Genre: Horror
Length: 48 Pages
Release date: December 2, 2018
Synopsis: “Sentience? I’m just a throwaway toy, an inanimate object. How can I have thought and emotion? Opinion and experience? I’d shrug my shoulders if I could. The world is brimful of mystery.”
DOGGEM is a spooky little tale about toy dogs and dark doings. A gently disturbing horror story. But beware, this charming cocktail of witchcraft, imagined folklore and paranormal fantasy might just bewitch you.
Not easy to pin down genre. Without doubt it has a certain heart-breaking beauty to it. Maybe it’s a modern fairytale. A scary one, flavoured with a dash of the occult, written for an adult audience. After all, fairy tales feature the supernatural and have a magical aspect to them.
They often have old cottages and eerie, unnerving woodland settings.
Wickedly enchanting women and innocent children.
Ancient evil and everyday greed.
Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review
I was unfamiliar with the idea of a ‘Doggem‘, never having heard of the concept when my children were of this characters age. The synopsis of Doggem didn’t give me the proper clues I need to know what to expect. The cover didn’t give me much either, to be honest I thought I was opening a children’s book.
But, as the saying goes, you can’t judge a book by the cover. This was an enjoyable short story. The writing had a distinctively British feel that I really enjoy. It’s the sentence structure and a word or two, if you know what to look for. This book was very well written and the plot was clever, along with the twist that came out of no where. Doggem was a fun read, and quite entertaining.
John was born in England and grew up in the industrial midlands, where he learned to love the sound of scrapyard dogs and the rattle and clank of passing trains.
He studied English, Art and History and has, at different times, been a sculptor, odd-job man and office worker. He enjoys horror and comedy (not necessarily together).
He has published five books. Bad Pennies, Doggem, Call Drops, Collapse and 4 Hours, and is currently working on a number of projects which include more tales from the Dead Boxes Archive and the Scaeth Mythos, and new stories set in the ever evolving, post-apocalyptic world of Collapse.
Catch up on Twitter: @john_f_leonard
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