Pirantulas

by Michael Yowell

Four of the best new science graduates have been contracted by the famous billionaire, Felix Strohm, to work for him at an undisclosed location.

They are excited to see Brazil.
They are thrilled to travel up the Amazon River to the laboratory deep in the jungle.
They are inspired to begin groundbreaking work in regenerative medicine.
They are confused when Strohm has them mix animal phyla to create a new form of life.
They are mortified by the aggression and danger the new specimen displays.
They are terrified when the creature reproduces, and an army of killers escape containment.
They are fearful that they will never leave the jungle alive.

Genres: Horror

141 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 2022

About the author

Michael Yowell (1969 - ) was born in Denver, Colorado, and lived in Colorado for 46 years before relocating to his current home in Columbia, South Carolina. He is a horror fiction author. Michael has loved the horror genre since childhood, whether it be in the form of comics, novels, or movies.

His short stories have been published in e-zines and print anthologies (Writing Shift, Sanitarium, Thirteen, and Blood, Brains & Bullets). His books include the haunted house tale DEVILHOUSE, the werewolf-hunter novels THE DOGCATCHER, THE DOGCATCHER II: CHUPACABRAS, and THE DOGCATCHER III: WEREWOLF QUEEN, his short-horror-story collections FRAGMENTS AND SHARDS and FRAGMENTS AND SHARDS II, his terrifying killer-vs-reporter novel THE CAMERA EYE, his sea-monsters trilogy SLIGGERS, SLIGGER ISLAND, and SLIGGER INVASION, the spine-chilling GHOSTFIELD, the creepy PIRANTULAS, and his Western (yes, Western) novel RED PINES.

Reviews

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spooktober 2022 Book 8

2.5 stars

What you see is what you get with Pirantulas. That cover is exactly what this book is about: genetically engineered piranhas with tarantula legs. And if you think that sounds ridiculous and dumb, well you wouldn’t be wrong.

There is plenty of dumb moments in this book. Characters doing dumb things and making dumb choices. The motivations are dumb. The science is dumb and far too simplistic. The ending is dumb. Yes. This entire book is dumb right down to the plot holes and unexplained/unanswered questions.

But I’m not gonna deny it wasn’t at least fun and a nice escape from reality for a few hours. It’s super short and a very easy read, making a decent palate cleanser and a quick place holder while chugging through longer books.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hungry little monsters

The concept would have been better if they had started out with a less aggressive
creature. Then continued from there.
I wonder if they ever get full from eating so much.

[Terry and dog · Rating 4 out of 5]

The newly graduated scientists in this story are a nice group of young people and very clever at what they do, but pretty naive. When the s**t hits the fan it just keeps hitting it. A similar plot to some other science monster stories but this is a well told creature feature, easy to get into and just plain fun.

[joshua penrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads very much like an Asylum movie might play out. It doesn’t hold back the silly’s creature feature vibes we get from sci-fi channel goodness
Pros:
+Our female characters are wonderfully smart while still being named Brandi.
+The dudes are bros with brains.
Cons:
-Despite the smarts the writing has little science to it (again it is what it is)
-I found myself wanting to hate the villains more

[DA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad creature feature/science experiment gone wrong story. I dislike spiders, and I'm terrified of piranhas. Put those two together and you get the craziest most disturbing visual.
I enjoyed this for the entertainment factor. It was a quick read and your typical military trying to create a super predator to use as a weapon. If you like these types of books this one is definitely worth a read.

[?? · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very quick read about freaky hybrid critters, who unfortunately seem to be largely relegated to the sidelines. I wish this one was longer.

[Deb Starzl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice evening read! Hate spiders but had to read it anyway! Just because you get a science degree doesn't mean you have to go mad!! LOL

[Scooby2]

DNF 49%

[Patt Lisenbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pirantulas by Michael Yowell

Kind of campy, kind of horrific, kind of fun. Scientists create a new apex predator, then must destroy them. Who will survive?

[Andie Meddaugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

As… interesting of a concept this is, it’s not very well written unfortunately. I didn’t read it that long ago and I can’t even remember a single character, nor any major plot points.