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Trivia note: Author David James Keaton first attempted to finance and run a Zombie Bed & Breakfast similar to the tragedy depicted here. However, this misguided get-rich-quick scheme ended in disaster. So read this thinly veiled, fictionalized account of one tiny apocalypse, and do not let those poor souls dine in vain. (also includes the utterly irresponsible "Send More Paramedics: The Zombie Movie Drinking Game," which you can play while you read, drink, drive, and die, over and over again!)]]> 148 David James Keaton 1611990408 Ben 4 4.27
author: David James Keaton
name: Ben
average rating: 4.27
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/08/17
shelves:
review:
This novella is a witty, surreal, outrageously original take on the zombie genre. The story sees guests pay to take part in a Night of the Living Dead style apocalyptic scenario. Actors playing zombies stage an assault on an isolated farmhouse where the guests are holed up. But as the night progresses both actors and guests start becoming dangerously committed to their roles. The plot, then, is a little thin. But the plot is never really the point in Keaton's book - the point is the characters and the razor-sharp dialogue. Not a trait you'd usually associate with genre fiction, but then this isn't your typical zombie story. Zee Bee & Bee sets out to deconstruct the genre in much the same way as Scream. Its characters churn out an endless stream of movie trivia, referencing a lot of films I've seen and even some I haven't (and believe me I've seen way too many films). Far from being a sneering parody of the genre, though, it's more a kind of extended love letter from a horror film fanatic to every zombie flick ever made, particularly Romero's 'Holy Trinity'. The comparisons to Scream are obvious, but the film the first two-thirds of the novella really made me think of was Clerks. The employees at Zee Bee & Bee are a bunch of zombie film nerds who spend more time hanging out and shooting the shit than actually working. So much so, in fact, that I was beginning to get hungry for some flesh-chomping action. Then the last third of the novella kicks in and delivers a gory climax - quite literally in the case of one stomach-churning scene that I'm sure will stay with me for some time. All in all, I'd highly recommend this to horror buffs. But if you don't know the tropes of the genre, you might not get the joke.
]]> 13631490 21 Darren Sant Ben 5
Community Spirit is the second story. Tracy, like so many people these days, is in debt to a brutal loan-shark. Eeking out an existence on a grim estate, she's stuggling to make the repayments and facing a looming deadline that must be met or she risks violent consequences for her and her young son. In other words, Tracy is in deep trouble. But she's not going to give up without a fight. Well-written and bleak, but not without an all-important spark of hope, Community Spirit is a tale for our recession-hit times.

Sant saves the best for last with Rowan's Folly, the longest of the three tales. Again, we're introduced to a broad cast of characters, most of whom deftly walk that fine line between lovable scallies and straight out scumbags. The hero - for want of a better word - of the piece is Andy Rowan, an honest guy who's about to make a big mistake by getting mixed up with the wrong woman. This is a tightly written piece with a great little twist in the tail. It's also peppered with references to the previous stories, giving a nice cohesion to the collection.

Sant is a writer to watch and this is a gem of a collection, mixing serious social commentary with coal-black humour. I'll definitely be looking out for the next instalment. ]]> 4.59 2012
author: Darren Sant
name: Ben
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2012/04/04
date added: 2012/06/18
shelves:
review:
The stories in this collection are all set on The Longcroft Estate, a fictional (but totally believable) council estate in the North of England. The first, A Good Day, centres on a junkie who becomes suspicious of his new neighbours and thinks he sees a chance to make some skag money. But when he pokes his nose - or rather, his crowbar - in where it doesn't belong he gets far more than he bargained for. The central character comes straight out of the Frank Gallagher school of scumbags who by rights we should hate, yet somehow end up loving. Don't be fooled, though, this story deals with some deadly serious and disturbing themes.

Community Spirit is the second story. Tracy, like so many people these days, is in debt to a brutal loan-shark. Eeking out an existence on a grim estate, she's stuggling to make the repayments and facing a looming deadline that must be met or she risks violent consequences for her and her young son. In other words, Tracy is in deep trouble. But she's not going to give up without a fight. Well-written and bleak, but not without an all-important spark of hope, Community Spirit is a tale for our recession-hit times.

Sant saves the best for last with Rowan's Folly, the longest of the three tales. Again, we're introduced to a broad cast of characters, most of whom deftly walk that fine line between lovable scallies and straight out scumbags. The hero - for want of a better word - of the piece is Andy Rowan, an honest guy who's about to make a big mistake by getting mixed up with the wrong woman. This is a tightly written piece with a great little twist in the tail. It's also peppered with references to the previous stories, giving a nice cohesion to the collection.

Sant is a writer to watch and this is a gem of a collection, mixing serious social commentary with coal-black humour. I'll definitely be looking out for the next instalment.
]]> 13116510
'Buy this NOW! It's a great collection of stories from a great selection of writers. And it's for charity.' Paul Johnston, Author of the Matt Wells, Alex Mavros, and Quintilian Dalrymple series.

38 writers, 38 short stories based on classic song titles...

The best writers from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, come together to produce an anthology of short stories, with all proceeds being donated to two Children's Literacy charities.

In the UK, National Literacy Trust.

In the US, Children's Literacy Initiative.

Stories from -

1.Neil White - Stairway To Heaven
2.Col Bury � Respect
3.Steve Mosby � God Moving Over The Face Of Waters
4.Les Edgerton - Small Change
5.Heath Lowrance - I Wanna Be Your Dog
6.AJ Hayes - Light My Fire
7.Sean Patrick Reardon - Redemption Song
8.Ian Ayris - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
9.Nick Triplow - A New England
10.Charlie Wade - Sheila Take A Bow
11.Iain Rowan - Purple Haze
12.Thomas Pluck - Free Bird
13.Matthew C. Funk - Venus In Furs
14.R Thomas Brown - Dock Of The Bay
15.Chris Rhatigan � Shadowboxer
16.Patti Abbott - Roll Me Away
17.Chad Rhorbacher - I Wanna Be Sedated
18.Court Merrigan - Back In Black
19.Paul D. Brazill - Life On Mars?
20.Nick Boldock � Superstition
21.Vic Watson - Bye Bye Baby
22.Benoit Lelievre - Blood On The Dancefloor
23.Ron Earl Phillips - American Pie
24.Chris La Tray � Detroit Rock City
25.Nigel Bird - Super Trouper
26.Pete Sortwell � So Low, So High
27.Julie Morrigan - Behind Blue Eyes
28.David Barber � Paranoid
29.McDroll - Nights In White Satin
30.Cath Bore - Be My Baby
31.Eric Beetner - California Dreamin'
32.Steve Weddle - A Day In The Life
33.Darren Sant - Karma Police
34.Simon Logan - Smells Like Teen Spirit
35.Luca Veste - Comfortably Numb
36.Nick Quantrill - Death Or Glory
37.Helen FitzGerald - Two Little Boys
38.Ray Banks - God Only Knows

With forewords from UK writer Matt Hilton, and US writer Anthony Neil Smith



]]> 314 Luca Veste Ben 5
The anthology kicks off with Neil White's 'Stairway To Heaven', a moody tale of guilt and remorse that sets the tone nicely for what's to follow. AJ Hayes's 'Light My Fire' is another standout. A man tries to make sense of his partner's senseless murder by confronting her killer, an artist whose obssession with his muse has driven him over the edge. There's an unsettling, almost surreal quality to this story. I had to read it twice before I fully grasped what'd happened. In Paul D Brazill's grimly witty 'Life On Mars?' a man wakes up to a blinding hangover and a past he'd rather forget. It's a cautionary reminder that the past is never dead, only dormant. Nigel Bird's 'Super Trouper' is a departure from most of the stories in this collection, in that it doesn't deal directly with a crime. Bird takes us into the mind of a soldier traumatised by his tour of Afghanistan. He writes with a machine-gun rythmn, firing off sentences like bullets, brilliantly evoking the sense of disorientation felt by a soldier struggling to readjust to normal life. This story packs a real emotional punch. Eric Beetner's 'California Dreamin', is a brilliantly brutal and tense tale of revenge, and a dark commentary on shallow LA people. The anthology finishes on a very high note with Ray Banks's 'God Only Knows', a story straight from Britain's gutter. Banks sketches the grimy little world of a petty criminal eeking out a living in the NE of England, mining a vein of dark wit that will be familiar to anyone who's ever read Viz. This story is peppered with great lines, but my favourite has to be 'The nicest thing they said about Shona was that she could suck the froth out of a drip tray from the other side of the pub'. I'm smiling even as I write that one. In amongst the grime there are some beautifully poignant moments. In fact, the same could be said of most of the stories in 'Off The Record'. Love, hate, murder, madness, it's all here. If there's been a better crime fiction anthology published this year, I don't know about it. ]]> 4.22 2011
author: Luca Veste
name: Ben
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2011/12/01
date added: 2011/12/22
shelves:
review:
Where to begin? From well known authors to virtual unknowns, the depth of talent on display in this anthology is staggering. It almost feels unfair singling out particular stories as they're all strong enough to merit attention. Honestly I could bang on for pages about all the brilliant little gems served up here, but you'd probably have nodded off by the time I was done, so I'm just going to highlight a few of my favourites.

The anthology kicks off with Neil White's 'Stairway To Heaven', a moody tale of guilt and remorse that sets the tone nicely for what's to follow. AJ Hayes's 'Light My Fire' is another standout. A man tries to make sense of his partner's senseless murder by confronting her killer, an artist whose obssession with his muse has driven him over the edge. There's an unsettling, almost surreal quality to this story. I had to read it twice before I fully grasped what'd happened. In Paul D Brazill's grimly witty 'Life On Mars?' a man wakes up to a blinding hangover and a past he'd rather forget. It's a cautionary reminder that the past is never dead, only dormant. Nigel Bird's 'Super Trouper' is a departure from most of the stories in this collection, in that it doesn't deal directly with a crime. Bird takes us into the mind of a soldier traumatised by his tour of Afghanistan. He writes with a machine-gun rythmn, firing off sentences like bullets, brilliantly evoking the sense of disorientation felt by a soldier struggling to readjust to normal life. This story packs a real emotional punch. Eric Beetner's 'California Dreamin', is a brilliantly brutal and tense tale of revenge, and a dark commentary on shallow LA people. The anthology finishes on a very high note with Ray Banks's 'God Only Knows', a story straight from Britain's gutter. Banks sketches the grimy little world of a petty criminal eeking out a living in the NE of England, mining a vein of dark wit that will be familiar to anyone who's ever read Viz. This story is peppered with great lines, but my favourite has to be 'The nicest thing they said about Shona was that she could suck the froth out of a drip tray from the other side of the pub'. I'm smiling even as I write that one. In amongst the grime there are some beautifully poignant moments. In fact, the same could be said of most of the stories in 'Off The Record'. Love, hate, murder, madness, it's all here. If there's been a better crime fiction anthology published this year, I don't know about it.
]]> 56616 Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1935, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.

Walter Huff was an insurance salesman with an unfailing instinct for clients who might be in trouble, and his instinct led him to Phyllis Nirdlinger. Phyllis wanted to buy an accident policy on her husband. Then she wanted her husband to have an accident. Walter wanted Phyllis. To get her, he would arrange the perfect murder and betray everything he had ever lived for.]]> 115 James M. Cain 0679723226 Ben 5 4.07 1936
author: James M. Cain
name: Ben
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1936
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 394535 Blood Meridian is an epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, brilliantly subverting the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the Wild West. Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.]]> 351 Cormac McCarthy Ben 5 4.18 1985
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Ben
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
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]]> 6288
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,� are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.]]> 241 Cormac McCarthy 0307265439 Ben 4 3.99 2006
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Ben
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 6740125
"dark and splendid" -- The Guardian

*** a novella ***⠨⠨

Receiving the package hadn't been that much of a surprise. The fact that someone knew that Valerie Anderson was Carlos Morales's mother worried him. He was careful to hide that, never spoke to anyone about his private life. But what was deeply troubling was the fact that the letter had arrived addressed to Charlie. There were only two people who called him Maggie and his mother. He'd discussed the situation with Maggie and she'd agreed he had no choice. He had to ask his mum straight "Mama," he said. "Why would someone want you dead?"⠨⠨

Allan Guthrie is an award-winning Scottish crime writer. KILLING MUM is a novella.

]]> 96 Allan Guthrie 1905512694 Ben 4 3.45 2009
author: Allan Guthrie
name: Ben
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/16
shelves:
review:
Set in Edinburgh this novella is short on length, but big on hits - quite literally. The story zips along like all good fiction should do, propelled by dialogue which is generally sharp and frequently witty. From the opening page, the reader is thrown right into the murky, slightly surreal world of Carlos, a burnt-out hitman who's in for one hell of a long night. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling the plot, but there are a couple of memorably brutal scenes, and the ending even managed to raise a spark of sympathy for Carlos - no mean feat considering what preceeded it. The characters are vividly drawn, although, other than Carlos, perhaps a little lacking in emotional depth. But then this story is all about the plot, and that builds to a satisfyingly bloody, blackly comic, almost Hitchcockian (think Norman Bates) climax. All in all then, definitely worth a look if you fancy a quick hit of action-packed Tartan Noir.
]]> 10609907 220 D.J. Bennett Ben 0 to-read 4.13 2011
author: D.J. Bennett
name: Ben
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/09/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 12540513 277 Allan Guthrie Ben 0 to-read 3.23 2009
author: Allan Guthrie
name: Ben
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/09/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6882
Charrière's astonishing autobiography, Papillon, was published in France to instant acclaim in 1968, more than twenty years after his final escape. Since then, it has become a treasured classic -- the gripping, shocking, ultimately uplifting odyssey of an innocent man who simply would not be defeated.]]> 544 Henri Charrière 0061120669 Ben 0 currently-reading 4.22 1969
author: Henri Charrière
name: Ben
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1969
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/07/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 11038992 188 Rob Redman 0956784305 Ben 4 3.73 2011
author: Rob Redman
name: Ben
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/07/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 9521944 217 Randy Chandler 0982097980 Ben 4 3.32 2010
author: Randy Chandler
name: Ben
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/07/20
shelves:
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]]> 11297
A magnificent blending of the music, the mood, and the ethos that was the sixties with the story of one college student's romantic coming of age, Norwegian Wood brilliantly recaptures a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.]]> 296 Haruki Murakami 0375704027 Ben 5 4.01 1987
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Ben
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2011/07/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 243705 283 John Fowles Ben 4 3.97 1963
author: John Fowles
name: Ben
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2011/07/20
date added: 2011/07/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 17803 In After Dark—a gripping novel of late night encounters—Murakami’s trademark humor and psychological insight are distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery.

Nineteen-year-old Mari is waiting out the night in an anonymous Denny’s when she meets a young man who insists he knows her older sister, thus setting her on an odyssey through the sleeping city. In the space of a single night, the lives of a diverse cast of Tokyo residents—models, prostitutes, mobsters, and musicians—collide in a world suspended between fantasy and reality. Utterly enchanting and infused with surrealism, After Dark is a thrilling account of the magical hours separating midnight from dawn.]]> 191 Haruki Murakami 0307265838 Ben 4 3.75 2004
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Ben
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/07/12
shelves:
review:

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