Bella Dean Joyner's Blog

I remember being a teenager, fixated on horror, but only being able to read Seventeen magazine because there just weren't that many main-stream options. There wasn't an Amazon at the time for me to browse, and none of my friends quite shared my obsession. For the first decade of my adult life, I perused the Barnes & Noble mystery and horror sections - though the horror sections were more aptly named the Stephen King section - carting out armfuls of books, not even realizing that horror magazines existed.

Aren't I in for a treat?

It wasn't until recently that I stumbled upon the masterly Trevor Kennedy of Phantasmagoria magazine. My horizons were broadened, and I was voracious.

But I wasn't ready for House of Stitched.

Though I adore classic 80's horror, those of you familiar with my writing know my style is very atmospheric. I love a creepy, haunted house vibe. I live for the grayscale tones and macabre creatures of Silent Hill. Give me dark and ominous any day of the week.

The House of Stitched Fall Issue 2021 is available on Amazon as of August 1st for $4.99 as an ebook. As always, click the image below to purchase your copy. The physical copy can be found here for $25.79. A bit pricey, I know, but trust me when I say that you are going to want a copy of this on your coffee table.

Being quite green to the horror magazine scene, I wasn't sure what to expect when I was first approached about reading House of Stitched. I loved the name, gives me the appropriate heebie jeebies - yes, horror authors still get those - but what was I really in for?

Turns out, more than I could have ever expected.

Whatever you love about horror - poetry, movies, novels, artwork - they've got it covered. The interviews are candid, refreshing, informative, and inspiring. I absolutely adore their focus on more obscure names in the industry, allowing others to shine in a world of giants. I walked away from the magazine with a few new names to follow and an affinity for more horror mediums than I began with.

For instance, did you know there is such a thing as prose poetry? I didn't, but I do now, thanks to the absolute genius of Maxwell I. Gold. It looks like a narrative paragraph but reads like a decadent wave of tangible fear. I'm hooked. Turns out Gold has his first book of dark poetry coming out with Crystal Lake Publishing in the near future, and I have one more book added to my TBR pile.

I haven't seen A Quiet Place II, have you? It wasn't even really on my must-see list. At least it wasn't until I read Tommy Clark's review of it in the magazine. At that point, it wasn't even about the movie anymore; it was about Clark's descriptions of it and his relatability. His in-depth character analysis and overall style discussion makes his review relevant for a movie-goer trying to pick a date-night flick or someone who has already seen the movie in theaters and is interested in continuing the dialogue.

The interview of author James. A. Moore was beautifully peppered with the covers of some of his more well-known manuscripts in a very Grady Hendrix Paperbacks from Hell vibe. Again, if you don't know that one, you will. I'll be discussing it in my next blog post. But what really stuck out to me was the pertinent questions about the industry being asked of him by the interviewer, D. Pardee Whiting. Whiting didn't only ask Moore about his own novels, reflections, and inspirations. He was asked about the self-publishing community and his opinion of editors. As both a self-publishing author and fiction editor, I was extremely interested in his take.

But to me, the crowning glory of this edition of the House of Stitched Magazine is the artwork. Take a moment and revel in the absolute deliciousness of this table of contents.

Every other image used throughout the magazine was equally as depraved and exquisite. The attention to detail and layout is captivating and alluring. Even ad space is used for reader pleasure, focusing on horror novel promotion rather than what toothpaste to use, reserving the normal magazine ads for their website edition. What you're left with is over 150 pages of debauchery, devilry, and immersive horror.

Yes, you need this!

You're exhausted after work. Every day is the same, mundane routine in the same grayscale building on the same bored street. You barely speak to anyone at work, would never consider calling them friends, and they seem as confused as you are when they invite you along for drinks at a local bar. What turns out to be an impulse decision to tag along turns your mediocre existence upside down.

You order your usual Jack and Coke, but the bartender convinces you to go with the house special instead. When he puts a drink that looks more orange juice than alcohol in front of you with a dab of grenadine for good measure, you inwardly groan. Just your luck...a lame bar that's the mirror image of your life thus far...gloomy, smells like urine, and is a total let-down. When you finish your first glass, you order a few more for good measure. You haven't even begun to feel a buzz by the time your bladder urgently cries in protest.

That's when your world changes.

You stand up and immediately succumb to the intoxication that's been stalking you. As you whimper on the sticky floor of the bar, unable to even lift your head, the alcohol coursing through your veins defiles you and carries you away. Everyone gathers around you, including that hot little number you'd been eyeing for most of the evening across the bar top.

She helps you into a cab. To your surprise, she gives the driver an address that isn't yours and climbs into the backseat with you. You think that this is it; you're going to get lucky. You're furtively checking your breath against the window of the passenger door and hoping she's got a spare condom tucked away in the nightstand drawer.

The hottie manages to wrestle you up a flight of stairs to her apartment. Your erection is completely visible for everyone to see, and for once, you don't care in the least. You're invested. You're ready for it. Wait until everyone at work hears about this.

Except they don't.

Because your body is found in an alley three days later, your eyes, heart, and liver missing.

That is what the A Quiet Apocalypse Series by Dave Jeffery is like.

When you hear dystopian or post-apocalyptic, you think zombies, human depravation, intense struggles, and raw emotion, the same ol same ol served to us for decades. But you aren't ready for this. Jeffery's perception of the end of the world takes you on a slow-burn beyond the normal tropes, taking you to the edge of the nearest cliff before pushing you off, pulling each of your fingernails off with a pair of needle-nose pliers so that you let go and plummet to the crags below where your body deflates like a busted water balloon.

He doesn't need zombies to scare you.

You won't see this one coming.

It will haunt you.

You will not look at the world the same again.

The series begins with its namesake, A Quiet Apocalypse. It is available on Amazon as an ebook for free at the time of this blog post, as a paperback for $6.80, and on Kindle Unlimited.

In this story, we find out what caused the world to stop, and giving the current condition of our world, it's horrific. A virus that causes those who don't die an excruciatingly slow and painful death to go permanently deaf? It took me months to regain my sense of smell and taste after I had COVID. I'll pass!

Those left behind in the wake of the pandemic scramble to restructure something resembling society, which they term Cathedral, and grasp at straws on who is to blame. It's the general consensus that the pandemic was caused by a dormant mutation within those who are born deaf, and those with this disability are afterwards called Harbingers, hunted down and hung from inoperable light poles so the crows can feast on their flesh.

They aren't the only ones sought after.

Samaritans, the army of guards from Cathedral, scour the area for those who recovered from the virus with their hearing intact. These people are a commodity, highly valued and used like guard dogs.

Chris is one of the intact.

We find him in a lone farmhouse, slave to a man who lost his hearing with the virus. But for Chris, who is worse? The man who breaks his bones to keep him a prisoner? Or the Samaritans who have used dogs and armored vehicles to drag the hearing back within the stone walls of the city, into the unknown? Which fate is worse? Who, if anyone, can he trust?

Chris will find out.

If you think you have this one figured out, you're already wrong.

The second book in the series, Cathedral, takes us into the city, behind the veil, where we are introduced to a new host of characters. It's also available on Amazon as an ebook for $2.99 and on Kindle Unlimited. There is no paperback version at this time.

The stone walls of Cathedral maintain a society that exists based around a testament and a set of rules created by the Prefect. Unlike religious texts we are familiar with, no citizen of Cathedral is capable of seeing the testaments except those in a high profile position. Why the secrecy? What revelations does the text contain? Why are you waiting to find out?

Jeffery weaves the concept of a utopian society with the puss-filled underbelly of a rabid beast. What the citizens of Cathedral find comforting, the methods they use to maintain order, what atrocities they're willing to commit in the name of civilized society, will appall you as the reader, make you cringe, make you look away in disgust. What if the good guys are really the enemy? What if the walls are really there to keep you in, not keep you safe?

What if the only person you thought you could trust was plotting to end your life?

In Cathedral, the question isn't if a murder will happen but when and how often.

While A Quiet Apocalypse and Cathedral are truly art forms, masterpieces of the dystopian genre in their own rights, the final book to date, Samaritan, will chew you up like organ meat and proverbially spit you it.

It is currently available for preorder on Amazon for $2.99 with a launch date of July 7th.

When Jeffery asked me if I'd like an advanced copy to review, I immediately jumped at the opportunity, having already read the first two books in the series. He did not disappoint.

This novel challenges the very construct of human nature and calls into question whether man is truly inherently good or evil and whether that condition is an actual choice or a predestination. In the previous novels, we've been exposed to the side of the Samaritans that hunted the Harbingers and the intact. We've seen them unmerciful, unforgiving, and vengeful. Here, Jeffery gives the Samaritan a humanity that was missing in the other novels, dangling it in front of you with a pretty bow of sexuality acceptance, gender nonconformity, and normal human vices.

But then he rips it out of your hands...taking your skin along with it.

I must say, I have never been as consistently shocked by a series as I was with this one. I truly went into it without reading any of the blurbs. I thought I was walking into a normal zombie fiesta. You guys know I can never turn away the undead. But what I found was a horror that snuck up on me before I realized I was in danger, left me naked and broken in an alley with a few of my body parts missing. It's going to expose the extent that fear and desperation can manipulate a soul while robbing you of your trust, your innocence, and your peace of mind.

Humans truly are the worst monsters of them all.

As always, click on the book images to purchase!

The Night of the Living Dead franchise is what introduced me to horror. When I was a little tot, my dad often worked two to three jobs at a time, often the second shift or overnight. The only time I really got to see him was on Sunday when we'd have a home-cooked lunch at the kitchen table as a family. My parents kept a small 12" TV at one end of the table. Did they make TVs that small? Compared to the gargantuan TVs we have today, I feel like they did. Since I had no siblings, it worked. One particularly non-sunny Sunday, my parents had AMC (American Movie Classics) on, and Night of the Living Dead was playing.

I found my first moment of fear in a zombie.

The full realization of what atmosphere and music can do for suspense and dread almost sent me running from the table.

A horror fiend was born.

When I heard that a novel had been written as both an alternate point of view and a continuation of that story, I was excited!

They're Coming to Get You, Barbara is available on Amazon for $3.99 as an ebook, $9.99 as a paperback, and is on Kindle Unlimited.

Think back to the opening scene of Night of the Living Dead. Barbara and Johnny are visiting their father's grave when they are accosted by a rather angry old man. He overpowers Johnny, and in true 50's fashion, the majority of the scuffle takes place off camera. Barbara makes a frantic and exaggerated dash for the car and attempts an escape.

But what happened to Johnny?

Now, we know!

Johnny is every bit (get it...a little zombie humor...bwhahaha) the oblivious bystander you'll find in every other zombie story. You'll know what's wrong with the little girl. You'll know why you shouldn't stick your hand in with Grandma. The story makes the reader an active participant in this regard. You'll find yourself pulling harder for Johnny's survival than he does. This is where horror fans will have the upper hand in the apocalypse. We'll have a clue what's going on and why everyone is attempting to eat each other's faces.

Despite his naivety, he's surprisingly resourceful. A great deal of the story has the familiarity of the original with a few twists thrown in, and it's during these twists that we find out whether Johnny is made of something stout or something feeble.

I did not find much in the way of true character development, but I don't think there needed to be in this particular story. The only person Johnny has any extended interaction with is George, a friendly samaritan who helps him escape from one of the many tangles he finds himself in. However, George isn't much of a cook, and the beasts outside are ravenous.

Don't eat the stew.

Imagine my surprise when the story ends up at the old fairgrounds about ten miles from the cemetery. Up till that point, I had been cheering poor Johnny on with all the gusto of a fan-fiction favorite. I rooted for him for the sheer joy of childhood nostalgia. And, at the same time, I hoped he met a very grisly demise.

But when he found the mirror funhouse, I sat up in rapt attention. I was waiting for some bulbous, fetid clown to come shambling in, going feral in a fevered pitch of rage at Johnny's reflection. That doesn't happen, but it would have been fun!

The moral of the story, fast food kills!

If you're looking for a quick, fun zombie read, you often find yourself giggling at horror stories, and you love the Night of the Living Dead franchise in all its vintage gory glory, this one's for you! As always, click the book cover above to purchase your copy now!

When I was looking for the next book to review, I was admittedly still riding the high from Duncan Ralston's Ghostland series. I wanted something equally as dark, nostalgic, carnival- or theme park-centered. I craved that feeling of funnel cake euphoria, fried turkey leg autumn air, and whirl-til-you-hurl starry nights. I saw Halloween Land by Kevin J. Kennedy as a suggested read when I purchased another novel. Carnival? Fair? Theme park? Halloween? Sold!

Halloween Land is available on Amazon for $2.99 for ebook, $7.99 for paperback, and on Kindle Unlimited.

Fantastic cover! Of course, it was done by Francois Vaillancourt, one of the best cover artists in the industry. Absolutely everything about the cover screams spooky fun: the rusted metal of the sign, the missing and burnt out light bulbs on the lettering, the deformed skulls in the storm clouds. There was no detail left out. The cover alone sells the book. I purchased the ebook myself, but I'm definitely contemplating the paperback as well because I want this on the shelves in my office.

But the real question you are asking is whether the content lives up to the cover. Well...

Of course it did!

Kennedy has created a character dynamic between Zak and Wendy that actually made me jealous. A best friend that enjoys binge-watching horror movies, wouldn't balk at attending a pop-up horror-themed carnival, and would be brave enough to stand by my side against an evil threatening to swallow our eternal souls? Isn't that what everyone wants? It's young love, coming of age, and revisiting youth wrapped in one. I've seen some reviews that likened Kennedy to R.L. Stine, but I think that this novel exceeds the teenage ideals of Fear Street. Kennedy is definitely in a class of his own.

The concept he introduces with the pop-up carnival itself is purely original. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies as an adolescent. I couldn't tell you the name of it if my life depended on it, but it featured a group of teenagers who end up in a carnival after hours only to find it overrun by monster carnies. Kennedy takes these horror genre tropes, mutilates them, locks them in a dark basement with rabid dogs for a decade, and then knocks their jack-o-lantern heads out of the park. You don't see any of it coming.

If I absolutely had to give a critique, I think mine would be that I felt very disjointed from the clown. Kennedy mentions her in the synopsis as the taker of the tickets, but she was integral to Zak's and Wendy's madness and survival. However, I couldn't relate to her development and never felt fully satisfied that I understood her motives. She reminded me of a female Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland - you never knew what you were gonna get.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend Halloween Land if you're a horror and Halloween junkie just looking for a fun, quick read to pass a rainy evening. When the air turns crisp and the fall leaves begin to skitter across the sidewalks, you're going to want to revisit this book! Click on the book image above to buy it now!

Dear reader,

It has been a while! Last I posted, I was still on the other side of the world in South Korea. Now, we're back in America. Quite the change of pace. Quite the change of scenery.

Since we spoke in January, I welcomed a wee little guy into our family. Everyone, if you haven't already, please meet Phoenix!

Phoenix developed aspiration pneumonia at three weeks of age, and we were not sure he would make it. However, after weeks of antibiotics, bottle feeding, and lots of attention, he pulled through and received a diagnosis of pectoral excavatum. He will always have a weakened rib cage that frequently presses on his lungs and causes difficulty breathing. Eventually, he may need surgery. But for now, he's happy, healthy, and loving life and cat nip.

Somehow, it always seems as if unpacking takes substantially longer than the actual process of moving. Now that I'm finally able to wade through the boxes in my house, I've found the time to read again. First up on the block for you is Duncan Ralston's Ghostland Trilogy.

Can I first marvel at this cover? Oh the nostalgia! It reminds me of one of the first horror movies I ever watched, though I've long forgotten the name. The setting was a carnival, not quite an amusement park, but the atmosphere was the same. A group of teenagers stayed after hours on the fairgrounds and were butchered quite deliciously by monsters masquerading as carnies. If anyone ever figures out the name of that movie, let me know!

Ralston's Ghostland is on Kindle Unlimited and sells for $2.99 as ebook, $14.57 as paperback.

I will begin this with a disclaimer. At the time of my initial readings of both Ghostland and Afterlife, I noticed a few issues with missing words, head-hopping, inconsistent details, and double verbs. I did reach out to Ralston who assured me it was an editing error. He then released a public apology to his readers, a complete class act! It was great seeing an author so concerned with the quality of the manuscript he distributed to his readers!

Because I have already addressed the editing issues I found within the novels, I won't be mentioning them anymore throughout the rest of the review. However, I dare say that Ralston's tales far outshine any sort of grammatical or style issue found within.

Of the two, Ghostland was my favorite. This is purely a personal preference based on my inner child's raging desire for an amusement park like this to really be a thing. A theme park where customers can see verifiably haunted exhibits in their real habitats? Explore a decrepit asylum where the deceased residents still scream? Walk through a decaying prison where the ethereal inmates still occupy their cells? I'm game! Packing my bags right now! When are we leaving? I don't care that it all obviously goes horribly wrong. I want this to exist!

The level of backstory that Ralston develops for Ghostland is unparalleled - maps, websites, individual ghost backstories. He builds a rich background for a demented writer immersed in his own wickedness. Ralston could very easily take any one of the mentioned exhibits in Ghostland and create separate novels based on each entity's sordid, gore-filled history, ultimately creating his own horror franchise.

I did struggle with the ages of his two main characters, Ben and Lilian. Ben is every bit the lovable loner, but he has a complexity and a maturity underlying his lack of confidence that makes him seem older than his supposed years. Lilian also feels more like a peer to her therapist, Allison, than she does a teenage patient. This was highlighted even more so by Lilian's unchanging resolve and mannerisms after the separation from her therapist. However, despite this, the bonds formed among the characters while they fight to escape Ghostland are rich, believable, and easily invested in.

But what about the antagonists? There are so many! Think Silent Hill meets Disneyland. The theme park oozes knife-wielding serial killers, possessed dolls, and infected holograms. Though, the most prominent of all is Rex Garrote with his macabre house of tortured souls.

While reading, I had to keep reminding myself that Garrote was not actually a real writer. Ralston's attention to detail throughout the novel, including quotes from Garrote's fictional works, makes the novel a believable homage to an author that never existed. Garrote is spectacularly cunning, overwhelmingly manipulative, and wickedly omniscient - the perfect threat.

Ralston does end on quite the cliffhanger, which caused me to catch my breath! However, the epilogue catches your free fall of the final chapter and delivers you safely to the sequel.

Afterlife, like Ghostland, is available on Kindle Unlimited, is $2.99 for ebook and $14.57 for paperback.

The cover art for Afterlife does not strike me like Ghostland's does. Garrote is front and center, which makes sense since he does play a larger part in this novel. I also still feel like we're trying to fit Lilian and Ben into these little adolescent boxes that they never quite squished into in the first place. However, as far as creativity and inspiration go, it's stellar!

This novel threw me for a loop. Ghostland was chronological without much deviation. Ralston really stretched his legs in Afterlife, creating a labyrinth of time jumps and a myriad of new characters. There was quite a distance between the subplots that made it almost an inconvenience to shift gears, but each of the storylines progressed the narrative arc towards quite a suspenseful culmination at Duck Falls.

I would have liked for there to have been greater involvement of the ethereals from Ghostland in Afterlife, but alternatively, we were exposed to more of the misdoings of the humans responsible for Ghostland existing and those protesting that existence.

Ralston relied less on gore and more on suspense, which I loved. However, I did feel as if the ending was a little rushed. Had the final action sequences been fleshed out instead of switching to a different point-of-view, it would have been superb. Aside from that, the twists and turns in Afterlife will not disappoint. I look forward to the third installment. Would definitely recommend!

Hello dear readers! It has been a while, if my to-be-read pile is any indication.

I actually purchased Echoes in September, based entirely on the cover. If you've ever driven down a two lane country highway, windows open to allow a stifled summer heat tinged with the cool breeze of twilight to caress your cheek, the weight of the world heavy on your mind, this cover will speak to your soul.

Echoes, first in series by A.M. Caplan, is for sale on Amazon on ebook for $2.99, on paperback for $9.99, and on Kindle Unlimited.

This trilogy - Echoes, Dead Quiet, Reverberation - seems to be Caplan's debut works. And quite the bar she sets!

The novel opens with a distracted Hannah Cirric, ordinary in every sense, driving down that same country road that you've been down, the weight of the world heavy on her shoulders, an urn with human remains falling from the passenger seat onto the floor.

All it takes is one moment, and things aren't so ordinary anymore.

She thinks she killed him. The man-sized dent in her bumper and the stranger with a caved in chest and bone-exposing lacerations on his face make it a safe assumption. But when Hannah leaves his side to wave down the arriving police and response teams, he disappears, along with every trace of his existence.

Months follow, and Hannah spirals into the murk of depression, guilt, and loss. With hope that the stranger wasn't as hurt as she originally thought, that maybe he walked away in a daze, she scours the forest, the river, and the scene of the accident, her obsession causing her complexion to wane and deep, dark circles to form beneath her eyes.

She finds him.

But he isn't dead.

Nor is he really alive.

Asher has lived for thousands of years, dying over and over only to reincarnate immediately, leaving no signs of his previous death. Never aging, he acquires vampiric qualities of beauty, speed, and strength, all without the need to drink a single drop of blood.

But he exposes her to a danger she's never known before. Will either of them escape?

I struggled initially with the read. There are a few grammatical errors, a few storyline inconsistencies. There are dream sequences that aren't set apart, that look like entire repetitions of chapters. But a fourth of the way in, Caplan hits her stride. Her word usage is unique and well-structured. What once appeared to be a slowly progressing story revealed itself to be an emotional evocation - the despair of loss, loneliness, and anguish - that helps fully develop Hannah as a modern phoenix.

Caplan's character development is rich and well-executed. I found each person I encountered to be believable, dynamic, and easily invested in. Asher, timeless and immortal, retains some of the idiosyncrasies of his original time period but has not failed to adapt to modern society in a way that makes his presence awkward, unlike Darcy Coates' main male character in the Black Winter Series. The other immortals have embraced modern technology, seamlessly integrating themselves in with mortal humans.

Caplan does incorporate some of the usual tropes, but these do not detract from the effectiveness of the series. For instance, Asher and most like him are uncommonly wealthy. It makes one beg the question, what would these stories be like if death did not erase the poor financial choices or circumstances of one's original existence? Why is it that every single immortal novel has to involve someone with unlimited funds? I suppose when you live that long, you're bound to get something right somewhere along the way.

I did not find the two other novels in the trilogy to be as slow paced as the first novel. Honestly, had the second novel started in the same manner as the first, I wouldn't have made it through the book, but I am forgiving in my assessment of the first because I recognize that she was worldbuilding for the reader, creating an atmosphere to both bury Hannah and resurrect her.

Along with a very unique premise and unusual "monsters", Caplan manages to skillfully incorporate a series of twists within the plot that you think you see coming, that make you hesitate, that keep you turning the page and staying up probably much later than you should. I found myself, multiple times, saying "Damn, didn't see that coming", but even when I did see it coming, the suspense was so organically built that you still felt the surprise, the turmoil, and the ultimate relief.

Over all, I would highly recommend this series. Caplan is definitely an author that will stay on my "to read" list.

Has it really been almost two months since my last book review? Time flies when you're having fun!

Let's see, I published my first novella Hushed, a prequel to the Hushed Horror Thriller series, and my second novel, Whispering. I also recently obtained my copyediting certification and opened a freelance editing business dedicated to helping self-publishing authors maintain quality and industry standards. I'm really looking forward to what 2021 has in store!

For those of you who have joined my Horror Mantle Facebook group, you've seen how active I can be on social media. My favorite groups center around horror novels and horror authors. Recently, I found a discussion about a Reddit sensation from a couple years back that reminded me about Twitter sensation "Dear David". In these Reddit posts, a gentleman by the name of Dathan Auerbach posted a series of short stories, tidbits of memories from childhood that centered around an unknown person's subtle involvement in his life following a Kindergarten balloon release event. Auerbach was asked by the Reddit audience to compile the stories into a book, and thus we have Penpal.

The novel is up on Amazon for $4.99 or on paperback for $9.99. It does not appear to be on Kindle Unlimited at this time.

When I first read the discussion on the Facebook group that introduced me to this novel, I thought yeah right. The creepiest story they had read? Kept them up at night? We've heard this said countless times about books that never lived up to the hype. I was quick to dismiss the claims, but thought I would read it anyway.

I am very glad that I did.

The novel is written from an older teenager's perspective, though it often has the feel of being told by an eight or nine year old boy. I found that this added realism and believability to the novel which heightened the suspense.

The memories included are not successive. They do jump almost as if they were remembered and addressed at different points, and I found that this threw me off at some times. I don't know that the jumping around of ideas added much to the novel. In fact, I dare say that had the memories been put into chronological order, it might have added to the overall tension and readability of the novel itself, which is the point of horror if I'm not mistaken.

Though slightly distracting, the order does not majorly detract from the novel. I still had a number of moments that I said woah or oh damn. The characters are believable and relatable. Each one is written with a depth and richness that makes them worth investing in.

If you're looking for a novel that will take you back to that one epic friendship you had in grade school, your person, the one you drifted from but think about from time to time, this is that novel. If you're looking for a novel that will take you back to your old neighborhood, back to the tree forts and runs through the woods behind your house, this is that novel. If you're looking for a novel that will remind you of that crawl space under your house, the strange noises when no one else should be home, the feeling that someone is watching you, this is that novel. Auerbach weaves a wonderfully poignant tale of best friend summers and little boy dreams, memories tainted in retrospect by the man he did not realize was there.

My stars, October has been busy! I worked overtime to get my new novel ready for a Halloween release, and it's live!

It's currently up on Amazon for $2.99 or on Kindle Unlimited. Amazon is still reviewing the paperback, but it should be up shortly.

I hope everyone likes it and I can't wait to hear your thoughts. Please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads as well!

Thank you so much for your continued support. Back to the book reviews!

Hello dear readers!

Feels like it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I do apologize for my absence; however, I have something exciting to announce!

Introducing my first novella, Hushed - The Hushed Horror Series Prequel. This ebook is FREE for subscribers to my newsletter so please head over to www.belladeanjoyner.com/hushed for your copy.

If you are already a subscriber, please check your email shortly for your link to download your free copy today!

This novella will also be available on Amazon beginning Sept 30th for .99 cents.

After the procession of typhoons and tropical storms that have blessed the Korean peninsula with cooling rain last week, I worked in a few days to get caught up on some reading. I'm finally able to walk outside to a gentle breeze instead of oppressive heat that feels like a heavy film on your skin. Fall is genuinely my favorite time of year, though I abhor anything pumpkin spice. Can anyone else relate?

The novel I explored this week is from an author a bit more well known than many of the other writers I usually try to focus on. I was definitely late to the game on this one. However, after seeing it mentioned by another reviewer on Instagram, I decided to give it a whirl.

I'm very glad that I did.

They Came with the Rain by Christopher Coleman launched in June of this year, and is available on Kindle Unlimited, as an ebook for $3.99, and as a paperback for $14.99. The paperback cost seems a bit steep in comparison to other books in the genre and, had I been browsing Amazon in search of the newest addition to my library, I might have looked it over for this reason. But after reading the novel, I would not only highly recommend this novel even at the paperback price, but would also go out on a limb and recommend the rest of his series works.

The novel grabs the readers attention right away, a love-struck couple winding along a precarious precipice of road hugging a deep, rocky ravine, the only road out of Garmella, Arizona. They narrowly escape plummeting to their deaths in a massive sink hole that has swallowed the entirety of the road from the rocky wall of the mountain to the guard rail. If only that was the only thing they had to be afraid of....

With the rain comes intangible creatures whose very forms bleed into the air around them, making them indiscernible and undefined. When Derrick hears Amber screaming from the direction she had made her escape, I genuinely thought that Derrick would become the novel's protagonist.

Nope.

When a young nine-year-old Josh awakens to the dark rain and follows one of the creatures onto the neighboring Tanner farm, I thought how unique to have such a young protagonist.

Nope.

When Jerry Kellerman, the night security guard at the Grieg Telescope compound, sees one of the creatures outside of the maintenance shack and goes to investigate, even leaving company protocol aside and reaching into his truck for the shotgun he kept in the bed's gun cabinet, I thought that we had finally met the character we could get invested in.

Wait...nope.

It wasn't until Riley Tackard arrived at the compound to relieve Kellerman and found him missing from his post that we are introduced to the town's sheriff, Ramon Thomas. The fact that it took the author four chapters to introduce a substantial character to us upon which we could establish a foundation for our read is definitely a downside of the novel. While the kill sequences were tense, suspense building, and entertaining, it was a bit of a let down to have each progressive page and chapter just one more insignificant character loss.

However, I do find Coleman's character building quite strong. You have the small town sheriff who had big dreams of crime fighting in the big cities, yet never quite made it out. You have the well-to-do reclusive older gentleman in his castle on the hill on the outskirts of the town. You have the less financially stable couple with a step-father recently released from prison. And you have the local meth dealers. No novel would be complete without those.

The creatures themselves were also unique. An amorphous creature that gives an entirely new definition to your "life flashing before your eyes", demanding that you divulge the most evil act of your lifetime? What a fantastic spin of "hell on Earth"!

I did read a couple of reviews once I had finished my own journey through the novel. A couple of comments actually rated the novel pretty poorly because there was no real police investigation. I'm not sure that this notion is entirely realistic. I haven't seen many post-apocalyptic-esque novels really have the time to truly investigate anything about the occurrences. They always seem far too focused on survival...which wouldn't we all be? The people of Garmella are cut off from the outside world by a massive sinkhole in the middle of the road, all phone lines are dead, and unexplainable creatures are leaving a mass of bodies and/or disappearances in their wake, and the sheriff should be worried about an actual investigation? I think Coleman, and his characters, valued the preservation of human life a bit more than that.

The only things I would possibly change about the novel are adding more descriptions about the deaths and where the creatures were putting the bodies of the people that had not been found. Yes, there are assumptions to be made, yet nothing is ever fully explained. Perhaps that is part of the charm! Would it have gone a long way towards adding value to the story? Probably not. It's just a personal preference. The book itself definitely left the reader satisfied as is.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this novel if you haven't already entertained it. Have any of you read any of his other works? Please feel free to leave your suggestions below!

If you would like to follow more of Coleman's works, you can find his Amazon author page here.