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Book Review: Nameless: The Darkness Comes by Mercedes M. Yardley

Here’s an interview with Mercedes Yardley we did for Women in Horror Month in 2014

 

Nameless: The Darkness Comes by Mercedes M. Yardley

Crystal Lake Publishing, 2015

ISBN: 9780994662682

Available as: Kindle ebook, paperback

 

Nameless: The Darkness Comes is Mercedes M. Yardley’s debut novel, and the first book in the Bone Angel trilogy. It follows Luna Masterson, who has the ability to see and communicate with demons, something she has been able to do since she was very young. Luna lives with her older brother, Seth, and his young daughter, Lydia: after Seth’s ex-wife,  a demon named Sparkles, abandoned them, Luna moved in to help take care of them both. At her day job as a phlebotomist, she meets the awkward but handsome Reed Taylor, who reveals to her that he has the ability to see angels. When Lydia is kidnapped by Sparkles, Luna sets off to hunt her down. Luna also meets the mysterious demon, Mouth, who is alternately caring and sardonic toward Luna. Along the way, she finds not all is as it seems among the demonic and the living.

Yardley had me hooked from the first page. She presents a very strong female character in Luna; one with drive and the desire to push herself. Even when asking for help, or dealing with her greatest fears, she doesn’t fall victim to the “damsel-in-distress”  trope. Despite asking for help, she doesn’t fall victim to the damsel-in-distress trope. She is fiercely independent, and very much wants to handle situations on her own, but through her growth as a person, she eventually realizes she can’t do it all, especially when she’s dealing with the denizens of Hell.

Yardley’s demons are pretty incredible. Mouth, so named by Luna for his tendency to constantly deliver unwanted advice, is multifaceted: despite his nature, he appears to actually care about Luna’s welfare, and while he can still be terrifying, he is also protective of her. The Tip Toe Shadow, who we meet in the first two pages, feeds on negative emotions, and can induce fear. There is also a dog headed demon Luna meets on the street that is much stronger than other demons she meets as he tries to possess her.

If you’re looking for a great read, especially for Women in Horror Month, you can’t go wrong with Nameless.

Recommended

Contains: some blood and gore (not extensive)

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on February 13, 2016 by , Reply

Women in Horror Month: Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and The Wind in the Rose-Bush

 

Mary Wilkins Freeman

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman was born on October 31st, 1852 (a great birthdate for a writer of ghost stories) and died March 13, 1930. . She lived during a time when supernatural writing by women flourished, and she was one of the best. She’s been mentioned in the company of Edith Wharton and Henry James, and won the American Academy William Dead Howells Gold Medal. Described primarily as a writer of naturalism, and particularly of regionalism (as were many women writers of the time, including Sarah Orne Jewett) she excelled at creating supernatural tales that took place in the most ordinary of places and situations, in families and small communities where women’s work is never done. Her stories, mostly told through dialogue or by first person narrators, are unsettling because of what isn’t being said. In her story “The Shadow on the Wall”, which takes place in the aftermath of a death in the family, three sisters are desperately trying to block out the creepiness in the room they are working in, and one sister says to another “Don’t speak! I won’t have it!” That’s about as overt as Wilkins-Freeman’s undercurrents of fear and dread ever get. Willful ignorance, dependent behavior, pride, and guilt, especially on the part of women, all appear in Wilkins-Freeman’s stories, and it’s so often what she doesn’t say that really creeps in to stay with you.  In “The Wind in the Rose-Bush”, Rebecca Flint, who has traveled to collect her recently orphaned niece, cannot get a straight answer from anyone about where her niece actually is; in “Luella Miller”, an unreliable  narrator tells us a terrifying story of a woman who literally drains the life out of anyone who helps her.

Wilkins Freeman only wrote about a dozen supernatural stories, and collected six of them into a single volume, The Wind in the Rose-Bush, but it is more than worth your while to seek out her New England ghost stories of haunted women. There’s absolutely no reason not to, since you can read them for free.

For audiobooks of many of her supernatural stories, click here

To download a free ebook of  The Wind in the Rose-Bush, her collection of supernatural stories. click here

If you want all of her work collected together, Amazon sells The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, which includes her novelettes.

For much more detail on her life, click here or seek out Brian Stableford’s entry on her in the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, and Gothic Writers at the reference desk of your local library.

 

 

Posted on February 6, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff

Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

ISBN-13: 978-1491046883

Available: Paperback, Kindle, Audible Book, Digital Lending

 

For those fans of Alexandra Sokoloff’s supernatural gems, such as The Harrowing, The Price, or The Unseen, this thriller (book 1 of The Huntress/FBI Thrillers) will illuminate another facet of this talented author’s skills. For those who are tired of the serial killer novel,  give this one a shot and be prepared to shed preconceptions of the subgenre.  The concept of a female serial killer is relatively untouched territory, with only a couple of other quality entries in modern literature. Sokoloff creates a killer who is complex enough to be real, rising above any tropes, but is stone cold in her methods. Peeling away the layers of this character is worth the price of the book itself, but like any of her novels, Sokoloff presents quite an enjoyable story, as well.

With her background in screenwriting, one might be quick to worry that her books might be static, or lack the three-dimensional quality necessary for a knockout novel. Sokoloff, however, also has a background in theater, and her ability to emote from the point of view of  any of her characters is uncanny. She truly is ‘inside their heads’. To live within the killer’s head is chilling, yet, at times, touching and thought provoking.

The story itself? FBI Agent Matthew Roarke watches a fellow agent become a hood ornament for a passing bus– just a moment after he appears to hear a woman say something to him. The woman disappears into the crowd, leaving readers with the feeling she is somehow familiar. The hunt is on, and it’s far from cliché.

We find the “Huntress” wandering on a beach, where she meets a recently divorced man and his young child. What ensues is unexpected, and ratchets up the suspense to that intense level readers expect of Sokoloff’s horror. While Huntress Moon is not, strictly speaking, a horror novel, terror like this should be found in any psychological thriller worth its salt. The cat and mouse game is nothing new, but Sokoloff’s lean writing mesmerizes the reader; her style quickly captivates and intrigues. Her settings are vividly painted in a manner usually reserved for books that spend many more pages on scenery development. If  a reader’s tastes run towards dark thrillers with fully fleshed-out characters, and stories that keep the neurons firing long after the covers have shut, then this series is for you.

Highly recommended for high school to adults

Reviewed by David Simms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on July 3, 2014 by , Reply
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