If you can survive the opening scene of The Last Son of Ahriman, you’ll be doing good.  I don’t mean that in a it-takes-a-while-to-get-into-the-story kind of way.  I mean it in a do-your-best-not-to-get-eaten-by-a-horrible-monster-or-sucked-into-a-terrifying-portal-to-a-hell-dimension kind of way.

I introduced myself to John Scalzi’s writing earlier this year with Redshirts, a book that springs from the very important question of just why so many unfortunate space explorers wearing red uniforms die in the Star Trek universe.  I was immediately impressed with Scalzi’s witty choice of story concept, his handling of larger themes, and use of unconventional plot devices.  I enjoyed meeting his characters and engaging in their quick, intelligent dialogue.  The world he built felt fresh, young, and bright.  So, I was very eager to pick up Lock In, hoping to find more of the same, and I wasn’t disappointed.

One day, in the very distant future, a man decides to go outside for a walk.  Never mind that the outside air is a toxic mix of very unfriendly gases, that no other human would dare volunteer for such a pastime.  Never mind that this walk will be a very short, one way trip.

Close your eyes.  Imagine yourself sitting on the edge of a small playground.  The bench you sit on looks out over lush green grass, a line of trees in the distance.  At your back there is a swing set, jungle gym, sandbox, usually crawling with young people yelling and playing.  But today, the children are all absent and all you can hear is the rush of wind in the distant trees and the gentle squeak of the swings swaying in the breeze.

As Halloween is fast approaching, the Fanboy Comics staff and contributors decided that there was no better way to celebrate this horrifically haunting holiday than by sharing our favorite scary stories! Be they movies, TV shows, video games, novels, or anything other form of entertainment, members of the FBC crew will be sharing their "scariest" stories each day leading up to Halloween. We hope that you will enjoy this sneak peek into the terrors that frighten Fanboy Comics!


I attended high school in the late '80s in a small, isolated town in Arizona.  This small, isolated hgh school boasted about 60 students during the years I attended; there were 15 kids in my graduating class, and we were one of the bigger classes.  We were over an hour away from the nearest “big town,” from its movies, malls, and restaurants.

As I read The Rage, I kept thinking about the iconic scene from the first episode of The Walking Dead TV series where Rick Grimes comes across a young girl ambling through a parking lot.  Rick is initially concerned with helping her, but soon realizes that there is something very, very wrong.  He barely reacts in time with the necessary force as she moves to attack him.  The scene highlights just how truly horrifying this new world is going to be for Rick and the rest of the survivors.

I recently picked up Relish on recommendation from NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast (the “Fall Books and Great Detectives” episode, which aired September 26th**).  Wanting to start a new graphic novel and always a sucker for a good foodie experience, I jumped over to the my public library e-book site and was delighted to see it was available for immediate consumption.

There is a particular quote from Annihilation that sums up my entire experience with it:

“When you see beauty and desolation, it changes something inside you.  Desolation tries to colonize you.”

I teetered between loving and seriously not liking this story.  It wasn’t until the very last scenes that I came to some degree of reconciliation with my reaction to it.  To Jeff VanderMeer’s credit, I think that this is the exact experience he intends for the reader to have, as he skillfully manipulates the reader into the same difficult emotional journey that his main character is taking.

I began my review of Terms of Enlistment, the first installment in the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos, by stating it took me a little while to get hooked into the story.  The sequel, Lines of Departure, suffers from no such acceleration delay.  We jump immediately ahead five years into Andrew Grayson’s military career, and then we are [literally] shot into almost incessant action for the remainder of the story.

It took a little while to get hooked into this story.  Terms of Enlistment promises to be an action-packed thriller but starts off more like a military memoir.  Sure, that assumes a fair amount of exciting stuff can happen, but I was beginning to despair that it would all be portrayed from a safe distance, instead of sticking me right into the thick of things.

I needn’t have worried.