Lincoln Crisler

4.5 of 5 Stars Review Copy

It's hard to believe that Skinjumper is Lincoln Crisler's first novel. It seems like I've been reading his stuff for years. But, then again, he has written more than 30 short stories, two novellas and edited couple of successful anthologies, so if you're a fan of the horror genre you may have heard the name before.

Skinjumper is a well thought out, imaginative, tale that begins with a attempt to bring a family pet back from the dead. Amateurs and the occult, what could possibly go wrong? The attempt fails, but several years later, Terry Miller discovers an unexpected consequence.

Anything more would involve major spoilers, but the title should be enough to give you a clue as to what that consequence might me. This "Talent" is enough to keep him one step in front of the police as he racks up a bit of a body count. As is often the case, Terry's desire for revenge may prove to be his undoing.

Crisler does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing right to the very end.

Skinjumper is available now in paperback and for the Kindle from Amazon.com. Published by Ragnarok Publications.

Strongly recommended.… (altro)

Review copy

Queen and Other Stories is an enjoyable collection of fifteen stories of pure speculative fiction, from horror to sci-fi and occasionally blending the genres. There's even a zombie tale.

First up was "D.T.F." Quick, what's the acronym? That's OK, I didn't know either. I had to look it up in the Urban Dictionary. You're going to have to look it up too, if you don't already know. Good story, nice twist, and one of the best lines in the book from the story's protagonist, Billy. "The force is strong he thought, one of Evan's sayings. The new guy at the factory was always quoting the captain of the Enterprise or some such."

The stories that follow have zombies, curses, vampires, cannibalism, super heroes, a ghost bank robber, time travelers, and more. A truly diverse collection from a fresh voice in speculative fiction.

Lincoln closes the collection with the novella, "Queen," which seamlessly blends science fiction and horror, and will make you think twice before signing up for any medical studies.

If you've not read Lincoln Crisler previously, Queen and Other Stories is the perfect introduction to get a feel for his storytelling skills. If you have read his work before, you may want to review the Table of Contents, as many of these stories have been published previously.

Queen and Other Stories is available now for the Kindle through Amazon.com.

Recommended.… (altro)

An interesting take on the question of superpowers and how they could change a person. This book is an anthology of stories written by various authors and mainly told in third person.

I enjoy reading from all the different author styles. It's the best part of anthologies, really. A lot of the stories are rather dark but realistic. There's also various superpowers. Some characters have the whole package (telekinesis, mindreading, flight, etc) while others have one and is limited by something. One of my favorite stories is a healer gone wrong. His power can only work a certain way so he was unable to really save anyone.

Overall, I can't really think of anything particularly problematic about this book. It had a nice mix of everything. Some authors had more fleshed out characters, some had more interesting superpowers, some were hard to understand and some were awesome just the way they were!

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes anthologies and superpowers. It's fairly dark so it might not be the best choice for our younger readers. Also, I would say it's a good book for anyone looking for something thoughtful. A book that doesn't get carried away with the stereotypical hero (it is about superpowers, after all) and just lets the readers see another side of humans.

Given a free copy in return for an honest review… (altro)

Lincoln Crisler's body of work consists of over thirty short stories, two novellas and editorship of two anthologies, most recently the very successful Corrupts Absolutely?, an anthology of dark superhero fiction.

Recenly he tossed this one into the mix. Definitely a stand-alone short story and a intriguing one at that.

The Bad Place is also a very dark place, on several levels. Both Judy and Joey are being abused by their father who will punish then by putting them in The Bad Place. When Joey disappears from there, things gets very interesting.

The idea of using a Time Machine to escape child abuse is quite imaginative. Of course, this being a horror story rather than Science Fiction, you just sort of know things aren't going to go well. And Crisler doesn't let us down.

Only 16 pages, but an excellent read. Available at Amazon.com and if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE as one of your monthly selections from the Kindle Lending Library.

While you're shopping you might want to pick up Licoln Crisler's Corrupts Absolutely?, which I plan on reading, hopefully in the near future.… (altro)