Best friends William Halloway and James Nightshade spy the words above, on a sign being waved around their small town, a carnival was coming, but this late in year, being October and all, something had to be wrong. But none the less the boys are going to attend and see all that the freak show will provide. Being born just days apart, these two are joined at the hip, and nothing will ever change that. On their walk home, they devise a plan to see the carnival setting up, but nothing could have prepared them for what a little bit of sneaking around would manifest from the carnies.

The carnivals calliope (steam organ) beckons the young men to come down, playing its seductive tune, but when the boys arrive to watch the set-up, no one is playing it, the cold wind shrilling off of the pipes is the cause of the alluring sounds. The boys, although a bit freaked out, stay and watch as more of the carnival's set up comes to life. With the tents being erected, rides being unloaded, and the freaks all heading to their appropriate areas, nothing looks out of the ordinary, until one sheet of canvas is unloaded off of the train, and it seems to be eyeing the boys. But, it is getting late, so the boys decide it is time to leave and hit up the new attraction in the morning.

Have you ever wondered what happens in a carnival, how their performances always seem to be the same from year to year, how your ticket taker never seems to age a day from the last time you saw them? Something Wicked This Way Comes will be more than willing to answer your questions of why this seems to happen. The young friends Jim and Will are exposed to the carnival's secrets first hand and put into situations that no teenagers should ever be privy to. They are joined by Charles Halloway, Will’s father on their quest for knowledge of this carnival that seems to have alternative motives other than just entertaining the townies.

Being pursued by one of the carnivals proprietors, Mr. Dark, The Illustrated Man is on the hunt for the two boys. Sending his carnival brethren out into the town to find the children that threaten his very existence, there seems to be little chance of escape for the two friends. The carnival is always looking for new acts and attractions, any new one will do. Many colorful characters join the hunt, but it will only come down to Mr. Dark facing off against his new-found enemies.

This story is an altogether home run! Bradbury takes your common love of the carnival, adds some magic and evils it up a bit, and boom, you have a classic horror story. This was hard to put down once the boys are discovered mulling around the carnival site. The searching by the carnies and the instant retaliation by the boys is epic. You also have a father opening up to his son, showing him that getting old is not a bad thing. This one is a classic and definitely has my seal of approval, so get out and read this now and never look at a carnival the same way ever again.  

Welcome to Seattle, Washington Territory, early 1860’s. The rumors of great gold reserves in the Klondike have run though the young U.S. and Russian territories. Being closer to these reserves, the Russian’s open up a contest to whomever is able to build a drill that is able to penetrate a hundred feet of solid ice to recover this massive treasure. Leviticus Blue, a local on Seattle’s Denny Hill rises to the challenge and builds the most effective drill to date, the Boneshaker. Upon experimenting with his newest accomplishment, Blue changes the landscape of his home city, forever.

The Boneshaker does its job, boring underneath the town, but being built on an unsteady foundation already; the city quickly collapses again, this time releasing a gas called Blight. With the city in shambles and a gas leak that does not only kill its victims, a wall is resurrected around the city to keep the all of its horrors locked inside. Although Blight can be used to produce a drink called sap, it also turns its victims who inhale enough of the noxious gas into the walking dead, called Rotters.

Brair Wilkes, formerly Brair Blue, is questioned about her late husband’s work and his possible collusion with the Russians to release an attack on the country. Brair never says anything about the possible conspiracy and just tries to go on with her life as any normal person would, outside of the wall. Raising her fifteen-year-old son Zeke on her own, she has nothing left from the life she had previously known. Zeke watches as his mother tries to defend the family name and notices the toll it takes on her over the years, so he decides that it is on his shoulders to find the proof that will clear his family name.

Boneshaker puts you into the eyes of the Wilkes family, as you follow young Zeke sneaking under the wall and into the main city of Seattle that has been ravaged by the destruction that his father had caused with his machine. Not knowing who to trust, or what a Rotter really is, he teams up with who he thinks is trustworthy at the time, using his Grandfather's good name to fall back on if he gets into trouble. His mother, Brair also joins the journey as she searches for the only thing that matters to her at all in this life, her son. They both are in for more than they bargain for from the start, but are able to find allies, and meet the only man that is able to keep whomever is still alive in the city alive, Minnericht.

This book takes you on a fantastic trip into the past with technology that is before its time, but is able to run with what they had available to them. You meet several different characters in the Wilkes' quest for the truth and get an all-around feel for the hardships within the city. Being to Seattle several times in my life, the use of the ‘underground’ which is real in the city, just makes the story come to life just that much more. Boneshaker is also a steampunk genre novel, so if that is your arena and you combine that with trying to survive Zombie attacks, then this is the book for you. Either way, this is a solid read, make sure you check it out.  

Welcome to the Big Easy, a place of joy and spiritual beliefs that could be taken to the extreme by any faction. Now add in a book that possesses the power to add in the extra step, the Necronomicon. Now welcome to the Big Uneasy, a city full of Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves, Ghouls, Succubi and Trolls. That is what had happened down in New Orleans once this book was delivered to the local museum and a clumsy curator cut himself and his blood activated the powerful spell book.

Dan Chambeaux, was a private investigator in the city before the change took place, now after being gunned down in the street, he is a Zombie investigator. Still taking the same types of cases as he would as if he were alive, Chambeaux continues to work out of his old office of Chambeaux and Deyer Investigations. This office is catered perfectly for the changes that have befallen the city. His partner is Robin Deyer, a lawyer and the only human on staff and there is Sheyenne, Chambeaux’s ex-girlfriend who was poisoned and has returned to become a ghostly receptionist. The workload for the group has never faltered, especially after the city turned upside down. If anything, they have never been busier taking in every request that has come their way. The only problem is that when working for an Unnatural, you do not know what kind of payment you will receive. 

Although he is working for many different parties, Chambeaux is still investigating two top cases in his spare time. He is desperately looking for the man that gunned him down, along with the person that poisoned his girlfriend turned ghost. Getting a new case from a Miranda Jekyll, who is looking to divorce her husband and not get shafted by the lawyers, Chambeaux is thrown into a larger case than he had expected. Trying to find any dirt he can on Miranda’s husband, Chambeaux has to trail one of the top salesmen for her husband's company, Jekyll Lifestyle Products and Necroceuticals (JLPN). Brendon Morris is a fan of Chambeaux and the lawsuit that was brought upon the large company since JLPN is the largest and only distributor of cosmetics for the Unnaturals that run around the Big Uneasy, but one of their previous batches caused massive allergic reactions, almost causing death, well second death to their users.

Death Warmed Over will leave your head shaking as the unnaturals around the town are at each other’s throat for one reason or another, but need to band up to keep from being run out of the city by the Straight Edge extremist group that wants them all gone, and it turns out the Straight Edge group has a leader that may be more powerful than anyone could imagine, which is bad news for the unnaturals because all men, even dead men can be defeated at this enigmatic leader's hands.

This is just a fun little read as you follow Chambeaux (Shamble as the locals call him) on his investigations around town. You meet several colorful characters, mostly dead or undead depending on your point of view and find out that their problems are just the same as the living. The cases that are depicted in this book range from faulty spell books, vegetarian vampire protection, divorce, drunk ghost hauntings, and a mummy that wants to be paid for his service in the museum. Although you do not get the horror or thriller feel from this book, you get to enjoy much more interactions between the characters and though you may shy away, there is a pig that is more than willing to snuggle with your leg. Enjoy and keep reading!