All that Adem Comeaux ever wanted was something to believe in.

When Adem’s Grandfather dies under mysterious circumstances, he returns to his childhood home, the sleepy farming town of Terrance, Louisiana. As Adem struggles with the repercussions of his absence and attempts to heal his relationship with his sister Sam, he discovers that his Grandfather’s cotton farm hides an evil secret that threatens to tear both of their lives apart.

Before he can uncover the truth behind his family’s curse, Adem must decide what he believes in before losing what precious hope he has left.

Eventually, everyone has to face their demons.

I am always excited when I start a book knowing that it is the authors first published book. It is a bit of a gamble though, will I discover a new amazing writer or will I be totally disappointed? The not knowing is the fun part, but coming from such a respected publisher as DarkFuse I had a feeling it would be good.

I was definitely correct in my assumption. “Chorus of Dust” is a good start for Mr. Walters career. The story has very life like believable characters, a great storyline and atmosphere. Though at times the story’s pacing bogged down just a bit for me, it really didn’t take away from the overall tale and is a very impressive debut by Justin.

I especially loved how the story started and how it evolved as I got deeper into the story.

Ray is a writer that writes books about real life murderers. He writes the tales from the killer’s point of view and has made quite a good living doing it. He thought he was retired when he gets an opportunity to tell Adem Comeaux’s tale.

The story starts out in the prison Adem is in and from there Adem proceeds to tell Ray his side of the story. Adem tells Ray the tale of his family farm’s curse, and the death  and destruction it has brought his family. Throughout the story it would shift between Adem telling his tale and Ray and Adem sitting in the prison. I though that Justin handled this particularly well and I never felt he lost control of the story with the shifting back and forth. I especially enjoyed how Justin ended the story, just a really great ending.

I very much look forward to Justin’s second book and highly recommend you give “Chorus Of Dust” a try, you won’t be disappointed.

To Eddie Marshall, the idea seemed ridiculous: hitchhike to the mountains of North Carolina to help his lifelong pal haul a truck load of Christmas trees out to Louisiana.

But Mark Rockley had a way of making the ridiculous seem perfectly reasonable. And what did Eddie have to lose anyway? At least up here he could take his mind off crooked managers and bickering band-mates, and the conniving woman he’d left behind.

Had he known what happened to Harold and Maggie on the mountain this morning, he would never have agreed to go up there tonight. Even if there was a patch of trees free for the taking.

If Mark and Eddie had known what waited in the shadow of Rickert’s Peak, they would have stayed far, far away from that place.

Tonight, reason turns to madness, madness gives way to terror.

And bad things happen on… The Mountain.

I have really enjoyed every one of William Ollie’s books so far.  I was pretty excited when he emailed me a Kindle copy of his latest book “The Mountain.” One thing you can always rely on with William’s books is that you are going to get a great story filled with great characters.

I have to say that “The Mountain” exceeded my expectations. I have been reading some dark, disturbing, emotionally taxing books lately and was looking for a change of pace. “The Mountain” was just what I was looking for.

Think “Deliverance”, combined with “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” with a bit of “The Hills Have Eyes” stirred in with the delivery that only William Ollie can provide.

“The Mountain” is brutally violent, with plenty of blood and violence, drug runners, a crooked cop, a corrupt care salesman and an incest deformed mountain family. It was a hell of a lot of fun to read and I enjoyed every second of it.

I can always count on William to provide great characters for his stories. In “The Mountain” the Johnson family that lives on mountain is as sick and depraved as they come. A brood of demented, deformed creatures that treat their own family as bad as they treat their victims.

The story starts out fast and furious with a man planning on murdering his wife on the mountain, making it look like an accident so he can collect the life insurance. Well, that plan didn’t pan out to say the least.

From there the story just continues to get better and better, William continues to notch up the carnage and violence, with enough dead bodies and blood to appease any horror fan. When you finally make it to the end you will say to yourself. “Damn, that was a hell of a ride!”, I know I did.

Thunderstorm Books and William Ollie have a winner on their hands and I highly recommend it.

With a kid on the way, Boyd needed the job bad. But the idea of going underground at the Hobart Mine, down into the dark labyrinth of tunnels to get at the raw ore, left him with a brooding sense of unease. Maybe it was the fact that his father had died down in the mines or maybe it was something much worse.

Digging a new drift down in Level #8, the lowest level of the mine, an immense shaft opens up. Boyd and a few others volunteer to explore it. Some 400 feet down, they find a passage that leads to an immense cavern from prehistory.

A petrified world.

A prehistoric graveyard.

Then a cave-in traps them down there. In the darkness and dank shadows of a fossilized world, they realize they are not alone.

Something has woken in the stone.

Something ancient and terrible and coldly intelligent.

And it is lonely.

Tim Curran’s “Underdwelling” was a very uncomfortable story for me to read. Anyone who follows my reviews  (my heartfelt thanks to you) knows I am claustrophobic and a story about miners trapped underground doesn’t help that fact.

That being said, if the story is not good, does not have good characters, pacing, plot line and atmosphere, it won’t work at all.

But, thankfully with “The Underdwelling” you won’t have to worry about that. It is an exceptional story that got my heart racing, my nerves frazzled and sweat oozing from my pores.

It might seem like a basic premise to a story, a group of miners trapped underground,  it is anything but.

Tim fills the story with a group of great characters that I really enjoyed. The interaction, their fears and their emotions were all believable and lifelike.

The sense of dread, panic and slowly building tension was very well done. A few times I had to put the book down for a few minutes, I was that uncomfortable.

I especially liked how Tim slowly revealed what was down there with them. No spoilers from me, read the book. I especially liked the ending.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed “The Underdwelling”, even though I felt at times that I was trapped down there with them, which is not a good feeling.

If you are at all claustrophobic you might just want to stay away from this book as it will definitely affect you and I highly recommend it.

He arrives in darkness, in the middle of a violent downpour…an affable old man with tales to tell…

When Will and Betty Colby return to Betty’s hometown to settle her late father’s affairs and prepare his house for sale, they assume they’ll be faced with some cleaning, basic repairs and making runs to the local dump. Will also hopes it will afford Betty a chance to reflect on the difficult relationship she had with her father. But something more is happening in this quiet little town, in this dark old house at the end of this seemingly deserted dirt road.

In the middle of a rainstorm, a man calling himself Bob Laurent appears in the night on their doorstep, claiming to be an old family friend. He seems harmless enough, only Betty has no memory of him. Yet he knows everything about her, her father and their lives. He even knows intimate details about Will and his life. While the storm rages on, a cauldron of tension, suspicion and fear builds between the couple and the stranger, dragging Will and Betty to the very brink of madness.

A vile and unrelenting evil has returned to claim what was taken from it long ago, and all the demons of the past, present and probable future have come home to roost. Before the storm clears and the sun rises, Will and Betty Colby will come to know the horrifying truth.

People live and die…but the evil they do is eternal.

Greg’s latest book by DarkFuse, “The Rain Dancers” is a dark, unrelenting journey into the evils that can befall the innocent and the scars they leave behind.  This book will leave you emotionally shaken and breathless in it’s wake. Greg does this better than anyone…period.

From the very first page Greg draws you into a tale with his impeccable prose and atmosphere, his characters and the unique way he has of placing you in the middle of the story. I can guarantee once you start you will not be able to put it down.

Will and Betty return to Betty’s father house to clean it out so they can sell it and to also settle his last affairs. An old man, Bob Laurent, shows up at their door in the middle of a violent rain storm, claiming to be an old family friend. Betty doesn’t remember him and Will dislikes him immediately.

Without giving away too much of the story I have to say once Bob appeared and started integrating himself into the dynamic of the story my skin started to crawl, as I too found myself hating him as much as Will.

That is the thing I love about Greg’s characters and writing. I feel as if I am going through what his characters are going through and what Will was going through with Bob was enough to make my blood boil.

As the night progresses and things start getting out of control, truths and secrets are slowly revealed, sanity questioned and demons uncovered that all lead to a mind blowing ending that will leave you gasping and unnerved.

“The Rain Dancers” is dark literature at its finest and further cements Greg’s place as one of the top authors on the planet. I wholeheartedly give it my highest recommendation and is a story you do not want to miss.

At age 36, Ben Fall is a man in torment. Overstressed, out of shape, in the middle of a bitter divorce, and carrying a secret that weighs heavily on his psyche, he’s convinced he’s a failure. He can hardly get out of bed in the morning to make his way to the high school where he teaches English. But suddenly one gray afternoon, a mousy, nondescript new girl appears in his classroom. She seems fascinated by everything he says and does–disturbingly so. Yet, though she gazes obsessively at him and hangs on his every word, she won’t even tell him her name…just that she’s “The Rain Girl.” Who is she? Where does she come from? What does she want?

Editions
Leather-bound Deluxe Thirteen Hardcover w/slipcase: numbered 1-13, 6”x9”, bound in leather, signature page which is signed by both author and artist, front cover stamped and spine stamped with the title and the author’s name, includes end papers, colored book ribbon with full colored header, 60lb. natural vellum stock, a slipcase and dust jacket.

100 Signed and Numbered Limited Hardcover: numbered 1-100, 6”x9”, bound in leatherette, signed by the author, stamped on the spine with the title and author’s name, includes 80lb. natural vellum end papers, colored book ribbon, multi-colored header, 60lb. natural vellum stock and dust jacket.

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Christopher Conlon’s latest novel “Lullaby for the Rain Girl” is dark fiction at its finest. A story that reaffirms my long held belief that books blow away all other mediums of entertainment….period!!

It is a haunting tale, a ghost story that will affect you on emotional levels that a work of fiction has no business doing. It is that good.

After reading and reviewing Christopher’s absolutely brilliant novel “A Matrix Of Angels“, I thought there was no way he could top this…I was wrong.

Ben Fall appears to be the typical middle aged man, lost in regret and sadness for the decisions he had made in his past that got him to where he is today. He smokes and drinks too much, is out of shape and balding, he can barely drag himself out of bed to go to his teaching job. He lives in constant guilt and regret from a horrible tragedy in his past.

One day, alone in his classroom the Rain Girl appears, seemingly out of nowhere and forever changes his life.

There is a depth to the story that is sorely lacking in a lot of dark literature today. The dynamic Chris creates between the Rain Girl and Ben is mesmerizing, a sobering look at what I imagine overwhelmed single parents experience every day with a needy child that has lost the other parent.  The relationship develops into a one sided affair, the Rain Girl needing to be loved by Ben and no one else, refusing to accept the fact that they both need lives outside of each other. Especially when Ben’s old love shows up.

Another interesting twist to the book is the inclusion of short stories written by Ben. He had, had one book published in his past, but like everything else in his past, Ben has forsaken writing. These short stories open up windows into Ben’s character, letting you inside the inner workings of Ben, his struggles with his past and his present.

I won’t give you any spoilers, but the ending of the book really blew me away. It is haunting, sad, terribly frightening and also uplifting.

“Lullaby for the Rain Girl” is intelligent, deep, dark, character driven fiction at its best and I give it my highest recommendation.

I also have to mention that this another beautiful book by Dark Regions Press, the cover art captures the story beautifully.

Milestone is not a town that can be found on any map. Those who are aware of the place avoid it, and those who call it home treat it with a respect borne from fear. A once thriving mining town, the legends of myriad horrors operate as a warning to those who seek to cross its borders.

After his friends disappear, Warwick Tanner, an old man whiling away his days outside a liquor store, is forced to go find them, which means crossing into the dreaded town for the first time, a town marked by a sign that proclaims that: THERE ARE NO MIRACLES IN MILESTONE.

But Warwick will quickly learn that there are plenty of miracles in Milestone, and plenty of horrors, all of which he will encounter in his search. Trapped within the town’s fog-shrouded borders as the few remaining citizens, both living and dead, natural and supernatural, prepare for Milestone’s anniversary, Warwick will realize that his coming here was not an accident.

Because the town knows something about Warwick that he has chosen to forget. A secret that perfectly qualifies him to become part of Milestone’s accursed, and inescapable history.

Keelan Patrick Burkes’ “Thirty Miles North Of Dry County is a sometimes sad and poignant look at old age, memories, loss and friendship.

Warwick Tanner spends his days on a bench in front of a liquor store with his friend Dick, he has nowhere else to be and no one else in his life. When Dick and the liquor store owner Sven hop in Sven’s beat up old Volkswagen to confront the Mayor of Milestone about what he did to Sven’s store and don’t return.

Warwick makes the decision to go find his friend and confront the Mayor and whatever else is in Milestone. What he finds there he will have to confront things about himself that he has forgotten that the town knows about.

This is a really heart wrenching tale about a lonely old man and his last effort to do some good by helping his friends. The characters are absolutely wonderful, with a vivid sense of realism that really draws you into the story.

I came to very much care about Warwick, and was really able to lose myself in the story due to this, and Kealan’s wonderful and moving prose. For such a short novella Kealan’s work packs a powerful emotional punch, one that I enjoyed very much.

DarkFuse and Kealan Patrick Burke has a winner on their hands and one you don’t want to miss. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” they used to say here. But nobody had any idea how true that would really come to be.

When Las Vegas fell, it fell in stages. First, the long, slow death by drought. Then financial collapse and mass exodus. Scorched earth and scapegoats thrown to the flames. Finally, it fell from the face of the earth, cut off by a mysterious vortex that churns as relentlessly as the Red Spot on Jupiter, raised by forces we couldn’t possibly imagine.

So why had I stayed until it was too late? Easy: I’d spent years covering fights, and all of a sudden they were breaking out all over.

Now, in the aftermath, that’s about the only thing that hasn’t changed here. People still love to watch a good fight. So I’m lucky, one of the few to have kept his place in the world. Along with the fighters, who fight for the same reasons they always have. For honor, for respect, for the entertainment of a thirsty crowd of people starved for something unpredictable to watch, besides a horizon that will kill them.

But things can always get worse.

It started when one-time heavyweight contender Darius Thurman came back from a desert run a week late. It started with the call from his trainer, telling me how he was beginning to change. It started with the obvious conclusion:

Whatever had been on the outside all this time was finally finding its way in…

I have to say that this is the first piece of dark literature that I have read that used boxing as a central theme, and Mr. Hodge pulls it of beautifully.

The boxing side of the story; the atmosphere of the gym, the fighters and trainer, and even Brian’s descriptions of the scents and sounds of the gym are spot on and add a layer of believability to the story that only enhances everything else.

The characters are wonderful, fully developed and life-like. The story moves along at a brisk pace ratcheting up the tension and despair in the people that are still alive in what is left of Las Vegas.

The tale follows the story of a one time heavyweight contender that comes back from a training run in the desert a changed man. The story is told from a first person perspective by a boxing columnist that stayed behind even though Vegas was falling apart around him.

A somewhat different look at a post apocalyptic world, Brian uses the central themes of boxing; dedication, training, being true to yourself and those around you to pack in quite a bit in such a short novella.

I have always loved Brian’s work and “Without Purpose, Without Pity” continues to show why Brian is one of the best in the business and his fiction is always top notch.

If you are looking for a story that is a little different with a fresh story line, brilliant writing and wonderful characters this is the book for you and I highly recommend it.

DarkFuse continues to publish superior fiction and if you haven’t signed up for one of the various book clubs they offer, what are you waiting for. Their Kindle book club is a deal you arent’ going to find anywhere else. 24 books for $70.00..yup, that is less than $3.00 per book.

Sometimes no matter how vigilant you are, you can’t keep loved ones safe. — Dana McCluskey and her father know very well that there can be dangers around every corner. They wanted to keep Emmy safe. — But it is impossible to see some dangers coming. And there are those corners that you’d never see, out-of-the-way places just beyond our grasp where loved ones can get very lost — and the danger there is very real indeed.

“For Emmy” has been sitting in my Kindle since January of this year but I had only got around to reading it recently. What the hell was I waiting for, I asked myself when I finished it.

“For Emmy” was first published as a trade paperback in August 2011 and hardcover in September 2011 by Thunderstorm Books, it was then published for Kindle in January 2012.

It is a very dark, disturbing tale of a little girl that goes missing from her father’s used book store. She just seemingly disappears into thin air right under the noses of her older sister and father.

She magically reappears four months later, but it is not the same little girl. She barely speaks, has moments of severe screaming and is terribly frightened all the time.

When her father and sister discover the truth about what happened to Emmy, they do whatever they can to fix it in the hope of getting the real Emmy back.

“For Emmy” will leave its mark on you long after you put it down. Mary has this uncanny ability to draw you into her stories with life like characters and haunting prose.

And for all you “Hollower” and “Found You” fans, you will absolutely love “For Emmy”. She also has the third book in the “The  Hollower Trilogy” coming out from Thunderstorm Books called “The Triumvirate”. Can’t wait to read that one.

I for one am very glad Mary is continuing to put out new fiction, she is one of the best in the business and “For Emmy” is one of the best stories I’ve read this year and give it my highest recommendation.

On Halloween night, fourteen-year-old Dana Tower is the victim of an accident that sends her to the brink of death—and beyond. She manages to survive her injuries, and returns to the realm of the living. Yet she doesn’t return alone. Hijacking their way into the mortal world are three malicious entities, Shadow Beings that hunger for the human soul. But a fourth and very different sort of entity crossed over along with the Shadow Beings, and he may be Dana Tower’s only chance to protect herself and her friends from being consumed by the darkness.     

In Jeffrey Thomas’s latest effort “Lost In Darkness” from Bad Moon Books he again surprises me with the direction of this novel. What I love about Jeff is his ability and talent to change things up from book to book. He can be as visceral and bloody as they come, but he can also write a moving atmospheric tale steeped in the supernatural.

With “Lost In Darkness” Jeff manages to accomplish just that.

A 14 year old girl is hit by a car on Halloween night trying to saver her friend. She has one of those near death experiences. Yet, hers is completely real and three dark beings attach a ride back to the land of the living with her, along with another being from the realm of the dead.

What I liked most about this book were the characters and the storyline.

The characters were vibrant and real, the interaction between the three teenage friends was believable and life like.

Jeff took the ages old idea of “what comes after” and put his own macabre twist on it and with the “Shadow Beings” came up with some really great and interesting creatures.

The story started quickly and I was immediately drawn into the story. Jeff kept me turning the pages quickly, wanting to find out what happened next.

All in all another superb effort by on of the best writers working in dark fiction today and a little different than what I have read from Jeff in the past, not that I have read everything he has written…yet.

If you are looking for a book with great characters and a fresh, frightening twist on “what comes after” you must read “Lost In Darkness” and I highly recommend it.

The small Colorado town of Black Mercy Falls has a ghastly past.

The massive waterfall above the town runs thick with black iron oxide, but there are hushed suggestions that something evil is responsible for the dark waters. Whispers of the locals connect a list of missing children with a diabolical tale of the town’s founding father. Is the waterfall haunted? Or is the town cursed by something that stalks its children by night?

Now the waterfall and the land it’s on are bequeathed to Lance Evans by his estranged uncle. But when Lance brings his wife and son to explore the inheritance, they scarcely have a chance to marvel at its beauty and settle in to the rustic cabin than good fortune is overshadowed by tragedy. Mists of the past enshroud a dark legacy that threatens to take the lives of those he loves. It’ll take all he can do to save them or die trying.

I have to say that this is the first book I have a read that centered around a haunted waterfall and I loved every second of it.

If you are looking for a book to lift your spirits and put a smile on your face, “Black Mercy Falls” is not the book for you.

It is a dark, haunting tale of a man that inherits a beautiful piece of land in the remote town of Black Mercy Falls. He, his new pregnant wife and burly teenage son visit the land and cabin he inherited from his uncle.

Lance Evans lost his first wife, his son’s mother to cancer. His son still doesn’t like Lance’s new wife and is angry that he is made to go this trip.

When they arrive at the cabin Lance and his wife are overtaken by the beauty of the land and the waterfall until everything falls apart.

The story is fast paced and builds up the tension and dread until the cataclysmic ending, which I loved.

The characters are well developed and believable. I was really drawn into the story by Lance’s character and all that he has been and goes through.

This is a novella so it can be read in one sitting, or two at the most. But be warned, once you start you won’t be able to put it down.

DarkFuse continues to publish superior dark fiction, and with “Black Mercy Falls” they continue that tradition and I highly recommend it.