Kindle Edition Download from Smashwords (eBook) Amazon horror with a heartbeat Horror with a heartbeat Category:  Science Fiction Publisher: SF Control Type: Fiction Pages: 40 Copyright: 2013 Price: $2.99 (eBook) Forced to escape a starship overrun by creatures from another dimension, an explosion knocks two teenagers unwittingly into dead space.  For the lovers of Space Operas and Fantastical SF. Not for those who want astrophysics in their fiction. Think: Orson Scott Card, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft and Voyager. Futuristic fantasy set in the real world.  This book is dedicated to you. Forced to escape a starship overrun by creatures from another dimension, an explosion knocks two teenagers unwittingly into dead space. Low on supplies and light years from Earth, a break in the fabric of space sends their distress beacon to a passing prison ship from New Australia. It’s transporting Earth's most notorious and violent criminals to an off world location. Something evil has awakened. Transported aboard, believing they are finally safe, the teleport beams a third life form -- a self replicating Slithereen -- into the prison block; and all hell is about to break loose. The old gods no longer sleep. A reign of terror has a second chance. Once banished from Earth, the old gods have an opportunity to return -- and they have starved for an aeon.  Scroll up and grab your copy. Excerpt Screams filled the walkways. Lasers blasted. Something wet hit the wall and bounced off, landing with a thud in front of Laura and Jared Bester. They both stared down at the head of Interstellar Communications. Laura grabbed her brother’s hand and they both ran. They dodged fighters carrying large weapons. One passing fighter took Laura by the arm. “Get to the escape crafts,” he shouted. “Hurry!” An explosion not far from them took the fighter’s attention. Laura watched the fighter round the corridor. They heard a short shout and a thump in the corridor as the lower half of his body hit the wall and bounced onto the carpet. Something long and slimy like a snake, but black as night, slipped over the twitching legs, wrapped around them and, like a snapping rubber band, shot back around the corner and vanished. Another explosion tore a chunk of metal from the wall. The evacuation sirens screamed. Chaos reigned. Jared tugged on his sister’s arm. “Escape crafts are this way.” Laura stared at the violence surrounding her. Part of her wanted to see the war, the battle, the creature that had invaded. Another part wanted to run, hide, escape. A third part of her wanted to scream and crouch in the corner with her eyes closed.

Action Packed, Enthusiastic Speculative Fiction
I'm not much of a reader of sci-fi or horror, or speculative fiction as the horror genre is coming to be known. But as reviewer, I like to read widely in all the genres. This book, although it initially seemed to be sci-fi, was more in the realm of the horror/speculative genre. So when a review copy for this work came my way, well, I couldn't refuse.

The big, bad monster, Cthulhu, was suitably evil and wicked, but dang it if his name didn't ring a bell. I've seen this guy's name around, so I have. So I Googled him, and what do you know? Cthulhu has been around for quite a while and is the invention of a pioneering speculative fiction author called H P Lovecraft. So the idea is not original. So what? Fan fiction is coming into it's own these days and one of the biggest hits in fiction in recent times was fan fiction, if what I'm hearing is true. FIFTY SHADES OF GREY is supposed to have originally been fan fiction for another famous work, before names and settings were changed.

The baddies, parasite monsters who live in host human bodies, willing the creatures to live somewhat in the manner of zombies, were appropriately repulsive. This short read, which can be read in one sitting, is action packed and doesn't coast or cruise, keeping the reader on the edge until the last line. The concept of the human/monster combination has its roots in the Bible, can you believe it? There are many people even today who fear a people called 'the Nephilim', the offspring of human and demonic angel pairings, which, they believe, happened before the flood of which Biblical patriarch Noah was the hero. And there are many who live in fear that surviving Nephilim are ready to attack the human race from outer space.

The idea in itself may not be original, but the passion of the writer shines through the work. And not having read HP Lovecraft before, I wasn't in a position to compare the original work with the merits of this one.

But as a speculative/horror piece, it was up to the mark, gave me the chills and as one can say, hit the spot. It put me in mind of SIBERIAN HELLHOLE, the speculative fiction novel from Irish author Michael Mulvihill.

I look forward to reading more from Jaxon Wolfe. I'm sure that someday, when he authors original concepts in the genre, others will be writing fanfic for him.

A great lead-in to a longer story
This book is short and reads like a prequel part to a book. But it jumps in quickly and (like the author says in the front matter) doesn't spend 30 pages explaining the new science. I can appreciate an author that just gives brief explanations and lets the readers pick things up as they go. I rarely demand to know all the little details of how a spaceship works. The story uses the creatures from H.P. Lovecraft to tell a futuristic story revolving around a brother and sister. The story moves quickly and is pretty well written. It didn't take me long to read it, but I enjoyed it and would love to read the continuation of the story. A quick note: I did receive a free copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Compelling, Kinetic Thriller.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents." H.P. Lovecraft.

This Lovecraft musing, though, obscure in its intent says much about the underlying themes in Jaxon Wolfe's nifty speculative short Child of Chaos.

Child of Chaos is a gripping piece of science fiction that draws together cinematic action of a kind that I grew up on as a kid with claustrophobic tension and pulse pounding thrills.

Employing elements of the classic mythos of H.P. Lovecreaft which, I should stress - a knowledge of which - is not a pre-requisite to reading this piece, Jaxon Wolfe crafts a kinetic thriller that pits the crew of a deep space prison transport against a malevolent alien force that threatens, not only them, but earth itself.

The cast, centred around brother and sister protagonists Jared and Laura, are drawn from classic archetypes that Wolfe has then breathed his own signature into them, making them fresh and multi dimensional in the confines of the good verses evil action narrative. And that action twists and turns its way through the corridors of the prison transport giving us only a little opportunity for respite as it hurtles towards its climax.

Child of Chaos works as a stand alone novella but the possibilities for it as an expanded, feature length novel are exciting too. I came away from it thinking about all sorts of permutations of both the immediate characters and the wider mythos Wolfe has adopted.

It is a highly entertaining read.