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Horror of the Blood Devils
Horror of the Blood Devils is written like one of the old Italian horror movies! Blood! Gore! Vampires! This fast paced Bloody Bones Horror novel will entertain you until the bitter and climatic ending! Designed with an Italian giallo flare in mind; This book should satisfy all connoisseurs of Gore Horror! Despair Island, 1962. Prison break. Five desperate men go over the wall at Stackhouse Correctional. Their reach the coast on the far end of the island before all hell breaks loose. Behind them, are teams of guards with vicious dogs. Before them, the treacherous depths of Snakebit Swamp, a desolate, primeval run of alligators and poisonous snakes. But there’s something worse that calls it home–an ancient evil that feeds on human blood. If the guards and convicts want to survive the night, they’ll have to join together. They have entered the hunting grounds. And they are prey.
166 pages, Hardcover
Published November 3, 2023
About the author
Tim Curran
151 books614 followersTim Curran lives in Michigan and is the author of the novels Skin Medicine, Hive, Dead Sea, Resurrection, The Devil Next Door, and Biohazard, as well as the novella The Corpse King. His short stories have appeared in such magazines as City Slab, Flesh&Blood, Book of Dark Wisdom, and Inhuman, and anthologies such as Shivers IV, High Seas Cthulhu, and Vile Things.
For DarkFuse and its imprints, he has written the bestselling The Underdwelling, the Readers Choice-Nominated novella Fear Me, Puppet Graveyard as well as Long Black Coffin.
Find him on the web at: www.corpseking.com.
For DarkFuse and its imprints, he has written the bestselling The Underdwelling, the Readers Choice-Nominated novella Fear Me, Puppet Graveyard as well as Long Black Coffin.
Find him on the web at: www.corpseking.com.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 18, 2025
This one gave something new to vampire myths. An ex-jungle warrior and now inmate of a remote prison situated at a remote island can escape together with 4 other convicts. When they try to leave the island something is lurking for them. And it is not a sheriff's posse that much is said here. The evil creatures are without mercy, the whole setting is very eerie and nail biting. Will anybody escape? Why did the vampires come over from Pavuvu to the USA? The author comes up with an extremely well told tale that leaves you on the edge of your seat. A true page turner. Highly recommended!
July 28, 2025
This was a bloody, nasty good time. I loved this primal version of vampires. No mercy, no reasoning, no spoken language, just all instinct. They lived to breed and eat. Now, aside from the fantastic use of the antagonists, including a scene with raining dogs, and the gore, the writing was smooth as a baby’s behind. While I enjoyed it all, I felt like the story tried to utilize too many characters and situations in such a short runtime. We jump back and forth between the escaped convicts and the pursuing law enforcement officers, as both groups encounter these creatures. It just felt too similar with each POV, and it was hard to keep track of the near dozen characters with all the hopping around. I think if the author chose to just develop one group or the other, the entire flow of the story would have improved dramatically. Convicts or cops, in a jungle with vicious vampires treating them like organic piñatas? Not really a wrong way to work with either pick. And, as a side note, I think that the entire opening scenario with Dog was my favorite portion of the book. It just captured everything good here in one, simple scene. Again, with some fine-tuning, the rest of the story could have emulated this same approach, going from very good to great. Not without some critiques of the creative decisions, I still very much enjoyed my time here. And I’m gearing up to watch The Last Voyage of the Demeter tonight, so this was a solid way to pregame.
September 21, 2023
Absolute carnage in the primeval hell of Snakebit!
This book further proves that Curran holds the crown of what makes us check under the bed at night. Brutal as heck, with enough blood packed in the pages to keep it dripping red. Thrilling from start to finish. If you're new to Curran, this is the best start right here! The first in a new series from Weird House Press!
This book further proves that Curran holds the crown of what makes us check under the bed at night. Brutal as heck, with enough blood packed in the pages to keep it dripping red. Thrilling from start to finish. If you're new to Curran, this is the best start right here! The first in a new series from Weird House Press!
August 19, 2025
A solid and quick read from Tim Curran which is most remarkable for how bloodthirsty and gore-drenched this one ends up being.
There's arguably too many not sketched-in characters for such a short novel, and it all gets a bit repetitive in the final third, but when the mayhem comes, it is impressive.
3 Warnings Unheeded for Horror of the Blood Devils.
There's arguably too many not sketched-in characters for such a short novel, and it all gets a bit repetitive in the final third, but when the mayhem comes, it is impressive.
3 Warnings Unheeded for Horror of the Blood Devils.
August 20, 2024
This book was like being attached to a festering gore bag drip feeder on maximum drip. Pretty descriptive bloodletting on almost every saturated page. Some really gruesome stuff here.
December 17, 2023
Five escape convicts are trudging through mud and muck for freedom through the snakebit swamp. They are trying to navigate this creepy environment. Meanwhile, corrections officers are on the hunt for the convicts.
The story has two sets of characters, convicts and law enforcement officers. Curran alternates between them. The swamp and blood-sucking monsters unify the story. Both the setting and monsters create bone chilling quiet horror
Curran chose one that would terrorize the toughest of men in the most brilliant way. It is very reminiscent of the movie Predator in that way. There are noises in the darkness, quick bone-chilling movements, blood dripping from trees, and bodies turning up dead. There is nowhere to hide in the swamp especially when the sun sets.
The horror of the Blood Devils is well-paced with tension, gore, and quiet terror.
The story has two sets of characters, convicts and law enforcement officers. Curran alternates between them. The swamp and blood-sucking monsters unify the story. Both the setting and monsters create bone chilling quiet horror
Curran chose one that would terrorize the toughest of men in the most brilliant way. It is very reminiscent of the movie Predator in that way. There are noises in the darkness, quick bone-chilling movements, blood dripping from trees, and bodies turning up dead. There is nowhere to hide in the swamp especially when the sun sets.
The horror of the Blood Devils is well-paced with tension, gore, and quiet terror.
August 22, 2024
Simply brilliant. Absolutely loved this story. Twilight vampires, these most certainly are not! This is a gritty, gory, EXCELLENT tale of the blood thirsty creatures that reside close to where some inmates escape from a prison. The style of writing, the story itself, just everything about this book made my heart sing, so easy to fall into this story and let it carry you away (but hopefully not into the sky!).
Two books I've read by Tim now and both have been absolute hits.
Two books I've read by Tim now and both have been absolute hits.
December 9, 2023
Absolutely loved this one. A vampire tale told in 3 parts. The vampires were brutal and the settings were excellent. Definitely worth a read.
June 4, 2026
Commento generale della storia:
La trama è incredibilmente banale: cinque detenuti scappano da questa prigione, costruita su un'isola e circondata da una palude assolutamente inospitale. Le guardie, notoriamente stupide come in tutti i film/videogiochi del genere, nonostante sappiano bene i pericoli presenti nella palude, corrono in massa a cercarli (serve carne da macello per le scene splatter).
Nella palude però, descritta piena di serpenti (velenosi), ragni (velenosi), alligatori (non velenosi), di cui però non se ne vede manco mezzo, è piena anche di bestie vampiriche. Non è uno spoiler perché l'autore, invece che mantenere un'aura di mistero e presentare i vampiri con un colpo di scena, ci mostra i mostri (ah!) direttamente nel prologo. Però lì sono in Giappone e come abbiano fatto ad arrivare negli USA nessuno lo sa, manco Curran.
Bla bla bla, sangue e morte, gore e splatter, fine.
Tipico di Curran, sembra un film horror di serie B sottoforma di novelette. Carino, per carità, ma poteva sforzarsi di più che ricalcare cliché su cliché.
Voto: 2/5
Ora parliamo dell'edizione italiana.
Copertina: orribile, del tutto non pertinente al libro e probabilmente rubata (come già successo in passato per questa casa editrice, ma rimane una supposizione mia).
Traduzione: orribile, ho fatto un paragone con il testo originale e ho notato che la prosa è stata del tutto snaturata, lo stile dell'autore è scomparso del tutto rendendo la lettura un piattume unico.
Per di più sono state tagliate, senza alcun senso, varie frasi, quindi NON È UNA TRADUZIONE INTEGRALE.
Non parliamo poi di alcuni tempi verbali che quando li leggi sembra di star masticando un pugno di sabbia.
Voto: 0/5
-- English translation --
General commentary on the story:
The plot is incredibly cliché: five inmates escape from this prison, built on an island and surrounded by an utterly inhospitable swamp. The guards—notoriously stupid as in every film or video game of this genre—rush in en masse to find them despite knowing full well the dangers present in the swamp (they basically serve as fodder for the splatter scenes).
The swamp is described as being full of (venomous) snakes, (venomous) spiders, and alligators (non-venomous), yet you don’t see a single one of them. Instead, it’s crawling with vampiric beasts. This isn't a spoiler because the author, rather than maintaining an air of mystery and introducing the vampires with a plot twist, shows us the monsters right in the prologue. However, in the prologue, they are in Japan; how they managed to get to the USA is anyone's guess—not even Curran seems to know.
Blah, blah, blah, blood and death, gore and splatter, the end.
Typical Curran: it feels like a B-movie horror flick in novelette form. It’s okay, for heaven's sake, but he could have put in more effort instead of just piling cliché upon cliché.
Rating: 2/5
Now, let’s talk about the Italian edition.
Cover: Horrible, completely irrelevant to the book, and probably stolen (as has happened before with this publisher, though that remains my own personal assumption).
Translation: Horrible. I compared it with the original text and noticed that the prose has been completely distorted; the author's style has vanished entirely, making the reading experience incredibly flat.
Furthermore, various sentences were cut for no apparent reason, so IT IS NOT AN UNABRIDGED TRANSLATION.
Not to mention certain verb tenses—reading them feels like chewing on a mouthful of sand.
Rating: 0/5
La trama è incredibilmente banale: cinque detenuti scappano da questa prigione, costruita su un'isola e circondata da una palude assolutamente inospitale. Le guardie, notoriamente stupide come in tutti i film/videogiochi del genere, nonostante sappiano bene i pericoli presenti nella palude, corrono in massa a cercarli (serve carne da macello per le scene splatter).
Nella palude però, descritta piena di serpenti (velenosi), ragni (velenosi), alligatori (non velenosi), di cui però non se ne vede manco mezzo, è piena anche di bestie vampiriche. Non è uno spoiler perché l'autore, invece che mantenere un'aura di mistero e presentare i vampiri con un colpo di scena, ci mostra i mostri (ah!) direttamente nel prologo. Però lì sono in Giappone e come abbiano fatto ad arrivare negli USA nessuno lo sa, manco Curran.
Bla bla bla, sangue e morte, gore e splatter, fine.
Tipico di Curran, sembra un film horror di serie B sottoforma di novelette. Carino, per carità, ma poteva sforzarsi di più che ricalcare cliché su cliché.
Voto: 2/5
Ora parliamo dell'edizione italiana.
Copertina: orribile, del tutto non pertinente al libro e probabilmente rubata (come già successo in passato per questa casa editrice, ma rimane una supposizione mia).
Traduzione: orribile, ho fatto un paragone con il testo originale e ho notato che la prosa è stata del tutto snaturata, lo stile dell'autore è scomparso del tutto rendendo la lettura un piattume unico.
Per di più sono state tagliate, senza alcun senso, varie frasi, quindi NON È UNA TRADUZIONE INTEGRALE.
Non parliamo poi di alcuni tempi verbali che quando li leggi sembra di star masticando un pugno di sabbia.
Voto: 0/5
-- English translation --
General commentary on the story:
The plot is incredibly cliché: five inmates escape from this prison, built on an island and surrounded by an utterly inhospitable swamp. The guards—notoriously stupid as in every film or video game of this genre—rush in en masse to find them despite knowing full well the dangers present in the swamp (they basically serve as fodder for the splatter scenes).
The swamp is described as being full of (venomous) snakes, (venomous) spiders, and alligators (non-venomous), yet you don’t see a single one of them. Instead, it’s crawling with vampiric beasts. This isn't a spoiler because the author, rather than maintaining an air of mystery and introducing the vampires with a plot twist, shows us the monsters right in the prologue. However, in the prologue, they are in Japan; how they managed to get to the USA is anyone's guess—not even Curran seems to know.
Blah, blah, blah, blood and death, gore and splatter, the end.
Typical Curran: it feels like a B-movie horror flick in novelette form. It’s okay, for heaven's sake, but he could have put in more effort instead of just piling cliché upon cliché.
Rating: 2/5
Now, let’s talk about the Italian edition.
Cover: Horrible, completely irrelevant to the book, and probably stolen (as has happened before with this publisher, though that remains my own personal assumption).
Translation: Horrible. I compared it with the original text and noticed that the prose has been completely distorted; the author's style has vanished entirely, making the reading experience incredibly flat.
Furthermore, various sentences were cut for no apparent reason, so IT IS NOT AN UNABRIDGED TRANSLATION.
Not to mention certain verb tenses—reading them feels like chewing on a mouthful of sand.
Rating: 0/5
December 19, 2023
A fun and freaky take on vampires that makes them truly scary again.
May 12, 2024
A prison break...multiple guards in persuit...vampire bats. I pretty much summed it up it one sentence. Great book! Tim Curran is one of the best!
November 10, 2024
I liked Tim Curran's short stories a lot, and the anthology Alien Horrors was excellent. After I continuously saw his short stories in other collections, I reached out to his independent works, and read this book.
At first, I thought this book was a collection of short stories. It turned out to be a full-length (short) novel, NOT novella.
I was greatly disappointed and gave it a 2 stars. It seems to me that great short-story writers might not be good novel writers.
The story kept dragging and describing the atmosphere to the point of redundancy and repetitiveness. From time to time, the monsters killed people mercilessly and the page was full of gore and organs and all types of adjectives and nouns. And then, the scene continued: people kept searching and then monsters appeared sometimes and people kept dying and gore was described more often.
The real battle lay in the last 20 to 30 (max) pages of this novel of 168 pages. So, if you read it, mentally prepare yourself for where the climax could be.
For the book content itself, there were just many characters and the author forcefully tried to give them a background, like bullies are only "strong" outside but "weak" inside or have a bad childhood, or women suffer in a man-job thing, or true heroes are "strong" inside, etc. All of these descriptions and implications just made the book unnecessarily long and "preachy".
I did not feel the sense of joy in reading it. In fact, i just finished it to see what awaited at the end of the book. It was nothing that I (or you) had not expected: monsters died. End of story. At that time, my confusion (or annoyance) was that I had no idea who the main characters were because in the end, nearly all died (because of the monsters, of course). Then, what was the point of introducing too many of them and then they just... died?
Some details were not convincing to me. For example, the monsters were described at the beginning like purely evil and primeval. Later, one of them communicated in... thoughts? It was a stretch and also illogical because such intelligence would have a more epic agenda. If not, why introducing those things, making the monsters less "animal" and more "human" and weakening the horror build-up? (This is my own taste). In the end, after I finished the book, there was nothing for me to remember or praise as I felt the story was just... it.
To sum up, what type of movie that people like to watch but has no content? Porn. Similarly, what type of book that people may like to read but does not have much content? Horror that focuses on describing organs and blood.
At first I thought of 3 stars. But then, when I reflected on the whole book, 2 stars should be more precise. The writing definitely was not meant for me.
At first, I thought this book was a collection of short stories. It turned out to be a full-length (short) novel, NOT novella.
I was greatly disappointed and gave it a 2 stars. It seems to me that great short-story writers might not be good novel writers.
The story kept dragging and describing the atmosphere to the point of redundancy and repetitiveness. From time to time, the monsters killed people mercilessly and the page was full of gore and organs and all types of adjectives and nouns. And then, the scene continued: people kept searching and then monsters appeared sometimes and people kept dying and gore was described more often.
The real battle lay in the last 20 to 30 (max) pages of this novel of 168 pages. So, if you read it, mentally prepare yourself for where the climax could be.
For the book content itself, there were just many characters and the author forcefully tried to give them a background, like bullies are only "strong" outside but "weak" inside or have a bad childhood, or women suffer in a man-job thing, or true heroes are "strong" inside, etc. All of these descriptions and implications just made the book unnecessarily long and "preachy".
I did not feel the sense of joy in reading it. In fact, i just finished it to see what awaited at the end of the book. It was nothing that I (or you) had not expected: monsters died. End of story. At that time, my confusion (or annoyance) was that I had no idea who the main characters were because in the end, nearly all died (because of the monsters, of course). Then, what was the point of introducing too many of them and then they just... died?
Some details were not convincing to me. For example, the monsters were described at the beginning like purely evil and primeval. Later, one of them communicated in... thoughts? It was a stretch and also illogical because such intelligence would have a more epic agenda. If not, why introducing those things, making the monsters less "animal" and more "human" and weakening the horror build-up? (This is my own taste). In the end, after I finished the book, there was nothing for me to remember or praise as I felt the story was just... it.
To sum up, what type of movie that people like to watch but has no content? Porn. Similarly, what type of book that people may like to read but does not have much content? Horror that focuses on describing organs and blood.
At first I thought of 3 stars. But then, when I reflected on the whole book, 2 stars should be more precise. The writing definitely was not meant for me.
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January 15, 2024Wow. Just WOW!!!!
This story wasamazing, I'm a big fan of this author. I'd love to see a few of his books made into, movies. You will l! Not be disappoint!! happy new Year TIM ,PLEASE KEEP THE HORROR. COMING In 24!!!!!
This story wasamazing, I'm a big fan of this author. I'd love to see a few of his books made into, movies. You will l! Not be disappoint!! happy new Year TIM ,PLEASE KEEP THE HORROR. COMING In 24!!!!!
October 8, 2023
A fine read it is
Hello, this is a really good story. The author uses adjectives in all the right places. I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks.
Hello, this is a really good story. The author uses adjectives in all the right places. I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks.
October 17, 2023
Vampire Mayhem
This book was part Brother Where art Thou and one part Near Dark. It was a fresh take on an old trope.
This book was part Brother Where art Thou and one part Near Dark. It was a fresh take on an old trope.
December 14, 2025
Vampires
It was a pretty good read. A little too many inner thoughts from some characters. Wished there was more information about the vampires.
It was a pretty good read. A little too many inner thoughts from some characters. Wished there was more information about the vampires.
February 15, 2024
Full of blood, gore and chopped up body parts. Loved the primal portrayal of vampires in this book, and they blended perfectly into the creepy and unforgiving setting of the swamp. Finally know why they say, “it’s raining cats and dogs…..”
April 23, 2025
A veteran is on an island. He is a convict. He escapes. And instead of freedom he comes across a nightmare he once had back in the military. Was it a dream? No, it was the VAMPIRE WOMAN BAT! Haha, this book was a fun read, gory but a different perspective on vampires in the 60s.
November 24, 2023
Review to come.
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February 14, 2024Good old fashioned pulp horror with a different take on non humanoid vampires. Interesting characters and great storyline. Highly recommended
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews