Tales Under The Blood Moon: Martin Fisher
Reviewed By Steve Stred
I quite like receiving the cold-call, ‘would you be willing to review my book?’ email.
I know I am 100% in the minority about that, but a part of me smiles when I see it, simply because I know the guts and stomach-clenching turmoil it takes to type out an email and then hit send. And then wait. And wait. And wait, hoping the person will A) respond and B) accept the invitation.
Recently, I received that sort of email, from Martin Fisher. As most of these emails go, he was very pleasant and with the added bonus of it being illustrated, I was very intrigued.
What I liked: ‘Tales Under the Blood Moon’ paints with a wide brush. We get a smattering of brief looks into a variety of genres and Fisher dove into each story whole-heartedly. He has an effortless writing style and I found story after story flew by. Each story on it’s own was very engaging, but for whatever reason, I ended up finding the first two stories were the ones that really stood out for me. ‘The Mass in the Rain’ was a fantastic take on cosmic horror. A great short where a man bursts into a tavern and tells the patrons about something in the dark devouring everything. ‘Special Toppings’ was a tongue-in-cheek look at a very unique food vendor.
I must also make special mention of the illustrations by Jack Rourke. Fantastic artwork and it really gave a great visual for each story.
What I didn’t like: I think I’ve become a bit bogged down and burned out on short story collections, as I found, while the stories were refreshing and the writing was great, I personally was having a tough time jumping back in some days. While that isn’t a negative directed towards Fisher, if you are wary of short story collections at the moment, there are some fantastic stories. As always with collections, each reader will discover a different favorite.
I will add that the description I was given in the email suggested a few stories had a comedic slant, which I found ultimately worked against me as when each story started I wasn’t sure whether it would make me laugh or scare me.
Why you should buy it: This is a very solid, debut collection and having the added bonus of such amazing illustrations is a wonderful cake topping. Fisher created some really well-done characters and worlds and I found more than not, that I enjoyed myself while reading this.
If you’re looking for another short story collection to consume, look no further!
Tales Under The Blood Moon
An otherworldly creature terrorizes a remote pub. Tobe turns his family into comic book characters in a twisted act of revenge. Melissa finds an ominous slab of stone in her basement which summons forth swarms of rats. An archaeological dig on another planet goes wrong when the crew finds the lone survivor of an ancient culture. These and many more tales of horror, suspense, and terrors from the beyond await.
An anthology that will chill you, move you to tears, and make you second guess that strange noise coming from the closet. Find out what awaits you in TALES UNDER THE BLOOD MOON.
Featuring frightening original artwork by Jack Rourke!
You can buy Tales Under The Blood Moon from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Steve Stred
Steve Stred is the author of a number of novels, novellas and collections. He has appeared in anthologies with some of Horror’s heaviest hitters.
He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with his wife, son and their dog OJ.
You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred
You can follow Steve on Instagram @stevestred
You can visit Steve’s Official website here
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