Lunar by Paul Kane (a review)

Nick Skinner is awoken in the night when his girlfriend attacks him. She is feral and her eyes are somewhat different. She is not the person he was out celebrating with the previous evening.
As he escapes he finds she is not the only feral - the town seems to be full of them.
And also - the clock stopped at one second past midnight, as did all clocks. Most cars will not work but some will. Most guns will not work, but some will.
Nick flees the town in search of fellow survivors and, hopefully, answers.
The answers, when they do come, are very clever indeed, but the clues are drip-fed in such a way that I don't think many people will get there before the big reveal.
So, interesting ideas, plenty of tension and loads of action - another winner from Paul Kane. Surely it is only a matter of time before this man hits the big time.

The Promise by Lauren Hunter (a review)

The Promise is a regency romance tale with more than a hint of the paranormal added to the mix.

The story begins in tragedy as Anthony,the 18 year old son of the Duke of Aldbourne loses Lady Marianne in a freak accident involving a carriage. As lady Marianne dies a daughter, Elizabeth, is born to the Duchess of Wickford.

The story then moves forward 18 years to where Elizabeth meets Anthony at the annual Thornhill Ball. And this is where the fun really begins. There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between the pair as they keep crossing paths.
Anthony seems determined to woo Elizabeth but she tries to rebuff his advances, seeing him as a rake. Throughout the story their are minor flashbacks for Elizabeth which she doesn't understand and finds quite disturbing. The tale moves to a thrilling climax that I wasn't expecting but thoroughly enjoyed.

The story is well told and with a sense of the era that leaves me in no doubt that the author both knows her stuff and has done her research well. I will be looking out for more of Lauren Hunter's work.

The Demon's Head by Richard C White (a review)

This short story is a fantasy world set, Indiana Jones style that packs a hell of a lot into its 21 or so pages.
The hero of the story is a thief, down to his last few silvers who hears talk of a temple and treasure in the nearby swamp and decides to have some of the bounty for himself.
The story has huge possibilities for a follow up and I hope to see much more from this author

I got through this story in one sitting but when I got out of bed just now I decided to have another read over coffee and biscuits, and it's even better second time around. There is a hell of a lot of world building for a short story. This author is surely going to be one to watch.

And it only costs 77p (I think that's a dollar and change in the USA but don't quote me on that)

A is for Angelica by Iain Broome (a review)

I met the author at a signing in Waterstones a few weeks ago and decided to give the book a try. And I am really glad I did.

Here's the review;

Gordon, the lead character in this book is a bit of an oddity. He spends all his time either looking after his wife (who has had a stroke) or spying on his neighbours (he keeps notes on all of them in his files).

He comes across at times as a mixture of Adrian Mole and the boy from The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-time, but for all his quirks he is not a bad person.

The fact that he keeps his bed-ridden wife upstairs and tells nobody she has had a second stroke could be seen as sinister but he truly believes he can look after her alone.

When Gordon befriends the new neighbour, Angelica, things start to become a bit unravelled, eventually Gordon will have to tell someone.

This debut novel by Iain Broome is by turns, comic, tragic and quite touching. I will be looking out for more by Mr. Broome in the future and would highly recommend this book to all
.