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Book Review: Dogs by Mike Sullivan

Cover art for Dogs by Mike Sullivan

Dogs by Mike Sullivan

Muddy Paws Press, 2022

ISBN: 9798986056913

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Amazon.com )

 

Dogs is one of those little novellas that work fine for a quick blast of excitement that requires no thinking.  At only 114 pages double-spaced, any reader will be through it in an hour or two.  There’s no real character development, no twisting plot, but it does have excitement and a touch of gore, and that’s really all readers are looking for in something this short.  For a quick shot of diversionary reading, Dogs rolls over and does the trick.

 

The plot: Tom comes home to visit his parents, who live in a gated community.  The family dog goes crazy and tries to attack him, and Tom quickly finds out that all the dogs in the neighborhood have gone canine-crazy and now regard humans as fleshy Milk-Bones.  Tom needs to survive and escape.  The end. 

 

That’s all there is, and that’s all that’s needed.  Again, this is just action.  It’s kind of like the old Jean-Claude Van Damme films: you never watch them for anything deep, you just want ass-kicking and excitement.  That’s what Dogs delivers.  There is plenty of bloodshed between the dogs, Tom, and a couple neighbors, and the author writes the attack sequences well enough to keep reader interest up, it’s not just ‘the dog mauled and killed the person’, though. There are some face-offs and tactics in the human vs. dog duels. This isn’t totally brainless: it’s just meant to tear along at a good pace, and it does that just fine.  There are plenty of unanswered questions by the end of the book, so don’t expect a wrap-up that explains everything.  Obviously, if you love dogs and can’t stand fiction that involves them getting hurt, you may want to skip this (even though they are bad dogs).  

 

File this one in the category of “fast reads that involve nature biting back”. Alongside other books of that ilk, such as Grizzly and The Roo, the novella Dogs will fit in just fine.   Worth it for the quick fun.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Book Review: The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

Cover for The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

PUSH, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1338745313

Available: Hardcover, paperback, KIndle edition, audiobook.

( Bookshop.org |   Amazon.com )

 

 

When genderfluid teen Mars Matthias’ twin sister Carikube dies violently in front of them after running away from summer camp, Mars insists on attending the camp for the rest of the summer. They agree to placement with the boys, but their real goal is to rediscover Caroline, especially through The Honeys, her girlfriends in Cabin H, which tends to the camp’s beehives.

 

Mars’ previous experience at camp involved the other boys tying them to a wooden scoreboard and setting it on fire so their experiences are mixed. Camp authorities prefer to let campers solve conflicts on their own, not great news if you can’t defend yourself. While the rest of the camp participates in mandatory activities, the Honeys do their own thing, and they invite Mars to be a part of it.

 

But the Honeys aren’t just tending bees, they are the hive– the collective mind of all the bees, seeking a queen, and being pressured by the adults around them to create umbral honey (created as it feeds on living, albeit predatory creatures (such as camp counselor Brayden), that will give them real-world power.

 

This is an interesting look at how genderfluidity and societal and parental expectations affect teens in a different environment and a genuine and authentic exploration of grief and the complicated feelings that arise when someone you have mixed feelings about dies.

 

Early in the book, a counselor points out that an aspen grove is actually a colony, with one original tree, effectively making the aspens around the camp disturbing. The whole collective hivemind, blood honey and giant honeycombs, is incredibly creepy, too. It’s one thing to know you are surrounded by interrelated creatures out in nature (nature being something you expect to encounter at summer camp), but it’s horrifying to  experience being absorbed into them against your will. Recommended for grades 9+

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Book Review: Encyclopedia Sharksplotanica by Susan Snyder

cover art for Encyclopedia Sharksploitanica by Susan Snyder

Encyclopedia Sharksploitanica by Susan Snyder

Madness Heart Press, 2021

ISBN-13: 9781955745994

Available: Paperback, Kindle

 

Since Jaws emerged from the depths to create the subgenre known as sharksploitation, shark movies and their rip offs have “scared the swimsuits off us”, rendered us immobile from gut-wrenching laughter, or left us speechless with the badness of it all. Susan Snyder, a marine biologist who has experience diving with these toothy beasts, presents her perspective on a whopping 85 sharkploitation movies.

 

Sections are divided into “Rip Offs”, “The Bastardization of Science”, “The Swimming Dead”, “Mix and Match Mutants, Two for One”: “The “Versus” Movies”, “Bad Environments”, “The Big ‘Uns”, “Terror in the Real World”, “The Paranormals”, “Fins in Funnels: The Sharknado Franchise”, and “Shark-pourri”. Snyder’s collection includes interviews, essays, reviews, and some choice rants about the films she presents. Make no mistake, though. Despite the rants, it is clear that Snyder loves the subgenre. After reading this, I tracked down some of the movies she discussed and found a renewed interest in shark horror.

 

Highly recommended

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker