Insidious Assassins

The Smart Rhino 'Assassins' Series

by Weldon Burge (editor), Jack Ketchum, Shaun Meeks

There is a peculiar allure of insidious characters—and especially assassins, hit men, and their ilk. Perhaps we find their uncomplicated moral codes and brutal efficiency appealing. These characters care little about ethics—and perhaps that alone, that freedom from guilt, is exactly why we love them. Perhaps, deep down, we wish we could be like them. And perhaps, by reading stories with such characters, we can vicariously experience that thrill. With this fascination with evil characters in mind, Smart Rhino Publications decided to publish this anthology, Insidious Assassins, a sequel to Uncommon Assassins. The book contains 24 stories by some of the best horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy authors writing today--including Jack Ketchum, Joe Lansdale, Billie Sue Mosiman, Lisa Mannetti, L.L. Soares, James Dorr, Shaun Meeks, and 17 others! In these stories, you will meet some truly insidious characters--characters you may find yourself applauding when you know you shouldn't. Enjoy!

412 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 2015

About the author

Weldon Burge, a native of Delaware, is the author of the Ezekiel Marrs thriller series published by Smart Rhino Publications. HARVESTER OF SORROW is the first novel in the series. Weldon is also a freelance writer and publisher. His fiction has appeared in many publications, including various magazines and anthologies (Crimeucopia, The Best of the Horror Society 2013, Pellucid Lunacy: An Anthology of Psychological Horror, Ghosts and Demons, just to name a few). His stories have also been adapted for podcast presentation by Drabblecast. He was a frequent writer for Suspense Magazine, often writing author interviews.

In 2012, Weldon and his wife, Cindy, founded Smart Rhino Publications, an indie publishing company focusing primarily on horror and suspense/thriller books. To date, the company has published 17 books, primarily anthologies.

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Reviews

[Darlene Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this, I realize I need to read the first book of this series, because this was a great book. Insidious Assassins is full of great stories, awesome characters, some good suspense, some wild twists and turns and even some chuckles. There is nothing to not like about this book. It's not the first book I've read that's edited by Weldon Burge and he really has a good eye from awesome writers.
Right off the bat I was attracted to this book because of Joe R. Lansdale and Jack Ketchum, two masters at the art of writing. They were just the icing on a delicious book cake though. The rest of the stories in here are top notch, but I still have favorites out of them. When I look back at the table of contents, the stories that really stick out to me are Shaun Meeks', L.L. Soares', Christine Morgan's, Lisa Mannetti's, JM Reinbold and Martin Rose's. They were some of the ones I wished were longer, or were just so much fun to read. This is a great book and a must have for fans of mysteries, thriller and even horror.

[Dave Granger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great follow up to Uncommon Assassin. Weldon Burge puts together a line up of some amazing writers that really know a thing or two about writing. Some of my favorites in here were Jack Ketchum's Those Rockports Won't Get you Into Heaven, Shaun Meeks' Dead Bill, Christine Morgan's No One Of Consequence, Lisa Mannetti's Almost Everybody Wins, James Dorr's Labyrinth, and Joe R. Lansdale's Best-Seller Guaranteed. There are some brutal stories in here, but there are also so many with a very, dark twist of humor to them. A great anthology well worth the money.

[Warren R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of stories from a variety of talented writers whose styles vary wildly from one story to the next. I was not familiar with most of the authors featured in this book before reading it but was pleasantly surprised by the overall high quality of the writing. Personal favorites from this collection included Christine Morgan’s ‘No one of Consequence’, Joseph Badal’s ‘The Rock’ and Ernestus Jiminy Chald’s ‘Tanse So Smert’yu’, all truly cinematic stories that I could see being made into great movies someday. I understand this collection is a sequel to a previous volume from the same publisher and am eager to track down a copy of that book next.

[John Boyda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quirky enjoyable anthology of short stories. Some were darkly humorous, others were intriguing and most kept my interest. The genres ranged from Sci-fi and fantasy to pulp-noir. A good mix. Recommended.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a DNF for me. I'm sure largely based on the audible version narrated by "Virtual Voice". There was zero inflection, zero dramatization, Zero interest. That was a very unfortunate choice.