Customer Reviews

Horror, Humor, and Heroes

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just got this earlier today, and sat down to read it. So I figured I'd pop in a leave a review for it. And just for kicks, I'll do it story-by-story.

HHH starts off with 'The Wolf's Cry', a quick story that gets the reader familiarized with Jim's writing style. It's quick and painless, if a bit gory in place. A good intro.

Raw and Real is the next story, one about the televised execution of a werewolf. A good story, but forgetable. I'd already forgotten about it when I sat down to write this review.

The next two stories are very short. 'My Son- the Monster' is a take on the greek myth of Icarus, one almost everyone is familliar with. 'The Red Badge of Doom' is the tale of a man bitten by a zombie. Both are alright, but extremely short.

The next story is where I really started enjoying it. 'Charlie Horse' is about a future where Zombies are common and are harnessed to do everything from being power sources to racing. At first, when reading it, I was scratching and my head and asking what I was looking at, but by the end, I was begging for more. 'Charlie Horse' is followed up by 'The Rally', the final part of the zombie trilogy.

I'd already heard 'Reality Bites!' and 'Cookie?' before on the Drabblecast, so they were nothing new. Both seemed much better in audio format, and 'Reality Bites!' is the weakest story in the collection.

'Adventurers Beware!' was, to simply state it, made of pure awesome to a Dungeons and Dragons player like myself.

'A Matter of Perspective' was alright, but one of the weaker stories. It also had the problem of being forgettable.

'The View from My Room' was a very good bit about the first kid born in a moon colony, but it seemed to be lacking something. It should definitly be turned into a novella, or even a full length novel later down the road. The next story, 'Lieutenant Armchair' is in the same boat, only it doesn't seem to be missing anything. It's just a damn good story that needs it's own book.

Next is where the collection really flies. 'Confessions of a "D-List" Supervillain' is by far the best, and longest, story in the collection. It by itself is the worth the price of this collection. It also needs it's own novel. Actually, it needs a series.

'Battle Maidens' is a short teaser for an upcoming series. It's only there to make you want to buy the first book in the series. It worked. When the first Battle Maidens book comes out, I'll cheerfully drop some cash for it. Nuff Said.

Overall, HHH is a great collection that nicely shows off Jim's talents as an author. I look forward to any and all future works from him.

I've read this book twice now and for the most part, it's even better the second time around. Of all the gems in this collection, my favorite is "Confessions of a D-List Supervillain". The wry humor and fast pace of the novella is addictive, and I was actually sad to see it end; in fact, I'd like to see this story turned into a full-length novel.

Another very good story is "Raw and Real", a story as much about political opportunism as much as werewolves. Other really well-done stories are "The View From My Room", about the life of a teenage boy living on the Moon, and "Charlie Horse", which is chock full of darker humor. "Adventurers Beware!" is a very funny take on the absurdities of the wandering hero genre, and "Lieutenant Armchair" is another story, along with "View", that beg to be written as stand-alone novels.

"Cookie?" was one story I didn't like, as it seemed too short and vague to draw me in, and "A Matter of Perspective", while it has its funny parts, did essentially nothing for me.

"Battle Maidens", the preview included of an upcoming novel, was well-done and left me itching to get the completed book. The teaser could use a bit of polishing, but I'll certainly be on the lookout for the finished novel.

Overall, I'd give the collection a 4 out of 5, and honestly, my rating would be 5 of 5 if the book contained only "D-List", "View" and "Charlie Horse"; that there are other entertaining reads inluded is merely icing on the cake.

This is an excellent collection. I would say that I am not a huge reader of the horror genre, but none of the stories are what I consider to be truly "dark". That being said, this isn't a book for children. There are quite a few surprises, and Jim's humor is out in force. Personal faves are "Charlie Horse", "The Rally", and "Confessions". "Adventurer's Beware" alone is worth the price of the book. Give it a try, you shouldn't be disappointed.

This was a really fun read for me as I know the author through some of his fiction written on the web. I was quite excited to get it and really liked the design of the cover as it linked in suitably with the story it was trying to portray.

The book was essentially a compendium of short stories on various topics laced with Horror, Humour and Heroes. One of my particular favourites was the zombie congressman and the slogan "Vote for brains". What I did like was the face that the novella that was in there titled; Confessions of a D-list super-villain, was superb and re-enforced my belief that the author Jim Bernheimer is a great author and someone who I would happily read again.

The teaser at the end for a story called battle maidens was also very entertaining and made me quite keen to read it.

I think if you are entertained by the slightly quirky and like your humour dark and preferably quite gory then this is definitely a book for you!

I don't often review books on Amazon.com, but I'll make an exception in this case.

Jim Bernheimer's compilation, Horror, Humor, and Heroes, is an excellent, if eclectic, mix of short stories, a novella, and a sneak-peek at his next novel. On the whole, the writing is solid, with vivid characterization and memorable scenes, something he is known for in other writing circles. There are some real gems inside: "Lieutenant Armchair" is excellent and deserves its own novel (are you reading this, Jim?); "Charlie Horse" is great fun; "Raw and Real" and "Reality Bites!" are both entertaining; "Battle Maidens" (think "Yang Men Nu Jiang," but with unicorn cavalry) left me hungry for more.

Short stories are tough because so much must be done in so few words; Jim is one of the few who can be relied upon to deliver, crafting convincing, engaging worlds in only a couple thousand words.

Not every story was to my taste, but I hasten to add that this phenomenon is hardly unique to HHH and is a function of the medium. (I can't really fault him there; I felt the same upon reading other compilations, such as Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors and William Gibson's Burning Chrome).

In all, the great outweighs the good and HHH is indeed great: well worth the price of a paperback or Kindle.

This book has some great short storys, Like charlie horse and Lieutinant armchair, but its pride and joy is Confessions of a D list supervillan, which is a amazing independent read with few flaws.
Many of these storys could be easily continued like a View from my room, or Lieutinant armchair, this collection has one amazing read and a set of good, and funny short storys.
Worth every penny.

Jim Bernheimer's first released publication, Horror, Humor and Heroes is a collection of 12 short stories, one novella and a preview of a novel he currently has in the works. Perhaps it would have been more appropriately titled "Zombies, Humor and Heroes", as I personally don't find zombies scary, as I typically them more amusing than scary. Overall, it's a mixed bag, but the positive certainly outweighs the negative.

The first two stories are rather mediocre, with the first glimpses of quality not revealed until the third story, "My Son - the Monster". It's a rather creative slant on the myth of Icarus.

Stories four through six are all zombie related. "The Red Badge of Doom" concerns a man who's just been infected by a zombie. A decent idea, but not developed enough to really be interesting. "The Rally" is also short, but its brevity isn't an issue, as the idea doesn't need a lot of space to breathe, in a future where a congressman won't let a simple thing such as death stand in the way of an election. "Charlie Horse" is the best of the zombie stories, taking place in a largely zombie overrun U.S. where zombies are harvested for uses ranging from energy production to a slightly altered version of horse racing, zombies being the stand-in for horses.

Stories seven and eight are rather forgettable, short affairs. "Reality Bites!" deals with a recently made vampire who is trying to collect on his life insurance policy, while "Cookie?" is about an Easy-Bake microwave that may be haunted. I liked the idea behind both stories; I just didn't find the execution to be there.

"Adventurers Beware!", the ninth story, has villagers in a magical world lamenting the adventurers that recklessly destroy their villages. It'd probably be very amusing were I into World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons, or any other role-playing game, but as I'm not, some of the humor was lost upon me.

The tenth story, "A Matter of Perspective", is almost painfully bad. Some whiny guy makes a device that turns stereotypical liberals into stereotypical rednecks. The book would have been improved with this story left out.

The eleventh story, "The View from my Room" is a great short story, the best one in the book. It's about the first child born on the moon, and the apprehension he feels for being a celebrity for nothing he had any control over, and his nerves about going to college back on Earth. It contains well-drawn characters, reasonable scientific detail that adds in enough depth for it to feel plausible. If the author can someday capture this sort of essence on a regular basis, he'll gain himself a lot more readers.

The final short story in the book, "Lieutenant Armchair", is a fine conclusion to the short stories. It deals with a future where the Midwest U.S. has been quarantined, due to mutant animal and insect infestation, and the grunts that are drafted into service to fight them. The "Armchairs" are the officers that command the grunts via video transmission, which creates some obvious resentment. Some nice ideas here, which probably should have been expanded upon, as the story felt too short.

If this book only consisted of the previous twelve short stories, I would he hard pressed to recommend it. However, the novella "Confessions of a D-List Supervillain" is fantastic. The story centers around "MechinaCAL", a down-on-his-luck villain who finds himself the only person standing in the way of global devastation, as almost the entirety of the human race has been enslaved by genetically engineered bugs. The story is written in first person, Cal, the downtrodden inventor, guiding us through his world. His main adversaries are the Olympians, government sanctioned superheroes that were given their powers by the Greek Gods themselves.

The author strikes a nice balance by adding enough scientific details to give an idea of how these advanced technologies work, but simplifies the explanations enough to not bog down the narrative. Very satisfying.

The book ends with a preview of the Jim Bernheimer's upcoming novel, Battle Maidens. While I'm not exactly fond of the title, if the preview is any indication, the full novel should be well worth the reader's time.

While this book certainly has its ups and downs, the quality short stories that do exist, along with the great novella, make this one certainly worth picking up. Definitely recommended.

Short stories are really tricky. Some writers try to bite off too much and cram an entire novel into the short story. But the best short stories give you just enough of a taste of the situation and characters to tell what needs to be told. That's exactly what Jim Bernheimer did in this case, except he added a delicious ironic twist to most of his stories.

Well done Jim.

This collection of short stories covers such a variety of situations that it's hard to believe they're all from the same author.

I read these stories after I finished his novel, Confessions of a D-List Supervillain (Volume 1), and wanted more. Portions of the D-List Supervillain are included in this collection, so I just skipped them. Even so, this collection is long enough that I didn't feel like I was shortchanged in any way. Just the opposite in fact.

I'll have to say, I'm jealous of Bernheimer's talent. Now get back to work, Jim, because I need some more.

Not a big review writer, but for the money, I was very impressed. All the stories were original and well written. I would have paid more just to read the last one!!
Well done sir!!

I had downloaded and read samples of several books, but this was my first Kindle purchase. I thought the first story was original and clever and with a price of only $0.99 for the full book, I figured I couldn't go too wrong.
It turned out to be a great mix of genres and styles and I enjoyed it so much I bought and am currently reading "Dead Eye: Pennies for the Ferryman" by the same author.