After checking out some of Rhoads’ work in Feb 2012’s WiHM, we decided to give her another look-see. The book of the month for August is As Above, So Below by Loren Rhoads and Brian Thomas.

When the succubus Lorelei sees the angel Azaziel from across the bar, she knows he’s been cast out of Heaven, but is not yet Fallen. In the service of Hell, she resolves to do whatever it takes to bring the angel down. When she trails him back to his lair in the warehouses outside of downtown Los Angeles, they both are seduced by each other.

Together on the streets of L.A., they encounter Ashleigh Johnson, one of Azaziel’s mortal charges, dying of hepatitis in the street, and the angel rescues her soul from two harpies poised to devour it and causes Lorelei to be possessed by Ashleigh’s soul. Other angels don’t foresee any positive outcomes to any of this. In their eyes, their brother has endangered a mortal soul and compromised his own standing in Heaven.

When they intrude, Lorelei flees — taking Ashleigh Johnson along for the ride. In the process, Lorelei discovers that she has developed a soul of her own, a soul which is most certainly damned. Before long, her sister Floria tracks down a defrocked priest willing to exorcise Ashleigh’s mortal soul from Lorelei’s infernal flesh, and the intimate little ritual swells into a virtual Who’s Who of Hell’s presence in L.A.!

You can pick up a copy at Amazon, and discuss it here and at The Mortuary.

– C

The book of the month for July is Carnies by Perth based Australian author Martin Livings. First published in 2006 it is now published again in ebook and print from Cohesion Press and available from Amazon.

“The small town of Tillbrook has a secret. One that has been kept for over a hundred years.
Journalist David Hampden needs a good story to resurrect his flagging career.
His damaged brother, Paul, just needs to find some meaning for his life.
When David is alerted to a century-old carnival, the idea of a feature story is too good to pass up, so he drags Paul along to Tillbrook to act as his photographer.
What they find is darker than they could ever imagine.
Paul becomes part of the exotic world of the Dervish Carnival, est. 1899, and David must risk everything to save his brother.
Even though Paul might not want to be saved.
Come on in, and enjoy the show.
No photos allowed.”

Discuss it here and at The Mortuary

– Dark Mark

Sometimes we take this Book of the Month thing for granted, man. Flo Realz. I mean, for those of us who partake in it every month, it’s just another book to add to the pile, and another notch on our bedposts… when we’re vanilla enough to read in bed, that is. *wink*

Rawr.

But every once in a while, something insane happens to remind us of just how special this thing really is, and just how far authors will go to gain the coveted “Book of the Month” title.

What kind of stuff happens, you ask? Well, shit… take a look at this: Now, we featured this author back in July 2012 with his nostalgic throwback/homage to the killer 80’s paperback horror novel, The Wicked, and had a blast doing so. And, while I’m not saying James went out of his way to get our attention or anything, but looking at recent news, it was either James, J.R.R.R.R.R.R.R. Tolkien, or Mother Nature…

Because, you know, the universe revolves around this Book Club…

Naturally.

Anyway, if you’ve been living in a cave without internet (first, you need to find a better cave…), you need to know that your literary boyfriend and mine, James Newman, was severely accosted by a vicious Ent. Why? We don’t know. He won’t say. Maybe James  made that “Make like a tree and leave” joke again. Regardless of what transpired, it caught our attention, and convinced us to choose Ugly As Sin the June 2014 selection for the Dreadful Tales Book of the Month Club.

In addition to this high honour, the Horror Community banded together and set up a Telethon*, a Marathon*, and a celebratory Python*.

*None of this actually happened. 

Ronald Kelly, one of my favourite authors evah, went so far as to set up an eBay auction called Helping The Hoss: An Auction for James Newman. He is truly an inspiration to all, and should be clapped on the back, or kissed by a bevy of beautiful swedish swimsuit models. Whichever.

That said, you can join us in discussing the book (and vicious, author hating Ents) here at The Mortuary, the official meeting place for the Dreadful Tales Book Club.

Available in paperback and ebook formats at Amazon, and wherever good books are sold.

– C

*Note: For the detractors, we don’t actually take James’ injuries so lightly, and wish him a speedy recovery.