John McNee

I first encountered John McNee in 2011 when I read a relatively mediocre extreme horror short story collection. His story was the best in the book, a dystopian, transhumanist nightmare that made the rest of the stories in the collection seem almost amateurish in comparison. I wondered how McNee would do in longer form, if he could take the amazing world-building and characterization and keep the intensity of his monstrous characters outside of the limits of a short story length. Turns out he show more can. If I had been in a position to have a “Best of” list in 2013, this book would have been at the top of the list. I can say with no equivocation that this is an excellent book.

Though this book is released by a bizarro imprint, I hesitate to call it bizarro. It’s noir. It’s trans-humanist. It’s extreme horror. It’s brutal and intense and at times strangely touching. It defies classification because it is a perfect synthesis of so many different influences without becoming a pastiche. This is not an imitation – it’s a creation. Because I am not a person much given to steampunk or noir, I should not have liked this book as much as I do but it speaks to McNee’s skills that he mixed subgenres I don’t much care for and I still couldn’t put the book down.

Quick synopsis of the book: In the city of Grudgehaven, we are presented with a place much like Gotham late at night combined with Sin City at all hours, with some side steps into Blade Runner and Repo: The Genetic Opera as run through a Cherie Priest novel. Criminal syndicates are at war, wreaking havoc. A gorgeous dame sings at a club and forms a strange friendship with a taxi driver. A man fights to keep his ailing wife alive during a riot. A sentient severed hand is on a mission. Human motels, in that they are motels made of human skin, have relationships with real humans. A writer finds herself in a sticky situation when she is hired to write the autobiography of a very bad man. The daughter of a preacher makes a deal with a devil of sorts. A boy made of clockworks longs to be real. And all of these single threads weave the tapestry of The Grudge, a town without pity but with plenty of malice.

You can read my entire discussion here: http://ireadoddbooks.com/grudgepunk-by-john-mcnee/ show less

Set in a remote part of Scotland, the Ballador Country House Hotel guarantees its guests nightmares. What a delicious premise!

With an elderly magnate as the protagonist, I couldn't help but wonder how the author was going to make him come alive, but come alive he did-without being at all likable. An interesting choice for protagonist, but John McNee pulls it off.

Without going further into the plot, I can say that there are some wildly creative ideas here and the author delivers on them. show more Descriptions that defy reality often bother me, but here there is a good reason for them which gives the author a lot of wiggle room. Mr. McNee does not waste it. I have to give proper respect to the imaginative mind that comes up with such ideas. (Or as the kids say I give him mad respect. At least, I think that's what they say.??) Anyway, the ideas were KILLER.

I also feel I have to give an appreciative nod to the writing skills on display here. I felt this story was well written. The author found ways to describe numerous horrific incidents without being repetitive or losing my interest-something that doesn't happen very often.

I highly recommend this book to all fans of horror, but especially fans of early Clive Barker and the Splatterpunk genre! You can pre-order this book here: http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Nightmares-John-McNee-ebook/dp/B016Z8BSXS/ref=sr_1_... of nightmares

Thanks goes out to fellow Goodreader Bandit, whose review caused me to head over to Net Galley and request this book. Thanks Bandit!

*And thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing this book for free, in exchange for an honest review. This is it.* show less

Having read so much mediocre horror fiction recently it has been a pleasure to read something with real originality and style and outstanding evil that resides at the Ballador House Hotel.

An eclectic mix of characters are in resident at the Ballador Hotel all hoping to encounter and meet paranormal apparitions as night approaches. One particular resident Victor Teversham is praying that the hotel will supply an answer as to why his wife Josephine booked a getaway break here before committing show more suicide.

We meet the mysterious and beautiful Gia, the night manager Mrs Dempsey and the loud and boisterous Heinrich Stritzel. The author accomplishes, what many writers fail to do, he makes all the players that we encounter very believable. At times I felt this was almost a modern horror remaking of Casablanca where all meet and encounter horror at a central point with no means of escape. What was extraordinary in the story telling , not only for the main antagonists but also for the reader, was the inability to distinguish between what was real and what was fiction....what was a dream and what was reality. This confusion added greatly to the constant feeling of dread and fear that permeated the unravelling of the mysterious ghostly events taking place.

There is a clever connection between Victor and his wife and a woman from the past known as Evelyn Burgess, and when the true intentions of the ghostly "residents" becomes apparent it is too late to stop the ensuing bloodbath..." The Residents are the parts of ourselves we wanted to keep hidden. The parts we didn't like. The parts we suppressed. Invasive thoughts, base urges, and hateful impulses."

So a highly original story with a gruesome and bloody conclusion, a most enjoyable treat for lovers of good horror. I received an advance copy of Prince of Nightmares for an honest review and that is what I have written. show less

The premise of Prince of Nightmares really intrigued me and as an added bonus I discovered that not only is John McNee a Scottish horror author but the story is also set in Scotland. Result! Wild horses couldn't have held me back. I love all kinds of horror but being from Scotland myself it's a real treat to come across a Scottish horror author, especially one who sets their story in Scotland. Of course that doesn't mean that I am going to love it or that I'm going to give it 5 stars based show more on those facts alone.

Prince of Nightmares is expertly written, a pleasure to read and much more than I was expecting. At times I wasn't sure if what I was reading was real or if it was a dream but that just added to the imagery and surreal feel of the story.

I honestly don't think I could pick just one thing that stood out for me. I enjoyed everything about this one: the writing style, the imagery, the pacing, the atmosphere, and more. Fans of horror will devour the imaginative, twisted and horrific scenes within the pages of this book. I know I certainly did. It's bloody, it's gory, it's vicious and certainly not for the faint of heart and I was totally immersed and enjoyed every minute.

I would love to read a prequel set around the history behind the hotel.

Highly recommended. show less