Reformo is a Modern-Day Superhero to All: Chasing the Dragon is an action-packed story of funny and inspiring superhero exploits

 

Chasing the Dragon

Mark Towse

Eerie River Publishing, 2024

ISBN-10: 1998112268

ISBN-13: ‎978-1998112265

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When you’re the kind of person raised by a drill sergeant of a mother who demands order and CLEANLINESS, that image tends to stick in your head long into adulthood. And that’s the case with Simon Dooley, an ex-con determined to bring order to his town in the new novel Chasing the Dragon by Mark Towse.

 

The only problem with trying to bring order to a town that has fallen into disorder is that nobody wants any of that. They want to continue littering, allowing their dog’s excrement to just end up wherever it ends up and ignoring the laws. And speaking of, the police don’t really care about the laws either. They are too lazy and disinterested. Everybody has pretty much accepted that their town is in chaos and that’s how life is.

 

But not Simon! He is DETERMINED to change things!

 

So this is all the more reason to take on the role of a superhero, right? That’s what Simon does. Believing he is the one capable of restoring order and hope to his town, he throws on a leo – er, costume, adopts a name and catchphrase, and strolls on out into the horrible nightmare that is his town. Simon transforms into Reformo, superhero extraordinaire who is brave enough to fight against corruption and decay – even if it means getting his butt kicked along the way. What ensues are hilarious antics of people accusing him of being a stalker, rapist, pedo, and meddler. “But I’m just trying to help!” he continuously cries, as he is hit with a chair in the head, kicked in the nuts, smeared with dog doo-doo and thrown against a car he is trying to rescue from a thief.

 

There are many villains Reformo must face in this story, and most of them range from the amateurish to the comical. Crime never sleeps, and Reformo is on the job, taking on them all!

 

There are also big villains he goes up against. Big Villain #1 is Bum Fluff – a notorious drug dealer. Will he achieve his goal in restoring order and eliminating the bad guys?

 

Then comes Big Villain #2, Butter Balls, and Big Villain #3, The Dragon.

 

As I read this novel, I was laughing, shaking my head and face-palming my way through it all to find out if Reformo escapes from them all. There are so many humorous scenes, even the painful ones. This book is loaded with humor, romance, action, excitement, a bit of horror, mystery and a good dose of family drama.

 

Being a superhero without abs of steel, special powers and an invulnerability to pain is not easy work, but Reformo is going to keep trying, even if he has to bring down a bad guy with only one good arm!

 

After getting his butt kicked by bad guys so much, you might wonder what it is that keeps driving Reformo on his quest to restore order to the town. Not only did he make a promise to his late mother to get rid of the chaos but he is also inspired by the many comic books he read growing up. In fact, that and his time in prison gives him ideas on how to handle the bad guys. But is he willing to give it all up for love? That’s the question that held me in suspense. Would he really do it? Or would he make sure Reformo does not die?

 

There is so much that I loved about this book. It’s got a lot of humor, yes, but also a lot of superhero action scenes – complete with the sound effect words of comics from the old days!

 

There’s that plus Simon’s mother constantly nagging him. He uses this as fuel to keep going and to try to prove he’s not a failure, like she thought he was. His mother also makes appearances in the story in scattered memories Simon occasionally dwells upon.

 

The biggest thing that I loved about this book, though, is the quest that Simon is on to break free from generational trauma. He’s trying to establish his own identity. His whole life was haunted by a nagging, domineering mother who probably endured the same kind of treatment when she was growing up. She was convinced Simon would be just like his father, but this is something which Simon refuses. A huge part of why he chooses to become a modern-day superhero is because he’s fighting against the prediction that he will turn out to be weak, just like his father was weak (weak to stand up for him, anyway). So in establishing a new identity as Reformo, he is fighting against that prediction. And in becoming Reformo – sticking to this new identity no matter what it takes – he finds himself and discovers his real superpower: His own unique identity.

 

Chasing the Dragon was an action-packed, adventurous and inspiring novel to read. I love the idea of someone actually being brave enough to don a costume and become a superhero to restore order to town! Reformo may have become a superhero in the eyes of civilians in this story, but he has also become a superhero to this reader! The world needed someone like Reformo, and our superhero answered that call to fight for order as well as self-respect.

 

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Living among the Undead: Redhead Town is a dystopian horror story of a society coping with an influx of vampires

 

Redhead Town

Deborah Sheldon

PsychoToxin Press, 2024

162 ppg., Ebook

ISBN: 9798865868330

Buy link

 

We all know what vampires are, right? Yeah, bloodsuckers. And pretty much undead. As in, no longer alive. Unalive. Now take everything you know about vampires and imagine that is someone you have to work with.

 

That’s the situation for Mark Murphy in Deborah Sheldon’s new novella, Redhead Town. Except the vampires in Sheldon’s story are not IMMEDIATELY vampires once they’ve been bitten. They go through a process first, slowly transforming into bloodsuckers.

 

Except, you can’t call them a bloodsucker. Or a vampire. Or even the popular term, “redhead,” as it is a derogatory term for vampires in this story.

 

In this dystopian world where vampires live and walk among mere mortals, Mark Murphy is scared shitless. He is not only scared of the redheads, which he loathes with a fierceness, but he is also scared for his wife and son’s safety. He’s scared of the kind of world his son must grow up in, where he is forced to live alongside vampires, forced to work with them, and may even get attacked by them despite all precautions that are taken, such as armed guards looking out for the civilians, and anti-bite collars people can wear and the ankle alarms some vampires who work with mortals must wear.

 

For Mark Murphy, it’s just not enough. He does not feel, as the county does, that vampires deserve a place in society. If he had it his way, they’d all get a bullet in the head. But he cannot have it his way and he feels trapped.

 

That is, until someone he meets provides a way out: A rebellious group called The Refusal.

 

And as I continued to read this story, I asked myself the same question the author poses in the book’s blurb: Will he risk it all and fight back?

 

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is SUCH a unique story! Accept vampires as productive members of society? Allow them to wander the streets and mingle with the people? Oh, no. God, no. But YES. That’s exactly what happens in this story.

 

And I kept asking: WHY?? Are you insane??

 

Apparently, the vampires in this story are not the same as the vampires popularly depicted in movies and TV shows. Maybe that is why they are allowed to co-exist with people? And even have jobs?

I admit that I totally understood the way Mark felt about vampires. I mean, no matter what stage they are in or how they act, they ARE still vampires! I mean, at some point, they’ll get to the stage where they start attacking people. Is it really worth the risk?

 

I mean, personally, I think the best solution is to lock them up in a kennel and shoot them when they go full vampire, just like in Old Yeller!

 

But that’s not what happens here, and that’s part of the thing that kept me reading the story. On one hand, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and watch this whole very-thought-out and well-planned system of having vampires co-existing with humans all go to pot. On the other, I wanted to know if that’s really what happens. Does the whole structure really collapse? Or does it actually work?

 

And as a parent, I also understood Mark and Bernie’s concerns about raising a child in this kind of society. Was their child going to be safe? Will their kid live to adulthood? Mark and his wife, Bernie, are unable to move out of the town that was established specifically for vampires to live among humans (thus the title, Redhead Town), so they make the best of things. But it’s hard. And it’s scary.

 

This and all of the silly rules, weird society norms and a secret voice of rebellion is what awaits readers of this book. I read this story and kept wondering if there was any chance to get away from all the Designated Areas, the bulging population of redheads and the governmental restrictions making life unbearable. It’s the kind of story that made me think, made me worry, but ultimately made me ask myself how much of this was fiction…until it became reality?

 

 

Five stars.

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.