Title: The Homecoming

Author: Andrew Pyper

Release date: February 26, 2019

I’ve been meaning to do a re-read of ‘The Homecoming’ for about six months or so, but I kept putting it off. The reason being – I typically don’t do much rereading because A) there’s so much out there I haven’t read and B) much like with movies, if I’ve already read/watched it then I know what will happen and it’ll lose some shock and awe. But, saying all of that; A) as you may know, I have a love of Pyper’s work, B) it has been three years since I’ve read it, so I knew I would be forgetting some aspects and C) recently, I was listening to an interview he did to promote ‘The Only Child’ while I was preparing to interview Andrew about that book, and at the end, the interviewer asks him what he’s working on. Normally, Andrew is pretty evasive about that in interviews. I consider myself fortunate that he actually answered this exact question when I interviewed him (and now I sit and wait!), but as I said, he answered it and said he wanted to write a thriller novel with a huge twist at the end – and that was this novel, ‘The Homecoming.’

You can watch that ‘The Only Child’ interview here if you so desire;

Now, as I said, this was a re-read, so if you want to see my original thoughts, you can here;

https://stevestredauthor.wordpress.com/2019/05/10/the-homecoming-review-pypermaynia/

Funny enough, before I dive into the review, when I read this the first time, Andrew and I had already developed a friendship, but it wasn’t to the level as it is these days. So, when this came out, I missed the possibility of getting an ARC and this became an edition of his that was incredibly difficult for me to track down! The copy I do have I cherish, but crazily, the ARC for ‘The Only Child’ was even tougher to track down!

What I liked: The backmatter of the book uses this tag line: What if everything you knew about the people you loved was a lie? Intriguing right? And the front of the UK cover uses this lead in: One Family, One Month. All they have to do is survive. Got your attention yet?

The story follows the Quinlan’s, a family whisked to a remote, fenced property in the Pacific Northwest after their absentee father has died. The reason? The reading of the will. It is here that our main character, Aaron, reunites with his older sister Franny, his mother and his younger sister, Bridge. They are brought to an enormous mansion and the scope of just how wealthy their father becomes a reality.

Pyper doesn’t stop there though – the will states, that if they all remain there for thirty days, with no contact with the outside world and that they don’t leave the property, they’ll each split their quarter of their fathers money.

It’s from here that we get Pyper utilizing two of his common story aspects; strong family dynamics and the location/environment becoming one of the main characters.

Belfountain, itself plays such a role in the ‘unknown’ and the ever changing aspects of what the readers believes they know that it may well be Andrew’s best utilizing of location yet (The Wildfire Season and The Trade Mission pushing hard from either direction). As I mentioned in my previous review, the location reminded me so much of a massive mansion near where I grew up, The Blaylock Mansion near Nelson, BC. So much so, (and with the cover image mirroring architectural aspects of it) that this was the place I pictured this occurring at.

But, Andrew doesn’t stop there. We get mysterious cabins, a strange discovery in the woods and an external threat – two characters that come to be referred to as The Tall Man and the Witch. You’d think that would end there, but no, we also get a constant description of “deja vu” and shared dreams, which all work together to create a hyperventilating chaos where the reader gets sucked in and will be struggling to keep themselves above the surface.

And then…

And then we arrive to the horrible reality of what has been happening, what the true nature of this place was and is and, I’ve said this before, I’m thankful to see that Andrew is willing to go there. When people ask why I love his work so much, it’s this exact reason. Andrew writes like a literary behemoth, the type of prose and book narrative that lends itself to be featured on bookshelves, in airport kiosks and on the bestseller lists. The type of book that a person picks up randomly and ends up reading it before their boarding is even called, dipping back over to pick up another book from him. But, Andrew is also one of the few ‘Instant Bestselling’ authors out there who also is willing to have visceral, extremely violent moments and not hold anything back. When he goes there, his writing is rated R, not rated PG13 like many of the other ‘dark-thriller’ authors who saddle up next to his books country wide.

I wish I could tell you exactly why I love the ending of this book as much as I do, but stupid spoilers make it so I can’t. What I will say is this – on my reread, I actually saw some of the subtle clues that Andrew sprinkled throughout, at one point even groaning that in my first go around, I had missed a key detail. But that’s the beauty of Andrew’s writing. He’s a top ten new release author with a ‘Where’s Waldo’ of extremity soaking through the pages. You know it’s coming, you just need to find it before it finds you.

What I didn’t like: I kind of hate rereading Andrew’s work because each time I do it throws my “favorite Pyper book” list into complete disarray. ‘The Homecoming’ is that pop-song that gets stuck in your head and won’t leave. It is rock solid and almost completely difficult to pick apart as to anything that might turn you away from it. So, in fairness to all the other books I read and offer up something here, I should do that for this book too. I wasn’t a huge fan of the mom character. It makes sense when the book is done, but throughout, some of her reactions really annoyed me. And there’s a character, Jerry, that’ll drive you bonkers, but again, this is all purposeful. A means to an end.

Why you should buy this: Out of Andrew’s last number of releases, I’d almost offer up that this book is an overlooked gem. Between ‘The Damned,’ ‘The Only Child’ and ‘The Resident,’ this book came out and while I saw it shared a little bit, not near as much as I did with ‘The Resident’ and ‘Oracle’ his audio-only release. ‘The Homecoming’ is a gripping, pedal-to-the-metal, thrill ride. This book is tailor made for you to take it camping, or to the beach or your Air BnB on your vacation and have you ignoring everything else around you. People often ask me where they should start with reading Andrew’s work, and I usually say ‘The Demonologist’ or ‘The Damned’ or ‘Lost Girls,’ but honestly, I think it should be this one, now having finished it again. ‘The Homecoming’ shows Pyper’s literary brilliance with his Indie-extreme badge that he wears when his big five publisher isn’t looking. This will captivate you from page one until the very end and once done, you’ll feel the weight of this story leave you and let you breathe again.

Well done, Andrew. Phenomenal work.

5/5

Brian Fatah Steele has one of the most amazing imaginations out there. Every single time he releases something, you know you’ll be transported away to somewhere you never even thought possible. It is phenomenal. I was super excited to see what he’d deliver in this installment of the 3Q’s!

Brian! Welcome! Thank you for doing this!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Brian: I’ve found that I write best in the morning. After I get up, feed the cat, make coffee, and check my accounts real quick, I usually sit down at my desktop. My routine is pretty well in place by this point. Coffee, smokes, Spotify, and go. Since I plot everything out ahead of time, I try to get approximately 2000 words done a day, and if I have time 4000 words. All just depends.

Steve: Out of all your releases, do you have a character you could write about forever?

Brian: No, probably not. A single trilogy is the most I could crank out from a story before I’d get bored and want to move on to a new idea. I love world-building and creating new characters. All my books loosely exist in the same multiverse, but nobody could really tell unless you searched for the clues. I love a lot of my characters, but I have a tendency to do some terrible things to them and their planets in my big, loud, cosmic horror tales.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Brian: My last release was a collection called VIOLATION HIVE. Ten tales of cosmic horror centered around the theme of “belief,” that veer off into other genres like dystopian, science fiction, folk horror, super hero, apocalyptic, and weird. Edited by Jospeh Sale and cover by Dimensionaut Media, it’s available on Amazon in ebook and paperback.

Steve: Bonus question time! Did you have a favorite wrestler as a kid?

Brian: Heh, not really. Maybe Undertaker or Ultimate Warrior. I was never all that into wrestling. I was the weird art kid with a massive comic book collection, reading his dad’s old pulp sci-fi novels. I went to art school to become an illustrator and ended up finding far more fulfillment in writing. I know a lot of my friends were into wrestling, and you’d think there would have been a crossover for me, but I suppose there wasn’t enough of a fantasy element… which is saying something.

Awesome! Thanks so much, Brian!

Check out more of Brian’s stuff here;

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brian-Fatah-Steele/e/B002V7OJR0/

Website: https://www.dimensionautmedia.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brian_f_steele

Hello, my name is Steve Stred… and this is… 3Q’s.

Today, we have a fellow Canuck who frequently asks Elon Musk for $1,000,000 on Twitter.

That’s right. I’m talking about the Notorious J.R. Mc.

I’ll give you a second to check the O.R. You like it so far?

Welcome, J.R.

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

J.R.: To my discredit, I don’t have a regular writing routine. I’ve tried—time, word count, what have you—but I find that life, so to speak, often derails my efforts, and also that rules around my writing often just creates feelings like stress or guilt, which are counterproductive. Writing doesn’t give me much, materially—the work is the reward. So I treat it as such, and weigh how rigid I am with it against all the other rigidities I have in my life, and try to find a balance that results in the most enjoyment.

That said, currently, my thing is: shower, then an hour. I get lots of good ideas in the shower, so this is an attempt to try and translate them to the page right away.

Steve: Out of all your releases, do you have a favorite character you’ve written?

J.R.: Tough call. I don’t know if I have a favourite, per se. It’s usually more about whether or not they’re doing the job they’re supposed to. To that end, I’m proud of the unnamed narrator of “The Streetcar Goes Sideways Down Cherry Street.” On a zanier level, it always amuses me to revisit Dale Westin, the mayoral hopeful from “The Last Ham”, who is based on the Ford brothers. I keep meaning to write a sequel to that story called “You’ll Never Believe What Happens Next”, in which Dale’s brother shows up to sleepy Bedford and is probably eaten, or something.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

J.R.: Technically, I guess, my latest release is a flash story called “The Infinite Shape of Regret,” which you can find as part of Dread Stone Press’ Dose of Dread series here. I am not nearly as efficient or productive as many horror writers in terms of published output, so my sole book remains my collection, DIFFERENT BEASTS. I like to think it lives in a world where not much fiction does—weird, unsettling, moving, horrifying, unafraid to nose around in a few different genres, and filled with references to heavy music. The Winnipeg Free Press compared it to “Stuart McLean channeling H.P. Lovecraft,” which I think is a fun description, although I would add J.G. Ballard, Karen Russell and Kafka to the mix. Also, Steve Stred gave it five stars, and this man knows books!

Steve: Bonus Question! What is your favorite album?

J.R.: Impossible to name just one, so I’ll bend the rules and give you my top three. My teenage self says The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails. Its sounds and words are inscribed on the inner walls of my guts. From early adulthood, Shine a Light by the Constantines. An air-tight classic, maybe the last great rock n’ roll album. For the last few years, I’ve lived and died by The Congos’ 1977 album, Heart of the Congos. It’s producer Lee “Scratch” Perry’s masterpiece, one of the most transcendent albums ever made. And it has an amazing guest vocal by a cow. Honorable mentions: London Calling by The Clash, Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos, Young Team by Mogwai, Bordeaux by Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd, Avanti by Alessandro Cortini… then there’s metal, and country… we could go year by year…

Thanks so much, J.R.!

Links to the good stuff!

Website: jrmcconvey.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jrmcconvey

Yeeeeellloooooo, and welcome to another 3Q’s!

One thing I’ve quickly discovered doing these 3Q’s, is that a number of authors live near me. And I’ve also realized that I’ve not met any of these authors in person haha!

So, that brings us to today’s 3Q’s with Shelly Campbell, an author and illustrator who lives about three hours south west of me! Good grief. Really need to start visiting people!

Welcome, Shelly!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Shelly: My writing time can go one of two ways. If I sit in my office with the comfy chair and the dual screen computer, inevitably, I get sucked into important stuff like research and social media, and I’m lucky to squeeze out a handful of words in a few hours. Luckily, I am the proud owner of an ancient Compact Mini notebook that barely maintains the capability to run a word processor. Trying to open the internet on this old gal takes hours. I back up documents religiously while using this little computer because I’m certain that every day might be its funeral, but it keeps chugging along giving me the capability to write with less distractions in a variety of locations, like out in my backyard under the pergola listening to birds, or in the living room, reclined in the La-Z-Boy in front of the fireplace.

I write on my days off in the mornings while it’s quiet and my kids are in school, but I’m a slow starter, and often morning sessions culminate with the imprint of the keyboard on my forehead and pages upon pages of progress that consists of only a few repeated letters 🙂 My best editing is done at night with headphones on, a healthy Spotify list of instrumental music–lyrics distract me–and the dual screen computer humming away. I tend to prefer editing to writing, so I usually stay up far past my bedtime tweaking phrases and polishing scenes, as opposed to hammering out first drafts.

When I’m on a deadline, I try to complete at least 1000 words per day and when I’m not, I consider any words hit the page and stick there to be fine progress indeed.

Steve: Out of all your releases, do you have a character you could write about forever?

Shelly: That’s a great question! You know, it’s the supporting cast, the ones who were only meant to be foils for my main characters that tend to roost in my head and demand I tell more of their stories. In my past and upcoming works, I’m tempted to expand on Tanar, James, and Vinton. None are main characters, but all know how to get into my MC’s heads and push them in directions they need to go.

People who accomplish great things often do so with this huge support system behind them that is mostly unseen, but so incredibly essential. I could write forever about the Sam Gamgees of the world, but not so much the Frodo Baggins.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Shelly: My newest release, coming out on August 16th, I’ve cowritten with a friend. Knowledge Itself is a YA post-apocalyptic sci-fi set in western Canada–not far from where your Mastodon takes place actually, Steve! We just finished hammering out the back cover blurb:

After solar flares wipe out electrical grids worldwide, a small community survives by selling data recovered from decrepit hard drives and rare books. Nostalgic for the days of big business, the commune’s founding members call themselves Corporate and micromanage everyone.

Raised into the hustle, Iris Ecosia’s ADHD brain rebels at Corporate’s strict structure. It’s not all bad though. She attracts the attention of Robert Lycos, the son of one of the Shareholders, but their relationship comes to a crashing end when she loses focus at a critical moment and a vital piece of equipment is destroyed.

The mistake plunges her into debt. Corporate demotes her to an indentured gardener. Her romance with Robert dissolves. Worse, there are no paid sick days in the post apocalypse. So, when Iris’s whole family falls ill, starvation is soon knocking on their door. Meanwhile, the Shareholders live like tycoons.

Iris and her family are not alone in their poverty or their impotent rage at the corporation who keeps them poor, hungry, and dependent. An underground revolution intent on toppling Corporate wants to recruit her. She can still do big things if she joins them, but if she’s caught, the Shareholders won’t stop at destroying her. They’ll go after her family too.

I think people should read it because it is a neurodiverse Canadian post-apocalypse story and you don’t run into those very often. Plus, it was gratifying writing something that kids with ADHD can see themselves reflected in. Megan King and I had a blast writing it and are diving into the second book of the series as we speak.

Interested readers can pre-order Knowledge Itself here: https://books2read.com/u/4jgYdY

Steve: Bonus Question! Did you have a favorite wrestler as a kid?

Shelly: We only had three local channels on TV growing up, depending on how you aimed the ole aerial antenna–not dating myself at all–and one of the channels broadcast WWF wrestling. My cousin was a huge wrestling fan and insisted we view matches at full volume with the living room floor lined with as many couch cushions and pillows as possible, all the better to emulate play-by-plays in proper boisterous fashion.

My favourite? André the Giant, without a doubt. The man was legendary. Although, I must say, I liked him better in The Princess Bride 🙂

Thanks so much for having me on, Steve. It is an honour!

If you want to find more work from Shelly;

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Shelly-Campbell/e/B0929GWGL8

Website: shellycampbellauthorandart.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShellyCFineArt

Another 3Q’s and another awesome author! I’m really digging these splashes of tidbits we get to discover!

Today’s author guest is none other than the fantastic Sonora Taylor!

Welcome, Sonora!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Sonora: I usually like to write between work tasks at my day job. Sometimes I write before I log on for the day, since I now work from home; but I’m usually more productive throughout the day as opposed to early morning or evening. Ideally, I’ll write a few hundred words per day for a short story, and 1000 words per day for a novel. However, that doesn’t always happen, so on the days I’m really struggling with the desire to write, I aim for at least a sentence. That way I’m engaging with the story once a day. And those sentences do eventually add up! I also don’t write on weekends unless I’m on a deadline or I have a huge hankering to write, since I consider it work and try not to work on Saturday and Sunday.

Steve: Out of all your releases, do you have a character you could write about forever?

Sonora: This is a tough one because my stories are basically one and done when I write them. I sometimes imagine what happens to the characters after I’ve finished telling their stories, but never strongly enough to keep writing about them. A character type I could write about forever, though, is a woman who kills–and how that sometimes ends up being the most innocuous part of her darkness.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Sonora: My newest release is Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology, which I co-edited with Nico Bell. It features 12 fat positive horror stories. People should read it because we need more fat positive horror in our lives, and because the stories kick ass! You can find it through any online retailer, as well as this link: https://books2read.com/u/mlLXvP

Steve: Bonus Question! Did you have a favorite wrestler as a kid?

Sonora: I didn’t watch wrestling as a kid, but plenty of my friends did! My best friend in middle school loved the Stone Cold/The Rock era

Awesome! Thank you so much, Sonora!

As always, follow the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sonora-Taylor/e/B075BR5Q7F/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sonorawrites

Website: sonorawrites.com

One thing I love about this 3Q’s feature, is seeing the variation of responses, but also seeing how people who’s work you love operate! Case in point – Nico Bell! I’m a big fan of her writing, but have also had the privilege of appearing in an anthology she released. (As this isn’t about me – I won’t link it here – but do find it on her Amazon page!)

Welcome, Nico!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Nico: I used to be very chaotic in terms of my writing schedule. I’m a night-owl, so I used to write most of my stories late at night and into the early morning, but that proved exhausting. I trained myself to be a daytime writer, and now, I spend most mornings working on my manuscripts. If I’m on a deadline, I stick to a word count of about 2,000 words a day, but if I’m in the beginning of the writing process, and I’m just brainstorming and fast drafting, I don’t worry about hitting a specific word count.

Steve: Out of all your releases, do you have a character you could write about forever?

Nico: This is a fantastic question! I love all the characters in my novellas, but the first to pop up when I read this question was the woman in my poem “Smile,” which was published in Under Her Skin: A Women in Horror Poetry Collection by Black Spot Books. Readers get a tiny peek into this woman’s life as she struggles to survive a terminal illness, and I would love to expand her story one day and really sink into her suffering and how she desperately wants to appear happy to those around her.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Nico: This is a big year for me! I actually have three releases! The first is Beyond the Creek, which is my creature horror novella set in rural Virginia. It’s about Alex, a young woman escaping an abusive past only to find herself at the center of a centuries horror in the making.

Next up is Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology to be released June 21, 2022. This is a passion project as it contains twelve incredible fat-positive horror stories that will terrify and delight. I co-edit this with the fabulous Sonora Taylor.

Last is a yet to be titled pro-choice/pro-body autonomy charity anthology I’m co-editing with the talented Roxie Voorhees and being released in the fall of 2022 by Creature Anthology. All profits go to NARAL, which is a pro-choice charity.

Steve: Bonus Question! Did you have a favorite wrestler as a kid?

Nico: OMG…so quick story!! My grandfather loved wrestling and introduced it to me as a kid, but he convinced me everything I saw was 100% real. I watched a match with Jake the Snake where his competitor put the snake in a bag and did an elbow drop directly on top! Tears filled my eyes and I looked to my grandfather and asked, “Is that real too?” Without missing a beat, my grandfather replied, “Yes, it is.” At the time, all I could think was “that poor snake!” It tore me up. When I got older and started watching wrestling on my own, I understood how things work, so I get it now, but that moment as a kid was pretty harsh!

But back to your question…I didn’t have a favorite as a kid, but I love Sasha Banks now!

Awesome! Thank you, Nico!

Find some groovy links below!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Nico-Bell/e/B083Q12B1J/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicobellfiction

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18380351.Nico_Bell

Title: The Twins

Author: Mike Minicky

Release date: May 11, 2022

Huge thanks to Mike for contacting me over on Instagram about checking out his debut novel, ‘The Twins.’

There’s always something engrossing and captivating about twins in dark fiction and in cinema. It’s a trope that can be done really, really well and many of those times where it succeeds is when you have innocent twins that are surrounded by worse and worse events or occurrences.

This is exactly what Mike offers us up and he does it with gusto.

What I liked: The book starts off in familiar territory. After receiving a horrible phone call telling them that their daughter is dead, two grandparents now become the guardians of their twin granddaughters.

Simple enough, right? Wrong.

Of course, this is a dark fiction book, so as soon as the twins arrive, bad things begin to happen and this is where Minicky really begins to let the story unravel. We get some really solid secondary characters and I loved seeing how they all had a key role in the events that occur.

As expected, Minicky at first keeps his cards close to his chest, not letting us see the extent to which the twins will go, but by the end, he lays them on the table and the reader is richly rewarded.

What I didn’t like: I don’t want this to sound overly negative, but Minicky doesn’t tread much new territory here. The book is fun, sure, but if you’ve recently read numerous stories featuring twins or sibling issues/connections, you may find this will feel more of the same.

Why you should buy this: For a debut novel, this is really, really solid. The characters are great and solid, the pacing really engaging and the story overall was really fun.

I wasn’t completely sure what I was in for when I dove into this one, but I was pleasantly surprised!

3/5

Title: No One Can Help You: Tales of Lost Children and Other Nightmares

Author: Ruth Anna Evans

Release date: May 28th, 2022

Another release that came onto my radar recently when I tweeted that I was here to help folks (good grief how arrogant does that sound! Apologies, not my intentions at all!) if they were trying to get some reviews or blurbs etc, ‘No One Can Help You: Tales of Lost Children and Other Nightmares,’ comes with a warning at the beginning that there are a number of triggers within, and I have to say – even with those triggers, the stories still managed to unnerve me and hit a number of emotions I wasn’t expecting.

What I liked: Short story collections have a tendency to either really work or fall flat and I have to say, it shows how solid of a writer Evans is that this one works well and remained solid throughout.

The stories all deal with oddities and extremes and it’s because of that pairing that we see the strengths in the stories.

Highlights for me were:

‘Nicholas is Gone’ – this story was about an alcoholic mom, who ends up becoming homeless with her son. After some more bad decisions, they run into an older man who wants to help them, but has a sinister reason. This story starts out horribly, horribly sad and doesn’t get much brighter.

‘Sight of Blood’ – this one was really fascinating. A police officer begins to have horrible visions, realizing that they are visions showing him incidents to come, but no matter what he tries to do, he simply can’t seem to change the future. Really well done and the character was flawed but one you wanted to root for.

‘Missing’ – this one starts out innocently enough, when a young boy sees the housekeeper start to take some of his things. The reasoning and resulting actions were terrifying and completely unhinged, which is why this one works so well.

‘The Surprise’ – this story shoots out of the gates with Noah’s step dad taking him and declaring that a coven is going to eat him. The atmosphere in this one was electric with the gnawing sense that even though things were bad, they could suddenly get worse.

Every story had a palpable energy to it, which was great and even the shorter ones hummed along SEE: Hypochondriac, which works well to keep the readers always uneasy.

What I didn’t like: As with all collections, some stories just may not connect with the reader. For me, there was a few that started out great and then went somewhere I just wasn’t excited about. The main example of that would be ‘Phantom Pain.’ This started out as one of the best Body Horror stories I have read in some time, where something odd was happening and getting worse by the sentence. But then it took a turn and seemed to go into full Bizarro territory, which just didn’t connect.

Why you should buy this: This is a rock solid collection that had me gripped from story one. Ruth Anna Evans delivers some truly dark and terrible moments and has a willingness to make extremely flawed characters as the ones that we need to root for, and that in and of itself is a tough act.

Had a blast with these stories and if you’re looking for a great collection to check out, look no further!

4/5

Title: The Drop Box

Author: Tyler Craig

Release date: May 17, 2022

I’m going to start this review off by categorically stating – we all start somewhere. I say that, because this is a classic case where some people might overlook this one because of the pre-made Amazon cover. I started out with a pre-made cover for my first collection and it wasn’t until another author mentioned to me that people often won’t read them because of the stigma around them, that I rereleased it with a new cover.

Ok, mini-rant over. Recently, I tweeted that if people were looking for reviews/blurbs etc, to reach out and I’d do my best to try and help and get more eyes on their works. Tyler was one such person, and here we are. His debut novella, ‘The Drop Box: An EO 11 Story’ is a perfect read for those out there who really enjoy the Jason Bourne style world of storytelling. The secret agent who works for a secretive group and nobody is really who they say they are and nobody can be trusted.

That is exactly what we have with this one and Craig does a great job of keeping this filled with tension.

What I liked: The story starts out simple enough; our agent goes to where he normally finds his new directives, only to discover the drop box is empty. This has never happened before.

From here, Craig takes us on a whirlwind adventure where multiple layers are revealed and allegiances are tested. The set ups and twists are done nicely (and me saying twists isn’t a spoiler – in a story like this you know full well going in there will be twists) and that is part of why the characters work really well.

Throughout, the set pieces implemented work really well to heighten things and I liked how Craig does a solid job of crafting the action sequences. Those sequences can often be tough but these come across as engaging and exciting.

The ending was well done and as the title alludes, I think we’ll most likely see more set in this world, and involving some of the characters.

What I didn’t like: I don’t read a lot of stories in this genre/style, nor do I specifically seek out movies like this, but even so, a few of the twists that were meant to be shocking were telegraphed far in advance, which dampened those moments a bit.

Why you should buy this: The truth is, I’d personally never seek this one out, as I’m not a big espionage-type reader, but Craig’s story pulled me in quickly and his writing flowed really nicely.

If I read this type of stuff all the time, I would want it to be written the way Craig has here, solid characters, solid action sequences and a solid narrative. So, if you’re looking for your ‘Hanna’/’Jason Bourne’ fix, I’d recommend you give this one a go! I had a blast and I think you would as well.

3/5

How cool have these 3Q’s been? I’m loving them! So, we have at least one fan! Today’s guest is a guy I’ve gotten to know over on Twitter these past number of years. Andrew is a huge Vancouver Canucks fan and resides in California!

Welcome Andrew!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

A: I appreciate the laughs! But my blunt and brutally honest answer is fuck no. I write slow and sporadic. For example, aside from three weekend trips down to Ensenada, México in 2022, I haven’t written much this year. I have multiple day jobs and twins so finding time to write at home is nearly impossible at this point in my life. I like the idea of writing a little every day but that has never worked for me. But I did go down to Ensenada last weekend and only slept three and a half hours over a three day period and got a lot of work done. I only have a few thousand words to go before finishing my novella The Land of Lost Gods, and I’ve already surpassed the maximum word count I assumed the story would be when I outlined the project. I’m also real stoked with how the book is coming together, which is huge because I feel my Works-In-Progress are spectacularly atrocious and borderline unreadable.

Steve: Out of all your releases, do you have a character you could write about forever?

A: Definitely Katie from All Hail the House Gods. Like me, she is a Revolutionary Communist fighting against a seemingly unbeatable fascist regime in a world where most people would rather live with a false sense of safety and comfort if it grants them the opportunity to maintain the exploitative status quo, refusing to accept that it is not only right to rebel, but when the parasitic capitalist class has so violently oppressed its workers, murdering the masses with their callous indifference, cells of freedom fighters will naturally organize and unveil themselves from the shadows to take up arms against the oppressors, risking everything to serve the people suffering under the venomous empire.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

A: My latest release is The Ultimate Dinosaur-Dance-Off (and it’s my first novel, both books before were novellas). If you aren’t a dancer, like myself, and don’t truly care for dancing (should I admit that??); however, I spent so many hours researching dancing that I promise you, dancers everywhere, I am not doing you a disservice, you should still give the book a chance because it is full of psychedelic dinosaurs, interspecial romance (human + Apatosaurus), and, frankly, because it contains the most important dance-off of all time. I typically write dark shit, but this book was both a lot of fun to write and is a lot of fun to read. It’s like what would happen if Billy Elliot and Jurassic Park got together and had a psilocybin baby together. And in a time of global pandemics that never seem to end, who doesn’t want Billy Elliot and Jurassic Park to have a psilocybin baby? It’s an absurdist book. It’s a queer book. It’s a socialist book. But at the end of the day, it is also a dinosaur book, about a beautiful species that (probably) went extinct far too soon, and who doesn’t want to read fun stories about the greatest creatures to have ever roamed the Earth?

Steve: Bonus Question! Did you have a favorite wrestler as a kid?

A: Nope. Never got into wrestling. But as an adult, my favorite wrestlers are undoubtedly my three-year-old twins, who can easily kick my ass any day.

Awesome! Thank you so much, Andrew!

Find more about Andrew here;

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-J-Stone/e/B09J4JRCHQ/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andrewosaurus96