Written In Blood

THE PEN NAME by David Jacob Knight is traditional horror without the excessive gore, a collaboration of two gifted authors who both have the ability to work well with different sub-genres of horror, and appeal to a variety of readers. This novel provides some realistic dark fiction, inducing paranoia among the literary community with this frightening tale of a publishing company which steals souls.

The aspect which really makes THE PEN NAME an entertaining read for me is the detail put into the characters' personalities. I felt very emotionally invested in the fate of Ben Little and his family, after his rash decision made in a desperate attempt to provide financially for his family. I often found myself yelling at Ben...whenever I get so disgusted with a character's decisions and actions, it's usually a good sign I'm lost deep in the plot.

The ending is particularly creative, as well as unexpected. This is a nice break from the usual horror fiction I read.

As always,
AstraDaemon

The Worst Customer Service

The Phone Company
by David Jacob Knight

HELLO, I AM THE TETHER - The Phone Company has been around for a long time. As civilization grew, so did PCo’s power, slowly spreading its lines across the continent. Today it’s in everything. It’s in the air around us.

I CAN TRACK YOUR KIDS FOR YOU - Now PCo is building a cell tower in the isolated town of Cracked Rock, Montana, bringing with it infrastructure, opportunity, and the world’s smartest phone: the brand-new Tether.

I CAN SPY ON YOUR NEIGHBORS - But the Tether isn’t just a phone. It knows everything about you. It can give you anything you want. It can even connect you with the dead.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS GET CONNECTED - As the Tether digs up the town’s dirtiest skeletons, one father must make a stand to save what’s left of his family, his town, and humanity itself—or succumb to his own desires.

THE TETHER: I’M NOT TECHNOLOGY

PCo is a phone company that hands out "Tethers" to the townfolk of Cracked Rock. The apps are truly frightening - scarier than any horror monster. In addition to the extremely disturbing nature of the technology, there is a madness within this story that reminds me of Stephen King's Needful Things (a thought I had BEFORE one of the characters actually referred to the apps as "needful things").

The Phone Company could easily be the result of a three-way between Stephen King, Steve Jobs and HP Lovecraft, but it is the twisted creation of David Jacob Knight. As with The Pen Name, Knight has a talent for perverting reality into a nightmare that you'll never forget.

As always,
AstraDaemon