Return to the main page.What the critics said about "Damned Fool Man" in Whispered From the Grave
"Tina Jens and Kyle Marffin add bold dashes of tonal color to their supernatural creations... "Damned Fool Man" has its roots in the blues, and author Tina L. Jens seems to know her material... Jens not only knows her music, she shows a clear talent here for balancing wacked-out humor with serious contentand the threat of absolutely ghastly violence.
Now THAT'S show business."
[Whispered From theGrave is] A chilling collection of ghost stories, perfection this time of year when nights are longer and the weather makes us shiver. There are fourteen tales here, each with a unique approach to ghosts, spirits, specters and other worldly apparitions.
"Damned Fool Man" is a Tina L. Jens sequel to"Preacherman Gets the Blues" which was published in the Phantoms of the Night anthology. This takes place ten years later, and Little Mustang is now running the haunted blues bar because her mom booked off with a traveling salesman. Blues, music, booze, babes and boogie-woogie spirits -- what more can you want in one tale?
Tina L. Jens belts out a powerful tale of a haunted Blues club in "Damned Fool Man."
"Damned Fool Man" received an Honorable Mention (a recommended reading list) in the 2000 Year's Best Fantasy and Horroredited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.
What the critics said about "Children of Stone" in Cemetery Sonata II and Book of Dead Things
June Hubbard's Cemetery Sonata II lives up to its title, a dark symphony as capable of raising troublesome questions about life as calling forth the dead. . . .
"Children Of Stone," by Tina L. Jens, explores an original premise with unfaltering timing and structure. In a tale of supernatural cemetery statues, a brother and sister are caught in a game of claustrophobic terror and tragedy. The ending is alone worth the price of the book, and has made me regard stone cherubs and children with a suspicion bordering on paranoia.
Anything that has to do with death, dying and cemeteries are clear cut horror fodder but it can get old fast. There are just so many times you're going to pull the "he's already dead" stuff on me. And although you will run across a couple of those in this collection, the majority of these stories have great takes that make this collection well worth spending your time with.
In Cemetery Sonata II, June Hubbard brings us a collection that very cleverly bends the rules of themed anthologies, stretching death and dying like so much silly putty, and in the process treating the reader to some top notch horror stories from several writers we now rank highly on the Really Scary list.
Let's jump right into the dead meat of the matter -- which stories were the best of the bunch... Another great piece is Tina Jens' "Children of Stone." This one gets longer treatment with great pacing and fantastic characters... This book is loaded, and well worth the read.
What the critics said about "Blues-born" in More Monsters From Memphis
"...an enjoyable recounting of the plucky woman's efforts to get the attention of a rather busy devil."
"Blues-born" was named a 1998 Bram Stoker Award nominee by the Horror Writers Association.
What the critics said about "Death Gets a Make Over" in Dangerous Dames
Tina L. Jens wrote "Death Gets a Make Over" and I can't say enough about it. She turns archetypes on their head, she grabs some usual fantasy tropes and wrings their little necks. It should appear in a boatload of fantasy/horror anthologies.
What the critics said about "In His Daughter's Darkling Womb" in Singers of Strange Songs.
On the whole, the stories in this collection are quite well-written, showing both a keener sense of horror and better characterization than the bulk of Mythos fiction... "In His Daughter's Darkling Womb" is a powerful work, full of darkness and the cosmic import to be hoped for in a Mythos work but also keenly aware of human motivations and personalities."
For the most part, the quality of writing in Singers of Strange Songs is superior to what one might expect from a collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror from even higher profile names...
What the critics said about "Such Horrible People" in Writing Horror
A seasoned horror writer and writing teacher pulls together a vast amount of information on the genre... Some of the essays require a bit of mental translating, but others -- notably those of Tina Jens and David Morrell -- are models of clarity, content, and wit. No one seriously interested in writing or reading horror will fail to gain something from this straightforward, largely successful how-to.
Writing Horror is a collection of well-written and researched articles on writing and selling horror fiction penned by the experts in the subject who are also members of the Horror Writers Association. The articles are hard-hitting and lunge right into the heart of the subject and pull out all the gory details. For example, an article entitled... "Such Horrible People" by Tina Jens helps you keep your characters from being puppets... This anthology is a goldmine for the budding horror writer, providing excellent advice and guidance.
What the critics said about "The Cuban Solution" in Diagnosis:Terminal
Fourteen gripping stories on medical themes edited by horror-novelist Wilson... The tightest, toughest piece of storytelling here is Tina L. Jens's "The Cuban Solution," about a female American doctor sent to Guantanamo Bay Naval Station to help fight an epidemic among Cuban refugees being detained at the base and finds herself in the middle of an episode of biological warfare."
What the critics said about "Song of Bernadette" in The Fragile Path: Testaments of the First Cabal
The Fragile Path (for the role-playing game, MAGE) tells an elaborate story of the complicated relationships between members of the first Cabal, representatives of the Traditions of magick and their quest to travel across Europe struggling against the rising forces of the Order of Reason (the bad guys). It's a killer read.
The members of the Cabal are painted not as gods or even demi-gods, but as people with the same feelings and frailties that all humans possess. And it is because of that quality that people who don't even know about MAGE will fall into the book heart-first, and people who already get into the world will devour it completely and scream loudly for more.
Each chapter is written in a style that best reflects the character of the Tradition being represented -- for example the Celestial Chorus' rep (written by Tina Jens) has her story elaborately transcribed as a French motet -- and explains not just their own personal viewpoints, but also illustrates the perspectives of the different magickal Traditions toward each other... The dance of destruction that follows our protagonists through the overall plot of the book is beautiful, with lots of flavor added around the sides that continue to echo long after everything's over.
What the critics said about "The Gargoyle Sacrifice" in 100 Creepy Little Creature Stories
"The Gargoyle Sacrifice" received an Honorable Mention (a recommended reading list) in the 1994 Year's Best Fantasy and Horror edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.
What the critics said about "Red Whiskey"
"Red Whiskey" received an Honorable Mention (a recommended reading list) in the 1994 Year's Best Fantasy and Horror edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.
What the critics said about "Elvis Can't Dance" in Shock Rock II
Recommended Reading...Stories that made an impression on me this time around: Robert Weinberg and Tina L. Jens' "Elvis Can't Dance," in which it is revealed that the King is not only still alive (sort of), but that he hates rap.
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