The Wailing Skin: The Skin Room is a chilling story that will make your skin crawl – or peel

 

The Skin Room

Carl Bluesy 

Independently Published, 2026

Ebook, 275 ppg. 

ISBN-10: 1069380814

ISBN-13: 978-1069380814

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You know the expression that if you play with fire you’re going to get burned?

 

That’s exactly what happens to Kenneth in this story, except that he managed to play with fire for a little too long. He enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle of using up women, stealing wives for sexual pleasure just so someone could get a good deal on the luxury cars he sold, and living comfortably in his condo with his wealth. He got away with hurting women for so long, viewing them only as sex objects to conquer, that he lost touch with his own humanity.

 

Well, he gets a good slice of humble pie in this story. The Skin Room by Carl Bluesy is a splatterpunk novel of violence, murder, and tons of gore that will make your very skin crawl. Just be glad you still have it!

 

After Kenneth loses everything and is forced to survive on the streets, he joins the homeless community and, in the process, learns to dispel with his prejudices against the homeless. He keeps thinking “I’m not one of you!” or “I’m not like you!” and carries around this fantasy that if he goes to the police enough times, they will straighten everything out just like that and he’ll be back to sipping cocktails in his condo. It takes some time for Kenneth to adjust to life as a homeless person, and he is fortunate to befriend a couple of people who are kind enough to show him the ropes.

 

Meanwhile, there is a killer on the loose, a killer known as the “Panhandle Peeler,” a serial killer preying on the homeless and skinning his victims. Kenneth tries to remain vigilant to avoid being the Peeler’s next victim, but that lasts only for so long.

 

The title of this book has to do with the type of room that Kenneth is imprisoned in after he is kidnapped by the Panhandle Peeler. What does the Panhandle Peeler do with all that skin? Well, in one case, he creates a whole room covered with it. Literally a room made of skin. There’s quite a bit of blood still on the skins, blood which sometimes pools on the floor of the room, and it is mind-blowing that the skin continues to grow, even over the door to the room.

 

There were many times I stopped reading this book, not because of the graphic scenes of victims being peeled of their skins but because I kept thinking, No way! This is too unreal! The cruelties the Peeler inflicted upon his victims are unthinkable. Only a madman would believe every single thing he does to his victims serves a bigger cause. Make no mistake, a madman is certainly what the Peeler is. And the big reveal near the end of the story is just as shocking and disturbing.

 

But it was my curiosity about Kenneth’s fate that always drove me to pick up this book again to read. Does Kenneth survive? Does he escape? What about the Peeler; will he finally be brought to justice?

 

And actually, what does happen to the Peeler at the end is just as twisted as the rest of this story. Even so, it’s a story I recommend to fans of horror and especially fans of splatterpunk novels. This story is written so well and it’s full of surprises. Where else can you find a novel that describes the removal of a person’s skin in gory detail? Or the best way to remove an eyeball? Plus, there is fruit that isn’t really fruit at all – and filled with a different kind of “juice” to drink. (That pineapple!) Readers will be treated to such passages in this book. Perhaps they will exclaim “Wow!” at the end, as I did.

 

That ending, though. It blew me away.

 

Check out The Skin Room by Carl Bluesy for the most extreme survival story of them all. What would you do to survive? How far would you go? Within the pages of this book, readers will see just what it takes for one man to survive the streets and survive imprisonment by a delusional monster.

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

 

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

A Mysterious Danger on the Prairie: Shadows By Night is an unputdownable historical horror novel of revenge

 

 

Shadows by Night

Zach Ellenberger

Independently Published, 2025

ISBN-13: 979-8343983807

Ebook, 164 ppg.

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According to what we learned in school and from nonfiction books, life on the prairie was hard in the old days. We learned about the constant battles between US soldiers and the white man against the Native Americans living on their land. What we hardly ever got to learn about was any incidents of “revenge” the natives may have sought after the white man who stole their lands.

 

Well, readers will get to read about it here! In Shadows by Night by Zach Ellenberger, we follow the Noble family as they trek across country to land they have laid claim to which once belonged to a Native American tribe. In fact, the father in this family, Elijah, was one of the soldiers who participated in the merciless slaughter of the tribe that had lived on that land. What he and his soldiers don’t know is that a group of those natives escaped, later creating a supernatural force of creatures hell-bent on revenge.

 

Adam Noble is the only survivor of that tribe that died by the hands of Elijah’s army (as far as he knows). His name is not really Adam, but that is the name which the Noble parents gave to him when they took him in as a young child. Typical of many Western families at that time, they basically “whitewashed” Adam, stripping him of his name, his language, his heritage, culture, language and even clothes that he knew as part of the tribe and raised him as the “white way.” They gave him a Christian name, raised him in the Christian faith and threw upon his young shoulders the responsibilities and lifestyle of the way they lived. All of this made Adam forget who he was, so of course, he is confused when other people question his relation to the Nobles or treat him like he is a native.

 

The natives are called “savages” in the story, but I refuse to identify Native Americans by this term. In fact, reading this story made my blood boil, as I have Native American blood and I am well aware of the atrocities many, many Native American tribes faced at the hands of the white man. It’s no wonder that they soon grew to hate each other and showed no mercy in choosing to kill each other.

 

One thing I love about reading Zach Ellenberger’s books is the attention to detail and historical research that he brings to his stories. We normally don’t get to fully absorb ourselves in the way things were back in the day, but in reading this story, it felt like I was really there. I actually felt the same hardships the families endured as they tried to eke out a life on the prairie. I also appreciated how the portrayal of the US Army’s takeover over the lands the natives once lived on was so true-to-life.

 

But this story does capture a sad fact of history: How many Native American children were taken from their families and basically “whitewashed.” In fact, there was a whole orphanage dedicated to taking in Native American children absconded from their tribes and raised as white, having to wear the same clothes, speak the same language and live the same way white people did.

 

Even so, the bigger part of this story is the terrors which the Noble family faces upon settling in on their land. Even before they have a house built, danger strikes. The horrors inflicted on this family come from a mysterious source and they can only fight this evil without even knowing what they are fighting, or why.

 

Shadows by Night is a fascinating, riveting historical horror novel that was hard to put down. This story drew me in from the very beginning. Brimming with historical fiction, terrifying horrors and captivating suspense, this novel provides a gripping story of retribution and redemption.

 

 

 

Five stars

 

 

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

Escaping a Cloud City to a City in Ruins: Sky High is a science-fiction dystopian novel of four teens risking it all for freedom

 

Sky High

Christy J. Breedlove

Fire & Ice Young Adult Books, 2024

ISBN: ISBN: 979-8-88653-279-1

Ebook, 260 ppg.

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Four teenagers – Toby, Justice, Remy and Maria – run away from their sky-high utopian world to the earth below, well aware that it lay in ruins. But the prospect of living with freedom instead of in a society governed by rules and cultures they no longer accepted was too tempting to pass up. When they touch down on Earth, where it lays in ruins on account of a devastating enormous earthquake that lay the planet in waste centuries ago, they discover that the paradise they thought they would escape to turns out to be hell, with savages, wild animals and barely anywhere for them to take shelter. Still, they press on, hoping to find somewhere to live. Meanwhile, they have security guards hot on their heels, determined to return the teens to their homes.

 

I realize that this is a science fiction dystopian novel, but reading about a futuristic Eugene (in Oregon, where I actually happen to live!) that is in shambles because of a record-breaking 9.9  earthquake and survivalist societies was giving me strong dystopian vibes. (I also had to laugh at the “yellow brick road” comment later in the story, because another name for Eugene is the Emerald City!)

 

They say that the biggest threat to the PNW (Pacific Northwest) is a tsunami, but an earthquake registering high on the Richter scale is not impossible. In truth, it could happen at any time. And coincidentally, while I was reading this novel, I came across an article highlighting the dangerous prospect of a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that could occur in the Pacific Northwest in the next 50 years. (Here is the link to that article if you want to read it. Interestingly still, it also states that "Oregon has the potential for a 9.0+ magnitude earthquake caused by the Cascadia Subduction Zone and a resulting tsunami of up to 100 feet in height that will impact the coastal area.")

 

The earthquake that wreaked havoc in the West in this story made the city of Eugene no longer habitable. "If the quake hadn’t taken their lives, the thick, porridge-like atmosphere had strangled all life and starved the populace." (Page 109) The story takes place 800 years after the quake. I wondered why everybody decided all those years ago to go live up in the sky. I mean, maybe they could’ve set up a village on the ocean, or something?

 

But, anyway. That’s what happened in this story. And in this sky-high metropolis consisting of 6000 civilians, no one is allowed to leave, let alone to Earth. But these four teenagers do, and it sets them on the course of an adventure of their lifetime.

 

It was hard to read the parts of the story where the group killed wild dogs. I get it, the dogs are wild and it’s “kill or be killed,” but they’re DOGS! And I love dogs. Truthfully, I started skimming over those scenes. It got me upset.

 

Still, this is only a reminder of how harsh life and what little civilization there is left in that area of land is like at that point in time. “Kill or be killed” is the law of the land, and when an animal attacks, the only response is to kill it or be killed. This much I understood.

 

And it gets worse later on, after the group of teens get captured by a savage clan. I had to admire Toby’s restraint as he tried to reason with the leaders and speak to them in a way they would understand. Toby is the most level-headed of the group. The savage clan really is savage, living in a way that is barbaric as well as in a society where the women are assigned to harems. The group of teens are treated brutally by these people, making them wonder if it was worth escaping from Cloud’s Rest in the first place.

 

And that’s the thing. As I read this story, I kept asking myself, Why did they run away? What made where they came from so bad? These teens do share that information towards the end of the story, and I totally understood then and there why they escaped.

 

Sky High was an intelligent, captivating story of adventure, excitement and, overall, hope. You want to cheer the four teens on, but at the same time send them back home because of the dangerous world they venture into. But these teens are not giving up on their quest for freedom, and in making their journey, they grow into mature young adults capable of taking on whatever life throws at them.

 

 

Five stars

 

 

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