Reviews from Barry

After too long a wait, her are some new reviews from me.

Hopefully, I'm starting to get back in the groove.

GULAG MOON, Tom Ciolli, Amazon Kindle, $2.99, 57 pages, reviewed by Barry Hunter.

Tom is the author of the exciting Chronos Series and this too brief novella is a prequel to the earlier books. This is the story of the meeting of Zep Hedgewick and Zach Murphy who are major characters in the other books of the trilogy.

Zep and Zach meet during high school and seem to be on different paths until the machinations of the Mining Syndicate starts transporting older factory workers to a forest moon and leaves them to fend for themselves. They must learn to survive and prepare for an eventual showdown with the Syndicate.

Zach recruits Zep into an underground movement against the Syndicate and this story of their adventures shows their growth and experiences as they mature into the characters of the other works in this series.

This is an enjoyable, although, short adventure that will help you learn more about the characters and their motives. Check all of the books in the series on Amazon.com.

SENSE AND SENSUALITY, Erotic Fantasies in the World of Jane Austin, edited by J Blackmore, Circlet Press, www.circlet.com, $5.99, 159 pages, reviewed by Barry Hunter.

It seems that Jane Austen’s works have been zombified and vampirised in the recent past. Now J Blackmore has taken it to the next level and sexualized the various characters that have inhabited a rather chaste world and has now filled it with passion.

The writers have taken some of the lesser known characters and given them a different path than expected by their actions in the original books. Who would have thought that Mary Bennet would lean to the world of witchcraft? Read “A Woman of Uncommon Accomplishment” by Elizabeth Reeve for all the details. Emma Woodhouse lends her matchmaking ability to aid Lord Rigby end up with her cousin Nate in “Lord Rigby’s Scandalous Secret” by Jack Dickson.

Wickham makes an unusual pact with a woman that affects the rest of his life in “The Lamia’s Proposal” by Kaysee Renee Robichaud. Darcy makes a too brief appearance as Heath is perplexed with the thoughts of marriage as Jay Starre relates in “The Page of Wands”. “The Amber Cross” by MeiLin Miranda features Fanny Price in an adventure that shows that, she too, has feelings.

J Blackmore shines again with this volume of unusual erotica that proves again that she knows how to bring out the best in her writers and present the reader with a well done volume.

WHISPERS IN DARKNESS, Lovecraftian Erotica, edited by J Blackmore, Circlet Press, www.circlet.com, $5.99, reviewed by Barry Hunter.

Everyone knows Lovecraft was raised with Puritanical values and the last thing you would expect from him is something erotic. With this in mind, J Blackmore has delivered eight tales that use the ideas and settings of Lovecraft. This is a volume that will surprise you.

In “Ink” by Bernie Mojzes, a private eye looking for a missing girl finds the Eldrich Sam who is selling experiences to all comers. “Koenigsberg's Model” by Peter Tupper is a quest story that turns into a fixation as Rick seeks to solve a mystery and finish his thesis. In “A Reflection of Kindness” by Kannan Feng, a young bride finds true happiness, but is it really her husband.

Other stories take on other aspects of the mythos and Lovecraft’s peculiarities. “The Artist's Retreat” by Annabeth Leong; “The Dreams in the Laundromat” by Elizabeth Reeve tells of Miskatonic’s students; “Sheik” by Angela Caperton features Nyarlathotep the Great; “The Flower of Innsmouth” by Monique Poirier; and “When the Stars Come” by Alex Picchetti features Lavinia Whatley and Yog-Sothoth.
This is an interesting and unusual collection that leaves you wanting more and makes you look at The Great Old Ones in a different way.