Blood Soaked & Contagious

Blood Soaked & Contagious

by James Crawford

Description from Goodreads:

I am not going to complain to you about my life.
We’ve got zombies. They are not the brainless, rotting creatures we’d been led to expect. Unfortunately for us, they’re just as smart as they were before they died, very fast, much stronger than you or me, and possess no internal editor at all.
Claws. Did I mention claws?
I kill them for a living, but it’s as much a vocation as a freelance career choice. It helps me, helps my neighborhood, and the people I consider to be my family of choice. What’s more? I’m really good at it.
My life had a nice rhythm, but the military bungled an attempt to wipe out an organized bunch of undead near a major commuting route into DC. The formerly-human survivors relocated. Now they’re less than an hour’s stroll away from where I live.
The new Zombie Overlord is smarter, crazier, and better equipped than anyone we've dealt with before. He will wipe us out, every man, woman, and child... I've seen it done for lesser reasons... because we have something he wants, and he does not take "No" for an answer.
ebook, Full Novel, 260 pages
Published September 15th 2011 by Smashwords  (first published August 25th 2011)  
edition language
English
series
Blood Soaked #1 
setting

Arlington, Virginia (United States
 

My Review:

I love zombie books and this one has a new twist.  The zombies are smart and they plan to use the remaining uninfected people as cattle.  They plan to capture and keep them as food.  This book has all the things I love in a book.  Horror, science fiction, romance and humor all rounded into one book.  Frank is the main character of the book has and enter dialog going on that is funny as hell.  Also there are some crazy, family dysfunctional values which help provide the humor.  He is friends with a man and wife, who are a brilliant scientist and a doctor.  There is an evil villain that wants the scientist to work for him.  This is where the science fiction comes in.  Frank fall in love with his other friend sister.  She is both beautiful and very adept to the new zombie world.  In other words she can and does kick ass, hence the romance.  As for the horror, it is a zombie book.  Need I say more?  Ok, it is an excellent zombie book.  This novel has lots of action and lots of gore.  The author is wonderful at description and brings the scenes alive with words.  The characters are real and amazing.

I haven’t read anything by James Crawford previously and received this book when it was free on amazon.  As soon as I finished Blood Soaked and Contagious I went back to amazon and purchased Blood Soaked and Invaded which is actually the first book. 

Don’t miss this one or you will be missing out on a fantastic read.  I can’t wait to start reading the beginning novel.  Hope this series continues past Blood Soaked and Contagious.  I want to know what happens to my new friends.  

From the Author:

 I'm writer, artist, amateur bladesmith and subversive suburbanite when no one else is looking. My wife and I live in the Washington, DC area where I pursue hobbies that pay off in cuts, burns, tendonitis, full sketchbooks, and the occasional freaky idea. Once in a while, those freaky ideas refuses to die and shamble off to create lives of their own.

Links:

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Blog Review Policy

Review Policy
 So you want your book reviewed by elfwitch loves books?  Ok so here we go. First the facts. I have only been doing this for a short time, but I really love it. Reading has always been a passion for me.  I love to share when I read something I really love and I doing so with people with like minds. Really makes it wonderful.  Not to say I may not challenge readers to give their own point of view in form of comments. I feel reviewers can really help a book reach its audience.  I have read a ton of books because of positive reviews.
Elfwitch loves books is a book blog, that specializes in horror, speculative fiction, mainly paranormal and science fiction themed mediums. I will also review Indie Books of all fiction genres, just because I get really excited about discovering new writers. At the current time about of my new favorites are Indie writers..
At this time I am the only reviewer for my blog and unfortunately the best I can do is 2-3 books a week. I have some other reviews in mind but have not gotten them on board at this time.
The reviews are based solely on opinion, whether that opinion is negative or positive. If your book is reviewed, please expect honesty. It is my opinions, nothing more, nothing less. If I absolutely hate a book I will not review. If I can’t praise the book or give a constructive review I will not leave one.  Not much offends me, be it graphic gore, or sex. In fact if I is part of the story I enjoy it.  I just don’t want to review books that are written just for the sex. It is just not the tone I wish to set for my blog. All  queries will be accepted, but responses are not guaranteed.
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Thrill

by Wendy Potocki

   from Goodreads:

 SOME RIDES SHOULD NEVER BE TAKEN ...

Kyle Evans is a teenager who wants to be somebody. To achieve his goal, he joins a gang called Hell's Bells. While he thinks he's arrived, he only finds danger.

The club is obsessed with finding thrills and taking chances, but Kyle’s unaware that there’s a price to pay. Up for a dare, he accepts a challenge that lands him on the wrong side of the supernatural.

Paperback, 1, 340 pages

Published January 30th 2014 by Createspace

ISBN13 9781494847791

    excerpt 1:

Ky awoke, groggy from last night’s fiasco. Feeling as if he’d been run over by a truck, he’d been plagued by nightmares that had lasted the whole night. The game they’d played with Digger was relived in vivid detail, but Ky’s darkest imagination had rewritten the scene, twisting it like a garrote around a non-compliant neck.

He’d dreamt he was alone and wandering the darkened streets of Spooky Town. On a mission, he was trying to find Digger. As he approached the park, he stayed near the curb. More concerned with the broken glass than any other danger, a gnarled pair of hands reached out from sewers and latched onto his ankles. Whatever lived underground tried to drag him through the grated opening, the howl of that accursed dog sending ripples of fear through his heart.

Although the unearthly sound portended a gruesome death, Kyle tried to fight off the fingers that had gained a firm hold. He kicked the filthy hands away, running into Needle Park to escape. Pairs of luminescent eyes watched him flounder. Some orbs stationed in the sky, others hid behind bushes. They knew he didn’t belong in this part of town, but Ky had no choice. He had to help his father and to do that, he needed to find Digger.

The blue of the derelict’s blanket acted as a grave marker. Finding Digger huddled under it, Ky dangled a bottle of liquor in front of the old man. He didn’t have to prompt him any further. Ky pulled Hans from his jacket pocket. Digger took the weapon into his shaking hands, examining it by the light of the fire. Inappropriate hysteria broke through the vagrant’s mouth, the round of guffaws causing saliva to froth like boiling milk. It dribbled onto the thatch of hair on his chin. The thick mucus threaded its way through the strands entwined with mildew.

The roaring blaze illuminated the disaster, but Ky didn’t want to see. He tried closing his eyes, but he was forced to listen to the damned hound belting out its tune. At least the wailing covered up the frivolity emanating from Digger’s throat.

It was the alcohol producing the erratic behavior. The blue eyes diluted by years of substance abuse scanned the grounds that acted as the stage for this drama. The clusters of trees drooped like moth-eaten fans, their branches shading the larcenous activities. Digger hesitated, his graying head stilling as he whispered in Kyle’s ear.

“Anything happens to me, son, that dog is gonna getcha!”

Kyle pulled back, frightened from the outrageous statement. Digger leveled his eyes and placed the barrel of the gun to his temple.

 excerpt 2:

“Ah, Kyle, could you have a seat, please?” Zelinski greeted.

Always trying to be everyone’s friend, Hobbit failed miserably. The nickname of a Tolkien character was perfect for him. With his slight stature and his out-of-date clothing, everyone agreed that it suited him better than his given monicker.

“Sure,” Kyle slurred, dropping his books on Hobbit’s desk. The principal shut the door as Ky seated himself in one of two chairs. The principal’s shod hairy feet closed in, but Kyle ignored the intrusion. As Zelinski took his place behind the oversized desk, Kyle wondered if Hobbit was going to have to prop himself up on textbooks to see over the top.

“I suppose you’re wondering why you were called here,” the student’s best friend started. Stating the obvious, was it really going to go down like that? Kyle didn’t know about Zelinski, but he was in no mood for this. No mood at all.

“Yeah! Of course, I was!” Kyle snapped. Short-tempered, he stopped just short of getting tossed out of school for a few days. He’d rather take his own days off than have this asshole make his decisions for him. 

Zelinski took the flippant reply as a joke. Chuckling good-naturedly, the misidentification pissed Kyle off even more, but he decided to leave it alone.

“This is about the incident involving a …” Pausing in the explanation, Zelinski picked up a file on his desk. Adjusting the frames of his glasses, he continued, “…Garvin Oto. His computer club was vandalized a few nights ago.”

Bracing himself, Kyle dug his fingernails into the arm of the uncomfortable chair. Did the school purposely choose them for the express purpose of causing visitors as much agony as possible? Kyle ran through the events of that evening, trying to figure out where he and Carnie had gone wrong. What mistake had they made that led old Zelinski straight to him?

He decided to let Hobbit do the talking. Most suspects got themselves into trouble by yapping too much, but nothing like that was going to happen. Kyle was too smart and being too well schooled to deliberately walk into quicksand.

Zelinski peered at him unassumingly over the beige rims of his glasses. The oatmeal color matched his pasty complexion. Pursing his lips, the none-too-bright administrator was playing a waiting game. With no utterance forthcoming, the silence became too much. Switching tactics, the administrator began shoveling garbage at the tight-lipped teenager, hoping the smell would stick.

“Know anything about it?”

“Just what I heard.”

My Review:

First I want to say, I love the cover. This book has the right name because, a Thrill is what I felt from reading it.  Kyle a young man what has bullied so he joins a gang, Hell’s Bells, to be less vulnerable. He wants feel that he fits in and is a part of something.  All the gang members are lunatic that like living on the edge and waiting for their next thrill, adrenaline junkies.  Kyle forgets the values he has been thought and gives in to peer pressure.    It is a novel with some amazing supernatural twist that will kept me on the edge of your seat.   Thrill grabbed my interest and pull me into the story.  It kept me reading to see what is going to happen to Kyle and his new friends.  This is a wonderful book and will definitely give you a Thrill.  I look forward to reading more by Wendy Potocki.  

about the author:

Wendy Potocki lives and writes in NYC. If that isn’t scary enough, she writes in the genre of horror. She feels creating good horror is an art form. She religiously devotes herself to pursuing it over hill and dale … and in the crevices of her keyboard.

Recently named one of The Top Ten “New” Horror Authors by Matt Molgaard of Horror Novel Reviews, she  has five self-published novels: The White Lady Murders, The Horns of September, The Man with the Blue Hat, Adduné: Part I. The Vampire’s Game. and her latest, Adduné: Part II. The House of Cards. Book trailers for many of her works may be found on her official website http://www.wendypotocki.com/. Her next planned projects are Black Adagio, The Virgin, and Thrill.

 In her spare time, she loves to go for long walks, drink Starbuck’s Apple Chai Lattes, make devotional offerings to her cat named Persephone, and be stilled by the grace, beauty and magic of ballet.

Amazon            Barnes & Noble       Author's Blog

The Zombie Next Door

by T.W. Kirchner

Zombie Next Door

The Troubled Souls of Goldie Rich

Book One

T.W. Kirchner

Genre: YA Paranormal

Publisher: Short on Time Books

Date of Publication: February 1, 2014

ISBN: 1494906864

ASIN: B00I7BTOTC

Number of pages: 102 pages

Word Count: 32,421

Cover Artist: Tony Bryson

Available at Amazon

Book Description:

For the sleepy, seaside town of Vivian, life is usually just another day at the beach until a rash of bizarre robberies occur with one thing in common—the DNA lifted from the crime scene belongs to a dead man. Fourteen-year-old Goldie Rich is hardly concerned about that. She has enough problems dealing with her annoying guardian for the summer, older sister Gema.

Goldie’s problems escalate when she finds a pendant necklace washed up on the beach. The pendant contains the souls of zombies created by an evil sorcerer. Goldie must wear the necklace until she frees the souls, but to accomplish this, she has to confront the zombies face to face.

Goldie seeks help from her best friend, eccentric and free-spirited Rita. Although the pair’s zombie hunting exploits get them into huge trouble, they uncover the truth about the town’s robberies and how the secrets of Goldie’s past will define her future.

About the Author

After working an assortment of jobs which include a computer programmer, marketing director, and substitute teacher, T.W. Kirchner decided to concentrate on her second loves, writing and art. Her first loves are her husband, two children, and furry menagerie known as the Kirchner Zoo. Other published books by T.W. Kirchner include Pirates Off the Deep End and Pirates Off the Wall.

Website: http://www.twkirchner.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/tinainlv

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006500718993

Publisher Author Page: http://shortontimebooks.com/?page_id=231

 Excerpt:

Chapter 1

     Friday the thirteenth.  Bad things happen.  Superstition, right?  Wrong.  My day started off on a downward slide when I rolled out of bed.  My bare feet didn’t sink into the soft, dry carpet like they always did.  Instead, a warm, gooey substance oozed between my toes.  Before I could slip my glasses on, the unmistakable odor of dog poop drifted by.

     Right then, I should have poured hand sanitizer on my feet, cleaned the carpet, and gone back to bed, but I couldn’t.  I was facing the dreaded math section of testing in my second to last week of eighth grade at Vivian Middle School.  My anticipated last week as a Vivian Sea Turtle.

     “Goldie, are you up, yet?” my sister, Gema, screamed from downstairs.  “Goldie, did you hear me?”

     While I stood in a pile of poop, the annoying factor of Gema’s screeching voice was magnified by a million.   

     After I took a deep, calming yoga breath, I screamed back.  “I’m up already.”

     The deep breath didn’t really calm me at all, and I made sure my answer sounded heavy with attitude on purpose.  Gema had been driving me nuts, and it was only the first week of my three-month sentence.  This was going to be a long summer.  Come to think of it, it seemed like Friday the thirteenth all week.

     Besides not having time to eat breakfast, I couldn’t find my favorite earrings or a matching pair of shoes.  I showed up five minutes late for school, choked on the probability section of the math test, and swapped radius for diameter.  By the time the final school bell rang, I sprinted away from school in tears and headed for my favorite get away spot.  The beach. 

     Rita was thrilled to go with me even in my pathetic state, but that’s how best friends are. 

     I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of the salty air.  The breeze blowing through my hair, sun warming my face, and harmony in the waves sent me to another place.  A beautiful island where there wasn’t school or screaming sisters.  I loved the feel of warm, grainy sand, instead of dog poop, squishing between my toes.  Nothing beat the feeling.

     I was brought back to reality with a nudge from Rita.  “Earth to Goldie.  Let’s head over to the pier.”

     As I gazed toward the pier, the beach was creepily deserted.  Not that this narrow half-sandy, half-rocky strip of Vivian ever was overly crowded, but today, only a few sunbathers, joggers, and hobos were scattered about.  I was really glad Rita tagged along because this scenario seemed like a good opening for a horror movie.  After all, it was still Friday the thirteenth.  “Isn’t it weird how empty the beach is for the middle of the afternoon?  Why do you think?  There’s not a cloud in the sky and it’s hot.”

     Rita tied a side knot in her pumpkin-colored tee making the stack of bangle bracelets jingling up and down her arm sound like sleigh bells.  “No idea.”  She tightened her ponytails by pulling two sections of hair in opposite directions.  They sprouted from the top of her head and were streaked with neon orange gel to match her ‘mood of the week’.  “It’s more of a mystery why you’re such a downer on a beautiful day.  Especially a Friday.  And with the math exam over and only one final left before summer break.”   Rita improved a cheer.  “Then we’re gonna be high-schoolers!”

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Living With The Dead

by

Annie Walls

Cover Reveal

For three
years, life is strenuous for Kansas Moore as she travels with her team and
saves more people from the clutches of the revolutionists. On the downtime,
they bide time by constructing and enlisting for their own cause.

When the
general assigns her to search for a missing loved one, she turns to the team
and what they find overturns everything they've learned so far.

In this
dramatic conclusion of the Famished Trilogy, things are not what they seem and
comfortable living is far from reach.

This book
contains graphic violence, intense language, sexual situations, drug use, and
is intended for a mature audience.

Goodreads

Amazon for Taking On The Dead

Amazon for Controlling The Dead

Annie Walls website

Sanctuary

by Pauline Greeden

From Goodreads:

In a heart-racing thriller described as Falling Skies meets The Walking Dead, Jennie struggles to find a safe place for what’s left of her family. But it seems as though there is no place sacred, no place secure. First the aliens attacked the sun, making it dimmer, weaker, and half what it used to be. Then they attacked the water supply, killing one-third of Earth’s popula...more In a heart-racing thriller described as Falling Skies meets The Walking Dead, Jennie struggles to find a safe place for what’s left of her family. But it seems as though there is no place sacred, no place secure. First the aliens attacked the sun, making it dimmer, weaker, and half what it used to be. Then they attacked the water supply, killing one-third of Earth’s population with a bitter contaminate. And when they unleash a new terror on humankind, the victims will wish for death, but will not find it…When the world shatters to pieces around her, will Jennie find the strength she needs to keep going?

SPOILER ALERT: my synapse
This is the type of book I usually love, end of the world, with aliens, monsters and such. The aliens show up and contaminate of water, mess with our sun and then do nothing for months. Their ships hover over the earth silently. When alien creature appear and attach people, they don't wound to kill, just infect. The infected turn in an hour and then attack other humans. They become zombies  and the goal of all victims that are bitten is to infect others.

The characters are well developed. Jennie, a young headstrong woman that is very family oriented. She becomes the sole protector for her five year old brother. She has a unwavering faith in god that repels the alien creatures.

There are two brothers, Hugh and Brad, one good and one evil. For the reader it is easy to tell who is which.  However Jennie is not privileged to all the information that we are so it is much harder for her to know who is really the good guy.

Mickey is five years old and has seen enough horror to last most people a lifetime. He is a very sweet and caring child. With his sister, Jennie's encouragement he will withstand all this trauma.

amazon                   Barnes & Nobles                  Goodreads             YA Bound Book Tours 

About the author:

About the Author

In simple language, Pauline Creeden creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long.

Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy.

Armored Hearts, her joint effort with author Melissa Turner Lee, has been a #1 Bestseller in Christian Fantasy and been awarded the Crowned Heart for Excellence by InDtale Magazine. Her debut novel, Sanctuary is scheduled for release September 30, 2013, and has already been nominated for two awards in YA Science Fiction.

One of Pauline's short stories has won the CCW Short Story contest. Other short stories have been published in Fear & Trembling Magazine, Obsidian River and Avenir Eclectia. An urban fantasy short will appear in The Book of Sylvari: An Anthology of Elves from Port Yonder Press, and a vampire short will appear in Monsters! from Diminished Media Group. 

End Of Dreams, The Immortal Destiny

By Kim Faulks

Summary:

First we have Eve.  Her life has been hard, very hard.  She leaves home to get away from an abusive, alcoholic mother.  Eve would rather work two jobs and barely survive than go back to that. Hell.  Eve finds herself pregnant and alone.  Not only is she having a baby, but it is a special being that is wanted by at least two different immortal groups, who will stop at nothing to get him.

Next is police officer, Adley, who is obsessed with find the child serial killer that tortured and savagely murdered his nephew.  Adley is willing to end his career and/or lost his life to destroy this threat to society.  For him, it is personal.

Edric is the serial killer and he is scarier than hell.  He really loves his work.  Edric needs to hear to pleds and cries of his victims.  He taunts Adley.  When he suddenly changes his method of operation and starts killing and mutilating pregnant women, Adley is even more determined to find him. 

Then we have Mercy, a blood thirsty vampire, who recruits Edric.  Can you guess how she got her name?  Edric is in love with Mercy.  Mercy takes orders from a high vamp, that she calls God.  The vampires want Eve’s baby.  Guess who they want to use to get him for them.

The family, are good guys, the ones who keep the balance between good and evil so humans can exist.  This group is made up of immortals, a werewolf, vampires, and others, who have lived and fought together for centuries.  They want Eve’s baby also, but the want to protect him.  They have to protect the unborn child at all cost, even the loss of lives, to maintain the balance.

When Eve escapes an attack from Edric and Mercy, she is on the run.  She meets Adley and he becomes even more determined to stop Edric and now to protect Eve and her unborned child. 

My opinion:

I totally loved this book.  There is evil, good, scary and love.  I was given this book for review and I can’t express how grateful I am.  This is not a book I would have chosen at random, but it is one of the most amazing ones that I have read.  Kim Faulk’s serial killer is one of the scariest people I have read about.  He is cold blooded without remorse.  Edric loves his work.  He is pure evil.

 

All the characters are well developed and I really want Eve to win and live happily ever after.  She is the underdog that just keeps on getting up when life knocks her down.  Eve does not know the meaning of quit.  Even though she is fragile, when she is fighting for someone she loves she is bad-assed.

Adley is the knight in shiny armor to the rescue.  He is a big bad cop, that has a hard time showing his feelings, but he is willing to risk everything to stop this killer.

This is the first book that I have read by Kim Faulks, but I guarantee it will not be the last.  As a matter of fact, I can’t wait to get to her new book, Secrets Room.  Great Work Kim

Author Info:

Born in Sydney, Australia 

genre -----Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Adult 

                                     influences-----My Mother and Father, the people that pushed me down, so I could fight...more  

About this author

I have been an avid reader for longer than I can remember, desiring the darker, edgier works of Bram Stoker, Stephen King, Dean Koontz. I first started writing in High School giving that away when my first attempt was nothing more than dribble. I wish now that I kept at it, pursued it with a hunger that I currently possess. 

Writing is my passion, it is what fuels the fires inside of me and it is an all-or-nothing furnace that keeps me up at all hours. 

I am married to a wonderful supportive husband, I have 2 wonderful kids and the best friends that I have waited some 35 odd years to meet.  

website     http://dark-paranormal.com/ 

twitter username     AuthorKimFaulks