Crimes of Hate by Various (curated by Bret McCormick)
GREETINGS STACK WORMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's not talk about how long I've been gone and just get into the post. Today, I am reviewing:
Honestly, I kind of forgot about this one as I went along in the book. It wasn't bad and I related with Julie, but it didn't really live rent-free in my head. Sorry. Good writing though. I think the lunch with her friends felt like it slowed down the pace but it was for character-building so all good. I'd give this story a 3/5 for being enjoyable while I read it, but forgettable afterward.
Don't Be Stupid by Randall Smith
Two boys accidentally come across a murder. The murderer follows them home, killing their Mom and mom's boyfriend. The elder brother decides he's gonna kill the intruder which he does in...smashing...fashion. You'll get it when you read the story. And to make sure they're not implicated in the murder of the intruder the elder brother does his best to cover his tracks. However, a cop did catch on to the older brother but instead of snitching he offered the kid a job, seeing as the kid, definitely wasn't stupid.
Good story. Well, written and the kids were not Kennys. Most of the choices the MC makes are logical in a kid's sense. They shouldn't have pissed on the dude and have untied him after smashing his face into goop. Also, this story isn't really about hate it's about survival. The kids would have died if they hadn't fought back. The last statement is a criticism of Bret, not Randall. 4/5
Psychopaths, Grieving, and Timeslips by P. K. Kleypas
Oh, gods, this one. I'm not actually going to review this one, I said I wouldn't since it doesn't actually resolve anything. It just ends. Nothing is wrapped up. It made me want to do this:
Dear Steven,
Who hurt you? Do you need a hug? Maybe a friend to murder with? A place to stash the body? I'm happy to help.
This was a rough one to read. Well, child rape will always be rough to read. Billykins meets SF (short for Sick Fuck given to him by his 'godfather' because he left the poor kid alone for too long without food and the child started to eat his own feces). And sort of befriends him. Which ends him in boiling oil. SF's godfather kidnaps Billykins and offers him to the Ice Cream Man (I'm not going into detail about why he's called this). SF however doesn't want his new friend to be hurt so kills ICM, GF, and a random guard. Billykins helps SF escape and then never sees him again. Much to his relief.
The grandma does not die in this one. But a cat does so star removal. This story has great pacing. These characters are all definitely hormonal boys. So, realism is spot on. The descriptions were good. Subject matter, well, erf. I really liked that Billykins was into graffiti. Continue art, my dude. Again, while SF hated the people he killed, he didn't actually kill them until his friend was in danger. So, survival and protection. 4/5
The Last Ray of Summer by Anthony Ferguson
Ray is a very timid boy much to his father's chagrin. Though Ray learns that it is a good thing he's not like his Pa. Because his Pa is a murdering, abusive, pig. So when Ray kills his father to prevent him from killing anyone else it is very understandable. Especially, since it could have been his ex-girlfriend, Melissa whom he still cares about. There is a ghost that helps Ray figure out that his pa is a crazy son-of-a-bitch.
Not much to say besides it's good. Also, puns and the dog dies. 4/5
Cherry Boy by Che Trujillo
It is Jamie's initiation day! He has to kill someone to finally be inducted into the Los Gatos Negros gang, so, The Black Cats? Jamie's task is to kill a random person to earn his tatt. Jamie randomly remembers that he was molested by a youth pastor when he was a child and decides that's who he's gonna kill. He hasn't seen the dude since he was an itty bitty kid during summer camp. He puts three bullets in the dude's face right outside the fucking church. The cojones on Jamie! Best character.
The descriptions in this story were just chef's kiss. Loved Jamie. The only gripe I have is that the motivation was super quick but hey, it took out a man of the church so I don't give a fuck. And no animal death? Che I love ya, buddy. 5/5
Crepuscular by Bret McCormick
Richard was recently displaced by Hurricane Ike and takes up a job to help fix up an abandoned school building for a rich couple who want to turn it into an art studio. As he is doing his job some odd things start to happen but they only escalate after he meets two kids named, Calvin and Anna Mae. He tells the local store clerk, Howard about the kids and gets a strange reaction. Turns out the strange reaction is warranted because the two children have been dead for a couple of generations. Richard however doesn't think the children he's been seeing are more of a dark entity about the place. Miss Hattie and Howard confirm this and say they'll pray for him. Which actually works, maybe. Richard stops writing before he decides whether to go back to the school building to continue fixing it.
Richard was an okay protagonist. Kind of a wimp though, he gets taken out by water and a door. He doesn't really do anything just experiences things and is there for exposition to be dumped on us. And in the end, he doesn't even decide to fight back or not. Meh. Also, animal death. 2/5
And here we are at last. The man who curated the entire anthology and that I have complicated feelings about. It was his introduction that made me sour on the writer in the first place. He was talking about not getting enough entries that weren't supernatural yet he picked a supernatural story himself. Wants stories that don't deal with racially, politically, or religiously motivated killings...Crepuscular deals with KKK lynchings. Goes on a tangent in his introduction about human hate leading to murder, yet most of the stories aren't about killing in hate. They're about survival or protection that happens to have hate involved. Only one story is hate-motivated. One story isn't even dealing with murder it's about the MC's mother having died with unresolved trauma attached to her. So, I don't know I feel like Bret was trying to go for something or come off as wise in some way but misses the mark and just comes off as childish. Personal opinion of course.
THOUGHTS:
Honestly, by the time I had reached the last story of this book, I was begging for it to be over. Especially, after being dropped kicked in the stomach by story 4. Maybe if Cherry Boy had been after it, I wouldn't have been so exhausted. Seriously, Bret, next time you decided to have a long ass story in the middle of your book (without an ending) put something quick after it. It'll help the flow. That brings up another complaint the flow on this was agonizing. It was nigh existent, usually, there is some forethought into which stories should go into what order to make reading easier. I felt like no thought went into this. Formatting was okay. When reading some other anthologies I've had to scroll through a few blank pages to get to the next story. This mostly didn't have that problem, though a few titles started in the middle of the page, but that's not horrible. I definitely think the stories needed more editing, there wasn't anything egregious though. Drop. The. Fucking. Introduction. Just do it. Besides, Story 4 (which isn't a bad story it just needs to be finished), the choices of stories weren't bad. The two classic stories I feel didn't need to be here. Don't get me wrong I love Edgar Allen Poe but I can't even really review those without wasting some time. I'm here to review authors who need feedback. Edgar and Saki are dead. My review does them no good. But if you must absolutely know; I love The Casque (literally my favorite Poe story) and I felt meh about Interlopers.
All-in-all I give Crimes of Hate a solid 3/5.
I noticed on Goodreads that there is only the paperback edition which has 352 pages listed. My copy only had 260 pages. HBB is that right? Just curious.
I want to add a disclaimer here, I might have been more harsh on this anthology than others because I really wanted to be done with it. Story 4 stopped me dead in my tracks for so long because of feels and then pissed me off so I was reluctant to come back to it. I didn't have the spoons y'all. So, take that for what you will.
Here is the link to the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Crimes-Hate-Bret-McCormick-ebook/dp/B0CK12FXP5/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1699974098&sr=8-1
Link to my Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5948531641
The next book on the docket is Neha's Mother by Isaac Hans. I hope to have this one done in a much shorter time.
Last but not least the music pick for this book:
Have you read the book? What did you think? Would you agree or disagree with me? Did you like the review? Is there anything I can do to make it better? Or is there anything you'd like to see me doing in the next review? Remember I always encourage constructive criticism. Thank you for reading!! Toodles, luvs!
-Bug
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