Horror Fix, the horror movie news and review site is expanding its focus to include the publishing of horror novels and horror themed comic books. To celebrate this bold new direction they have decided to give away their first full-length novel free to visitors. Nine Tenths is the first novel from Horror Fix author Ash Hamilton. 

In a world on the brink of destruction from demonic forces, a ragtag group of survivors travel across the remains of the United States in search of anything that can even the odds against their hellish pursuers.

You can download the first chapter, Salvation, here

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Ty Schwamberger’s The Fields starts out with an introduction by Jonathan Mayberry, laying out the ground rules for zombie stories, those rules being that … there are no rules. Save maybe one, that zombie stories tell us more about ourselves than about the shambling undead on our heels. This was a wise choice, as, from the beginning, it’s clear that this isn’t the zombie story we’re expecting. It’s hard to say what exactly we’re expecting, but Schwamberger knows, and he exploits this knowledge, teasing the reader with one zombie cliché after another: the strange light from the sky, the backyard full of bodies, the zombie bite that may or may not have been a dream. The Fields makes explicit the subtext in any good zombie story: that the beasts reflect our own deepest fears of our time. Billy, the protagonist, fears losing the family farm. He fears not living up to his father’s expectations, at the same time fearing filling the old man’s shoes too well. Abraham, a mysterious visitor, shows up at just the right time to capitalize on Billy’s failing crops … for a price, of course. Abraham is easily the creepiest part of this book. His uncanny sneakiness, his sinister laugh, and a hint of mind-reading put me at unease from his first appearance. Abraham insists he is there to help – Schwamberger has expertly crafted a character just creepy enough to set your teeth on edge, but not creepy enough for the main character to be justified in turning down his promises of assistance. The setting is inherently spooky, too. Maybe it’s just me. I’m a sucker for rural settings. Add in a creaky old barn, some primitive farm implements, and a protagonist in worn overalls, and you’ve got my attention. Schwamberger sets the scene for us well. Unfortunately, while the story and the characters in The Fields were fine, the prose itself was a major distraction. A worse offense is that every few pages, Schwamberger seems to hit on a turn of phrase he likes, and repeats it to the extent that I wondered if I’d forgotten to turn the page. Sometimes repetition can form a pattern to drill in the importance of a scene. Here, it just gets boring. Couple this with the repetitive descriptions of Abraham and Billy’s father, add in a dash of over-long and unrealistic dialogue, and I think this promising concept would have been better suited to a short story. Overall I found this to be a great idea, with dynamic characters, that fails in the execution. Posted by HorrorFix contributor Sugar Shock.

Tags: Ty Schwamberger

I admit it. I scoffed at the iPad when it was first introduced. I thought it was nothing more than an oversized iPod touch and I was going to be damned if I was going to lay out that kind a money for an oversized iPod. Let's fast forward to me putting my foot right into my mouth so far that my big toe just gave a thumb's up to my proctologist. I love my iPad and over the course of the year it has all but practically replaced my laptop. Among the actual "productive" apps I have, I have a slew of horror themed apps and games to satiate my thirst for macabre. Add in a full library of books and even a horror trivia app and the iPad becomes a "love horror, will travel" device for me. The Uninvited is the first horror anthology magazine for the iPad and when the office here at HorrorFix heard about we couldn't wait to get our little bloodstained hands on it. I have always been a fan of horror anthology books, magazines and comics. Tales from the Crypt, Eerie, Shock Suspense Stories and Heavy Metal comprised the bulk of my high school study hall reading materials (reprints, gents... I'm old, but I'm not fartin dust yet). I've always loved the idea of being able to explore a wealth of different worlds and styles all within the same binding. So, I ditched second hour home-ec, fired up my favorite contraband smoke under the bleachers and bathed in the electronic glow of Apple's little wonder for my first foray into the digital horror anthology arena. I have to give The Uninvited kudos for its look and its attention to aesthetics. The Uninvited is a nice looking app and a very graphic centric app for something intended to be read. It is the look of The Uninvited that effortlessly leads you into its electronic pages and lets you settle comfortably within its binary dust jacket. The stories within The Uninvited are every bit as polished as its exterior, and although you might not recognize some of the names, that doesn't detract from its quality. The Uninvited brings us five horror stories in this, its first issue, two of which are comic book stories. The comic stories, in fact, might be enough of a drawcard to get The Uninvited its audience, but it is its middle addition, The Most Beautiful Girl, that is truly its standout piece. Anthologies, as much as I enjoy them, often make it difficult to let a store or idea linger. Dealing with short stories or episodic tales, by the time the ball gets rolling, its time for it to come to an abrupt halt, making most anthologies a mixed bag for many. If The Uninvited suffers from anything, it is the format itself. The Most Beautiful Girl feels the most complete of the yarns that the app spins and its author (Mark MacKenzie) probably has the firmest grasp of the short story template. The Devil's Eggs (the first of the two comic pieces) should also be mentioned in its accomplished illustrative style and Lovecraftian storytelling. With more ups than downs, The Uninvited is a nice addition to the App Store and I'm anxious to see what the next installment brings us.

Tags: IPad horror apps, The Uninvited

I first heard about the works of Thomas Ligotti after picking up the graphic novel of The Nightmare Factory, based upon his short fiction. So utterly unnerved was I by The Nightmare Factory Volume 1, that I made a mental note to try one of Ligotti’s books, without pictures. My Work is Not Yet Done appealed to me, with its creepy cover. Said cover consists of a white background, with a man in a black suit holding a gun by his side, standing above his own reflection at his feet. I hate to give away too much plot detail, because I think that spoils it for you, the reader. So, I will do what I always do with reviews, and supply only a bare bones description. What surprised me about My Work is Not Yet Done, is that it is composed of three stories. Nowhere on the cover or the back flap does it mention that there are other stories, apart from My Work is Not Yet Done, the first novella. My major critique of this collection is simply that I had no idea it was a collection when I ordered it. Furthermore, the first novella is 138 pages, while the other two stories are much shorter; I have a Special Plan for This World is 23 pages, and The Nightmare Network is a mere 12 pages. All of the stories concern office related horror, but The Nightmare Network doesn’t quite seem to fit with My Work is Not Yet Done, and I Have a Special Plan For This World. The Nightmare Network seems more like science fiction than horror, and it hops into the future (I think). I Have a Special Plan For This World is about a tense office that has recently moved into a seedy neighborhood that goes by the foreboding nickname of “Murder Town”. I could lie to you good people, and say that I think these two shorter stories add to the collection, but I don’t. My Work is Not Yet Done is such a powerful tale, that to tack on two stories afterwards merely seems like an attempt to fill out the book. I get it, it might be hard to sell a novella that’s only 138 pages, but the other two stories seem more like an after thought, than an essential part of the book. All nit picking about the set up of the book aside, My Work is Not Yet Done is one of my new favorite novellas. It deals with an employee that gets fired, who plans to go back to his office, and exact a little revenge with some bullets. However, something happens to him before hand that shifts the narrative into the realm of the supernatural. My Work is Not Yet Done is profoundly nihilistic, and has a bite to it I haven’t been able to find in more popular horror fare. Ligotti’s style is engaging, and leaves you ill at ease, with just a few short sentences dispersed. So rarely do you find a horror tale with a unique style these days, so when I found such in My Work is Not Yet Done, I smiled and added it to the very top of my bookshelf. If you want a tale of working in an office, and all the frustration involved therein, spliced with a revenge and supernatural fiction tale, look no further than My Work is Not Yet Done. But make sure you keep the light on; things will be getting quite dark. Spooky Sean is a guest contributor to Horror Fix. To read more of Sean's review be sure to follow him at http://www.spookysean.com

Tags: Thomas Ligotti

If there is one thing you can't fault Best for in his writing it's pacing. Lakeland Memorial, Robert R. Best's first book in his zombie trilogy barrels out of the starting gate and doesn't stop to take a breath until you reach the last page. There is such a headlong forward momentum with this first installment that you'll be reading the second book in practically the same sitting as the first... and that's actually a REALLY good thing. Best gets right to the guts and gore too and doesn't withhold the details, making the ride as fun as it is frenetic at times. We're not dealing with government scientists or black ops soldiers for hire here... we're simply dealing with people.. the cause and the core of the zombie dilemma, and we follow a small group as they fight for the very base of objectives: family and ultimately, survival. **SPOILERS** The bulk of Lakewood Memorial takes place at the very namesake of the book, Lakewood Memorial Hospital. We follow Angie, a nurse at the hospital as she struggles to complete her shift int the wake of shifty co-eds and an unappreciative boss, only to be thrust into the middle of the zombie epidemic when it hits the hospital; a place that is teeming with the recently dad and dying to begin with. This makes for a great scenario as the employees and patients of Lakewood Memorial struggle to save their skins as they witness their peers and family falling to the epidemic all around them. We do pop over to Angie's house to see that her children are also doing their best to make their way to their mother encountering their own obstacles in the newly reanimated and very hungry dead. **END SPOILERS** It is the intimate nature of the story here that makes Best's efforts so effective. We have a singular ambition that plays well across both settings and works to make us actually care about the cause behind the character's struggles. Best succeeds on building characters that are believable and vulnerable and we fight alongside them as they hack, slash, smash, crush and burn their way across the town of Lakewood. Highly recommended.

Tags: horror novels, horror stories, zombie novels, Robert R. Best

Often things will enter a person’s life either exactly when they need it or exactly when it’s capable of taking on another meaning, one so subjective and personal that it is almost impossible to be impartial. I’m not here to write impartial reviews, so it appears we are all in luck then. What I will do is give you my honest opinion sandwiched between a whole lot of neurosis and quite possibly an out of control foot fetish, but I digress. I wanted to dislike Full Dark, No Stars. I wanted to dislike it in the most pompous, holier than though, “what ? that must be your shit or possibly your dog’s, because mine simply doesn’t stink” kinda way. King’s latest is actually quite good. Good in an unexpected way, and good in a very subjective way.

Tags: horror novels, horror stories, Stephen King