Author: Ben

April 13, 2022

Book Review: Shepherd’s Fall by George R Appelt Jr.

Ben reviews a novel by a local independent author. Shepherd’s Fall is the story of a family who moves into a haunted house in central Pennsylvania.

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March 16, 2022

Book Review: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

This book is, as the kids say, “a mood.” It is a book about an orc warrior who has decided to retire from adventuring and open a coffee shop. Along the way she will gather friends, co-workers, loyal customers, and all the other simple things that make life worth living. The story isn’t without conflict, but the stakes are more...

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March 4, 2022

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga Spoiler Review

First and foremost, as the title suggests, there will be spoilers for the entirety of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba series. This is a review about the manga, not the anime adaptation. The manga has been finished for almost 2-years at this point, but I know there are people who may stumble upon this only having watched the anime...

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January 24, 2022

Ben’s 2021 Nonfiction Reviews

A long time ago when we started Words About Books we had a simple goal: read more books. We thought that doing a podcast would make us more accountable and force us to make time for an activity that was too easy to shove aside.  Also, we wanted to be better writers. We knew that we needed to read well...

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October 23, 2021

A Book Reader’s Dune 2021 Movie Review

At this point on the podcast, I have spoken for well over 10-hours about Dune. I have recorded another 3-hours that were cut. Not only is Dune the most frequent subject discussed on this podcast to date, these are also our most popular episodes. I don’t know if that means that someone out there is curious what I thought of...

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October 17, 2021

Short Story Review – Maria’s Children – Tobi Ogundiran

It’s been a very long time since I’ve read a ghost ship story. An even longer time since I’ve read one written in this century. Tobi Ogundiran’s tale is loosely inspired by the real life story of the Mary Celeste. Rather than telling a straight forward tale of what happened to the people aboard the Mary Celeste, he tells the...

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October 15, 2021

Short Story Review – A Compact with a Minor Demon by Kay Chronister

What if H.P. Lovecraft wrote a story about the slow, crushing horror of being socially isolated and pregnant with a child whom you were, at best, indifferent to conceiving? Then you’d have something close to A Compact with a Minor Demon by Kay Chronister. This is both a compliment and a criticism. A lot of Lovecraft’s stories follow a kind...

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October 14, 2021

Flash Fiction Review Double Feature!

I’ve been getting my ass kicked at work, and as a result I have missed a day of my month of short horror fiction reviews! I have brought shame upon this podcast and myself. To make up for it please enjoy the following double feature! Sometimes Boys Don’t Know by Donyae Coles This is a classic tale of predator becoming...

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October 12, 2021

Short Story Review – At The Periphery by Benjamin Peek

At The Periphery is another story that has me splitting hairs about what is and is not horror. It is not scary. It does not create an atmosphere of dread or unease. It does incorporate elements of horror. There is a good bit of gore and occult imagery, but the tone is more dark urban fantasy. Fortunately, I also enjoy...

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October 11, 2021

Short Story Review – The Nameless City by H.P. Lovecraft

This is the equivalent of phoning it in from me, and I am sorry. The point of daily reviews was to push myself to read more and different authors, but life happens. I didn’t get a chance to properly read and review a new story today. So let’s go back and take a look at an old story that I...

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