Cutting Block Press

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Doug Bentin, Bookgasm (read full review)

When Cutting Block Press’ BUTCHER SHOP QUARTET hit the stands in 2005, it was subtitled “Four Bold Tales to Disturb the Adventurous Mind.” Wow. Re-arrange those eight words and a myriad of possible exaggerations leap out at you. (Let’s pause for a moment so I can admit that I’m not slamming this book, because I haven’t read it. I’m just tossing out a smart-ass allusion to a Dashiell Hammett story, the title of which I can’t remember.)

Now BUTCHER SHOP QUARTET II, edited by Frank J. Hutton, walks among us, sans subtitle, and it’s comprised once again of four long short stories and/or novellas designed to mess with your mind, whether it’s adventurous or not.

Greggard Penance’s “The Breach” features buddies Jared and Boris, who go diving when and where perhaps they shouldn’t. Penance’s prose is sly and sets you up for The Big Whammo in ways you may not notice on a first reading. Like this:

“A moment later, a large object waddled up. It was a fish the size of a human. It brushed past them, then disappeared. … The fish swam by again, appearing to be curious. On this second pass, Jared recognized it as a lemon shark, mostly harmless to humans.”

The word that might make you pause in your gum-chewing is “mostly,” as in “mostly harmless to humans.” A few sentences later we see “creatures dancing around in the corner of his vision.” Sure, fish and other marine animals would naturally be seen out of the corner of the eye, just like you’re supposed to see ghosts. “Road Rash” by Simon Janus follows the vehicle-troubled day of a man trying to escape with stolen cash when his car throws a rod and he witnesses a senseless head-on collision. When he pulls a badly battered survivor out of the only vehicle left running, a Chevy Caprice, to help him get away, well, bad things happen to bad people. Especially to bad people reduced to stealing a crashed-up POS Chevy.

Rick J. Brown’s “Bodies Raining” has a sci-fi edge to it, and “Condemned” by Vince Churchill and Ray Brown is the most cinematic: “A large bald body pushed through to the front of the crowd. A streetlight illuminated the figure, showing it to be a woman. Made up like a hellish clown, her bald head was painted dead white, with a bright red frown smeared across her mouth. The ragged lace of a red bra could contain only one of her mammoth breasts.”

The thought of a bra being able to hold only one large breast is usually enticing, but this time, not so much.

The tales are all worth a look and the book will make you hope that this is only the second in a long line of QUARTETs.

Red Room Review (read full review)

Four powerful novellas by four authors. This themed anthology is the follow up to the original 2006 epic, supernatural anthology of horror, Butcher Shop Quartet. Each story disturbs beneath the skin, and moves the reader across landscapes and time to bring your deepest fears to life.

Rick J. Brown is a horror and sci-fi writer whose work has appeared in the Cutting Block Press debut anthology, +Horror Library+ Volume 1. He has placed in numerous Writers of the Future contests since the 1980's and has subsequently turned to screenwriting. He has worked in professional workshops with Hollywood writer/producer Glenn Benest, and his latest screenplay, BLOOD BROTHERS was deemed masterfully written by Twilight Pictures. He is a professor of psychology at Citrus College in L.A. county, and lives in Upland, California.

Greggard Penance has spent a good portion of his life as a parttime free-lance writer for travel magazines. He has roots in Tennessee and Arkansas. Like a gypsy, he travels more than not, and cannot remember the last place he called home. He plans to write a novel soon, which like his story in this book, will tread the waters between the real and surreal.

Simon Janus is the horror identity for thriller author Simon Wood. As Simon Janus, he s the author of The Scrubs. As Simon Wood, he s an Anthony Award-winner of five books as well as over 140 published articles and stories.

Vince Churchill has published two novels: The Dead Shall Inherit The Earth, and The Blackest Heart. The Dead Shall Inherit The Earth was recently featured in XBOX Magazine s ZOMBIES! Collector s Edition as one of the 37 Greatest Zombie Triumphs. Vince has a Sunday column in the Jacksonville Journal Courier newspaper, and his Splatter Pattern column appears regularly for The Hacker s Source magazine. His short fiction has appeared in anthologies such as The Undead, The Undead II, +The Horror Library+ Volume 1, The Beast Within, and the recent Midnight Walk. He was also a list contributor in the recent Book of Lists: Horror. Vince s latest novel, The Butcher Bride, is scheduled to be published by Black Bed Sheet Books in the fall of 2009.

Ray Brown is the author of The Quest, a five part series of novellas, including Book one: Dunumos, Book two: Chronicles of War, Book Three: The Darkness, Book Four: Evil s Dawn, and Book Five: The Child. Dunumos is published and available by Xulon Press, Chronicles of War will soon go to press, and The Darkness is currently being penned. Brown is a prolific writer and producer, having successfully translated Evil s Dawn into a promising comic book series. Condemned is just one project that Brown has shaped from concept to completion. While this is his first stab (pardon the pun) at horror, it most certainly will not be his last. His personal desire is to make movies that you can read. There are only two things he loves more than writing and they are God and his family.

Bram Stoker Award nominated

Monster Librarian (read full review)

Dark Scribe Magazine (read full review)

Bookgasm (read full review)

Rue Morgue (read full review)

Focusing primarily on the vilest of human needs and deeds, R.J. Cavender assembles 30 new short stories for this third installment of the Horror Library series. Avoiding as many genre clichés as possible, this assemblage steers clear of your more straightforward supernatural monsters and apocalyptic tales. Instead, the slant here is towards the sorts of real-life dangers that come along with sharing a planet with millions of potentially unstable people.

Boyd E. Harris and R.J. Cavender open with an introductory story that bears a warning: every relative, neighbor, and colleague is a lurking danger. The tale reads like a barrage of news statistics claiming nothing is safe, not even a trip to the airport. That is not to say there aren't supernatural elements in the pages of this book, but the monsters are lurking in the background here, using their human minions to lure their prey.

The stories are uniformly well crafted and original, but a few really stand out. Sunil Sadanand's "Them" is a microscopic nightmare about a man being invaded by brain parasites. The reader follows his thoughts and actions as they become increasingly disjointed and robotic from the deepening invasion. Michael Louis Calvillo's "Consumed" finds a man buried alive within a pit of corpses - his only possible means of escape is to eat his way out. The most intriguing stories in this book follow the thought progressions and internal monologues of their characters as they pass in and out of unusual and horrifying states of consciousness. As well, several tales explore particularly current-day concerns, including authoritarian torture and pedophilia.

Each story deserves a proper reading, but to consume this collection as a whole is like digesting a storm of insults against human nature. By compiling these works into a single volume, the editor presents humanity as something hopeless and lost. All of the characters - even the protagonists - are cowardly, selfish, and desperately lacking redeeming qualities. As readers, we are looking to set ourselves apart from the monster, but here we are greeted by a twisted mirror image of ourselves. And that is true horror indeed.

Horror World (read full review)

Horror anthologies over the last several years have not been traditionally big sellers for the large publishing houses and thankfully the small press has come to the rescue for those that enjoy reading them.

But regardless of who publishes them, I have avoided reading them in the past for several reasons, the main one being that it takes me too long to get through them as their very nature makes it too convenient to take a break between the stories. Adding to my disinterest is the continuous change of pacing from story to story, the different narrative styles of the authors, and most importantly, the varying quality of one story to the next. And let’s face it, although it’s not impossible, it is difficult to become emotionally invested in a story that’s only 3 to 10 pages long. So when Horror Library Volume 3 arrived I was a little apprehensive. With thirty stories in this anthology I thought it might take me at least a month to get through it.

I am happy to report that it took less than a week for me to finish it due to the outstanding job of the editor, R. J. Cavender.   The quality of stories in this volume range from average to excellent, there’s not a bad one in the whole bunch. These stories contain top notch writing with contributors ranging from heavy hitters like Bentley Little, John Everson, Kealan Patrick Burke, and Gary Braunbeck, to others who could be considered obscure.

On the dedication page, Cavender states that he hopes these stories will scare the hell out of the reader. Devoted readers of horror fiction know that is a pretty tall order, but in Horror Library Vol. 3, a few of the stories manage to do just that. Space prohibits me from commenting on all the stories, but I would like to point out those I believe are standouts in the anthology.

“Teeth”, a story from A.C. Wise, is a tale of survival and sacrifice. In “Teeth”, we tag along with a 12 year old boy and his father as they raid a field littered with discarded bodies scavenging for items of worth. This includes using pliers to pull the teeth from the deceased. They soon discover however that the dead have something against amateur dentistry.

Eric Grizzle’s, “When The Skies Toss Down Rain Heavy”, tells the story of a young boy, who along with his brother, find a puddle that’s best not to play in.   This is a spine tingling tale that had me engrossed from the first paragraph.

“Fish Bait”, by John Everson, is everything the title implies. It’s the tale of a couple of losers who decide to stop into a remote bar for a couple of beers before embarking on a life in the great outdoors. They are tricked into playing a bar game of strategy against each other with the loser having to “get dunked in the tank”.   Too bad they were too drunk to notice that everyone else in the bar was missing limbs.

“The Apocalypse Ain’t So Bad”, by Jeff Strand, is a humorous, gross out tale about a survivor of a zombie epidemic. Is it really that hard to remain optimistic while everyone around you is being eaten?

My favorite story in the book, Mark Justice’s, “Being Supreme”, tells the tale about a man that walks into a bar, has a beer, and begins telling the bartender his story. It seems the man used to be God.

Gary Braunbeck and Matthew Warner’s story called “Under The Bridge Downtown”, details the life of a man forced to care for his disabled daughter. Maybe he should have been a little more attentive to her, after all, how would he like it if he had to trade places with her?

Bentley Little’s, “The Station”, is a story that I found to be original and extremely well written about a gas station located in a remote desert that has a chair where the recently dead appear. Even with a predictable ending, this story might be considered by many to be the centerpiece of the book.

There are many other stories in this book that deserve a mention, and I believe readers would enjoy most, if not all of them. If there is a theme in this anthology it isn’t very apparent other than these stories are extremely dark, and they all end badly. So I would recommend putting a little time aside for reading and then pick up Horror Library Volume 3, it will be time well spent.

"One thing is for sure—Cutting Block Press has put out a book of high-quality horror that is extreme in every sense of the word. Recommended."
— Monster Librarian (read full review)

"The key images are well-chosen and horribly vivid, sure to stick in your mind for weeks to come."
— The Fix Online (read full review)

"Tattered Souls seems a good place to discover future talents in the world of horror."
— Bookgasm (read full review)

"Already earning good marks for their Horror Library and Butcher's Quartet anthologies, Cutting Block Press has brought one more fulfilling volume of long stories to readers. "
— The Horror Reader (read full review)

"'Horror Library Volume 2 proves that you don’t need a list of “big names” to put together a worthwhile anthology. … Overall, a strong effort."
—Ray Wallace, Chi Book Reviews (read full review)

"'The Horror Library series is a fantastic introduction to hot new talent."
—Matt Schwartz, Shocklines.com — your one-stop shop for horror

"All the stories in this anthology are fine examples of and additions to the genre of horror."
— The Fix Online (read full review)

"There are plenty here to make this Library worth repeat visits."
— Bookgasm (read full review)

"An anthology worthy of a Stoker nomination. … None of the stories here resort to violence as a smoke screen to hide bad writing. Where you find blood, you also find well-drawn characters, snappy dialogue, and tight plotting."
— Skullring (read full review)

"Horror Library Volume II is an excellent collection of short stories that can be enjoyed all at once or savored over many days."
— Monster Librarian (read full review)

Horror and Fantasy Book Review (read full review)

"I'd say this volume is essential for any personal horror library. It presents examples of some of the best damn talent out in the field today."
— Nick Grabowski (read full review)

"Some work well, and some work very well, to do these things, and it’s as they serve this function -- the exploration of the terrible -- that the collection achieves its most effective moments."
— SF Reader (read full review)

"Good from cover to cover. … Every tale in here is good, and some are even great."
— Skullring (read full review)

"The folks of the Horror Library made me a very happy reader indeed."
— Insidious Reflections (read full review)

"Horror Library Vol 1 is the new benchmark for top quality anthologies."
— Gary Charles (read full review)

"This collection of stories will make you leave the lights on at night. Some of these bone-chilling vignettes will stick in the cranium and haunt the reader long after closing the book’s cover."
— CROWGRRL / November 12, 2006 (read full review)

"Horror Library: Volume 1 offers a dark and diverse collection of short fiction from across the horror spectrum. From twisted black humour, to supernatural chills to erotic torture, all forms of the genre are given equal weight in what proves to be a valuable snapshot of the modern horror story."
— Mark Smith-Briggs / June 27, 2006 (read full review)

"New voices in horror arise every day, but are often times unheard of by the general public. Talented writers labor in obscurity, learning their craft in hopes of the one big break that will expose their works and voices to the general public to make their visions heard at last. To that end, a few notable publishers have taken to putting out anthologies filled with the curious and singular voices of writers of whom no one outside of literary circles might have heard. They are, however, quite talented, and the collections show their chops well. One such publisher is Cutting Block Press,whose 2006 release, Horror Library: Volume 1, is a showcase of terror, twisted visions, and pure horror. Contained within 224 pages are thirty stories by authors you may not know, but you should. With plots ranging from the horrific to the absurd to the just plain disturbing, the talents showcased in this collection are wide-spread, with audiences of all kinds finding at least one story to send them into giggling horror frenzy." 4.5 out of 5
— Scott A. Johnson / June 14, 2006 (read full review)

C U S T O M E R R E V I E W S

....runs the entire spectrum of dark fiction...embraces the genre, paying diligence to the traditional spine tingler, the supernatural, the haunted, the dark satire and the gritty modern thriller. Thirty dark tales, each by a different story teller.

..... truly fresh meat for the horror fan. In ten years time some of the writers whose work appears here will be known as masters of the genre, so shrink wrap your copy and remember, I told you so!

...the first anthology from R.J. Cavender and Cutting Block Press...[is] a great first run...look forward to volume II

....the stories are creepy and scary just like you'd expect. There's also a touch of black humor in several pieces...

...a good introduction to all the various types of horror available from [sic]todays up and coming authors...

Buy it, read it, bury it, it will come back to you in your dreams.

THE REMEMBERING COUNTRY by Kevin Filan: One of the best writers you've never heard of. This tale is bizarre...

BLACK BOX by Eric Stark: ...a superbly creepy story...really shines...

...writing reminds me a bit of Jack Ketchum and the work has the same effect. An original idea.

MOMMA'S SHADOW by Mark E. Deloy: ...great, creepy old school horror...

SHADOWS by D.X. Williams: ...twisted piece...

SKULL FARMERS by Matt Samet: ...nasty and seriously mental. Fans of psycho horror will foam over this one...

A SUNNY DAY TURNS DARK by Chris Perridas: ...dark humor...

THE MOTHER by jOhn lOverO: ...a unique take on vampires...

SURRENDER by Vince Churchill: ...If erotica is your thing...

WINGS WITH HOT SAUCE by Fran Friel: a touch of black humor...made me laugh outloud...

THE PUPPET SHOW by Rick J. Brown: ...apocolyptic sci-fi horror that sent chills up and down my spine. The imagery was like Gaiman meets Lovecraft meets Giger meets Dark City. Killer prose, great characterization-- a frighteningly brilliant piece...

"Butcher Shop Quartet is an outstanding expression of Cutting Block’s promise to bring us the best in modern horror."
— Joe McKinney, Skullring (read full review)

"Imagine how strange and complex the world would be if your life were a horror story. How far would you go to rescue a sibling, or to prove your worth to an exclusive fraternity? To what lengths would you travel for the sake of vanity or destiny? Bringing four novellas together in one volume, editor Frank J. Hutton gives at least some insight into possible answers to these questions, all the while raising many more for readers. 'Four stories to disturb the adventurous mind' boasts the front cover, and they're not kidding." 4 out of 5
— Scott A. Johnson / June 14, 2006 (read full review)

"Butcher Shop Quartet presents four dark, disturbing and wickedly entertaining short novellas from authors usually found in the short story market. Straddling the line between the mysterious and the macabre, each of the stories offer a fresh and unique twist on the horror genre, but compliments each other with a tone that is always dark and menacing."
— Mark Smith-Briggs / June 16, 2006 (read full review)

C U S T O M E R R E V I E W S

The Last of Boca Verde by Boyd E. Harris kicks off the Quartet by plunging the reader into the darkest jungles of Central America. It's obvious that Harris knows the region; his descriptive prose had me coughing from imagined forest fire smoke, jumpy from numerous creepy-crawlies, perspiring from imagined humidity, fatigued from the exhaustive horseback climb seven thousand feet up into the cloud forest itself. Then came the Congo Negro...

The House on the Hill by Australian author Clinton Green is a classic Greek tragedy about two men whose lives are forever changed after spending the night in a haunted house... young men's dreams of adventure and glory in battle turn into nightmares as they're exposed to the harsh realities of war. The twist at the end is just icing on the cake.

The Reconstruction of Kasper Clark by English author Michael Stone is a delightful romp through Hell, portrayed as a clinic specializing in plastic surgery... Stone teases, twists and tantalizes the reader from the first page to the last...

The Darkling Child by A.T. Andreas... ancient wisdom ignored at a heavy cost, weakness of the flesh, and self-betrayal... The author leads and misleads the reader through increasingly intricate interactions between personified Good and Evil... a twisted intimate dance of light and dark which redefines Faith and Providence.