Book Reviews

By Stephanie Simpson-Woods

Hiya kiddies! Man, it sure is getting cold underneath this mosquito net, sitting in the dark with nothing more than a few books and my trusty flashlight. Whoa! Is that a skeeter bite on the side of my leg? It looks more like half a cantaloupe. Oh well, I will make a good, crusty scab out of it later. Until then, here are a few great reads I suggest you stuff in your duffle bag along with your canteen and collection of decomposing body parts.

Of Flesh and Hunger:Tales of the Ultimate Taboo

Editor: John Edward Lawson
Publisher: Double Dragon Publishing
PO Box 54016
1-5762 Highway 7 East
Markham, Ontario L3P 7Y4 Canada
http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com
ISBN: 1-55404-035-3
Price: $4.99
Page Count: 374

Who's hungry? I would be, but after reading ‘Of Flesh and Hunger' my stomach is churning with disgust instead of starvation. I mean disgust in a good way, though. I just don't crave what the many tales included in this book revolve around: human flesh.

This gruesome goody bag full of human treats is an excellent late night snack. Edited by John Edward Lawson, it is packed full of flesh ripping tales by a very creative group of authors including: Hertzan Chimera, Eric S. Brown, Perry McGee, John Grover and Mathew Shute, just to name a few. The stories have been individually wrapped by each author, offering a taste of the funny, the unusual and the down right horrifying, giving the reader a delightful feast for their brain to chew on.

So what will you find in this book? I'll provide you with a small sampler to nibble on: Paul Bradshaw's ‘Murder is Meat' gave me both the chills and the giggles with his tale about a flesh eating family whose child decides to become a vegetarian. Darren Speegle sheds new light on what is much more than your basic pig pickin' with ‘Papa Bo's Big-Ass Barbecue' and Daniel G. Keohane gives the term “lost in space” a much bloodier and twisted meaning with his story, ‘Selection'.

‘Of Flesh and Hunger' is one of those books where you can't just stop at one story and continue later. No, no. Once you read one, you're in for the long haul. But that's what a good feast is like isn't it? You try one thing then move on until you have tried it all and that is what this book is, one huge, lip-smacking feast you can't peel your eyes from. This is one read you'll love to sink your eyes into and leave with that satisfactory feeling of fullness, yet ready for another menacing coarse.

His Father's Son: Dante's Rage

Author: Diana Bennett
Publisher: Publish America
www.publishamerica.com
ISBN: 1-59286-090-7
Price: $24.95
Page Count: 324

Some people are just born evil and others acquire it through everyday life, or in this case, a set of powerful rings bringing the elements of strength, knowledge and the ultimate evil. When close friends Giovanni and Juliano run into a stranger by the name of Ezra, the destiny of the three men begins to unfold when they put on the mysterious rings, making them powerful, immortal and brilliant. They never age, never lose a battle and never get a chance to truly love. They feed off the souls of innocent people and desire the souls of strangers, friends and even the people they adore.

Within all of the death, turmoil and heartache two young boys are born: Dante, a child with a free spirit and a thirst for the spilling of blood and Jerome, who is more of a gentleman than a warrior. As they grow older, the grief bestowed upon them by their Fathers forms a web of hate, revenge and suffering between the two men. Dante, jealous of the love Jerome stumbles upon, comes between Jerome and his fiancé Suzanne, ripping the two friends apart and stirring the bizarre hate octagon formed by Juliano and Giovanni.

Oh, but there is a method within all of this madness. One of the rings, if placed on the proper person, will turn them into one of the most powerful Gods ever created. But how will this ring find it's proper place? When the four men settle down, Dante and Jerome both creating new lives for themselves, they are called upon by Giovanni and the mystery of why Giovanni and Dante are so cold and uncaring unravels and Giovanni's evil plan is unleashed, but was it really Giovanni's plan, or had he been out-smarted by one of his own?

‘His Father's Son: Dante's Rage' might as well have come complete with super glue on the cover, because this book did not leave my hands for quite sometime. Never have I read a book and been so compelled to it, it's characters or the questions inside. Diana Bennett was able to make me squirm over one of the most evil and relentless men I hade ever read about. This book is jammed packed with subplots and surprises that make it an addicting page-turner. It had all of the wonderful things I look for in a book: characters I could relate to, a vast amount of bloodshed, intelligence and overwhelming passion. Plus I have to add that Diana did an excellent job describing the landscape and hardships of the medieval period in which the book takes place.

Ignore the suited man on the cover, the only suits you will find in this tale are those of armor and although the man on the cover is quite the looker, Diana did not chose him as her intriguing Dante.

I would most definitely give Diana's book another read. ‘Dante's Rage' is now on my top five “must read” list and I am certainly a fan.

Scarabus

Author: Karen Koehler
Publisher: Black Death Books
PO Box 588
Effort, PA 18330
www.khpindustries.com
ISBN: 0-9679220-2-X
Price: $18.00

Scarabus has walked the Earth for 3,000 years, his body filled with bloodthirsty scarabs that feed on the living. His life didn't start out this way. He was once human; a young Egyptian male blessed with artistic ability and a woman who would follow him throughout his years as Scarabus the damned.

He began his life as Tjanefer, a young tomb painter in Egypt. During the transition of Pharaoh Akhenaten's rule, all hell broke loose, a new God, the sun God was born and the temples of Karnak fell spreading chaos through Egypt. When Tjanefer's Father is killed while traveling to Karnak, Tjanjefer leaves his new wife and long time love, Aneski, behind to find him, only to fall into the hands of deception; a trap so wicked Tjanefer would never be the same.

Scribbling his once pleasant turned heinous past into a private journal, Scarabus goes on with his nightly rituals, as he has for the past 3,000 years; sleeping in a sarcophagus during the day and taking helpless souls at night, quenching his Ba, or the highest form of his spirit. During one of his nightly romps he runs into a woman, whom at first was intended to be another one of his victims, but he realizes that the woman, Victoria, is not just any woman, it is his beloved Aneski reincarnated.

This was something he had stumbled upon many times before in his past, the spirit of Aneski in the fresh flesh of a more modern day woman. Unfortunately, he was never able to keep her, for her spirit had fallen pray to some fierce disaster, only to come back and be discovered by him all over again.

Tiring of his loneliness and his endless stroll across the Earth, Scarabus hunts for a cure and tries to start a romance with Victoria, unaware that along with Aneski's spirit, the ones who had made him into the demon he was had returned as well.

Karen Koehler, the author of “Slayer”, has the remarkable talent of intertwining words to create an exciting and eye gripping piece. Each page was filled with mystery and colorful details of both Egypt and the modern day world. What thrilled me the most about this book was her knowledge of Egyptian history. Being a fan of historic Egypt, especially the story behind Akhenaten and his attempt to rule Egypt through monotheism, I was pleased to see the legendary, almost erased Pharaoh used as part of Scarabus' past.

Her characters were so well defined I could feel both Scarabus' pain and anger towards the world and those who had created him, as well as his intense love Aneski. And the creepy, flesh-eating scarabs were chilling enough to make me want to grab a can of Raid while I read the book.

Scarabus is an excellent mix of romance and history both bound together with skin biting horror. This was the first book I have ever read by Karen Koehler and it most certainly won't be my last.