Showing posts with label vampires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vampires. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Amazing Tales

Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II is like most anthologies — some stories are good, and some just didn’t speak to me. That’s not to say that they aren’t good. The stories in this anthology are all well written, but a few didn’t grab me. I listened to the audiobook, and while the various narrators were generally wonderful, I did have trouble understanding a few. The accents were too heavy. That said, I may be the oddball, but I love anthologies. They have introduced me to many fine authors, and Combat Monsters is no exception. 

Now for the stories. Editor Henry Herz assembled a veritable who’s who from today’s speculative fiction all-stars. The stories are as varied as the names in the table of contents, but they all work together quite well. Herz contributes, too, with the entertaining ‘Das Mammut.’ His is one of the short stories and poems. The authors incorporated many battles, some well-known and some downright obscure. I learned a thing or two reading these stories.

The monsters were many. You’ll find the horror staple of werewolves and vampires, but even still, they might not be what you expect. One of my favs was Jonathan Maberry’s ‘A Terrible Aspect.’ In this one, we have a rescue mission with a young(er) Deacon (Mr. Church from the Joe Ledger series.) Lee Murray unleashes a tale of the Nazis Afrika Korps as they tracking down their own giant serpent. “Nachthexen” is Bishop O’Connell’s (no relation that I am aware of) tale of a Russian squadron of witches. Scott Sigler adds an air of cosmic horror and what kind of alternate history anthology would this be if something from the great Harry Turtledove? And boy, is this something! His story, “Gorgopotamos Bridge” has the Germans using a troll to try to hold some strategic ground. If those monsters aren’t enough for you, how about Catherine Stine’s genetically altered attack bears? There’s more. Much more.   







Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II
by Various Authors (Author), 
Henry Herz (Editor)
Published by Blackstone Publishing, Inc.
February 11, 2025
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8874748432

384 pages



#CombatMonsters #NetGalley

    

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Some Family Secrets Are Better Left Buried


Luckily for us, this one wasn’t. The last time I was held captive like this was reading
The Only Good Indians. Stephen Graham Jones has a way with words and an even better way at stringing them all together. Here with his latest, Buffalo Hunter Hunter, he teases us with a found diary then transports us back to the all too true horror of the Marias Massacre in 1870s Montana, then paints the history that follows with one of the most unique and creepy vampires the West has ever seen. The story itself is amazing. So why not five stars? It is a little slow in places. Perhaps that’s from the epistolary form of the novel. But don't let that stop you. It also adds much making it one of the most creative and interesting tales I've read this year. 

Who else has read it? What did you think?

#BHH #NetGalley

 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2









Buffalo Hunter Hunter
by Stephen Graham Jones
Published by Simon & Schuster/Saga Press
March 18, 2025
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 9781668075081

448 pages



#BHH #NetGalley


As always. I encourage you to buy from independent bookstores.