[Review] - Sinister Grin Books
Months back, Sinister Grin Press sent me a box of books. I immediately read all of the 2019 publications that would be eligible for Splatterpunk award consideration. These 4 books were left over:
Jackpot by Shane McKenzie, Adam Cesare, David Bernstein, and Kristopher Rufty
Slashvivor! by Stephen Kozeniewski and Stevie Kopas
Fantastic Earth Destroyer Ultra Plus by Cameron Pierce and Jim Agpalza
Voracious by Wrath James White
To fulfill my vow to Sinister Grin to review all of these (which is my promise to all publishers), I will now do so.
Jackpot by McKenzie/Cesare/Bernstein/Rufty
I have no idea how a 136 page novella was written by four people. Trading chapters maybe? Round robin? In any case, the result was a little disjointed. It's about a serial killer that uses victims' ages to play the lottery. The premise isn't so bad, but the lack of character building affected the overall impact of the hyper-violence in the story.
Grade: D
Slashvivor! by Kozeniewski/Kopas
I haven't read anything by Stevie Kopas before this one, but this is my third from Kozeniewski. The premise of the story is a fun one: it's like a bizarro mix of Rollerball and The Running Man. I really surprised myself by not liking this one much either. Although there was tons of action, the pacing of the action scenes seemed a little slow. Some of the dialogue was hilarious though. I'd recommend The Hematophages over this one.
Grade: D
Fantastic Earth Destroyer Ultra Plus by Pierce/Agpalza
This one was like a bizarro fairy tale told in pseudo graphic novel format: the text of the story is on the left hand page, and the right hand page has the corresponding illustrations for that narrative sequence. It made the story fun and fast. The only thing keeping this one from a higher grade is just how weird the story is. The book doesn't have a back cover synopsis, so I imagine Pierce didn't want there to be one. So I won't include one either. Cameron Pierce writes some of the most offbeat and just odd stories of the whole bizarro world. Don't believe me? Try his collection, Lost in Cat Brain Land.
Grade: C
Voracious by Wrath James White
If you aren't familiar with Wrath's stuff, he has written some of the most notoriously extreme horror the world has ever seen. I'd even go as far as to say he put the extreme in extreme horror. With that being said, Voracious isn't one of his best. The book is hyper-violent and fast paced, but it's mostly told in short episodes which lends itself to very short moments of suspense instead of a crescendo of suspense that races to the end of the book.
Grade: C
There you have it folks! Support indie publishers!
Reviews by Jason Cavallaro
jcavallaro42@gmail.com
Twitter: @pinheadspawn
I have received copies of these books from Sinister Grin Press in exchange for review consideration.