David C. HayesRecensioni

I was prepared to enjoy this more than I did, unfortunately.
A collection of short fiction from a (very nice) local-ish author. Between the monster and movie themes I was really hoping for something in vein of Orrin Grey's collection. While I suppose thematically that held true, in that these are clearly interpretations of B- and exploitation movie genres (Vampires! Mummies! Aliens! Girl Gangs! etc.) it just didn't meet my expectations. My fault perhaps.
The very first story, Hack, was probably the one saving grace and what propelled me through the rest of the collection hoping for more of that quality. A fun, Monsters- or Tales from the Crypt-esque, tale about a comedian giving a life or death pitch to a potential patron who will make or...end...his career. Other than suffering from an issue that the whole collection does in terms of needing another copy editor's pass or two, it was thoroughly enjoyable, the character(s) were fleshed out and three dimensional, a fun if predictable outcome...in other words, exactly what I was looking for. Even the Mummies! story, "That's a Wrap" has this same sort of fun, silly, tales from the crypt feel.
Sadly, and I won't delve into them each individually, the rest of the stories don't measure up to what Hayes is clearly capable of producing. There's a lot of the over the top, kind of meaningless schlock violence I see in Bizarro or Splatterpunk collections, that feels like its there purely for shock value...save that any fans of those genres are unlikely to be shocked. The Girl Gangs! entry, Rode Hard and Put Away Wet, feels particularly guilty of this. Those that don't fall entirely victim to this still feel like pastiches of the worst sort of bad/low budget horror movies, rather than clever entries.
While I wouldn't recommend this collection, its clear that Hayes can produce some fun if not ground breaking stories, especially with better copy editors at the helm. I'd be interested to see what of his crops up in collections by some other publishers with a little more distance from the bizarro and splatterpunk world.

A quick, enjoyable read. My favorite type of horror movies are slashers so I decided to try reading some slasher novels. This book is short, sweet, and to the point (ha!). The premise is interesting and there is no extraneous fluff to slow the plot down. My only complaint is a few typos that pulled me out of the story.

A quick, enjoyable read. My favorite type of horror movies are slashers so I decided to try reading some slasher novels. This book is short, sweet, and to the point (ha!). The premise is interesting and there is no extraneous fluff to slow the plot down. My only complaint is a few typos that pulled me out of the story.

Adrienne Marks lives a semi-charmed kind of life; she’s a cheerleader, the prom queen, and dates the most popular boy in school. Adrienne is pretty, athletic, and popular – all the things that her brother is not. Andy is introverted, dark, and prefers the internet over human interaction.

For twin siblings, they couldn’t be more different.

Andy and his best friend TJ found a new underground website called VictimNet. The page looks like an interactive ad for a new horror movie. There are ‘trailers’ of girls being murdered, graphic pictures, and forums to chat with other fans. VictimNet members can add people to the site, and auction them off to the highest bidder.

Andy and TJ decide to put Adrienne up for auction on the site – they can have some fun pretending that some psychopath is going to murder her, and it will be the perfect way to bring Adrienne down a peg or two.

Little did they know that VictimNet is a real ‘Red Room’ site, and the trailers are real ‘snuff’ videos. They just auctioned off the prom queen to brutal serial killer. Once they realize that everything is happening IRL, it is too late to stop The Bidder from getting exactly what he paid for. He has plans for the girl he just bought – and his plans would turn Lucio Fulci’s stomach!

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In every small town, in every section of the world, there is always that family. The family that is whispered about in the grocery store, and used as fodder for campfire horror stories. There is one family that urban legends are based on, and local children dare each-other to spy on in the dark.

In Brockton, Michigan, the Richardson family is that family.

In 1966, a very pregnant Marie Richardson helped to perpetuate the stories when she arrived at the hospital – she was about to become very non-pregnant, and claimed that she had never been with a man.

The things that happened during Marie’s labor, and the birth of her child, almost killed her, caused a lifetime of therapy for two nurses, and led the attending physician into retirement. Since that day, not a soul had seen the product of those horrors – until Brockton PD was sent to the Richardson place some 40 years later to investigate complaints of a bizarre smell.

What the deputies found was described as being ‘worse than the most horrible car wreck in the world’. Chained to the wall in the basement was a man of about 500 pounds. He was about 7 feet tall, balding, and could be compared to Chunk from The Goonies – on a good day.

The man was sent to the Blessed Arms State Hospital, (formerly Michigan’s official State Tuberculosis Hospital, and has a striking resemblance to ELOUISE psychiatric hospital in Westland, MI), and into the custody of Dr. Godfrey and nurse Angie Fletcher.

Cherub, as he comes to be known by the staff, quickly becomes a special project for Nurse Angie and her sinister plans for Blessed Arms.

We all know how much I love hometown authors, and David C. Hayes is one of my Michigan Madmen