3.5 stars but I'm bumping it up for Goodreads because many of these stories made me laugh and that counts for a lot these days.
Resisting Madness is a 3.5 stars but I'm bumping it up for Goodreads because many of these stories made me laugh and that counts for a lot these days.
Resisting Madness is a fun collection of little horror niblets that ends with a novella sized story. Books like these are a struggle to rate with stars because some stories always work better than others. Collections are always difficult for me to review because writing the review is basically me writing a zillion little mini-reviews and doing my best to say something to inform but also desperately trying to not give too much away because then why bother reading the book, right?
So here are some brief thoughts in order of appearance. Some will be rated others will not because this is how I operate.
With Many Thanks To Newark: A grumpy as shit man gets seated next to an obnoxious as shit man on a flight. This dude will NOT stop talking and I felt for the grumpy guy SO much because I have no patience for that in general but especially when forced to take a trip I don’t even want to take like this guy here. I’m saying nothing more except that this feels like a lost episode of Tales from the Darkside and I LOVED that show so much. 3.5 stars
Arrearages features a misogynistic prick finds who hurts others with reckless abandon. I thought this was a ton of gruesome fun and I will not apologize for saying so ...more
This was such a weird novella but weird in the best of weird ways. It was the perfect book to choose to forget about the world for a few h4 1/2 Stars
This was such a weird novella but weird in the best of weird ways. It was the perfect book to choose to forget about the world for a few hours. It’s pure madness, really, and if you need some of that in your life you won’t be let down.
Dr. Rains is a scientist but he’s not your average scientist. He’s a mad scientist! Think Re-animator’s Herbert West mad. If West was messing with phantom limbs and giant ghost monsters and had nothing but revenge on his warped brain, that is!
I’ve been having a hard time focusing on reading these days like most of us. I typically pick up a book and read for ten minutes and find myself distracted by everything else and going back to reread the last few pages after I’ve realized my mind has wandered away from me and that is just the worst thing. And yes, run-on forever sentences are my forte. It’s why I read books and don’t write them. But that start/stop thing didn’t happen with this book. I plopped myself in a chair outside and read from nearly beginning to end in one fell swoop until I had to go in because I was cooked like a lobsta. Granted it’s only 140 pages or so but STILL. This is an accomplishment for me.
Super Ghost is pure fun and it made me laugh so many times. The humor is on the sarcastic side, especially the character of Michelle. I loved her voice. She really spoke to me. She becomes a patient of Dr. Creepfest after hurling insults at him. She’s wary but she is in so much physical pain that she reluctantly agrees to let him perform his “experimental” treatment on her missing limbs. He promises to end her pain. For FREE! Uh oh!
Darren is the other main character. He’s lost an arm and Dr. Demento accosts him with his promises to fix him up good with his “Phantom Zapper”. Darren is not so easily swayed but Dr. Creepfest thinks no means” sure, why not?” And things get wild from here.
This book is nothing but gleefully ridiculous lighthearted fun. There’s monsters and body horror and humor. It’s all there and it’s feeling fine! Go get yourself a copy and have a laugh. You deserve it. ...more
Imagine this, if you will, you don’t feel so hot and step into the rest room to take care of business. While you were away, the earth has been plaguedImagine this, if you will, you don’t feel so hot and step into the rest room to take care of business. While you were away, the earth has been plagued by demonic hounds. You probably shouldn't have eaten so many hot wings but it looks like they may have saved your life this time around! So as these hounds are busy eating faces and humping legs (and other things) with their giant doggie parts, you are left stumbling about trying to figure out exactly what the hell happened. Fortunately you soon find a few other misfits and are off on a mission to find a statue and save the world!
This book is most definitely bizarro. I usually have trouble finishing bizarro books because they’re too far out there for me but this one stayed grounded with some fun humor that kept me reading. It was bat shit crazy, kind of gross in parts and a little too heavy on the non-stop action side for my personal taste. There are hounds from another dimension, warty dwarves, a monkey in a wedding dress, mer-people, a man-sized tribble costume and a whole lot more packed in here. There’s no way I can explain the plot and I’m not even going to try. I’ll just say that it’s a very bad idea to wear a tribble costume around a bunch of hung hounds and leave it at that.
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Jeff Strand dips his whole body in the bizarro sub-genre with this one. Facial has Strand’s snarky sense of humor out in full force but damn is it eveJeff Strand dips his whole body in the bizarro sub-genre with this one. Facial has Strand’s snarky sense of humor out in full force but damn is it ever weird. Flesh-eating face in the floor kind of weird. If that’s your thing read on.
Greg’s wife is cheating on him. Instead of confronting her, he hires a sarcastic hit man to off one of her lovers. Greg doesn't appreciate the hit man’s sarcasm, shoots him dead and saves himself some bucks. But now he’s stuck with a body.
Carlton arrives home to find the rotting corpse of a lion in his basement but wait things get worse and weirder. There's a voice coming out from under the lion, demanding human flesh, blood and bone. If Carlton doesn’t deliver, this face in the floor declares Carlton and his family will die. Carlton ponders for a second or two.
Screw it. I’d do it. My existing plans for today were: watch television, eat stale graham crackers with stale marshmallows, and cry a little…so why not? It was a break from the norm. I could quit at any time. I’d make it clear to the possible viewing audience that I was in on the joke. “All right,” I said. “I’ll do it.”
Fortunately Carlton’s bro Greg has a fresh corpse at the ready, eh?
Dismemberment and minor grossness follow, more faces grow out of the floor and they’re all hungry. It’s a good thing there are a lot of men out there who have done Greg wrong . . . or, really, just done his wife!
This was a weirdly entertaining story with enough sarcasm and dark humor to keep me happy. I’m giving it a 3 ½ (bumped down to a 3) because of the constantly switching first person point of view and the fact that all of the characters sounded eerily and confusingly similar. Even though each chapter clearly tells you who is going to be speaking, I still managed to mix them up because, again, the similarities, and I had to do some backtracking. Sort of frustrating after a bit.
*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley....more
Laurie (barksbooks)
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