Sinister Reads – March 2011
Sinister Reads
Should Have Killed the Kid
by R. Frederick Hamilton
Legumeman Books
ISBN – 978-0987049667
RRP: AUD$23.95 (free postage within Aus.)
Available from (print) Legumeman Books and Amazon; (ebook) Smashwords and Amazon
At the time it seemed so cut and dry. When the old man held out the knife and asked him to kill the kid, Dave didn’t think twice. The man was clearly nuts. Raving about an apocalypse that only the boy’s death could stop. Dave had done what any rational person would have – knocked the lunatic out. A lucky punch and all had been over… or so he thought.
Locked in a skyscraper in Melbourne, Dave Thomas has ample time to rue and lament his decision. As he watches the city burn, it’s a little difficult to escape the enormity of his mistake.
Claws have invaded the shadows.
Billions are dead.
Continents in ruin.
And to rub salt in the wounds, the only hope for salvation is to face that decision all over again.
He really should have killed the kid.
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This Green Hell
by Greig Beck
Pan McMillan
ISBN – 9781405040495
RRP: AUD$32.99
Now available from all good bookstores
Deep in the steaming jungles of Paraguay, Aimee Weir is in trouble.
The petrobiologist has found what she was looking for – a unique microorganism in a natural gas deposit – but it proves to be more destructive than anyone could have imagined. A contagion is striking down all in its wake. The camp is quarantined, but workers start to vanish in the night.
Is it fear of contamination – or has something far more lethal come to the surface?
Alex Hunter – code name Arcadian – and his Hotzone All-Forces Warfare Commandos must be dropped in to the disaster area to do whatever it takes to stem the outbreak. It has been a year since Aimee has seen Alex; she thought she had left him for good. Now she needs him more than ever.
In the sweltering jungles of South America, the Arcadian must learn to master his violent inner demons for this rescue mission to have any chance of success. But can he survive long enough to confront the danger that threatens the very survival of mankind?
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Torment
by Greg Chapman
Damnation Books
ISBN – Print 9781615723423/ eBook 9781615723416
RRP: eBook US$4.99 TPB US$12.50
eBook available from Damnation Books & Amazon
Print edition available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Jessica’s Newman’s tragic childhood has come back to haunt her. Her father, a Catholic deacon whom she hasn’t seen since he was found not guilty of her mother’s death during an exorcism ritual, has turned up dead in Scotland, a single gunshot wound to the head. Forced to take her family to Scotland and deal with her father’s estate – a derelict mansion in the Grampian Mountains – Jessica begins to question her mother’s death and just what role her father played in it. But the house – and its dark basement – could provide more answers than she bargained for.
“There are points in Torment when this novella is truly a torment to read, but in the all the right ways. Chapman inexorably draws the reader into Jessica Newman’s terrifying world to the point where there are two choices – put the story down to still your beating heart, or read on into the complex mystery, rightly fearing what lies on the next page. This is at once a tale of demonic and ghostly terror, as well as a compelling nod to the core imagery of classic horror. I don’t expect I’ll forget this tale any time soon, and that may not be a good thing!” ~Rocky Wood, author of Stephen King: The Non-Fiction and Horrors! Great Tales of Fear and Their Creators
“Torment echoes The Exorcist with its tale of tortured souls and questions about faith. A chilling, tightly written story from a new voice in horror.” ~Brett McBean, author of The Mother, Tales of Sin and Madness, and Concrete Jungle
“Torment is a slow-burning supernatural thriller that fuses the darkness of Blatty’s The Exorcist with the visceral thrills of ghost stories from masters such as Peter Straub and Robert Hood. With authorial sleight of hand, Chapman turns the exorcism sub-genre on its head with Torment. Greg Chapman is an author to watch.” ~Shane Jiraiya Cummings, author of Shards and The Apocrypha Sequence
“Well-placed dark fiction doused in history, ritual and intrigue.” ~Mark Farrugia, editor, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine: Best of Horror #2
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Sinister Slices
Resurrection in Red
by Jason Nahrung
Published in: More Scary Kisses, due April 2011
Available from: Ticonderoga Publications
Children of the Cane
by Jason Nahrung
Published in: Dead Red Heart, due April 2011
Available from Ticonderoga Publications
Wet Work
by Jason Nahrung
Published in: After the Rain, due April 2011
Available from: Fablecroft Publishing
Mending the Fences
by Jason Nahrung
Published in: Aurealis #45, due May 2011
Available from: Aurealis
Published in: Extinct Doesn’t Mean Forever anthology
Available from: Amazon
Behind the Midnight Blinds
by Marty Young
Published in: Horror World
Out of the Storm
by Rick Kennett
Published in: Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine
Available from Dunesteef
Thirty Minutes for New Hell
by Rick Kennett
Published in: Aurealis #45
Available from: Aurealis
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Sinister Awards
An Ordinary Boy
by Jen White
Shortlisted for Young Adult Short Story: 2010 Australian Shadows Award
Macabre: A Journey through Australia’s Darkest Fears
Ed. Angela Challis & Dr. Marty Young
Various tales listed in Ellen Datlow’s ‘Honourable Mentions’ list -Best Horror 2010
by Jenny Blackford, Felicity Dowker, Andrew J. McKiernan, Amanda J. Spedding & Kyla Ward
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