Bad Dreams
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- Parts 1
this is from a review of my book:
Fans of "splatterpunk" style horror will get a satisfying fix of mayhem and violence from "A Taste of Blood," Jeffrey Able's collection of short fiction, but there's far more to appreciate in his stories than shock value. While offerings such as "Bad Dreams," "Muddy Lake," "Elvis in the Mirror," and "Poetic Justice" are soaked in all the gore, deviancy, and dark humor a horror fan could ask for, they use those genre hallmarks as exclamation points to emphasize outrage at social evils like racism, homophobia, and toxic masculinity. "Muddy Lake" is a particularly timely story about a crooked legal system that lets sexual predators off the hook while punishing their victims. It uses the horror genre to deliver satisfying eye-for-an-eye justice, using violence not to degrade, but to drive home a stark moral point about the real-world horrors of a culture and mentality that fails sexual assault victims. It's a socially conscious, yet sinisterly entertaining read.
Elsewhere, "Bad Dreams" sensitizes the reader to the horrors of racism by showing it through the eyes of an abused young man tyrannized by his monstrous father, and "Poetic Justice" reads like a Stephen King story as told by Hubert Selby, Jr. In fact, I thought of both authors frequently as I read the collection; there's the former's preoccupation with monstrosity, human and supernatural, overlapping with the everyday, and the latter's compassion for and rage against the damage caused by deranged, egotistical men and the culture that enables them.
As a fan of many graphic and disturbing horror novels and films, I think of myself as being a fairly jaded consumer, but as I read "Elvis in the Mirror," the queasiness induced in me by the main character's twisted psychology, projected in the form of a demonic, sexually predatory Elvis, reassured me that I still have a soul.
What more could you want from a horror story?
Highly recommended.
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[COMPLETED] ೋღ🌹ღೋ He stands roughly a few feet away from me, his body towering over my crouched one. I bring my legs up to my chest, pushing myself further into the wall as he kneels down towards me. He brings his nose to the crook of my neck, my face grimacing as I await for the pain. He breathes in, "hmmm, you smell so delicious." He coos, his breath fanning my neck, causing me to shiver In disgust. If only my brothers were here... "Wheres a delicacy like you been hiding this whole time?" His use of words has me on edge. His implementations imply that he's some sort of cannibal and judging from what he did to that other man I fear I may be right. I refuse to answer him, spitting in his face. My face bounces of the wall, the sting of his slap left behind on my cheek. I shake the pain away, placing a facade up to hide the fear within. You fucking bastard! I narrow my eyes at him, taking note of his features in case I miraculously survive this encounter. His hair is a dark auburn and his eyes that watch me with amusement are a dark blue. His attire was a black suit which seemed out of place considering he was standing in an alleyway. If I manage to escape I want to be confident that'd I'd be able to have this bastard put behind bars. Again if... His eyes shift, my eyes widening as his eyes turn from a dark blue to a pool of black, red veins trailing along from his pupil to the edge of his eyes. His voice is dark as he commands, "Show me that pretty little neck of yours." ೋღ🌹ღೋ ⚠️ Warning!!! This book is extremely dark and has depictions of Mature language, violence, sexual activity, sexual and physical abuse, including rape. Rape is a serious crime often overlooked where the victim is made to believe it is their fault. I do not condone rape however, it's a reality. Please only read if your 18+ and with caution. This book will be updated weekly. Possibly sometime more or less depending on how busy I am.
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