Reading Rumble Round 31

They Wait Underground by Elford Alley

We Will Find a Place For You, 2023 https://amzn.to/3LgDbWv
Excellent reading by Drew Blood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx_MCP1v7Fc

An orphaned child is haunted by mysterious sinkholes.

To Kill a Saturday Night by Ed Wood as Ann Gora
Black and White, 1971 or 1972

Collected in Blood Splatters Quickly https://amzn.to/3E59gMG

Two dirtbag field workers get drunk and talk about killing sex workers.

The Halloween Store by Ron Kelly
The Halloween Store and Other Tales of All Hallows' Eve, 2020 https://amzn.to/45NJuZl

Kids save up to buy special vintage monster masks.

After a valiant effort, Ed Wood is tossed over the ropes, leaving the last two contenders for the Cruiserweight title.

Reading Rumble Recap

 

Thirty authors and over a hundred stories later, three authors will face off for the Cruiserweight Title.

Ron Kelly started at the tail end of the 80s paperback boom and came back for the era of self & small publishing. Visit at https://www.ronaldkelly.com/, follow him at @ronaldkelly.bsky.social, and buy his stuff at https://amzn.to/3KQrc1E

Elford Alley is our most recently published author in the Rumble, starting in the last decada. Visit him at https://elfordalley.com/, follow him @elfordalley.bsky.social, and buy his tuff at https://amzn.to/3r07zgA

Ed Wood, Jr. was a visionary auteur and even more unhinged author. He has slipped this mortal coil, but has recently been republished here https://amzn.to/45pwr0l

Reading Rumble Round 30

 

Our last entry Ed Wood, Jr. walks down the aisle, hangs his angora sweater on the ring post, and joins the action.

No Atheists in the Grave by Ed Wood, Jr.
Hot Fun, February 1971
Collected in Blood Splatters Quickly https://amzn.to/3E59gMG

A Vietnam War chaplain has a crisis of faith.

Junkman by Elford Alley
Ash and Bone: Tales of Terror, 2018 https://amzn.to/47r73ZB
Excellent reading by Drew Blood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx_MCP1v7Fc

A rural black marketeer obtains a stitched together reanimated corpse.

The Dark Tribe by Ron Kelly
Midnight Grinding, 2009 https://amzn.to/3OJ0uc9

Two kids unearth a native burial ground.

All authors stay in the ring.

Reading Rumble US Title Match - Vietnam Ground Zero vs The Bounty Hunter

The entire US military can't stand up to this mean mountain of a man. Tiny Boyles and Hank Nuwer claim their bounty of the United States title.

And since Nuwer only wrote sports non-fiction other than this, and Boyles didn't even write this series, they both retire, leaving the title vacant!

Bounty Hunter 4: Blood Mountain by Tiny Boyles and Hank Nuwer

Bounty Hunter 4
Blood Mountain
by Tiny Boyles and Hank Nuwer 
1982 Playboy

Loveable dirtbags Tiny and company chase after a computer genius and his stolen bank money, running into an Italian cult/terrorist group for their troubles. They pick up a lady bounty hunter along the way, and there's more action this time, involving mowing down ultralights with a machine gun.

The series coasts on charm over plot or action, but there's plenty of charisma to keep it going.

Paperback from Amazon

Vietnam Ground Zero 5: Soldier's Medal by Eric Helm

Vietnam Ground Zero 5
Soldier's Medal
by Eric Helm
1987 Gold Eagle

A nineteen year old sergeant , wracked with survivor's guilt and denied a medal as the last man to survive an attack, goes rogue and takes a team of Vietnamese strikers into the jungle. Gerber and Fetterman pursue, to talk him down or take him out.

Some introspection, as Gerber is completely aware that the AWOL soldier's actions aren't that much different from what the Army is usually up to. Morrow is mentioned but doesn't appear, which is preferable to being captured and tortured like the last two books.

Available from Amazon

Reading Rumble US Title Match - Vietnam Ground Zero vs The Bounty Hunter

 

Vietnam Grand Zero faces the one man army of Tiny Boyles, The Bounty Hunter for the United States title

Reading Rumble Round 29

 

Indie author Elford Alley enters the ring.

Nature of the Business by Elford Alley
Ash and Bone: Tales of Terror, 2018 https://amzn.to/47r73ZB

Excellent reading by Drew Blood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx_MCP1v7Fc

After the zombie apocalypse is put down, an entrepreneur fills a niche.

I, The Vampire by Henry Kuttner
Weird Tales, February 1937

A vampire in Hollywood.

The Boxcar by Ron Kelly
Midnight Grinding, 2009 https://amzn.to/3OJ0uc9

Hobos vs vampires

Kuttner goes over the ropes.