The Cthulhu Mythos is a collection of 23 loosely connected short stories by H. P. Lovecraft, one of the earliest masters of dark fantasy and horror. From “Dagon” to “The Call of Cthulhu” to “The Haunter of the Dark,” each story connects to the ancient cosmic entities known as the Great Old Ones, buried in a deep sleep beneath the earth and incomprehensible to mankind. For the few mortals who dare to glimpse this unknowable world, the result is a complete disconnection from what was once considered reality. Lovecraft’s stories are grim, fantastical, dark, horrifying—and yet endlessly fascinating.
Category: July 2022 Reviews
Review: Dragonfly Wishes
Once upon a time there was a fisherman and his wife…. Scratch that…. Once upon a time there was a fashion designer and a dragon shifter from another world….
Arianna Travers creates clothing that brings joy to others. Haunted by her mother’s disappearance and tormented by her overlording step-uncle, Arianna desires to escape reality, even if it’s only through the tip of her charcoal pencil.
A royal of Ellehcor, Kyan the dragon shifter spies the forlorn beauty through a magical window to another world. To meet her face-to-face, he leaves the sanctuary of his home realm and enters the portal, transforming into a dragonfly.
Things don’t go as planned when Kyan becomes entangled in spider silk. Arianna discovers the little blue dragonfly and rescues him. As a reward, Kyan offers to grant her wishes, but before Arianna can make a wish, the Overlord steals it from her.
As Kyan and Arianna’s relationship blossoms, so does the breadth of the Overlord’s wishes. Kyan strives to save Arianna from her uncle and his devious plans, but what can a dragonfly do?
Review: Bullets and Bandages: Bond of Brothers
Bullets and Bandages: Bond of Brothers is a story inspired by the words of a US Army Field Medic, 21st Infantry, and his stories about his tour in Vietnam 1968-69. Through those stories, the author was given the unique insight into the men who struggled to survive in a war many of us didn’t understand. The author also brings to us some of his own experiences, in this challenging time in our history. Fast paced and full of action and drama, this raw and powerful story takes you on a journey into the jungles, villages, and hamlets of Vietnam, and the men in the thick of the fight. The new fourth edition has new details to more accurately reflect the tour of soldiers in the Vietnam war. The author dedicates this story and all of his work to our Veterans and those that serve to protect our freedom today.
Review: Glue
A brilliantly told tale of drug addiction, its cause, its consequence, and its cure.
Dacia thinks she’s escaping a miserable life with her emotionally abusive husband only to get caught up in a world filled with meth and sex. Her out-of-control lifestyle leads her into more than one sexual encounter with a variety of men.
A friend with benefits turns into something more. A handsome sex addict’s fantasies take her to the brink of out-of-control passion. And Christopher, a man who is boy-next-door charming, cute, and good to her, will do anything to get Dacia to give him a chance.
The drugs coursing through her veins keep her closely tied to the men and women who will certainly be her demise. Being convinced she is in control of her drug addiction leads her into making a series of wrong choices that put her on a path she never expected. Without realizing it, she falls for the man she said she wouldn’t. Dacia’s life begins to unravel in ways she didn’t know it could when Christopher makes tough decisions of his own.
Fast-paced and edgy, Glue will take you on a roller-coaster ride and leave you craving more.
Review: A Man in Winter
Arthur, whose life was devastated by the brutal murder of his wife, must come to terms with his
diagnosis of dementia. He moves into a new home at a retirement community, and shortly after,
has his life turned upside down again when his wife’s ghost visits him and sends him on a quest
to find her killer so her spirit can move on. With his family and his doctor concerned that his
dementia is advancing, will he be able to solve the murder before his independence is
permanently restricted? A Man in Winter examines the horrors of isolation, dementia, loss, and the ghosts that come back to haunt us.
Review: Parricide in Pierre
A birthday celebration ended in tragedy.
In Pierre, murder is as rare as a visit from a photographer like amateur sleuth Nick O’Flannigan. When both happen at the same time, Nick is welcomed as much for his coverage of the small town as for his photography skills. Local officials entice him to help them with some crime scene photography.
What at first seems to be a burglary gone wrong turns out to be something else, and a mysterious stranger may hold the key to the mystery. Can Nick get to him in time, and will the boy share his secrets?
With an editor on his back to stay out of the news, local authorities who don’t believe him, and a surprise twist, you won’t want to miss this continuation of the compelling Capital City Murders series. If you love the Spenser series, you will love Nick O’Flannigan. Check out this travel mystery today!
Review: Hades
Stephanie Costas has always had a passion for humanity. As a digital forensics examiner, she fights bad guys from the technical front. When a closed cold case is dug up, she finds herself becoming consumed to set things right. No amount of ’80s music or repeated viewings of her favorite movie Dirty Dancing were enough to distract her. She needed a vacation in the worst of ways.
When she set foot in the gorgeous tropical resort in Greece, she had no idea she’d meet a man claiming to be Hades, god of the Underworld. And she certainly had no idea that he was telling the truth. Her Greek vacation was about to become very…interactive.
A Hades/Persephone reimagining.
The Contemporary Mythos series will feature a different Greek god in each book, reexploring their myths and combining contemporary romance tropes. Though they will all stand alone, the stories will also intersect for those that listen to them all.
Review: Rivers of Blood
In this original Book 3 of the series, (Now Book 4 in the eBook series), Steve Regan is still undercover working for the same UK secret government department. He sets off on what he thinks is a last assignment: seconded to the Australian Feds posing as a hit man hired to assassinate a liberal Australian politician.
Regan discovers there’s only one thing more dangerous than becoming a confidential informant -being an undercover cop. They have something in common -living on the edge.
Another gripping, fast-paced thriller in the Steve Regan Undercover Cop series.
If you like Reacher, you will love Regan – the “real deal”!
The Australian murder plot leads to the discovery of a frightening far-reaching white supremacist conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United Kingdom.
Regan goes deep undercover within a London police CID department to gather evidence against the white supremacists.
Regan’s undercover infiltration is the most dangerous and audacious assignment he has faced.
Will he succeed? Or will this dangerous game endanger someone close to him? Who will survive and who will die?
Regan’s early years and first undercover thriller can be found in the prequel The Secret – coming soon as an audiobook and the new Book 1 in the eBook series.
Review: The Rat King
Sadie befriends the shy boy next door who is always hungry, but never eats. Derek and his college friends fulfill a dream to visit a mysterious, remote park known for its natural wonders, and its history of unexplained beheadings.
An unforgettable encounter with the town eccentric, a visit with a grandmother who is not herself lately, a trip through time at the worst possible time and more. The Rat King is fourteen horror and speculative stories, fully illustrated and featuring four stories adapted by The NoSleep Podcast. This book will stay with you long after the final page is turned.
Published in partnership with The NoSleep Podcast’s Sleepless Sanctuary Publishing.
“The Rat King is a powerful, haunting, original collection of stories that not only unsettles the reader with the visceral horrors that are revealed, but also with the psychological trauma and emotional journeys that each character takes-towards redemption, or vengeance, or looming terror. This is an author to keep an eye on.”-Richard Thomas, author of Disintegration and Breaker (Thriller Award, Bram Stoker, and Shirley Jackson nominee)
Review: Dearest Death: A Collection
Humans are, so far as we know, the only creatures on this planet who mark the passage of time. As such, we are keenly aware from an early age that time is tick, tick, ticking away.
In the end, for all of us, is Death. We fear it. We are intoxicated by it. We run from it and somehow find ourselves wrapped in its dark-robed arms.
A small village suffering through a terrifying plague seek a solution from a prophet. A “pig” crawls on his hands and knees through the dark labyrinth of a BDSM dungeon in search of the only thing that can satiate his hunger. Two young men find themselves chased through the woods by a real-life urban legend. A lonely young man finds a boon companion in Death.
These stories and more fill Darkest Death, a collection of short horror fiction by W. Dale Jordan, author of The Stop.