IF THERE BE GIANTS by Ellison Blackburn_Review

If There Be Giants by Ellison Blackburn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review: IF THERE BE GIANTS by Ellison Blackburn
(THE WATCHERS #1)

Mallory Jacks had been a staunch fan of Indiana Jones since childhood, and unlike many childhood enthusiasms, her interest in both archaeology and anthropology cemented itself and became her adult career passion as well. In company with her schoolmates Paisley, the two found a museum in their small Cornwall community. The turning point occurs with the uncovering of a henge stone. As the novel unfolds, Mallory discovers the existence of The Watchers. Such a discovery may well upend forever both established science, and accepted religions.

IF THERE BE GIANTS is a highly narrative archaeological suspense-thriller. It is first in THE WATCHERS Series.


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WINTER'S RESPITE READATHON JAN. 16-29__Goal = 12

WINTER'S RESPITE Readathon is hosted at http://seasonsreading.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-winters-respite-readathon-time-to.html

Books I've read: January 16 Mists of the Miskatonic Book 1 by Al Halsey

The Innsmouth Syndrome by Phillip Hemphill

Ghost Stories (The Daily Telegraph Ghost Story Competition) Jan. 17:

The Night Ocean by Paul LaFarge {read as an ARC via NetGalley} Jan. 18:

DEAD LINER by Alex Laybourne

Wendigo Fever {Warden #1} by Kevin Hardman Jan. 19:

Acadia Event by M.J. Preston

Jan. 20: Beginning in November, I began reading a lot of short story collections (single-author) and themed anthologies. This was a major new path for me, because in adolescence I decided to read novels, as they are longer-lasting, giving me more time with the characters and plot. {smile} But in November I took up short fiction as well (primarily Lovecraft, Lovecraft Mythos, and other horror, but including literary fiction and so forth).

3 stories by Tracy L. Carbone: THE ATTIC RENT CONTROL PRETTY LITTLE PIG

Restitution by Tracy L. Carbone (novel) Jan. 21:

Something Violent by Kristopher Rufty (ARC, crime fiction novel)

THE FOLKS by Tracy L Carbone (short story) Jan. 22:

Green River Blend by Armand Rossamilia Jan. 23:

Green River Blend 2 by Armand Rosamilia Jan. 23:

Text from the Dead by Stella Dark Horror Inside Out by Authors for Autism Jan. 24:

The Dark River: A by Michael Richan (The Dark River #1) Jan. 25:

The Blood Gardener by Michael Richan (The Dark River @2)) Trick or Death (short story) (6 pp.)

The Port of Missing Souls by Michael Richan (The River #12)

The Whispering: The Riley Family Mystery by Jonathan Kittrell (The Blood of the Earth #1)

Whispering Peak by Alyssa Cooper (34 pp.) Jan. 26:

The Moon Seems to Change by Franklyn M Branley (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Series) (children) Jan. 26:

Single Malt Murder by Melissa Mullet (mystery, NetGalley ARC)--highly recommended Jan. 27:

Something's Alive On the Titanic, by Robert J. Serling Originally published 1990,republished Jan. 2017 by Endeavour Press, a very absorbing historical (1977 and 1993) novel of exploration and obsession and the strange ocean depths Jan. 29:

Jack-In-The-Box by William Johnstone very creepy, Satanic, implacable horror.

The Mercy of the Tides, Keith Rosson exceptional novel; a Best of 2017 Total Read: 5 short stories; 22 novels, novellas; 1 anthology, so 23 books, 5 short stories read Books I read during Winter's Respite but haven't finished: Lines of the Devil, Zack Bohannon The Ghost of Tobacco Road, Dale J. Young The Only Child, Andrew Pyper Whispering Corner, Marc Alexander

WHAT WAITS BENEATH by Thomas M. Malafarina_ Review

What Waits Beneath by Thomas M. Malafarina
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review: WHAT WAITS BENEATH by Thomas M. Malafarina

Seamlessly weaving between a contemporary insular hill community (for all intents and purposes a company town) and the same community in the 1880's, the story line focuses on a family coal mine in Pennsylvania. The Coogan mine is nearly the only source of employment in the late 19th century, and the owner is a tightfisted narcissist with delusions of grandeur. The novel opens in present day, with a group of boys led by the latest Coogan descendant, visiting the abandoned mine to taunt and bully some of the boys. That visit reawakens the legend, more than a century old, of a supernatural creature residing in the mine. The author subsequently weaves in the backstory, and quite terrifying it is.



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SKYSHIPS OVER INNSMOUTH by Susan Kaine_Review

Skyships Over Innsmouth by Susan Laine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: SKYSHIPS OVER INNSMOUTH by Susan Laine

A gently heartwarming yet frightening Lovecraftian tale of the future, SKYSHIPS OVER INNSMOUTH is set 23 years after the "Cataclysm," when all humans unaccountably lost their memories, and subsequently moral fiber. In the first years, many books were burned for fuel, but eventually the younger people realized books contained knowledge of the past, and how to utilize machines. So libraries were preserved and protected, and younger individuals retaught themselves to read.

Scout airships explore the "New wilderness" to locate resources and survivors, each containing a pilot and a scholar. Pilot Dev and Scholar Shay have been a team for about 3 winters (and each desires to deepen the relationship but holds back). Exploring the seemingly completely abandoned community of Innsmouth uncovers the truth about the Cataclysm, betrayal, memory recovery, and a potential future of oppression for humans.

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SUBSTRATUM by Jonah Buck_Review

Substratum by Jonah Buck
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review: SUBSTRATUM by Jonah Buck (A Jasper O'Malley Mystery)

Author Jonah Buck illuminates the American Prohibition Era in this horror mystery. Monsters and Pinkertons, gangsters and speakeasies, salt mines and the U.S. Geological Survey! Non-stop action and implacable horror from inescapable monsters. Jasper O'Malley is a delightfully quiet hero, a man who walks "his side of the law," yet a man of character and integrity. A detective for the Attican Detective Agency in 1920' s Chicago, O'Malley is sent to investigate continuing mass disappearances in a Detroit salt mine. What he uncovers is horrifying, and imaginative.

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NIGHT OF THE JABBERWOCK by Fredric Brown_Review

Night of the Jabberwock by Fredric Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: NIGHT OF THE JABBERWOCK by Fredric Brown

An excitingly twisted, convoluted, puzzle, a mystery wrapped in an enigma, NIGHT OF THE JABBERWOCK
is a true reading delight. This is the first of Fredric Brown's writing I'd read, and it's set me on a path to seeking out more. If you love Lewis Carroll, chess, or almost-unsolvable mysteries, get rolling. If you enjoy a feckless protagonist who is almost his own worst enemy, let me introduce you to the endearing Doc Stoeger, small town newspaper owner, alcoholic, and a stalwart friend. Doc just needs that "one big story" to put his weekly newspaper "to bed," but no matter how diligent he is, the stories just keep eluding him, or mutating--until the grizzled journalist finds himself starring in his own real-life story.

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