Monday, June 18, 2018

THE BEAST OF BRENTON WOODS, by Jackson R. Thomas

It's been a little while, blog people.

I've been busy, you've been busy.

I released CHAINSAW, my first novella, to rather-wilted fanfare. But that's alright, it's a part of the process. God knows I don't expect to make money or get famous. This is for me, and people who want weird stories. Those boys from CHAINSAW are coming back around again, much sooner than anyone wants to see them again, and they tend to grow on ya. Trust me.

Anyway, let's start off the summer nice and easy. How does a violent ripper of a werewolf story sound to you?  THE BEAST OF BRENTON WOODS, by Jackson R. Thomas, releases tomorrow. I would very much recommend checking it out. Alright, fuck that, let's go full-bore. Either you buy and read this book, or MY next effort will be the 900-page Smokey and The Bandit fanfic that I've been yelling at people about.

Without further ado:


THE BEAST OF BRENTON WOODS by Jackson Thomas-- A Review
Aroooooooooo! The Summer of Horror is here! Up until this point, Alien Agenda Publishing has consisted of solid novels from its head honcho, Glenn Rolfe. The dynamic changes with Alien Agenda’s first release from another author, Jackson R. Thomas.  THE BEAST OF BRENTON WOODS is the kickoff release for Alien Agenda’s busy summer, which will also see releases from Mick Ridgewell, Dave Bernstein, and more.
This review won’t be one of my standard ones. Normally I dive right into the plot and assume you’ve already read the book, spoilers be damned. However, as I recently decided while writing my review of PRACTITIONERS (available on the Ginger Nuts site), if it’s an ARC, I’m not going to give away too much. The brief synopsis and first three chapters available over at the Alien Agenda site should be more than enough of a primer for any interested readers. I’ll post the link at the end.
Alright. The BEAST. My first encounter with a white werewolf in the wild. This one is ruthless and nasty--it’d be fun to pit him against the furballs in BLOOD AND RAIN. The wolf in this story, rather, the man in the wolf suit, is a bestial creation whose bloodline contains traces of Garton’s RAVENOUS, Strieber’s WOLFEN, and even Rolfe’s aforementioned werewolf opus. Very little is explained or revealed about the antagonist of BEAST. All you’re gonna get here is blood, gore, teenagers stumbling around the woods, silver bullets, and small-town secrets.
Don’t get me wrong, though. Lean and mean isn’t bad at all, especially for a first novel. The only frustrating point? The antagonist is a little TOO much of an enigma. You’ll see what I mean, because you DEFINITELY need to read this novel. Although very little is known about this Jackson Thomas fella, his first effort reads like yellow paperbacks with trashy covers and embossed titles. Maybe some boobage in there, too. Anyway, I’m not going to draw this out any further. Here goes, both barrels:
THE BEAST OF BRENTON WOODS is nasty and ruthless. It’s a more substantial CYCLE OF THE WEREWOLF, or any of King’s other stories with small towns, smaller minds, and huge secrets. You can smell the pine trees and feel the nighttime dew coming down. The moon sits in the sky, brooding like a dark god. Was that a flash of white fur in the trees?
Alien Agenda Publishing: glenntheory.wixsite.com
Release date-- 19 June 2018. 


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