Darkness Springs

“The thrill of shocking and captivating a reader is almost as big a turn-on as stroking cool leather on a warm thigh.” - Cassandra Lee

Do you ever wonder where horror authors come from, I think I know. Imagine sitting in your mother's favorite rocking chair while watching Chiller Thriller Theater in the great white north, Manitoba Canada and realizing that horror soothe the winter chills. 

But wait there’s more, from her college days studying journalism, to lead singer for a rock band, and keeping journals between all those gigs, Cassandra Lee has a writing style of frank reality with the gift of keeping it relaxed.

The novel I had the honor of previewing is Darkness Springs, with Shelby McDonald a fifteen year old boy vacationing with his family in the crisp mountain air of Banff, Alberta. As in all good horror stories you have to have a love interest, Debbie Foster, and what happens to them is gripping.

There is something that has overrun the Hot Springs cave that will scare the pants off you, I mean I had to go back and re-read a section that, well for lack of a better term, gave me shrinkage, quite literally. Cassie’s descriptive detail of the anguish, horror and impalement to a victim in her novel was exceptional. What lurks in the slimy walls of shadowy caves and in the endless chasm of the darkness will haunt you... I’m never going in a cave again!

Cassandra Lee is the author of Darkness Springs and The Raising (Blu Phi'er Publishing). Other works include her novella in the anthology Gifts of the Flesh slated for release December 2008 (Blu Phi'er Publishing) She has also contributed to the following anthologies: Concrete Blood, Tabloid Purposes IV, Word Weavers Anthology, Darkened Horizons, Diabolic Tales II and Cadaver Girls Magazine.

This is her first novel, and I'll be looking for the name Cassandra Lee with genuine interest, there is more on the way. 

Norman Applegate

www.normanapplegate.com

Diverse Tales

When Clive Barker say’s “Nicholas, I salute you!” the rest of us need to take notice

Creativity is a force we think we have, or at least some of us wish we had, well, Nicholas Grabowsky owns it. Consider this, author, actor, singer, songwriter, and tutor, which includes novels, screenplays, poetry and songs...WOW.

His journey of writing the short story goes as far back as elementary school and years later went by the pen names of Nicholas Randers (and occasionally Marsena Shane) but in the mid-nineties, the horror writer we know as Nick Grabowsky emerged.

His list of titles include Halloween IV, Sweet Dreams Lady Moon, The Rag Man, Nancy, Diverse Tales, Tale of the Makeshift Faire, Shocker II (for Wes Craven, though never produced), The Wicked Haze, Diverse Arcanum, a series of self-help books, scripts, poetry and short stories. 

In 1995, he moved from Southern California to Sacramento, and in 2003, founded a publishing/promotions organization Diverse Media.    

     A couple of note worthy points, his novel The Everborn was awarded the 2005 Predators & editors top 10 finisher, and with the Halloween novels he is helping to establish Mike Myers as an American horror icon.

His novel Diverse Tales published in 2004 with 13 short stories is an honor to review. Did I say 13 stories, oh yeah; I failed to mention there is more, as an added bonus a collection of poems and thoughts. His writing style is colorful, alarming and is guaranteed to leave you with scary thoughts that will come back and haunt you in your dreams.

If you are allowed to have a favorite story among so many I do, The Newspaper Rack. I don’t know where it comes from but out of no where Nick surprises you. Here is a story of a young hotel employee who works the night shift and out of boredom develops a personal challenge to help himself to whatever he finds, and can loot, but gets so much more. In the tradition of the Grabowsky horror, layers are added to this tale until we realize were in the middle of a chain reaction of events that end with a nightmarish finale.

With titles like The Wanting Seed, The Falling, and Mental this collection of macabre stories will remind you why Nicholas is a major voice in horror. 

Norman Applegate

www.normanapplegate.com

Dance with the Dragon

Dance with the Dragon

DAVID HAGBERG has published more than seventy novels of suspense, including the bestselling JOSHUA'S HAMMER, SOLDIER of GOD, and ALLAH'S SCORPIION.

Former Air Force cryptographer David Hagberg is a bestselling author of international thrillers who has a knack for creating fiction that becomes fact. In THE WHITE HOUSE he predicted North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. In JOSHUA’S HAMMER he foresaw the 9/11 attack on the United States by bin Laden and his al-Quaeda, in DESERT FIRE Saddam Hussein’s nuclear ambitions, in HIGH FLIGHT the downing of airliners as a method of terrorism on a massive scale.

Born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, David Hagberg joined the Air Force right out of high School where he was trained as a cryptographer, stationed in Greenland above the Arctic Circle and in Germany where he helped construct the (then) world’s largest crypto center on the planet. He attended the University of Maryland, Overseas Division and the University of Wisconsin studying physics, mathematics and philosophy.

But he learned to write as a cub reporter on the Duluth Herald & News-Tribune and later as a news desk editor for the Associated Press. His first novel TWISTER was published in 1975 by Dell, and since that time he has published more than 70 novels of suspense in a career that includes a nomination for The American Book Award, three nominations for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award and three Mystery Scene best American Mystery awards.

Taken from the Official David Hagberg web site at  HYPERLINK "http://www.david-hagberg.com" www.david-hagberg.com

Now for my review For “Dance with the Dragon,”

 A Non Stop Thriller

David Hagberg is as good as it gets. Dance with the Dragon is by far one of the best action-adventure thrillers to come along in years. Every chapter is action packed and keeps you guessing right to the end. 

In the opening scene, there is a murder of a CIA agent in Mexico. As Hagberg works the plot, his dialog, narrative and description are riveting. David Hagberg's retired CIA director Kirk McGarvey gets pulled into this murder only to find that each woman involved in the case has a dark past with sub plots that he must snake his way through. It’s a fast read, as you will be racing to turn the pages to see what’s behind this cruel Chinese general and his spy game. From the opening to the last chapter you keep wondering how it will all come together...and it does! It just better not be true!

This is Hagberg’s 10^th thriller featuring ex-CIA director Kirk McGarvey, and his next in the McGarvey series is due late fall, early winter of 08.

Norman Applegate

www.normanapplegate.com