Book review: Death Vibes, by Chris Reed

Chris Reed, creator of the Used Addictions comic book series and former editor of Theatre of Decay, has put together a chapbook of horror stories titled Death Vibes. The book collects four short stories and one poem, all previously published in places like Thirteen Magazine, Midnight Echo, and Trail of Indiscretion.

The stories are short -- the whole collection is only 15 pages -- which makes it a great book to take on the go or to pull out when you only have a minute or two to read. All five offerings are dark, and all pretty much what you'd expect from a guy who's written stories titled "Sick John" and "Conan vs. Rosa Parks."

The first story, "The Last Captain," can best be described as a brutal tale of high school romance (or the lack thereof). Next is "Sole Provider," the least horrific story of the bunch, but also definitely the weirdest. "Mushrooms" is a horror poem that first appeared in Aberrant Dreams, written in a narrative first-person style and very descriptive.

"Steve's Promotion" is my favorite story of the book, mostly for the twist at the end and the way that twist is presented. Reed does a great job of fusing humor and horror together in this one. "Lily's Grave" is the last story and definitely not for the faint of heart. It was the only story I'd read before getting my hands on the chapbook, and on the strength of that story I was eager to read the rest.

Death Vibes is a strong collection by a talented horror writer. My chief complaint was that the book was so short, but Reed also has a longer collection coming out called Vile Visions, which includes all of the stories from Death Vibes and plenty more (24 stories in all).

Both books will be available on the author's website (ChrisReedFiction.com) starting October 31st -- Death Vibes for $5 and Vile Visions for $10, both with free shipping -- but you can order a copy before then by contacting the author at c_allen_reed(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Used Addictions, some fiction markets

If there are any comic fans out there, Chris Reed (horror writer and former editor of Theatre of Decay) has just released issue #1 of his new comic, Used Addictions. The comic follows a cigarette butt, an empty wine bottle, and a used condom on there adventures throughout Detroit, and it's pretty darn funny. If you're one of the first 10 people to email Chris and agree to give him a quote about the comic for his website, he'll send you a free copy of the first issue. If you don't want to give him a quote or if you're not one of the first 10, you can still buy a copy for only $3 at the Used Addictions website. If you want more information, I posted a review of the comic here. (And if you're tired of me starting my sentences with "If," then you're probably not alone.)

Here are some speculative markets that are currently open to submissions:

- Brain Harvest: Pays 5 cents per word for short speculative fiction (under 750 words). Reprints OK but are paid at a lower rate. No simultaneous submissions.
- Lone Star Stories: Open to reprints and simultaneous submissions of fiction and poetry. Pays $20 per story and $10 per poem.
- Talebones: Looking for unpublished dark fantasy (with a supernatural element) as well as science fiction stories, up to 6000 words. Pays 1-2 cents per word for fiction and $10 for poetry. No simultaneous submissions.
- Zahir: Wants "well crafted speculative fiction." Accepts reprints and simultaneous submissions, and pays $10 plus 2 contributor's copies for stories up to 6000 words.

A new Bits & Pieces review and a cool horror story

Joshua Gage wrote a review of my chapbook of short horror poems, Bits & Pieces, which is posted on the Cleveland Poetics blog. He ordered the book through The Genre Mall and apparently got some extra goodies with it, which is awesome.

I was getting ready to write a post about the Cleveland Poetics site, even before the great review. It's a neat site, with contributed content from several different writers. They post anonymous poetry critiques on Fridays (where anyone can comment on the poems), and recently there have been some lively haiku discussions, which you can read here and here. Before I found this site I had no idea what a ghazal was.

If you find yourself with a few extra minutes and want to read a great horror story, check out former Theatre of Decay editor Chris Reed's creepy little tale, "Lily's Grave," posted on Killer-Works.com.