Vincent Hobbes

Imagine a place just a little removed from reality, a place where nothing is as it seems, and where anything could be just around the corner. Imagine no more: The Endlands is here.

The birth of a baby in the average hospital becomes distinctly un-average when the woman gives birth to a baby with large, black eyes, bat-like ears and a form of telepathy. Thousands of such births are happening all over the world at the same time, as if God is introducing the newest species of mankind.

A trucker show more picks up a hitchhiker who takes him to an out-of-the-way place with the best barbeque ever. Waking up after being drugged, the trucker finds himself in a barrel of barbeque sauce. A sign on the wall says that all meat must marinate for 24 hours, before being cooked and served to the public.

A soldier has been taught, nearly from birth, that his homeland has been overrun with demons and vampires, who engage in all kinds of unholy rituals. Most of them have been liquidated, but not all. The soldier is going to a certain house to investigate a report of such activities. He bursts in, and kills the family inside, including children and a baby. Only then does he realize that they were human all along, and the only thing they had going against them was being Jewish.

In a seacoast town, whales suddenly start rising out of the water, like giant zeppelins. At first, it is very cool, attracting the world's media. It becomes un-cool when the whales swoop down on people and feed on them.

Charlie is one of those who is chronically early for everything. He has received his summons from the government, one with severe penalties for non-compliance. It seems as if the world is conspiring to make him late; the traffic is heavier than usual, he has a hard time finding a parking space and he must wait at the front desk to be checked in. Finally, he gets to the right room, and sits there alone, when the gas is turned on.

These are not specifically science fiction, or fantasy, or horror stories, but the sort of stories that could easily be made into episodes of "The Twilight Zone" TV show. In fact, the book is dedicated to Rod Serling. These stories will give the reader a kick in the psyche, and they are very good. show less

Greatest lead-in for a short story:

"The future is as harsh as nature. Harsher even. Cruel and emotionless. The future is a cryptic place, where a synthetic voice is on the other end when you dial customer service, and it never understands your words. DOES NOT COMPUTE and PLEASE REPEAT YOUR REQUEST are common words in the future. The future is filled with blinking lights and chirping beeps. Complex highways and colossal buildings. One hundred foot billboards line the roads, and everything show more around you is a commercial for a product you do not need. And somewhere along the line, we lost the human spirit; self-reliance and self-worth disappeared. Because the future is a place where government dictates happiness, and society mandates perception. Welcome. I hope you enjoy yourself." show less

I was doubtful when I picked up Khost for review. I’d never read a military horror novel before, though I’ve always been a big fan of the first two Alien movies. The Alien movies are military science fiction, so I thought that perhaps the two genres would be similar. They were.

Well, as it turned out, I had no reason to be apprehensive. Khost was a very pleasant surprise, and I found myself caring about the characters and their predicament and engrossed in the story until the end.

The tale show more begins in 1984, with the Soviet Union engaged in the bloody war with Afghanistan. Afraid of losing, the Soviets develop a chemical weapon unlike any other in history, one with the power to enhance their soldiers in the battlefield. They soon put it to the test in the province of Khost, where the Mujahideen hide inside a massive cave complex.

But things go awfully wrong. Instead of enhancing the humans, the chemical mutates them into beings that are way beyond human, into something horrifying and evil.

Move forward to 2010. The USA is at war with Afghanistan. And it becomes increasingly challenging in the province of Khost, where already an elite team of Delta Force Operators has gone missing. That is, except only one survivor, who has an incredible, terrifying story to tell, and whom nobody believes—nobody except the CIA, which soon sends a top-secret team to deal with the situation…

Khost is nonstop suspense, action, and thrills. The story moves at a heart-racing pace. The dialogue and descriptions ring with authenticity, and I was especially impressed with all the military language and details. I also found compelling the dynamic between the characters and their sense of comradeship.

None of them are your regular nice guy, yet they show admirable courage, honor, and responsibility for the wellbeing of their team. The scenes inside the cave are quite graphic and violent at times, but somehow they all felt essential to the story and not gratuitous. In sum, I enjoyed reading this novel and can fully recommend it to fans of thrillers, horror and science fiction, and well as those of you who would like to try something different. show less

It is always refreshing to read something from new authors, or authors I've never read before. This book of short stories was a true delight and exciting to read from beginning to end.
Of course, as with any short stories collections, there are high points and there are low points. This collection has very few low points, although if they were written in a bit greater detail, I think they would've worked themselves into a very good story. The story "Flying Fish" is one among these stories. show more Written beautifully, but unfortunately, there was just not enough. There to really interest me.
Some of my favorites in this collection were "Room 422", "Glass Prison", "They", and "Thanksgiving". Out of all of the stories, I really would have loved to see more detail and structure to "Room 422". Although not terribly original, this had an interesting concept and plot, and with some more meat to the story, I really think this could have been the best in this collection.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I look forward to getting my hands on volume 2! show less