Reviews of THE SCARY TALES series:
“A deliciously dark companion to the Grimm’s fairy tale, That Risen Snow banishes happily ever after from the start. Walt Disney by way of The Walking Dead.“
—Jerry Gordon, editor of Dark Faith and Streets of Shadows
“Boley didn’t do a single thing in his series halfway. His world is a fully realized landscape with a rich history, language, class system, and religion all its own, and while the story centers around Snow and the hellish army of zombies she creates in her wake, there is so much more to discover within the covers of these books . . . One of my favorite facets of Scary Tales is that unlike its fairy tale predecessors, not a single one of the characters can be characterized as completely good or bad. They are flawed and their flaws make them all the more relatable to the reader.“
—Waylon Jordon, iHorror.com (click here for full review)
“If you enjoy zombie stories and the re-envisioned fairytales of Gregory Maquire (Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West) and Jim C. Hines (Goblin Quest), you’re going to love this inspired reworking of the Snow White story. Hilarious, thrilling, terrifying, and amazingly inventive – The Risen Snow considers what might have been if Snow White had returned to life as a flesh-eating zombie. Clearly, Rob E. Boley is a writer to watch . . . and his Scary Tales Books (of which this is the first) should be required reading for lovers of fantasy and horror.”
—Lawrence C. Connolly, author of the Veins Cycle Books – Vein, Vipers, and Vortex.
“Part delicious dream, part nightmare, That Risen Snow is an aberrant fairytale that is just as much a horror story. Boley has a knack for dark comedy and witty prose, and he blends it with a nearly-hardboiled voice uncharacteristic of (and therefore pleasantly unique in) dark fantasy fiction. It’s a story you’ll want to tear ass through but will equally want to slow down for, so you can savor the prose.”
—Brady Allen, author of Back Roads & Frontal Lobes
“In 1912, the Brothers Grimm published an old Geman fairy tale they titled Snow White. Little did they know that a guy named Rob Boley would come along a hundred years later to reveal the ‘true’ and adult story of Ms. White, or ‘Snow’ as she was known in real life… No one could have possibly foreseen what would become of Snow in the hands of a diabolical, maniacal imagination like Boley’s… Such a nice boy… with such a fevered mind. Read this with the lights on and a baseball bat or shotgun handy… you’re gonna be glad you did. This is a Snow White you ain’t gonna find in the middle school library… Get it, read it, and try to keep the screaming down.”
—Les Edgerton, author of Hooked, Just Like That, and The Bitch
“The perfect antidote to the saccharine-tainted adaptations you grew up with. Grimmer than Grimm, madder than a sack of honey badgers, Boley’s first Scary Tale starts at breakneck speed and doesn’t ease up until a conclusion that leaves you gagging for more. Rob E. Boley demonstrates a refreshingly assured talent for word play and world building. Every character is fully developed, which proves heartbreaking when they fall beneath the fetid gnashing of the Horrors, and it is no small achievement that Boley manages to make the story darkly amusing, breathtakingly horrific and insanely enjoyable with such a skilled economy of word.”
—Neil Baker, owner and editor of April Moon Books
“That Risen Snow and That Wicked Apple make a deliciously diabolical tale—part Walking Dead, part turned-on-its-ear fairy tale. Rob E. Boley strikes the perfect balance of depth, drama, and dark humor to keep readers devouring the pages and leave them hungering for more.”
—Linda Gerber, author of the Death By Bikini Mysteries
Excerpts from some reader reviews of THE SCARY TALES series on Amazon.com:
“Now, I’m not a fan of zombie anything; I feel like they’re overdone and honestly I just don’t find them interesting. This book, I LOVED! I was expecting more boring zombie text and was completely surprised and actually couldn’t put the book down. I love twisted fairy tales, and this is one of the more enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time. I can’t wait to read the rest of the collection!”
“One of the best books I have ever read, which is quite a feat. This book will hook you from the start, making you feel hopeless for the characters’ fates and yet also making you feel extraordinarily hopeful that the protagonist will be with his true love and everything will end perfectly. After all, don’t all fairytales?”
“Great novel. It’s been a while (years), since I read a book, where I couldn’t stop reading. The combination of two well known elements melts brilliantly into a very original story, which is so compelling and imaginative, that you just HAVE to finish the book. That in itself is probably the best recommendation one could give any book, as a book that basically reads itself is a pleasure any day. The characters may not be without flaws, but Boley makes up for it with a story line that never really releases the reader from the firm grip of a really intense story. I am more than ready for more Scary Tales.”
“After reading the first chapter, you will be hooked. This is the type of book that you will find yourself awake at 3 am, still reading, wondering where the time went. The author has a remarkable talent for describing scenes and characters in such vivid detail that you feel like you are watching it play out as you read. This is a Snow White that you never would have imagined, a more ‘real’ version of her, in my opinion.”
“Just finished That Wicked Apple today. A very imaginative piece of work that picked up where That Risen Snow ended. As much as I loved That Risen Snow, this is even better. Mr. Boley continues his path to fame with a story, that is even better written than the first part of The Scary Tales. It is fast paced, well constructed and has an interesting plot, that will leave you in suspense throughout most of the book. I can not wait to pick up the third book of this series, as it is one of the most compelling stories that I’ve read in many years.”
“The third installment in The Scary Tales doesn’t disappoint. As with the other two stories all I can say is-I can’t wait to see what happens next. While the first two books have a more raw quality, you can tell Boley is hitting his writing stride with That Ravenous Moon. In other words, he just keeps getting better and better. He again reaches through the pages and snatches you in with gory details, rich characters and fast-paced story telling.”