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The Leedham Chronicles #1
November Coming Fire: The Leedham Chronicles Volume 1
A slight departure from the author's screwball, satirical novellas. Replaced are the comical and bizarre with the ghostly and heavy hearted. But worry not, heavy sex, bloody gore and other of the author's themes still assault the reader blissfully. Also, O'Brien sticks to his promise of never writing a book where two chicks don't get it on at least once. In this book's case, the promised scene even involves a crucifix.
Synopsis:
Bill woke up on the last day of his life, well aware of the fact. In the dark of the night, he ventured out to get one final moment of peace before Death would come for him. After setting out on his last drive through the night, an unwelcome ghost from his past joins him.
Fourteen years ago, when Bill was just an outcast at Leedham High School, his life was forever changed by two events: the meeting of the girl of his dreams, and the demonic possession of his favorite local shopkeeper. Will Bill find peace in his final moments of life, or will the demon of his past drag him straight to hell for eternity?
This is the story of the tragedy that unfolded in the late October of 1998 in Leedham, Massachusetts.
Synopsis:
Bill woke up on the last day of his life, well aware of the fact. In the dark of the night, he ventured out to get one final moment of peace before Death would come for him. After setting out on his last drive through the night, an unwelcome ghost from his past joins him.
Fourteen years ago, when Bill was just an outcast at Leedham High School, his life was forever changed by two events: the meeting of the girl of his dreams, and the demonic possession of his favorite local shopkeeper. Will Bill find peace in his final moments of life, or will the demon of his past drag him straight to hell for eternity?
This is the story of the tragedy that unfolded in the late October of 1998 in Leedham, Massachusetts.
- GenresParanormal
238 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 4, 2013
1 person is currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Jeff O'Brien
142 books182 followersI'm a bassist who writes books. Or a writer who plays bass. Depends on the day.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 17, 2014
First off, Jeff O'Brien kicks fucking ass. That said, November Coming Fire:The Leedham Chronicles vol 1 is his best work to date. The story manages to suck you in within the first few pages of the prologue and keeps you enraptured in its tapestry of storytelling until the very end. The soundtrack is metal, bands like Helloween and Slayer play in the background as you get to know the protagonists, a pair of forgotten teens who find one another and in turn are found by evil. The novel allows you to get to know the characters of Bill and Stephanie and you get to like them, care for them, and follow them on their journey without ever getting bored. The horror is supernatural, and the blood does flow for those of us who love the gore, but the human side is explored as well. NCF proves that O'Brien can write characters that are believable and likeable, and the true test of that is when you find yourselves rooting for them as you read the book. I usually do not like when I find out a book is part of a series, or there is going to be a sequel. This is one of those rare times that I welcome it. November Coming Fire - The Leedham Chronicles Volume 2 cannot come soon enough. If you love horror, you will love this one.
January 18, 2016
Jeff O'Brien's November Coming Fire is a story about two star-crossed lovers, a demon possession, and the battle between heaven and hell in the most poetic manner. Sounds almost Shakespearean if good Ol' Bill used two Gothic teenagers to tell his story (HA wait...he kinda does that...)
I am not, as I have said before, a romantic, nor do I enjoy love stories, and further more the occult and demon possesion leaves me bored and looking for something else to read. These elements are all here in this book and I couldn't put it down.
I really felt for the characters in this book and I love how O'Brien chose to unfold the story. From the beginning he introduces our main lady and her role in the whole demon conjuring that leads to the following events. The author gives us the background story through most of the book of how Bill and Stephanie meet, fall in love, and conquer the evils that are set to destroy their love and goodness and deceive them into a world of hate and revenge. He goes into further detail about each of the characters lives, and how the evil that befalls Leedham affects each character. Everyone has a part and is a pawn if you will for the final soul crushing, heart wrenching conclusion. The demon in the story is amazingly well developed and Death...well Death is perfect. Exactly how I would picture Death being. Quite literally nothing in this book I didn't like. The very end, is beautiful and appropriate.
O'Brien hits the nail on the head with his ability to showcase an outcasts family life that is destructive and less than loving, without making it so that I could not continue reading. TO clarify, anybody can write a terrible rape scene that makes you feel for the characters just by the shear brutality of the words written or conversely, if you are like me, you will just put the book down all together. O'Brien takes another approach. He writes the pain of the characters in such a way where you get the point...bad s*** has happened to them and is continuing to happen to them but he lets the reader feel their pain instead of just reading it. He doesn't focus on the visual abuse anymore than he has to, he focuses on the story and plot.
This book literally has everything I would never normally pick up, but I am incredibly glad I did.
It's tastefully written, and I am glad this author is rising to the top of my seek out books to read list.
I am not, as I have said before, a romantic, nor do I enjoy love stories, and further more the occult and demon possesion leaves me bored and looking for something else to read. These elements are all here in this book and I couldn't put it down.
I really felt for the characters in this book and I love how O'Brien chose to unfold the story. From the beginning he introduces our main lady and her role in the whole demon conjuring that leads to the following events. The author gives us the background story through most of the book of how Bill and Stephanie meet, fall in love, and conquer the evils that are set to destroy their love and goodness and deceive them into a world of hate and revenge. He goes into further detail about each of the characters lives, and how the evil that befalls Leedham affects each character. Everyone has a part and is a pawn if you will for the final soul crushing, heart wrenching conclusion. The demon in the story is amazingly well developed and Death...well Death is perfect. Exactly how I would picture Death being. Quite literally nothing in this book I didn't like. The very end, is beautiful and appropriate.
O'Brien hits the nail on the head with his ability to showcase an outcasts family life that is destructive and less than loving, without making it so that I could not continue reading. TO clarify, anybody can write a terrible rape scene that makes you feel for the characters just by the shear brutality of the words written or conversely, if you are like me, you will just put the book down all together. O'Brien takes another approach. He writes the pain of the characters in such a way where you get the point...bad s*** has happened to them and is continuing to happen to them but he lets the reader feel their pain instead of just reading it. He doesn't focus on the visual abuse anymore than he has to, he focuses on the story and plot.
This book literally has everything I would never normally pick up, but I am incredibly glad I did.
It's tastefully written, and I am glad this author is rising to the top of my seek out books to read list.
February 11, 2014
Seek the warmth of the Samhain fire!
I really enjoyed this book. realistic characters, and strong writing draw you into a world of possibilities. it's got an interesting ending you won't see coming. I heard there's a sequel in the works and I can't wait to see how that is gonna go. I wish Roth had been a larger character, I'm hoping he might be a major character in the sequel, or better yet the star! I love books about demons but am usually put off by any semblance of good versus evil, mention of heaven or religious undertones, and thankfully this book did a pretty good job of dodging that b.s. mostly, because that can really ruin a book for me. this is a good one, don't miss it.
I really enjoyed this book. realistic characters, and strong writing draw you into a world of possibilities. it's got an interesting ending you won't see coming. I heard there's a sequel in the works and I can't wait to see how that is gonna go. I wish Roth had been a larger character, I'm hoping he might be a major character in the sequel, or better yet the star! I love books about demons but am usually put off by any semblance of good versus evil, mention of heaven or religious undertones, and thankfully this book did a pretty good job of dodging that b.s. mostly, because that can really ruin a book for me. this is a good one, don't miss it.
May 11, 2014
I love Jeff O'Brien. As a person, he's fucking awesome and as a writer he's definitely in my Top 10 list of "Oh I can't Wait For Something New From This Author." "November Coming Fire" is a bit of a departure for O'Brien from his usual farcical take on cliched horror themes. NCF is much more mature, serious, and sad. The story is filled with very well written characters, a thick and brooding sense of horrors to come, and so as to not disappoint his regular readers, interracial lesbian sex involving demonic control and crucifix penetration. I really enjoyed this read and definitely recommend checking it out as soon as possible.
September 22, 2013
I recieved a copy of this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
November Coming Fire was a novel that sounded promising, but did not deliver. This easily forgettable tale is full of demons and some R-rated material that is quite distasteful at times. I had a hard time connecting to the characters and therefore didn't cheer on the main ones as problems arose. This book was sadly a bit of a bore and certain words were annoyingly repeated throughout its entirety.
November Coming Fire was a novel that sounded promising, but did not deliver. This easily forgettable tale is full of demons and some R-rated material that is quite distasteful at times. I had a hard time connecting to the characters and therefore didn't cheer on the main ones as problems arose. This book was sadly a bit of a bore and certain words were annoyingly repeated throughout its entirety.
January 6, 2015
Not a bad first effort. A lot of words and phrases repeated to an irritating degree, R-rated material thrown in just for the heck of it, and main characters that were really hard to connect with, all let a very promising concept down quite severely.
January 6, 2015
Could Have Been So Much More Not a bad first effort. A lot of words and phrases repeated to an irritating degree, R-rated material thrown in just for the heck of it, and main characters that were really hard to connect with, all let a very promising concept down quite severely.
July 21, 2014
Great read.
Characters all good, Excellent pace.
Looking forward to reading more from Jeff
Characters all good, Excellent pace.
Looking forward to reading more from Jeff
March 28, 2014
I'm on my last pages right now, so not fully finished, but this book rocks and I dare to give it 5 stars even if I'm not finished yet, more when I'm done reading :D
Finished :D and I wasen't disapointed at all, I had to fight the upcomming tears on the train to work and I'm a man and men don't cry in public :P a job well done Jeff.
In my oppinion Jeff did an amazing piece of writing (again ;)) I was able to bond with the main characters thus the tear fightng I mentioned and it was quite hard to put the book down and stop reading when it had to be. Oh and be warned despite the suspense this book is funny as hell at some points I nearly spit my coffee into the face of the nice lady that was sitting in front of me on the train to work from laughing.
As you can imagine this is a story full of suspence, rape, a little bit of drugs (there is a drug dealer with an important role in this book), revenge, sex, funny stuff, endless love and last but not least payback time for some footballplayers and cheerleaders ( I don't know what they did to "all" the independent writers but Jeff is not the only one who has a special relation to those types of human beeings so thank you sports and promqueens for beeing dicks all the time the world would have some goodreads less if it wasn't for you)
To whom would I recommend this book??? Everybody with an open mind, even if it's not your kind of story you would be surprised if you give it a try, I dare you ;)
6 out of 5 Stars
Finished :D and I wasen't disapointed at all, I had to fight the upcomming tears on the train to work and I'm a man and men don't cry in public :P a job well done Jeff.
In my oppinion Jeff did an amazing piece of writing (again ;)) I was able to bond with the main characters thus the tear fightng I mentioned and it was quite hard to put the book down and stop reading when it had to be. Oh and be warned despite the suspense this book is funny as hell at some points I nearly spit my coffee into the face of the nice lady that was sitting in front of me on the train to work from laughing.
As you can imagine this is a story full of suspence, rape, a little bit of drugs (there is a drug dealer with an important role in this book), revenge, sex, funny stuff, endless love and last but not least payback time for some footballplayers and cheerleaders ( I don't know what they did to "all" the independent writers but Jeff is not the only one who has a special relation to those types of human beeings so thank you sports and promqueens for beeing dicks all the time the world would have some goodreads less if it wasn't for you)
To whom would I recommend this book??? Everybody with an open mind, even if it's not your kind of story you would be surprised if you give it a try, I dare you ;)
6 out of 5 Stars
November 6, 2014
November Coming Fire, a dark and serious book from comedy horror and weird fiction writer Jeff O'Brien is the first of only two serious horror stories that he has written. NCF, the title based on Samhain album of the same name, follows Bill and Stephanie on a journey of acceptance, love and banding together to fight against evil. O'Brien knows how to write a story and drag you into the heart of it. Every character has depth and meaning and each an integral part of the page turner. You'll find yourself feeling for the characters and rooting for them to win in the end. Like an 80's style horror movie, each page twists and turns with vivid imagery and imagination. And while love is a main theme running through out the book, this is no romance novel. O'Brien poured his own heart, soul and pain into each of these pages and it is well worth the read. Though he prefers to write comedic horror and weird fiction (each of his books worth reading), I hope to see more serious horror from him one day.
September 21, 2013
Jeff O'Brien wrote a great and thoroughly enjoyable book with November Coming Fire. Horror is not always my go-to genre as a reader, but this is a page turner for sure.
The writing is insightful, clever and crass (in such a good way), characters jump off the page, and it's chock full of twists and turns.
But the thing that really pulls you in is the very real range of emotions displayed. O'Brien really nails the trials and tribulations of the counter-culture high school sweethearts.
In terms of horror, it's clear that he knows his shit. There is a healthy dose of homage paid to the greats as well as his fresh and inspired new takes. The author really executes his concept of the "B-Novel." Just like with Devil Rain, these books are more fun than the "B-Movie" counterparts.
The scary stuff is fun, the gory stuff is gory, and the real stuff makes your skin crawl. What more could you want? Check this one out.
The writing is insightful, clever and crass (in such a good way), characters jump off the page, and it's chock full of twists and turns.
But the thing that really pulls you in is the very real range of emotions displayed. O'Brien really nails the trials and tribulations of the counter-culture high school sweethearts.
In terms of horror, it's clear that he knows his shit. There is a healthy dose of homage paid to the greats as well as his fresh and inspired new takes. The author really executes his concept of the "B-Novel." Just like with Devil Rain, these books are more fun than the "B-Movie" counterparts.
The scary stuff is fun, the gory stuff is gory, and the real stuff makes your skin crawl. What more could you want? Check this one out.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews