your-seat stuff.
This is a masterpiece of psychological suspense. If Deborah writes more like this, I'm going to have to start calling her the Australian Ruth Rendell!
This is a masterpiece of psychological suspense. If Deborah writes more like this, I'm going to have to start calling her the Australian Ruth Rendell!
Yellowcake Springs by Guy Salvidge
4.0
Yellowcake Springs is unlike any other book you've ever read. Guy Salvidge not only entertains, he also invites you to answer questions about the world and where it's going - and they are difficult questions. This dystopian version of Western Australia is only a fraction of a second away from how it is today, and that truly is food for thought.