Book Review: Haunted by Willow Cross

Haunted
by Willow Cross

Publisher: Willow Cross; Amazon Digital Services
Release Date: 23 October 2013
ASIN: B005Z53TA8
Format: Kindle book
Pages: 26
Genre: Horror; Short Story
Time to read: 1 hour
Source: Amazon (Free at the time; One Hundred Free Books) [5 January 2014]
aStore Link: Haunted

Summary
(from Goodreads)

Have you ever heard something go bump in the night and wonder if someone was there? Only to go looking for the cause of the noise and find nothing at all. Or how about unexplainably feeling like you’re being watched when you’re completely alone? Things disappearing for no reason or strange ghostly footsteps in the hall? This book is a collage of short stories about a few of the otherworldly experiences I’ve had. Although they are not movie worthy, you may find them interesting. All the stories are %100 true. Nothing has been added for dramatic effect. 

My Reaction

I'm a sucker for scary short stories, particularly those that make you afraid to pay attention to your peripheral vision while you are reading. The author's prologue warned that the stories contained within were true accounts without embellishment, and that if you were looking for movie-quality scenes of terror, you would be "sorely disappointed". However, I came away with several good goosebumps and a little nervousness after reading.

It seems the author is somewhat of a magnet for haunted houses and ghostly visitors. She has moved several times: sometimes because of family and financial issues; other times because of an uncomfortable presence in their dwelling place. Each story in this quick little read gives a glimpse into what author Willow Cross must experience quite often. With a current total of four books in the Haunted series, there must be more stories worth reading.

This was a self-published endeavor, and while there was a second-party editor, there were a few spots within the text that seem to have needed a bit of polishing—but those are likely some things the average quick reader will gloss over without a second thought; neither did those errors really affect the story. (I just have picky eyes, except when it comes to editing my own stuff, it seems.) In any case, I am certainly hooked into reading the rest of the series as soon as I get the chance.

I will conclude by saying while I don't typically doubt that much of what Cross and other eyewitnesses of ghostly encounters believe to have experienced, I tend to relegate such evidence as coming from either something not-quite-obviously-explainable or from demonic forces (which I do believe exist).

Reading Challenges: 2014 Read Your Freebies! Challenge

For more information on this book:

Willow Cross' Website

Amazon (Kindle Version Only)

Book Review: Ant Apocalypse by Will Swardstrom

Unnatural Disasters
by Daniel Pyle (Editor)

Publisher: DeadPixel Publications
Release Date: 14 September 2013
ASIN: B00F7E77WS
Format: Kindle book
Pages: 62
Genre: Horror; Short Story
Time to read: 1 hour
Source: Amazon (Free at the time; One Hundred Free Books) [27 September 2013]
aStore Link: Ant Apocalypse

Summary
(from Goodreads)

Rick and his wife, Jennifer have just moved to a house in Kentucky.The only problem is -- the previous occupants never left.

Ants.

Regular, everyday ants are one thing. But what do you do when they develop a taste for flesh? How do you kill ants that are already dead? 

Ant Apocalypse is a short story about one man's struggle with the bane of the Midwest -- ants.

My Reaction

This is one of the first books I discovered through One Hundred Free Books, a site which lists free Kindle books available on Amazon. However, it took me a while to read it as I was getting used to the whole digital book thing.

This was a pretty quick and fun read, but I felt the book could have used a good copy editor. I was also a bit distracted by the constant reference (from page one) to the narrator's impending demise. I guess there was good reason for a few references, but it seemed a bit forced by the fourth or fifth occasion. 

I did have a local interest in reading this story as the fictional "Frankland County, Kentucky" setting is actually not too different from the part of Kentucky across the river from me. I had to laugh with familiarity when the narrator described the mobile home they moved into,  including the description of what we call "underpinning"; whether that is the actual word for it I can never tell because our rural area tends to use words for things that people from a few counties away would find confusing.

The meat of the story—gratuitous numbers of ants invading a newlywed couple's new home in a new town—is very familiar to me, and invading insects is one of my nightmares. Several places in the narrative gave me those goosebumps of ickiness. The climax fed into the current craze of the living dead (referenced in the book's synopsis above), of which I am not a huge fan; but it was used just enough to freak me out.

I can recommend this for a quick scare. I would certainly like to read some of Swardstrom's other books now that I have been introduced to his work.

Reading Challenges: 2014 Read Your Freebies! Challenge

For more information on this book:

Will Swardstrom's Website

Amazon (Kindle Version Only)

Book Review: Unnatural Disasters by Daniel Pyle (Editor)

Unnatural Disasters
by Daniel Pyle (Editor)

Publisher: Blood Brothers Publishing
Release Date: 31 October 2011
ISBN: 0615565123
Format: Kindle book
Pages: 168
Genre: Horror; Short Stories; Anthology
Time to read: 4 hours
Source: Amazon (Free at the time; One Hundred Free Books) [2 January 2014]
aStore Link (Real Book): Unnatural Disasters
aStore Link (Kindle Book): Unnatural Disasters

Summary
(from Goodreads)

Floods. Earthquakes. Tornados. Asteroids. Nature can be vicious. But when you combine natural disasters with the very unnatural imaginations of the authors in this collection, you get terrors worse than anything Mother Nature has ever thrown at us, forays into nightmarish worlds that make a hurricane look like a light summer breeze.

Join Scott Nicholson, William Meikle, Daniel Pyle, Robert J. Duperre, Danielle Bourdon, Keith Gouveia, Ruth Francisco, J.A. Titus, and Robin Morris for nine horrific tales that will leave you cringing, gasping, and so scared of the outdoors you’ll never want to leave your house again. 

Stories: 
"39 Days" by Robert J. Duperre
"The Meek" by Scott Nicholson
"Sourdough" by Ruth Francisco
"Rickman's Plasma" by William Meikle
"Twist" by Daniel Pyle
"Wild Release" by Keith Gouveia
"Whiteout" by Danielle Bourdon
"Resurrecting Eve" by J.A. Titus
"Narobrian Afternoon" by Robin Morris


My Reaction

I didn't know what to expect from Unnatural Disasters. I had just become a regular visitor of  One Hundred Free Books, a site which lists free Kindle books available on Amazon several times a day. To be honest, I'm still a reluctant participant in digital book reading, mainly because it's new, and new scares me. But, I also started going to the gym (also new and scary) and was finding trying to hold a book while also trying to burn calories took too much concentration.

When I began to read the first story I didn't really pay attention that I was going into an anthology of nine very creative short stories by various authors. with a connecting theme. This first one began with people stranded among water. I thought: simple lost on an island story. How wrong I was.

As each story unfolded, the central theme of a natural disaster (or for some stories, what seemed to be natural disasters) in some fashion linked every story together. Snowstorms, tornadoes, floods, and the like became backdrops to tales with more of a horror/sci-fi feel than disaster-survival epics. As a result, the book title is very appropriate for the contents within.

At points within a couple of the tales I was a bit lost, and I think that could have been because the authors may have been shooting for a smaller page count to fit in the compilation; that also may be because I am not an avid follower of horror stories, so I may have missed some things that are fairly common in the genre. Some of the stories were a bit more graphic than I was ready for, but nothing I probably haven't seen on television. I'm not a big fan of anthropophagy (even if fictional), and it happens a bit more than I would like throughout the anthology. Speaking of television: SyFy channel needs to grab the filming rights to a few of these stories, because they would be a delight to watch.

I would certainly recommend this short story anthology to any horror fans or frequent watchers of sci-fi. I had nothing invested since at the time this version was free, but given the enjoyment I had reading, the current price for the ebook is still a bargain.

Reading Challenges: 2014 Read Your Freebies! Challenge

For more information on this book: 

Daniel Pyle's Website

Amazon  |  Kindle

Book Review: What's So Funny? by Tim Conway

What's So Funny? My Hilarious Life
by Tim Conway and Jane Scovell

Publisher: Howard Books
Release Date: 29 October 2013
ISBN: 9781476726502
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Genre: Nonfiction; Autobiography
Time to read: 5 hours
Source: Christmas gift from my wife
aStore Link (Real Book): What's So Funny?
aStore Link (Kindle Book): What's So Funny?

Summary
(excerpted from Goodreads)

Six-time Emmy Award-winning funnyman Tim Conway, best known for his characters on The Carol Burnett Show, offers a straight-shooting and hilarious memoir about his life on stage and off as an actor and comedian. 

My Reaction

Tim Conway has long been one of my favorite comic actors beginning with reruns of the Carol Burnett Show and a VHS copy of Dorf on Golf (now available on DVD). Since that time, I've been able to watch those same reruns countless times, as well as catching some of his other work, not the least of which was alongside the late Ernest Borgnine (and Conway's longtime friend) as voice actors for Spongebob Squarepants as the undersea dynamic duo of Mermaid Man (Borgnine) and Barnacle Boy (Conway). So, when I saw Mr. Conway on some random talk show promoting his new book, I instantly asked my wife for it for Christmas; and she delivered.

The first two chapters took me a while to get through as I familiarized myself with his storytelling pattern, which tended to jump around with relevant anecdotes rather than chronologically. This pattern is consistent, by the way, with much of what you would expect from the famed improvising actor. Once I grew accustomed to his style, I flew through the book (as time would allow).

One of the biggest impressions I got from Tim Conway's life was his devotion to family, beginning with just him and his parents in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. I could imagine the smile on his face as he recollected fond memories of his home and the modest living his parents tried to give him. In later life, he ended up with a half-dozen children, whom he took to visit his parents every summer to make sure that bond continued. I truly admire someone in the acting world who takes time for his family, and you can tell he really enjoyed it.

Another highlight for me was to discover all of the connections with some of my other favorite actors and comedians that Mr. Conway had—many of them resulting in lifelong friendships. If anyone had the right to be a name-dropper, it is certainly an 80-year-old with decades of experience who is still going strong. But, these stories did not come across as name-dropping so much as they were fond memories of close friends; and that humility ran throughout all the pages of this book.

I found myself laughing out loud so many times while reading What's So Funny. It also helped to form a more complete image of the life behind a man who has made me laugh a million times.

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2014

For more information on this book:

Tim Conway's Website

Amazon  |  Kindle

2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge

Duration: 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014

Host: The Book Vixen
Challenge Rules and Sign-Up Page

The Challenge: Read at least twelve (12) free ebooks.

My Android came equipped with an Amazon Kindle app already installed on it. I never really used it much until I stumbled on One Hundred Free Books, a multiple-times-a-day update of free ebooks listed on Amazon.  Plus, my wife's friend has a website Couponing with Rachel where she also regularly posts free Kindle books (as well as other coupon and money-saving links and posts).

As a result, I have slowly accumulated a digital stack of free books that I haven't really gotten around to reading yet. This challenge will help me clear that cache out a bit (probably only to make room for more as the year goes on).

My Level: Coupon Clipper (Read > 12 books)

1. Unnatural Disasters by Daniel Pyle (Editor) [23 January 2014]
2. Ant Apocalypse by Will Swardstrom [25 January 2014]
3. Haunted by Willow Cross [14 February 2014]
4. Through a Tangled Wood by Jamie Campbell [12 March 2014]
5. Murder at Volcano House by Chip Hughes [5 September 2014]
6. Paul Meets Muhammad: A Christian-Muslim Debate on the Resurrection by Michael R. Licona [22 September 2014]
7. Wild Born by Brandon Mull [21 October 2014]
8. 
   
9. 
   
10.  
11.  
12.  

Wrap-Up:

Well, I didn't quite make it. I'm still trying to get the hang of fitting reading into my daily routine. I shall try again next year, though.

Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2014

Duration: 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014

Host: The Introverted Reader
Challenge Rules and Sign-Up Page

The Challenge: Read any non-fiction book(s), adult or young adult.

Two of my favorite comedians, Tim Conway and Billy Crystal, released autobiographies recently, and I asked my wife pointedly for them as Christmas gifts. She delivered. Since that already set me up with two nonfiction books I'd certainly be reading this year, I figured it would be worthwhile to try applying them to a reading challenge. 

I thought I'd start out small, so I'm attempting the lowest level of the challenge.

My Level: Dilettante (Read 1-5 non-fiction books)

1. What's So Funny? by Tim Conway with Jane Scovell [1-18-14]
2. 
   
3. 
   
4.  
5.  

Wrap-Up:

Wow, a spectacular failure for this reading challenge this year--even after receiving autobiographies for Christmas 2013 (and having a couple setting around). I might try this again for 2015, but for now, just bask in the dismal glory of the amazing laziness that is my reading life. 

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