What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman - Book Review

 

'After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market.

'It’s there that she connects with old high school flame Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying nightmare waiting at the centre of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.'

What Kind of Mother tells the story of Madi, a single mother who's been doing her best for her now teenage daughter, but has to return to her hometown due to circumstances outside of her control. Brandywine is a small, sleepy place where nothing much really happens and people have hardly changed in the years that Madi has been gone. It's slow and dull, and Madi hates it. Having to find a way of supporting herself and her daughter, Madi decides to open up a palm reading stall in the town's market, faking her 'psychic' abilities for any who're willing to pay for a reading.

However, when Madi reconnects with her high school sweetheart, Henry, she learns that she does actually possess powers when she gives him a reading and has visions of his son Skylar, who went missing several years previous. Determined to find out what these visions mean, Madi discovers dark secrets lurking just beneath the surface of Brandywine.

What Kind of Mother does well in its early chapters, and the set-up that Clay McLeod Chapman creates is an interesting one with some decent, engaging characters. Madi is a struggling single mother with a lot of issues, most of them stemming back to her time in Brandywine; and as such when she returns to her old town those issues come racing back to the surface. Some of the personal struggles that Madi has, the relationships with people who used to be in her life and how she reconnects with people are the best parts of the book, and I can't help but feel that if this was just a story about that I'd have liked it much better.

However, once the supernatural and horror elements are introduced to the book things kind of fall apart  bit for me, whereas that's the stuff I'm normally excited to get to. The book has a lot of body horror in it, which is one of the areas that can be a bit hit and miss with me, either being absolutely fine or too gross. Sadly, more than once What Kind of Mother strayed into the second category, and left me feeling sick more than anything else. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood for it, but it led me to wanting to put the book down and not come back to it; forcing me to have to power through.

The end of the book has what I've seen others refer to as a 'twist', and I'd agree with that to a certain extent. It's not the kind of twist where it feels like the book played a clever reveal that was carefully hinted at chapters before, but a twist in logic. The characters make some unusual choices in the latter half of the book, choices that seem to be made with little reasoning or explanation given. Again, perhaps I wasn't in the right mind to enjoy these twists. I just didn't like the ending. I wasn't a fan of where the story went or what the characters did, and I've seen a few reviews online that share that sentiment.

What Kind of Mother is an unusual read, one that I think will divide audiences very clearly into those who loved it and hated it. This is the kind of book that some will even put down and not finish. Trying it out might be something of a gamble, but I think that if you do like it you're going to get a lot out of it.

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Thief - Throwback 10

 

When I was growing up there were two series that people would talk about as the main stealth games, Metal Gear Solid, and Thief. Having been more of a console player I ended up missing the original Thief games, but even then I was excited to see the series make a brief return in 2014.

Created by Eidos-Montreal and Square Enix, the game saw the return of master thief Garrett, who has been away from his homeland for a long time. Upon his return he finds his home, simply called The City, is now under the rule of a tyrannical and cruel new leader, Baron Northcrest. When Garrett is hired to steal from the Baron's home, along with an inexperienced thief called Erin, the job will end up changing his life, and The City, forever. When the mission goes wrong thanks to Erin, and a magic ritual being performed by the Baron and his men, Garrett falls into a coma.

Waking a year later, Garrett learns that The City is in the grips of a plague called The Gloom, with entire parts of the city in quarantine. As Garrett recovers he goes on a few missions to steal special items from across the city, and learns of a conspiracy to overthrow the Baron. Working with the resistance, Garrett finds himself caught up in a larger plot than he first thought; one with the fate of The City on the line.

Originally announced in 2009 as Thief 4, or Thi4f, the game went through a great deal of changes during its early development, including having a third person perspective at one time, and also having a completely new protagonist. Following the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution in 2012 the team for Thief was expanded significantly, and work began on the game in earnest. 

The final game ended up being more in line with the original trilogy, though a number of newer gameplay elements that had become popular over recent years had been included. Despite that, stealth was still the order of the day. Whilst the game does include elements such as melee combat for those times when you get into trouble it's not the best implemented, and sneaking without being seen remains the best course of action throughout; even if it does take longer. Skulking in the shadows, learning guards patrol routes, and moving slowly are the keys to success, leading you to your objective.

Whilst Garrett is tasked with stealing specific items it doesn't mean that that is all you can take, and practically anything that isn't nailed down can be grabbed and thrown into Garrett's swag bag to trade on later. The only problem with this is that it does ruin the illusion that Garrett is a master thief, who gets in, grabs what he's been hired to steal, and gets out, and he becomes a petty looter at best. But, I can understand why the developers would include the ability to take anything the player wanted so as to avoid accusations of railroading or restricting gameplay.

One of the areas in which Thief excels is in it's lighting system. There have been many, many games where the stealth system is little more than crouching turning you invisible, with enemy AI having no way of looking down. There have been countless games where I've questioned the abilities of enemy guards as I walk two steps behind them in the bright light whilst they're oblivious to my presence. But thanks to the way that light and darkness work in Thief it does feel that you're actually using the darkness as a tool, rather than relying on guards being near sighted.

Upon its release Thief was received fairly well, with decent scores from many publications. Reviews criticised small issues with the gameplay, but rated it as a fun and enjoyable experience that fans of the originals would enjoy. One area in which it was called out a lot, however, was in the voice acting. Original voice actor Stephen Russell had been replaced by Romano Orzari, who was described as 'flat'; it also didn't help that the lip synching in the game's cut scenes was pretty poor, which further brought attention to lacklustre acting. 

Whilst the game was criticised on some points Thief received decent review scores, and was an enjoyable enough experience whilst playing it, there has been no further games in the series, making the time since Thief's release as long as the gap between it and the previous game in the series. With no news of another game coming, however, it looks like 2014's outing might be the last mission for Garrett. 

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The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed - Book Reivew

 

'A world-weary woman races against the clock to rescue the children of a wrathful tyrant from a dangerous, otherworldly forest. At the northern edge of a land ruled by a monstrous, foreign tyrant lies the wild forest known as the Elmever. The villagers know better than to let their children go near—once someone goes in, they never come back out.

'No one knows the strange and terrifying traps of the Elmever better than Veris Thorn, the only person to ever rescue a child from the forest many years ago. When the Tyrant’s two young children go missing, Veris is commanded to enter the forest once more and bring them home safe. If Veris fails, the Tyrant will kill her; if she remains in the forest for longer than a day, she will be trapped forevermore. So Veris will travel deep into the Elmever to face traps, riddles, and monsters at the behest of another monster. One misstep will cost everything.'

Forests can be frightening places, especially as most people nowadays tend to never really have reason to go into them other than for personal enjoyment. They've evolved over our history from places that people would know well to things we tend to see from a distance, things we don't really know anymore. And, once we don't know much about something it becomes frightening. Stories are told that make it darker, more mysterious, and it begins to feel like some kind of primal horror. Premee Mohamed leans into this a lot in their new short novella, The Butcher of the Forest, which makes the woods a truly unsettling place.

The story follows Veris, a woman in her 40's, who is the only person to have ever entered the mysterious and frightening Elmever forest and returned. Many before her have gone into it, but no others have ever come out, lost to the dark and twisted forest and the monsters that call it home. However, when the children of the cruel Tyrant enter the forest Veris is recruited, without much choice, to go in and to bring them home. Not only will Veris have to contend with the horrors of the forest, but she will have only a day in which to succeed or she'll be lost forever too.

The Butcher of the Forest is not a long book, only 160 pages, and as such it jumps into the narrative very quickly, dropping the reader right into the middle of things. Despite there not being much time spent setting up this world or the characters, and much of the book being given over to what happens when Veris enters Elmever, Premee Mohamed somehow manages to make the book feel like that time is being taken. Mohamed uses long sentences, and beautifully flowing language to make the book feel longer than it actually is, and you come away from reading it surprised at the actual length of it as it feels like it should have been a lot more than 160 pages. 

The book draws from fairy tale stories, but there are times that it also feels like you're slipping into cosmic horror, and the sense of unease that flows through the majority of the book plays wonderfully into these themes. It's violent and gruesome at times, and there are points that almost makes you want to put the book down because it goes to places you'd never have expected nor predicted. 

I can see the ending dividing some readers, as it kind of divided me too. On the one hand I was very happy with how things ended, and was more than prepared to let things lie and never return to this character or world; but on the other hand I would devour an entire series if Mohamed decided to venture more into their creation. It's one of those dilemmas where you can say 'that ended perfectly, no more please' yet would also be first in line to get the next one. The perils of being a reader.

The Butcher of the Forest is a wonderful dark horror fairy tale with a beautiful writing style that is going to draw readers in very quickly, and make a lot more fans of Premee Mohamed by the time things are done.

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Nightmares in a Damaged Brain - Blu-ray Review

There are a few horror films from the 70's and 80's that I've heard of that I've never seen, films whose names instantly jump out at me for one particular reason; they were all Video Nasties. For those either not in the know, or not from the backwards United Kingdom, there was a time in Britain where censorship demanded that certain films be banned, that their distribution became a crime that would land people with fines or prison time (and older people complain about trigger warnings when they were literally throwing people in prison for certain films). Nightmare, or Nightmare in a Damaged Brain, was one of these films; and was the film that got two of its UK distributors sent to prison. But now horror fans, and those with an interest in this bizarre era of UK film culture, get the chance to experience the film in a brand new Blu-ray release thanks to Severin Films. 

Nightmares in a Damaged Brain tells the story of George Tatum, played by Baird Stafford, an incarcerated mental patient suffering from nightmares of murders, who had been locked up after mutilating and murdering a family in Brooklyn. Despite being diagnosed with a series of disorders, including schizophrenia, George is released following an experimental drug procedure designed to cure him of his violent urges. The doctor in charge is certain that George has been turned into an upstanding citizen. However, when he goes missing, the authorities are worried that he may have returned to his murderous ways.

George journeys away from New York, heading down the coast towards Florida; killing a woman along the way in order to get hold of a new car. Arriving in Myrtle Beach, he begins following a single mother and her three children, watching them from afar. As the family deal with their complicated life, the youngest son CJ pulling horrible pranks on people that leads to problems with the police, and mother Susan trying to fit her new relationship into her home life, George closes in on the family, killing more people along the way.

The trailer for Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, and the film's title, doesn't really help to sell the kind of film this is. The trailer is somewhat disjointed, jumping around a lot, and shows pieces from all across the film with little indication of what the narrative might be. As the film starts things are also somewhat hard to follow, with scenes of murders cutting to George asleep at home having nightmares, to him then waking up screaming in a mental hospital. The film starts confusingly, presenting things in a disjointed manner that made me start to think that I was going to be watching a somewhat surreal and bizarre horror film.

However, the film then soon settles into what is a fairly standard 80's slasher structure. We follow a family, watching their everyday lives, getting to know them. Meanwhile, George stalks them from a distance, hiding in the neighbourhood, occasionally killing someone who gets too close to him, whilst the authorities try to figure out where he might be. It's a lot closer to the structure of a film like Halloween than the trailer or start of the film makes you think, and once it does settle into this structure it becomes a much more enjoyable and engaging watch.

The acting is about what you'd expect for a small budget horror film of the era, as in middling at best. Despite that, there are some genuinely enjoyable moments, some where the acting becomes so bad you can't help but laugh at it. There's a moment in the film where CJ, who's just seen George outside the house, stumbles inside, clutching his stomach and covered in blood saying that the man attacked him. And the acting isn't the best, so I ended up questioning if this was one of CJ's tricks, or if it was just bad child acting. It made the scene a lot of fun as I hunted for more clues to try and reveal the truth.

Where the film does well, and something it's known for, is the special effects. Nightmares in a Damaged Brain was advertised as having the special effects done by screen legend Tom Savini. Savini, however, did not work on the film, and even threatened to sue the makers if they didn't remove his name. Savini did, however, advise for the effects on the film, and visited the set, and it's easy to see why some could think it's a Savini film as there are some great 80's gore effects on offer in the film, particularly a spectacular beheading scene that gets shown a few times across the movie. One of the extras on the disc is a fun little interview with Savini where he talks about the miscredit on the film.

Speaking about extras, the new set has some great special features including two audio commentaries packed with behind the scenes info on the movie, and the impact that the films had, as well as trailers, deleted scenes, and a feature length documentary about British censorship laws that led to the video nasty era that's almost worth the price of admission alone. 

For those trying to seek out a little known horror film that's an enjoyable and entertaining experience this latest release is one worth having a look at. However, if you've an interest in the video nasty craze, censorship, and films of the 1980's this new blu-ray is one that will appeal all the more. 

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Death System: A Zombicide Invader Novel by S.A. Sidor - Book Review

 

'Cybernetically enhanced zombie-aliens want to devour the universe and only a crack team of murderous misfits can stop them, in this non-stop action-adventure from InvaderWhen decorated military pilot Shawna Bright is convicted of a heinous crime and incarcerated, she is determined to prove her innocence. However, flying the getaway ship during a prison break wrecks that hope. Forced to land on the terrifying Xeno-ridden planet, PK-L7, Shawna must survive both ravenous alien-zombies and a crew of dangerous criminals. When they discover Xenos with cybernetic implants, Shawna uncovers a deadly plan to wreak havoc across the universe. She must do everything in her power to stop it… even if she goes down in history as one of the bad guys.'

Despite having not played any of the Zombicide games I've come to really love the franchise due completely to the work of the novels. Aconyte Books have produced some fantastic books in these settings, and whilst the regular Zombicide books, and the Black Plague series all follow the same group of survivors and their stories, the Zombicide Invader series gives us something almost completely new each time. This time readers are treated to a daring prison escape from some of the worst of the worst in the galaxy; an escape that leads our colourful cast of characters to an even bigger nightmare. 

Death System begins in prison, in one of the worst maximum security prisons in the galaxy. Here we meet a number of the most high profile prisoners, such as Bak-Irp, the bounty hunter turned killer, Nero Lupaster IV, the super rich head of a criminal guild, Shawna Bright, the military pilot who shot down and killed her own unit, and Dr Lemora Pick, a scientist who created a weapon that killed a planet. Nero, who still has a lot of very powerful friends, has been carefully paying off one of the guards, getting him on side, and arranges for a very special package to be snuck into the prison and given to Lemora, another of his people. A package containing a deadly, infectious mould. 

During a prisoner transfer that sees a few dozen of the prisons worst placed onto an old and beaten-up ship, Lemora uses the mould in a small explosive she's made, detonating it in the cabin. The mould begins to infect the non-humans on board, transforming them into ravenous zombies. It's in this chaos that Nero and his group stage their escape; an escape in which Shawna finds herself having to fight to survive. However, when the ship lands on a planet filled with more of the deadly zombie creatures the survivors will have to work together to try and make it out alive.

One of the fun things about Death System is that very early on there's almost no one you want to root for. Shawna is made to be sympathetic from the start, as Sidor makes it clear that she believes that she was framed for her crimes, and that she did not murder her team, but other than that there's no one in our group of survivors that deserve to get out alive. This group are some of the worst of the worst characters, mass murderers, psychopaths, and worse, yet as the story progresses you start to like the characters more and more, to the point where you start to feel bad when these very terrible people begin to die.

There are a lot of stories out there that try to make criminals sympathetic, and most of the time I find that they tend to fail. These stories often come across as romanticising crime and brutality, with the creators having to try to make despicable characters into victims of circumstance rather than out and out bad people in order to make them sympathetic. Sidor doesn't try this though, most of the characters are unrepentant, they don't have tragic backstories that justify their heinous acts, and most of them don't even care that they've done bad. Despite this, their personalities are what make them so likable. Lemora is uncaring, she has killed countless people and thought nothing of it, yet I couldn't help but come to like her because of her relationships with the other survivors and they small ways in which she was made quite charming. 

Because of the work that Sidor puts into making these characters likable when the killing starts you do actually care when they die, and there are moments that had me letting out audible groans as someone who I was enjoying in a scene just a moment ago is brutally ripped to pieces by the hordes of undead storming the facility our characters are holding up in. 

I can't really talk too much more about the story without spoiling too much, as there are so many twists and turns in the book that I wouldn't want to spoil anything for anyone, but if you like sci-fi horror, and have enjoyed the other books in the series this will definitely appeal to you. I had a great time reading it, and by the time the end came I was annoyed that it was over and wanted more. S.A. Sidor has written some of my favourite books with Aconyte, and this absolutely enters that category. Absolutely great fun. 

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Chronique des Silencieux – Game Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Point and click adventure games are some of the oldest that have existed on the PC. Their simple interface of clicking on things with your mouse, trying to figure out the next part of the story and searching for things in the environment that will help get you to that point make them feel timeless, and whilst technology and graphics have changed over the decades the general gameplay hasn’t. The latest game to dip its toes into this much loved genre is Pierre Feuille Studios’ very first game, the historical mystery adventure Chronique des Silencieux.

Set during the 1970s, in the French town of Bordeaux, Chronique des Silencieux puts players in control of Eugene, a fifteen-year-old boy who travels to Brodeaux to find his uncle, following the recent passing of his mother. Arriving at the train station, alone and with not even a single piece of luggage, he finds no one waiting for him. Stepping out into the rain soaked streets, Eugene eventually finds the old antique shop where his uncle works and lives, only to be met by an angry Madame Solange, who tells him that his uncle has gone away. We soon learn that Uncle Flavio has been telling some lies about his life, and that he’s actually the security/pimp for Madam Solange’s brothel, and that he’s recently been arrested for fighting with One Armed Herve. Heading to the local police station, Eugene is recruited by an inspector to help look into the events.

Thus begins Eugene’s adventure into the seedy, criminal underbelly of Bordeaux, and a story that involves sex work, secret drug trades, organised crime, and murder. Whilst this sounds exciting, the actual execution of the game leads to it being anything but, and I was ready to pull my hair out and quit before I was even through the segment of the game quite unfairly called the ‘tutorial’.

The main thrust of Chronique des Silencieux is finding connections between discovered documents and witness testimonies. This is done by exploring environments in order to collect items such as police reports, stock certificates, and letters hidden in the backs of drawers that require you to shift around junk in order to find them, and by engaging in long conversations with multiple people. Connections are made in your inventory screen, where you can select a document you want to check out, and one of the testimonies you’ve collected. Then selecting a sentence in one it will generate a red string that you then connect to a sentence in the other to make a connection. In theory, this works absolutely fine, but in practice it’s one of the most frustrating aspects of the entire game.

The ‘tutorial’ segment tells you to find a connection between Uncle Flavio’s testimonies and the police report that you’ve got on the fight. Whilst this sounds simple enough, the game doesn’t make it clear if you are searching for something that confirmed his story, or something that proved a lie, and it took an incredible amount of trial and error to find the connection it wanted.

The fact that all of the various dialogue testimonies from Uncle Flavio gave me a few dozen sentences to pick from, and that each of them could connect to another dozen parts of the police report made finding the right connection something of a nightmare. Even some of the clues I found within both that proved a lie, such as how the fight started, or what One Arm Herve’s connection to one of the sex workers was. These turned out to not be the connections the game wanted, and kept flagging them up as wrong. The simple act of connecting the right two pieces of info ended up taking almost 20 minutes of examination and guess work that ended with me hating the main gameplay premise of the entire game.

From the long and obtuse tutorial the game opens up into the main mystery, and gets even more difficult. You’re let out into a small corner of the town to try and figure out why this fight with your uncle started, which is only further complicated when One Arm Herve turns up dead. You have to search through drawers in the brothel, talk to everyone there, and even go out into the streets to talk to people there. When you get enough information, new avenues of investigation open up, allowing you to talk to more people on more topics and collect more testimonies. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t tell you when these points happen, and there are multiple times where you feel like you’ve hit a brick wall with no way to progress things forward.

If you’re able to collect enough testimonies and clues and make the right wildly difficult to guess connections you can try to open locks in your inventory that lead to Eugene coming up with theories that he can then confront suspects with. During these confrontations you’ll have to challenge the suspect on what they’re saying based on the evidence you’ve collected, but if you get these wrong by failing to pick out the exact sentence needed you’ll end up ruining the investigation, which goes on to affect your eventual score. Difficult, frustrating, and obtuse are the main descriptors for the gameplay, unfortunately.

Graphically, the game looks good, and has a nice animated look to it that’s reminiscent of French comic art. The characters all have a distinct style, and stand out in the environments. The characters and the art style really comes to life in the animated cut scenes, where you get to see them in much more action than the rest of the game. However, as these parts are voiced in French with English subtitles, half of your attention will be on reading the text before it vanishes, meaning you won’t really be able to give the cut scene the attention it deserves. Speaking of the translation, with the game having been adapted from French to English you’d hope that attention would have been given to this in order to make sure the story and the mystery elements were translated correctly. However, the text is riddled with typos, broken English, and weird turns of phrase that make evaluating long passages of text to find connections even more difficult.

Chronique des Silencieux is Pierre Feuille Studios first game, and it was partly funded through a Kickstarter campaign. It’s clear that the people behind the game had a passion to create it, but I can’t help but feel some more development time would have helped. The game has some great ideas, and it could have worked well, but as it is in its current state, it’s about as far from being enjoyable as any game I’ve ever played and I simply can’t recommend it, even to hardcore point and click adventure fans.

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The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter - Book Review

 

'Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations. The Briar family of witches run the town of Silverton, caring for its inhabitants with their skills and magic. In the usual scheme of things, they would be burnt for their sorcery, but the church has given them dispensation in return for their protection of the borders of the Darklands, where the much feared Leech Lords hold sway.

'Ellie is being trained as a steward, administering for the town, and warding off the insistent interest of the church. When her grandmother dies suddenly, Ellie's cousin Audra rises to the position of Briar Witch, propelling Ellie into her new role. As she navigates fresh challenges, an unexpected new ability to see and speak to the dead leads her to uncover sinister family secrets, stories of burnings, lost grimoires and evil spells. Reeling from one revelation to the next, she seeks answers from the long dead and is forced to decide who to trust, as a devastating plot threatens to destroy everything the Briar witches have sacrificed so much to build.'

Having discovered Angela Slatter's Sourdough universe a few years ago (well into its existence) I quickly fell in love with the setting. Slatter has created some of my favourite dark fantasy novels of the last few years, and as such I was excited to dive back into that setting with her latest novel, The Briar Book of the Dead.

The story takes readers to the town of Silverton, where a family of witches, the Briars, watch over the town and help those that live there, despite their kind being hated by the church. The main reason why the Briars are allowed to continue existing is that Silverton is close to the border with the Darklands, an evil place inhabited by the evil Leechlords, and the Briars keep the border protected. Ellie Briar is one of the granddaughters of the two head witches of the family, but was born without any magic, something that sets her apart from the other women in her family. Because of her lack of magic Ellie struggles to be taken seriously, and is sometimes looked down on. However, when her grandmother dies, Ellie finds herself thrust into a new position, one that leads her to discover some shocking secrets of her family that have been carefully buried.

Compared to the last two books from Slatter, All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns, The Briar Book of the Dead felt like a much slower burn of a read. At least towards the beginning of the book. Things start kind of slowly, and it takes a good way into the main bulk of the book before the plot begins in full. However, this doesn't mean that the start of the book is bad by any means, as readers get to spend a lot of time with Ellie, seeing what her life if like, her relationships, and the town of Silverton itself. It helps to build this small corner of this world, and adds to the overall richness of the narrative, even if it does feel a bit like you're waiting around for things to start to begin with. 

Once things begin in earnest, however, the book becomes very hard to put down. By that point you've become quite invested in Ellie and her story, and as such when the main plot ramps up you find yourself unable to stop reading. You've come to really care for Ellie and want to see her come out okay by the end. This is one of the things that I love about Slatter's books, she's able to writer incredibly engaging and realistic female protagonists that you keep wanting to read more of. 

But, this is a book set within the Sourdough universe, and so despite the wonderful protagonist it's a book filled with dark subject matter, some that might test readers at times, especially when dealing with topics like miscarriage, suicide, and psychosis. Slatter doesn't shy away from making her world a cruel one, but never revels in that cruelty like some writers. Instead, it makes for a layered reading experience that will mean different things to different readers.

Overall, I had a wonderful time with The Briar Book of the Dead, and much like the other books in this world I'd happily recommend it to fans of the genre. 

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Nobody's Angel by Jack Clark - Book Review

 

'Eddie Miles is one of a dying breed: a Windy City hack who knows every street and back alley of his beloved city and takes its recent descent into violence personally. But what can one driver do about a killer targeting streetwalkers or another terrorizing cabbies? Precious little - until the night he witnesses one of them in action...'

There tends to be three types of crime stories, those that follow cops, those that follow private detectives, and those that showcase amateur sleuths, which can cover anything from priests, to writers, or even gardeners who keep finding dead bodies. Eddie Miles, the protagonist of Nobody's Angel would have to fit into the third category, yet feels very far removed from most of those kinds of stories. Eddie is less a man out to solve a murder because he's got that crime busting itch, and more a man trapped in a terrible situation.

Nobody's Angel follows Eddie, a Chicago cab driver who hates what's happening to the city he loves. There are parts of the city where gentrification has changed it to a place he doesn't even recognise anymore, and others where cab drivers just can't go anymore due to fear of violence. He's feeling lost in his home city, and a couple of recent murder sprees does little to help. Having one killer stalking the streets would be bad enough, but Chicago is dealing with two; one who targets sex workers, and another that's killing cab drivers.

Despite the dangers, Eddie continues his work as a driver, and then one night when he stops down a back alley to pee he discovers the near dead, mutilated form of a sex worker, the latest victim of one of the killers. This draws Eddie into a world he was trying to avoid; but when his old friend and mentor, another cabbie, becomes the latest murder victim of the cabbie killer Eddie becomes determined to try to find some answers.

One of the things that sets Nobody's Angel aside from most crime stories is that for the most part it feels like the crime solving takes a back seat, and instead we spend much of the book driving around the city with Eddie, picking up fares and hearing stories. The book has a big quote on the front from Quentin Tarantino calling it his 'favourite novel this year', and it's clear to see why it'd appeal to him. The stories that Eddie tells, the way he goes into what kind of people make for good fares, who tips and who doesn't, and his musings about the changing nature of Chicago feel very Tarantino-esque. It feels relaxed, conversational, and whilst not everything is an important part of the mystery, or helps to solve it, it all helps to build the world we're inhabiting and the people who are part of it.

Part of the reason a lot of the book feels so real, so effortlessly crafted, is that Jack Clark knows this world. An actual cab driver from Chicago, this is the world that Clark knows, he's putting a lot of his own experiences onto the page and it absolutely bleeds through into the work and makes for a very grounded, very real kind of mystery story that a lot of writers in the genre never manage to create. I also love the fact that Clark self published 500 copies of Nobody's Angel and sold them to people riding in his cab for $5 a copy before he got picked up by a publisher; that's the kind of person who has a passion for what they're doing and won't take no for an answer.

Nobody's Angel is a short read, barely more than two hundred pages in all, but it's one that's thoroughly enjoyable. Clark clearly knows this world, and has a passion for his home city that makes its way onto the page. Whether you're into the book for the mystery story, or just want to lose yourself into a side of Chicago that never really gets shown, this book will steer you right. 

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What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher - Book Review

 

'The follow-up to T. Kingfisher’s bestselling gothic novella, What Moves the Dead. Retired soldier Alex Easton returns in a horrifying new adventure.

'After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favour to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.

'In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home... or in their dreams.'

T. Kingfisher is one of those authors who when I see their name on a book I pick it up without even reading what the book is about. I've found their writing to be incredibly intricate and unsettling, and they've created some of my favourite horror novels of the last few years. When I began reading What Feasts At Night I was a bit surprised, as it was a sequel to their previous book, What Moves the Dead. Having not really been used to Kingfisher making follow-ups, and with that book having felt like a definitive ending I was surprised to see a sequel to it; but it was absolutely a pleasant surprise.

Alex Easton, the lead character from the previous volume, returns for another creepy tale, as they return to their homeland following the disturbing events at the House of Usher. Having decided that some down time is much needed, they, along with a group of side characters that we met previously, head to a remote hunting lodge in the woods for some rest and relaxation. However, when the group arrive the lodge is found in a state of disarray, and the caretaker dead. 

Much like the first book, the setting of What Feasts at Night is a big part of the story, and almost a character unto itself. Kingfisher crafts some truly creepy and vividly imagined places for Alex and the other characters, including Miss Potter, Angus, and Hob, find themselves in. Even when nothing much is really happening the settings worm their way under your skin and put you ill at ease, and Kingfisher is perhaps at her best when taking an ordinary location and making it into something horrific.

Kingfisher takes some elements from folklore for the book, and manages to create a truly unsettling adversary for Alex to deal with in the form of the moroi, a ghostly, frightening woman who can come in the night and sucks your breath away from you when you're sleeping. The fact that Alex is so against believing this at the start of the book, considering what they went through in the first one, is a bit surprising, but I guess an infectious fungus is a bit of a jump away from a ghostly woman from legend, but eventually the group have to face the lurking horrors and bring it to a stop. 

But, the book isn't just horror all the time, and there's some genuine moments of humour and joy to be found scattered throughout, especially when it comes to Alex interacting with the other characters. Alex and Angus make for a great double act, and Miss Potter injects some sublime moments that make it clear why these characters were chosen to make a return alongside Alex.

Whilst What Feasts at Night is only a short book it's a very good one. Kingfisher knows how best to use the relatively short page count and really packs things with character moments, story, and sublime atmosphere. The biggest problem with the book being so short is that it's over a lot quicker than you'd want, and if you're like me you'll probably end up reading the entire thing in a single sitting. However, with both of the entries in the series so far being shorter books it hopefully means that we won't have to wait long for the next one. 

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Carrie (1976) – Limited Edition 4K UHD Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Stephen King is often cited as the biggest selling horror writer alive, and whilst that title may have been misplaced (it’s actually R.L. Stine) he’s by far the most adapted. There have been more film and television shows made from King’s work than perhaps any other living writer, and now Arrow Video are offering fans of the horror genre a chance to experience the very first Stephen King adaptation in never before seen 4K Ultra HD glory as Carrie gets a fantastic new home release.

Adapted from the novel of the same name, Carrie tells the story of a young girl who has been living with trauma for most of her life. She lives with her single mother, a fierce Christian who preaches about the sins of the world, and who abuses Carrie (Sissy Spacek) to the point where the girl finds herself locked in a small cupboard, forced to pay whenever her mother deems her to have done something ‘sinful’.

Unfortunately, her school life isn’t much different, and she has no friends, and the popular girls treat her like dirt. Things become worse for her as the film begins, with what has now become an infamous scene, in which Carrie has her first period whilst in the locker-room showers. As Carrie panics, going through something she’s not been prepared for, the other girls laugh at her, throw sanitary products at her, and abuse her in her moment of terror.

This begins a series of events that will see Carrie learning that she has psychic powers, and ends in tragedy as revenge and petty hate ruins multiple lives in what’s become one of the most defining coming of age stories and revenge tales ever crafted. And despite the age of the film, one that’s very much steeped in its 1970s setting, much of it still feels very relevant, and anyone who has been on the receiving end of school bullying will immediately recognise what Carrie is going through.

It’s been said that in horror stories there are only victims and monsters, and Carrie is one of those cases where that can be said of everyone in the story. Carrie herself is very much a victim; it’s clear from the very first moments of the film, even before the famous shower scene. Carrie is seen being abused in her first seconds on screen. She’s a victim through and through, and even when she’s trying not to be, when she’s trusting in some actual good people and taking a risk, it’s all ruined for her as she’s made a victim in the worst, most public way possible. And she’s also the monster of the film. She causes death and destruction on a scale that even scaled back for the film still results in hundreds dead. She’s one of the more unusual figures in a horror film, as she’s both our protagonist, the person we’re rooting for, and the monster at the end of the story.

And Spacek plays this dual role wonderfully. Much of the film has her as a meek, shy girl who seems to want to just curl up into herself and remain unseen by all around her because she’s used to any interaction ending in pain. But when the time comes for her to get her revenge she becomes a terrifying figure, with a look on her face that’s genuinely chilling. With just a change of expression and body language Spacek goes from victim to monster in a second. It’s not hard to see why she was nominated for a Oscar for her performance here, and why the film became such a success.

Her bullies, played chiefly by Nancy Allen and John Travolta, are more monster than victim, spending much of the film as figures that you can’t help but hate. Allen is the typical girl bully, managing to perfectly capture the kind of teen that most of us will have known at some point or other. She’s cruel, manipulative, and uses her popularity and beauty as weapons in her arsenal. Whilst Travolta plays a cruel character, an abusive and cruel boyfriend, there’s still a sense that he’s a follower to Allen’s Chris, ready to go along with her plans to hurt other people without hesitation. And you’re right to hate them throughout the film, but come the end the punishment for their crimes feels harsh, as their actions not only result in them being punished, but cause the deaths of others. They’re forced to watch as people are brutally killed, the weight of their actions brought down upon them, a punishment worse than their crimes.

The film is often held up as a revenge story, but perfectly illustrates why revenge is often empty, and causes more harm than good. The scene in which Carrie sees the whole school laughing at her is filmed in such a way that it’s not clear whether it’s just in her mind, and that most people might actually be shocked and appalled by what happened to her. And once she’s gotten her brutal and bloody revenge she returns home, saddened, simply wanting to be held by her mother. Carrie is less a story about revenge being good and cathartic, but more of a warning about how it simply destroys everyone involved. And because of these themes it’s clear why this film is still so well respected and relevant almost five decades later.

The new 4K restoration of the film on this release looks absolutely fantastic, and crisp and clear as never before. Details that before would have simply been lost in background noise are now sharp on the screen, and there are times when it feels like discovering the film all over again as you take in all of the content that the film has to offer. The new release also comes with a host of special features, including an audio commentary from some experts on Stephen King who are clearly big fans of the film, and whose discussion has an infectious energy to it that will make you smile more than once.

Along with this are a series of interviews with members of the cast and crew collected from previous releases that total more time than the film itself, and offer some delightful insights into the making of the movie. Outside of the disc there’s also a 40 page bound book with writing on the film, a poster, and a series of postcards.

For the very first Stephen King adaptation, of one of the writer’s early books, Carrie is still one of the best examples of King’s work put to screen. It helped to make the career of director Brian De Palma, and launched a number of small actors into big roles that would follow. And it’s just a damn good film that will likely remain popular for a long, long time to come.

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Quentin by Tarantino - Graphic Novel Review

 

'Take a dive into the brain of master auteur, Quentin Tarantino, writer and director of multiple award-winning films such as Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. In this sensational graphic novel, the author imagines an interview with Tarantino himself, revealing the history of his ostentatious career and illuminating insights into the icon's life.

'In a first-person account, Amazing Améziane leads us through the life story of this iconic auteur, from his humble beginnings as a video shop clerk, to his rise through iconic indie blockbusters, all the way to global superstar. Discover the influences, opinions, and history of one of the world’s most acclaimed filmmakers, unmistakable in his style and talent.'

Growing up in the 90's, entering my 'adulthood' in the early 2000's, Quentin Tarantino was one of those names that I feel film fans of my generation couldn't avoid hearing. I had a friend who was very much into the work of Tarantino, and his enthusiasm of him definitely helped to put the writer/director onto my radar too. We were also the perfect age that when Kill Bill hit the cinemas we were there to watch it, having a blast at how ridiculous and fun it was. 

Whilst my 'devotion' to Tarantino may have dipped somewhat over the years (having still not watched a couple of his movies) I've always tried to watch what I can when given the opportunity. But in my current life I don't get as much time for films as I'd like, and often the only time I make to watch movies is when I've been asked to review them. Books are where I find most of my time going. As such, when I was given the opportunity to read one of the more unique sounding biographies about Tarantino I knew that I didn't want to miss out on that chance.

Quentin by Tarantino is unlike any other graphic novel that I've ever read. Whilst most of my comic reading tends to be in the traditional capes and tights genre I'm not adverse to more indie books, but even with that I'm not sure I've ever seen one structured this way before. Presented as an interview with Tarantino across different points of his life, writer and artist Amazing Améziane 'chats' with Tarantino, sometimes presenting his words as a talking head in the space where he's being interviewed, and other times filling the page with images from across his life and career.

The opening pages of the book makes it clear that this isn't your average graphic novel. Beginning with a recreation of the iconic Claremont and Miller Wolverine #1 cover, but with Tarantino in his place, the first scene then takes us to a weird back alley bar where QT tries to tempt his visitor with a bottle of booze that has a living snake inside. He launches into a speech about world building, on gaining the trust of the audience, all wrapped up in iconic Tarantino weirdness. It sets the tone well for what is to come with the rest of the book.

From here we go back to the beginning, to QT's early years of him growing up with his mother and step father, presented as newspaper strip style comics, akin to things like Calvin and Hobbes, which is completely different to everything else in the book yet works perfectly for reinforcing the part of Tarantino's life we're currently reading about. Style shifts as we move into his teenage years, things getting messier and less stylised as he moves away from childhood. But, Quentin has yet to discover who he is, so the style isn't fully formed yet, just as he isn't a fully formed adult. 

It's as he's talking about making his first movie, a project that would be lost in a fire, that a style begins to solidify, and once things move on to him selling the script for True Romance, and he enters the world of filmmaking for real, that the style of the book finally settles onto something that we'll see from here on out. It's a very clever technique from Amazing Améziane, one that doesn't even really register when reading through the book the first time, but becomes so much clearer when looking back on it. Yes, there are some further refinements to come, some further tweaks to the look of the book, but this is pretty much it from here on out, as Quentin Tarantino has finally found his feet as the man we all know him to be. 

Much of the book is dedicated to Tarantino's career, and very little time is given over to his personal life. Could this be because the people coming to read about one of the worlds most famous directors are more interested in his work than his personal life? Possibly. It could also be possible that for the most part he didn't have much of a personal life. The book very much presents Tarantino as a man lost in his work, who gave himself fully over to writing, directing, or even just experiencing movies. It's clear from the mans work that he knows film well, and the idea of him just spending his time watching old movies when not making his own doesn't feel too far removed from reality. 

And that love of stories and film is very much felt throughout Quentin by Tarantino, as the book is filled with small stories, tangents, and asides that help to flesh out the world around the director. You might think that you're only going to be learning about Quentin Tarantino when you pick up this book, but you'll also come away knowing a little bit more about people like Danny Trejo, Robert Rodrigues, and John Travolta, along with films like The Virgin Springs and Inglorious Bastards, a film for which QT would take an inspiration for a title (though with some spelling mistakes thrown in).

Quentin by Tarantino is a biography, but unlike any other biography you've read before. It goes into the life and work of one of the worlds most popular filmmakers in a way that keeps the entire thing feeling fun and entertaining, and the quality never dips once. The book looks fantastic, and Amazing Améziane has done a fantastic job at presenting things in a wonderfully imaginative and engaging way visually. But, he's also managed to nail it in the writing too. It really does feel like the reader is talking directly to Tarantino here, and his manner of speech is captured perfectly. I don't know if this is because Amazing Améziane actually sat down with QT and got a ton of dialogue from him, or if he's just able to replicate it, either way, this new book is perfect for Tarantino fans, and something you're not going to want to miss out on. 

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Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison - Book Review

 

'A cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle. Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly...something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.

'Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.

'When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.'

Rachel Harrison is quickly becoming a name to keep an eye on. Thanks to her work on Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth it's clear that she is a wonderful new voice in the world of feminist horror, and her third book is no exception to this. 

Black Sheep follows Vesper, a woman in her twenties who fled from her deeply religious cult upbringing as soon as she turned eighteen. Moving to the big city, she's been stuck working a crappy waitressing job that she hates, dealing with shitty customers, and an atmosphere that is slowly wearing her down (don't make her do the birthday song anymore please). However, when she receives an invitation to a wedding back home it makes her think that perhaps she might be able to return, to face her family, and deal with some of the ghosts of her past. 

With Vesper's cousin Rose marrying Vesper's ex on the family farm things are perhaps too tempting for her to pass up, and Vesper heads home for the first time in years. Unfortunately, she soon discovers the toxic world she left behind still exists, and has been waiting for her. Whether it's her former horror films star mother, Constance, or the rest of her family, she struggles to find much in her former life to like. However, soon secrets begin to emerge, secrets that could change things for Vesper forever.

Can you ever really go home again? Black Sheep asks that question in a delightfully engrossing and subtly creepy way, and its use of slowly unfolding mystery and character study makes for a deeply engrossing read that you'll find hard to put down.

Vesper herself is a prime example of the kind of great protagonists that Harrison is great at writing. She's delightfully complex, and often something of a messy person that I think a lot of readers will find things to identify with. She's not perfect, she's got failings, and she feels brutally honest in a lot of ways, and that honesty will draw people to her story. No matter how horrific, or even bizarre, things get things feel grounded in large part due to Vesper, and readers connection to her will have you reading longer than you intended, devouring the book as quickly as you can.

Unfortunately, Black Sheep is also the kind of book where I can't say too much about it for fear of accidentally giving away too much or spoiling things. It's a book that you're going to have to pick up and try out yourself if you want to learn more. What I can say though, is that the things that have made Harrison's other novels a success can be found here, and that there are some delightfully dark and cinematic moments that leap off the page and will stick with you long after you've put the book down.

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Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Black Stone Vol 1 - Graphic Novel Review

 

'He is CONAN THE BARBARIAN - THE GREATEST WARRIOR OF ALL TIME and he's back in this all-new fantasy graphic novel, heralding a new era of savage, sword-slashing, brooding action, in search of high adventure and blood-soaked battle! BY CROM!

'Often copied, but never bettered, this is the welcome return of the first and mightiest hero ever to stride and slash his way across the world. Featuring an action-packed script written by Jim Zub that would make Robert E. Howard proud, and Buscema-inspired dynamic artwork by Roberto De La Torre! Together these two titans of the comic world have breathed new life into one of the most recognizable characters in fiction and in doing so, have unleashed a fantastic new era!

'On the eve of his first major battle, young Conan of Cimmeria pictures a life beyond the borders of his homeland and yearns for a life of adventure undreamt of in his small village. Visions of future allies and unspeakable evils he will eventually encounter throughout his fabled life fill his mind, as he makes the choice to take his first fateful step into the Hyborian Age in search of blood-soaked glory.'

I grew up with the character of Conan in my life, thanks in part to the two Arnold Schwarzenegger movies that I had access to as a kid (way before they were appropriate), and the wonderfully fun animated series Conan the Adventurer. I had Conan toys, I watched the show and films, but I never encountered any of the books or the comics, and even to this day I was yet to pick up a Conan comic. Luckily for me, Titan Comics had recently taken over the licence from Marvel, and had started a whole new series; with the first four issue being collected together into a brand new graphic novel.

Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Black Stone Vol 1 begins with a brief history lesson, for those who might be unfamiliar with, or only have a passing knowledge of. This introduction to the character is short, and fairly basic, but it doesn't try to do too much or muddy the waters. We find out who Conan is, what his people are like, and what has driven him to leave his homelands and see the rest of the world, things that will prove to all be important points in the story that is to come.

As the story begins in earnest, we find Conan in a small settlement on the side of the road, a waystation for travellers, adventurers, and those out to discover themselves. He's just been through an adventure with a group of warriors, and come to blows with one of the group having disagreed with them on a moral stance. We instantly see that despite being a barbarian warrior Conan is a decent man, one driven by a sense of honour and a drive to do some good in the world. This comes into play shortly after when a woman comes riding into the place under a dark sky, shouting a warning for them all to flee as an army of the dead is on its way.

Due to the woman, Brissa, is a Pict, and as such is met with doubt and suspicion; but the army of the dead is hot on her heels and soon overwhelms the warriors and residents of the waypoint. During the chaos of the combat Conan and Brissa end up fighting side by side, and the two of them come to an alliance, knowing that they will need each other's help to survive. Following the attack, Conan and Brissa set out to discover the sinister origin of the undead scourge that's sweeping across the landscape; a scourge that has also found its way to Conan's homeland.

Whilst I've not had much experience with Conan comics, this story is very much the kind of fantasy story that feels at home in any fantasy setting. Warriors brought together by a common foe, a deadly, magical enemy that is set to destroy everything, and a journey into danger in order to discover answers. Because of this there's a sense of familiarity and comfort to the book for me, where even though I've not read a Conan comic before it ends up feeling natural to do so. I'm no worried about the world its set in, in keeping track of everything, or even caring about if other stuff came before this that I need to know about. The book instead flows quite naturally and almost leisurely, with me happy to go along on the journey to see where it leads.

It's clear that Jim Zub, the author of the series, knows his fantasy well, and the book very much has a kind of timeless quality, and this story feels like it could have been written decades ago. The book has the feel of those old 70's sword and sorcery tales you can find in battered paperbacks with amazing painted art on the cover. 

The art also kind of reflects this, with a style that you could have found in a comic from decades past. Artist Roberto De La Torre and colourists Dean White and Jose Villarrubia give the book an older feel. The art is nicely detailed, with attention paid to things like characters and important action, but with blank, empty backgrounds employed a lot, which sometimes leads the page to look like it has art spilling out of panels as there can at times be no borders to the art, with the action spilling out into the spaces between panels. The colours that are used also have a more muted look than you'd expect to find in modern books, almost looking hand coloured rather than digital art. This all comes together to create a book that I could believe was first printed in the 80's. 

In many ways it feels like Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Black Stone Vol 1 is the perfect first step into this world. It's a universe full of rich history and deep lore, but it ignores much of that (or at least uses it subtly enough that it's not overwhelming) that anyone unfamiliar with the setting can read this first volume with relative ease. Fans of the fantasy genre will feel right at home here, and whilst I can't talk for long time Conan fans I can at least say that it was an enjoyable experience throughout, and one that I'd happily recommend to others. 

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