Every Shallow Cut Book Review

Title: Every Shallow Cut
Author: Tom Piccirilli
Publisher: ChiZine
Pages: 175
ISBN 9781926851105

Truman Capote once said that: "Every word takes blood." I've only ever read a handful of novels that exemplify this statement, and Every Shallow Cut is one of them.

Every Shallow Cut is the short and realistically gritty story of a nameless unknown published author who has lost everything, including his writing career, his wife to another man, and his house to the troubled economy. He's got nothing to lose, and that can be a dangerous thing.

After getting jumped by a group of thugs on a Denver street, the nameless protagonist takes the few remaining possessions that belonged to his late parents and pawns them for a gun. He takes what's left: his car, and his bulldog, Churchill, and sets out on a road trip across the United States. His destination: New York, and ultimately the doorstep of his estranged brother.

But he and Churchill aren't alone. Ghosts of his past find a backseat and travel with him across the winding roads, bringing up the past as he tries to find the genesis for all the things that have gone wrong in his life. On this journey he will try to find meaning; a new place for himself as he battles with the backseat ghosts.

Considered a "noirella": a hybrid of a novella with a noir twist -- coined by Piccirilli himself -- Every Shallow Cut is so much more than noir. Although subtle, I enjoyed trying to find the hints of little noir nuggets strung throughout; very visible to the reader if one looks hard enough. But this novella doesn't stop at noir; it's so much more. It is at once a horrifying, raw, gritty, poetic, and a realistic memoir that will leave your head spinning once you've finished.

There is no doubt in my mind that Every Shallow Cut was a bloody cathartic release for Piccirilli, and it shows; bleeding emotion through on every page. This is Piccirilli at his best: one hell of a storyteller who knows how to make you laugh, cry, and hurt along with the characters. That's why I'm giving Every Shallow Cut 9.5 out of 10.

If you're looking for something that will make you think harder than your parents old dusty tomes of Melville or Tolstoy, then grab a copy of Every Shallow Cut. And when you're finished, lend it to all of your friends, and nag them until they read it.

~Rodney

Brine Book Review

Title: Brine

Author: Adrienne Jones

Publisher: Creative Guy Publishing

Pages: 204

ISBN: 9781894953511

Brine is one of the most inventive, luring, brilliant and thought-provoking books I've read this year.

I have to admit that the first thing that caught my attention when I was browsing through Creative Guy Publishing's book catalog (whose site I would highly recommend visiting), was the beautiful and bizarre cover of Brine. I know that you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but after seeing the cover for this one, I couldn't help myself: I had to make sure it was as kick ass as the cover led me to believe.

Good thing I was quick to judge this book by it's cover!

Not only is the cover bizarre, but so is the story: it follows a year in the life of Elliot Newton, an up and coming painter, whose life is changed forever after waking up one morning from a drunken painting streak the night before. Nursing a hangover Elliot quickly realizes that he's not alone. In fact, he finds that over night his Cape Cod property has become occupied with several creatures not of the human world, but rather of the human mind. With the help of his friend Bobby, the two slowly begin to unravel the truth behind the painted inhabitants. From there the story goes from weird to weider, and ends at extremely weird.

Jones does a marvelous job with keeping the pace smooth, and quick, filling it full of memorable characters, and a kick ass plot that keeps you guessing with each page. I really loved the concept of the first third of the novel, and although it at first reminded me of Stephen King's Duma Key, I was happy to find that it far surpassed anything that King could ever write. And that goes for the remaining two-thirds of the book as well.

Have you ever cracked a book open, begun to read, and hours later realized that you've spent all your time absorbed by the pages in front of you? Well, that's exactly what happened to me with this book. At 204 pages, it's a quick read -- which was a good thing, considering I read it in one sitting -- but the story is so well written that after reading it, it feels like you've just finished reading a 350 page novel. There's so much going for it at once, that even if the characters ridiculous and shoddily written, it would still be one hell of a novel.

Brine was absolutely amazing, and surpassed my expectations by many miles, and then some! That's why I'm giving it 9.5 TARDIS's out of 10.

I absolutely loved Brine, and I can't wait to see and read what kind of other weirdness Jones stirs up and commits to the page in the future. With a few more re-reads, I have a feeling that Brine will quickly become one of my favorite all-time novels.

So, if you're into reading weirdness, I would highly suggest picking up a copy of Brine as soon as possible. You can buy a copy over at Barnes&Noble.com, and at Amazon.com, and while your at it, pick one up for a friend. They'll thank you for it later!

~Rodney

Of Apologies, Snippets, Updates, Reminders and a Mini-Review.

Hey all, before I return to posting reviews, I thought I would take a minute and update everyone on some really awesome stuff that's going on right now, and to apologize for the lack of reviews, both to my readers and the publishers who have been amazing enough to give me free books to read. Schools been rough, with many papers to write, and many books to read. Reviews will start back up here this weekend, so keep your eyes peeled.

And with that said...

Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International has a new book coming out sometime next year called The Grimnoir Chronicles, the first book in this series called Hard Magic. Because Larry is such an awesome person, he's giving the first 7 chapters away for FREE, over at his site. These snippets started three days ago, and will continue for another four, until all 7 chapters have been posted. Then, like the rest of us, you'll have to wait it out, until Baen publishes it next year. Here's Larry's site (which you can also find on the right hand of this screen, along with many other author sites). Some amazing stuff.

Here's something that I was pleasantly surprised to learn about: author John Scalzi, probably most famous for his books Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades and Zoe's Tale, has just dropped a pleasant surprise for all of his readers, especially if their fans of H. Beim Piper. Here's John's site.

And just a reminder, Lucy A. Snyder's Chimeric Machines is being offered for free, thanks to the books publisher, Creative Guy Publishing until tomorrow, so grab a copy while you can! You can download your very own copy of Chimeric Machines from Smashwords with the promotion code: LN79D. And while your at it, why not pick up a dead-tree copy to support not only Lucy, but the amazing people at Creative Guy Publishing (who's site I recommend you check out if you get the chance. They have some pretty wicked books.).

Which, brings me to the very first Mini-Review for this site:

Title: Chimeric Machines
Author: Lucy A. Snyder
Publisher: Creative Guy Publishing
Pages: 92
ISBN: 9781894953559

Last month, Chimeric Machines won a Bram Stoker Award, and now, after having read it, I know why.

Snyder has a way of painting beautiful scenes, weaving in just enough macabre to make any horror fan happy. With an introduction by author Tom Piccirilli, this collection was headed for great things right off the printers!

Snyder does a wonderful job with explaining the definition of a chimera, straight from a dictionary, circa 1913. From there, she breaks her poems up into different parts, allowing each individual part to stand by themselves, while they still manage to work together, as a whole, on an entirely different level than what I would have ever thought. And for those of you who aren't exactly fans of poetry, there's a few pieces of prose scattered throughout that I garuntee will make you just as happy.

There's something for everyone within the pages of this fine collection of poetry and prose. That's why I'm giving Chimeric Machines 9.5 TARDIS's out of 10.

So live a little and download it while you still can! Go on, I dare ya!

~Rodney

Podcast #9: Book Review for Darkness on the Edge of Town

Title: Darkness on the Edge of Town
Author: Brian Keene
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing
Pages: 264
ISBN: 9780843960914

One morning the residents of Walden, Virginia, woke up to find that the rest of the world was gone. Just... gone. Surrounding their town was a wall of inky darkness, casting Walden into permanent night. Nothing can get in, no light, no people, not even electricity or radio or TV signals. And no one can get out. No one who dared to penetrate the mysterious barrier has ever been seen again. Only their screams were heard. But for some of the residents-turned-prisoners of Walden, even the fear of that unseen death can't keep them from trying to escape this living purgatory.

Podcast #9: Darkness on the Edge of Town

A Thousand Sons Book Review

Title: A Thousand Sons
Author: Graham McNeill
Publisher: Black Library
Pages: 560
ISBN: 9781844168095

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”

- Samuel Johnson

The Great Crusade is in full swing.

Humanity's expansion into the stars is unstoppable. Legions of the Emperor's space marines – genetically enhanced super soldiers – fight on hundreds of fronts, on hundreds of worlds to unite all of humanity under one banner: The Imperium of Mankind.

In Graham McNiell’s latest epic installment in the Horus Heresy series, Thousand Sons, science and reason rule the age. Religion in all forms has been disbanded and outlawed. Demons and Devils no longer exist. The only gospel spoken is that of technology and humanity's right to rule. Humanity's dark genetic side – that of the Psyker – is repressed; psychic powers are looked down upon with disdain and fear by most in the Imperium. Except by the Sons of Magnus.

The Thousand Sons, a legion of the space marines embrace their psychic side, using their powers to fight humanity's enemies and expand their knowledge of the unknown. Their own Primarch Magnus the Red – genetic son of the Emperor – encourages his soldier’s pursuit of knowledge; certain of the fact that they have complete control over their powers.

But the Thousand Sons fight two enemies, those without and those within. Summoned to the planet of Nikea to stand trial for their powers, and to determine the fate of all psykers in the Imperium, the Thousand Sons are painted as sorcerers and warlocks who use powers that no human should ever have the ability to wield. They are told to never again to use their powers, and to cease all research into the depths of the warp, by order of the Emperor himself.

Magnus and his ilk return to their home world of Prospero, burdened with the knowledge that what the Emperor demands is impossible for them to. Perhaps Magnus can redeem himself and his legion in the eyes of his father.

A Thousand Sons tells the tale of a Legion beset by friend and foe alike. A legion who see's their powers as nothing more than tools to be used. To them, it's not the powers that make an individuals actions evil, it's is the individual's themselves.

This book was yet another stellar addition to the saga of the Horus Heresy. I give this an easy 9.5 on the Sonic Screwdriver scale (10.5 points was easily possible but that would mean Graham McNeill is a literary god, however I’m pretty sure he’s just a fallible as the rest of us humans). Fans of the Thousand Sons will probably have their own idea of how the book portrays the legion (I know I did). But Graham McNeil does an awesome job at throwing that right back into the readers face, with twists and turns around every page.

When this book, comes out in March, I urge you to go pick it up; anyone who likes epic military science fiction needs to buy it when it hits shelves.

This book is the first part of a duology with the second book, written by Dan Abnett, titled Prospero Burns, originally due to be released April of this year. However, due to recent medical problems with Dan, Prospero Burns is being pushed back until January of 2011.

So, until next time, in the words of The Thousand Sons…

“All is dust.”

~ Ryan