They're Killin' To Keep Runnin'

CONCURRENT WITH PAVLOV'S DOGS...

From breakouts in the monster lab to his role in the zombie apocalypse, follow Dr. Crispin and his team of werewolves through three eras of mad scientists, abominations, and a deadly new adversary.


...THERE WAS DOG YEARS 3: RETURN TO MOREAU LABS

Dr. Crispin’s covert team of genetic runts hunts down an old enemy at the source of the zombie outbreak.

RETURN TO MOREAU LABS by Thom Brannan and D.L. Snell is the third story in the prequel series to Pavlov's Dogs, although this one takes place during the same period of time in which Ken and Jorge (human survivors from the novel) realize the dead won't stay down. While Crispin's motivation for sending the Dogs to the mainland on a rescue mission is finally revealed, and Greco's journey circles back to the beginning of everything, the action doesn't seem as thrilling as the fighting in Dog Years 1.

However, I did enjoy seeing the gRunts in action, a nice change from the focus on Kaiser and Mac. I would love to know more about Street, the female Dog. I think she needs her own novelette, as I'm sure the authors could weave some interesting scientific differences based on her sex.

You don't need to read Pavlov's Dogs to enjoy the Dog Years, but I'm glad I read the novel first to appreciate the history of Kaiser, Mac and all the others. Not really werewolves, but a hell of a twist on the shapeshifter genre.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Kept in the Dark and Waiting

26 YEARS BEFORE PAVLOV'S DOGS...

From breakouts in the monster lab to his role in the zombie apocalypse, follow Dr. Crispin and his team of werewolves through three eras of mad scientists, abominations, and a deadly new adversary.


...THERE WAS DOG YEARS 2: PEDIGREE

The genesis of Alpha McLoughlin and Theta Kaiser is revealed, putting them in conflict with Dr. Crispin’s pet revivification project.

PEDIGREE by Thom Brannan and D.L. Snell takes place four years after the horrific incident in MOREAU LABS. Unlike the action in the first prequel, Dog Years 2 focuses on the psychological drama Kaiser and Mac must face as boys. The history of their biological mothers is revealed in bits and pieces, highlighting what kind of a twisted monster Greco is. If you thought Crispin is bad, you are in for a shocking and vile backstory.

While Pedigree isn't as long as the first novelette, the authors keep up the intensity with the manipulation displayed by both Crispin and Greco. Crispin's discovery about his partner towards the end makes for a chilling cliff-hanger.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Death Draws Near

30 YEARS BEFORE PAVLOV'S DOGS...

From breakouts in the monster lab to his role in the zombie apocalypse, follow Dr. Crispin and his team of werewolves through three eras of mad scientists, abominations, and a deadly new adversary.

...THERE WAS DOG YEARS 1: MOREAU LABS

Dr. Crispin and his arch-rival are forced to use a frightening technology when zombies break out in the monster lab.

DOG YEARS 1: MOREAU LABS by Thom Brannan and D.L. Snell, the first prequel to Pavlov's Dogs, takes place 30 years before the events in the novel. A younger Crispin is working on a reanimation virus, while his counterpart, Greco, is working on a way to control a biomutation project. Someone lets Crispin's patients escape his lab, and the virus spreads like wildfire.

Crispin attempts to rescue his lab assistant while piloting one of two Dogs created by Greco, but loses himself in the sensations of the battle against the undead lab employees. The two scientists not only get to field test their projects, but they inadvertently involve a third project.

The action is absolutely spectacular. Reading this story felt as though I was experiencing a virtual reality horror game, navigating through different levels filled with the undead and other monstrosities. I highly recommend this scifi-thriller!

As always,
AstraDaemon

Throwback Thursday: Pavlov's Dogs

Pavlov’s Dogs by DL Snell and Thom Brannan took a scientific approach to placing werewolves and zombies in the same setting, and the result was a brilliant undead thriller. While the military’s approach to manipulating the lycanthropic genetics of the “dog soldiers” with technology was fascinating, the release of the Dogs into an undead outbreak was awe-inspiring.

The Dogs are tasked with rescuing the survivors of a zombie plague in a nearby city, and bringing the humans to the research facility on an isolated island. Of course, it all goes to shit: there is some in-fighting between the various ranks of the pack, which leads to a rebellion against the scientific team, and eventually the infection reaches the island. Instead of just human zombies, Snell and Brannan create werewolf zombies.

Readers might initially be tempted to compare this storyline to the movie Dog Soldiers mixed with a Romero flick, but this was far more complex, with a well-developed cast of characters. I would love to see this novel optioned into a movie, but selecting actors to fill the roles would be extremely difficult. The characters are put through a gauntlet of suffering, unlike anything I’ve read before, and their emotions reflected the tone of the story in perfect detail – I can’t imagine who could pull it off onscreen.

The character that stood out the most for me was Jorge; while he wasn’t the most central figure in the plot, I thought his scenes were riveting and thought-provoking. He starts out as guy casually swilling a beer on the way to his last day of work, pushing his friend’s buttons for fun – I almost thought he was going to be the jerk of the story, but he wields his twisted sense of humor like a sword & shield as everything falls apart on the island due to a rogue Dog & a mad scientist.

In the follow-up novel, The Omega Dog, the apocalypse is turned up several notches, with zombies turning into Cthulhu-type mutants. Unlike most other sequels, The Omega Dog begins exactly where Pavlov’s Dogs left off, with Ken and Jorge trying to salvage what’s left of the island’s facilities and resources, and plan a search and rescue for Jorge’s children. The apocalypse becomes something more than just a battle of survival between werewolves, humans and zombies: the authors dig into both history and mythology to create a terrifying end-of-the-world nightmare for their characters and readers alike.

However, I didn’t enjoy the sequel as much as the first novel. What I loved about Pavlov’s Dogs was the interaction between the undead and the genetically engineered werewolves, but in The Omega Dog, there is only one Dog left: a fucked-up zombie werewolf with some serious issues that go far beyond being undead, and the zombies take a backseat to the rest of the action. Also, while it was hinted that the scientist behind the Dogs is also behind the zombie virus in the first book, that storyline remains largely untouched in the sequel.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Top Five Novels of 2015

This year I broke away from zombies and revisited many other horror sub-genres. I found numerous novels that I enjoyed, but the following five really stood out above the others:

#5 - The Girl Clay by Amy Cross has all the best elements at work in this story: horror, mystery, suspense and drama. The horror ranges from real-life issues to the supernatural.The two storylines, set ten years apart, are the perfect way to build suspense throughout the novel, until readers are finally shown all the connections. Last but not least, I loved the drama surrounding the girl Clay, specifically the detachment she maintains with everyone around her.


#4 - The 3 Egos by David Dunwoody is the author's best work. He's written a very complex novel about redemption and revenge, without overwhelming readers, and the characters are anything but typical, displaying the best and worst of human nature. Quite frankly, this is the best description of Hell that I've ever read.

#3 - Sad Wings of Destiny by Thom Brannan is one of the more unusual works of fiction that I've read. In the case of Brannan's latest masterpiece, the hook with Jacob/Stephen is one of the most exquisite character reveals that I've read in any genre. I was instantly drawn to that character, even though I had a lot of difficulty getting into the story itself. I'm not really into superheroes or supervillains in literature - movies, sure, but not when it comes to my reading material. I was rewarded with a spectacular drama that incorporates science fiction, fantasy and horror in ways I've never imagined.

#2 - Unpaved Surfaces by Joseph Souza has an extremely well-developed cast of characters, and switching between their POVs gives the readers a 360 degree view of the impact of the child abduction at the heart of the story. This novel is guaranteed to take readers on an emotional journey they will not soon forget. I think this story would also make a great movie.


The biggest surprise of all...


#1 - The Bell House by Lori Titus caught me completely off guard...I never knew what to expect at any point and that made it all the more thrilling. This is not your typical haunted house story, and the suspense is incredible. Titus does an excellent job of luring in readers with a love triangle involving brothers. The connections from one generation of the Bell family to the next added fuel to the fire, literally. Families have drama as it is, but when you involve curses and ghosts, you have the seemingly unstoppable force of the Bell house. This story is full of dark family secrets and angry spirits, pitting the living against the dead…one of the most frightening novels of 2015.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Even The Best Of Us Have The Worst Problems

Sad Wings of Destiny
by Thom Brannan
360 pages
$.99 Kindle version

There comes a time for a superhero when punching a bad guy in the face just isn't enough.

Spring-Heeled Jack has reached that point. Not that he doesn't enjoy the way his nanotech-enhanced fists have made their mark on the underworld, but he knows he could do so much more. His partner, the Archon, knows Jack means well, but he doesn't have the answers he needs to make a decision, and the archangel Uriel, to whom he is bound, has been silent on the matter.

Their boundaries are stretched to the limit when a new supervillain appears on the scene and changes the way the game is played. Some bad guys want to be rich, some want to rule the world... the Tyrant wants to bring an end to everything... and he's got the means to do it.
Spring-Heeled Jack and the Archon will save the day, of that there is no question. But what will be the cost? Ideals and people will be cast to the side, and when the time comes, a terrifying choice must be made. This is what happens when the abyss gazes back.

---

About a week ago, I was on schedule with my reviews...and pretty much everything else that I had going on. Then I agreed to review Sad Wings of Destiny by Thom Brannan, which effectively train-wrecked my personal and professional life. Never have I spent so long reading any one novel, and never have I had so many mixed feelings about a story.

I hated this story so much in the beginning, I was trying to figure out how to break it to Brannan...how could I give a bad review to one of my favorite authors? Luckily, I have this policy: I do not write a book review unless I have read the entire book. (You would be surprised at how many reviewers do not complete the books that they review.) It seems only fair, but it's also been my experience that some stories with horrible beginnings have the world's greatest endings.

In the case of Brannan's latest masterpiece, the hook with Jacob/Stephen is one of the most exquisite character reveals that I've read in any genre. I was instantly drawn to that character, even though I had a lot of difficulty getting into the story itself. I'm not really into superheroes or supervillains in literature - movies, sure, but not when it comes to my reading material. However, between Brannan's reputation, the title and the unusual timeline (starts in present, jumps back seven years, then progresses forward one year at a time, until readers are brought back to the exact moment that we are introduced to the two main characters), I was expecting something dramatic.

What I was not expecting was the ridiculously slow pace. I don't know how it's possible to have that much action, and still feel like the story is crawling from one page to the next. During the first fifty pages, I tried reading as fast as I could, just to get it over with, kind of like ripping off a Band-Aid. The characters are described well-enough, but I found their personalities to be lacking, and the initial interactions/relationships seemed superficial. It was like watching a movie that I couldn't get into...until I read a couple of years into the timeline.

It wasn't until Jack and Archon were trying to help Alien Grey that I finally began to care what happened to them. The more "Ultras" that were introduced, the more interesting the story became. At one point, I thought maybe it was the format...maybe this novel should have been a graphic novel. Regardless of my initial negative feelings towards this story, there was never any doubt in my mind that Brannan knows how to create heroes and villains. His originality is impressive, even by comic book standards.

About 100 pages in, the story absolutely rocks! From Part Five (three years before the starting point in the timeline) onward, it's as if Brannan changed his writing style. The second half of the book is far, far more exciting than the first half. If you're like me, and have difficulty digging into the storyline, have patience and you will be rewarded with a spectacular drama that incorporates science fiction, fantasy and horror in ways you've never imagined.

The ending was enough to make me howl in despair, but in a good way. I'm not likely to forget this literary journey anytime soon.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Let's Explore Time Travel...

Times of Trouble Anthology
edited by Lane Adamson
345 pages
$5.99 Kindle version

While I appreciate a good science fiction story every now and then, I'm not really a fan of the genre...and I'm even less of a fan of the sub-genre of time travel. So, imagine my absolute SHOCK that, not only did I enjoy this anthology, I had nightmares and weeks of extremely vivid dreams because of this particular story collection. That has NEVER happened before...not for so long, with such intensity. I give full credit to the authors - I would call them highly imaginative, but that would be an understatement.

HIROSHIMA SUNFLOWERS by Stephen Gaskell has an emotional depth that I would never expect in this genre.

PREVIOUS by David Gullen gave me mixed feelings: in the beginning, I hated the characters, hated the sterile environment of the future, but, towards the end, I loved the characters and their interaction with the past.

THE SCAVENGER by Michael C. Lea is a great interaction of multiple time-travelers...the disruptive timelines, the squid...outstanding imagery - hell, even We Will Rock You was a small detail that made a huge impression. Definitely one of my favorites.

LITTLE GIRL LOST by Jeff Drake is a mix of Hellraiser and Lovecraft.

A TORNADO IN TIME by Craig DiLouie has a great explanation of time travel consequences; one of the best stories in the anthology.

LET ME TAKE YOU THERE by Rakie Keig is a touching love story. Absolutely a five star story!

TO RUN INDEFINITELY by Brian P. Easton is another story that stands out. I thoroughly enjoyed the perspective of the character, Oris.

THE GRANDFATHER CLAUSE by Jason S. Hornsby is depressing beyond words.

TEMPUS FUGITIVE by Rob Pegler and Thom Brannan is a story of exploitation.

MANDATORY WAITING PERIOD by Aaron Polson is one hell of a family feud!!

SCREWING CHRISTA by Wayne Helge is one of the most twisted stories in the collection, and also one of the best.

FORGETTING by Frank Farrar focuses more on our perception of the past.

DECOHERENCE by Mark Harding is another favorite...I loved all the storylines!

HOUNDED by Joshua Reynolds is a dark and twisted mindscrew.

THE TRANSCENDENTAL MAN by Timothy Martinez has an ending that I found to be quite pleasing.

RABID SEASON by Matthew Baugh is freaking HILARIOUS!!

MULLIGAN by Peter Clines is simply BRILLIANT and sure to be a favorite with all readers.

FACES OF NEFERTITI by Ruth Nestvold is another five star story that I would like to see turned into a full-length novel.

BIODEGRADABLE by Gregory L. Norris truly stood out from all the others in the collection.

THE TIME TRAVELER'S LATE WIFE by Stan Timmons is a ZOMBIE story!!

A HATFUL OF YESTERDAY by Lane Adamson has a confusing ending that I'm still trying to work out...

AMONG FLOWERS AND BONES by Frank Summers is a quiet ending to the anthology.

Honestly, you don't even have to be a fan of science fiction to appreciate the creativity that went into each and every one of these stories. It's a fantastic mix of authors, and will most likely be my top pick of anthologies for 2015.

As always,
AstraDaemon