Synopsis:
Arlene is running from her old life. While driving a desert road in the middle of nowhere, her car breaks down, forcing her to seek refuge in a small diner. Diner owner Joe strikes a tentative deal with Arlene: in exchange for waitressing one night, he will cover the repairs to her car. On the surface things appear legitimate, but Arlene can't shake the feeling there's something off about Joe and his cliché diner.
Review Black Rain by Gene Penny 29/8/20
Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this audiobook free of charge in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
What begins as an apparent roadtrip to escape a life with a violent boyfriend leaves Arlene broke, broken down and miles from anywhere besides a roadside diner.
Accepting the offer of help to repair her car in exchange for a night's help in the diner, Arlene finds herself fighting for her life when the Black Rain starts to fall. As someone who loves gore in books I was more than satisfied by what I found here and the things that came in the rain and brilliantly realised & described.
My one complaint is that in such a limited environment as this is set, you have to ensure that each of the very limited characters has a real sense of being but they did seem a little generic and forgettable but, given the running-time of about 3 hours all in, this can be forgiven somewhat but if not for a wonderful narration by Ann Richardson (who gives one of my favourite female performances to date) it could be a bigger issue.
In the end though we find ourselves with, what appears initially to be, a short and very straightforward creature feature until the end when it provides a little extra twist at the end.
Synopsis:
Thirteen dark tales from the author of Saint Sadist and Gods of the Dark Web.
The disappearance of his son brings a rock star home to atone for past sins. A bartending ex-preacher faces a terrible destiny when an former congregation member walks into his bar wearing a bloody shirt. A blizzard traps a suicidal writer at the Jersey Shore with a cult and its strange goddess. A woman shoots a pornographic video and the act shatters her reality. The zombie apocalypse forces three teenagers to take refuge with the school bully. An old poem connects a college student with her haunted past and her doomed future.
Lucas Mangum's debut collection Engines of Ruin will surely appeal to fans of Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, Sara Gran, Richard Laymon, Bentley Little, and John Skipp.
Review Engines of Ruin by Lucas Mangum 29/8/20
Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this audiobook free of charge in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Short stories are a strange thing. To try and present an entirely rounded setting, circumstance and outcome in about 20-30 minutes is not an easy thing to do, be it in written form of an anthology movie such as Asylum (1972- check it out) and it really does depend what the subject matter is.
I tend to find that sci-fi shorts don't really work as there is too much world-building to be done but horror is a perfect palette to work with. In this case, we've got thirteen tales of sexually-charged horror ranging from a murder couple to a zombie apocalypse and (my favourite) ghostly revenge.
My enjoyment with the tales varied from one to another as some simply failed to elicit any sense of shock but all are well written by the one Author and fabulously narrated by Sean Duregger who add a great sense of pace and expression to the characters.
For this type of collection you just need to ask yourself if you like short stories as, while a pretty good selection of stories, they're not for everyone.