Short Reviews: Angi Shearstone’s BloodDreams #1 / Tim Marquitz’s Resurrection

BloodDreams #1 by Angi Shearstone

Jonny, the lead singer of a punk rock band, seems to have pulled his life back together after years of struggling with his addictions. His band has a chance to make it big, and he has a chance to marry the love of his life. But fate, and a vampire, have other plans. As Jonny struggles with his new addiction, his friends wonder if he has simply abandoned them again, while a group of vampire hunters set their sights on him.

The first issue of BloodDreams, written and painted by Angi Shearstone, plunges headlong into a world where vampires have been hunted to the brink of extinction. The art is gorgeous and macabre, and the story flies out of the gate, revealing just enough to let readers keep up while hinting at many more juicy revelations to come. There are a lot of layers of bloody intrigue to be peeled back, and I’m looking forward to more.

Resurrection (Book 2 of the Demon Squad series) by Tim Marquitz

Some guys get all the hell. Frank ‘Triggaltheron’ Trigg, having barely averted armageddon two months before in the previous Demon Squad book, is back in the soup when he’s beset by several near-simultaneous crises–a zombie-resurrecting necromancer, a called-in favor that means killing a being that already killed a powerful demon’s top enforcers, and the rumored resurrection of the Antichrist. He’s got to deal with hidden agendas, long odds, dire consequences, apocalyptic endgames, and worst of all, blue balls.

All this is delivered fast and hot, and is a hell of a lot of fun. Trigg is an entertaining, dirty-minded and snarky narrator, sort of like that uncle you never see anymore because of the restraining order. The action and the twists in this tale are well-paced and superbly delivered, running all the way to the surprise at the end that sets up book three. I enjoyed this one a lot, and am looking forward to the next.

***
Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and several previously published and forthcoming short stories. He can be found via his website, his blog A Taste of Strange, as @gwox on Twitter, and in many other far-flung places on the Internet.

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