Toast.x2

Read this book. It was very enjoyable.. Now - With that stated.... ------------- The following public service announcement was NOT brought you by Robin Spano and ECW Press ( Though they did provide me a free review copy of this book ). The mixed reaction people feel to a train wreck is commonly kept a secret. Publicly, you say 'Oh gee, how terrible, I hope no one got hurt'. Internally you have a rapid blink response to the tail lights ahead of you, initial reaction being 'Ooh! Was that blood? I hope that is Blood!'. You know that things are not as they should be, that problems are occurring, that someone has thoroughly screwed the pooch. You keep looking, craning your neck hoping for a glimpse of the problem while ambivalently hoping everyone is safe. This book is like a spectacular and awesome train wreck. So what is it about? What did I think? In Death's Last Run , Vengel who was recently made a US FBI Agent, is pulled back to Canada...

This is not a novel for everyone. Was this novel suspenseful, difficult to put down, and overflowing with intrigue? Yes. Definitely. Was it entirely too realistic regarding stalking, abuse, rape, abject terror causing crippling OCD? Yes, in my limited experience, I would say so. A little social commentary: I held off on writing a review for a few weeks after reading Into the Darkest Corner . The violence was raw and I didn’t want to revisit it so soon. While the review was on hold however, I forgot the protagonist, the victim.. I barely remember her face, and during conversation I could eventually remember her name though I have lost it right now. I can however tell you pretty much anything about Lee, the antagonist, the rapist, the violent and obsessive boyfriend. Even in fiction the victim is mainly forgotten and the aggressor is spotlighted as noteworthy. Just a thought. In short review, Into the darkest corner details a woman both on the decline and during recove...

Please note, this review is neither positive or negative regarding this work. There is a glaring need for improvement and the author would be wise to take these points in stride. Hopefully future readers will find none of the faults, and all of the benefit of an application of changes to a new revision of this work. As this is available in a published paperback edition, I doubt any action will be taken. – The funny thing about being approached to read a book about recovering from Schizophrenia is that you expect it to be insane and that you will be unable to be focus on the details. Eugene Uttley’s (pseudonym) long form essay is exactly the opposite of expectations. Posed in a free form essay format, it held my attention too well. Too well meaning the book was about 25% longer than was healthy for it. This book was eye opening and answers via Uttley’s perspective, some of the long standting questions people may have about the illness. The book creates a construct of m...

Would you risk your entire career for the chance to save a city? If the only proof you have that your efforts will have impact is the rantings of an old man, seemingly coherent, and 35 years out of work? In ‘Strange Attractors’, this is the situation faced by undergraduate Heller Wilson when he bases his thesis on 35 year old theories by Dr Spencer Brown. Reclusive Brown is a self proclaimed custodian of New York City, making minor and major adjustments to keep the big apple from decaying and imploding. Brown tutors and molds Wilson in his forte “Complexity Math” and it’s use in mapping the health of the city as it teeters on the edge of destruction. Clocking in at 144 pages, the plot was enjoyable and adequate. Though it felt a little rushed at points, the graphic novel was ultimately satisfying. Taking math from Pi, juvenile pranks from Fight Club, and the obvious Butterfly Effect references, Strange Attractors kept me motivated to finish reading, though it took a few...

The self publishing industry is a whole lot like Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or any other second hand thrift depot. You dig through the refuse looking for gold, sometimes running into a half eaten sandwich in the process, or cutting yourself on a chipped teacup. There are times when the digging really pays off. You locate the missing piece of a rare set you collect, or something so bizarre that you fail to have the words to accurately describe your findings. The Peeling Trilogy caught my attention amid the detritus of self published muck. Being a trilogy of short novella about the end of the world, it took an approach that was unusual. As with King and McCammon, a global erasure of human life is in process. Fingers are being pointed, countries are being blamed. The opening was well built, showing the onset and progress of a disease as it melts away the flesh of a man, bubbling and stripping it away until bone glistens under loose gore. The mind though, beneath the pain...

Dear Andersen Prunty, recently you and I began to officially court each other. I cannot say that all of our dates have been positive, but they have all been memorable. At first I was hesitant. I mix well with the strange, but your genre, Bizarro Fiction, is still fairly new to the recognized literature scene as anything more than inappropriate. At first, I didn’t want to fully embrace you, but was bothered by the possibility of you passing me by.. Many times I have picked up The Beard and considered perusing it… Some how, you talked me into lowering my guard. Before I knew it you were poking me in my head orifices with your dirty body parts. I was disturbed. Then I was into it. then I was disturbed again. More specifically: Billed as a collection of Horror stories, your work [ Bury the children in the yard ] was not appropriately labeled. Horror it was not, colorful and frequently brilliant, and disturbingly “spermy” at some points? All of the above are true of it. You...