Not all haunting is supernatural… Rita is a teenage mother who has managed to survive everything life has thrown at her. After finally escaping her abusive, drug-addicted boyfriend, Rita thought she’d found reprieve in her new home, away from the beatings and the constant humiliation. But her nightmare was just about to begin. It started with simple intimidations; a bump in the night, strange scrawling on the front door, sinister ornaments left in the garden. At first, she thinks it’s neighbourhood kids playing tricks on her, but it soon becomes apparent that something is eerily amiss in the area. Raving lunatics scream into the night while fiendish strangers skulk on every street corner, festering within the shadows. Now, something terrible is happening in the house on Elmbridge Road. Suddenly, Rita has the horrible feeling that the noises she hears at night might not be her imagination, that they might actually be footsteps creeping up the stairs. And then there is the shuffling in the attic. You could argue that I am either the perfect audience or entirely the wrong audience for this book. Someone’s in the House is exactly the sort of fiction I probably shouldn’t be reading. The prospect…

A brutal murder. An ancient temple. A long-lost treasure. Buried deep under Istanbul, a secret is about to resurface with explosive consequences… Sean Ryan arrives in the ancient city to identify the body of his friend and colleague Alek Zegliwski. Alek has been savagely beheaded, his body discovered near the sacred archaeological sit of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Aided by British diplomat Isabel Sharp, Sean inches closer to snaring Alek’s assassin. Evil is at work and when a lethal virus is unleashed on the city panic spreads fast. Time is running out for Sean and Isabel. They must catch the killer before it’s too late. Sean and Isabel make a believable pairing, he is methodical and steadfastly refuses to walk away from the mystery surrounding his best friend’s murder while Isabel is tenacious and driven to help Sean discover the truth. Their separate strengths compliment one another and as the plot develops it’s nice to see the relationship that forms between them. You get a sense of the trust that they have in one another as they are flung from one desperate situation to another. There is also just enough backstory included for the reader to appreciate that these individuals are, in…

400,000 years have passed since the last known Human was exterminated, and Dezmara Strykar can’t remember anything before the moment, eight years ago, when she woke up in an abandoned space freighter. But in that time, she has come to realize three things: she’s the best pilot and smuggler in the universe, she can handle herself in a fight, and she’s Human. A race of creatures called the Durax rule the universe using their savage mind powers, and the remaining free people have two choices: join the Dissension Army and fight, or struggle to survive in the cutthroat world of outlaws the war has created. In a time when a live Human specimen would fetch a king’s ransom on the black market, choosing life as a smuggler seemed like the perfect front to search for her people. But the cost of Dezmara’s operation has forced her to win each smuggling run she enters. Now every smuggler is gunning for her top position, and her rare black Zebulon star freighter makes her an easily recognizable target. But dodging jealous smugglers, safeguarding her Human identity, and solving the mystery surrounding who she is will become harder than she ever imagined. A mysterious…

Last year I had the good fortune to read The Kill Crew and then Meat by Joseph D’Lacey. Each were superb examples of the horror genre, both are darkly bleak but utterly compelling. D’Lacey’s latest publication is Snake Eyes, a single volume split into two separate novellas. This is a slight departure for the author as the first story moves into the realms of science fiction while the second has a more fantastical tone. A Man of Will and Experience – Robert Johnson dreams of spiders, thousands of them. When he wakes, the true nightmare begins: a tube has been attached to his head – to everyone’s – but he’s the only one aware of it. His cosy suburban life unravels into paranoid hallucination as Johnson fights to free himself from the control of unseen forces. I don’t want to delve to deeply into the plot, I believe that part of the enjoyment of this particular story is making discoveries yourself, but what I will say is be prepared to explore a landscape that shifts on more than one occasion. Be ready for an experience that feels akin to reading without the aid of a safety net. The story veers off…

Zombie gunfighters, insane cherubs, government sanctioned torturers, bright orange snot and steam-punk thugs are just a few of the delights you’ll find amongst the pages of the latest short story anthology from Anarchy Books. It contains twenty-two, yes you read that correctly twenty two, short stories that range from the sublimely horrific to the ridiculously evil. At the princely sum of just eighty-nine pence that works out at roughly four pence per story, damn good value in these trying economic times. The collection begins with the following advice – …Vivisepulture is not a read to be taken lightly. No. You must dim the lights, envelop yourself in a calm, quiet, brooding atmosphere; maybe pour yourself a stiff sherry or a single malt; prepare for transportation into bizarre Other Realms; and hope that YOU, Dear Reader, never succumb to the act of vivisepulture… Inside you’ll find that there are a plethora of quirky stories to enjoy. Some of my personal favourites are listed below. Rotten Cupid by Ian Graham  – A man suffering from a broken heart finds himself in a fight to the death with Cupid. Is it just the booze, or is there something far more sinister going on? You…

Imagine there was a supernatural chiller that Hammer Films never made. A grand epic produced at the studio’s peak, which played like a cross between the Dracula and Frankenstein films and Dr Terror’s House of Horrors… Four passengers meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive. As the Arkangel races through war-torn country side, they must find out: What is in the casket that everyone is so afraid of? What is the tragic secret of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them? Why is their fellow passenger the army brigadier so feared by his own men? And what exactly is the devilish secret of the Arkangel itself? Back in 1989 I was an impressionable fifteen year old and I had just started to develop a passion for reading and a never-ending love for cinema. One of the first books I read, through what I thought at the time were adult eyes, was Roofworld by Christopher Fowler. Meanwhile my introduction to horror cinema, via a wonderful horror obsessed grandmother, was the works of Hammer. Little did I realise some twenty-three years later…

Daniel Cole wants the world to end. Returned home from the Great War, his parents and brother in their graves, Daniel walks a ghost world. When players in a theatre show lure Daniel and his friends, fellow soldiers, into a surreal otherworld they find themselves trapped on an apocalyptic path. A pirate ship, helmed by Death, waits to ferry some of them to the end of the world. Already broken by war, these men are now the world’s only hope in the greatest battle of all. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to read the short story Nowhere Hall by Cate Gardner. I enjoyed it a great deal, and when the chance to read more of her work arose I jumped at it. Like an expertly crafted piece of classical music, Theatre of Curious Acts has many layers to explore, and it works very effectively on multiple levels. It can be read as a straightforward horror story, and there is certainly enough startling imagery to please the most hardened horror fan, but there is also a psychological element in play that is just as effective. Are the events unfolding all in Daniel’s head? Are Daniel and his comrades alive or already…

Jake Reese is an ordinary guy with an ordinary job, trying to block out the memory of his violent past by planning for the future with his new wife, Diane. But the past has a habit of refusing to stay buried… When two men attack Jake in a car park and cut off his ring finger, he tries to dismiss it as an unlucky case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when events take a more sinister turn and Diane goes missing, Jake knows he can no longer hide from the truth. As he embarks on a mission to find Diane, Jake finds himself dragged back into the life he thought he had walked away from forever and the days ahead begin to unfold in terrifying ways… Occasionally I enjoy reading a novel that is totally different from my usual tastes. Sometimes I need to take a break from horror, science fiction, and fantasy, so that when I do return to them I do so with fresh eyes. A good thriller is the perfect way to do this. Any book that I choose though, still has to meet the same criteria I look for in other…

1494 Barcelona As Torquemada lights the fires of religious fervor throughout the cities of Spain, accused heretics are not the only victims. Thousands of books and manuscripts are lost as the Black Friars attempt to purge Europe of the ancient secrets of the gods and the bold new ideas that are ushering the Renaissance.  Nadira lives a dreary life as servant to a wealthy spice merchant until a dying scholar is brought to the merchant’s stable, beaten by mercenaries who are on the hunt for The Hermetica of Elysium. To Nadira, words are her life: she lives them as her masters scrivener and dreams them in her mother’s poetry. She is pursued as passionately as the fabled manuscript for her rare skill as a reader of Ancient Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew that maker her valuable to men who pursue the book to exploit its magic. Kidnapped by Baron Montrose, an adventurous nobleman, she is forced to read from the Hermetica. It is soon revealed to her that ideas and words are more powerful that steel or fire for within its pages are the words that incite the Dominicans to religious fervor, give the Templars their power and reveal the…

How can one plucky orphan girl save the world from ultimate destruction? Born into captivity as a product of the Royal Breeding House, lonely orphan Purity Drake suddenly finds herself on the run with a foreign vagrant after accidentally killing one of her guards. Her mysterious rescuer claims to have escaped from terrible forces who mean to enslave the Kingdom of Jackals as they conquered his own nation. Purity doubts the story, until reports begin to filter through from Jackals’ neighbours of a murderous Army of Shadows, marching across the continent and sweeping all before them. But there’s more to Purity Drake than meets the eye. And as Jackals girds itself for war against a near-indestructible army, it soon becomes clear that the Kingdom’s only hope is a strange little orphan girl and the last, desperate plan of an escaped slave from a land far, far away. Back in July, I picked up Jack Cloudie by Stephen Hunt. I had never read any of his books but I was sold on the premise by the cover alone. It was a lot of fun and afterwards, I mentally took note that I must try to pick up the other novels in the series. Jump forward a…

The Ant-headed God ‘The Great Maurr’ has ascended to rule the Earth and enslave the population. These are the chronicles of the last few survivors. Only three cities remain: Moscow, London and Hong Kong. All crumbling, dying versions of their former glory. The Great Maurr’s own City of Hell dominates most of North America. Its diabolical influence has turned ordinary citizens into torturers, debased slaves, lunatics and zealots. Since I started The Eloquent Page, I have reviewed a couple of collections that specifically cover the topic of the Apocalypse. Firstly there was the evil insanity of Zombie Apocalypse and then Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse. Both were great examples of the genre and a lot of fun. They left me keen to explore more short fiction with an apocalyptic theme. Recently I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to read The City of Hell Chronicles Volume One. This collection contains eight stories all detailing the same apocalyptic event, and with the exception of the first, all are written by female authors. Genesis by Colin F Barnes – Franklin Garrett, a retired clockmaker, is obsessed with creating a machine he sees in his dreams. Haunted by the loss of his wife and driven by voices that only he can hear he is determined…

Son of a knight and aspirant to the Round Table, Alymere yearns to take his place in the world, and for a quest to prove his worth. He comes across the foul Devil’s Bible – said to have been written in one night by an insane hermit – which leads and drives him, by turns, to seek the unholy Black Chalice. On his quest he will face, and overcome dire obstacles and cunning enemies, becoming a knight of renown; but the ultimate threat is to his very soul. It’s typical isn’t it? It turns out that stories about knights are like buses. You wait for one to arrive and then two appear at the same time. No sooner had I finished King Death by Paul Finch, I then noticed that the next book on my TBR pile was The Black Chalice by Steven Savile. (Possibly not the best planning in the world on my part but we’ll gloss over that shall we?). The Black Chalice is the first in a series from Abaddon Books called Malory’s Knights of Albion. The premise of this series is outlined in the novel’s introduction and describes the set-up perfectly. Found in a church vestry…

In 1348, England is stricken by the Black Death. The worst pandemic in human history has reached the kingdom of the warlike Edward III, a monarch who in battle against human adversaries cannot imagine defeat. Two thirds of his subjects now perish. Woods become wild again, farmland goes to rack and ruin, villages, towns and castles are left empty, inhabited only by ghosts. Little wonder that fear of the supernatural reaches an all-time high. Little wonder stories ignite about witches and demons spreading the plague, about ‘King Death’, an awesome harbinger of doom from whom there is no protection.  Cynical opportunist Rodric doesn’t believe any of these. With reckless indifference, he sets out to enrich himself… The latest release from Spectral Press is a bit different from all the others that have preceded it. King Death by Paul Finch is the first chapbook to venture into the realms of historical fiction. The story opens with a knight watching impassively, as a caravan full of disease ridden corpses trundles by on a lonely road. This vivid yet bleak image sets a perfect tone to the remainder of the tale. Rodric, the knight, isn’t the nicest man you are ever likely to meet. He is only interested in saving his own skin and, if at…