A quick review of Ralph Angelo Jr.'s short THE HALLOWEEN TERROR OF WEATSBORO.

As I said in the title, this will be a bit of a quick review, due to the fact that the short is only thirty three pages in length, and is fairly straightforward in composition. The Halloween Terror of Weatsboro was written at the spur of the moment back in October 2013 to tie in with the spirit of the Halloween season (Thanks to Mark Bousquet's Atomic Anxiety blog, which is where I got this bit of information. You can read his full interview with Ralph here.).  It's a fun little Halloween adventure, with some tropes that remind me a bit of old Hammer and Universal films. One of the characters actually mentions something along these lines near the end of the story. Here's a synopsis...



The story begins with a brief forward that sets up the history behind the events that are to come. It tells of a coven of vampires that have been living in the Pennsylvanian woods for centuries. Driven out by the battle of Gettysburg (along with other supernatural creatures), they end up relocating to the small town of Weatsboro, PA. Before relocating, they find an object of power, something that can be used to change the course of history... Fast forward to the present day. We are introduced to the locals that inhabit Weatsboro, chief among them Tommy Hasbrough Sr., the town mechanic, and his fourteen year old son, Tommy Jr. After getting a service call out to the old Vershrugen homestead, Tom Sr. goes missing. Convinced that something supernatural is taking place, it's up to Tommy and his friends to save his Dad, and possibly the world as we know it...



Ralph's short was a fun read, and it definitely gave me similar feelings to the movie The Monster Squad and parts of The Lost Boys. It's fast paced and doesn't dilly-dally about. It's just a good old-fashioned adventure, and doesn't try to be anything else. It does have a few flaws, but they can be overlooked because of the speed at which it was written, and the short page count in which Ralph has to tell his story. He admits that (see the above link in the first paragraph) that he could have kept adding on to the story, and this would have allowed him to flesh it out a bit more. That said, this is still an entertaining short story, which I breezed through in about twenty minutes. If you're looking for a quick read, an introduction to Ralph's work, or just a good adventure, you should appreciate The Halloween Terror of Weatsboro. At .99 cents for Kindle, you really can't lose. Here's where you can pick it up. Here's Ralph's website, if you like to learn more about him and his works. Anyhow, back to reading for me. Already immersed in an excellent new read. Happy reading, all!

Here's my review of Ron Fortier's THE WIND UP KID.

Well, I breezed through Ron Fortier's excellent, and downright entertaining release The Wind Up Kid last night. An eBook exclusive, it's fairly short (approximately forty three pages according to the info on Amazon), but it packs a well focused punch. Here's a synopsis, and what made me enjoy the story so much.



The Wind Up Kid introduces us to the citizens of Sandy Creek, a small town in northern Texas, and is set during the Old West. We meet Manuel Ramirez, who is the local blacksmith, and his son Cesar. As the story opens, Professor Phineas Proctor and his Traveling Show of Wonders has just arrived in town, and are looking to put on a performance to amaze. The entire town is excited, especially little Cesar. While having a fire eater, a strong woman, and acrobats, the piece de resistance is... the Wind Up Kid, of course, in all his shining, metallic glory. A clockwork automaton, Kid is a deadly accurate pistolero, which he handily demonstrates to the delight of the crowd. While the Professor's players are wowing the townsfolk, a much more sinister gang is using the show as a distraction. A band of outlaws has also arrived in town, and think it's a perfectly good time to rob the local bank. When the town sheriff attempts to intervene, the skunks gun him down. Unfortunately for them, the Kid steps in and shows that he can do more than just hit targets with his Colt .45 Peacemakers. The town celebrates, but the celebration is rather short lived. When Sheriff Hancock comes to, he quickly identifies the lone survivor of the raiding party as Billy Faro; brother to Butch Faro, the most bloodthirsty varmint in the territory. Come hell or high water, the sheriff knows that Butch is going to ride into town and demand a reckoning. Who will save the town? Well, there is that gleaming golden gunfighter, waiting in the wings...



I'll start by saying that once the story gets a head of steam, it doesn't let up. A rollicking adventure, once you start reading, you don't want to quit. Ron conjures up the spirit of old westerns perfectly, where the hero wears a white hat, and rides off into the sunset at the end of the film, triumphant. The principal characters and premise are interesting, with it's mix of Western and Steampunk genres. Fans of the series The Wild, Wild West will definitely find themselves enjoying this. While this is a short stand-alone story, I would be a liar if I didn't confess that I'd really be wowed by a collection of Kid stories, sometime in the future. This is downright (and I know I use this word a lot in my reviews, but it's really the highest compliment I can think to give) FUN, and an absolute pleasure to read. I'm a big fan of Ron's New Pulp adventures, and have been on board with his comic book tales from way back. The Wind Up Kid is an excellent addition to his list of tales, and if you love well written adventures, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not taking a look. It's available for 99 cents, so why don't you give it a try? Here's the Amazon page if you're interested in taking a look. Here's the publisher's page, Airship 27 Productions, if you would like to peruse their list of works (they've got some high quality authors involved, so stop by). Well, that's about all I have to say, other than I hope you'll take a look at the story. As usual, happy reading, all!