Thursday 31 August 2017

DailyFlash: Paint the Playground Red

Years of school playground games of tag, football kickabouts, rounders and training, and we're finally ready for the real thing. A lottery selected the two captains: Jerry and Samantha - two mid-grade players at best, now taking turns to choose their teammates. Friendships mean nothing at this point: Jerry's best friend is Mark, but he can't shoot for shit and his weapon of choice is a Samurai sword; lethal, for sure, but not when looking down the dark end of a barrel of lead.
     "Felix," says Jerry, meeting his eyes gravely. Felix, the sharpshooter, smiles and joins ranks.
     "Samantha, your turn," says the Sergeant.
     "I..." she looks at Melissa, her hands and voice shaking. After a swallow she looks away, looks down, and says, "Jason."
     Jason, all six-foot-seven of him, strolls with long strides to stand behind Samantha.
     Uniformed, we are picked, one-by-one, and then given coloured bibs to distinguish the teams.
     "Now go," says the Sergeant. "Team Red, go west. Team Blue, go East. Find your HQs. Find your supplies. You have thirty minutes, and when the klaxon sounds, it's time. Last team standing wins."




Wednesday 30 August 2017

DailyFlash: Torn

Something elastic stretches from inside the broken flesh, pulled by the coyote's clenched jaw and bared teeth. It snaps with a wet slap and splats blood on his stained muzzle (from years of successful scavenging). Each rebirth recalls the faint red dye of blood around his chops, his human eyes betraying his heritage as he morphs. He licks his lips and looks down at the drifter, soft guts spilling from the torn flesh of the belly. Blood seeps into the yellow sand and between the copse growing by the side of the deserted highway. A tent sits empty 20 metres away; what was once the drifter's is now his until the desert sun calls his name again, demanding that the scavenge continues.




Tuesday 29 August 2017

Under the Amoral Bridge Book Review - 4/5



Artemis Bridge is a fixer. You need something? Bridge knows a guy. For a finder’s fee, he can hook you up, no questions asked. In fact, the less he knows the better. As a character, he is a curious one; he is the protagonist but he is conflicted, and so, as readers, we’re never quite sure how we should feel about him.

Full review: https://culturedvultures.com/amoral-bridge-gary-ballard-review/

Saturday 26 August 2017

Hereafter & Other Short Stories - Now available

You can grab my collection of short stories on Amazon now (free on Kindle Unlimited). Check out a preview:


Friday 25 August 2017

DailyFlash: Peeping Tammy

Part one: Peeping Tommy

The girl drops her arm and leans forward on the windowsill, the night air like cold hands on her shoulders. It cools on her brow.
     “What is it?” asks her pa down in the yard, turning his head.
     At the outer edges of the yard, where the security light fades into the bushes, she’s spotted a hunkered mass of ginger hair and a face burying itself in the dirt. Poor little fella. Pa’s gonna tear you a new one. “Under the bush there, Pa,” she shouts down. “We got us a peeper, I reckon,” she smiles.
     Pa follows her pointed finger with his eyes, squinting at the line of bushes. "Alright," he says. "You got five seconds, pal. If I gotta come git ya, I really will wring ya."
     A ginger-topped head emerges from the top of the bush, face streaked with dirt and tears. 
     "Step out, boy."
     Leaves part as the boy moves forward. 
     "Hey, don't I know ya?" shouts the farmer's wife. She's a silhouette in the doorway with a hand clasped round the dog's collar.
     "Good God, Jesus, would ya look at that," laughs Pa. "He's pissed his pants." He points, looking back to his wife and daughter, who join in the laughter.
     "Please," starts the boy. "I ain't done nothing-"
     "Quiet, boy!" The farmer barks. Then takes in a deep breath. "You gettin an eye-full there, boy?"
     "No, sir."
     "What you gonna do, Pa?" shouts the girl. 
     "You! Get your tits back in the house now, and draw the damn curtain." He begins to pace.
     The girl, looking disappointed, withdraws back into her room, closing her curtains.
     "What shall I do, boy?" The boy opens his mouth but the farmer raises his hand to silence him. "I ain't asking you," he says. He looks back to his wife for help, and smiles. "You smell that, Buck?"
     The dog barks.
     "You smell that piss?"
     The dog barks again.
     "You better start running, boy." The farmer looks around to the boy, who just stands there, shivering. "Don't say I didn't warn ya! Sic him, Buck."





Thursday 24 August 2017

DailyFlash: Peeping Tommy

The boy is crouched in the bushes surrounding the back of the farmhouse. There's cloud coverage so it's pretty pitch black, the only light glowing in the yard is from the windows and the half open dutch farmhouse door: the top half that is. Indistinct sounds float on the air.
     The boy catches his breath as she appears in the upper window. She swaggers in, removing her shirt and closing the door behind her. He praises Lord she don't pull the curtains like she sometimes does; the farm is isolated but it's always a lucky toss. She stands there combing her long blonde hair - he assumes there's a mirror there somewhere - letting it fall over her shoulders and the cotton of her bra. A familiar feeling rises in the boy's pants.
     Distracted, he doesn't note the rising noise level; the barking and shouting - not until the bottom half of the back door kicks outwards and the farmer comes out. He's clutching something to his chest. Behind, the farmer's wife is shouting at the dog to stop barking, holding it by the collar.
     The farmer drops his bundle as the yard light comes on.
     Heart thumping, the boy cowers, in more ways then one, convinced he can be seen. But he dare not move.
     The farmer walks calmly over to the shed, leaving the wriggling brown bundles on the floor. The dog in the house barks on, and the girl is at the window, looking out.
     From the shed, the farmer grabs a bucket and starts filling it with water from an outside tap.
     The boy squashes himself closer to the ground. There's no way they wouldn't see him if they look in his direction. Over his heartbeart he can hear a low mewling and realises the wriggling bundle in the middle of the yard are puppies.
     "You don't need to do this," yells the farmer's wife.
     "Already too many goddamn mutts," is the reply she gets.
     The farmer, in the middle of the yard again now, drops the bucket. Then, as cold as you like, he picks up the newborn puppies, one by one, five in total the boy counts as they are lopped into the bucket, but not before a twist to the neck that sends a crack through the night.
     The boy coughs involuntarily, and he thinks he could die right there, right then. It might be preferable if he did.
     "Who's there?" shouts the farmer, tossing the final dead puppy into the bucket. He takes a step further, wiping his filthy hands on his trousers. "Come out or I'll wring your neck too!"
      The boy had expected damp pants that evening, but not the piss that now spreads down his thighs. He wants nothing more than to be gone from here. He has a momentary thought that even as he's thinking it, he knows is crazy: he is about to be caught peeping, and will surely be in for a hiding, if not from the farmer than his Pa, and yet he thinks, If I stand and run I'll be giving my game away. The game will be up. No more farmer's daughter for me. While the chance of riding it out exists, he cannot move.
     "There, Pa," points the girl from her window.


Read part 2: Peeping Tammy




Wednesday 23 August 2017

DailyFlash: Eden Day

"What's wrong, Annie?" asks Mrs Monroe.
     "Nothing," she says, staring down at the blue planet. The sun is a distant ball of light, its glare and power absorbed by the solar glass.
     "Then get back to your desk," orders Mrs Monroe, offering the empty seat.
     Annie turns away and slumps in her chair. "Yes, Doctor Monroe."
     "How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not a Doctor."
     "About the only person who isn't," mumbles Annie. It's not fair, she thinks, looking back to the blue planet. The solar glass stretches across the entire wall; the entire side of this pod constantly facing the sun. Looking back at Mrs Monroe, who continues her history lesson, she stares into the vastness beyond The solar tubes arc for miles, connected in grids, like highways, with family pods linked like roads.
     "... and there came a point where all the petty fighting and squabbling became too much; the danger of death over oil or territories too likely. So we developed our technology, and on Eden day, we fled, leaving all the war behind."
     "It's not right," says Annie. "What we did. They needed us. They need us. If everything you've said is true."
     "They do. And one day, when the time is right, we will share with them what we have learned, and it will be Eden for everyone."



The Long List Goodnight: Requests Currently Closed - ReadingList

A big thanks to everyone who has been in touch lately about their book. Great to see so much creativity on show! I'm not the fastest reader in the world, having to fit it between work, writing and kids (and gaming *cough*) - so I've put a halt on requests until I can catch up. Here's my reading list for now, chock-full of interesting stories!

Currently reading



Artemis Bridge is the know-who, go-to guy, the amoral fixer in 2028 Los Angeles with the connection for any illicit desire no matter how depraved. You need it, he can get it without questions or judgment. He prides himself on staying detached from the depravity, untouched by the filth, untouchable by the law. When a young hacker is assassinated before his eyes, he is burdened with a scandalous video of the mayor on the eve of the city's most important election of the century. With digital assassins and murderous thugs dogging his every step, he has only days before the corrupt mayor is re-elected, handing the Chronosoft Corporation complete control of the city. Unable to sell the video, he is forced further into a complex conspiracy.



Reading list



Indigo by DL Young

For over twenty years, Indigo Cruz has worked the markets of the Texas wastelands, hustling wares, cutting deals, and earning a hard-won reputation as a tough, shrewd trader. In a dangerous, brutal world, she's managed to carve out a comfortable, safe existence...

...until the day the Fundamentalist Church of Divine Wrath shows up on her turf, throwing her world into chaos.
Forced by the violent cult's leader to serve as a guide for a mysterious mission, Indigo finds herself trapped between factions warring for control of the Republic. But when she crosses paths with the runaway mind-reader Soledad Paz, will their chance meeting be the key to Indigo's survival or the final nail in her coffin?


Tuesday 22 August 2017

Fiction into Art: Rats on the Loose

Gabriel Romero is a highly talented digital painter whose work has a distinctly retro feel to it. I was honoured to have my dailyflash piece 'Loose' turned into a piece of artwork by him.

Keep your eyes on 3dtotal for the tutorial coming this Friday.


DailyFlash: Two Halves of the Devil

He comes across a mirror in the hallway, moonlight filtering brightly through the open front door, and stops. He can hear footsteps upstairs, the frantic prance of the dead. They can wait.
     He removes his mask. The burn scar is smooth candlewax melting down the right side of his head, from crown to ear-bud and lower, disappearing beneath his leather jacket. Two pencil-width holes are his illusion of breathing holes. His eyes are blue cold, the connecting point between his right-side and left; here is the half-face of the once-beguiling, a smirk rising with a tilt of the head, dark hair cascading down. He touches his stubbled cheek with his fingertips, trailing them over his thin lips to his smooth, burned side, and growls in his throat.
     He replaces his half-mask, covering his good side; now two-halves of the devil.



Monday 21 August 2017

DailyFlash: Heaven

These lazy days we enjoy so much, lying here in bed with the curtains and window open, summer sun like yellow pastel on paper penetrating the mote-filled air. The rays hit our feet poking out from the bottom of the blanket, temporarily warming us. 
     If I could rise or help you rise, we'd go to the window and watch the ducks sidling by in the brook, or the otters poking their noses above the surface before submerging. Nothing but stillness in the distance.
     What a haven we have for ourselves, our own little heaven here on the farm. The dogs running wild, the cats wilder, the hens huddled in their own little death embraces in the corner of the coop.
     These lazy nights we enjoy so much, hot love bleeding out, the moonlight making ghosts of our skin.


Click here for more of my Daily Flash Fiction


Sunday 20 August 2017

Game of Thrones Season 7: The worst & best season so far

With season 7 of Game of Thrones nearly over already, and with 9.x ratings dropping on iMDb for many of the episodes so far, it's hard to call this season the worst one so far. But it is. The only reason these episodes are getting any love is because so much that the fans have been waiting for is finally happening.


Daenerys is in Westeros; her dragons are burning shit down; Jon has met her, the Starks are reunited, and Arya is a badass. Sansa and Cersei are fringe players at the moment. Bran is just weird.

It's obvious that the show has gone beyond the books as the plot points now seem forced, or not shown at all. With 7 episodes, there has been no time for build up or the political sleight of hand that we are so used to. It's nothing more than scenes we have been waiting for, linked together however they could be, a quickly as possible. I fear the last 2 seasons of Game of Thrones will go down as one of the biggest what-could-have-beens in TV history. Not giving the characters and events the proper build up and time possible, given the pace of the previous seasons, is a real disservice to its ending.

*Spolier*

I mean, taking a small band of men into the thick of it north of the wall so they can get a Wight to prove to Cersei that they need to focus their energy on a different enemy (could they have just found someone on the edge of death and left them there to reanimate, and then brought them back?) And then getting trapped by White Walkers who conveniently held back (a bit of water?!) until the dragon could be called for (how quickly do ravens fly?!) Why the urgency? They've been in no rush. Deal with the Iron throne first. And just bend the knee, Jon, it ain't no biggee.

I mean, not lending your dragons out to protect your allies. Only too late hitting your enemies as they travel between battlements.

I mean, convoluting a sister-sister spat because they have nothing else to do.

I mean, getting pregnant because they've got nothing else to do.

I mean, not burning all of Euron's ships which are presumably exposed at sea.

I mean, without the core material, the writing is just as loose as the Hound's language. And you know that in the books Bran will be playing a much bigger role in the actions that happen, but he is underused here (not that I miss him).

With just one more episode to go, and another 6 next season, unless those 6 are 2 hours long, it's just not enough time to make the most of everything they have built up. But it should still be fun.


DailyFlash: Wake Up

One of us is not well but we don't know why. The Doctor is testing this and that, but she is flat on her back with a pain in her head and light that burns her eyes.
     "Just as a precaution," he says, "I'll start you on a course of antibiotics. We need to rule out the worst, a bleed on the brain or meningitis."
     Everything could be fine, says the beat that skips and the intake of air.
     The Doctor continues to speak, but for now, the only thing he seems to be saying is "Welcome to the real world."



Saturday 19 August 2017

The Dark Tower Movie Review and Thoughts






Like Roland Deschain himself, a calm falls quietly over me as I step forth from the small-screen cinema complex in my local town (alas, not in Mid-World but Kidderminster, Keystone Earth). It’s starting to rain. The clouds look the colour of piss-poor tea. All the things that bind this world have not fallen apart.

Friday 18 August 2017

Hereafter & Other Short Stories

I haven't done much shouting about this new title from me yet - the release date is the 25 August and it is currently on preorder on Amazon.

Grab it here!



There's also an ongoing Goodreads Giveaway live right now if you wanted to request a free paperback copy!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Hereafter and Other Short Stories by Adam J.  Smith

Hereafter and Other Short Stories

by Adam J. Smith

Giveaway ends August 26, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter Giveaway



If you'd like a review copy, hit me up at aj.smith@writeme.com.

Updated reading list - A Life Removed is *removed* (finished) - Under the Amoral bridge next!

A Life Removed was one of those crime thrillers that got better as the characters developed - starting a little cliched but then turning about on their heels, until you weren't sure who you could trust. A the bad guy was a *good* bad guy, which is always important. You can check out the review here: https://culturedvultures.com/life-removed-jason-parent-book-review/.

The blog is now more widely shared so getting more requests than I can keep up with. I need a holiday to catch up on some reading! I've even started being a bit picky, focusing more on the authors who really need reviews (and whose books sound promising!) But I guess that's good for both readers and writers! Hopefully readers will stumble onto something they may not have considered, and writers will get that one extra sale!

Under the Amoral Bridge is currently lighting up my Kobo. So far, so excellent. Set in the future, where it appears every street corner could be 'the underground' - it's a well-written cyberpunk novel with teeth.

Currently reading


Artemis Bridge is the know-who, go-to guy, the amoral fixer in 2028 Los Angeles with the connection for any illicit desire no matter how depraved. You need it, he can get it without questions or judgment. He prides himself on staying detached from the depravity, untouched by the filth, untouchable by the law. When a young hacker is assassinated before his eyes, he is burdened with a scandalous video of the mayor on the eve of the city's most important election of the century. With digital assassins and murderous thugs dogging his every step, he has only days before the corrupt mayor is re-elected, handing the Chronosoft Corporation complete control of the city. Unable to sell the video, he is forced further into a complex conspiracy.





Reading list



Indigo by DL Young

For over twenty years, Indigo Cruz has worked the markets of the Texas wastelands, hustling wares, cutting deals, and earning a hard-won reputation as a tough, shrewd trader. In a dangerous, brutal world, she's managed to carve out a comfortable, safe existence...

...until the day the Fundamentalist Church of Divine Wrath shows up on her turf, throwing her world into chaos.
Forced by the violent cult's leader to serve as a guide for a mysterious mission, Indigo finds herself trapped between factions warring for control of the Republic. But when she crosses paths with the runaway mind-reader Soledad Paz, will their chance meeting be the key to Indigo's survival or the final nail in her coffin?




The Method by Duncan Ralston


How hard would you fight for the one you love?

Frank and Linda's marriage is falling apart. When old friends tell them about an "unconventional therapy retreat" called The Method, they jump at the chance to attend.

Dr. Kaspar's Lone Loon Lodge is a secluded resort deep in the Montana wilds. The staff is friendly. The other couple joining them is intense. But when a death occurs events quickly spiral out of control, leaving Linda and Frank unable to trust anyone but each other.

Nothing is what it seems, and only one thing is certain: Love Is Pain.




Caleb, a 17-year-old boy, survived the zombie uprising, but he didn’t come out of the ordeal unscathed. He’s been scarred—both mentally and physically. The rest of humanity is trying to rebuild, to make the world normal again. Caleb is trying to return to a normal life also, but after all he’s seen, after the loss of his family and friends, the transition is difficult. The darkness that led him down a path of self-doubt and self-harm keeps trying to creep back into his mind.
Things only become worse when he discovers he’s immune to whatever makes a zombie a zombie. Fighting zombies was predictable. He knew what to expect. Fighting humans is volatile. They are malicious and treacherous. They won’t stop to get what they want, and Caleb has to figure out exactly what that is.


Lacy Dawn's father relives the Gulf War, her mother's teeth are rotting out, and her best friend is murdered by the meanest daddy on Earth. Life in the hollow is hard. But she has one advantage -- an android was inserted into her life and is working with her to cure her parents. But, he wants something in exchange. It's up to her to save the Universe. Lacy Dawn doesn't mind saving the universe, but her family and friends come first. Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary science fiction filled with tragedy, comedy and satire.





The Mask of Sanity by Jacob M Appel


On the outside, Dr. Jeremy Balint is a pillar of the community: the youngest division chief at his hospital, a model son to his elderly parents, fiercely devoted to his wife and two young daughters. On the inside, Dr. Jeremy Balint is a high-functioning sociopath--a man who truly believes himself to stand above the ethical norms of society. As long as life treats him well, Balint has no cause to harm others. When life treats him poorly, he reveals the depths of his cold-blooded depravity.







Since childhood, Nila Carter is made to spend every weekend at the family cabin. In her teenage years she believes it to be a prison, as an adult it becomes her sanctuary and means to survive. When a mysterious outbreak occurs in India, Nila’s brother, Bobby, a virologist with the CDC, places the family on a precautionary alert to be ready to bug out. Unlike anything he’s ever seen, the rabies like virus is not just deadly, it causes extreme violent behavior in those infected. Following her brother’s advice, Nila begins to stockpile. After months of preparing, just as it seems the virus is over, everything implodes and Bobby informs his family to leave the city. With her family, Nila heads to the mountains and to her father’s isolated land.
The book explores the complex psychological issues relating to the dark side of motherhood. Its subject is rarely written or discussed even in the protected privacy of a psychiatrist’s care. People prefer to keep it deep inside and don`t dare to speak it aloud.

But there are those who are not able to say a single word even if they wanted to. Those who were deprived not only of childhood, but sometimes their life itself. They are destined to the silent suffering, trying to survive in the chilling embrace of the "dead" mother.




Deadly Reign by Lynn Steigleder
In this, the third book in the Rising Tide Series, Ben, Eve and Pete continue to push through this new Earth as the world sinks deeper into corruption. They gain new allies, including an intellectual animal equipped with the gift of speech. They are forced to battle six aberrations (beasts and riders) deemed nearly indestructible. The environment has manifested into a frigid terrain with the sun lost in the ice filled cloud cover. Swords forged specially for the riders by the riders offer another layer of defense to an already superior force. The humans have deduced that water may possibly be a weapon, but a weapon that even now is freezing at an accelerated rate.


There are three realms, terrestrial, celestial - and infernal; all engaged in a perpetual struggle between good and evil. For over five hundred years, the bastion of England's protection has been a small and little known agency, based in the Canonbury tower, Islington.

Zach, a justice angel and one of the agency’s most skilled operatives, has just returned from a harrowing mission working with the dead and dying in strife-torn Syria. The last thing he needs is to be sent back into the field.

But two humans on a celestial witness protection programme have just been abducted and Zach, saddled against his better judgement with rookie agent and time shifter Sara, is sent into the Inferno to rescue them.

Book review: A Life Removed By Jason Parent Book

There’s something to be said about the growing quality of my indie review list: many of them could easily grace the shelves of your local bookstore with the backing of a publisher, and even those that may fall short just need some tinkering. Stepping to the plate is A Life Removed by Jason Parent, a crime thriller perhaps in the vein of James Patterson or Thomas Harris. It may not have the depth of say a Silence of the Lambs, but it does well to weave an intriguing plot that leaves you wanting more of the bad guy. And everyone loves to hate a bad guy.

8/10
Full review: https://culturedvultures.com/life-removed-jason-parent-book-review/

Tuesday 8 August 2017

Long time no see! A Life Removed finished.

Feels like months since the last post, but it's only a couple weeks. Some upheavals and other things getting in the way! I did find time to finish A Life Removed by Jason Parent however - it was pleasantly surprising, one of those books that got better and darker the more I read. A crime novel, it started mildly formulaic with your good cop/bad cop detectives, beat cop, and ritualistic murders, and I was even left wondering at one point if I should be rooting for anyone. In the end, I quite enjoyed the storyline that unravelled, and how morality lines were blurred within some characters. Not sure where I'd rank it yet in my top 10 indie reads, maybe after I've done the Cultured Vultures review I'll be able to settle.



I have a crazy amount to catch up on! Seems the blog is being linked from a variety of places now, meaning I'm getting more traffic and more review requests. All good, but please bear with me!