Short Story Saturday – Baskerville Book Reviews

Review: The Ballad of Alchemy and Steel

In the Murkor culture, it is customary for the individuals bound during the unity ceremony of ujar’havel to compose a book of memories detailing the events that led to their first meeting and subsequent desire to be joined.

As a Murkor without a mother to guide him, Sal’zar is afforded unusual freedoms in his path to ujar’havel and the selection of a caste. In their strongly matriarchal society, his father’s voice holds little weight. He must forge his own destiny, though he struggles to find the proper way.

Sal’zar knows he is unsuited to the soldier’s caste, but is running out of options. One fateful day, he journeys to the sparring ring to test his mettle, where he meets Jal’den. Jal’den is the same age, but has already proven himself a better fighter than most of the older children. Noting Sal’zar is without a sparring partner, Jal’den offers to pair with him, and so begins a long friendship that may ultimately become something more.

Note: This story features LGBTQ+ themes. If it’s not your thing, that’s ok – I don’t expect everyone to read it. I wrote this story for my brother.

Review: Fatherland

While most of the populace of 1960 America were concerned about the Cold War and nuclear arms race, the folks of Eisenhart County Texas were focused on putting 1945 behind them. Silas Drachmann reports two murders to his friend and half-brother, Texas Ranger Elias ‘Buck’ Ritcher, which will unravel plans and lives from west Texas, to Austin, to Washington D.C.

Review: The Mercy of Snakes

A series of suspicious deaths in a retirement home draws Nameless into the confidence of a terrified former resident – and into the dark heart of a shocking conspiracy. In part five of the Nameless series, it’s time to hunt.

Oakshore Park is Michigan’s most exclusive assisted-living community. Presided over by two killer angels of mercy, it’s also THE go-to facility in assisted dying. For a cut, they make impatient heirs happy. Nameless must concoct a scheme just as cunning. But righteous retribution stirs disquiet in the avenger as light starts to shine on the black hole of his past. Should he welcome it or keep running?

From number one New York Times best-selling author Dean Koontz comes The Mercy of Snakes, part of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Follow him in each story, which can be listened to in a single sitting.

Review: The Praying Mantis Bride

A deadly black widow has eliminated three husbands and counting. But Nameless knows her one weakness. To bring truth and its consequences to her crimes, the vigilante must spin a web of his own in part three of the Nameless series.

Lucia – current last name, Rickenbah – has made a fortune by marrying rich men who tend to drop dead. But the superstitious blonde believes in more than money and murder. Nameless’s job is to scare a confession out of Lucia, and as the psychological warfare escalates, even he may be in for a shock.

From number one New York Times best-selling author Dean Koontz comes The Praying Mantis Bride, part three of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Follow him in each story, which can be listened to in a single sitting.

Review: In the Heart of the Fire

A bloodthirsty sheriff is terrorizing a small Texas town where justice has been buried with his victims. Until Nameless arrives – a vigilante whose past is a mystery and whose future is written in blood.

Anyone who crosses Sheriff Russell Soakes is dead, missing, or warned. One of them is a single mother trying to protect her children but bracing herself for the worst. Nameless fears the outcome. He’s seen it in his visions. Now it’s time to teach the depraved Soakes a lesson in fear. But in turning predators into prey, will Nameless unearth a few secrets of his own?

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz comes In the Heart of the Fire, part of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Follow him in each story, which can be read or listened to in a single sitting.

Review: Magnificent Manlove

If you enjoy testosterone-filled tales of men getting it on, then check out this collection from the pen of award-winning author Lucy Felthouse.

From stranded soldiers to submissive virgins, sexy firemen and second chances to shifters, and even some unexpected ménage, this book has variety galore. There’s something for everyone and will have you eager to listen for just one more moment.

Enjoy six steamy stories, more than 46,000 words of magnificent man love.

Please note: The stories in this anthology have been previously published.

Review: Spinal Remains

Title: Spinal Remains: A Collection of Stories Author: Chad Lutzke Release: August 9, 2022 Format: Paperback I’ll be reviewing this collection in my preferred format, where I do mini-reviews of each story and provide my final thoughts on the collection as a whole at the end. Predisposition and a Box of Crayons Pages: 1 –… Continue reading Review: Spinal Remains

Review: EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT IN THE END

What happens…after?

In Everything Will Be All Right in the End: Apocalypse Songs, you’ll see the lengths a father will go in order to protect his child, the emptiness that revenge can harness, gods compelled to act after being forgotten, a boy carrying the weight of decisions he didn’t make, and monsters both within and without. You’ll meet people who have lost everything, faced everything, lived through the worst that could happen, attempted to pick up the pieces of their shattered realities, and you will hear their apocalypse songs.

Listen closely.

Review: Cthulhu Mythos Tales

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.

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)