Todd Russell

If you loved sitting around a campfire, as a kid, and spinning quick yarns to scare the 'bejeezus' out of your friends, then you'll really enjoy Flash O'Lantern: 13 Stories, a collection of flash fiction tales by horror writer/novelist Todd Russell.

Flash O'Lantern presents 13 Flash horror stories interspersed with Russell's own thematically-related commentaries about memorable October events and trivia. The stories deliver quick, light, entertaining reads, and the commentaries provide plenty of great water-cooler conversational grist. Together they make Flash O'Lantern particularly good reading for people on the go. Here are my four favorite flash fiction offerings from the book:

Brush is the creepy story of a homeless guy who, let's say, bites off more than he can chew, when he hijacks a kid's Halloween goody bag. ( I think the National Dental Association should purchase reprint rights to this one and distribute them in dental offices nationwide.)
Graveyard Crazies offers a fun, yet spooky, take on working the mid-night (graveyard) shift in a supermarket. (Great atmospherics, and some well-done tension-relieving humor.)
Remdee Gate won me over immediately with the imaginative concept of the gate itself – an altogether new idea that I've never come across before in sci-fi/horror fantasy writing.
And finally, I found Rachel's Number to be a quick, but haunting, story.

Todd is currently offering Flash O'Lanterns: 13 Stories for FREE at Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/98723 . I'd quickly grab a copy before his mercenary tendencies take over!… (meer)

Another great free novel from Librarything. I love their member giveaways that help me to discover new authors through reading their debut novels. I am not generally a horror reader but this book has opened my eyes to how good they can be.

Fresh Flesh is a good, actually great. debut novel. It is a horror story that kept me anxious for more of the story. I liked almost all of the story. The only part that seemed unnecessary was the parts dealing with the dirt. The dirt was a minor player throughout the story (Sar's part) that I felt the ending tried too hard to incorporate the dirt as an integral part of the story.

I enjoyed the characters and the flashbacks that described their past transgressions and why they were on the island. This writing style allowed for more depth and understanding of the characters and made them more interesting. I did find the ending to be a bit sad as I was pulling for the main character.

Mr Russell has talent and has done well in his first novel outing. He has gone the extra mile to have beta readers, proof readers, has paid for sleeve art, etc. This book is recommended for all and especially for horror genre fans.… (meer)

With a name like Fresh Flesh, I must admit that I was expecting a zombie story. Instead, Fresh Flesh is a modernised pulp novel, possibly best described as a cross between Battle Royale, Lord of the Flies and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And possibly a bit of Lost as well. A wealthy man and his wife are sailing towards Hawaii when their ship capsized, resulting in the death of almost everyone on board. The wife washes up on the shore of an island and is tended to by a man named Richard, who has been trapped on the island for several years. But they aren't alone on the island, and the island has secrets.(But not zombie secrets. Just government project ones.)
In a surprising move for an action based novel, I could follow every move, and keep a clear image of what was happening where (usually it's a bit jumbled). The characters are a bit simplified, but that may be why things were so easy to follow. Descriptions are detailed without being ridiculous, and just enough background is offered on the islanders. The woman in the tale, however, is kind of irritating in that she is flat - her reactions just don't ring true most of the time. I also found the government scenes very hokey, but not out of keeping with other pulp fiction I've read.

While I can't really say that I enjoyed it - the characters were too thin for me to start caring about what happened to them - it is a pretty good story, if you like this genre.
about 3.5 stars
Review copy received from the author a part of Librarything's Member Giveaway Program.… (meer)