Malcolm Torres

A story for those who enjoy naval / military type reads.

When you read the following… ‘A welder’s torch was used to dislodge a pair of blackened hipbones from a stainless steel toilet bowl.’ You know that you’re in for a high octane action story, and this one has it down pat. From the get-go, author Malcolm Torres places the reader on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier by letting the smells, sounds and imminent dangers jump out of the page at you. This is someone who’s been there, done that.

The Sixty-Four Days of the title refers to the amount of days that Senior Chief Brendan O'Reilly, has left for his retirement, that is if shit don’t hit the fan on account of a malfunctioning Corsair A7. They must land the plane safely or else…

I came across a free copy this 27 page short story while perusing Google (yep that platform still around.) and I enjoyed it very much.

Get your mitts on this explosive and gripping short story.

5 Out of 5
… (altro)

A Reckoning with History.
This short story is the second one I’ve read, and is one of the many shorts which comprise ‘The Sea Adventure Collection,’ by Author Malcolm Torres, which is a collection of short stories that can often be downloaded for FREE and can be read in any order. Making Peace with Japan is a first person narrative with a voice that pulls you in, and with an insightfulness that places you in the mind of what is like to be a 19 year old sailor. The story has touches of nostalgia, a dark sense of humor and a terrific attention to detail. The waitress who resembles a Japanese Flo had me chuckling, plus the bar filled with Japanese roughnecks sounds like my kinda place. Another great short story from an author who delivers the literary (NAVY) goods.
Kanpai!
… (altro)

Senior Chief O’Reilly has sixty-four days until retirement. He’s anxious to avoid anything that might jeopardize that, but an A-7 has failed to release all its bombs and the Captain wants to land the plane on the carrier. O'Reilly has been placed in charge of the recovery crew. He’d prefer to just dump the plane in the ocean and have the pilot eject rather than risk an explosion on the ship (and ruin his retirement plans.)

The incident Brendan remembers from when he was a nineteen-year old was based, most probably, on the Forrestal fire that involved Senator McCain. Given the types of planes I wondered if the time period wasn’t around Vietnam even though the author looks way too young for that.

Very short, but what there is was good.… (altro)

The USS Nimitz has been out to sea for 93 days on a top-secret mission. The U.S. Navy is testing a new cloaking device that will make it invisible to enemy ships. Things aren’t going according to plan despite the determination of Captain Fox to advance his career and make it work at all costs. The ship was found despite its cloak and now bodies are disappearing from the ship’s morgue. The crew tries to cover it up but someone is also sabotaging the ships equipment and a small group of sailors are performing satanic rituals. Life gets crazy when you’re stuck at sea and there are some horrific things happening on the USS Nimitz. It’s up to a few good sailors to solve the mystery of the missing corpses and make the cloaking device work.

Sailors Take Warning by Malcolm Torres has some great characters in it, I liked hearing why everyone enlisted in the navy. So much detail went into each person that you got the impression that they were all based on people who the author knew. The descriptions made you appreciate the diversity of the people on board adding realism to the story and showing what life must be like on a ship. For example I liked hearing how Kate Conrad got into the Navy. She knew it would give her money for student loans and another officer went into the Navy because the family farm was repossessed and it was the only way he could make a living. Another good part was the relationship between an executive officer and a young woman that gets a little twisted. Despite her fear she stays with the relationship because it is an escape from the boredom on the ship.

I enjoyed this book and all the references that were made about people in the Navy who live on ships for months on end. There are a lot of things that are described that I think we’re specifically geared towards people in the service. Despite the fact that I don’t have a Navy background, the ship references are what sets this apart from other horror novels and I liked that this book talks a lot about a way of life that I know nothing about. The author, Malcolm Torres is a navy man and he gives a perspective to this story that few people have and he paints a vivid picture of what Navy life must be like.

There are a lot of sub plots going on in Sailors Take Warning. In fact I thought the book felt more like several short stories that take place in the same setting rather than a cohesive novel. While all the sub plots were interesting not all of them were necessary and there was so much going on I wondered what the main story was. That being said each short story was good enough to keep me interested. Sailors Take Warning isn’t a straightforward horror novel. It’s more of a high seas thriller with some science fiction, horror and mythology references mixed in. I still think there is enough going on here that horror fans will enjoy it, such as missing bodies, satanic rituals and a BDSM relationship that kind of freaked me out. Sailors Take Warning is a thriller that will make you think twice before spending time at sea.… (altro)