| Title | : | Kiss and Kill (Hot Blood, #8) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0671537660 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780671537661 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 |
| Publication | : | First published February 1, 1997 |
Kiss and Kill (Hot Blood, #8) Reviews
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Graham Masterton's HEROINE gets this anthology off to a bang with a chilling and powerful story of one woman's strength. Cliff wonders how Anne can be in two places at once but is so thrilled just to be with her he doesn't question her sudden appearances in his room. As her sexual demands get fiercer and more dangerous he realizes all isn't as it appears. The ending is shocking and moving.
In Deidre Cox's PLAYERS a woman betrayed by her man seeks out a "filth eater" to cleanse this cheating slime ball of his hurting ways. It's a wonderfully nasty tale of ultimate revenge.
The Healing Touch by Terry Campbell is reminiscent of the wonderfully wicked GEEK LOVE by Katherine Dunn. It tells the story of a woman with so deep a compassion for the afflicted she goes to amazing lengths to make them feel better. She sees beauty where others see only deformities. Ultimately her compassion gets out of hand and her need to be needed causes her to do a very terrifying thing.
Grieving over the loss of his wife a man longs to have just ONE LAST TIME with his beloved in Michael Garrett's touching story of eternal love. This one's a tear jerker, at least for me, anyway.
Nancy Holder ends things on a most repulsive note with BONUS NOTCHES. This is the tale of two bored housewives who go to frightening lengths to out do each other. What begins as a simple game of sexual one-upmanship takes a darkly dangerous turn as the stakes are continually raised. Frightening, dark and dirty ~ what more could you want?
Other contributors include: Brian Hodge, Graham Watkins, Thomas Roche, Rex Miller, Lynn Gauger, John B. Rosenman, Max Allan Collins, T. Diane Slatton, Ray Garton, Michael Garrett, Gary Brander, Thomas Tessier, and O'Neil De Noux.
In a collection of this size I'm sure readers will find some of the stories ho-hum, or predictable, some nothing to get all hot and bothered about and long time horror fans might spot a cliché or two but the good far out weigh the mediocre. Several of the stories are not only powerful but also very moving, some are surprisingly touching and there are even a few lighthearted stories (well, as lighthearted as horror gets). Overall it's a great mix that works for me and definitely delivers what it promises on the blurb. -
The Hot Blood series are tales of erotic horror, which is the best combination ever. When something as personal and sensitive as sex is mixed with horror, what could possible scare you shitless more? So I set out to explore them all, all 13 books of the series, thus Project Hot Blood.
First, some info about my rating system. The level of paranormal of each story is one to five, one meaning it surely can happen in real life, five meaning it’s utterly something paranormal. The level of sex describes how graphic is the sex in each story, one to five, one being tame a bedtime story told by a nun, five being a detailed script for a hardcore porn movie. My rating’s from one to ten, it’s based on the balance of horror and erotic, so getting five in ‘level of sex’ doesn’t automatically mean an above average rating from me. It’s based on the wtf-ness of the ending, how freaked out I am, how nightmare-generating it is. One being rubbish, ten being masterpiece. It’s time to move on to the eighth book in my Project Hot Blood. Let's begin.
Heroine
Graham Masterton
And let’s start with a bang! The first story in book 8 of the Hot Blood series is a rather chilling tale from the time of war, about using sex as a desperate escape. Although it packed some supernatural elements, it does lean towards sad more than creepy. The sex was also surprisingly plentiful and also quite dirty. Not a bad start.
Length: 29 pages
Level of Sex: 4/5
My rating: 7 out of 10
Players
Deidra Cox
Written in an unnecessarily cryptic way about supernatural so-called filth-eater, a creature that purges men from their sins with sex. The ending has a nice little twist to it, if only the rest of the story can be as gruesome as the ending.
Length: 11 pages
Level of Sex: 3/5
My rating: 6 out of 10
The 121st Day of Sodom
Brian Hodge
A nod to Marquis de Sade, the title sure is interesting. The 120 days of Sodom has a big reputation of its own in the kinky community, although I don’t think it’s that well-written. Anyways, this one is about putting torturing and unwilling slaves and their masters into the same category as consenting BDSM but I don’t judge it that much since it is a horror story after all. The short story doesn’t work as a stand-alone at all, I think it ended prematurely and this is just a premise for the real story but it ended when the story only just began.
Length: 22 pages
Level of Sex: 5/5 for its explicit nature
My rating: 6 out of 10
Comeback
Graham Watkins
It’s actually a pretty entertaining story, albeit a little predictable. It’s about a male porn star looking to make a comeback so he went to an audition in a shady little factory like place that specilized in high-end sex dolls and does porn as a side-gig. Needless to say, he got sucked into some shady business (‘sucked in, heheh, get it? :P).
Length: 15 pages
Level of Sex: 3/5
My rating: 7 out of 10
Razorblade Valentines
Thomas S. Roche
The writing style was a little bit fancypants without the proper impact, the story is rather flimsy to warrant this style of writing. It’s almost soap-opera-y, with all the suicide-revenge-curse plot with a tiny bit of sexy times sprinkled in it. Nothing worth writing home about.
Length: 11 pages
Level of Sex: 2/5
My rating: 5 out of 10
Vampires of London
Rex Miller and Lynne Gauger
Well, the only saving grace was that at least it had the decency to be short, only 9 pages. Rather than an actual vampire, it was more like a vampire wannabe, with a side-portion of rough sex that was boring and blood drinking. The story, however, was all but destroyed by confusing metaphors and odd phrases.
Length: 9 pages
Level of Sex: 1/5
My rating: 3 out of 10
Trophies
John B. Rosenman
This one I liked a lot! It’s about these succubus-like women who like to enslave men. It works almost like possession and the story did a great job capturing the process of it and also the exact moment when a possession took effect. I wish there would be more!
Length: 19 pages
Level of Sex: 3/5
My rating: 8 out of 10
Interstate 666
Max Allan Collins
I’m pretty fond of urban legends but this might just be one of the most uninteresting ones I’ve ever read. And also, the boring story really doesn’t warrant a multi-character story-telling style and so many goddamned pages, and there wasn’t even proper sex.
Length: 37 pages
Level of Sex: 1/5
My rating: 4 out of 10
The Healing Touch
Terry Campbell
About a nurse that has a thing for the abnormal or the deformed. She would offer them sexual favours, in her mind, she heals them in a different way. This particular story concentrated on a pair of young men, conjoined twins, and her trying to make them change their minds about separation surgery. I like how much backstory is given to our nurse and the detailed sex. It was actually not a scary story at all, unless you happen to think having sex with conjoined twins is disturbing. Hey I’m kinky, so that sounds hot to me. XD Right up in the end though, the story took a dark turn into a sinister territory, and I enjoy the little twist quite a bit.
Length: 12 pages
Level of Sex: 4/5
My rating: 7 out of 10
Death Fetish
T. Diane Slatton
I quite enjoyed this one, although I would have liked more details. The backstory of this certain fucked-up individual was fascinating, his history and relationships and him being into necrophilia. Guess that was pretty obvious from the story title. 😀 Don’t worry, not much ‘action’ here. I would’ve liked more info about the main character and again, the story ended right when it started to get interesting.
Length: 15 pages
Level of Sex: 1/5
My rating: 6 out of 10
Hair of the Dog
Ray Garton
Trying hard to be cryptic but ends up being pretty predictable and boring. A bit too much backstory, about a divorced man getting ‘lucky’ with two women he picks up from a bar. Or more like the other way around. The story is also too long and the ending is VERY anti-climatic and disappointing.
Length: 26 pages
Level of Sex: 2/5
My rating: 5 out of 10
One Last Time
Michael Garrett
Most Hot Blood shorts have a certain feel to it but once in a while, different stories would get into the mix, looking quite lost and out of place. This was one such story. It was about a man losing his wife and then… ghost sex I guess. It was all quite sad really.
Length: 10 pages
Level of Sex: 1/5
My rating: 6 out of 10
Close Encounters of Madison County
Gary Brandner
So was it an alien abduction and steamy sexy times with the alien queen or just hallucination? That’s up for debate from beginning till the end as a failing author suddenly became famous from writing about his allegedly true experience and contact with the alien race. I quite enjoyed the ride, and in the end in the true Hot Blood fashion, the big reveal and it totally turns the story onto itself in the most grotesque way possible. Especially as someone who quite often roots for the villain, I enjoyed the story thoroughly although there wasn’t that much sex.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 1/5
My rating: 7 out of 10
La Mourante
Thomas Tessier
Join Alex on his epic search for the best sexual experience ever and ending up in this mysterious island where they offer the kind of sex you can’t even come up with in your wildest dreams! Is it necrophilia? Is it sex zombies? The truth was something far more terrifying: mind-control. They didn’t go into details how it actually works but especially the ending, inside the mind of a ‘zombie’, it was one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever read.
Length: 14 pages
Level of Sex: 1/5
My rating: 9 out of 10
Erotophobia
O’Neil De Noux
From a time gone by when racism was still very much in your face. A little murder mystery with a fancy title that didn’t turn out to be that interesting after all. Extremely boring and bland, about a cheating wife. Way too little story to warrant so many pages.
Length: 24 pages
Level of Sex: 2/5
My rating: 5 out of 10
Bonus Notches
Nancy Holder
A fun-filled story about two bored housewives who made sex into a game to compete at. Who goes at it wilder? Round one: sex with men. Round two: sex with men multiple times. Round thirteen: kink. So forth and so on. I could have read a full-length novel where the rounds would be in more details cos this rollercoaster ride went to shit way too fast and way too soon. The ending was, however, almost artistic. Still, I would have loved more details!
Length: 10 pages
Level of Sex: 3/5
My rating: 8 out of 10
***
Review of the whole book
Kiss and Kill might not be the best Hot Blood book but it got many solid great stories. None of them earned a 10/10 though. And at the same time there were quite a few really bad ones.
16 stories
Average rating: 6.25
Stories with a rating below or is 6 out of 10: 9
Stories with a rating 7-8 out of 10: 6
Stories with a rating 9 out of 10: 1
Best stories: La Mourante & Bonus Notches
Most erotic story: The 121st Day of Sodom
Most memorable story: Trophies, La Mourante, Bonus Notches -
I'm not sure of what else I can say about the HOT BLOOD series that I have not already said. The stories are excellent: high quality, scary moments and lots of highly erotic scenes. Nothing here was really of the "Eh, whatever" story; instead they are all quite engrossing. Once again some of my favorites are itemized below.
"Heroine" by Graham Masterton - A young woman finds strength through love and pain
"Comeback" by Graham Watkins - A porn star makes his big return to the industry
"Interstate 666" by Max Allen Collins - An urban legend is discovered to be true and then put to rest
"The Healing Touch" by Terry Campbell - A woman enjoys applying a healing touch to those who are disabled
"Hair Of The Dog" by Ray Garton - The ultimate male fantasy takes a turn for the worst
"Erotophobia" by O'Neil DeNoux - A pulp fiction type murder mystery -
Well... I did enjoy almost every short in this book. Each story has a unique voice and you might find yourself hooked on a certain author. It’s fun to read some psycho-sexual stories that can make you drop your jaw, sweat, grow wide-eyed, question yourself or others around you, laugh, cringe, and even implode.
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Out of the 16 short stories in this edition of Hot Blood "Heroine", "The 121st day of Sodom", "Interstate 666", "One Last Time", "La Mourante", and "Erotophobia" were the only stories I actually enjoyed reading.
Erotophobia was not only the most well written of all the short stories, it was also the least "horrific" and the most "erotic". Oddly enough, this was the best story out of the bunch for me.
Sometimes writers throw out quality for the sake of shock-value, and they assume the readers wont notice.
I did.
However, almost all of the stories did give me that creepy-crawly "I hope no one can see my disgusted/horrified expression towards what I am reading right now." feeling that I love so much from the Hot Blood series. -
I have indeed read this collection. Sometimes a random short story from my past will pop into my head, and I spend a ridiculous amount of time tracking it down...it's like a song can be an earworm. This time, I started thinking about the story about two friends who got into a sexual competition and things got out of hand. I knew it was from one of the middle books of the Hot Blood Series, and there's just enough description in the Goodreads blurb to identify which one. I have to revisit that story, and probably the whole book as a result.
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Another good collection, later in the Hot Blood series. I didn't think the stories in general were quite up to the level of the earlier collections, but a notable story here is "Erotophobia" by O'Neil De Noux.
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I've read better
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A nice collection of short stories that are more erotic than horror. Recommended
