Tag Archives: Paranormal

Ghosts of Coronado Bay by JG Faherty

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Ghosts of Coronado Bay
A MAYA BLAIR MYSTERY
by JG Faherty
Published by: JournalStone, June 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-936564-09-5
Trade Paperback
160 pages
Mystery/Ghost Story/Young Adult

ebook version, ISBN: 978-1-936564-10-1

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Maya Blair is a modern 16 year-old growing up in the seaside town of Coronado Bay. She thinks she’s expected to put in too many hours at her parents’ Diner. She just dumped her football player boyfriend, Stuart, because he was much too possessive. And now she doesn’t have a date for the Homecoming Dance. To make matters worse, Stuart can’t seem to let go: he keeps confronting her, saying nasty things and getting physical (she has the hand-print bruise on her arm to prove it). It’s like he’s turned into a creepy stalker.

Her best friend, Lucy, thinks Maya should grab a cute guy, invite him to the dance and have some real fun: sex being Lucy’s primary choice when it comes to having fun. Now, Maya isn’t a member of Virgin-a-Teens, a local group which promotes chastity for teenagers, but neither does she believe in the “3 date rule” as a guideline for when to have sex. She would just like to be in love when it happens.

Little does Maya know that her virginity is about to become the source of incredible terror for her, her friends and the entire town. You see, the museum has put up a display of recently rescued items from a ship that sunk in the bay 100 years ago. And with that display came a group of ghosts, one of them an evil sorcerer who’s searching for a key, a book and a virgin witch. Bad news. You see, Maya can help the wizard achieve all three.

In some circles, Maya would be considered a witch. She has the ability to see ghosts, and when she’s close to them, ghosts become solid, just like the living. The wizard can use Maya to become solid long enough to find the key and the book. And legend has it that her blood, the blood of a virgin witch, will make him human again.

Will Maya solve the mystery posed by the Ghosts of Coronado Bay and save herself from having to choose between losing her virginity or possible death? Even if she figures out what’s going on, will Maya have the strength to fight the evil sorcerer and save her friends from outright murder? Then there are those who are already dead. How’s she supposed to deal with that? Thank goodness she has the support of a couple of good looking guys who have just shown up in her life…

I enjoyed reading Ghosts of Coronado Bay. It felt fresh and authentic. Teenagers who talk and treat sex as casually as they do buying a dress for the Homecoming Dance. Raging hormones, poor choices unexpectedly followed by difficult, even valiant ones. Everything at high speed and often accompanied by a lot of drama. An interesting bad guy so focused on what he wants that the reader may be surprised by his casual brutality. Even the three supporting characters have some interesting facets that lend themselves well to the plot.

The writing in Ghosts of Coronado Bay is confident, well edited, and JG Faherty doesn’t “write down” to his audience (girls 12-15 would be my guess). The only reason Ghosts of Coronado Bay is classified as Young Adult is that it’s a story about young adults, with young adult problems, who are thrown into an extremely adult situation, one that most adults would be hard pressed to deal with.

If I had to pick one thing which impressed me more than any other in Ghosts of Coronado Bay, it would be Faherty’s treatment of “The Ghost Story.” I have often said I don’t like Ghost Stories. They tend to move slowly, with many of them striving to reproduce a more simple, more formal time. The language plods. The pace plods. And the payoff, unfortunately, is not usually enough to compensate for the cost of reading the story. Not so in Ghosts of Coronado Bay. The pace and language is such that I can envision adults stealing the book from their daughter’s bookshelf.

The one thing I would have had the author fix is what happens to Maya’s grandmother. I won’t discuss this in exact terms, as it would be a spoiler. Let it suffice to say that during the climax something happens to Grandma that is extremely upsetting, yet as the author winds up all the loose ends, he negates what happened to Grandma, which should be impossible and is jarring enough it kicked me right out of the story. What a bad time to lose me. I’m still trying to figure out if the author made a mistake or if his writing is such that I misunderstood what happened. It was, and is, a disturbing moment in an otherwise flawless story.

In any event, I’ll be giving Ghosts of Coronado Bay 4 stars over at goodreads.com. Well done, Mr. Faherty.


Copyright, Clayton Clifford Bye, 2011

A Zombie’s History of the United States

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A Zombie’s History of the United States:
From the Massacre at Plymouth Rock to the CIA’s Secret War on the Undead
Dr. Worm Miller
Ulysses Press, Dec, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-56975-860-1
Trade Paperback
228 pages
Parody


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The Blurb

Shedding light on a 300-year cover-up, this shocking exposé reveals the pivotal role in American history played by its most invisible minority–Zombies.

From Colonization and revolution to World Wars and Global hegemony, A Zombie’s History of the United States tells the powerful and moving stories of this country’s living-dead underclass, including:

- The Zombie massacre of European colonists at Plymouth Rock
- The gruesome killing of a Zombinated Meriwether Lewis by his fellow explorer William Clark
- The doomed defense of the Alamo against hordes of the attacking undead
- The heroic, platoon-saving charge into a hail of German fire by an undead Lt. Audie Murphy
- The top-secret NASA missions that launched(and often lost) Zombies into space
- The anti-terrorist program to stop the weaponization of the Zombie virus


The Review

Have you ever wondered why so many comics, graphic novels, video games and movies seem to be fascinated by the idea of Zombies, the monster living in the midst of us? Yes, yes, I know Zombies are perfect targets at which to poke fun, and they aren’t much of a threat if you have any kind of common sense. But what if something happened to ordinary Zombies? What if these undead creatures that stumble around in darkness, hoping to bump into something to eat, were as intelligent and competent as you and I. And what if you couldn’t tell the difference between the living man and the undead? This type of Zombie, a Hybrid of sorts, could live successfully among the living as long as they had blood to drink and they kept their savage, human-eating binges far from their own towns. I don’t know about you, but such a creature sounds a lot like the modern day Vampire. And they are fierce creatures, indeed.

Dr. Worm MIller has lifted the veil which has kept Zombies and Hybrids (Vampires?) out of the light. And our collective unconscious recognizes the truths that have lived behind this veil. One can catch himself nodding his head up and down as he reads Dr. Worm Miller’s treatise. I remember my uncle Wilbur: he was big and strong–nothing seemed to harm him; he chewed snuff through all normal waking hours (to cover the halitosis that belongs specifically to the undead?); I don’t believe I ever saw him eat and he did disappear for days at a time, very mysteriously, throughout my youth. It was a bear that got him. Ripped his head clear off.

I’ll tell you this, dear reader: where there’s smoke there’s fire, so I suggest you read A Zombie’s History of the United States. The things I’ve been saying will fall into place. The Alamo under siege by the Mexican Army but inside being eaten or Zombinated until none remained alive. This makes so much more sense than a group off terrifying warriors being felled to a man when there were other avenues open to them.

Okay, enough fun. Whoever Dr. Worm Miller is (probably a hybrid), he has written a parody with as dry a wit as I’ve ever come across. Giving us many detailed examples of how Zombies have plagued the United States since the first Europeans set foot upon that ancient land, Miller weaves his tale smoothly and with the professionalism of a true scholar and historian. I’m not sure who would be considered the target market for such book. Perhaps those who like historical tombs and laughing. Maybe the monster loving youngsters who get hooked by the real history upon which Miller has wrapped and twisted his farce.

I scratch my head. There’s nothing wrong with the technical side of Miller’s writing. The work put into the ridiculous tale is flawless. And I imagine the fan of this sort of humour will be properly impressed. Myself? I had to read Miller’s historical parody in small pieces over the space of a few weeks. Yet, I always came back, ready for another tall tale. Yes, Dr. Worm Miller, while I remain somewhat ambivalent about A Zombie’s History of the United States, I do recognize good work wherever it shows up. You deserve at least a 4 out of 5. If it was your intent for the reader to recognize the birth of Vampirism, all on their own, without being spoon fed–get in touch; I’ll give you that last star.


Copyright, Clayton Clifford Bye, 2011

Born of Darkness by Rita Vetere

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Born of Darkness
by Rita Vetere
Lyrical Press
June 16, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9841132-6-2
170 pages
eBook
Paranormal/Dark Fantasy

Print Release: Dec 1, 2009

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Ahriman, an ancient incubus has found a way to exist on the mortal plain, and now, after centuries of waiting, he is close to achieving his ultimate goal of immortality. If he succeeds, it could herald the end of humanity. Standing in his way is Jasmine, his own half-human daughter. Does she have the will-power and strength to withstand Ahriman’s god-like power, or is she doomed to become his queen and the source of all he desires?

Born of Darkness is quite the experience. Taking the reader to locales like Morrocco, Florida, England and Venice, Rita Vetere follows the path of an ancient and evil necklace as it brings death and despair to everyone who’s life it touches. How such a simple object does this is one of the many surprises in store for the readers of this detailed and carefully plotted dark fantasy.

Rich settings and character development, solid research and a deceptively casual writing style virtually guarantees a number of entertaining surprises for anyone who takes the time to read Vetere’s story of good arising from the most surprising of places.

The book contains a few questionable editing choices and proofing errors, but they weren’t enough to detract from my enjoyment of the novel. I would also have preferred to see more dialogue in the story, but in the end I can honestly say Born of Darkness is a unique and interesting offering that stands out from the slush pile of Demons and Draculas I wade through every day.

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009