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Book Review: Angel Falls by Julia Rust and David Surface

Angel Falls by Julia Rust and David Surface

Angel Falls by Julia Rust and David Surface

YAP Books, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949140330

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition. ( Bookshop.org |Amazon.com )

 

 

In the 1600s, a large group of women and children colonists of Beauport, Massachusetts disappeared, killed by the Indians they displaced. A year later, they started to return. Those who believed the returning family members were real were forced out of Beauport and formed a new settlement, Angel Falls, now abandoned.

 

 

Jessie is visiting Beauport for the first time, with her father, who is sorting out her cousin Dorothy’s estate. It’s also likely a trial separation for her parents. There’s not a lot to do, so despite warnings that a girl recently disappeared there, she decides to explore Angel Falls. There she meets Jared, who is dyslexic and in summer school for English, working at a crab shack, and caring for his depressed, suicidal artist father. They discover that together, while at Angel Falls, due to their ancestors’ gifts, they are able to make their wishes happen, to “fix” the people they love, but always at a price.

 

 

Jessie discovers letters from her grandfather to Jessie’s cousin Dorothy, who also clearly had this ability, trying to force him to return to Angel Falls by making wishes. We only see one side of a correspondence between them but it is pretty obvious that Dorothy’s actions are why Jessie’s parents have never mentioned her before. Jared’s English teacher is obsessed with Angel Falls and Jared’s growing ability, but Jessie and Jared both have doubts about continuing to use it.

 

 

The backstory has to be pieced together and so the background to the story was confusing, but the book is compelling, with some memorable moments, and was hard to put down once it really got started (it starts with days of rain trapping Jessie inside a cabin, not the best choice for getting the main characters going, but the authors get it jumpstarted). I especially liked the relationship Jared had with his dad and the way the authors showed that under the idyllic surface things were not quite right. Recommended.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on October 31, 2022 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: Tales from Harrow County Volume 1: Death’s Choir by Cullen Bunn, art by Naomi Franquiz

Tales from Harrow County, Volume 1: Death’s Choir by Cullen Bunn, art by Naomi Franquiz

Dark Horse, 2020

ISBN-13: 97815067168

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, comiXology ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

Award-winning, Eisner-nominated Southern Gothic horror returns in Tales from Harrow County, Volume 1: Death’s Choir. The story focuses on Bernice Anderson as she has taken on the mantle of steward of the small community ten years after her best friend Emmy Crawford left Harrow County. World War II has taken young men from the community, leaving tragedy in its wake. Harrow County is left in a state of mourning when the news of the deaths of their family members arrive. A mourning woman, Mrs. Dearborn, has called upon the spirits, but in summoning the supernatural choir that beckons the spirits of those the war has taken, has also summoned a deadly banshee as well. Bernice and her partner Georgia must find a way to save Harrow County from certain doom. The town does face more than supernatural foes. With not only Bernice’s protective witchcraft, but also the same-sex relationship between Bernice and Georgia, the Reverend unleashes some passive-aggressive nonsense.

 

 

For readers familiar with Harrow County, there will be familiar haints and creatures. As a fan of Priscilla the goblin, I was overjoyed that there was more of her, but I was ill-prepared for the cliffhanger ending.

 

 

Artist Naomi Franquiz takes over from Tyler Crooks. While her style is similar to Crooks’, she seems to have a more vibrant color palette, but this does not detract from the story. Her lush landscapes and well-developed character designs and art lend Cullen’s story a familiar atmosphere.

 

 

Volume 1 collects Tales from Harrow County: Death’s Choir #1-#4. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on October 22, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: Petite Mort by S.C. Mendes and Nikki Noir

 

Petite Mort by S.C. Mendes and Nikki Noir

 

Blood Bound Books, Oct. 2022 (Halloween release date)

 

ASIN: BOBB87TLWY

 

Available: Kindle edition ( Amazon.com )

 

Petite Mort is a short story collection that reads like a crossbreed of the Hostel movies and a Jenna Jameson film fest, but with more originality and better storytelling.  This will appeal to readers who like healthy doses of gore and raunchiness.  If you can handle that, the stories are worth a read.

 

There are eight stories, six short and two longer ones. A few have been previously published in other collections.  The main selling point: none of the stories have the tired and overused “male psycho kidnaps, rapes, and tortures helpless woman” plot.  There are elements of the supernatural to the majority of the stories, and some of them are WAY off the path of normalcy.  “Santa’s Package”, the longest (and maybe best) story, has a young woman pregnant by either a) Santa Claus, b) alien abduction, or c) she’s just totally nuts.  ‘”Into the Pit” has a demon residing in one of those plastic ball pits kids play in at places like Chuck E. Cheese eateries.  “Cucumbers and Comforters” has a kappa, a somewhat reptilian water deity from Japanese folklore.  Kudos to author Nikki Noir for working the kappa into a story. It’s fun when authors use lesser-known deities from mythologies other than the familiar Greeks as a story backbone.  

 

The rest of the stories are a touch more “normal”, that being a relative term here, but they all are page turners and pack good doses of creativity, along with heavy doses of splat and lewdness.  Certain tumescent organs being chopped off, horror movie themed sex toys, people being literally torn apart through every possible orifice, it’s all here… for a certain reader type.  

 

Two other things worthy of special mention: the story “HorrorGasm”, which does a slick job of creating a wild revenge tale, while managing to poke fun at the dorks who sit around watching online porn all day.  For hilarity, “Santa’s Package” wins, running away with the writing of Santa’s bedroom scene. He’s quite the ‘jolly old elf’!  The author’s turning of Christmas clichés into witty double entendres is side-splittingly funny: you’ll laugh hard enough to turn your own belly into a bowl full of jelly.  

 

Bottom line: this one is good entertainment for certain readers, just don’t take any of it too seriously.  It’s all meant to be fun, over-the-top craziness, and it succeeds well on that score.  However, this is for adults only: don’t let your junior high students near this one.  Recommended for lovers of splat and sleaze.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on October 18, 2022 by , Reply
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