Reality Check: An Anthology of Horror

Rating:
Summary: I Am A Reel Wryter
Review: I am a reel wryter and al of yu clownz that sayd not kan byte mee

Rating:
Summary: As with all such books..some good, some not so good..
Review: I was initially drawn to purchase this book due to being a big fan of 'Reality' TV. As it turns out, this book is mostly themed negatively towards such programs. As with most anthologies, there was good and bad to be had.
Here is my graded breakdown of each story contained within (I also wish the book had been a bit longer than 144 pages), using the A - F grading method.

HIBERATION (by William Bates)
Grade: C+

Decent plot, great ending, but I found the characters a bit one dimensional.

(DAMNED ON) the Farm (by Terry Vinson)
Grade: B-

obviously a send-up of 'real world' or 'road rules'. Lots of blood and guts and some funny moments, but runs out of steam by the end.

ROYAL WEDDING (by Joni Latham)
Grade - B

Send up of 'Who wants to marry a millionaire'. Brisk, easy read with a good ending.

WHO WANTS TO BE EVISCERATED? (by William Lengeman)
Grade - B-

Effective, but far too brief. Like the novel itself, made me wish for more.

El Horror DE LA Realidad - (By Hasan Abood)
Grade - D

Amateurish writing sinks this one.

MAKE-OVERKILL (by Terry & Kim Vinson)
Grade - B+

Equally horrific and humourous. Loved the 'behind the scenes' look at the life of a 'b-movie' starlet. Strong ending.

HOME OF THE BRAVE (by Steven Shrewsbury)
Grade - C

Decent story...weak ending.

BITE OF THE SPIDER (by Nickolaus Pacione)
Grade - B

Unusual prose that was strangely enduring. Kept me on the edge despite a relatively common theme.

YOU ARE WHO YOU EAT - (by Andrew Fife)
Grade - A+

Easily the best. I'm a big 'living dead' fan and this one covered all the bases...gory, funny, and frightening as hell.
The book is worth a look for this story alone.

Overall, not a bad time waster.

WD (Dec 2004)





Rating:
Summary: If I could make my rating ZERO stars, believe, me I would.
Review: Nickolaus Pacione is the cuisinart of the English language. Give him a sentence, and he'll slice and dice until it no longer makes any sense. Please, in the name of all that is holy, if you have any sense at all, please, do not buy this book. Consider yourself warned.

Rating:
Summary: Un-edited stories
Review: Please don't be fooled into buying this book. Even a cursory glance will tell you that the stories included in this anthology are not, in their present state, ready to be published. There is zero evidence to suggest that any editing has taken place, however loose one's definition of the word. I feel sorry for all the people who have submitted stories. What these authors need - what every aspiring writer needs - is constructive criticism, in order to improve. These writers' works should not be in print without serious revision. Ironically, the "editor"'s short story is the worst of the lot.

Rating:
Summary: One star is one too many...
Review: Read it, or tried to. After reading Pacione's incoherent method of writing and a few others, I simply gave up. Awful stuff. How this poor excuse of an anthology got past the editor and publishing company is beyond me.

I don't think I could read the whole thing if I were paid to do it.

Rating:
Summary: My Eyes Are Bleeding
Review: The editor should not be allowed to work in the industry again, after foisting Pacione's HORRIBLE story upon the reading public.

Rating:
Summary: I can't believe I put out good money for this mess
Review: There was only a single half-way decent story in the book, the one by Steven Shrewsbury. I have read many of his stories and liked them, but this one, Home of the Brave, disappointed me.

The others were trite, poorly written and unappetizing. The worst of the lot was Pacione's Bite of the Spider, which is a sequel to his House of Spiders. He cannot write well to begin with. His sentences change tense in the middle, his analogies don't work, and I sometimes wonder if he knows the proper meaning of many of the words he uses. His story is a perfect example of what is known as the "dumbing down of America".

Hasan Abood's story, El Horror de la realidad, is the second worst in the book. The dialog is stiff and unworkable. His simplistic sentence structure read like a fourth grader wrote them. I found the story to be completely trite.

The rest of the stories in this anthology are not worth mentioning.


Rating:
Summary: Props to Thomas Long, Jr.
Review: Thomas knew what he was doing when he assembled this anthology, there are many talented authors in here and I am not going to do a review of my own story in it. The stories that packed the punches are Terry Lloyd Vinson, Hasan Abood, and Joni Latham.

I agree with Nicholas Mounts when it comes to the anthology we're both proud to be in the line up of this project. The publisher doesn't deserve to be punished because he published my story -- I am going to go out and say if you don't have this anthology pick it up if you miss what a traditional horror anthology reads like. The story to look for on this book by Terry Lloyd Vinson is titled (Damned On) The Farm and the colaboration with his wife Kim titled MakeOverKill.

Nicholas Mounts and William C. Bates have the Supernatural Sci-Fi themed horror stories on there which have a punch to them, and the special guest author has a black humored story titled "You Are Who You Eat." Joni Latham added an ellegance to the anthology that rounds out the muscular horror line up, this is a definative anthology of hard horror. Hasan Abood's piece is a surprise one because of how short it is.

Steven L. Shrewsbury's entry to this anthology is one that shows his signature. It's noteworthy as well; "Home of the Brave." You'll like this if you like his Dack Shannon stories. This anthology you can build a library off of.

I noticed how each person here is giving a bad review of the anthology but if you ask me they are just doing it more as a personal attack on me. I have to hand it to Thomas for getting this project off the ground, it was well worth the wait. This thing was kept down because of two hurricaines; and one went out of their way to call this thing a fraud but this thing was the real deal.

This thing has some big guns in there. Andrew T. Fife is a veteran when it comes to the literary arena and his story in here is one that got Terry howling with morbid laughter. This thing is delightfully viseral and thematic in parts.

Rating:
Summary: More Like Grammar Check
Review: Ugh. That's it. I can sum this book up in one word. Ugh. Especially horrid was the Nicholas Pacione "story", which read as if written by my third-grader.