Black and Orange

Two worlds, two churches. Midnight and Morning. Black and Orange.Martin and Theresa are Nomads and have been for almost twenty years. Every Halloween they try to keep the Church of Midnight from sacrificing the Heart of the Harvest. Every time they fail, the gateway to the other world is weakened.Things slip through.That premise sounds great and I was really looking forward to this one. Groan! The action alternates between the Nomads - interesting, and the Church - annoying and dull. There was s [...]

This is a multi-story narrative that blends fantasy and horror in the tradition of Clive Barker, while at the same time producing a wild mythos of its own. Despite the contradiction, it's a Halloween novel that isn't a Halloween novel.He has crafted together a very different style of horror novel, which oozes with originality and imagination and he has created an genre of his own here. The pages of this story took my attention as its an intelligent and complex horror novel. The talk of domains a [...]

Oh. My. God. I will never look at Halloween the same again.This is a great novel. I order you to read this.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

My book, so I guess five stars is to make me feel good about myself. Haha. Please let me know what you think though!

I won this book in a giveaway. I have to admit I was pretty disappointed. I opened Black and Orange, expecting a horror story, and instead found something else. The plot flipped between several sets of characters. Two represented good, and most of the others, evil. The "good" characters were mediocre and boring. I couldn't find it in me to care that they were the only ones capable of stopping the world's inevitable doom. The "evil" characters were even worse. They were all petty and consumed wit [...]

A book to savor for its spine-chilling prose and plot- so original-so unique- I dare you to start reading Black & Orange by Benjamin Kane Ethridge and even try to put it down until the last brilliant page!!AN OFFICIAL JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB MUST READRICK FRIEDMANFOUNDER- THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB

This was a great Halloween time read! Original take on the Halloween mythos and very entertaining. The characters were well developed and the story drew me into its world. I recommend this one for an October novel to get you in the mood for the season. Very good!

Forget everything you know about Halloween. The stories are distortions. They were created to keep the Church of Midnight hidden from the world. Every October 31st a gateway opens to a hostile land of sacrificial magic and chaos. Since the beginning of civilization the Church of Midnight has attempted to open the gateway and unite with its other half, the Church of Morning. Each year they’ve come closer, waiting for the ideal sacrifice to open the gateway permanently. Tasked with protecting th [...]

This was a brisk little page-turner, and I've read far worse. If called upon to provide a cover blurb, that's what I'd provide. "I've read far worse! -- Gar" it would say, probably in an emblazoned star in the middle of some bad art involving an exploding pumpkin. There's a lot of exploding pumpkin moments in the closing chapters.I got a kick out of how the world-shattering evil cult was composed primarily of crazy stupid fuck-ups completely lost in their own bullshit (they probably wouldn't use [...]

Benjamin Kane Ethridge's novel, "Black and Orange", won the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in a First Novel (along with Lisa Morton's excellent novel, "Castle of Los Angeles")in 2010. Not surprisingly, the award was well deserved. "Black and Orange" is beautifully written, vividly imaginative, and stocked with characters you will not soon forget. For me, reading this novel was a true joy.Halloween is approaching. The time of the Harvest is near. And the gateway--a barrier that pre [...]

A descriptive horror that will blow you away. Pulling things from such genre books that I can't even begin to descript and explain you will be as shocked as I was with this horror. It was a pleasant twist and turn into the genre that gave me a breath of life that I needed. I love horror writers such as the infamous Stephen King and to say things were like that is a far stretch. I'm pleased to say that Benjamin Kane Etheridge has stepped into the world and made a name all for himself. All you kno [...]

I have such a soft spot for horror novels. I tend to devour any I can get my hands on, but there's nothing I like less than one that's all about cramming as many descriptions of disgusting things as possible that has no imagination. Black & Orange is not a cookie cutter novel. In fact, it is one of the most imaginative books I have read in a long, long time.Ethridge immediately draws you into his vision of Halloween, one that's not about trick-or-treaters and party-goers with too much black [...]

I enjoyed this. I don’t think I’ve read a good horror novel in a long time. Not only is the book imaginative and dark, it’s very fast paced too. During the last half of the book, I could barely set the dang thing down, and I kept dreaming about vicious pumpkin people with sharp teeth in a dark world.At first, I was worried I wasn’t going to like most of the characters, but the more I read, the fonder of them I became. In fact, I even became intrigued about the bad guys (which there are t [...]

Black and Orange is one of the most imaginative books I've ever read. This book chronicles the ultimate conflict of good versus evil and is populated with rich, fully drawn characters. The language is tight and simple which belies the heavy themes this debut novel tackles. There are some genuine laugh out loud moments and some painful ones as well. There are moments of horror, pain, and redemption and plenty of surprises. A few scenes may be too intense for the younger readers but any adult fan [...]

Pretty slow to start (like the first half). I waffled between 3 and 4 stars. Settled on 4 because this is definitely memorable. The Archbishop was probably my favorite (quirky). I'll have orange and black visions swimming through my head for a while.

those are my favorite colors!

Slow at first but after the 50% mark it really picked up and was a great read. It was like a scarry Halloween acid trip.

im now on chapter 11 and so far its an amazing book i would recommend the book to all my friends still reading but again im really into this book, love it

I would have loved this book even if it wasn't written by my son. Ben has outdone himself with a classic horror story that begs for a sequel.

A different kind of Halloween horror novel. Puts me in mind of the Stephen King Gunslinger series.

Solid debut, solid prose.

Black & Orange is a supernatural thriller.Martin and Theresa are Nomads, protectors of "The Heart" and members of The Church of Morning. They fight on the side of good against the evil Church of Midnight. Theresa is a middle-aged woman who has been diagnosed with cancer. She is tough as nails, loves to smoke clove cigarettes and is sometimes companion of Martin. Martin is in his mid-thirties, impatient, frustrated and often messes things up, as in the case of the last Heart they were sworn t [...]

This isn't a bad book. It just wasn't for me. Far too graphic and uncomfortable for my taste.Read the full review at Working for the MandroidFrom the moment Black & Orange opens, the book jumps right into action and rarely slows down. Even the Nomads, who are supposed to wait around in a cheap motel for a few days until the Hearts of the Harvest are delivered to them, manage to make a compelling story while also demonstrating their power and building three dimensional characters out of Teres [...]

Benjamin Kane Etheridge has created an amazingly complex mythos for Black & Orange. There's the Church of Midnight, a mysterious organization whose goal is to unite with the Church of Morning located in the Old Domain, a place separate from the real world and filled with horrors.Each Halloween there is a temporary opening between worlds and there are forces at work to make the opening permanent and another group whose goal it is to keep it closed.To keep the portal closed is the job of two N [...]

I found this one in one of my groups, just in time for Halloween. Black and Orange is Ethridge's first novel, and a very original one at that. Black and Orange's basic plot is that every Halloween, the world's destruction as we know it and the staving off of the world's destruction are in the hands of two groups of incredibly damaged people. The ones wearing the white hats in the story are the Nomads, people with links to another dimension. Every Halloween, The Church of Morning (The black hat [...]

It is almost October 31st, the high holy day of the Church Of Morning and The Church Of Midnight. Separated for eons by the gateway between two worlds, this day is the sole chance each year to push the gateway open and reunite the churches into an one entity that can control all universes.In order to force the gateway open and have it remain so, each year a Heart is chosen. The sacrifice of the Heart makes the gateway easier to open; October 31st is the day of the Hunt. But there are opposing fo [...]

This book had heaps of potential, but far too many flaws. It's excellently written, and the central idea surrounding the real reason behind Halloween is really interesting. There's so much good stuff here, it could have been a great novel, but failed on several fronts.Without giving too much away, there's a huge lack of explanation that's really needed to fully appreciate the story - what's the Old Domain? Why are the Churches of Midnight and Morning always against each other? Why are there only [...]

My Opinion:I really enjoyed this book. I was captivated by it but, I wouldn’t say that this was a fast page turner. You had to pay attention. It made me enjoy the book. I was completely taken in by Teresa and Martin. They worked great as a team and you felt like you wanted to help them fight. Martin and Teresa are nomads or wanderers that have to prepare for a fight of good vs. evil every Halloween. What’s at stake is humanity. There is a church called the Church of Midnight that wants to op [...]

I had a hard time getting through this book. I couldn't get my head around the setting and couldn't care about any of the characters. There's even a touch of magic that seemed out of place. It was modern times but then you have two power structures fighting for control over the Portal. Portal to where? And what is the Old Domain? I'm assuming we're in the New Domain?The two power structures were the Church of Midnight and the Church of Morning. A bunch of Bishops, Archbishops, Priestesses I'm lo [...]

Black and Orange is a unique, well-written novel. Character development is very good, intricately interweaving realistic but magical personalities that develop nicely throughout the story. Though it is mostly based on magic and fantasy, it combines elements of horror and realism. Martin provides the strength and courage to keep his girlfriend, Teresa, moving and focused as she battles lung cancer while on their quest. Teresa and other characters within the story are believable, even when in thei [...]