Colin F. Barnes

A fine sleazy romp, 6 May 2013

Anatomy of Death (In five sleazy pieces) - A review

I was kindly given an ARC of this by the editor Mark West to review. It's an anthology of five horror stories and is published by Hersham Horror Books.

Stephen Bacon's `Pseudonym' kicks off the book and although in itself it isn't a sleazy horror story as per the tagline of the book, it centers on an author who, in his heyday, was made famous for writing those kinds of horror books.
The story's protagonist, after many years, finally gets a reply to his request to interview the author, Gilbert Hudson (A play on Shaun Hutson perhaps?), in his rural home. Upon arrival the protagonist doesn't find what he expects… Read more

Good story, awful editing, 8 Feb 2013

I don't know if this was a first draft uploaded or the publishers just didn't do any proofreading, but the books is riddled with typos and errors. I only carried on reading because for the most part I really enjoyed the story. I did feel that it took a while to get going as we were introduced to the large roster of characters, presumably designed so we'd have enough people to kill once they got to the Colony. The many characters issue spoilt the main narrative a bit for me. Just when I was getting absorbed into a character's subplot, I'd be whisked away to someone else's. I also found the ending a disappointment. With some good build up, and plenty of tension, it felt like the final scene… Read more

Fun story let down by editing/proofreading, 8 Feb 2013

This book is right up my street. Essentially a technothriller set in the near future where nano-based drugs have enabled people to build an OS on top of the brain and interconnect. From that setup we're sent around the world in an international espionage mission. There's a few subplots too addressing various issues centred around the military. Throughout the characters are put into difficult situations and tested to the maximum. Ramaz Naam clearly knows his science and manages to squeeze in a lot of 'could happen' extrapolations without bogging the story down too much with dull facts or explanations.

I would have given the book 4 stars, but I'm afraid I was annoyed by the editing… Read more