[X8O]⋙ Libro Free Burden Kansas Vampires of the Plains Book 1 edition by Alan Ryker Literature Fiction eBooks

Burden Kansas Vampires of the Plains Book 1 edition by Alan Ryker Literature Fiction eBooks

Download As PDF : Burden Kansas Vampires of the Plains Book 1 edition by Alan Ryker Literature Fiction eBooks

Burden Kansas Vampires of the Plains Book 1 edition by Alan Ryker Literature Fiction eBooks

Some kind of unknown and unseen animal is killing the area ranchers cattle. The sheriff is stumped. Experts from the university have never encountered anything that like it. The ranchers are tired of finding their livelihood dead in the pastures the next morning and are losing patience waiting for someone to provide them answers. Keith is one of them. He's had his run-ins with the sheriff and the local band of punks. He was considered a loose cannon before he lost his wife. Now, without her calming influence, Keith has turned to alcohol to help him face his demons and get him through his day. On a night half drunk and slumbering on his porch, he's awakened by a high pitch squeal in his pasture. What he finds, attacking one of his cattle, is pure fury and stinks of the grave.

Burden Kansas is my first read from Ryker and I can't say enough about it. The characters are perfectly flawed and realistic. The small town rural setting reminds me of the lonliness and tone found in the movie Near Dark. The pacing is excellent. The relationships between the characters are realistic and add wonderful depth and layers to the story. Ryker's vampires are how they should be - fast, furious, and definitely do not sparkle. Great, great story that has caused me to download more of his work before I was even done with this one.

5 bloody fangs out of 5

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Burden Kansas Vampires of the Plains Book 1 edition by Alan Ryker Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

One of the best vampire stories that I have read in a while. Economical prose, yet detailed enough to provide good characterization. Upon reviewing Ryker's bio I discovered that he writes both literary fiction as well as dark fiction. No surprise once I had read this very well written short novel. Ryker clearly not only knows how to fashion a well-paced, exciting horror novel with good characters, settings, and imagery, but he has the chops to tackle other genres as well.

And the best part is that the vampires are old school nasty, unattractive predators. The story line follows these dangerous creatures, and some equally dangerous and aggressive humans, down a path that I think is original. Clearly the capacity for mindless cruelty goes both ways.

If you like well written horror stories and you hate the "sparkly" type of romantic vampire, then this is the book to read. After I finished, I bought the sequel.
If you like your vampires sexy or glittering, this book is not for you. This is how vampires should be - fast, vicious and deadly.

Keith Harris, the main character, might be hard for some to like seeing how he's made some difficult decisions in the past, drinks a lot and generally doesn't care what the public thinks about him. He gets involved with helping some of the townsfolk when something is feeding on his cattle by draining blood from them and sometimes killing them. No one had an inkling of an idea of what it was until Keith saw one of the creatures feeding on one of his cows. This is just the beginning of his new nightmare.

This book was amazing! Ryker managed to suck me right into this story and get me lost in it throughout the whole thing. The few times I was interrupted while reading it, it took me a few seconds to clear my head and come back to the real world. This is now a favorite of mine and I HIGHLY recommend it
Burden Kansas (Vampires of the Plains)

Burden Kansas is a vampire story with a lot of flavor. A sense of the land and the kind of people it breeds make up a large part of the story's appeal, but you get it not so much through descriptions of geography as through the spare, matter-of-fact speech of its people. Characters say to each other what is needed, and feel the rest is best left unsaid. It's not an easy land and these are not easy people.

The story's main protagonist, Keith, is an alcoholic widower who barely pauses long enough in his drinking to get a few daily chores done on his ranch. He is haunted by a past that makes him the ideal object of his small town sheriff's suspicions when the bloody things happening to the town's cattle begin to happen to its people. Keith is innocent, but he's no innocent, and we gradually get to see just why he's regarded with antipathy by some and fear by many, including his loyal, submissive younger brother, Roy. Through flashbacks, we see the burden of guilt he carries for the death of his wife and what we come to understand as a lifetime of violence toward people who get in his way.

Eventually Keith and Roy find out what the rest of the town doesn't know -- that vampires are haunting the plains. Keith, stolid and fearless, reacts to the threat with his accustomed violence, surprisingly keeping him on top of the situation. Until he meets a vampire who's smarter than the others, stronger than the others, and who bears a personal grudge against Keith. But who between the two of them will be smarter, more ruthless, more cruel and more capable -- Keith or the supernaturally-endowed vampire?

The author's general writing level is consistently high, and I can only remember a single spelling error in the kindle edition of this short book. Horror is my favorite genre, but I love it despite routinely bumping into the price of the ticket in this genre -- subpar writing. It was a pleasure to feel myself in capable hands while reading Burden Kansas.

I'll definitely recommend the book to others and will probably purchase the second in the series, Blood Tells True (Vampires of the Plains).

SLIGHT SPOILER

There is a bit of deus ex machina at the very end; the resolution came a little too quick and easy, as if the author suddenly flicked a "dramatic turnabout switch" to automate an ending when he found a good place for it. That's the largest and most important reason I didn't give the book 5 stars. There was also an unlikely set-up for what is obviously to be a next book in the series -- which I note has indeed been written.

Don't fear, though; this novella is free-standing, and you won't be left feeling cheated by a cliffhanger. Things resolve and feel complete. We just obviously know where they're going next.
Some kind of unknown and unseen animal is killing the area ranchers cattle. The sheriff is stumped. Experts from the university have never encountered anything that like it. The ranchers are tired of finding their livelihood dead in the pastures the next morning and are losing patience waiting for someone to provide them answers. Keith is one of them. He's had his run-ins with the sheriff and the local band of punks. He was considered a loose cannon before he lost his wife. Now, without her calming influence, Keith has turned to alcohol to help him face his demons and get him through his day. On a night half drunk and slumbering on his porch, he's awakened by a high pitch squeal in his pasture. What he finds, attacking one of his cattle, is pure fury and stinks of the grave.

Burden Kansas is my first read from Ryker and I can't say enough about it. The characters are perfectly flawed and realistic. The small town rural setting reminds me of the lonliness and tone found in the movie Near Dark. The pacing is excellent. The relationships between the characters are realistic and add wonderful depth and layers to the story. Ryker's vampires are how they should be - fast, furious, and definitely do not sparkle. Great, great story that has caused me to download more of his work before I was even done with this one.

5 bloody fangs out of 5

You can also follow my reviews at the following links

https//kenmckinley.wordpress.com

https//www.goodreads.com/user/show/5919799-ken-mckinley

http//www./gp/profile/A2J1JOKW56F2YT