They Move Below by Karl Drinkwater - Review And Super Exciting Announcement

Being Halloween I wanted to read and review something a little (or a lot) creepy. I decided on They Move Below by Karl Drinkwater. They Move Below is a collection of 16 short stories and contains some of the creepiest tales I've read in a long time. Before I get into my review though I want to share something EXTREMELY exciting! Earlier in the year I reviewed Harvest Festival, one of the stories in this collection and I absolutely loved it. As an amazing treat Karl Drinkwater has turned the first half of this story into an online interactive experience (think read your own story books, but online)! I cannot tell you how much fun it is reading through the story and making decisions for the characters, I get so involved each time I play/read through. This experience is now available for everyone to go and check out so I advise you to go do it and please let Karl Drinkwater (and me) know what you think! 

HARVEST FESTIVAL INTERACTIVE ONLINE STORY

Ok so if anyone is still around (I don't blame anyone who isn't because I'd be over there reading through right now myself) I'll share my review of the 16 stories contained in They Move Below. 

The first story is Transmissions Part 1 and it is a kind of introduction to the book with a narrator contemplating darkness, the man is very philosophical and really makes you think, even when you have an idea of what he's actually about to do. 

If That Looking Glass Gets Broken, starts off innocuous enough and then then further into the story you get, the more messed up things become. By the end I wasn't 100% sure if I was dealing with a woman with mental issues or something a lot more sinister which made the reading very unsettling.

The title story, They Move Below, is set on a small boat on the ocean containing just two people. I did struggle with the dialect at first but I soon fell into the rhythm of it. This story definitely shows how important it is not to mess with things that you don't understand and that a fear of the deep is a sensible one to have.

I've always thought that museums can be creepy places and I couldn't put into words how creepy they may be at night...Karl Drinkwater however has done just that in Creeping Jesus! As a parent this also terrified me as the thought of school trips gets closer as my Nerdling gets older.

I don't want to say much about Harvest Festival as you have the opportunity to experience the first half of it above, but if you do want to know more, my review of that is here and it also has a Q&A with Karl.

"Holyyyyyy Crap" - these are the exact notes I write about Just Telling Stories. This story was absolutely terrifying and I think pretty much everyone's worst nightmare (or definitely mine at least). I struggled going to the bathroom in the night after reading this for a good while and probably will again now I've thought about it to review it! It really has stuck with me. There are also some really nice nods to Dean Koontz and other popular horror tales.

In Claws Truth Forebear the main character really learns a hard lesson about not taking things that aren't yours, I don't want to spoil what the feeling you get through this story is, but I will say that I felt it extremely intensely and it was a very difficult read to get through as I felt like I was suffering with the main character. A really excellently written story.

Breaking The Ice was extremely tense and I was never really sure what happened. I think that really adds to the horror of something, when you can only guess and your imagination does the work for you, usually with terrifying results.

I really liked how How It Got There was written and I liked the idea that the threat doesn't always come from where you would expect. Very clever!

Web is another story along a similar vein as If That Looking Glass Gets Broken in that you aren't sure if what is happening is the result of hallucinations from too much Nutmeg or if it is the slow mental breakdown of a woman who has suffered so, so much. Either way a painful read and you really feel for the main character and just want it to be ok for her.

With the story, Scissor Man, Karl Drinkwater has created a classic urban legend that could easily rival the bogey man as the Scissor Man seems even more horrifying to me personally. It also leaves you questioning what really happens right at the end.

I absolutely loved Sinker! This story was so incredibly well thought out and I don't think I've ever read anything like this before. What happens comes so out of the blue and was nothing like what I was expecting with a hunter becoming the hunted story. Though only a short story, I could picture the village clearly as well as the main character and I felt like I was right there with him.

With technology and the access everyone has to information all the time, it is a lot harder to scare the current generation, but in Overload, this technology and access is used as the horror. Overload is written in a very interesting way and reading it as if you were the main character really helps with the immersion.

Regression was really interesting and looks at whether childhood fears can be a reality and what would happen if they came true when you were an adult and had managed to avoid them for a long time.

I really like stories written in interview format and Second Transcript really works well being written this way. I like the way it makes it feel like you are there as it is happening and are listening to the conversation backwards and forwards between the policeman and the witness. This story also adds more information to the How It Got There story and makes you question just how big this thing really is.

In Living In The Present we have another story where the threat does not come from where you expect it and when it does come, it definitely does not come in any kind of form that would even cross your mind. There was definitely very strange Father Christmas imagery used in this story which made it extra creepy.

In Bleeding Sunset, Dancing Snowflakes, the tension builds up slowly and then is released with an unexpected bout of childish glee and playfulness before the horror then kind of hits you in the face. Were vampires the cause of what happens or did the teacher do it all herself? Either way a really well written story.

The final story is Transmission Part 2 and it is the one that goes big before you go home. To me the scary thing about this story is the smallest possibility that it could actually happen. No one knows what's out there in the vastness of space and no one really knows the repercussions of everything that we do here on Earth and how it can affect other things or beings.

Overall an absolutely excellent collection and one I would definitely recommend to lovers of horror. There is also extra bits at the back where Karl Drinkwater talks about the inspiration behind each story and I thought that was incredibly interesting and actually answered some of my ponderings from while I was reading the stories.

I gave this book 5 stars.

Other good news is that just in time for Halloween, Harvest Festival is also available as an audiobook! Click HERE for the links.

Yonder by LeeAnne Hansen - Audiobook Review and Author Q&A

Back in November 2015 I was lucky enough to read Yonder: A Southern Haunting, Book One by LeeAnne Hansen and I absolutely fell in love with LeeAnne's writing and the story of Isabel (if you want to check out my review, it's over here). I've been patiently *ahem* waiting for book two since, so when LeeAnne contacted me to see if I would like to try out the audio version of Yonder, I jumped at the chance. 

This was my first experience with an audio book so I wasn't sure what to expect. I've been putting off using audio books for a long time now as I wasn't sure if I'd pay enough attention if I was only listening rather than reading as it's very easy to tune out of things if you're busy doing something else. 

With having read Yonder before and knowing how much I loved it, I knew that I would be paying attention, though once I started listening I don't know what I was ever worried about as I couldn't do anything else as I was enjoying listening to the story so much. LeeAnne narrates Yonder herself and in my opinion she does an amazing job. He voice fits the story perfectly and she doesn't quite put on different voices for each character but there is enough difference to know exactly who is speaking every time. 

I felt like I was "reading" Yonder again for the first time, it was like discovering it all over again and I loved it. Having someone else read it to me meant being able to just get totally lost in the story and concentrate on the conversations between characters. 

I cannot recommend this book and audio book enough to you! 

As LeeAnne is such a lovely person, she agreed to take some time out to answer some questions for me and I'm extremely grateful. Here's my q&a with her:

Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer?

Kind-a. I was always writing but I was drawn in a lot of directions from acting to directing to singing to playing in a band (bass guitar). But no matter what I was doing, I was always writing.

Your books combine romance and hauntings, what drew you to this combination? Have you always been a fan of the two? 

I love romance (complete sucker for love stories) and I am a super fan of things like the Twilight Zone and history. I like stories where people are just trying to lead their lives and something they didn't expect pops up. I wanted a kind-of- Hitchcock feel – He loves to throw a normal Joe into a life he had no idea was possible or even existed.

Yonder, the audio book is narrated by yourself (beautifully I may add), can you tell me anything about the process? 

First off, Thank you! That was quite a undertaking. I had never done anything like that before in my life! Luckily, I married my own Hollywood sound profession who bought me a mic for my birthday and helped set me up. I went to school for musical theatre and acting but I never thought of doing something like this, but the idea that someone besides myself would read Isabel had me ready to kill, so I knew I had to do it. It was a huge discovery into myself- I recently had half my thyroid removed due a growth (nothing serious) and it had taken awhile for my voice to make a come back- if anything, this project taught me that I really hadn't lost anything: It gave me the confidence I had been lacking. I really owe it a lot.

Now that Yonder is an audio book, will Ghost Light and your future books come out in audio book form too? 

You had to ask. LOL- I need to learn a Scottish accent first. I am working on it. It's tough! But I hope to do all of what I write.

Do you have a writing routine or a favourite place to write?

Not so much a place but an atmosphere. I love to write when it is raining so I moved to the wrong place since living in Southern California, rainy days are rare.

Do you have a favourite character that you have written so far?

I would have to say Sean Berenger in Ghost Light. He is such a wonderful ass! In reality, I based him on a drunken Scottish version of Han Solo. Who doesn't love Han Solo?

What is your favourite thing about being an author? 

The feedback! Having people love my characters as much as I do is just the best part!

When you're not writing, what do you like to get up to?

I like to read and go to plays. Love live music concerts. I'm a huge fan of YouTube and watching Gifs with Sound, they make me smile.

Do you have a favourite author? 

I adore Christopher Moore, Ray Bradbury and Eve Silver - Moore is hilarious and strikes that human chord, Bradbury paints complex worlds with very few words and Silver makes me think I will never write Romance as good as her.

I know you're currently writing A Southern Haunting #2, do you have a rough idea of when we can expect it to be released? 

In a few months. Currently, I have been hired out to write a couple of spooky screenplays for a production company and record some audio books for Warren Adler (author of War of the Roses. First audio book is already out called American Sextet- I did it under the name Lillian Yves.) As soon as these projects are completed (soon!) I'll return to spending all my focus on the sequel.

Thank you again to LeeAnne so much, both for giving me the opportunity to try out the audio book of Yonder, but also for answering all my questions, it's been an absolute pleasure.