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undeadcow

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Bloodletting on the Boardwalk Over Wine and Piss

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-07-25

A macabre ironic villain in a siege with socioeconomic angst, paramilitary contractors, science stuff, and two ambivalent police officers. There is some gnarly stuff here especially with the threat involved which has a lot of creativity in design, the primitive and the civil with ironic gradients in the middle. I liked the archeological style elements and some of the mystery stuff which reminded me a bit of the Xfiles; the modern vampire allusions here are rich (but that’s not a spoiler since it’s more complicated, this aspect is really good and the best part). I felt like the execution ended up feeling a little vanilla; like there are some well sculptured Monopoly tokens the author doesn’t quite move around the board as well – this is a story of a night on the boardwalk not as much the journey surrounding it so it’s a lot of staging for an epic but momentous siege without as much evolution of admittedly already well designed characters. There are some unexpected connections between the characters that felt unearned, rich plot stuff poetic in nature that pops up rather than sensibly develops. The word phrasing tends to be more bound to character perspectives more literal and surface which made the scale feel immediate but smaller; ‘Stearn felt,’ ‘he had been forced to…,’ ‘he placed her hand on the tie,’ ‘she had expected…,’ etc. Narrator Scott Thomas does a serviceable job here but I think because the material is already more narration based it feels a little dry; Scott Thomas usually has better range and style (he shines on Wolf Hunt Trilogy). Overall I liked it but it felt a little dull in the middle.

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Mossy Cavern of Nightmares

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-04-25

Rural horror mixing an eerie cryptozoology tinged murder spree with family tensions. The atmospheric aquatic sceneries is my type of stuff. The book tends to move more towards social elements within a family and there immediate network with an investigative journalist, her kids, and people who may or may not be part of an eerie conspiracy. There were times I wish it was more fast paced, the investigative journalist framework helps unravel a mystery a bit slowly. The narrator has a thick irish accent I did not expect but elevates the folk horror material. Some of the plot has the potential to seem generic but I found the direction to be an unexpected slow burn towards a thrilling conclusion. This one ended up being better than expected and I spent some time googling different aspects from the book; it builds on a lote unfamiliar to be but interesting.

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The Axe is Different, Shorter and Less Dark

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-03-25

A curious sequel that takes the unexpected any goes energy of Pressure and continues that momentum, naturally not in a direction one would expect. Here the sequel has a number of meta elements reinventing the story a bit from different perspectives. This one feels less mean spirited to the first but introduces more characters and balances morality and nihilism well. I appreciated that Deathless didnt much try to recreate the original and instead take epilogue style elements into their own direction. There are more than a few surprise twists. Scott Thomas gives a characteristically good narration. Ultimately I think the sequel is a little less than the first because the characters are a bit sloppier (which is thematically relevant) and it's hard to jive on the energy from the first. Cheers to Strand for not doing a traditional 'part 2' continuous story but more building off the ashes of the first.

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A Fake Journal I Could Relate To Before It Gutted Me

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-02-25

A thriller odyssey following a guy along his life. It starts with a juvenile condom heist and has an often funny somewhat realistic bend about life despite some far out mean spirited developments. There is a grit that works here. This one is a slow burn where the idyllic times of trouble youth go from being a little off to normal but with something lurking under the surface. It's the sort of storyline where you know characters are in play only to be lambs in jeopardy but for now everyone is hanging out and having an ok time. It gets dark and you can sometimes feel the tug of the abyss pulling you down with gorey ill will delivered in a manipulative prank like tone. I went in blind and appreciated the coming of age stuff mixed in with the thriller elements. The story structure is told in three parts each easing in towards a firey conclusion then a little reprieve before the next segments gets spicy. I could relate to a lot of the mundane details of everyday life in some segments and it felt like there was a subtext challenging social expectations which often ended in a pulpy way but the sky lampoon of family, work, education, friendships, relationships, and many other things get dissected a bit along the way. The narration is good with a gruff voice that shows good range portraying for example a character as a youth and then older. I had wanted something more traditional horror but what this delivers has a slice of life feel that goes dark resulting in something that feels meatier.

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Cosmic Brain Stuff

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-01-25

A fun spirited banter filled zombie apocalypse monologue from a chatty undead who has an oddball adventure. With the first person perspective and it's observational humor this is a narrator's audiobook. Here the narrator has a chill ironic comedic vibe but sometimes feels monotonous, which might be as much from the barrage of perspective as from any verbal skill. The voice helps the material overall and is good for the indie content but if you listen too long might get tiresome (I binged in a day). The plot is a sort of odyssey less existential and more taking in different increasingly surreal environmental sights (wait till you get to a far out conclusion). Aside from weird stuff happens to a guy, not the least of which is he is a zombie, the plot can sometimes feel like vignettes (it:s an odyssey not too slavish about a specific plot other than zombie horde). Weakest when it's a conventional zombie tale my favorite parts were a family subplot and the conclusion, which I sometimes wishes felt longer. At times the casual vibe of the writing veered too into pop culture dropping one reference then another but the just weird enough casual vibe elevates it. Overall psychedelic and fun.

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Buffy, Metallica, Resident Evil, CD Warehouse, and Other Cosmic Stuff

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-30-25

Nostalgic horror romp with an urban vibe. At times I felt like I was back in high school again. This is the sort of horror that remains cryptic for much of the book focusing a lot on social elements with 9th graders. The plot is wonderfully abstract to a point even the book jokes about being convoluted, there is an intentional campiness to the storyline. However this isnt a book about story so much about vibe and characters and the story is shrouded in teases and mystery until the last hour or so (maybe even too rushed at the end considering the diversity of frights). If anything the horror elements have a zaniness that makes them feel more 'metal' or cartoonish than scary despite a few henious murders. There are some references that feel pandering (like repeatedly mentioning Metallica, the most commercial obvious way to name drop); but that might be on par with flashback stuff. Some of the coming of age elements felt a little too one the nose like repeated references to menstruation; but maybe Im just squeamish about that stuff. The coming of age material here is ultimately a highlight with a bittersweet panga of watching our parents grow up, changing social landscape, angst, and other hallmarks of development. It was fun to hang out with Russ and Brea and the gang. The narration is well done with good range.

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Werewolf Comedy Opus

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-27-25

Each book here builds on the last continuously featuring some great lead characters, nice pacing, humor, and action horror. I binged the collection mostly during a weekend and had a good time. Books 1-2 are excellent but I thought book 3 was a little less. All are well narrated by Scott Thomas who has a good range.

Book 1: Great stuff. Morally ambiguous thugs transport weird package, a possible werewolf. The characters are all great and elevate the material. Its well paced and filled with gorey action told on a sly comedic fashion (playing on thug morality, a witty boldy evil villain, etc). It's like a constant chase through gas stations and bowling alleys filled with neo American symbolism and bloodletting with some buddies and a big bad wolf. The characters are a great mix of scummy and principled with no shortage of banter.

Book 2: Thug comeuppance twists things a bit playing with convention to introduce a few sly jabs at tropes by adding a girl about as far from the classic villain of the first book. A Eugene character subplot is gross and weird and adds a bit unexpected. This installment builds on the first in glorious fun ways with more thugs and more baddies and more fighting but also a few characters more in the middle. Good stuff that theres more than a few gutsy plot turns.

Book 3: The last installment takes some weird risks that I dont think paid off. Here the affinity for some great characters, a strength of the series, lures the plot to jump the shark a bit. It has a larger (less myopic) story plot less concerned with the immediate chase of action horror but looking at a more social larger level. The 1st and 2nd books were great and here an attempt to revisit some of the bygone plot threads fells less exciting digging up stuff better in past installments. This one felt more aimless to me, which gave some surprises but felt like it lost the thread. As an epilogue it's a nice ease out from the great previous installments; and it breaks the mold if not maybe too much.

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One Vote for Canadian Karen

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-24-25

A fun politically conscious character drama. It's casual slacker approach to politics, on behalf of the people of Walmart, is refreshing and breezy fun. The narrator is the right mix of sarcastic and chill breathing a vibe into the material often almost laughing with the stuff even making an occassional mistake. Early there is a gag where the lead as an aspiring political maverick would show her boobs to gain political traction in her youth as desired which is maybe a good summary of the tone. ODD makes some interesting observations about modern politics and presents a keen modern spin on things beyond the politics. There were times I wished it had more depth and sometimes trended toward a sort of bubble gum politics balancing character humor, sex, and a bit of philosophy. One of the highs of the book is a hangout feel with the crew here (heightened by the narration). There are a few times the details of 'direct democracy' feel over explained and redundant repeated throughout the tale or a pop culture reference is repeated. Eventually this evolves a bit into a dissection of modern politics and even society with some food for thought. The lead's sexuality is curious, she seems liberated and in control but perhaps like a female written by a man - it's fun but maybe not an entirely female voice (which could be intentional). The sexual politics here are part of what makes the book good; it's not sleazy but it owns sex in a way that is interesting and maybe unique to written form. "Bea's the kind of woman who has what men have in spades but in a feminine sort of way..." Good stuff with glossy politics, family drama, pop culture, the owls, and a modern spin of old topics.

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Someone Brought a Knifeblade to a Nanobot Fight

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-14-25

A nice continuation from the first offering a mote modern twist on warfare and renewing the action oriented political thriller flavor. Here there is more emphasis on weird just short of science fiction weapons as a form of field and political power. There are some strong personalities here and that gives it a nice gravity with some character moments. Overall I enjoyed it but a little less than the first book, Warmaker has a hard hitting existential bend too near the end that the first book had more of in a transparent manner earlier on (action doubling as an ethical debate). It also felt like the main bad guys here were maybe a little too cartoonish even when there were some nice twists and turns to that. Well performed.

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Fighting With a Knife in the Chickenwing Stop

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-05-25

Grave biological warfare standoff in a sort of small scale civil war of between commando style military cartoons. Its the right mix of bravado, social commentary, combat, and political context. The voice acting is good with a deep overly serious military style vibe that is a little corny but engaging and the narrator shows decent range with dialects and characters. The plot has a neat violent military feel paired with a unique weapon that suggests horror tropes. It often works but sometimes flirts with being monotonous. Overall I really liked FNG and am looking forward to the sequel.

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