Friends With Death by James Wright—An apocalyptic horror comedy

Indie Published — Find it at
Amazon.com

Friends with Death, by James Wright is a debut horror comedy novella that follows the Grim Reaper, Death, when he finds himself out of a job as the harvestor of souls because of a zombie apocalypse. He befriends an isolated community of introverts and decides to befriend them, because he's never really had friends and he's sort of lonely. It turns out that the socially awkward introverts have similar degrees of loneliness, so this could be an interesting experiment.

It also turns out that socially awkward moments in a zombie hellscape can be quite funny when delivered in a narrative style that I, for some reason, heard in my head as being told by David Attenborough. Or Wes Anderson. maybe not as quirky as Anderson, but sometimes the inner thoughts and feelings of those characters were presented in a similar deadpan matter of fact way. I will admit, there were a few moments in the story that dragged because of it, but there were also some surpriingly funny tidbits that warranted a nod, a need to highlight some text on my kindle and to mark that text as Nice!

If you are a fan of zombie comedies like Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland, then this read might be for you. If you are a fan of Pratchett or Christopher Moore, and their depictions of Death as a character, then this read might be for you. Either way, check it out. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

A Very Brief Review of Mr. Jacobs vs. the Demonic Clowns...(a very long titled book)

 

Cover Image courtesy of 
Evil Cookie Publishing

Thank you NetGalley, Evil Cookie Publishing and the author for providing this ARC.

Mr. Jacobs is a plot centric novella that focuses on the actions of the outlandish Mr. Jacobs and his happenstance crew trying to save the world from a takeover by the Unnamed Shadowlord through the possession of a few hapless party clowns. It sounds like fun, right? And it is fun, to a certain degree. If you’re a fan of the exploits of a Doctor Who type of lead, or a Dirk Gently genius, or the novels of Christopher Moore or Craig McLay, then you might indeed enjoy this story.

But there’s not a lot of depth to these characters. They are arguably quirky, but we don’t get to know them or feel for them in a deeper sense. You may say that comedy isn’t designed for that, but I disagree. In my mind, a character facing an external challenge, like saving the world, still needs to face an internal challenge too, like coming to terms with his or her own beliefs or fears. Hence, the three rating for me. But it passes the Bechdel test—something that’s been lingering at the back of my mind all year so far, so thank you for scratching that itch.

Also, the ARC draft I read was riddled with pushed together wordslikethis. Sometimes this happens with advanced copies of books, so I tried not to let it influence my rating. But if these errors shouldn’t be the case, I want the publishers to be aware of it. Thanks for the read!

Find access to the book here

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore -- A Quick Book Review

Cover Image courtesy of
Harper Collins

A fun, often politically incorrect horror comedy that starts with gut wrenching tragedy. That tragic moment sets our main character Charlie Asher, "beta male," on a course for a new and highly unexpected career as a death merchant, a reaper of souls. It’s not a choice. The role is thrust upon him, and the job manual is, at best, vague. Needless to say, his failure to reap souls on a deadline leaves the balance of life and death, light and darkness in total chaos and puts the world as we know it — or at least San Francisco, in grave danger.

In spite of the reliance on some borderline cringy stereotypes, I laughed. I laughed often. No stereotype is off limits here, except maybe Minty Fresh, who has the mouth of Samuel L. Jackson and is very keen on warning MC Asher to tow the line. This story has the soul of a Terry Pratchett Discworld tale, but set in our world. It has the energy of movies like The Mask or Men in Black. A bit silly in the end. The big bad villains have their moments, but ultimately lack the right punch in the end.

But it’s a fun ride. Asher's cobbled together family, especially his daughter Sophie who is a growing cause for concern, keeps the fun rolling. A solid 4 star horror fantasy comedy. If you’re looking for horror silly, this book is a go.