Thrall

After a confrontation in a tavern results in the death of a local official's mercenary, legendary warrior Gorias La Gaul is commissioned to prevent the resurrection of a cult leader. Accompanied by his grandson, the official's daughter, and a bard, Gorias traverses the vampire-plagued land only to find himself caught between an invading horde of barbarians, a powerful necromancer's advancing troops, and two old enemies from his past. Gorias must rely on his own experience and tactical planning to prevent an even greater evil from ravaging the land.

Steven Shrewsbury crafts an engaging tale, much in the tradition of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. The action scenes are depicted in brutal detail, putting the reader at the center of the action. Shrewsbury also has a good sense of tactics and timing, which works well as the forces converge and Gorias's plan begins to unfold.

If I had any complaints, the first chapter is a little slow in its set-up, appearing almost directionless until Gorias gets his mission. Also, there were times when I had difficulties with the dialog as the characters' voices switched between the more traditional fantasy style of speech versus the modern, contraction-laden vernacular. The electronic copy of the book I read also had some infrequent grammar and spelling errors and would have benefited from another round of editing.

Despite these minor issues, this is a welcome addition to the sword-and-sorcery fantasy genre, and fans of the aforementioned authors should enjoy this book. I look forward to reading more of Shrewsbury's work, as well as the forthcoming books in this series.

Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million.

Title: Thrall
Author: Steven L. Shrewsbury
Year: 2010
Pages: 288

Dark Harvest

It's Halloween 1963 in Small Town, U.S.A., and the local teenage boys are getting ready for the annual hunt for the October Boy, a pumpkin-headed being that runs the gauntlet each Halloween. The boy who brings him down before he makes it to the local church wins a ticket out of town and freedom from the ennui of small-town, no-ambition life. Pete McCormack is extremely determined this year, but a chance encounter with a female tomboy reveals the horrifying truth about the town tradition and turns his expectations upside-down.

Dark Harvest, despite being a short book, spins an entertaining yarn that anyone who grew up in a small town can relate to (well, except for the rampaging pumpkin-boy). Having grown up in a tiny little burg, I can sympathize with an overwhelming urge to get away from the tired, repetitive lifestyle. Fortunately, my town wasn't as poverty-stricken as this one seemed to be.

The plot itself is fairly straightforward and doesn't contain much in the way of surprises. The reader would probably do him- or herself a favor by going into this book expecting a horror-themed action story rather than spine-chilling prose of terror. That being said, the action scenes are extremely well done. Partridge does an excellent job of balancing the descriptions with the activity, giving you just enough to see what's happening without overwhelming you with the details.

Because it's a short book and the action flows quickly, someone should be able to read this in just a few sittings. While it may not have the character richness of a 400-page epic, it's not necessary to tell this particular story. I'd recommend this for both the serious and the casual reader.

Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million.

Title: Dark Harvest
Author: Norman Partridge
Year: 2006
Pages: 169

The Devil You Know

Felix Castor is an exorcist who's fallen into some hard times after an attempt to remedy a friend's possession went horribly wrong. Out of the blue comes a simple ghost removal, which seems fairly simple. However, while attempting to get a feel for the ghost's nature, he runs afoul of a crooked pimp, a lycanthrope with an attitude, and an elder succubus who's been summoned just to kill him. Felix is forced to use his wits to not only bring peace to the mute ghost, but to save his own skin in the process.

Up until this novel, I was only familiar with Mike Carey's comic book work, primarily Lucifer and The Unwritten (both excellent titles, by the way). This is the first prose novel of his I've read, and coincidentally the first novel in the Felix Castor series.

While Felix comes off a bit like John Constantine (Carey also wrote some issues of Hellblazer), the uniqueness of Castor's universe allows you to look past a lot of the familiar occult detective tropes. Carey comes up with creative origins of the various supernatural types, some of which are refreshing takes on otherwise tired concepts. Combine that with some snappy dialog and excellent pacing, and you end up with a book that's an absolute blast to read.

If you're looking for something both fun and new, this is definitely a book to check out. Highly recommended.

Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million.

Title: The Devil You Know
Author: Mike Carey
Year: 2006
Pages: 501

Chew, Vol. 1: Taster's Choice

Detective Tony Chu is a cibopath, meaning he gets psychic feedback from anything he eats. This means he feels the life of any animal, plant, or anything else he ingests. Well, except for beets. Why? Who knows, but at least he can eat something guilt-free.

In a world where poultry consumption has been outlawed due to an outbreak of avaian flu, Chu is hired on by the Special Crimes Division of the USFDA to use his talents to solve otherwise unsolvable crimes. Teamed with a hulking mass of a man named Mason (who is also a cibopath), Chu is assigned to the most bizarre of cases, including a reporter who's food reviews make people physically ill, an Arctic outpost with a seemingly pointless assignment to audit their spending, and a Yakuza chicken smuggling operation. All the while, clues emerge that question the government's poultry ban.

Fans of bizarro fiction are likely to enjoy the sheer weirdness of the plot, while those used to more conventional stories may not appreciate the storyline. John Layman does a great job establishing the state of this world and makes the characters as believable as possible, considering the absurdity of the conspiracy and nature of Chu and Mason's powers.

The over-the-top artwork by Rob Guillory helps drive home the quirkiness of Chu's world. Chu is drawn relatively straightforward, while those around him are exaggerated caricatures of the traits they represent. It also helps that Guillory doesn't seem to be afraid of backgrounds, which often have little "Easter eggs" if you're paying attention.

All in all, a pretty good read. Check it out if you'd like to add a little strangeness to your diet.

Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Things From Another World

Title: Chew, Vol. 1: Taster's Choice
Author: John Layman
Artist: Rob Guillory
Year: 2009
Pages: 128

Domino Lady: Sex As a Weapon

After the murder of her DA father, beautiful socialite Ellen Patrick dons a white dress, black cape, and black domino mask to fight crime as the Domino Lady. Despite not a lot of original material, the Domino Lady has become one of the most iconic characters in pulp fiction. In Domino Lady: Sex As a Weapon, eight authors write all-new stories about Domino Lady's adventures. Her adventures also give her opportunities to team up with other pulp icons such as the Phantom, Airboy, the Black Bat, and even Sherlock Holmes.

The collection begins with K.G. McAbee's "The Domino Lady and the Crimson Dragon". An Asian girl escapes from a white slaver boat and by a lucky string of fate, runs into the Domino Lady, who agrees to help rescue the other girls on the ship. This was pretty standard fare, although quite enjoyable as Domino Lady had to use her wits (and her physical assets, naturally) to take on a large group of adversaries.

C.J. Henderson resurrects the Black Bat to help Domino Lady foil more white slavers in "Blondes in Chains". This took more of a sci-fi bent, and the resolution was a bit contrived.

Not content with Domino Lady working with the police, Bobby Nash frames Domino Lady for murder in "Target: Domino Lady". Again, Domino Lady is forced to use her brains to prove her innocence and bring the real murderer to justice.

Chuck Dixon teams Domino Lady with Airboy in "Stealing Joe Crick". I've never found Airboy very compelling, and he's more or less useless in this story. I had some higher expectations from Dixon, but with Airboy, he didn't have much to work with.

Ron Fortier presents a dumb little tale called "The Claws of the Cat" about some idiotic cat-nappers (yes, really). If this had been played more for laughs, I might have liked it more, but played straight, it was just silly.

Conjuring the spirit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Nancy Holder presents a tale of Sherlock Holmes teaming up with Domino Lady in his late years. While the plot wasn't anything spectacular, the scenes between Holmes and the Domino Lady were rather enjoyable and provided a lot of entertainment in the couple's banter.

James Chambers's contribution, "The Devil, You Know" was probably my favorite story in the collection. An underworld contact betrays her and Domino Lady finds herself aboard a yacht of Satanists with her identity fully exposed.

Martin Powell finishes out the book with "Masks of Madness", where Domino Lady washes adrift on the Phantom's island. Normally, this wouldn't have been too bad of a story, but the decision was made to reveal the killer of Owen Patrick and end with Domino Lady getting her revenge. This denouement fell a bit flat to me, and I think a revelation that was more conventional would have been more suitable to the character.

As with all anthologies, some of the stories are better than others, but overall, all of the stories were fun reads and maintained the proper tone of the pulps. I would've like solo stories more than the team-ups, but that's really more of a personal preference.


Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Things From Another World, and Moonstone

Title: Domino Lady: Sex As a Weapon
Editor: Lori Gentle
Authors: K.G. McAbee, C.J. Henderson, Bobby Nash, Chuck Dixon, Ron Fortier, Nancy Holder, James Chambers, Martin Powell
Year: 2009
Pages: 222