I am not nor will I be the last to post on this matter, but I want it to be known that Doubleshot Reviews supports all authors and we do NOT want to hear about them getting scammed like what has happened to quite a few authors recently and in the past. Editor Anthony Giangregorio of Open Casket Press and Living Dead Press was given the privilege and the trust of working with an author and their work, the end result being serious changes in their story (changes that were not submitted to the author for approval), comments that can very easily be viewed as threatening and a variety of other incidents.

Below you will find a few links to blogs discussing this matter and giving great detail as to what occurred. The first being Mandy DeGeit’s post When Publishing Goes Wrong…Starring Undead Press This is the post that seems to have truly set this whirlwind of events into full swing, but let it be known that this is by far the first time something like this has happened.

On the same day that Mandy’s post went live, another author Alyn Day put in her $0.02 on Open Casket Press in the post Suffering in Silence. 

The day after these posts went live LitReactor responded with Publisher of Anthology Screws Over Writer: A Cautionary Tale, authors, Jon F Merz  and Lincoln Crisler chime in with A Writer’s Best Defense (Merz) and Undead Press: They’ll Add Shit to Your Story (Crisler)

These are but a few who are speaking out against this man and I’m sure their voices will continue to be heard.

Protect yourself and your work …stay away from this “publisher”

Amazon paperback/Kindle

The Great Undead Uprising of 1870 devastated the western frontier and destroyed the Indian Nations. Though the Army was able to contain the menace before it could devour the entire country, the United States lost claim to her western territories as the survivors fled to the relative safety of the east coast. Samantha Martin is among the rare folks traveling west, seeking asylum within the infected territories. Running from a past that threatens to consume her, the young Sam dons the mantle of a male and hides in an all boys’ workhouse that borders these Badlands. From there she is thrust into the service of the skin trade; the terrible deed of trapping and skinning zombies for profit. The work is grueling and perilous, but along the way she finds out what it takes to be a man, why she misses being a woman, but most of all she learns what it means to be human. Can Sam keep her masquerade up long enough to flee the Badlands, or will the outlaws that rule the western frontier find out she’s female before she can escape?

Ever want to read about the horror that occurs in a world where the undead walk? Oh, you’ve read a lot of zombie books? You know what happens? Hmmm, well…guess again, because Tonia Brown’s Skin Trade, shows a new way of living with the undead and it’s messed up! Just imagine the already intense horror of living in a world of the undead, now add in that you are attempting to hide that you’re actually a girl all while being kidnapped, skinning the flesh of the undead, seducing your captors in order to gain trust and hoping and praying your mentor shows up in time to save you. Pretty crazy stuff, huh?

Well that, and so much more, is what we are given when entering the Skin Trade. The characters are excellently written with great dialogue that is both witty and thought provoking, at times. Our main character, Sam, is a strong young woman who has been forced to endure much more than any young lady should no matter the time period or the fact that the world has been completely turned upside down with the undead. The dynamic between the various characters was excellently portrayed as characters usually are when under the pen of Tonia Brown and the change in the dynamic is nearly tangible as Sam learns more about those she encounters.

Highly detailed and described, the universe of Skin Trade is horrific and brutal. Great lengths are taking to give a vivid and detail description of the landscape and actions of those living in the Badlands. Skin Trade is definitely not a book for the feint of heart.

So the verdict is, Tonia Brown’s Skin Trade is a “knock down drag your doggie through the dirt, pour lemon juice on a papercut” hellava ride.

Definitely Doubleshot Reviews approved.

Skin Trade can be purchased for Kindle and paperback through Amazon by clicking the cover image above. Barnes & Noble fans (paperback only at the moment) can go (HERE).

Learn more about the author by reading her blog The Backseat Writer and by following her on Twitter: @ToniaBrown1

Espresso rating: QUAD

Amazon Kindle

In the small town of Streinersburg, Ohio a normal Tuesday morning begins, but it doesn’t stay that way. As the workers of Walker’s Glass — a struggling factory — settle in to their daily routine, all hell breaks loose when there is an explosion.

Millions of shards of glass are blasted through the factory, cutting and killing all the workers. As help arrives, something terrifying starts happening… The bodies start to come back to life. Soon a horde of zombies ravenous for human flesh are walking the streets of Streinersburg, shimmering in the sunlight as they look for their next meal.

The town must find a way to survive as they all ask the same question: What was in the glass and where did it come from?

From the minds of Jim Bronyaur and Rebecca Besser comes a new series that explores some of our darkest – and strangest fears. Everyone has a fear. Some have many, but we all have a fear that curls our toes, causes our breath to catch in our throat, freezes us to the spot. It’s usually referred to as a phobia and the authors of Crystallophobia – Fear of Glass (Series of Fears #1) are setting out to explore these fears starting with Crystallophobia, the fear of glass.

Our story is set in a tiny town in Ohio. It’s a typical morning, some townsfolk getting their cuppa joe at the local diner, children preparing themselves for a visit with the grandparents after school and, as with any small town, some gossip going on with the neighbors after sending their husbands off to work in the glass factory. What happens next and why it happened is the mystery. The glass factory explodes peppering all the workers with tiny sparkling shards of glass killing them…the catch? These dead men begin to get up and eat the living who have come to help them. Imagine a hoard of sparkling zombies ripping and tearing at your neighbor…creepy, huh? (Now before you think…”oh great! more sparkling monsters”, allow me to let you in on a secret. These zombies are mean, they eat, they kill and they are not “vegetarian” zombies (no offense meant toward vegetarians))

The characters in Crystallophobia – Fear of Glass (Series of Fears #1) are excellent. Very realistic and believable for a small town society. There were some characters I totally related to and some I just wanted to be or, at least, be friends with. Rebecca and Jim take us on an edge of your seat journey through the town ravaging, rampaging and causing great destruction. Gorey details and visual imagery are used to make one cringe in disgust.

I definitely recommend Crystallophobia – Fear of Glass (Series of Fears #1) it is an excellent start to what could very well be a fantastic series.

You, too, can begin your adventure exploring your deepest, darkest fears by picking up a copy of Crystallophobia – Fear of Glass (Series of Fears #1) via Amazon for Kindle by clicking the cover image above or for Barnes & Noble nook owners go (HERE)

Learn more about Rebecca Besser and her other work by visiting The Official Website of Author Rebecca Besser or stalking her tweets on Twitter: @BeccaBesser. Similarly visit Jim Bronyaur’s site titled Jim’s World of Horror & Music & Stuff and he’s also on Twitter: @jimbronyaur

Espresso rating: Triple with a splash of milk

Amazon Kindle/Audible.com

Four short stories. Each one’s a different type of post-apocalypse story. Survival horror. Ethical horror. Adventure horror. And one where the protagonist barely notices the apocalypse has happened. Each one stands alone and (hopefully) makes for a fun little read. 

But if you read two or three or all four, you’ll see several events from different perspectives. And if you look close you’ll even get a few scattered clues which might even come together to form a conspiracy.

Do you like thrilling suspense? Mystery? The Undead? Interested in how people survive in an apocalyptic world? Well then you need to stop reading right here and just trust Doubleshot Reviews and go pick up a copy of The Junkie Quatrain by Ex-Heroes/Ex-Patriots author Peter Clines. Go ahead, I’ll wait…………

Ok, got your copy? GREAT! Now pick any one of the 4 stories and read it, then roll a die and pick the next story and continue as such. You’re thinking I’m crazy right about now, aren’t you?  Well, I am a bit touched in the head, but not about The Junkie Quatrain. These stories can be read in any order and can even be read as a stand alone tale, but when put together they tell the tale of  mixed group of characters surviving/manipulating/scientifically studying the apocalypse. Nearly all the characters at some point come into contact with each other, some effecting certain lives more than others.

Just to give a little whetting of the whistle, because I am NOT giving away anything in this review. We meet a tough hardened woman who seems better suited to surviving alone rather than with others, a thoroughly professional killer, a scientist/researcher who has his own agenda and a group of scavengers who just happen upon the wrong building to raid. The tension is tangible at times and the mystery and intrigue continue throughout each story as I tried to figure out on my own how everything fits together.

I actually look forward to reading The Junkie Quatrain again and in a different order to see how things might change in how I perceive them. This book is a DEFINITE must have and since I know you have already grabbed your copy….roll the dice, sit back with your cuppa and enjoy the carnage.

Pick up your copy of The Junkie Quatrain over at Amazon  for Kindle or in audio book through Audible.com by clicking the cover image above. Or for nook owners head (HERE) for Barnes & Noble purchases. All other eReading devices can visit Smashwords  (HERE)  for the proper version needed

Espresso rating: Quad

Don’t have an eBook reader? Read eBooks on your phone, PC, or Mac with this free software.

Amazon Kindle/paperback

20 years ago four friends awoke an ancient evil, and only the Cemetery Club can stop it before the whole town ends up dead. Or worse.

Rocky Point is a small town with a violent history – mass graves, illegal medical experiments and brutal murders dating back centuries. Of course, when Cory, Marisol, John and Todd form the Cemetery Club, they know none of this. They’ve found the coolest place to party after school – an old crypt. But then things start to go bad. People get killed and the Cemetery Club knows the cause: malevolent creatures that turn people into zombies. When no one believes them, they descend into the infested tunnels below the town and somehow manage to stop the cannibalistic deaths.

Now, twenty years later, the horror is beginning again. The Cemetery Club must reunite to defeat the menace once and for all. The problem is they can’t remember how they did it the first time.

It’s a race against time to find the true source of evil infesting Rocky Point, as the Cemetery Club ventures into the cryptic maze, to face their demons in a final showdown.

Cemetery Club by J.G. Faherty is what some might consider a “buddy book” A group of high school friends who do almost everything together, especially hanging out drinking and smoking in their clubhouse, which just happens to be a crypt in a cemetery…hence, Cemetery Club. As per usual, they get themselves involved in something that they shouldn’t have, but unfortunately this something isn’t just your typical HS hijinks. What happens next leads one boy to spend 20 years in a mental institution. Supernatural forces are at hand and they are back bringing the Cemetery Club members back together again to, yet again, defeat this horrible foe.

Some might compare Cemetery Club to Stephen King’s IT and I can definitely see the comparison, but I, personally, enjoyed this tale a bit more. (I know, blasphemy) The characters were well described. We see flashbacks into the various characters past and when compared to their present lives we get a detailed enough idea of how who they were in the past compares to who they grew up to be. The setting is basically any small town in America (I can’t recall the actual location at the moment) The action is well done. I wouldn’t say it is overly gruesome but it is definitely tangible. The creatures are vividly described and have a definite creep factor to their presence, which I loved.

Honestly there is really only one aspect of this book that….well it annoyed me. While I hate to say it annoyed me and then not go into any form of detail, I cannot go any further because to do so would be to give away something and I don’t want to do that to any potential readers, because what bothered me might not bother you.

Learn more about J.G. Faherty over at his website aptly named: Official Website of J.G. Faherty. To pick up your own copy of Cemetery Club click the cover image above for Amazon Kindle or paperback copies. Barnes & Noble nook owners, as well as, paperback copies can click (HERE)

Espresso rating: Triple with a splash of milk

Amazon Kindle/paperback

Hex signs protect every barn and outbuilding. The local tannery spews its poison on the land and in the river. And babies disappear at birth. An orphan and one-time felon who earned his nickname “from the sound a crowbar makes when it hits a man’s head,” Wump Hozer is now the custodian of Our Lady of the Innocents parish in Three Bridges, PA. Wump is old and tired. He’s fought all his life against the tannery’s waste, against God, and against the blind eyes of his good neighbors. Nowadays he tries to ignore the old monsignor’s exploits with the young women of the parish and the strangeness surrounding the local orphanage, and does what good he can for his wife, the church, the sisters who run the orphanage, and the poor orphans themselves. Childhood memories and strange presentments begin to plague Wump when a brick wall unearthed at the site of a new restaurant collapses, and raw sewage carries hundreds of bones into the pit left behind. It looks like the Devil’s made Three Bridges his new playground. A blasphemous bible tells Wump why.

Like a good character driven story? One with lots and backstory and so many twists and turns you aren’t sure if you’re coming or going? Then you will enjoy Scars on the Face of God: The Devil’s Bible. The story takes place through the eyes of Wump (Ever wonder what the sound is a tire iron makes hitting a human skull? Now you know)  Wump has had a hard life and he’s tired, he tries his best to be a good man to make up for his past wrongs. He has a good job working as custodial for the local parish, but some odd things continue to happen and Wump seems to be right in the middle of it all. The town has a horrible little secret and Wump is about to learn the entire story.

Honestly, I don’t want to say too much about Scars on the Face of God: The Devil’s Bible because even though I have read it I think I need to go back and read it again. It’s one of those tales that has so many hidden tidbits scattered throughout it that you’re definitely going to miss things during the first read through. Trust me that this is an excellent tale of mystery and religion mixed with a touch of horror. The main character is flawed, making him all the more believable and the surrounding characters play fantastically against Wump.  The setting is simple, but well developed in that as you are reading the sights, sounds and odors are vivid enough that you could swear you just smelled dog poo. (Yes, I said dog poo)

A definite must read for all who enjoy a thrilling and mysterious well told story that can truly make you sit down and ponder the sort of life you lead and where it might take you over time.

Pick up your copy of this fantastic tale, Scars on the Face of God: The Devil’s Bible, for paperback and Kindle via Amazon by clicking the cover image above. Have a nook from  Barnes & Noble? Click (HERE)  (nook only, no paperback)  For all other eBook forms head over to Smashwords (HERE)

The authors website is currently being overhauled from what I have read, but keep your eyes on http://cgbauer.net/ for future updates from C.G. Bauer

Espresso rating: Triple with splash of milk

Amazon Kindle

New author Scotty Schrier has recently released Mental Menagerie: A collection of genre-bending short fiction, which, as stated, is a collection of 14 short stories ranging from horror, to comedy to suspense. I have to say I really enjoyed this collection. It was rather refreshing to have such a wide variety of tales within one volume.

I don’t plan on going over each story, but I will touch upon a couple that really stick out in my head. One such tale just happens to be the very first in the collection, Hammer Down is a heart pumping story of Homely Hal, a truck driver and his truck, Molly and the precious cargo they aid in delivering during a horrible blizzard. The Call is a suspense filled tale of a found cell phone and a nightmarish discovery when attempting to return the phone to its owner. Finally, The Skylight Saga (A Satirical look at paranormal romance) had me laughing out loud as I read it. Yes, it will probably piss off fans of a certain book series, but for me it was so funny. I loved it.

The other 11 stories are very enjoyable. The attention to detail in setting and characters is well done. The characters themselves are given believability (when believability is desired, I should say) which aided in my actually caring or not caring about a character when things began to happen to them.

Overall, if you are a fan of short stories and enjoy a nice collection with variety, I highly suggest you pick up Mental Menagerie: A collection of genre-bending short fiction.  I think you will find it to be definitely worth your time and money.

Mental Menagerie: A collection of genre-bending short fiction  is only available for Amazon Kindle at the moment so click on the cover image to pick up your copy for Kindle and, remember if you don’t have a Kindle there are all kinds of options for you to read Kindle books.

Espresso rating: Triple

The Uncanny Valley is a collection of 16 unsettling tales that draws inspiration from old-school science fiction, horror, and dark fantasy series such as the Twilight Zone. 

“A Chance in Hell” – Life is about to get worse for one troubled youth after he breaks into a house he thought was empty. 

“Greet the World” – A company employee is told he’ll die if he tries to resign. 

“Nox Noctis” – What would happen if one day all light ceased to exist? The characters in this story are about to find out. 

“Scents of Life” – A husband has a late-night encounter with a mysterious woman cloaked in disarmingly familiar fragrances. 

“The Uncanny Valley” – The war between man and machines is the least of one survivor’s problems in this post-apocalyptic future. 

These, and eleven more tales, will launch you on a journey from the comforts of normalcy to a valley in which nature refuses to tread.

Anthologies/collections are always so difficult to review. I like to keep my thoughts short and to the point thus I am unable, and honestly, unwilling, to single out each individual story to discuss. So I do my best and hope I am able to portray some of my thoughts to you in a clear and concise manner.

That being said, The Uncanny Valley,  a collection of 16 tales from the mind Bryan R Dennis, was darn near right down the middle of the road for me. There were some tales that grabbed me and made me want more and there were a few that left me feeling deflated.  There were times that I felt like I was reading work from a variety of authors within the same story and that just felt wrong to me, especially knowing that it was the same author writing each story. Now, to be fair, I have no idea when each of these stories were written, so the author’s voice may have changed and developed with each story written.

The detail and description within the pages of each story was highly visual. The characters all seemed to have their own “voice” and didn’t blend into each other. Some characters just jumped off the page and forced me to pay attention to them while a few stayed off to the sidelines waiting for me to learn more about them. There was no excessive sex or violence in any of the tales, but there definitely was some high levels of tension and fearful elements, which I enjoyed greatly.

Overall, for me personally, this collection was a bit off, but still enjoyable. That being said, for the mere cost of $0.99 it is DEFINITELY well worth purchasing, because the stories that may not have tweaked my interest just might rock your socks. That’s what I love about reading, not everyone likes the same things.

So go grab yourself a copy for the Amazon Kindle and its various Kindle apps by clicking the cover image above.

Espresso rating: Double

The year is 2020. Vampires not only exist, they control the government, the pharmaceutical industry and the world. Manon Mourey is a Let It Ride card dealer at Transylvania Hotel, Spa & Casino in Summerlin, a suburb of Las Vegas, when Mikkel Damgaard enters her life. Sparks fly and as the body count begins to rise, Manon begins to suspect that their meeting was not entirely coincidental, and that perhaps something more sinister is at work. As Manon accepts her position as one of the elite undead, her very existence sparks a war that begins to consume the International Vampire Council and could soon engulf the human population as well. Werewolves and warlocks notwithstanding, a new breed of vampire sits at the top of the food chain and they’re hungry for something different than mortal blood.

I used to be a HUGE vampire fan, I guess I just got a little worn out on them. They became rather boring and tame and then they began sparkling….ok I’m not going down that road, because Death Wish is not about sparkling vampires. It is about vampires who are very close to what I think of when I think vampire. They are very primal, extremely sexual and intensely violent. They control the government, the pharmaceutical industry and soon the world.

Mikkel is a member of the International Vampire Council and has been in search of Manon for the past 20+ years. She has been drawing him to her, unknowingly, for many years. Manon is not a fan of vampires, in fact she hates them, but yet when she meets Mikkel and he explains to her the bond they have and he is here to make her his bride she jumps head first into believing his story. That was just about the only thing had issue with while reading Death Wish, Manon’s character fluctuated a bit too much for me.Manon was initially portrayed as being very self conscious who played second fiddle to her brother, a Warlock, and within just a few chapters she is a ruthless conniving hybrid vampire. Yes, I know there is a “change” that occurs when a human turns vamp, but it seems that in the world of Death Wish the vampires retain quite a bit of who they are, yet Manon seems to make a complete 180. The continuity in her character didn’t jive well with me.

I did greatly enjoy the conflict created between Manon’s turning and both the IVC and its individual members. There was definitely some intense fighting and blood letting going on and I loved some of Manon’s rivals. The setting was Vegas, which is a good place to set a vampire tale since the best part of Vegas happens at night. As I mentioned, the vampires are very sexual in nature, so there was sex involved in Death Wish and a few paragraphs were fairly graphic, but most of the sex is off the page.

Overall, a highly enjoyable book 1 to the Vamp Saga. I would definitely suggest grabbing a copy, I know I look forward to eventually getting my hands on the rest of the series as it is released.

Pick up your copy of Death Wish Book 1: The Vamp Saga at Amazon in paperback or for Kindle by clicking the cover image above. If you prefer Barnes & Noble for your nook click (HERE)

Espresso rating: Triple