Tag: X-Files

Posted in Book Reviews, Short Story Collections

REVIEW: X-Files: Trust No One (X-Files Anthology #1) Edited by Jonathan Maberry

Posted on by elishasbookreview

*Spoilers Ahead*

We all want to believe. The truth is still out there. The X-Files have been reopened. IDW Publishing and series creator Chris Carter have authorized new investigations into the weird, the strange, and the mysterious. New York Times Bestseller and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winner Jonathan Maberry brings together some of today’s top storytellers for a series of anthologies featuring all-new case files from the X-Files. Scully and Mulder continue their journey into darkness as they face aliens, monsters, shadow governments, and twisted conspiracies.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted a review and since I revisited the X-Files extended universe. However, I was reorganizing my bookshelf and since I have a few X-Files books of my own, I thought I’d revisit the anthology collections. I think a show like X-Files is best in that short-form content, however like anything else not all of these stories I thought were that good. None of them were ‘bad’, I just found them kind of middle of the road ‘meh’. So enough preferences, let’s open the old case files and talk about X-Files: Trust No One!

“Catatonia” by Tim Lebbon – 5/5⭐ Starting this collection off with a bang! This story delves into the mystery of a group of teenagers who have gone comatose until “angel music” blasts through the town and the teens rise to feast on others blood. References to the Nephilim, and I liked that. Story had a fair ending.

“The Beast of Little Hill” by Peter Clines – 4.5/5⭐ Heartwarming story. Seemingly two different alien species get frozen in the same small town. It’s good to know that the act of domesticating animals may not strictly be a human hobby.

“Oversight” by Aaron Rosenberg – 4/5⭐ This story involves Supervisor Skinner and I liked getting to see some stories with his perspectives. He seems to take some of what Scully and Mulder do seriously. Story had a solid ending.

“Dusk” by Paul Crilley – 3.5/5⭐ Here we get to see the X-Files duo poke fun at the whole Twilight craze amongst teens. I did like the symbolism mentioned, but it started feeling like a giant ‘back in my day’ rant. Justified ending.

“Loving the Alien” by Stefan Petrucha – 3.5/5⭐ This story is being told from Scully’s point of view. Most of her inner dialogue is her worrying about not being able to find Mulder who went on a solo alien hunt. I mean it’s nice that we get the fan service that she does care about him, but I believe we get more than enough of that through the context of the show.

“Non Gratum Anus Rodentum” by Brian Keene – 5/5⭐ Another story led by Director Skinner. I liked that we got to see what we went through during the Vietnam war, it made me crave a monster story that takes place during a foreign country during wartime.

“Back in El Paso My Life Would be Worthless” by Keith R.A. DeCandido – 4/5⭐ This was an interesting look into how the other agents view Scully and Mulder. I don’t think they deserve to be disrespected outright, but maybe that’s because I’m biased. The other agent got his just desserts in the end, and I think it was well deserved.

“Paranormal Quest” by Ray Garton – 4/5⭐ I loved seeing the X-Files duo getting to poke fun at the ‘paranormal reality TV’ genre. The bad guy was an interesting take, just someone who has powers that they are eventually unable to control. No menace or harm intended.

“King of the Watery Deep” by Tim Deal – 3/5⭐ I originally had this rated a 3.5/5, but I decided to lower it. I did like how we got some Arabic/Muslim/Cultish lore. Always fascinating to me about how similar legends can be. Ending was kind of meh to me.

“Sewers” by Gini Koch – 5/5⭐ We have an X-Files take on Killer Croc from the DC Comics Universe! I liked how the author was able to explain how the same creature kept popping up every so often without making it too complicated. In my opinion, the best X-Files stories are the ones where the monster/alien/government creep just melds into the background.

“Clair de Lune” by W.D. Gagliani and David Benton – 3/5⭐ This was a lukewarm werewolf story that takes place in the backwoods of Canada. Nothing much to add here.

“It’s All in the Eyes” by Heather Graham – 3/5⭐ I don’t know why I feel lukewarm towards this story too. It has all the trappings for a fantastic X-Files story. Maybe this needed to be in a longer form story or something. It just felt like after the initial hook the story just started going through the motions.

“The House on Hickory Hill” by Max Allan Collins – 3.5/5⭐ Curse my notetaking abilities or lack thereof. I had to think awhile to remember what this story was about. All I have in my notes is that this was a good story, but the ending felt rushed. Good old fashioned haunted house story though.

“Time and Tide” by Gayle Lynds and John C. Sheldon – 4.5/5⭐ This story reminded me of old school creepypastas. Creepypastas are basically myths and legends written by those on the Internet. It has been fascinating to watch a new way we tell each other stories/myths/legends evolve and develop. For this story however, you just got to enjoy the ride. Don’t think too hard about the finer details.

“Statues” by Kevin J. Anderson – 4/5⭐ This story offers an intriguing answer on how these peoples turned into lifelike statues. Mystical water in these ancient cave systems originally discovered by the Anasazi.

Well, there you have it! My review of X-Files: Trust No One! I hope you liked it and I hope to be returning to writing this blog soon. For now, I’m still going to be taking things kind of slow until I can get back into the habit of writing.

Posted in Audiobooks, Book Reviews, Novels, Short Story Collections

REVIEW: X-Files: The Truth is Out There by Various Authors

Posted on by elishasbookreview

*No Spoilers*

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are back in a chilling collection of all-new tales of dark secrets, alien agendas, terrifying monsters and murderous madmen.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

As I always do when it comes to anthologies or short story collections, I take my favorites or most memorable stories and talk about them. For example with other short story collections I’ve reviewed, I usually talk about my favorites and least favorites. However, with this collection, I just did a top five of my favorites. I actually wanted to talk about seven of the stories, but my perfectionism won out, so I narrowed it down to my top five.

There isn’t a bad story in this collection, I enjoyed all of them, but I’m going to be discussing my favorites today. So, in order in which they appeared in the collection, here we go!

We Should Listen to Some Shostakovich by Hank Phillipi Ryan

No X-Files story is complete without some Mulder loves Scully action. In this story, Mulder and Scully have left their jobs at the FBI to get married and decided to start a family. As a wedding present, they receive a mysterious painting from one of Scully’s long lost uncles. As they delve deeper into the painting’s history things get dangerous. 3.5/5 Stars

Mummiya by Greg Cox

When a mummy is shot near a college, it’s up to Scully and Mulder to figure out what’s fact and what’s fiction. This story is a good one for fans of Egyptology. There’s a lot about the history and religious beliefs to dive into. I don’t want to go into this story too much because it is a good one and worth the read. 4/5 Stars.

Male Privilege by Hank Schwaeble

The CDC is called to a small Arkansas town where a majority of the male population has developed breasts overnight after the town’s Sadie Hawkins Dance. Scully asks to tag along because she wishes to study this outbreak and maybe provide some insight due to her medical degrees. Mulder asks her if he could come along as well and she hesitantly agrees as long as he doesn’t pester the locals about aliens. However, things quickly derail as Mulder goes to the local library to look into the town’s history and things more mythological may be taking place here. This one made it to my list based solely of all the sarcastic jabbing Mulder gives the local sheriff regarding his newfound breasts, and how the sheriff wasn’t offended by the jabs. Pure dry humor in my book. 3.5/5 Stars.

Snowman by Sarah Stegall

A couple of military men are climbing up Mt. Rainier tracking a lost group of military soldiers that went missing. Soon they come across not only the remains of the missing soldiers’ camp, but their corpses as well. As they continue the trek they come across Mulder on the hunt for the missing expedition as well. However, something on the mountain is tracking the group and the myth of Sasquatch may not seem so far fetched. I love stories about Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti. This one is worth checking out! 3.5/5 Stars.

When the Cows Come Home by David Farland

Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate some crop circles and cattle mutilations. Soon things become stranger as they found out that the rancher’s neighbor is a Skinwalker and controls his cattle by whistling. This story was alright, but I wish it could’ve gotten more fleshed out. Scoring this one mainly for the Skinwalker, crop circles, and cattle mutilations. It’s the last short story of the collection so read it if that’s your kind of jam. 2.5/5 Stars.

So there’s my five favorite stories of The Truth is Out There. Like I said earlier, all of these stories are good in their own right. So I would definitely check out this collection if your a fellow X-Files fan or into the weird and supernatural.

Posted in Audiobooks, Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: The X-Files: Goblins (The X-Files #1) by Charles L. Grant

Posted on by elishasbookreview

Meet Mulder and Scully, FBI. The agency maverick and the female agent assigned to keep him in line.

Their job: investigate the eeriest unsolved mysteries in modern America, from pyro-psychics to death row demonics, from rampaging Sasquatches to alien invasions. The cases the Bureau wants handled quietly, but quickly, before the public finds out what’s really out there. And panics. The cases filed under “X.”

Something out there is killing people, remaining invisible and unseen by human eyes until it strikes with deadly force.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The X-Files is a show I’ve been admiring for several years now. I binged season 1 and waiting for the right mood to start on season 2. Now, the thing I think has made this show such a big hit was the dynamic between Mulder and Scully. Aliens and UFOs aside, most people love chemistry between two characters. There’s that sexual tension of “will they/won’t they?” and the fact that Scully admires Mulder’s deduction skills. She just feels it’s being wasted on these kinds of cases.

This case opens like any other X-File does. Murders happen, FBI/government in high and unknown places get a whiff of it and send Mulder and Scully out to investigate. Most of the time the unreachable government is trying to run interference by cleaning up the mess that was made or trying to scare Mulder and Scully off of the case.

In this story, Scully and Mulder were joined by two more FBI agents who were secretly moles for the head of the FBI to keep tabs on whether Mulder and Scully were likely to blow to the lid on any government ops that were either “off the record” or “still in development”.

One of the witnesses to these murders was an older lady who carried around a can of neon orange spray paint to “tag the goblins”. Since this case takes place in small town USA, the sheriff thinks she’s a crazy drunk. I liked how the author not only made her a likable character, but also had the town doctor defend her honor by explaining why she spent so much time in the local tavern.

Overall, I liked this story. It read like an episode, but in book form. The characters were relatable and memorable, so if you’re already an X-Files fan this story is a great place to start with the novelizations. Even for new fans, Goblins is a great place to start on your X-Files adventure.

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