My First Time … Doing a Book Review

Hey there, cuties.

(Several people just clicked away to something else. Ha!)

I just thought I’d drop in, keep this thing going, by saying that my VERY FIRST OFFICIAL BOOK REVIEW FOR THIS IS HORROR dropped this week.

That’s right. Jake Marley is an Official Book Reviewer. Having read a bajillion reviews all over the internet, I’d never once considered what writing a complete review entailed. I’ve written paragraph blurbs on Amazon and Goodreads, or I’ve talked about stories here by saying the literary equivalent of “Dude, check this out,” but I’ve never had to critically examine a book, even for 800 words, and then put my own stamp on it. I tried to write it as honestly as possible, which is kind of hard when you want to ingratiate yourself in a new community.

I think I did okay.

Check it out HERE, if you’d like. I’m totally going to link in any future reviews as individual blog posts on this site, if only so I have content here every month. It’s a little cheaty, but I’m a busy guy.

Love you all!

Jake

The Art of Scaring the Hell Out of Someone: FRAGILE DREAMS by Philip Fracassi

Horror is subjective, of course. It’s an emotion more than a genre. I’ve read horrific crime stories, horrific dramas, horrific comedies (take out the laugh tracks and prat falls in any comedy and the situations usually creep toward horror). But it’s a rare thing indeed to be scared by a piece of fiction. Grossed out? Sure. Unsettled to the point of sleepless nights? Yeah. But scared? Like visceral, heart-pounding FEAR? Rare indeed.

This brings me to Philip Fracassi’s Fragile Dreams. This novella, published by Journalstone, scared me, man. It put me in a claustrophobic nightmare and KEPT ME THERE for the whole ride. The horror built upon itself, and I found myself looking away from the page to gasp or to just take a breather before diving back in under the rubble.

Fracassi wormed his way into my secret heart, my safe place, and he found a raw nerve and started slicing away at it. Pennywise scared me in Stephen King’s It. The thing living at the end of the corridor in The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle scared me. The voices in the vents in Laird Barron’s “The Broadsword” scared me. And what happens during Matthew’s perilous job interview in Fragile Dreams scared me.

Thanks, Philip. I’ll be anxiously awaiting your next one.

Get your copy of Fragile Dreams DIRECTLY FROM THE PUBLISHER.

Or, find a local retailer to BUY FRAGILE DREAMS HERE.

Or, get yourself a copy from AMAZON.