What’s not to like in this book? An all male cast filled with one dimensional stereotypes. A major failing of the Bechdel test. A serial killer sub-plot that goes nowhere. An evil house that does nothing. A story about evil where the only person who dies is a suicide, and that’s on page one. A story about a ghost where the ghost who finally shows up just wants to have sex…but “off screen,” of course. Wouldn’t want anything to actually happen in this book, would we?

In a book of dull and offensive characters, only Mark Underhill stands out as a decently memorable person. His uncle is a “famous writer,” which means he needs no other personality traits, ever. His father Phillip is a walking steroetype of a racist and msyogonist who can’t stop thinking of himself longer than five minutes. There’s the stereotypical tough talking cop, the plot device super-private detective friend, in case Tim the famous writer needs an answer without actually performing any investigative work, the over confident but really stupid rich white male serial killer in his thirties, Mark’s best buddy Jimbo, and Jimbo’s equally annoying drunk dad, Jackie.

There are only two female characters who have more than a scene or two of dialogue, one of whom commits suicide, Mark’s mother. She rarely talks in the flashbacks, and her presence in the book, even in flashbacks, serves no useful purpose. The other female bit character, Jimbo’s mother, serves as a sex symbol for Mark, and a sidekick for grilling Jimbo with Tim. She coos and says nice things to Mark, and then when Tim needs Jimbo too talk, she wags her finger sternly and repeats the same lines over and over: “Now Jim, you tell Mr. Underhill everything you know!” But otherwise she stays barefoot and in the kitchen like a good little woman. There is also supposed to be a female ghost, but she is only mentioned in passing…having sex with one of the guys.

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This is my first Gina Ranalli story, but it won’t be the last. Suicide Girls in the Afterlife is a fascinating and fast paced look at the tragic afterlife of Pogue, a young woman who supposedly commits suicide under fairly bizarre circumstances and arrives in the afterlife during “renovations.”

Put up in a hotel, Pogue teams up with another suicidal arrival named Katina, and soon they are trying to stage a revolution in the afterlife to protest the random and arbitrary rules. Most of this behavior seems to be heading somewhere completely different, and once the reader realizes what’s really happening at the end, the beginning takes on a whole new meaning.

A brilliant story with interesting characters and a unique interpretation of the afterlife, I give Suicide Girls in the Afterlife 4 stars and recommend it to all fans of bizarro fiction. You can find the ebook at Smashwords for only $1.99

Above Ground is vaguely like Alice in Wonderland in reverse. Instead of Alice falling down a hole, Lilith emerges from the caves that humanity has been living in after an unknown cataclysmic event sends everyone scrambling away from the surface world like house cats avoiding a long overdue bath.

The surface world now belongs to the affected (or the infected if you ask a human), people who have been tainted in various ways, resulting in mutations. Lilith is traveling to the surface with a human tour group to see a “parade of the affected,” at a local theater. But early on, a sabotaged sideshow requires Lilith to flee for her life with the help of a werewolf and part-time sideshow performer named Silver.

What follows are the calamities during Lilith’s first few days above ground. Lilith can’t seem to get it through her head that she can’t get home, and so most of the trip, she is constantly second guessing herself and whether she can trust the werewolf pack escorting her.

Given the extreme circumstances, I found Lilith’s behavior to be consistent and realistic. However, this did not stop me from occasionally smacking my forehead and groaning, “Oy.” Not because she does something dumb or thinks it, but because she makes the same choices over and over even knowing she’s about to make a mistake. If not for the kindness of strangers, this is the type of woman who might trip head-first into trouble every single time. Which is both highly entertaining, and also just a bit annoying. It’s like a guilty pleasure, like scratching that fresh mosquito bite even though you know you’re supposed to leave it alone.

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Having read and reviewed book one of this series, I want to get my one complaint out of the way for both books that I’ve read so far. I don’t think miladysa should have divided this series into books. The endings of the first two books aren’t really great places to end a book, in my opinion. However, those same parts work within the context of the series, and if they weren’t “endings,” they be fine episodes on their own.

With that very minor quibble out of the way, let me say that Book II: Billy is every bit as solidly written as the first book. The story pulls the reader along through time in strange ways, but every angle is compelling without distracting from the core plot. This time out the story focuses on a barguest and some missing property.

In the side plots, we learn more about Elizabeth and her grandfather, among others. If there’s anyone who hasn’t had a chance to develop much yet as a character, it’s Gemma. But there are clues left to help explain why there’s animosity between her and Elizabeth. I have a theory that Gemma’s bravado and flirting are fronts to deal with her insecurities over being part fey, but I suspect I may have to wait until Book III to find out more. (I hope there’s more on Gemma too. She’s an interesting character,)

Overall, I found the story vividly described with a good balance of descriptions, dialogue, and action. I give Billy 4 stars, and I’d recommend it to fans of dark fantasy or paranormal thrillers

The Dreadful Doctor Faust is a quirky story aiming to be both a revenge story and a romance. But the effort to merge these two element results in a hybrid that fails to develop its main characters.

The main character is Louise, who initially washes ashore after her body is dumped from a bridge. The story bounds from past to present to tell how Louise came to be left in this way, but it also covers her acts of revenge, and her recovery with the help of The Doctor.

The story is vividly described, with characters and scenery being given time to develop visually. But while the locations ripple with dark menace, the cast of characters fall flat as cardboard stereotypes.

The Doctor is a Victorian-era mad scientist who now longs for company after a century and a half of being alone. He is depicted as cruel and cold, but then he wanders around curing cholera outbreaks. Louise is the reformed victim acting out her revenge, recalling shade of I Spit on Your Grave or many similar exploitation clones. Both are animated by the Elixir, a formula that may be similar to the Elixir that Ramses uses in The Mummy. Another character is revealed as a killer with a “mother problem,” much like Norman/Norma Bates. I bring up the comparisons because often, instead of thinking of this story, I was thinking of all the places I’d seen the same story elements before.

The romantic angle never works because The Doctor and Louise are so flat throughout the story. The only character to feel more real was a strip club owner, mainly because the narrator made him seem human. Everyone else’s history is just rattled off like a cop reading an autopsy report after the fact. While the revenge angle does reach a satisfying and gory conclusion, the scene of Louise and The Doctor coming to terms with each other doesn’t resonate with any emotion.

Overall I give The Dreadful Doctor Faust 3 stars. It’s not a bad book, but it’s not Karen Koehler’s strongest writing. I would recommend it for fans of revenge stories and 70’s Euroslash films.

The review is only for book one: RoYds

It’s hard to sum up a book that covers so much time, but the main character is Elizabeth Whyte, and the modern story follows her work with the Refuge of Delayed Souls. But a great deal of the book also journeys back in time to reveal information about the creator of the refuge, other refuge members, and Elizabeth’s ancestors.

I liked the pace of the story and found most of the characters interesting. However, the ending of the first book feels rushed. This is a webseries, so perhaps the conclusion felt right as the cutoff point to the writer, but I felt it suffered from missing details and a good closing line.

Setting that aside, I very much enjoyed the first book, and I will be starting book two, Billy, very soon. I give RoYds 4 stars.

Start book one.

Kevin Takahashi is a refugee from the destruction of San Francisco, the result of an attack by a kaiju, or giant monster. Now living in New York, Kevin is trying to adjust to a new city, a new school, and new problems. His main problem seems to be that he’s caught the attention of Aimi Mura, a minor musical celebrity with jealous friends and an insanely protective father. But these problems are minor compared to the arrival of yet another kaiju in New York.

Raiju delivers exactly what it promises: lots of big monster action along with messages about the condition of the environment. (Which is something of a running theme in giant monster movies.) The cast of characters are quirky and unique, and the back story is delivered in a novel way that doesn’t feel like info-dumps. Fans of giant monsters shouldn’t need much more, but there’s also teen angst and a cute romantic angle as well.

I give Raiju 4 stars. It’s a fun, fast-paced monster book that doubles as a coming of age story. I’d recommend it to fans of monster movies or fans of YA fiction.

Tormentor is the first Shrewsbury novel I’ve read, though I’ve also read a short story in the first issue of The New Bedlam Project. I really liked that story, which is why I decided to finally quit procrastinating and buy a copy of Tormentor.

Before I get started, I have to admit that I am probably not within the “target audience” for this book. I wouldn’t say I hated this book, because if I had, I wouldn’t have bothered finishing it. But it was grating in a lot of places, and for a lot of reasons, some of which are personal.

The introduction of the main character, “Battlin’ John Kern,” starts out well enough, and his tour of duty ventures into weirdness just after John gets hit by the concussive wave of a car bomb in Iraq. This somehow makes him sensitive to spirits, and while chasing insurgents, he sees a transsexual goddess along with several other spirits. The goddess guides John to safety, and he then goes on to mend at a military hospital in Germany.

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