Author: Kirsten Barger

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Epeolatry Book Review: Were House by E. Rose Sabin

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Title: Were House
Author: E. Rose Sabin
Publisher: Arucadi Enterprises, LLC
Genre: Fantasy
Release date: September 15, 2015 (Reprinted 2021)

Synopsis: Jobless and evicted from her apartment, Charlotte Ramirez has nowhere to go. Being were compounds her problem. The animal spirit inside her is a jaguar, and it’s restless. When she passes a man on the street and recognizes, via her unique ability to “see” the animal within other weres, that he carries within him the spirit of a wolf, she turns to follow him only to see him brutally stabbed. Because she witnessed the stabbing, she is contacted by other weres and taken to the house of a clan of weres. Has she found the home she is looking for or only more trouble? To win a place in the clan she is told that she must accomplish daunting tasks: learn whether the stabbing victim is alive or dead, discover who stabbed him and why, and locate the stabber so that he or she can be brought to justice. Charlotte wants very much to become part of the were family, so she embarks on her assigned duties without careful planning and with no idea of the difficulties and dangers she will face. As she blunders through her initial attempts, she makes enemies of some of the were household, discovers and unwittingly endangers a young were who is not part of the household, and faces enemies who are determined to destroy the weres. Charlotte quickly learns what a high price she’ll have to pay for the privilege of making the Were House her home.

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Citadel of Bureaucracy by J.D. Mitchell

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Title: The Citadel of Bureaucracy
Author: J.D. Mitchell
Publisher: Fighting Reality Books
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Political Satire, Speculative Fiction
Release date: 1st June, 2023

Synopsis: Part story, part game, this is a book in which YOU make all the decisions!

The Citadel of Bureaucracy holds dark and dangerous perils for civil servants unprepared for its labyrinthine cubicle walls, but enter you must. The Albatross Pay System has shorted you, money’s tight, and long hours have left you ragged and in desperate need of a vacation. You’ve just got to make it through one more day. But it won’t be easy. Packed with asbestos, bad wiring, and with air quality equivalent to a dank, rat-infested dungeon, the Darby Complex, known as “The Citadel” to its hapless inmates, is riddled with appalling hazards and frantic civil servants to test you beyond all reasonable limits.

Working against the clock, you must fight unreliable transit, dodgy I.T., the dreaded Canada goose, and a rising sense of nihilism in an effort to get paid and clear your desk before your vacation. YOU decide which paths to take, which dangers to risk, and which colleagues to confront. May the blessings of the Janus-faced God of Finance and H.R. be with you, for you’ll find little succour in the Citadel’s unhallowed halls.

Collects The Never-Ending Party #1–#5 from the ComiXology original digital series, in print for the first time!

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Headsman by Cristina Mîrzoi

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Title:The Headsman Cristina Mîrzoi
Author:Cristina Mîrzoi
Genre: Horror / Fantasy / Collection
Release date: 14th March, 2022

Synopsis:  Take a glimpse into the world of a headsman, a gloomy village in which each dweller has a secret: an evil witch, a shrewd florist, a naive young man, a foreign merchant, a dreadful husband, a mischievous maid, and a lustful duke. These stories are intertwined, weaving a dark narrative of love, trickery, brutality, and loss.

 

Under the bleak aesthetic, raw human emotions unravel themselves in a gripping story about moral decay. In a world that belongs to the wicked, how far can one walk this path while keeping a clean conscience?


The Headsman is a collection of short stories that focus on interconnected characters, sometimes looking at the same event from a different perspective. As a genre, it falls somewhere under dark fiction territory.

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Comic Book Review: All Eight Eyes #4

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Writer: Steve Foxe
Artist: Piotr Kowalswki
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Cover Artist: Piotr Kowalswki
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Publication Date: July 19, 2023
Format: FC, 29 pages; Series

Synopsis: Now that Vin knows the truth about “Reynolds,” he’s determined to help track down the spider who took everything from him. But they’re not alone in their descent into the beast’s lair, as a self-interested politician jeopardizes their hunt. Fangs fly in the gory conclusion to this creepy-crawly creature-feature! Jaws meets Arachnophobia in a new vision of creature-feature terror from Eisner-nominated writer STEVE FOXE (Razorblades: The Horror Magazine) and dread-inspiring artist PIOTR KOWALSKI (Bloodborne)!

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Comic Book Review: Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea #3

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Writers: Mike Mignola
Artist: Jesse Lonergan
Colorist: Jesse Lonergan
Cover Artist: Jesse Lonergan
Variant Cover Art: Elsa Charretier
Lettering: Clem Robins
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Publication Date: July 19, 2023
Format: FC, 22 pages; Series

Synopsis: Hyperborea is burning, torn asunder by the fury of the first angel. As the city falls, Anum Yassa’s and Miss Truesdale’s lives intertwine, and they are drawn to face their destinies and the wrath of gods. Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and artist Jesse Lonergan bring the third installment of a new tale of ancient Hyperborea.

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Comic Book Review: Conan the Barbarian #1

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Title: Conan the Barbarian #1
Writer: Jim Zub
Artists: José Villarrubia and Robert De La Torre
Publisher: Titan Comics
Publication Date: 2nd, August 2023
Format: FC, 39 pages; Series

Synopsis: Robert E. Howard’s legendary Conan is back in a new tale of bravery and heroism!

Years after the battle of Venarium, a weary Conan returns to his homeland to seek rest and solitude. However, a mysterious scout rides in to warn the Cimmerians of an imminent threat on the march from the Pictish wilderness. Will Conan and his new ally be able to hold off this new horde of invaders?

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Ghost of Laurie Floyd by Courtney Lynn Mroch

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Title: The Ghost of Laurie Floyd
By: Courtney Lynn Mroch
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Courtney Lynn Mroch
Release Date: 13th February, 2015

Synopsis: On her first day at Mayhugh & Horne, paralegal Megan Daniels witnesses a body plummet off the building. However, police don’t find anything when they come to investigate. So begins Megan’s association with the ghost of Laurie Floyd, a secretary who committed suicide from the building’s roof a year earlier. Or did she? As Laurie leaves Megan more and more clues, it becomes evident she didn’t take her own life. Someone killed her. But who? And why? Megan believes Andrew Kirkpatrick and Matthew Horne may know. Both are attorneys at the firm who have an interest in more than just Megan’s work product. She finds herself drawn to Andrew and repulsed by Matthew, but can she trust her instincts? She joined the firm to work, not to solve a murder or fall in love. Both seem to be happening anyway. If she’s not careful, her job and her heart won’t be the only things she stands to lose.

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Midnight Lullaby by Cheryl Low

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Title: The Midnight Lullaby
Author: Cheryl Low
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Grinning Skull Press
Release Date: 10th July, 2020

Synopsis: Everybody has secrets…

For years, Benedict Lyon has been living a lie. Not even his family knows the truth he’s been keeping from the world. Only Emmeline knows his secret—and she’s dead.

…some are darker than others…

When the matriarch of the Lyon family passes away, Benedict is summoned home for the funeral. Emmeline urges Benedict not to go, certain that if he returns to that house, neither one of them will escape.

…but are they worth dying for?

Their presence in the family home causes the spirit of Gloria Lyon to become restless, and as the remaining members of the Lyon family attempt to put their mother to rest, long buried secrets, some deadlier than others, are unearthed. Who will survive…

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