The Year of Cemetery Dance 2018

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Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
50. The Slave Tree

by Alan Peter Ryan

About the Book:

"Cemetery Dance Publications is proud to announce the World's First Edition of The Slave Tree by Alan Peter Ryan, a well-crafted tale of Amazon horror that harkens back to classic tales of literature such as Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad while being firmly rooted in the modern language of suspense.

Steeped deep in the culture of Brazil, The Slave Tree takes the reader on a journey unlike any they have ever experienced. The beauty of the lush tropical landscapes is exceptionally juxtaposed with blood-chilling shocks and terror.

This chilling final novel by Alan Peter Ryan is an absolute must-read and must-own for horror lovers, and a true tribute to his legacy."

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My Thoughts:

Okay, it says that the cover is by Desert Isle Design. That's all well and good, but there is a person behind this cover. Give me a name. Someone worked on this. Or a bunch of someones worked on this. Name the humans at Desert Isle Design who worked so hard on this please.

Great cover for the story. Nice design idea.

Also, this book has very satisfying, thick pages. I kept thinking I was turning too many and would have to frequently check the page numbers to make sure I wasn't skipping due to the thickness between my fingers.

As the press release states, Alan Peter Ryan has passed away and my condolences to his family. What a loss!

In regards to the story itself, fifty pages in, I was worried.

Even though the main character in the book was a travel writer/journalist/novelist, I wasn't appreciating the style choice of total immersion into the Brazilian culture. We were inundated with details -- so many details about the culture, climate, people, currency, deities, religions, jobs, trade, attractions, exports, nightlife, restaurants, drinks, flora, fauna, languages that it felt like I was reading an Ultimate Guidebook. Also, Every Portuguese word was italicized. And while I totally get the character did travel writing for a living, I didn't want to read the italicized names of every rock that sprung up along the road. And there were hundreds of Portuguese words. Go grab your copy and count them. I'll wait. Actually, I won't.

Oh man! It was like being told, "hey stupid! this is a foreign person/place/thing/belief/idea/thought and you might not pick up on that fact unless we italicize that word for you, brainiac."

Not sure if the constant use of italics was the author's doing or an editor's suggestion, but it was irritating. Read above. It's irritating isn't it? Maybe it's some rule of English you have to do that. But, in this case, italics did a lot of damage right out of the gate in my reading pleasure.

So, after about 50 pages of this incessant red light/green light reading due to that jarring font choice, I looked him up on wiki just to get a feel about the guy. Although he did not live in Brazil at the time of writing, he did move there. And as the book progressed, I felt his true passion for a culture, country and people that drew him to make his home there. And the means justified the end.

I really liked this story. Mr. Ryan did a nice job in a unique way that rewards you with a fantástico pague. If by chance anyone reads this and gets hung up with that beginning groundwork, it really does augment the experience with fascinating information that makes the story as a whole so much richer.

And blot the italics out of your mind. But read the book. It's good.
 
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kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
Next Up: A Gauntlet Press Book but I received my copy through Cemetery Dance so qualifies for thread.

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The apple doesn't fall far from the tree with this guy, Deej. He's a great writer! I have his Scream/Press edition of his anthology Scars and it's magnificent. Plus it has an intro by Dennis Etchison!! His very short story 'Red' will always haunt me.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
51. Created By

by Richard Christian Matheson

About the Book:

"From a startling new voice in fiction comes a savagely written thriller of greed, ambition . . . and terror.

Alan White is a hot young writer-producer looking for the one megahit every Hollywood writer dreams about. He thinks he's found it with a new TV show called The Mercenary.

The network has never seen anything like it. Sex. Violence. Nudity. This time they're taking it to the max and the Nielsen ratings are shooting through the roof.

Alan couldn't be happier. Until the morning's headlines start to read like a rerun of last night's episode. Until The Mercenary begins to take on a terrifying life of its own. Until it becomes chillingly clear that Alan must cancel his creation--before it cancels him."

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My Thoughts:

Harry O. Morris is our artist for this one. Nice creepy image to go with the story. My copy was a signed numbered edition.

I like the way this guy writes. His descriptions and images are just so good. His words not only give you a nice clear picture in your head to focus on, they also give you a very visceral feel too. The way he liked to describe things spoke to me as this is the way I write. Of course, he has talent, I don't.

The story was reminiscent of The Dark Half, at least what I know of that story as I have never read it. And there was a moment in the book that was very reminiscent of a Night Gallery Episode, The Girl with the Hungry Eyes.

The story contained the gruesome scares, biting sarcasm and also had fine moments of humor given the way Mr. Matheson worded things. I felt like I was allowed a little look/see into Hollywood workings, and this book, although fictional and fantastical, had moments that felt drawn from the real and personal.

Some of the chapters felt very disjointed and fractured, but I think that was a stylistic choice given what was going on in the story and what was going on with the main character. He was disjointed and fractured. And I'm not talking about the jibberish chapters necessarily. At times, I lost my way of who, what, where, when and why. Everything got a bit timey wimey.

David J. Schow and Craig Spector add wonderful commentary about Matheson and the book. Moments they highlighted from the story were the same passages that stuck with me too, so it was kind of cool to see we were on the same wavelength.

A nice interview was included.

Also, Mr. Matheson wrote an added chapter with information about himself, his writing, career and discussion of this book.

At the end of my copy was a script portion that is always interesting to see.

Apparently in the lettered edition they got to see an unpublished chapter and the story outline which I wish I could've had the opportunity to see, but I get it. Gotta give those deep pocket people something special.

Enjoyed the ride.
 
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preciousroy

Well-Known Member
Apr 4, 2018
175
661
What I gathered from last night's episode was that we haven't actually seen the kid intentionally harm anyone. Violence and mayhem seem to follow him, but the only indication that he intended any harm to anyone was when he nodded subtly towards the birthday cake knife and the family turned on each other, and I feel that motion was deliberately ambiguous. However, he may be able to control the influence because he hasn't caused any of the main characters to act violently (until last night.)

Last night's episode created an atmosphere when he was alone with Ruth that I think may have also been deliberately deceptive. He may have been attempting revenge for the Sherriff and knew how events would unfold, I won't rule it out. But the kid openly expressed that he believes he should still be underground. He doesn't just know it, he believes it. When he was in the cage he seemed content just to hear Lacy read from the Bible.

I'm really appreciating that Hulu gets new episodes up at 9pm Tuesday nights in my area.