Books to try

The ULTIMATE story collection for Skulduggery Pleasant fans. Featuring two AMAZING novellas and fourteen GRIPPING short stories - including three new stories written exclusively for this edition.We all know that doors are for people with no imagination so smash the glass, climb through the window and enter the awesome world of Skulduggery Pleasant with this ultimate story collection.For the first time, every Skulduggery Pleasant short story, plus two novellas – Get Thee Behind me, Bubba Moon and The End of the World – is collected into one magnificent volume. But that's not all…This collection includes fourteen short stories – three of which are AWESOME NEW stories written exclusively for this edition. Two of them delve into the things that our old friend Billy-Ray Sanguine gets up to between books, while the third pits Skulduggery and Valkyrie against a serial killer, a desperate ghost, and a swarm of very nasty insects.So it’s business as usual, then.Introduced by Derek, these are the hidden stories of the skeleton who saves the world… and the girl who's destined to destroy it.

Derek Landy is an Irish writer and screenwriter. In addition to the bestselling children's/YA series of Skulduggery Pleasant books, a supernatural mystery series starring Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton detective, and Valkyrie Cain, a young female magician, he has written two screenplays that have been made into films: the IFTA award winning "Dead Bodies" and the IFTA nominated "Boy Eats Girl". Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script. He doesn’t like to brag about all the awards he’s won, such as the Irish Book of the Decade, or the Red House in the UK, or all the other awards that he humbly displays on his mantelpiece. He is also far too modest to mention things like the first book being a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, but would like to extend an invitation to Oprah to pop around one day for tea, in thanks for selecting his book for the Oprah’s Book Club Kids Reading List. Derek plays too many video games, reads too many comics, and watches too many movies. He lives in Ireland with too many cats. Occasionally he talks to real people, but only when he absolutely has to.

The supermarket shouldn't have been shut - it wasn't normal for Else to quit early. But then it wasn't normal for a meat cleaver to fly through the air by itself. Or for the guard dog locked in overnight to end up like hamburger meat. Or for Elsie herself to feature on the butcher's slab, neatly wrapped and jointed...There's weird things happening in the town of Oasis, and Lacey Allen had better... BEWARE!

Another classic James Herbert chiller, reissued by Pan. It is the near future and signs of an impending global disaster are multiplying. Earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions sweep the earth. As the storms and tempests rage, a series of ominous events signal the emergence of a new and terrifying force. While scuba-diving on the Great Barrier Reef a diver watches fascinated as a tiny light floats past him towards the surface. Moments later he is torn to pieces as the reef erupts with colossal power. On the banks of the Ganges, a young boy pauses from his back-breaking labours, transfixed by the play of a mysterious light amidst the monsoon rains, before a towering geyser of boiling water bursts from beneath the streets, scalding him to death. In the Chinese city of Kashi travellers bring back reports of a strange light seen shining above the endless dunes of the Taklimakan Desert. And as the city's inhabitants watch for its return, the desert rises up to engulf them in a tidal wave of sand. All have seen a portent. A sign of unimaginable powers about to be unleashed. A sign that something incredible is about to begin...

Mordock's Cave is one of the spectacular wonders of the world, a place where thousands of sightseers every year take an awe-inspiring boat trip on a lake deep beneath the earth's surface to marvel at Nature's handiwork. But the darkness is also the home of things Nature never intended - things violent, bestial, and obscenely evil. When a sudden power failure incapacitates the elevator to the surface, a group of tourists is trapped in the underground depths. Cold and scared, without lights or food, their only hope is to find an escape route through the sealed-off end of the cavern. But their explorations uncover a nest of horrors that has lain hidden for generations, and their idyllic underground journey becomes a nightmare trip through hell, as they find themselves battling for survival against the creatures of the abyss....

For some inexplicable reason I'm repeatedly drawn back to Laymon's work, every year or two, even though I'm batting way below the Mendoza line* as far as the hit/miss ratio. I think I like the idea of Laymon more than I enjoy reading him, much of the time. The idea of reading brainless, B slasher movies in novel form, filled with hopelessly stupid (and hopelessly horny) teens who get offed one by one seems fun as hell. But the actual reading of them can sometimes be a chore, as the characters are usually so moronic that you can't help but root for them to die, which is fine when watching a movie, but reading a novel requires -- at least for me -- some sort of connection with/sympathy for the characters, especially in a horror novel.This one's an early work of his, and you can tell because it's short and moves fast -- one of the only things I liked about it. There aren't nearly as many wasted pages compared with his 90s work, where he'd stretch out a 200-page story to near-epic length. I think his writing skills did improve over the years, but he also learned to pad the hell out of his novels, as became the norm in horror in general.The basic story is that there are new films being shown at the Haunted Palace movie theater, but these aren't your typical horror films -- they're quick little bursts of terror and violence, and very realistic. Almost like snuff films. These shorts are very popular among the younger crowd, until some of them become potential fodder for the next "movie." Brit thinks she recognizes an old friend in one of the films, a friend she suddenly can't get a hold of. Of course this friend was "killed" in the movie, and Brit wonders if maybe it was real, so she decides to investigate..This is definitely lower-tier Laymon -- not offensively bad, but not good either, imo. It's just sorta there, in the typical "making it up as he goes along" Laymon way, throwing anything and everything at the wall to see what sticks. The characterization is paper thin compared to his later novels, but I'd actually take that over 500 pages of the depraved thoughts of virtually every (male) Laymon character ever. It's also pretty light, not nearly as sadistic and gross as some of his other work. But I usually find that, compared with similar authors like Jack Ketchum or Bryan Smith, I'm never actually disturbed or unsettled when reading his work, as it's all so silly and over-the-top in its depiction of violence.** And there's nothing wrong with a light, fun horror read. Hell, I've read enough of them, so I must enjoy them at least some. But this one's a little too light, and even though I just read it, it's already fading from memory, just like my last few Laymon reads. So I think I'm officially done with him, finally.Until next time.2.0 Stars*That's a baseball reference that means a batting average that's very, very bad, named after a Pirates shortstop from the 70s who was very, very bad and should feel bad. In case any of you reading this are non baseball-loving heathens.**All this makes it sound as if I hate all of Laymon's work, which isn't the case. I especially enjoy his late 80s novels, before they became too bloated, such as his books under the name Richard Kelly -- Midnight's Lair and Tread Softly (i.e. Dark Mountain) -- as well as Flesh and The Stake (from 1990, which is about the time when his tendency to pad started to rear its ugly head). But those were all earlier reads in my Laymon past, and I sometimes wonder if I'd have liked them as much if I'd read them later on, once I had gotten used to his schtick.

Formerly friendly neighbors turn to crazed maniacs. A stranger at a gas station shoves a nozzle down a customer's throat and pulls the trigger. A soaking-wet line of movie-goers smashes its way into a theater to slaughter the people inside. A loving wife attacks her husband, still beating his head against the floor long after he's dead. As the rain falls, blood flows in the gutters -- and terror runs through the streets.

Over the last few years, I have been reading some of the finest horror literature in the world, delving deep into the British ghost story masters James and Le Fanu, the spritualist-horror masterpieces of Machen and Blackwood, the darker American visions of Bierce, Chambers and that dark prince of the macabre, Poe, the early 20th-century efflorescence helmed by talents like Lovecraft, Smith and Howard and of course the current masters of the form such as Ligotti and Campbell as well as emerging giants like Barron and Pugmire.And now I've read Shaun Hutson. This isn't the worst thing ever - writers like Richard Laymon and the authors of a hundred disposable splatter paperbacks from the 80s boom were as bad and often worse - but it's not good by any means. The writing is amateurish and in need of editing, the plot is a mish-mash of cliches and poor taste, the characters are cardboard cut-outs and there's no real moment of dark epiphany, just a series of rather obvious gross-outs that culminate in the usual predictable 'twist' ending. For all that, I'm giving this a two-star rating simply because of its honesty - Hutson clearly set out to write exactly the kind of novel that he wound up writing. It's trash, but at least it's honest trash and nothing - the title, the blurb, the cover art or what you can glean by scanning the first few pages in a bookstore - pretends otherwise.

James Herberts third book in the Rats saga, after The Rats and Lair, and how would Domain measure up to those two aforementioned books. I absolutely loved The Rats and aside from the ending of Lair I loved that book too, so was wondering how things would unravel in this affair.Set a few years after the events of Lair, the threat of nuclear war is all too real, and after a series of deadly bombs go off in London, destruction and panic then set in as one would expect.The main protagonist of the story is Steve Culver, and after he rescues civil servant Alex Dealey, whom it turns out knows the way to a secret government bunker, Steve had to guide and direct Alex, who it seems his vision has taken a turn for the worse following the explosions and the two begin to rely on each other.As the populace is in complete disarray, the rats are once again making their move, sensing the human race in the cities are under threat, the rats sense they are no longer the force they were, so they are far more brazen in their attacks.Culver, against the wishes of Dealey, sees a woman under attack from the vicious creatures, and decides to intervene and help the lass, creating a bond between them, making up for something he blamed himself for years prior.This was an interesting read, however it is longer than the first two novels, I also found the nuclear plot an interesting concept, unfortunately for me a lot of this book plods along at a snails pace, apart from Culver there isn't many other interesting characters and a lot of the plot is them holed up in bunkers, it did have its moments though, and maybe it's just me as I noticed a lot of people seem to have this as their favourite of the saga, so maybe I will give it a re-read and hopefully my outcome changes, but at the moment, it's definitely my least favourite of the Rats series.2.5 Stars ⭐⭐

Skulduggery and Valkyrie are back, in an exclusive World Book Day novelette, set after the momentous events of Death Bringer…Hey, punks! Skulduggery and Valkyrie are about to make your day…15-year-old Ryan is running away from home, looking for escape and adventure. But unfortunately, sometimes people DO get what they wish for. Ryan hasn’t gone far before he is set upon by a bunch of scary, nihilistic punk-sorcerers who need him to set off a doomsday device that will destroy the planet and everyone on it. Fun!Riding to the rescue, however, is a certain skeleton detective and his teenage partner/combat accessory. Now Skulduggery and Valkyrie only have a few hours to figure out what's going on, while saving Ryan and – incidentally – the whole world.And all that time, the punk-sorcerors are closing in…

The epic conclusion in the mind-blowing supernatural thriller from bestselling author DEREK LANDY, creator of international sensation Skulduggery Pleasant.Bigger, meaner, stronger, Amber closes in on her murderous parents as they make one last desperate play for power. Her own last hopes of salvation, however, rest beyond vengeance, beyond the abominable killers living and dead that she and Milo will have to face.For Amber’s future lies in her family’s past, in the brother and sister she never knew, and the horrors beyond imagining that befell them.

When a horror author and his wife, along with their friends, visit Sagebrush Flats, a ghost town near their home, they stumble upon a truly bizarre discovery - the withered corpse of a woman with a stake driven through her heart. Was she a vampire? The only way to find out is to pull the stake, see if she reanimates.The blurb on the back of this delightful novel ( in my opinion, one of Laymon's best) has to be one of the worst I have read This book has several storylines woven together, and it takes a while to pick up steam, but when it does, look out.Though slow at times, this book really delivers some excellent writing, a great cast of characters, a heaping dollop of wry humor, and some chilling horror.As I read through Laymon's immense output, I often find him to be hot or miss, never totally bad, sometimes brilliant.The Stake is high on the awesome list for me. I would say it holds its own with some of Laymon's other gems, like ISLAND, AFTER MIDNIGHT and BODY RIDES.Fun, crazy and disturbing, never takes itself too seriously.My only gripe is that there are multitudinous rehash scenes. There always seems to be a character who needs to be brought up to snuff on what happened in the previous chapter. I found myself skimming through in several places, but if you read Laymon, this is nothing new.

James True was not there when he died.He returned from an out-of-body experience to find that he'd been murdered and mutilated. He had no body to go back to. But who murdered him? The serial killer terrorizing the city--or someone closer? True had no enemies, at least none that he knew of.To discover the truth, James True must track down his killer. The initial horror of True's experience is followed by an even greater terror . . . . his family are the murderer's next targets.Without a body, True has no substance and no real power. No one can see him, no one can hear him, and no one except his murderer even knows his spirit still exists.How can he save his family?

Midnight. Valkyrie Cain approaches an old, ramshackle church to make a delicate deal with a trio of ugly, hairy goblins. To her absolute non-surprise, the goblins have no intention of honouring that deal- but not to worry. Skulduggery Pleasant is standing by to deliver a surprise of their own. Things, however, don't go exactly according to plan. Not least because the goblins have a sister. A very big, very strong sister. Who might just have a TINY crush on one of our heroes...

The thirteenth thrilling novel in the internationally bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series, SEASONS OF WAR will test the Skeleton Detective and Valkyrie like never before…War is coming. To avert catastrophe, Skulduggery and Valkyrie are sent on a secret mission that takes them away from everything they know, to a forsaken land of magic and grim, unrelenting terror. It is here that Valkyrie will have to fight the hardest ― not only against the enemies who want her dead, but also against her own self-destructive impulses. It's only by crawling through darkness that she'll be able to once again stand in the light…

(Audiobook)Pets, forest animals, men, women, children. It doesn't really matter. It's all good for the carnivorous mutant rat. It has been five years since the sanguinary rat invasion of London city. Barely escaping extermination, a few rat survivors slowly start to thrive again in a nearby forest. Poison resistant, stronger, more cunning and vicious than ever before. A few key people may be the only thing that might stop them, if they somehow manage not to get swarmed and ferociously chewed to pieces in the process.A sea of giant rats is forging, and this time, no one will escape the incoming onslaught. Took some time to start, but once the goriness started, there was no turning back. Unspeakable carnage. Rat savagery everywhere. Few, if any at all, characters spared. An entertaining sequel. Not as good as the original, but good nonetheless. I came looking for blood and that's exactly what I got. Maybe the surprise element was lost. Also the main characters seemed wildly undeveloped; not that you are going to read a horror rat novel for its character building of course, but hey, at any rate, compared to the first novel, it did get noticed. Overall, an entertaining, albeit slightly inferior, clone.Until next time,-----------------------------------------------Mascotas, animales de selva, hombres, mujeres, niños. En verdad no importa. Todo es bueno para la rata carnívora mutante.Han pasado algunos años desde la sanguinaria invasión de ratas en la ciudad de Londres. Apenas escapando la exterminación, algunas ratas sobrevivientes lentamente empiezan a prosperar de nuevo en una selva cercana. Resistentes al veneno, más fuertes, inteligentes y viciosas que nunca antes. Sólo un puñado de gente clave puede ser la única cosa que podría llegar a detenerlas, si es que de alguna forma logran no ser emboscadas y ferozmente masticadas en el proceso.Un mar de ratas gigantes se está forjando, y esta vez, nadie va a escapar el embate por venir.Tarda algun tiempo en arrancar, pero una vez que la sangre empieza a derramarse, no hay vuelta atrás. Carnicería indescriptible. Salvajía ratona a diestra y siniestra. Pocos, si es que alguno en absoluto, personajes perdonados. Una secuela entretenida. No tan buena como la original, pero buena de todos modos. Vine buscando sangre y eso es exactamente lo que obtuve. Tal vez se perdió el elemento sorpresa. Además, los personajes parecían increíblemente subdesarrollados; no que uno vaya a leer una novela de horror de ratas por su construcción de personajes por supuesto, pero bueno, al menos comparada con la primera novela, sí se notó la diferencia. En resumen, un entretenido, aunque ligeramente inferior, clon.Hasta la próxima,

Also published as Amara — An ancient beauty . . . — Amara was once the Princess of Egypt, the beautiful wife of Mentuhotep the First. Now, 4000 years later, she and her coffin are merely prized exhibits of the Charles Ward museum. Her lovely face and strong, young body are no more. If you were to look at her today you would see only a brittle bundle of bones and dried skin. But looks can be very deceiving. . . .A missing mummy . . .Barney, the museum’s night watchman, is the first to make the shocking discovery that the mummy’s coffin has been broken open. He immediately assumes it’s the work of grave-robbers who care nothing about the sanctity of the dead. But Barney doesn’t have a chance to do anything about it. Then two security guards come upon the open coffin and they too believe that the mummy has been stolen. What else could sane men think? By the time they realize the unbelievable truth, it’s far too late for them to do anything . . . ever again.The walking dead!Now Amara is once again freed from the cramped confines of her coffin, free to walk the earth, free to stalk her prey. Free to kill. Nothing can satisfy her deadly bloodlust. And no one can stop her. You cannot kill what is already dead.

1:00 So what to do now? Feeling kinda happy from the whiskeys. Maybe read some trash? 1:15 Chose Allhallow’s Eve, not sure why. Checked out some Goodreads reviews. All bad.1:30 This is fun. Killer on the loose, mysterious Halloween party on the horizon. FUN!1:45 Tight pacing. Nice build-up. Why don’t people like this?2:00 Sleazy. All the boobs! Boobs, boobs, boobs. Laymon loves that word, all the time, all over the place.2:05 More whiskey?2:15 Too much boobs, sweet Jesus, enough already. Also, so many douchebags.2:45 Kill these douchebags already! Even the teen hero is a miserable, creepy little creep.3:15 Scene with writer & wife trapped in the bathroom was great. Quick-thinking writer!3:30 What the hell just happened? Man oh man.4:30 Party massacre was awesome, great ending! Wait, it’s 4:30 in the fucken morning?A really fucken different version of this review appears in a Richard Laymon “article” posted on Shelf Inflicted