Four short stories full of ghastly horrors, twisted humor, and devilish delight.Alex Greenhorn has just finished his first job—a hit on a local mobster. His first deadly sin. He’s blackened his soul for a modest five grand. A high price for such a meager return. The only way to break even is to raise the stakes. Desperate men do desperate things. And a desperate Alex is about to discover that … discover that when you bet your life on a gamble with the devil the odds are never in your favor. (MOTEL BLACK)
Meryl has only one day left to live, that is unless she can best the Grim Reaper and perform one good deed before her time runs out. Luckily, she has her childish, half-witted, moronic, best friend, Doug, to help her out. And access to firearms. What could possibly go wrong? (The Grim Adventures of Meryl and Doug)
Justin Wesley has been kidnapped—locked inside a basement with no way out—and the clock is ticking. His kidnapper is growing restless. He needs to find a way out. He needs to call for help. But as his voice fails another will take its place—a voice from the beyond. And unfortunately for his kidnapper, Justin is listening. (The Voice of the Beyond)
A dark, twisted fairy tale about a monster who’s looking to upgrade. (The Monster With No Eyes)
Reviews for Motel Black:
“Good book. Too short. I want more novels from this author!!!!”
Five Stars
By Kindle Customer on September 15, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“Well written short story. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and slightly nauseous. I’d recommend this one.”
Four Stars
By Lisa on May 20, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“Highly recommended. I find it hard to give a review at times because I really don’t want to give anything away concerning the story. Yet, I know that writers who write good stories need the recognition and this is one such case.”
Five Stars
By Larry on July 22, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Reviews for The Voice of the Beyond:
“Amazed”
“The book captured my interest from the first page. I found it hard to put down.I’d recommend this to the suspense or phenomenon genre lovers.Truly gripping!”
Five Stars
By Jennifer Johnson January 27, 2018
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“Child molesters and kidnappers beware!”
“I really liked this little story. While you don’t get in depth with the characters because of the shortness of the story, there is enough story line there so you understand the child and what he does. I love the little twist at the end of the book. I can’t tell you or it would ruin the suprise. Nice work Sean Hogan. I look forward to reading more of your stories!”
Five Stars
By Leonna Hoferon May 16, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
more
The Devil, the Grim Reaper, and a Ghost by Sean M. Hogan has an author description as “A Collection of Four Dark Short Stories.” I borrowed the collection through my Kindle Unlimited subscription and was happy not to have purchased it. The stories were good beyond my expectation, but they only occupied 57% of my Kindle edition. The samples after the four “advertised” stories with their combination of broken and good links to other Sean Hogan works is the kind of thing that makes me unhappy with a purchased work.
Motel Black ***** Alex Greenhorn was new to the job of husband and father. He wanted to make his wife Nicole and son proud, but money was extremely tight. Everything he made went out for daily expenses. He had to find something new in addition to his normal work, something that would allow him to get ahead. When offered a job to perform his first killing, Alex jumped at the amount of money offered. He wasn’t going to make a career of being a hitman, but just this once wouldn’t stain his immortal soul. The end was worth the means. Alex had teamed up with professional assassin Jack Thorne for this first job. Mission accomplished; the pair were waiting for their paymaster. When the paymaster, masked as the devil and accompanied by a masked acolyte, appeared, there was a discussion over agreed payment. Alex had not committed his soul, but he was going to have to make a few additional wagers to get full payment. This tale is a good story with a twist and no offensive language.
The Grim Adventures of Meryl & Doug ***** Unlike the previous story, this tale has lots of language that might offend those who do not like sexual innuendo. Or even sex without innuendo. I found it more humorous, snarky, and clever, than sexually gratuitous and gross, but that is my taste in stories, for others, consider this a trigger warning for this story only, not the other three of the collection. This tale is almost a lost soul story. The Grim Reaper has come to claim Meryl, but Meryl is not ready. She wheedles and whines and finally gets the devil to agree to a bargain. The Devil gives Meryl a task. If she can do it within the twenty-four hours, he will delay her death. Best friend Doug will accompany Meryl on her quest, but he is not allowed to help. The theme is familiar, but the dialogue between the two adventurers makes this hilarious journey a pleasant variation for the difficult to offend reader.
The Voice of the Beyond ***** Justin Wesley is ten years old and in the fourth grade when he wakes up in captivity listening to instructions from a clown. The clown had chores to do and would return later to play with Justin. His absence left Justin time to explore the room in which he was confined to search for anything that could be used as a weapon to either escape or attack the clown on its return. I was beginning to get worried here because it appeared that Justin was wise beyond his ten years. Then the Ouija Board Planchette began moving and giving advice to Justin. Whew! Readers escaped that possible plot hole. Then the story turns down a very twisted path to a surprise ending. After the humor of the story above, this was a very good return to horror.
The Monster With No Eyes ***** This story is almost a fairy tale. As with most fairy tales, there should be a moral. This story will not disappoint. There is a moral. No offensive language, this is almost suitable for children. Once you can accept that the Big Bad Wolf ate Grandma, this story becomes acceptable.
This ends the complete four stories.
The Crow Behind The Mirror ***** There are three chapters of this story, and I thought they were good. I followed the link at the end of the story, and it was broken. This link failure disturbed my flow of reading. I was not happy. True, all I had to do was go to the Amazon author page where I would find the novel for sale at USD 3.99. It is available as a Kindle Unlimited read. Fans of fantasy will like this tale of tree spirits, unicorns, dragons, and gods. In the first three chapters, Sean Hogan did a good job of world building.
Next came:
A Halloween Carol ***** Again, the first three chapters of the novel and, again, it was interesting. This time the link worked. The novel sells for USD 2.99 on Amazon. I am happy that it is available on Kindle Unlimited, where I will read it. Can anyone see a possible parallel to A Christmas Carol (but scarier)?
I will read more work by Sean M. Hogan. Fantasy is not one of my favorite genres, but Hogan’s writing encourages me to re-look the fantasy genre as a source of entertainment.