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Book Review: Crime Scene: Poetry by Cynthia Pelayo

Cover art for Crime Scene: Poetry by Cynthia Pelayo

Crime Scene: Poetry by Cynthia Pelayo

Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1947879515

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

 

This collection follows up Into the Forest and All the Way Through, a collection of poems about missing and murdered women and girls from all 50 states intended to bring the victims of cold cases to light without exploiting them.

 

Crime Scene is a more straightforward story. It’s a narrative in verse of the discovery and investigation of a cold case leading to the capture of a serial killer, using a format of numbered “reports”. It explodes on impact and immediately crashes into the parents’ grief on notification, then backtracks to the discovery of the crime scene and body by a brother and sister. Then we meet our protagonist, Agent K, whose investigation is complicated by her history as a witness to the disappearance of a friend when she was a girl, leading to guilt, insomnia, and a drive to solve the case. Much of the story explores both her actions and mental state.

 

Pelayo also addresses issues with reporting on true crime. Report 0011 comments on exploitation, and Report 0054, the medical examiner’s report, interestingly is nonspecific in describing the age, race, and ethnicity of the victim, avoiding the trap of “white girl” syndrome.

 

Crime Scene is a lyrical, powerful, surreal exploration of the justice system, its failures, and the human consequences. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on February 20, 2023 by , Reply

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

Posted on February 14, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: Classic Monsters Unleashed edited by James Aquilone

Classic Monsters Unleashed edited by James Aquilone

Black Spot Books, 2022

ISBN-13: 9781645481218

Available: Kindle, Audible, paperback, hardback ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

Classic Monsters Unleashed includes one poem that opens the anthology, followed by twenty-nine stories featuring, well, classic monsters. Dracula, the Invisible Man, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and the Wolf-man are included in this homage to classic monsters. The list does not end there. Nosferatu, Captain Kronos, the Headless Horseman, the Blob and more, all find space in this anthology. I have narrowed my favourites down to my top ten, but that was difficult. Each story deserves its own time in the spotlight, really.



In Jonathan Mayberry’s “Hollenlegion,” Nazis search for the allegedly abandoned island of Dr. Moreau. Simon Bestwick’s “Mummy Calls” is one of the best, and most humorous, stories in the collection. Written as a submission letter to the anthology editor, Simon explains the story of the “Manchester Mummy” and how real she actually is. Lucy A. Snyder gives us a unique story of the Phantom of the Opera meeting Jack the Ripper in “The Viscount and the Phantom.” I do not want to give anything away, so I will just leave it at that. In “Modern Monsters” by Monique Snyman, a whistleblower contacts the crew of paranormal reality show Modern Monsters to document a science experiment gone wrong. There is some body horror in this one, but not so much that it gets too gruesome. “Hacking the Horseman’s Code” by Lisa Morton is a modern day take on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Gil contracts a Headless Horseman AI for Halloween festivities, much to his wife’s chagrin. To mess with a political rival, he alters the AI’s programming, which backfires spectacularly. Maurice Broaddus gives us a unique vision with his “The Invisible Man: The Fire This Time.” Broaddus weaves his story through a societal racial critique that is well done and very powerful. Mercedes M. Yardley’s “The Picture of Doriana Gray” is an excellent gender-swapped take on The Picture of Dorian Gray. Crystal Sapphire, a popular social media influencer, makes a new friend who in turn influences her. In “Da Noise, Da Funk, Da Blob” by Linda D. Addison, we are presented with the Blob in a new light and Its purpose for landing on Earth. Leverett Butts and Dacre Stoker’s “Enter, the Dragon,” told through text chats, emails, YouTube transcriptions, and CCTV coverage in the shadow of COVID, tells the story of a man kidnapped by an underground group to resurrect Vlad Tepes. It’s Dracula with a dash of the X-Files. Rounding out the anthology is Joe R. Lansdale with “God of the Razor,” focusing on an antique dealer who unexpectedly meets with Jack the Ripper. 

 

Other authors who contributed great additions to this anthology include Gary A. Braunbeck, Ramsey Campbell, JG Faherty, Geneve Flynn, Owl Goingback, Michael Knost, Alessandro Manzetti, Rena Mason, Richard Christian Matheson, Seanan McGuire, John Palisano, Lindy Ryan, Carlie St. George, David Surface, Gaby Triana, Tim Waggoner, Paul Wilson, Kelsea Yu, Sean Eads, and Joshua Viola.

 

I would be remiss if I did not mention the incredible artwork. Artists include Zac Atkinson, Frank Frazetta, Jeremiah Lambert, Sam Shearan, and Colton Worley. 

 

Pick this up if you want an anthology that pays homage to both the traditional classic monsters, as well as ones that do not get much attention.  Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

 

 

 

Posted on February 4, 2023 by , Reply
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