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Blood Island

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The Mass, an island-sized creature formed entirely of mutated blood cells, has drifted across the world’s oceans for millions of years. It uses sharks – the most efficient predators the planet has ever produced – as extensions of itself to gather food. For the most part, the Mass and its Hunters have avoided contact with the human race, but now it’s entered the waters off Bridgewater, Texas, where a film crew is busy shooting a low-budget horror film called Devourer of the Deep. The Mass is about to discover something called human imagination, and the humans are about to learn that battling a monster in real life is a little harder than fighting one on screen.

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 30, 2018

92 people are currently reading
144 people want to read

About the author

Tim Waggoner

282 books758 followers

Tim Waggoner's first novel came out in 2001, and since then, he's published over sixty novels and eight collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He's written tie-in fiction based on Supernatural, The X-Files, Alien, Doctor Who, Conan the Barbarian, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Grimm, and Transformers, among others, and he's written novelizations for films such as Ti West’s X-Trilogy, Halloween Kills, Terrifier 2 and 3, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. He’s also the author of the award-winning guide to horror Writing in the Dark. He’s a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, a one-time winner of the Scribe Award, and he’s been a two-time finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and a one-time finalist for the Splatterpunk Award. He’s also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.

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5 stars
26 (23%)
4 stars
41 (36%)
3 stars
31 (27%)
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11 (9%)
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for Craig.
6,408 reviews180 followers
November 19, 2022
In Blood Island a film crew sets out to make a low-budget movie called Devourers of the Deep, which is the story of the events that occurred in Waggoner's previous deep-sea horror fest, Teeth of the Sea. It turns into a blood-spattered monster schlock-fest that equals the first story. It features a well-rounded and pleasantly diverse cast of well-realized characters facing an army of mind-controlled zombie land sharks, and then it all gets weird and gory... The ending has a very nice twist which is particularly well-done and really surprised me. I acquired the book some time back but held off on reading it until I could do so on vacation at Fort DeSoto Beach and I'm glad I did because the atmosphere was perfect. Sometimes having a bigger boat doesn't help...
Profile Image for Frank Errington.
737 reviews63 followers
January 11, 2019
Review copy

OK, so Blood Island is no Jaws. It's not even on par with Moby Dick, but it is worth of 5 Stars for the simple reason it succeeds in doing exactly what it sets out to do. And that is to entertain in the way a classic B-Movie like "Hell Comes to Frogtown" or "It Came From Beneath the Sea" did back in the day.

"The Mass will eat well this day. It will add the ur-tadpoles’ substance to its own and grow larger and stronger. It will save several of the ur-tadpoles to serve as Hunters until such time as it can find better – and bigger – servants. Life here at the dawn of time is extremely good for the Mass.

And it’s only going to get better."

Fast-forward 600 million years.

In an effort to capitalize on the events detailed in Waggoner's previous Severed Press novel Teeth of the Sea a film crew, led by director, Inez Perry is filming a B-Movie, Devourer of the Deep. Little does the cast and crew realize there is more lurking in the waters offshore than the mechanical beast the propmasters have designed for this low-budget masterpiece.

Wonderful action sequences right from the start. There are few throw-away characters. Most of them well-developed and in mortal peril. It's time to shut off your sense of disbelief and prepare for one wild ride. Think Sharknado without the bad weather.

Both Teeth of the Deep and Blood Island are published by Severed Press and are available now.

From the author's bio - Tim Waggoner's first novel came out in 2001 Since then he's published over forty novels and five collections of short stories. He writes original fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He's won the Bram Stoker Award, been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the Scribe Award. In addition to writing, Tim is also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College.



Profile Image for OutlawPoet.
1,806 reviews68 followers
January 2, 2019
As I finished this book, I took a deep breath and then blurted out (likely thanks to watching too many YouTube personalities with my 10-year-old), "That was so extra!"

And it was.

I want you to take your cheesy SF shark movie and then pump up the volume. Buckets of blood? Naw, add pools of blood. Bouncing breasts? Well, yes, but make sure they're bouncing all over the place! Sharks that can actually....whoops. Not gonna spoil that one for you!

This is ultra cheese - and purposely so. It's clear that the author had a blast and a half writing this and the reader will enjoy it just as much!

Did I occasionally have moments of WHAT DID I JUST READ and UM...SERIOUSLY???? Yep, of course, I did. Our author takes his low budget horror movie theme to heart and just goes with it!

Funny, over the top, gory, and even manages to give us characters we love.

And, yep, EXTRA!
Profile Image for chucklesthescot.
3,000 reviews134 followers
July 19, 2019
I very much enjoyed Teeth Of The Sea by this author and this is a sort of follow up but you can read this as a stand-alone. A film crew are making a cheap B-movie version about the events featured in Teeth Of The Sea, and have chosen a small town struggling to get back on its feet after major hurricane damage to film it. Two location scouts are out in the water and are first to see The Mass, a floating island of blood cells and consumed foods that has been around since the dawn of time. It has captured sharks and enslaved them to effectively hunt for The Mass, attached by organic cords that can stretch over a distance. Now The Mass is moving closer to shore where the filming is going on and has developed a taste for human flesh.

Bridgewater does not know what is about to hit it. When the sharks eat someone from the production team, the mind of that person is absorbed into The Mass and it discovers what human imagination is. So begins a process of The Mass adapting the sharks so they can spread out from The Mass and go hunt food on land, putting every person in the town at risk. The Mass also has absorbed the idea of staging this slaughter like the plot of a horror film, but one with no happy ending. The product is a book written like a B-move plot about a filming of a B-movie, and I actually thought it was fun and entertaining to read. The very fact that killer sharks can slither through streets looking for victims and break into buildings is enough to give any horror fan a scare!

The characters were fun as well. There is classic horror actor Jarrod, who conceals that he has terminal cancer from the rest of the crew, with the exception of his fan and assistant Tasha, who has her own psychic abilities. There is Tamara, who is amusing herself having flings with several crew members and although she is classified at the slut, I actually liked her because she was pretty honest and straightforward about what she wanted and more resourceful a character than I expected. There was gun wielding bar owner Susan who was a proper take charge woman, writer Boyd who is sick of rewrites every time something goes wrong, who finds himself allowed to live as long as he continues to write the film plot as The Mass lets events unfold.

There is plenty shark related deaths as they all come ashore and invade the town one night. I enjoyed seeing the death and destructions and the survivors trying to band together to survive. They have to find a way to evade the sharks and escape the town before they all end up dead, or find a way to destroy The Mass. There is a lot of action in the book and I thought it was different from any other shark creature feature book that I've read. Yes the plot is a bit silly, but it was entertaining and enjoyable and that for me is much more important than realism. I will devour pretty much anything that features sharks eating people so I was pleased to like this one. I was rooting for most of the characters and of course I knew that not all of them were going to survive, but that is typical of this type of book.

If you like B-movie type shark creature features you might well enjoy this one. I certainly hope to read more of this kind of book by the author.

Profile Image for Sea Caummisar.
Author 82 books1,386 followers
January 27, 2022
4.5 stars rounded up..almost near perfect. A horror book with an actual great ending?? What? Yes
.I found that with this book. Awesome, right? While reading this, I couldn't not picture Sharknado in my head, but it was better and these aren't exactly sharks. Yes, it has some cheesy comedy ( which I love bunches).
The story is about people filming a movie, which pretty much comes true. What really makes this a great book is the characters. It was all around a fun read
Profile Image for Valerie.
657 reviews17 followers
January 27, 2019
This is a first time reading for me of any Tim Waggoner’s works and I am glad I had the chance to read this!! Thought it would read like the B-rated movie that the book is centered around but I was very much surprised. This deep sea thriller is rather well written!!

I’ll share with you what made me an instant fan! Around the middle of the book the writer integrates an act of compassion that doesn’t affect the overall horrific theme but affected me instantly! Tina has a land shark about to devour her face and in a deliberate act of cruelty it lowers its head so she can see its mouth and double rows of teeth as it eats her face! Tasha reaches into Tina’s memories and pulls out one of her favorites. It was this image-along with the emotions that accompanied it that followed Tina down into death! Right here, with this the author had me!

On another note, this is a good creature feature with a ancient mass, it’s zombified sea creatures, blood and guts and horrifying attacks! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for kory..
1,275 reviews131 followers
December 5, 2021
weird as fuck but i was kind of here for it

content/trigger warnings; sexual assault, death, gore, kissing, explicit sexual content, mention of aids, leukemia, suicide,

rep; jarrod (mc) is gay. tamara (mc) is pansexual.

the pansexual character was oversexualized in every aspect; always naked, flirting, having sex, and wanting sex. as always, pansexual quote: “After all, she identified as pansexual.”
Profile Image for Joe.
91 reviews2 followers
February 1, 2019
While not a direct sequel to "Teeth of the Sea", "Blood Island" certainly takes place in that universe. Many times throughout this book, there are references to the events of "Teeth of the Sea". It's not necessary to have read that to enjoy this book, but it does help to fill in some of the references.

Blood Island is about a film crew who have gathered on a Texas beach community to film a low-budget horror movie. Before they get to far into their shoot, they are soon realizing that they are living their own horror film, quite literally.

A large mass that has been growing since prehistoric times has come to the beach. While in the past, it would use other marine life to help it acquire food, this time it has latched onto a human, the director of the film.

Being the brains of the mass, she creates her own horror film, using the crew as the unwilling actors in a real life horror film.

This book reads very much (intentionally) like a low budget horror film. I really enjoyed reading this. It was a quick and easy read, and more importantly, fun and filled with horrific images.
Profile Image for Mya.
Author 31 books193 followers
February 27, 2019
Is this a creature feature book? Yup. Is it entertaining? Hell yeah. Is it scary and filled with a solid death count? Certainly! Are there moments of humor and ridiculousness? Uh huh. Is it a SyFy film -like creature feature film-No. This book is soooo much better and trying to imagine it as a low budget laugh fest (even with some far out concepts) is difficult because there are truly terrifying, well-written horror scenes in these pages.

Okay so when I say that this book had some surprises in store for me ( a self-professed creature-feature junkie) I am not even joking. This book about a hyper-intelligent mass floating in the sea that has the capacity to create, mutate, consume and control other life forms had plenty in store for me. Yes there are sharks involved but as a luck-less film crew of a horror film (irony much) soon discover-- there are other dangers a foot.

Could I have ever...ever predicted what would happened in this book. Hell no and for that I give the author much respect. This book far exceeds jumping the shark, but if you love to be entertained, you won't even mind!! Currently looking for more from this author :)
Profile Image for Brian.
Author 2 books12 followers
February 19, 2019
Remember the good old days?

You know the ones I’m talking about. The days when ocean predators stayed in the deep blue, and if you stayed close to the shore-or hell, even in the middle of town- there was no need to run for your life as rows of sharp teeth came barrelling at you, complete with the gory entrails of your best friend or co-worker dangling from the corners of their pink gums…

Yeah. Unfortunately, the film crew in Tim Waggoner’s newest from Severed Press, BLOOD ISLAND, barely have time to think back to those simpler, gentler times.

Full Review Here: http://kendallreviews.com/blood-islan...
Profile Image for Lisa.
1,400 reviews8 followers
November 10, 2019
"Blood Island" is the story of a low budget horror film going terribly wrong. Once again we do get the creature's point of view which I always look for in a good creature thriller. The blood and gore were over the top but seeing as this was about making a movie it seemed to fit perfectly. There were a few characters whose fates I was unsure of but perhaps they will show up in a future book. An enjoyable, quick read!
Profile Image for Lesley.
Author 37 books33 followers
July 15, 2020
A bloody good time!

This is a fun read combining a murderous mass, landsharks, and a psychic all within the exciting romp of a horror movie. There were a few typos and plot inconsistencies that I found a bit distracting (there's one character who disappears with no explanation about 3/4 of the way through), but it wasn't enough to keep me from enjoying this bloody gore-fest. Who doesn't love landsharks!!!
Profile Image for Scott Waldie.
686 reviews2 followers
January 3, 2019
This was a fast, fun, monster book which ups the ante for the shark horror genre. As hilarious as it is gruesome, Waggoner wastes no time getting to the blood and action, while still fleshing out a fair number of characters. And yes, that pun was intended. Quite a bit different that some of his other books I’ve read, but well worth it if you’re into campy sea creatures.
Profile Image for Kyle Feuerbach.
112 reviews
August 6, 2019
What a fun ride. I really, really liked this book. I loved the Mass concept and could not put this one down! I am excited to read more just like this in the future!
Profile Image for John.
21 reviews14 followers
September 26, 2019
This was actually really cool. There was a lot to like about this and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not your average shark book despite how the awesome cover appears.
356 reviews2 followers
February 22, 2019
Such a creative, never dull, horror fest

Whew! Wow! I love a good shark/creature horror book and this one is all that and more. A mass on the ocean discovers humans as food while sending it's hunters (sharks taken over by the mass attached to it by umbilical type cords). It discovers an island where a B- movie is being filmed, a horror movie of course, and begins making its own horror movie. There is so much gory killings that I almost got tired of it. But, this author is so creative with twists and turns that I stayed intrigued. The bonus is the characters were great and there was humor included. I read more of creature books than anything and this book is great because it is so different.
Profile Image for Lisa (the_epi_reader).
192 reviews3 followers
May 29, 2024
Something prehistoric is dwelling off the coast of Bridgewater, Texas and until recently it has never tasted human flesh. This creature, The Mass, uses other species to help it hunt, and its current plaything? Sharks! The cast of a low-budget horror movie, Devourer of the Deep, will soon find out that there are other horrors in the water besides their movie’s creature feature. Sharknado step aside, there’s a new shark in town.

How would I describe Blood Island in one word? Ridiculous. I absolutely loved the atmosphere Waggoner created, a B-horror movie but in book form. I cannot turn down a crappy shark horror movie, especially with sharks being my favorite animal. Do they get a bad rep? 100%. Are they amazing creatures that deserve so much more in life? Definitely! This is the perfect read for anyone else who feels the same. When you think things can’t get more wild in Blood Island, Waggoner is here to blow your mind. How you may ask? Land Sharks… that is all.
565 reviews4 followers
September 20, 2022
This Was Fun!!

An organism older then almost everything else has gotten pretty big over the many millenniums it has lived. All it knows is hunger. And since the organism has gotten bigger...so has it's hunger.
Meanwhile, in a small town off the shore in Texas, a small production company is making a creature feature. After the beginning of the shoot, the mechanical creature has malfunctioned....but that's okay...because the giant organism is ready to make it's first debut.

This was a very fun read and still gives me the same type of shivers that Jaws gave back in the day. Well done, Mr. Wagginer!!
Profile Image for Bill Camp.
Author 10 books2 followers
April 20, 2024
If you're in the mood for a good old fashioned monster romp, this book could be it. Bonus points for having a beach setting. The plot is they are making a cheap, direct to streaming movies, when a real monster, known as the Mass, attacks and eats many of the cast and crew. There's not a lot of subtext, but wait maybe there is. The Mass is controlled by the producer's mind, and the book reads like the plot of a direct-to-streaming movie, so it definitely has that play within a play feel to it invented by Shakespeare. Anyway, it's a quick fun read, and these monster romps always come off better when they're kept short, like an old dime store novel. If you read it, you'll likely enjoy it.
46 reviews
January 24, 2025
Okay, THIS was a fun ride!

Why on Earth was this book's overall rating 4 stars?!?! I LOVED IT! The characters were strong, the story was imaginative, and even the lengthy backstory sections were so well done I would have been disappointed without them. The entire concept of a primordial Mass Creature surviving to the present day was pure creative genius. I could see how the absurdity of the landsharks' appearance might have turned some people off, but I thought it was great fun. I have forsaken my Library to go in search of more of his work.
1,232 reviews5 followers
April 5, 2023
A masterpiece of B series movies in a book! Sharks waking on earth to devour a film crew, this is always the main trope for a serious horror book no?! Very fun, not well written, but so satisfying when the characters get eaten alive. If you're a fan of the Sharknado franchise, you're gonna love this book.
Profile Image for J.M. Horn.
Author 11 books13 followers
June 24, 2024
The cover caught my attention and the sharks sealed the deal.

Blood Island was my intro to Waggoner and it did not disappoint.

Enjoyed the different approach to the creature and how it decimated the town.

A definite fam of the author's writing style and will be coming back for more.
73 reviews
January 11, 2019
Strange read. Not bad just very different. I did like the ending though.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews

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