[Review] Tales of Blood and Sulphur - J.G. Clay

Title of Book: Tales of Blood and Sulphur: Apocalypse Minor
Author: J.G. Clay
Publisher: Forsaken
Publication Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Ebook
Pages: 200

Eleven Tales steeped in Blood and reeking of Sulphur 

J.G Clay takes you on a journey through the voids of Reality and into dark places where demons, mutants and inter-dimensional creatures taunt, taint and corrupt Humanity. Survival is not guaranteed, sanity is not assured and death lurks in every corner. These are the Tales of Blood and Sulphur: Apocalypse Minor; eleven twisted tales of terror and mayhem..... 

There are cracks in the skin of Reality. Some are microscopic, others are as wide as a four-lane motorway. As the fault lines increase and widen, the door to our world shines like a beacon in the darkness, a warm and inviting sight to others beyond our understanding. When They cross over into our realm, The Tales begin...... 

A gambler taking one last desperate throw of the dice. A struggling writer making an unholy alliance. An eternal being fighting to stay alive in the financial capital of India. A man burdened with a terrible town secret. The Law Enforcers who must never cry. The End of Days live and direct from the rural heartland of England. 

The blood is warm, the sulphur is burning, the tales will be told, the Apocalypse Minor is imminent!

I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tales of Blood and Sulphur is a collection of short stories centered on the theme of the supernatural and human corruption. It opens with two men interrogating a Middle Eastern man whose name is Null. At the interrogation, Null offers to tell stories as he claims to be a story teller. One of the men, decided to take up on his offer. Then Null begins to tell stories, which later known as the tales of blood and sulphur. This is actually the premise that kind of ties up the stories in this book.

Although these short stories are not directly connected to each other, I noticed that there are names from one short story mentioned in another. This fact makes me assume that the short stories are set in the same universe. While I was aware that this book is a supernatural horror story collection, I felt uncomfortable reading some part of the book. They are just too gross, too much blood and gore. Sometimes I feel like the gory descriptions are just there for the sake of the book being bloody and gory. I honestly feel that they aren’t necessary. 

It took me longer than usual to finish reading this book because there are some short stories that are difficult to get into. I don’t remember exactly which one, but I believe it’s the one about Gods. It was confusing and overwhelming to me. There are too many names and terms that I’m not familiar with. I tend to skip those. 

I did enjoy some of the stories though. For example The Writer’s Friend and Due to a Lack of Interest, the Apocalypse will not be televised. These two remind me of Stephen King’s stories about scary creatures or monsters. The Writer’s Friend tells a tale about a writer who found a mysterious earth patch in his backyard, which grows larger and larger until a sort of creature emerges from it. I love these stories. It was fun reading them. 

All in all, if you enjoy reading supernatural horror stories and don’t mind reading gross detailed description, you might want to try picking up this book.