Happy Halloween Season!

"I bring to you a bloody sky,

I bring a blackened sea;

I bear the tales of men who die

And perish utterly."

~Robert E. Howard, Skulls

October is once again a month of haunted happenings here at HachiSnax Reviews. I really meant to get this up yesterday, but circumstances have been keeping me away from the computer quite a bit lately (hence the meager post count for September). 

Just like last year, all the reviews this month will be on horror-themed works. Again, I will be reviewing novels as well as short stories, classic and contemporary (with hopefully more novels finished this time around). 

I am also very receptive to any recommendations for truly blood-curdling tales. If you have a name to mention, or want to share what story still makes you pull the cover over your eyes, please mention it in the comments.

So, without further adieu, let's kick the Halloween season off with that infamous theme music that still creeps me out:

The Black Pilgrims

The Black Pilgrims by Guy Haley. A Black Templars Terminators short story, originally published by The Black Library, September 2014. Approx. 15 pages.

Out of the recent offerings of The Black Library's most recent short story theme, Space Marine Terminators, The Black Pilgrims most appealed to me for two reasons: firstly, it is penned by that whirling writing dervish, Guy Haley (who is churning out quality pages at a frighteningly prolific rate), and also, because it focuses on the Black Templars. What fan of a setting such as the Warhammer 40,000 universe could resist them? The Black Templars are an absolutely perfect symbol of a brutal, belligerent dogmatic regime; take the Lord's Knights and don them in the darkest black.

Essentially,  Deus Vult 40,000.

Well, Black Templars fans, rejoice. This badass Chapter finds itself in Haley's capable hands. I was excited about the news that he has a Templars novel coming out in 2015, and then I took a moment and realized that he had already put out an impressive array of stories featuring them so far (got a lot of catching up to do).

Anyway, without further adieu, on to The Black Pilgrims....

After three centuries of being deemed lost, the Veritas Diras has reappeared from the warp. Considering the length of its absence, it is assumed that all the pilgrims aboard this cathedral ship have been lost. It falls to Castellan Adelard and his Templar sword-brothers to verify, and to ensure that this most holy ark does not fall from the Emperor's Light.

What this most Holy contingent finds is, of course, much more horrifying. There's no reason to really get into it now. This is a very quick little tale, and the enemy rears its head soon enough. The great thing is not in who the enemy is, but how Haley presents them. Haley is a highly logical and analytical author, so he focuses heavily on behavioral nuances, to a highly satisfactory result.

Now, the two areas in which Haley usually excels are in scene-building (especially planet-building), and bringing a rich vocabulary to bear. The Black Pilgrims is no exception. The action does not take place planetside, obviously. But the description we are given of the appearance and interior of a cathedral ship are excellent. The longtime 40K is familiar with the basic appearance of such a ship, that reader simply needs the details to be accurate. The way Haley describes it makes it welcoming to a new reader as well, allowing a 40K tyro to walk away saying "a cathedral ship fashioned out of an asteroid with gargoyle-shaped cannons? Wow, that's pretty sweet."

As for vocabulary, that is here too. This isn't a story where big words are used to impress, it is one where they are simply used well. Sometimes it is nice for a story to send you to the dictionary. Here, in the second paragraph alone, we find "marmoreal" and "albedo".

One last note of merit. Haley always writes good fight scenes, but the primary battle here is done exceptionally well. The blow by blow fight choreography is vivid and effective, and consideration is taken for the fact that some of the Templars go into battle using shield and melee weapon combinations. Also, Haley stresses the functional mechanics of the power armor, focusing on how it accentuates or stabilizes certain actions. This is important because, well, if the suit of armor itself is a central part of the theme, playing up its capabilities is part of the homework assignment.

As for characters, we get a strong central protagonist in Adelard. His sword brothers are realized enough to satisfy their functions and show a diverse array of weaponry. This is perfectly fine considering the length of of the story. The real question is whether or not the mentality of the Black Templars has been properly conveyed. On that note, Haley recently shared his perspective on Templar psychology here. Early on in this story, you don't notice anything in particular, since the Astartes are all business on the ingress. However, once they face their foe, the bombastic verbal fury is pretty spot-on.

All in all, what you have in The Black Pilgrims is one of the more enjoyable WH40K shorts I have read in a while. Slightly jarring is an extremely abrupt ending. Not bad, or incomplete, I mean once one thing is done, the whole story jerks to a complete stop. Still a solid yarn, though.

Here's what it is:
The Holy Knights of Terra face off against and enemy which is a contorted, mocking abomination of all that they hold divine and true. A most sanctified purge ensues.


Final Score:

92/100


Cover Score:

I like how they credit this: icon by Kevin Chin. Everything I see by Chin I love, and this piece is no different. Why Games Workshop doesn't do much merchandising outside of the tabletop pieces, like shirts, pins, etc., is completely beyond me. Great detailing on this sword icon.

Cover Final Score:

76/100

Penumbral Spike & Black Gulch

 Penumbral Spike and Black Gulch by Ben Counter. Two Sanctus Reach short stories, originally published by The Black Library, July 2014. Approx. 27 pages (Spike), and 14 pages (Gulch).

Today, I'll be doing something a little bit different: bundling two short stories into one review. Allow me to explain: I knew all along that I would read and review both of these Ben Counter Sanctus Reach shorts. I opted to go with Black Gulch first, but could tell throughout that it worked better as a follow-up to Penumbral Spike. Therefore, I read Spike immediately afterward.

The fact of the matter is that both of these stories are quite similar (plus, Gulch is pretty short), so they don't really need separate reviews. We'll look at the core elements of both first, and then go into their individual merits.

By this point, when you read a Ben Counter story, you have a pretty good idea of what you are in for. Counter is notoriously weak on characterization, but excels at physical descriptions and battle scenes. One of the Black Library's longest-tenured authors, he is a premier bolter-pornographer.

This short story duology focuses on the incursion of Warlord Grukka as he lays waste to Obstiria, the highly irradiated homeworld of the Obsidian Glaives Chapter of Space Marines. In Penumbral Spike, a massive assault force of Ork Freebooterz lays waste to the Glaives' titular fortress-monastery. And in Black Gulch, Midnias, Chapter Master of the Obsidian Glaives, leads a last-ditch assault against Grukk himself.

First things first. The Glaives have a very interesting background setting, but Counter does not do much to utilize it in writing for the characters here. We get some decent flashbacks to be sure, but nothing in the way of an effective psychology for the Chapter. Things like the eternal penance each Marine endures, we don't get. There are memories, like ghost pains, that each endure, but the notion of it as a core moral tenet is never realized.

The action, however, is done to a satisfactory level. And there is plenty of it. In Penumbral Spike, the forces of Freebooter Kaptin Flamegut wreak merry havoc through the chapter-monastery, until they crash against an arrayed force of all twelve of the Glaives' Dreadnoughts. Great concept, and well done. There is an all-too convenient plot device that forces urgency upon the vitality of the ancient brothers. It is there because it is needed. One side effect is the deterioration of the mental stability of the Dreadnoughts, causing them to suffer memory lapses. In these moments, they feel as though they are the complete Astartes they once were, glorious on the battlefield. Counter handles these moments very well. In Black Gulch, flashbacks are presented in separate paragraphs, here you don't recognize the mental slip for the first few lines. Well played.

As mentioned before, creature descriptions are stellar here. Counter has a lot of fun constructing the orky pirate vision of Flamegut, as well as other special unit types. Strong attention is also paid to the ornamentation on the Dreadnoughts. The one thing I was hoping for is more description on the melee weapons; one Glaive is described as using an obsidian-esque weapon, but how common are they among the other members of the Chapter?

Finally, one thing that I was certainly not expecting here: Spike caps off with a bona fide emotional ending. That was a pleasant surprise I did not see coming.

Fast forward to Black Gulch, and we no longer focus on the Dreadnoughts, but on the last stand of Chapter Master Midnias. The same things that worked in Spike work here, and what didn't work obviously still doesn't. Instead of characterization, we have bombastic battle cries (that were better in Spike). There is also a plethora of bone-crunching action (done a bit better here than in Spike). When you come to a point where you are reading about "stringy pieces of meat" caught in the teeth of a chainsword, you are truly reminded of exactly why you love WH40K.

Instead of the memory slips of the Dreadnoughts, in Gulch, Midnias looks back on his service as a Glaive; specifically on the time he spent in the brig before being offered a chance to join, and on his brutal initiation rite. These moments are not as poignant as in Spike, but it gives us an interesting glimpse at his service.

The single best part of Black Gulch is the description of the monstrous Warlord Grukk, which is nothing short of frightening.

In Black Gulch, there is no emotional ending. What is offered is a furious brawl and a end that is a bit of a shock, even though it is a foregone conclusion.

Here's what they are:
An exciting pair of short stories that give a blistering account of the last days of a unique Astartes Chapter, even if the finer nuances of their behavior aren't presented.


Final Scores:

Penumbral Spike: 73/100

Black Gulch: 70/100


Cover Scores:

Another pair of covers by Alex Boyd, which, I am still guessing, came from one of the gaming supplements. Both are technically impressive, if not outstanding. Both the rendition of the Dreadnought and the ork seem a tad generic for the scopes of the stories.

Cover Final Scores:

Penumbral Spike: 68/100

Black Gulch: 72/100

Godzilla/Mothra Blu-Ray Contest

I'm not really one to hawk sweepstakes and the like, but this one is near and dear to my heart (plus, I really want to win).

Head on over to SciFi Japan's site, and check out this contest:

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2014/08/31/win-new-toho-godzilla-collection-godzilla-and-mothra-blu-ray-sets-from-sony/

There's a lot of great stuff to be won in this contest:

"This second wave features Toho films previously unavailable on Blu-ray in North America. The stand-alone title GODZILLA 2000 (1999) presents both the U.S. version of the film along with — for the first time in America — the original Japanese version. The Godzilla Double Feature contains GODZILLA, MOTHRA, AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (2001) and GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002), and the REBIRTH OF MOTHRA TRILOGY features REBIRTH OF MOTHRA (1996) plus REBIRTH OF MOTHRA II (1997) and REBIRTH OF MOTHRA III (1998), marking the first ever home entertainment release of REBIRTH OF MOTHRA III in North America. Each 2-Disc set will be available from retailers on September 9th (SRP: $19.99 each), but here is your chance to win all four for free!"

Check it out, and good luck to all!

The Cheese Stealer's Handbook

The Cheese Stealer's Handbook by Shoshaku Jushaku. Originally published by Pretati Press, February 2014. Approx. 112 pages.

HachiSnax Note: I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. And here it is....

The Cheese Stealer's Handbook is by and far one of the more unique things I have ever read. Darkly acidic humor that in the end burns through your heart, you may not give this novella repeat readings but I think everyone should give it a look at least once.

How to describe this work? The Cheese Stealer's Handbook reads less like a journal than it does a drugged-up Catcher in the Rye with elements of Rodney Dangerfield. Our narrator quips, bitches, gets tripped out of his head, eviscerates the banalities of everyday life, and burns bridges.

We follow our drug-addict/alcoholic narrator as he more than efficiently lives up to his namesake (roughly translated as a life succession of mistake after mistake). He lives a sort of bohemian lifestyle, stumbling from fix to fix, planning to write a great novel, but having no idea how to do it. The book starts after one ugly breakup, and halfway through, he enters into another relationship, with a woman way too good for him, and that it is a foregone conclusion he will royally screw up.

In theory, you think to yourself, what's the point of all this? Why would I want to read about this unlikable, seemingly irredeemable, perpetually wasted young man?

And, as it starts, you don't like him. You can laugh at his quips (although some of the humor/situations seem a bit forced), sure, but you wonder why you should even care. Especially when you know that he will ultimately do nothing but harm those that would do good for him.

The thing is, as the book progresses, you see the tragedy of the narrator, of perhaps most addicts, most directionless people. The square pegs. The self-saboteurs.

Whenever the narrator even half-heartedly tries to pull himself up, his demons happily yank him down. After a while, there seems no motivation to make himself "normal". What is normal anyway? It was never a term that applied to him anyway. Trying to work on his dream, his novel, puts him back in the throes of his vices, as he cannot effectively put his emotions into prose. Having something great, something he indeed loves, but knows full well he'll never be what it needs? Back to coke. And beer. And whatever else is in reach.

And then you realize: all the a$$hole-ish humor, it's just a coping mechanism. What else can you do when you have good qualities but just don't belong? Obviously the narrator has charm and intellect. This allows himself to always find a subsidizer/enabler. Mutually destructive symbiosis. Or something along those lines.

Shoshaku Jushaku is a masterful writer in that he either is a drug addict that can write coherently, or, just a good writer that nailed a mindset. I've known people like the narrator. Their behavior gets to be paint-by-numbers after a while. Now I've seen inside their heads.

Credit goes to the author, also, for some insightful and well-placed quotes at the beginning of each chapter. The only other author who I've seen properly uses quotations by Paul Valery is Cormac McCarthy, and that's no small praise.

So yes, I recommend this story, but don't expect a feel-good piece. The narrator ultimately succeeds at one goal; his work does not entertain his audience, but it surely changes them.

Here's what it is:
A free trip inside the head of someone you may have looked down on, sneered at, or gotten annoyed by. A first-person view of the life of someone suffering addiction, and the soul-crushing effects of it.

Final Score: 

91/100


Cover Score:

Nice and simple cover for this short tale. Stark white cover. Font looks hand written and the illustration looks hand sketched. But the best part is the back cover, where you find the recipe for Jamie's fudge.

Gotta try that soon. Just a little reminder that there is some heart in this story, even though you might think at times that the narrator doesn't have one.

Cover Final Score:

63/100

Sticks And Stones

Sticks and Stones by Jonathan Green. A Warhammer Fantasy short story, originally published by The Black Library, June 2014 (Warhammer Week). Approx. 28 pages.

Even though only four of the seven offerings piqued my interest, I've been waiting to get around to the short stories from the recent Warhammer Week. I tried to start off with Bernheimer's Gun, but, even though it is written well, it is written with too light a touch for what I am in the mood for. Option two was Sticks and Stones, a short story focusing on a group of the Empire's Pistolkorps as they chase down an orc shaman and run afoul of something far worse.

Sticks and Stones kicks off right in the middle of a heated fray between the forces of the Empire and the foul greenskins. As we meet our protagonist, Rutger Erlang, he is polishing off an orc boar rider before being dispatched to kill an orc shaman which has made short work of one of his comrades. Along with his fellow pistoliers (other young nobles led by a lowborn sergeant), they ride off to the orc camp and come face to face with not only the powerful shaman, but also an all-powerful, animated effigy of Gork (or is it Mork?) himself.

Sticks and Stones is a quick, fun read. It is a true procedural, popcorn actioner. There are no boundaries being challenged here. All that is left to the author is making an interesting matchup of combatants, and making the writing palatable. Here's how it fares:

For combatants, we have the Pistolkorps versus the orc shaman and the living Gork statue. This is an interesting match, since it is a play in contrasts of the height of Imperial technology against crude, base greenskin magic. Great concept, and fair execution. I just wish that Green had really gotten into how utterly unnerving the abominable orcish sorcery must have been for even stout-hearted nobles of the Empire.

As for characters, Rutger is a likable enough lead. He is resourceful, skilled, and also lucky. He is not so pure of heart that some highborn snobbery doesn't come through. The secondary characters, however, are simply assigned one trait/characteristic each and written around that. I also would have liked to see a little more focus on the shaman as well.

The writing is strong enough, as Green employs a rich vocabulary. His best work in the story is detailing the landscape; so much so that I felt as if I was riding with the pistoliers. The pacing never slows or stalls, either.

Yet, there are a few things that keep this good story from being great. Since this story focuses on troops using pistols, I would have liked more detail about the stresses and challenges of using and loading flintlock pistols under extreme pressure and against a daunting foe. I know these guys are the best trained in the Empire, just give me something that shows it.

Also, the living statue of Gork should have been a bit more frightening in its description. And finally, there is a moment of treachery followed by some karma-based reprisal. The moment of betrayal should have stabbed a little harder so that the revenge would have tasted a tad sweeter.

All nit-picking aside, at just under 30 pages, this is a good story to sit and read on a (thankfully) cool August afternoon while enjoying your coffee. A nice little action piece, focusing on the rank and file, which is always a plus.

Here's what it is:
The noble pistoliers of the Empire meet their match in the form of an orcish abomination. Will a little strategy and a lot of luck be enough to save the day?


Final Score:

74/100


Cover Score:

Another great cover by Alex Boyd. I'm sure that the cover is from a rulebook or supplement, but it is a great choice for this story. It's just that there is something, I don't know, familiar about the pose of the pistolier.

Well, to be fair, it is a pretty standard action pose....

Cover Final Score:

84/100

The Circuit: Executor Rising

The Circuit: Executor Rising by Rhett C. Bruno. Originally published by Mundania Press, June 2014. Approx. 264 pages.

HachiSnax Note: I was given a copy of this story by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review, and I intend to do just that. This is a first for me, and I appreciate it and thank Mr. Bruno for the opportunity. I would also like to mention that the author also informed me that this version was in the process of going through a new editor, and I could expect to see some typos within. There are some, but since I was informed in advance, I am not taking off points for it.

The Circuit: Executor Rising is a solid debut novel by Rhett C. Bruno (not counting a fantasy series he self-published while still in high school) that blends dark sci-fi with cinematic storytelling. It is set in a deftly created world where mankind has left the desolated Earth for a conglomeration of civilized outposts along the galaxy (the titular Circuit). In this opening act, we follow a quartet of players as their lives become intertwined (and re-intertwined) as they are caught in the midst of a power upheaval.

Before getting into the characters and power plays which are the crux of the tale, it's a good idea to look at the civilization the Bruno has crafted. The smattering of territories form what is known as the Kepler Circuit, and now, 500 years into this system, there is a reigning dogmatic governmental structure known as the New Earth Tribunal (lorded over by four individual, supremely powerful Tribunes). There is also an outland on Ceres, where strong anti-Tribunal sentiment brews. And finally, the is the energy source which fuels the power struggles: Gravitum. Gravitum is a mineral that was first discovered within the Earth's mantle; and, in true human fashion, over-zealous digging to mine it caused the apocalypse which ravaged the Earth. It is still a fiercely-coveted commodity, so much so that recently freighters carrying it have been getting boarded and hijacked. Which brings us to the story.....

TC:ER opens with guns blazing, as a lethal android killing machine named ADIM takes control of another freighter bearing Gravitum. Seeing a robot in action is quite an anomaly in 500 KC; their manufacture and usage has been deemed blasphemous by the Tribunal. In fact, any remaining robotics are relegated to the most menial tasks in wastelands like Ceres. And yet, this ADIM droid works with pinpoint precision at the behest of his "Creator", one Cassius Vale. Vale is the most dynamic character in the book, a bitter and enraged former Tribune that has lost all that he ever held dear, and who is harboring a grand plan to make a clean slate. Vale is charged by the Tribune, and begrudgingly agrees, to help investigate and discover the source of these attacks. There is no love lost on either side between him and his former co-Tribunes. They fully suspect his involvement in the attacks, and he gleefully keeps them in the dark.

Before going on, I should point out the ADIM is, in fact, one of the four primary players in this book. Where Vale is the most dynamic, the android is easily the most sympathetic. Somehow, Vale imparted to him a sense of consciousness, and ADIM spends a good deal of his page time attempting to rationalize, and juggling the concepts of forming an independent identity as well as seeking to appease his Creator. I've heard it said that one of the most tired tropes in sci-fi is to have a Neon-Genesis (now where have I heard that term before....) story, where the final two characters are named Adam and Eve.  Bruno does it one better and plays on a God/Adam narrative, as Vale clearly sees beings like his android as the real future.

Now, reading up to this point, you might be wondering what is the "Executor Rising" portion of the title? Executors are operatives of the Tribune which possess "certain sets of skills" to allow them to handle the dirty work that allows a benevolent society to thrive. The Circuit focuses on one young Executor named Sage Volus, a red haired beauty with a murky past and a lethal, cybernetic arm. After a close call taking down a would be bombing strike by a Ceresian fanatic in the Mars colony of New Terrene, she is dispatched by Benjar Vakari, the most odious of the current Tribunes, to get to the bottom of the freighter heists. Sage adopts a deep cover identity and heads to Ceres to see what is going on.

While Ceres is populated mostly by society's outcasts, it of course falls onto someone to pull the strings. Out of the grasp of the Tribune, assorted banking cartels don that mantle in Ceresian society. A scion to one of these Houses tasks a former family bodyguard turned miner named Talon Rayne with conducting a dangerous mission. Talon, suffering from an affliction known as the Blue Death (caused by exposure to Gravitum), accepts, and fate arranges it so that Sage is in his party. From this point, all the characters' fates converge on the grand finale.

TC:ER is structured in a manner that the arcs primarily involving Vale and ADIM serve as bookends. The introductions of Sage and Talon, their mission, and other background information, comprises the bulk of the rest of the book. As mentioned before, the Vale/ADIM portions end up being the truly engaging ones.

The best thing about The Circuit is that Bruno has a definite vision of the world he has created: from the composition to the governmental factors, economics and day to day exchanges. He does his best to fill a lot of details into what is actually a compact, quick read. I will say this: make sure to read the blurb on either goodreads or Amazon, for it provides a good background primer. In my opinion, that info would have been better included as a page or two at the beginning of the book.

To say that the best thing is the world-building does not imply that it is the only good thing. TC:ER is, at heart, a character-driven book. And even though ADIM may be the most sympathetic character, you find yourself rooting for all the main characters, despite their flaws. Like I've said, the best scenes in the book go to Vale and ADIM, but there are solid foundations set for Sage and Talon. For reasons beyond her control, we do not get to see all there is to Sage in this introductory book, so that is another reason to look forward to Book 2. Talon, as well, doesn't get a full story arc either. We spend a lot of time getting to know him, feeling his pains and his frustrations, and then he is out of the picture. Sure to return, but we still feel left hanging a bit.

Bruno's bio says that he is pursuing writing for screenplays and video games. I would say that might be the perfect niche for him. I mentioned at the beginning that the book has a cinematic quality to it, and it is the truth. Every scene feels meticulously storyboarded, yielding some stellar fight scenes (especially those with ADIM). However, at times, there also seems to be an oversaturation of description. When characters are introduced, it is similar to stage directions. I don't mean this in a bad way, since I am glad to have a clear picture of who I am reading about.

Other than that, there are a few facets in which Bruno just needs a little more polish that more books will iron out. Towards the beginning of The Circuit, there are chunks where there are simply too many modifiers all around. As the author hones his craft, he'll learn to tap into the reader's mindset with well-placed words rather than a plethora of words. And again, it's better to have too much detail rather than no detail.

Just a final note, TC:ER pushes the limits of a PG-13 rating and borders on R territory. There is some adult language and adult situations, along with some real brutal violence (which is fine by me). Nothing gratuitous, and all well choreographed. Enjoy this book; I sure did!

Here's what it is:

The Circuit: Executor Rising is a well planned out opener to an exciting series populated by fully realized characters (no cardboard cutouts). Power plays and shadow games culminate in an explosive finale. 

Final Score:

83/100

Cover Score:

Nothing too special here, and at least it tries to incorporate elements from the storyline. The font and color scheme are nice enough. Let's be honest; it's word of mouth that will drive sales of this book, not the cover. However, if you want to see something that does justice to the content, head over to Bruno's website and check out the great pic of ADIM there. 

Cover Final Score:

59/100