Ken BroskyReseñas

The intriguing cover for What Doesn’t Kill You by Ken Brosky caught my eye and I had to check further. I am glad I did, because I love creature features and stories that put characters to the test…and they will be. Not all will survive and I love that too. (evil grin)

Emma rolls into town, bringing with her a gift that will change the town forever. It invades the town slowly, and has a sweetness to those who claim its gift. Don’t we all know that nothing comes without a cost, and no on knows what the cost will be.

Valerie and Danny are the stars, but they are not alone. Some of the most surprising characters are those staying at the halfway house, seeking help for their addictions.

In a small town, there are no secrets, and Seven Sisters is in dire need of anything that can help the people, since Highway 55 became the Old Highway 55. How many towns have died because progress has passed them by? Why do they stay, when there is no future? What would be the lure that would compel people to move on? Does Emma know?

For Seven Sisters to survive, residents will be put to the test, needing the courage to fight for what is their lives. They will need to work together. They will need to draw from deep inside and find the strength to overcome their fear.

What Doesn’t Kill You by Ken Brosky was not exactly what I thought it would be, but the more involved I became, the more the characters drew me in, the more the tension built. The pacing and action allowed the suspense to build and I did not see the end coming. I do appreciate an author that can make me say, “Well, I sure didn’t see that coming.”

I felt the rating jumping between a three and a four. Whenever that happens, a four it is.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of What Doesn’t Kill You by Ken Brosky.

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This is a fantastically creepy novel, and I couldn't help devouring it once I'd begun. Fantastic writing, compelling story-telling and characters, and all of the atmosphere and horror to keep every page turning. I've already picked up another book by Brosky, I enjoyed this so much!

Absolutely recommended.

Moon Song and her brother Hye were very close. Even after his drug use and other problems caused a rift between Hye and their parents, the siblings stayed in frequent contact until one day he stopped answering his phone and never returned calls. It is for this reason she hires Ben Sawyer, a private investigator who generally spends his time in lackluster stake outs of cheating spouses in between his vacation time. She accompanies Ben to the mining town of Blackrock, her brother's last known residence and place of employment. There they find some very strange goings on but no sign of Hye.
I didn't care much for Ben at first, but he grew on me and I loved Moon Song and her fierce love for her brother. I loved the way she faced her fears.
Nothing creeps me out more than people acting out of character or beyond the norm, and there seems to be nothing normal in Blackrock. Personalities have changed drastically. A professor who reports to the dean that a student has made inappropriate sexual advances toward him is basically told to go for it. And that's just the start of these bizarre happenings. Don't get me started on the clinic, or the funeral home. What does all of this have to do with the reopened coal mine? You'll have to read to find out.
Recommended highly to all horror readers and especially to those who enjoy Bentley Little novels. I am a huge fan of small town horror where the last remaining normal people turn into unlikely heroes, and that is just part of the reason this fast paced story was a hit with me.


My thanks to Timber Ghost Press for the review copy.

I received an e-Galley ARC of The Beyond, authored by Ken Brosky, from publisher Timber Ghost Press for review consideration. Edits: Beverly Bernard. Cover art/design: Greg Chapman. Interior design: Firedrake Designs. What follows is my honest opinion, given freely.

Certain set ups for a story just guarantee I’d be, not on high alert, but paying attention if I was there myself. Space, water related activities for example are big ones for me. Caves and tunnels too, I’ve found, because creepy things can happen, but also they can collapse or you can get stuck, and that is terrifying. Sarah Lotz’s The White Road has a scene, a few actually, with a cave system that is not for the faint of heart, it adds a whole layer of horror to that novel. So I dove into this one ready to be bothered, happily so. Horror fans love to poke the bear. Imagine the bear being a pinata filled with reactions to what you are reading, you never know what will fall out, not really. It’s a fun game.

So I was thrown a bit by how casually Trump was mentioned in relation to the coal industry, in just a small tiny part of the beginning. And it struck me, that it was happening, the start of his presidency being part of a time stamp in fiction that we read, and that’s all it has to be, can be. It felt surreal, it felt a little wrong as well, and then I went to the next sentence and kept reading. That opening scene of walking down into the mine is a great hook for the whole novel, would be a great cinematic shot if ever made into a movie. By the time you start to worry about what’s going on it’s already too late, once you’ve noticed the red glow you’re not leaving the tunnel.

I think this has a story that you can enjoy as deeply as you want, you can read it through and be done, thinking that was a good twisty book. Or, you can start thinking of the doorway in the tunnels and the choices that went into putting us where we found ourselves in the novel. It wasn’t infinite universes, we had very specific path a and path b, and I find myself thinking on that often, if there is a reason, and how it was tied up in the tunnels. I think this is a book that many will enjoy, horror, thriller, small town horror and suspense would be accurate genres to place it in. Brosky has written a town to stay away from, things to fear and people to mourn. I look forward to reading his next work.

This book is quite entertaining for young adults audience. It is very well written and has a heroine as main character. She is full of life and counts on a giant speaking rabbit for her sidekick. Their task is to destroy the Corrupted, characters that came to life from Grimm's Fairy Tales after brothers Grimm draw them using a special magic ink. They live among humankind and are becoming evil by the minute. In order to destroy them, our heroine (Alice) has only one tool, a magic fountain pen that she can use to draw into reality anything that she imagines. The book as a matter of fact is a collection of three episodes. First one is called "Prince Charming Must Die", second one is "Happily Never After" and third one is "Revenge of the Castle Cats". At the end of the book you find fourteen original Grimm's Fairy Tales. It took me around fourteen hours to read the whole book.

I bought this book from amazon.com and opinion expressed here is my own.

The Proving is a teen fantasy book about Specters that invaded Earth. They are similar to ghosts in ways but can kill you if they pass through you. Each clan on Earth has their own customs, values, ways, and strengths. When a child gets to a certain age they go out to hunt a Specter with a group, a Proving. This is about a group of these kids and what they find. Very creative and imaginative. Plot is well developed as well as the characters. Nice new approach to aliens! Well done. Received this book free for a honest review. It in no way influenced my review rating or outlook.

Set far into the future “The Proving” deals with an Earth that has been overrun by aliens. Forced to live in safety shields each child has to go through a proving, once when they are 13 and again at 18. They have to leave the safety of the shields and experience the post-apocalyptic world. This book follows four “new adults” the 18 year olds, and their younger siblings the “young adults” (13 year olds) on their proving. Joined by a young “Historian” the group go out for a mundane trip and find themselves on a crazy adventure.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. The editing in the book was very good, there were only four mistakes that I found.
I’ll start with the aspects of the book that I wasn’t a fan of. First the jargon. There are three clans in the book and two of them consist of scientific/medical and technological expertise. Because of this there are times when the characters dialogue is heavy with technical terms that take away from the story. If this is something that would bother you, then the story may seem to drag a bit. Second was the constant changing of P.O.V. We are told the story by each of the five 18y/o characters. At first this bothered me as I found it confusing. Near the end of book I actually appreciated it a bit, but I still found it hard to keep track of who was narrating.
Now to the parts of the book I enjoyed. The detail, at times it was too much, but overall it was just right. I like when an author really takes the time to paint the picture and Ken Brosky doesn’t disappoint. I also enjoy the characters, they are well written and developed throughout the story. None of the characters are overly emotional or whiny like you sometimes find in YA novels. And they behave how you would expect them to based on how the author portrayed them. My favorite is Skye. She is so strong and level-headed. Most importantly I like the story! The base of the story is not unfamiliar, but the approach to an alien-invaded Earth, and how the remaining people deal with it is. I was left with questions, but since this is only the first in a series of books to come I am not surprised by that.
I’m giving “The Proving” a 4.5 out of 5 and looking forward to the next book!

Not my usual fare, but I thought the stories were original and well-written. I did enjoy this book and was pleasantly surprised.

Alice is becoming more secure in her position as the hero. This episode takes Alice, Briar Rabbit and her best friend Sam deep into the Grayle’s corporation. The Grayle’s are several of Snow White’s dwarves that are now prominent businessmen in society. In addition to banking and real estate, they have developed a phone app game, Castle Cats that everyone is going crazy for. In true Corrupted style, the Grayle’s have put some subliminal code into their game to sell some more gross candy bars, they’ve also snuck in some code for everyone playing the game to track, photograph and eventually kill Alice.
This was by far the most exciting episode by far. Alice, Briar and Seth go on a suspenseful espionage mission deep inside Grayle headquarters. This really showcased Alice’s intellect, strength and will. I was glad that Alice was able to find a friend to share her secret with; Seth seems like a character that will grow on me. Seth is smart and his interest in computer programming is definitely a skill Alice could use, I also see some relationship potential here, but nothing has happened yet. I loved learning about the fairytale Hans the Hedgehog-another one I had no idea about. I also though the ending was awesome, it was something different and showed a different side to the Corrupted and Alice. I can’t wait for more!

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

200 years ago the Grimm Brothers brought their characters to life, destined to repeat their stories. The characters have integrated throughout society, but have become more corrupted throughout time. Alice has emerged as the hero, the one that can return the characters to their pages with the help of the Briar Rabbit. Now that Alice has gotten the hang of the hero business a little better, she has her next targets in her sights, Cinderella and one of the pesky seven dwarfs. Only, it seems that she is not the only one doing the hunting this time.

You will definitely have to read Episode #1 in order to be drawn in to this series and understand what is going on here. Happily Never After picks up shortly after Prince Charming Must Die. There is a little more action in this episode since Alice returns several characters to their rightful places, some more easily than others. She is growing and becoming more confident in her role, but she still has a ways to go. I was very pleased that there was a chapter from the Briar Rabbit's point of view, he is a wonderful character and always has something up his sleeve. The best part of this episode for me was when Alice was attempting to dispatch some shape-shifting siblings. Now, I really want to go back and read the original of that fairy tale. Another quick read in the Grimm Chronicles series, up next is Revenge of the Castle Cats.

This book is free on Kindle Unlimited if you want to check it out!½

Long ago, the Brother's Grimm set about writing their tales on magic paper with a special pen. The paper brought their stories alive- literally; the characters from each of the fairy tales began appearing in real life, destined to play out their stories over and over again. However, over time all of the characters became corrupted, evil and a menace to society. A hero emerged, a servant of the Grimm's realized the special pen holds the power to rid the Corrupted characters from Earth. Now, a new hero is needed. Alice is a high school student who has the most wonderful boyfriend that she can imagine, Edward. Edward is handsome, sophisticated, mature, rich and has parents that never seem to be around. With the end of the school year coming, Alice only has to pass her fencing final and has a volunteer position at the library coming up. In the library basement, she finds an interesting pen in between the pages of The Grimm Fairytales and her adventure as the next hero begins. Too bad her first mission is to kill Prince Charming.

I love fairytale retellings and this series of twelve stories about the Grimm's characters coming to life grabbed me right in the beginning. I loved Alice's character, she absolutely loves books, is into the sport of fencing, and is intelligent. She also makes realistic decisions for a teenager; I was impressed with her thought process about her friendships, alcohol and sex. When Alice learns about being a hero, she takes it slow and takes everything in. The Briar Rabbit as the hero's guide is awesome, I have a feeling that he will be a favorite character of mine in the books to come. I enjoyed that there were some lesser known fairy tales thrown in here, too; it definitely peaked my interest. Though I figured out who Prince Charming was right off the bat, this is a pretty awesome young adult fairytale retelling with a great heroine. I will definitely be working my way through the rest of the episodes.

This book is free for Kindle on Amazon if you want to check it out.

Summary of Book
This fantasy book Little Red Riding hoods Quest to defeat the Big Bad Wolf. The Big Bad Wolf uses his pig minions to help throw obstacles in Red Riding Hoods way. In the end after her victor form defeating the Big Bad Wolf, she discovers that he is her father.

Personal Reaction
This book reminded me of Star Wars. Luke finally defeats the evil Draft Vader only to find out he was his father. Both movie and story have twist and turns keeping me hooked through out.

Extension Idea
Have the students write their own ending to the story. Have each student present his or her work to the class.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy in return for an honest review*

Author
Ken Brosky was born in Milwaukee. He has a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin and a Master's degree in writing from the University of Nebraska. His first novel was published in fall 2007. He has more than a dozen short stories published in magazines including Skyline and World Audience.
Isabella Fontaine lives in Winsconsin with her cats. The Grimm Chronicles is her first book.

Review
Though I ended up feeling ok about the first book in this series which contained the first three episodes I felt a bit reluctant. I had a hard time getting into the first book and was afraid about the way the authors would develop the story in these episodes. But I did not have to worry at all. The authors picked up where they left with Alice needing to get back to school for her senior year. She is having several dreams with Corrupted in "The Orphanage of Doom" and her best friend Trish is trying to hook her up with a guy named Ted. Ted is not really your dream guy and I love the way Alice tells him at some point. I like both the stories surrounding the Corrupted, there are two of them who are harassing Alice in this story. Liking them both I do not have the feeling they get enough attention. I think it would be way nicer to get more on one Corrupted than a bit of two Corrupted. What I did find disturbing though it gets better to is Alice her parents. If I would have come home in a limousine my mum would be all over me and not to tell me to clean my room.
The second book Blood and Thunder (episode 5) is really good. Finally we get just one corrupted and everything is moving towards defeating this corrupted. Alice her normal life is getting proper attention too and I like how she develops in school and with her new friends. I did hate Alice though for a big part of this episode... She hurt the feeling of the bunny rabbit... that is not right.
Episode 6 holds on to the one corrupted story though there is a lot of background with this specific corrupted. A lot of it is explained in one of the extra features, The Journal of Eugene Washington. It was very nice to get that background story. In Alice her real life a lot of things are happening too and I like the way the situations in school are treated and how the kids in school take matter in to their own hand, showing that if there is enough support (and it usually comes from people you would not always expect) you can achieve things.
I like Chase as an addition to the friends. One remark on this story though. Alice describes she thinks Constance is in Germany and later she reads a sign saying "Toverschool" which is Dutch. Two different countries and languages.
Again I loved that the original Grimm stories where there too. I did not know them all and it is nice to read what it is exactly about. I was surprised to read in the Journal of Eugene Washington that male can be heroes too. I had the idea there where only female heroes. Loved the graphics in A Legacy of Red.
The Grimm Chronicles are entertaining and a fun read for people who love the fairy tales of Grimm. I think if you know them very well it can be fun to try and guess which of the Corrupted go in which stories.

The Desolation Will Consume You ★★★
Racconto sul genere post apocalittico.
Il cambiamento climatico porta la popolazione a spostarsi verso nord; il protagonista trova così una casa in cui sopravvivere, ma è vita?
Racconto non particolarmente innovativo.

Ashes to ashes ★★★★
Racconto genere horror. Il nuovo impiegato nel forno crematorio di un ospedale viene istruito dal suo predecessore. Le ceneri però si riveleranno un problema difficile da gestire.
Buona l'idea, interessante la narrazione.

High Stakes ★★
Genere horror, roulette russe truccate dall'organizzatore, ma il nuovo scommettitore è diabolicamente fortunato

Enjoy your job! ★★
Basata sul concetto del futuro programmato per le persone - nella forma del controllo genetico.
Carino ma esistono racconti di distopie più articolati.

The four who drowned ★★
Quattro ragazzi che annegando raggiungono un livello di realtà in cui sono nascosti i segreti.
Abbastanza confuso e con poche spiegazioni.

Ten-four ★
Storia di zombie, niente di che.

I was given an eBook from the authors for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for the review, and all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Let’s start with the simple things. There are two ways to read this book. Since the authors have very kindly footnoted the stories with the actual Grimm’s Faerie Tales, you can read the story when the endnote appears, and refresh your memory about the original stories. And lest you think you ‘know’ the faerie tales – Grimm’s tales are not the made for movie Disney tales that have singing princesses and cute little animals. The other way to read is just to read – start to finish, where you get to fill in the blanks in your knowledge once you are done. While the first way is decidedly more awkward, it also is the one that fixes the action that Alice is seeing better in your mind. I’ve read this book twice – first front to back, secondly flipping through to endnotes. I can’t tell you which way is better – both work.

Alice is the heroine of this story, living in a rather ‘white bread’ Minneapolis suburb, in high school, only child and one who loves books and reading; so much so that she has chosen to volunteer at the library rather than work for her summer break. Alice is clever and funny; even when she is scared to death she has some part of her brain working to get her out of the bad situation. What she has come to realize, after her very own Harvey moment (Look it up – Jimmy Stewart movie) with Br’er Rabbit explains that she is the hero destined to save the world from the Corrupted.

Armed simply with a pen and her knowledge of Grimm’s Faerie Tales, Alice proceeds to rid the world of the corrupted, all the characters that travelled to our realm from the world created in the book.

Created as a series of 12 stories, they will have you laughing and wondering who is next, and what form will that character take. Alice alternates between being accepting and rather matter-of-fact about her role, and a rather immature teen without a clue. There are some really large “tells” in the story that point at the “bad guys”, although I tend to think Alice misses many of them because she is still in denial about the reality of the situation. Of course, she seemed to grasp onto the giant rabbit in waistcoat and breeches rather quickly, so it just may be the fact that it’s all new to her. It’s a great new take on the faerie tale classics, with enough interest for young adults and adults who are fans of faerie tales alike.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy in return for an honest review*

Author
Ken Brosky was born in Milwaukee. He has a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin and a Master's degree in writing from the University of Nebraska. His first novel was published in fall 2007. He has more than a dozen short stories published in magazines including Skyline and World Audience.
Isabella Fontaine lives in Winsconsin with her cats. The Grimm Chronicles is her first book.

Review
When I saw this book pop up on my rss feed with a request for spots for a blog tour I knew I had to react immediately. First the titles of the episodes where really catchy and I found the whole concept idea brilliant.
The first story caught me of guard though. I am not sure what triggered my annoyance button. The fact that they named him Edward or the three chapters where the drool of the effort to make him look brilliant was coming out of my e-reader. I was getting a bit scared for the rest of the book at that point but decided that I should at least try to finish the story and see how it would work out. AND I AM GLAD I DID!! After that first hiccups this book is getting funnier and funnier and it all starts to make sense.
Most loved character must be the bunny rabbit although I loved the diaries of Grace and would love to know more about her adventurers. With Alice I had more problems. The descriptions on the book talk about a strong female protagonist and I had a hard time seeing that at first. In the later stories and specially Revenge of the Castle Cats she takes matters in her own hand. She is slowly growing on me and I am looking forward to see her grow further in the upcoming stories.
This book also includes all the original stories of the corrupted mentioned in the book. This is very nice because there where a few I was not familiar with.

Background: Alice is a normal 18 year old, finishing school, getting a volunteer spot at the local library, when she discovers she is the next hero. Her mission is to kill the Corrupted, or the characters from all the famous Fairy Tales that have lived past their stories and have become evil. This is all a bit strange, but what makes it even weirder is her helper, Briar, a giant talking rabbit...
To top it all off, only she can see the rabbit and the strange glowing coming from the Corrupted.

Review: This was a very fun read, it took a little while for me to get into it because there really isn't much by way of character development, but Alice eventually grows on you. The reason I liked this book so much was the in depth information about Grimm's Fairy Tales and how the modern versions of the characters are living, they don't know how to live outside of their tales and it is interesting how they each interpret that. Each chapter had a quote from a tale and I found myself wanting to go read the originals to see where these corrupted characters started out.

Alice was kind of normal, except that she was the hero. The most entertaining was the Rabbit, he is witty and sarcastic, and I found myself giggling out loud at his and Alice's interactions with one another.
There was a good amount of action, build up and foreshadowing throughout to keep the reader on their toes, I just wish Alice had been a little smarter at times. That was my only issue.

I think if you are interested in what might have happened to fairy tale characters after their stories, you will enjoy this read. It isn't a retelling but a continuation of their journeys.

So if you are a fan of Fairy Tales, retellings, Giant Rabbits, and stabbing people with pens (you will see what I mean)...than this is a great read for you.

Background: Volume 2 of the Grimm Chronicles follows our hero Alice Goodenough through her modern day crime fighting against the corrupted fairy tale characters of the Grimm's Brothers. Alice must battle evil doers, a high school bully, a group of Mean girls and finish her last year in high school without dying or failing.

Review: Volume 2 was wonderful. I really enjoyed the characters that were showcased in these episodes more so than the ones in the first volume. In these episodes the Corrupted are all linked together in various ways and Alice and Briar Rabbit must figure out the underlying scheme. It was a mystery, a fairy tale, and an action flick all rolled into one (volume). I really enjoyed Alice's character growth and she becomes a stronger individual. She finds friends that support her for who she is. This volume also really linked her back to her age, high school bullies and just trying to get through it all. I think that made it more realistic when it needed to be, showing her fighting battles of fairy tales and real life. It was inspirational and important to her growth.

As for those characters/Corrupted I liked, they were more of the creepy, send shivers down your spine types, unlike Vol 1. These were spooky mysterious people, evil stepmothers who burn children for fun, and a thief. There were also some very much enjoyed laugh-out-loud points, that had me giggling and my husband asking what was up.

I very much enjoyed the series. I am actually excited to see that there also will be more, the ending of Volume 2 leaves a bit of a cliffhanger and I am interested to see how it goes.

The Unauthorized Biography of Michele Bachmann and Other Stories by Ken Brosky is a collection of short stories prefaced by a bit of background about each story in the collection, including his trio of "Dodge County" stories. While this kind of preface can be enlightening or amusing, this one just seems unnecessary given the powerful stories beyond this "prologue." From surviving a car accident that takes the life of your best friend to surviving the loss of a new friend in Darfur, these stories are poignant and threatening. They serve to demonstrate that loss can happen unexpectedly and can tear at you emotionally and physically.

Read the full review on 2/29: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/02/the-unauthorized-biography-of-michele-bachma...