KNOCK AND YOU WILL SEE ME by Andrew Cull

Knock and You Will See Me by Andrew Cull

Published in Dec. 2017 as an ebook.

(from the book description)
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“We buried Dad in the winter. It wasn’t until the spring that we heard from him again.”

Knock and You Will See Me is a new ghost story by award winning writer-director Andrew Cull.

When grieving Ellie Ray finds a crumpled, handwritten note from her recently deceased father, hidden behind the couch, she assumes that her middle boy, Max, left it there. It has a single word written on it: WHY. But, as more and more letters begin to appear throughout the house, Ellie and her three boys will find themselves dragged into a deeply sinister mystery surrounding her father’s death.

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I have always loved a good Ghost Story. From Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box, to probably one of the best stories ever, Ghost Story from Peter Straub. 

What Andrew Cull has given us is a moody slow-burning gem about ghosts and a dark underlying evil.

 Knock and You Can Hear Me is a 77 page novella. 77 pages does not seem like enough space to craft a truly scary ghost story, but Andrew has done just that. The story moves along slowly at first, giving us background and moving forward with Ellie as she deals with the death of her father. The tale unfolds at a pace that helps build the feelings of a growing saddness and dread. As the story progresses the pace starts to quicken as more and more strange happenings effect the the family. By the final pages everything comes together in a encounter that you will not see coming. 

This is a very well crafted little story that will keep you engaged till the end. The scares may come slowly at first for some, but you will not be disappointed when you turn the last page. 

Andrew Cull is an accomplisshed writer and Director. His other books include Hope and Walker, Did You Forget About Me? and The Trade. He also wrote for the TV series Urban Gothic and wrote and directed the film The Possession of David O'Reilly. 

Knock and You Can See Me can be purchased HERE. 

You can learn more about Andrew Cull on FACEBOOK and at his WEBSITE. 

                                                                                                                       Jim Coniglio 

                                                                                                                       2-23-2018

THE WICKED ONES by J.Z. Foster

THE WICKED ONES  by J.Z. Foster

Publish date February 13th 2018

(From the book description)

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You know, the best thing about nightmares is that they're not real. It's all just in your head, and as soon as you wake up, pop!

It's all gone. You're safe.

It's not like they could crawl out, creeping from your mind with long, slender fingers and milky yellow eyes sunken into heads with pointed horns bursting out.

That'd just be insane.

Daniel Tanner's life is insane. A mysterious disease came to claim his son, seemingly pulling him into the grave with cold fingers named misery and hopelessness.
Now a stranger has come calling with an even stranger tale of monsters--horrible things that take children in the middle of the night and leave their own, things that crawled out of the fairy tales our barbarous ancestors used to tell, things that they tried to warn us about.

We didn't listen.

Because monsters aren't real, are they? There's no reason to fear the dark, no reason at all to believe the old tales about creatures with a taste for human meat.

That would be insane... wouldn't it?

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 J.Z. Foster is a fairly new author. His first book, WITCH HUNTER was released just last month on January 9th. This book, THE WICKED ONES releases on February 13th, and his next book MIND WRECK has a release date of March 13th. That's 3 books released in 3 months. These are not novellas, but full length novels. Not many authors can pull that off. 

THE WICKED ONES does not suffer from the dreaded sophomore slump. This is a deep story that deals with love, loss and oh, so much horror. 

The main character Daniel could be the normal everyman, thrust into extraordinary situations after the sudden death of his son and the strange new world that the chain of events bring him into.

J.Z. Foster knows how to build characters. Every person is fleshed out and belongs to the story. Just enough back story is given, without being overwhelming. You become vested in these characters and what they are going through.

The tension builds from page one. This is one of those stories that does not let you put it down. I would find myself at the end of a chapter, saying to myself, it's time to stop, but then I would keep  reading. I would get that gut-punch from a horrific event and just keep reading. Basically 370 pages in 2 days. And when I reached that last page, the ending was satisfying, I didn't feel cheated. But I wanted more. I just didn't want the story to end. 

There is so much I would love to discuss about THE WICKED ONES, but then there is the chance of spoiling the story for someone else. This is a fast-paced, visceral novel that shows us the power of a fathers love and the horrors that exist just outside corners of our vision.

 J.Z. Foster writes like a mixture of Brian Keene and Raymond E. Feist. With this just being his second book, I see the author becoming a mainstay in the world of Horror.

You can order THE WICKED ONES on AMAZON. 

And you can order his first novel WITCH HUNTER HERE.

For more about J.Z. FOSTER you can visit his website HERE.

                                                                                        Jim Coniglio

                                                                                     2-12-2018

THE RITUAL 02/09/2018 Netflix Premier

Four friends with a long-standing -- but strained -- connection take a hiking trip into the Swedish wilderness, from which they may never return.

Spoiler Free for those who have not had a chance to watch it yet.

I have always been leery when a movie comes out that is based on a book that I really enjoyed. Yes sometimes they are surprisingly well done, and other times you just sit there scratching your head and saying to yourself, "how could they have messed it up that bad". (Yes I'm talking about you Dark Tower)

 Luckily this movie has been done right

Based on the 2011 novel by Adam Nevill. The screenplay was written by Joe Barton (iBoy/Humans tv series) and Directed by David Bruckner (The Signal/VHS/Southbound).

 

Bruckner has delivered a strikingly visual movie that captures all the tension of the original book. Yes some ideas have been streamlined to fit into a movie setting, but the important stuff is here. The forest settings are beautiful, even in the dark. It gives that feeling of being in such a huge place, yet still giving the feeling of claustrophobic closeness amongst the trees. Though character setup is not as complete as in the text, we still learn enough about the character to connect, especially the main character Luke played by Rafe Spall.

 

The true main character of this movie though is the forest itself. Bruckner uses the surrounding brilliantly. This forest is alive, in more ways than you think. I found myself trying to study every tree when there would be a long shot on screen. You could never know what was just around the bend. Our characters enter this setting freely and soon learn the error of their ways. The pacing is perfect. You are kept on the edge of your seat waiting for something else to happen. There is a slight change in the final act of the film, as we are finally treated to a little more back story and the emergence of the creature that has chased the men from the beginning. The special effects are handled well. The use of practical effects paired with CGI make the creature feel real and at place in the forest.

Since the movie came out last year. (more on that later). There have been many comparisons made between it and The Blair Witch Project. Yes we can see some bits and pieces here and there in the movie. The use of symbols and the "stickmen" have been done before, but this is a far superior movie. The tension is higher, the story is more fleshed out and the characters you actually care about.

The Ritual is listed as a NETFLIX Film. The film was first released at Toronto International Film Festival in Sept. 2017 and saw some limited release overseas in October. NETFLIX picked u the US distribution rites for its release here. 

 

There is so much that can be talked about after watching this movie, but to say more could spoil the viewing experience for those who have not watched it yet. So let me know what you think after your viewing.

This is one you do not want to miss. Fans of the book will not be disappointed.

 

 

OLD ORDER by Jonathan Janz

OLD ORDER by Jonathan Janz

Originally published in 2010 by Untreed Reads Publishing

 

Reissued 2018 with new afterward by author

 

(From the book description)

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Horace Yoder thinks he's got the perfect scam. All he has to do is pretend to have been kicked out of an Amish order, get a job on a local farm and when the family is asleep steal their valuables and resell them for a tidy profit. Unfortunately for Horace, the family has other ideas...and their plans are MUCH more sinister.

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I first read this story about 5 years ago. A friend of mine had read it and then called me saying..(in these exact words.."Dude, ya gotta read this short story. It's like a gruesome Amish nightmare".) If I remember correctly the original ebook cover had a old barn on it. I just happen to live in Amish country. The local store has racks of what is referred to as Amish Romance titles. If this book had been on the rack with it's title and a barn cover, it would have been purchased by some poor unsuspecting little old lady looking for her strange Amish love story fix.  And that would have been a total shock to the poor reader. 

This is as far from that as you can get. The main character Horace Yoder (a very common name around here) is a con man disguised as a shunned Amish man, in hopes of fleecing unsuspecting country folk of their valuables. But in the case of his latest target, he has bitten off more than he can chew.

Written at a breakneck pace, Janz keeps us moving along from encounter to encounter. You keep wondering what will happen next, and most of the time it's not what you suspect. Janz gives us a stunning story with as much sex, tension, scares and surprises as you could ask for. 

This reissued version has a new afterward by the author where he talks about the original publication of the novel and the problems that arose from the a fore mentioned Amish Love Story community.

If you are a fan on the late Jack Ketchum or of Edward Lee, this is a story you will want to read.

And to think this was one of Jonathan Janz first published works. 

I just need to add on a personal note. I have had the pleasure of meeting Jonathan Janz on several occasions. In my opinion he is one of the nicest guys in the writing business. He takes time to talk with his fans, and even those who were not. One year at Horrorhound he even spent about 30 minutes just talking with me about old houses and building a at home library.  Truly a class act.

OLD ORDER can be purchased for only 99 cents HERE

To learn more about Jonathan Janz and his works make sure to visit his website HERE and sign up for his newsletter. 

                                                                                                                      Jim Coniglio

                                                                                                                      02-05-2018