The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Guest Review by Jason Lush

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One hundred and ninety pages of political masturbation disguised as a supernatural suspense story. Of the three main characters we have; Dorian Gray, who is a brainless puppet the personifies vanity; Basil Hallward, the artist who painted the fabled portrait and represents the sorrowful conscience; and Lord Henry Wolton, who is the quintessential 19th Century fop whose sole purpose in the book is to act as Wilde’s voice on politics, religion and homosexuality and as a driving corrupter of everyone else in the book.

The pacing is horrendously slow, the chapters devoted to explaining Gray’s hobbies and the pictures of his ancestors in his hallway don’t help with the lousy pacing. The whole story could have been condensed to a 30 page novella and would have been enjoyable.

And, as a side note to the posthumous Mr. Wilde, forty is not old and hideous.

Like a Thief in the Night by Bettie Sharpe

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Delightfully cross genre, Like a Thief in the Night is a dark fairy tale love story set in a distant future. Arden is one of the top assassin in Darkriver’s stable, stolen as a child and reprogrammed through manipulation, memory wipes and neural reconfiguring. When she walks into a flat in Shanghai and strangles the handsome man sleeping on the silk sheets her life changes forever.

Because Aniketos is a creature myth, and he cannot die. The contract on Aniketos was a trap for Arden. Now she’s a captive in a mysterious flat that has combined the magical remains of a fallen heaven and the technology of the modern world. No matter how lust-filled she tries to make their interactions she can’t hide the fact that she’s as much tempted by his offers of freedom from Darkriver as she’s tempted by the man himself. Which only leaves the reason she was trapped in the first place to deal with.

Like a Thief in the Night is a fast read filled with hot sex and spy action. The futuristic and fairy tale feels are blended beautifully and the fierce, indomitable spirit of the characters bleed off the page leaving the reader dazzled and wanting more. This is a highly recommended read from a talented author.

Orgy of Souls by Maurice Broaddus and Wrath James White

Fans of Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus will find exactly what they’re looking for in this collaboration, Orgy of Souls. While Samuel, a minister dying of AIDS, struggles to cope with God’s chosen path for him, his brother, Samson, useless in most things other than being pretty and being loyal to Samuel, decides to take fate into his own hands and attempt to bargain directly with God…

Full review at The Fix.

SUCKERS by J.A. Konrath and Jeff Strand

Suckers is the sixth book in the Delirium Books hardcover chapbook series, a crossover tale featuring Konrath’s sexist bad boy Harry McGlade and Strand’s infamous Andrew Mayhem…

Full review at DarkScribe Magazine

Seven Days in Benevolence by Steven E. Wedel

“Mommy, the skelegan head wants to talk to you.”

Recently divorced mom of two Dena has come to rest in Benevolence, a small town where she thinks she can find peace after the turmoil of leaving behind her husband and trying to make a life of her own with her two daughters. Unfortunately she’s run straight into Benevolence’s most historically interesting–and haunted–house.

Everyone in the town seems eager to tell Dena and her older daughter the tangled tale of murder, lynching, witchery and hauntings. But Dena wants nothing more than to make a clean break from her troubled past and enjoy her luck in finding a lovely home. The house’s invisible occupants also want Dena to stay and make her and her two daughters part of their own story.

A classically creepy ghost story, Seven Days in Benevolence is a fast paced, tantalizingly horrific novella that’s perfect for hungry ghost story fans. The short length makes it an easy read, and its dazzling climax will leave readers breathless.