I picked up A Study in Red: The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper, the cover hinting at the dark secrets contained between the covers. But, the cover didn’t warn of the depth of travel into the mind of a madman.

Brian L. Porter’s words grab the reader and won’t let go as he describes Robert Cavendish’s reading of the secret journal of the notorious Jack the Ripper. The man’s life changed as he discovered an ancestor’s place in Jack’s life, the workings of The Ripper’s mind, and the terror the mad man invoked.

This book is not one I could sit and read at one time. I would read a section, shiver, and lay the book aside. I had to return to its pages, though. I could not stay away. Part by part I delved into the horror that Porter portrayed in his novel. I can’t say I enjoyed the book, because the uneasy feelings it left in my mind were not enjoyable, but the book held my attention.

Though I do not read horror stories on a daily basis, I do occasionally enjoy a good scare. A friend recommended Scarlett Dean's The Academy to me as a decent read, so I decided to put my latest romance novel on the back burner and move over to the dark side.

We meet fourteen-year-old Grant Taylor as he becomes the newest pupil at the Knollwood Academy for boys on account of his carrying a pocketknife into his old high school. True, he had fallen in with a rough lot and made his share of trouble, but expelled? And sent to jail in the form of the Academy? This was just too much.

I picked up Butterfly House on a whim on a cold January day and was immediately drawn into the story of two people who thought the perfect house was described by an ad that read "musty, dusty, and guaranteed haunted." Okay, T.K. Sheils, you got me. Tell me more.

Sabrina Osterling and Jackson Rutledge couldn't resist a haunted house. That was why they both showed up in the realtor's office at the same time after the ad ran for a supposedly haunted house. But that was the only common thread between them. In truth, they couldn't have been more opposite.

Imagine a world in which supernaturals, the creatures of myths, fairy tales and horror stories, exist unnoticed in the modern United States. Werewolves, vampires, gods and assorted others go to shopping malls and nightclubs. These supernaturals gain knowledge and power by exchanging bodily fluids - through sex and blood. The paranormal is combined with sexually explicit material.

Kris, the heroine, wakes up on her fortieth birthday. She has a satisfactory professional life designing jewelry. She inherited a splendid house and several acres of land from an eccentric uncle. (Andel lovingly describes the house; I want that house.) One part of Kris's life is unsatisfactory. She wants a permanent male partner and there's no candidate for the position. She has two immediate problems. The first is her birthday dinner. Her mother has planned a family dinner and Kris is expected to attend, on time. Her second problem is lack of sex. It's been a year since she had sex with anyone. She decides to hit the bars after the family dinner and bring someone home. Who knows? Mr. Available might turn out to be Mr. Right. If not, well, a one-night stand is better than nothing.

Have you ever wondered if your life is nothing more than a story? I’ve spent hours watching movies like Matrix and Alice in Wonderland, where fantastic things happened… only to discover they weren't real. And then there's fate. Fate basically tells us that we have no control over our own lives. That our course was set eons ago by beings we've never heard of. And we can't change a single thing.

Have you ever had something that was really small, but terribly annoying to you? Like something creeping across your skin, a watermark on the wall, or a minor mystery you just seem to obsess about? Well here is one that all starts innocently enough with a dirty stain on the Wallpaper of a house. Just a stupid stain except--it moves. No, not while you are looking at it, but when you are asleep. All proofs to document who did it, or why, come up nil. Until one night, a chopped off foot from well-set traps changed everything.

Casket For Sale (Only Used Once) is the third book in Jeff Strand's Andrew Mayhem series, in which he mixes horror and comedy.

In an effort to become a more responsible person and a better father, the main character, Andrew Mayhem decides never to accept any more strange jobs from strange women in coffee shops, because the results are usually catastrophic. After refusing such an offer, he goes for a camping trip with his family and two friends. Then he decides not to ignore the warning of an old man, and they find themselves face to face with a group of psychopathic killers. They have no other option than to run for their lives and to fight if needed.

Everyone does it. Perhaps only in the darkest recesses of thought, we all fantasize about our own death, the aftermath and impact of it. To brush near death, to feel its cold breath on the back of the neck, forces the mind closer and closer to its reality; forces one to truly consider its implications, both practical and emotional. To look back is also to evaluate the worth of the life and of a life’s work. Lisey’s Story could be Stephen King’s fictional therapy, dealing with the death that reached out and scratched him and to what he may have left behind. The haunter is the haunted.

Zombies are the new vampires. By that I mean that zombies seem to be (pardon the expression) coming back to life and taking the place of vampires as the premiere monster of horror fiction. I don't know about you, but to me there's something about zombies that really reaches down deep into my hindbrain and creeps the frack out of me. Zombies don't think. They don't feel fear. They won't stop. Ever. And they want to eat you.

Many readers like stories about the highly erotic and forever depressed, beautiful, non-aging beings called vampires, and I am no exception. I have read and reviewed many such books, and, in my opinion, Eugie Foster's vampire stories have everything a good vampire story needs to have.

The 2-in-1 flipbook Inspirations End/Still My Beating Heart contains two excellent vampire stories. The first one, Inspirations End tells the story of a young rock musician's love affair with a female vamire, Cybele, who becomes both a muse and a curse for the passionate young genius. This story is erotic, full of passion, and is also very intriguing because it introduces a new type of vampire.

If an author creates a world you like very much, you are always a bit afraid before starting to read the next installment. Will she be able to live up to your expectations?
What more can be added to such a well-described world? These are the questions you ask, even though you can hardly wait to start the next book. This is probably also what the fans of Karen Koehler's Slayer series will be asking, but, in her case, there's no need to worry about that. In The Blackburn & Scarletti Mysteries, Volume I, she takes world-building to another level, to a level where completely new characters can be introduced, and the two main characters investigate events that are unrelated to those described in the earlier books.

I have been wondering what makes vampire fiction so attractive. This is a question for which there are many possible answers. One answer often given is that vampires are sexually attractive, but I believe there's much more to it.

Vampires are beautiful, sensual creatures, a fact that cannot be denied, but they are also romantic heroes. Though they may be the ultimate bad guys who break all the rules and get away with it, they also have supernatural powers that make them similar to the greatest superheroes. They have many characteristics that make them envied, but also features that make them more human and easier to identify with. We can envy them because they are immortal, forever beautiful creatures with strengths and abilities that no James Bond can ever have.

Black Miracles is the second book in Karen Koehler's remarkable vampire series, Slayer.

The book consists of two novellas, "Dragons's Blood" and "Immortal." The first one, "Dragons's Blood" starts several years after the events of the previous book, Slayer.

The lead character in the Slayer series is Alek, who is a dhampiri--a half-human, half-vampire being--who used to belong to the police force of the vampire community, but had to turn against his fellow slayers and his master, Amadeus, after revealing a horrendous conspiracy.

Dan Thomas, author of the acclaimed vampire story, The Reckoning, now presents us with Dark Highway an entertaining zombie tale with plenty of black humor.

Tom Turley is a not very talented young salesman traveling to an important meeting: his last chance to keep his job. After a series of unfortunate events and due to the lack of spare tires, Tom hitchhikes to get to his destination. He is picked up by the Everspachers, a rather perverted couple, who also turn out to be homicidal.

Slayer is the first book in Karen Koehler's highly acclaimed vampire series.
In times when, according to many, far too many books are written about vampires, the author manages to come up with something original: a book which can righteously be called one of the best of its kind.

Alek Knight belongs to the Dhampiri, half-human half-vampire beings that make up the police force of the vampire community. The current situation is the result of an agreement made several hundred years ago with the Vatican.