Tagged: review

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Epeolatry Book Review: Iron Star by Loren D. Estleman

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Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Iron Star
Author: Loren D. Estleman
Genre: Western; Historical Thriller
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group
Publication Date: 18th June, 2024

Synopsis: Set against the sprawling landscape of the Wild West, this riveting adventure by Spur Award-winning author Loren D. Estleman follows a man on a journey to set his legacy, and the men dedicated to bringing his story to life.

From his youth as a revolutionist to his time as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, aging lawman Iron St. John has become a larger-than-life figure―and in the process, the man has disappeared behind the myth. During his brief, unsuccessful political career, St. John published his memoirs―a sanitized version of his adventures to appeal to the masses. A generation later, the clouded truth of this giant of the Old West has been all but lost.

Now, Buck Jones, a pioneering film star, is vying for a cinematic story that will launch his career to incredible heights. He approaches Emmet Rawlings, a retired Pinkerton detective, to set the record of St. John’s life straight once and for all. Twenty years ago, Rawlings accompanied St. John on his final manhunt, and in desperate need for the funding a successful book promises, he dives deep into St. John’s past―and his own buried memories―to tell the truth about this part-time hero.

As the story of St. John unfolds, the romance of the period is stripped away to reveal a reality long-forgotten in this unvarnished, heart-racing depiction of the American West by acclaimed author Loren D. Estleman.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Undead Folk by Katherine Silva

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Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Undead Folk
Author: Katherine Silva
Genre:Occult Horror, LGBTQ+ Horror
Publisher: Strange Wilds Press
Publication Date: 1st May, 2024

Synopsis: Beyond the smoke-choked skies of an apocalyptic United States, a woman travels the desolate railroad tracks of a small town in search of revenge and a quiet place to settle. Her only companion is an undead fox: animated with backwoods herbal magic and the soul of a middle-aged father who died before the world fell into darkness.

Undead Folk is a short, harrowing tale of sacrifice, loss, and damnation.

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Horror Aesthetic: Essays From The Dark Corners Of The Genre by L. Marie Wood

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Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: The Horror Aesthetic: Essays From The Dark Corners Of The Genre
Author: L. Marie Wood
Genre: Non-Fiction Horror
Publisher: Mocha Memoir Press
Publication Date: 4th October, 2024

Synopsis: Many creatures lurk in the dark, weaving on top of one another, roiling together like waves on the night sea. The darkness forms in layers to encompass the land, fill the corners, and obscure angles. Untold mysteries lie just beyond reach spoken in many tongues, many inflections, many rhythms.

The stories are many.

Innumerable.

Legion.

The Horror Aesthetic: Essays from the Dark Corners of the Genre shares perspectives from the darkest corners of the horror genre, providing study and nuance to the mythos, antagonists, and storytelling we love. This is a book that celebrates the craft of writing horror, explores the oral traditions that gave life to the written words of the gothic and the tortured, shines a light on what has been left in the obscurity of the dark. From the classroom to the far corners that only shadows reach, The Horror Aesthetic: Essays from the Dark Corners of the Genre examines the horror genre in rich context, contemplative zest, and dark humor.

It’s the horror research you never knew you needed until now.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Shadow Manor by Candace Nola

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Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Shadow Manor
Author: Candace Nola
Genre: Gothic horror/Ghost Story
Publisher: Uncomfortably Dark Horror
Publication Date: 15th June, 2024

Synopsis: A stranded young woman seeking shelter from a violent storm discovers a journal written by the former lady of the manor. As the storm rages around her, something more than shadows shakes the girl to her core.

Will she be able to solve the mystery of the manor before time runs out?

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond

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Title: The Fireborne Blade
Author: Charlotte Bond
Genre: Dark fantasy
Publisher: Tordotcom
Publication Date: 28th May, 2024

Synopsis: Kill the dragon. Find the blade. Reclaim her honour.

It’s that, or end up like countless knights before her, as a puddle of gore and molten armour.

Maddileh is a knight. There aren’t many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she’s a knight, and made of sterner stuff.

A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honour in the most dramatic way possible, she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying. If history tells us anything, it’s that “die trying” is where to wager your coin.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Island of the Dead by Brian Keene

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Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Island of the Dead
Author: Brian Keene
Genre: Horror, fantasy
Publisher: Apex Book Company
Publication Date: 15th August, 2024

Synopsis: Einar, an enslaved barbarian, plots his escape from a war galley transporting troops and a mysterious weapon to far enemy shores. But when an apocalyptic storm at sea leaves Einar and his fellow captives shipwrecked on a strange, uncharted island, friend and foe alike must band together against a steadily growing horde of the undead … and even worse dangers.

Not even death is an escape from the Island of the Dead!

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Epeolatry Book Review: Unexploded Remnants by Elaine Gallagher

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Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Unexploded Remnants
Author: Elaine Gallagher
Genre: Sci-fi, Sci-fi Adventure
Publisher: Tordotcom
Publication Date: 25th June, 2024

Synopsis: An A.I. wages war on a future it doesn’t understand.
Alice is the last human. Street-smart and bad-ass.
After discovering what appears to be an A.I. personality in an antique data core, Alice decides to locate its home somewhere in the stargate network. At the very least, she wants to lay him to rest because, as it turns out, she’s stumbled upon the sentient control unit of a deadly ancient weapon system.
Convincing the ghost of a raging warrior that the war is over is about as hard as it sounds, which is to say, it’s near-impossible. But, if Alice fails and the control unit falls into the wrong hands, the balance of power her side of the Milky Way could fall apart. As Alice ports throughout the known universe seeking answers and aid she will be faced with impossible choice after impossible choice and the growing might of an unstoppable foe.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Being Followed by Derek Muk

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Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Being Followed
Author: Derek Muk
Genre: Horror, thriller
Publisher: Demain Publishing
Publication Date: 31st January, 2024

Synopsis: Claire Goldman is a strong, independent woman with a pro-feminist background to substantiate it. She doesn’t like to be pushed around or intimidated. But when she starts receiving threatening letters because of a book she wrote it gives her pause. And she is human, after all!
Enter her ex-husband and college sweetheart, Albert, who will do whatever it takes to protect her from harm’s way and wants to rekindle that flame of romance and love they once possessed from when they were younger.
Will the two of them get over the stigma of being each other’s ‘ex’ and reunite successfully and will they manage to escape from the wrath of dark evil that threatens to smother and destroy not just Claire and Albert but the rest of the nation as well?
Derek Muk says of ‘Being Followed’: “My book is a topical, modern-day, real-life, current events horror story (mixed in with mystery, suspense, thriller, and romance) that mirrors what’s going on in the U.S. and I think readers will relate to that. The book was inspired by racial tensions sparked by the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia rally, the January 6 coup/storming of the U.S. capitol, the murder of George Floyd, and the fascist atmosphere of the Trump Presidency.”
(cover by Adrian Baldwin)

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