The Horror Collection: Neon Edition Kevin J. Kennedy (Editor)

 The Neon Edition explodes onto the page as the thunderous 30th instalment in Kevin J. Kennedy’s celebrated horror series - an unthemed, unchained, full-throttle descent into chaos. This is horror without boundaries. Without mercy. Without brakes.

Inside, the future is a merciless wasteland where the desperate barter their own body parts just to survive. Flesh warps and betrays. Lovecraftian wormholes rip open the fabric of reality. Urban legends stalk the streets in broad daylight. Faith curdles into fanaticism and dread. Neighbours hide unspeakable secrets. Funhouses pulse with neon delirium, bending sanity until it snaps.

Savage, surreal, and relentlessly imaginative, The Neon Edition doesn’t just cross lines - it obliterates them. Thirty books in, and the nightmare is louder than ever.

The Horror Collection Neon Edition is my first foray into this series of anthologies, and now that I see what I have been missing, I am beside myself, wondering where and how I can cram the earlier volumes into my TBR. 

From the first story, Zero Sum by Laural Hightower, where electricity and basic needs cost far more than cash, to the last story, Alone Together by James Jobling, where parents make an annual pilgrimage in search of what happened to their missing daughters, and all the kink, ghosts, dark humor, and gore in the stories in between this is an unforgettable collection that belongs on every horror lover's shelf.

If there were an award I could give for best opening lines I have read this year, it would go to Carlton Mellick III and his story Simple Machines for "Oliver Madu awoke one morning to discover two tiny copper doorknobs growing from the corners of his eyes. He didn't remember ever having doorknobs in his eyes before." If you can read that and not keep reading, then you are even stronger-willed than those people who can stop at just one salty potato chip.

My thanks to  KJK Publishing for the e-ARC

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The Curse of Hester Gardens by Tamika Thompson

 

Nona McKinley raised three boys in the Hester Gardens section of Medford, Michigan, an impoverished community divided by those who follow their faith in God and those who turn to crime to survive. With her drug dealer husband behind bars and her eldest son shot to death at eighteen, Nona has devoted herself to ensuring her other children escape their brother’s fate.

Her second son Marcus is on the right path. He's a valedictorian heading to an Ivy League school. He can get out.

But then, strange things start happening to Nona and mysterious footsteps are heard when she’s alone, people have phantom encounters in the streets, unattended appliances go off at all hours. Even more concerning is the state of Nona’s living sons. Her youngest, Lance, is hanging around with a bad crowd, and Marcus becomes moody and secretive. Sometimes he even seems to act like a different person entirely.

Nona has her secrets too. Her affair with the married church pastor has been weighing on her conscience, but that’s not the only guilt haunting her. She fears that someone—or something— is seeking revenge for an act she made in a moment of weakness to protect her family. And now everyone in Hester Gardens must pay the price...

The sun never shines in the apartments on the north side of Hester Gardens. This leads some to believe that those apartments are haunted. And they are right. People who don't survive life in these housing projects tend to linger there. A shadow, a figure, or sometimes more. A pervasive feeling of something wrong, footsteps, and appliances that turn themselves on and off. Something is going on here. But does that mean Nona is cursed? It sure feels like it.

 The supernatural horror in this story is secondary to the horrors of poverty, drugs, and crime, so it was not really what I was expecting or hoping for. Nona has lost her eldest son to gun violence. Her husband is in jail, and now something seems to be coming for her middle child.

This turned into more of a social commentary than the horror I was hoping for. I did care for Nona and her boys, but she seemed a very contradictory personality, which felt off to me. At times, she seemed strong, but then some of her actions were naive and gullible. The pace was very slow and made the book feel longer than it needed to be. You may enjoy it more than I did, but this was just an ok read for me. 

My thanks to Erewhon Books for the e-ARC

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Dig by J.H. Markert

 

Eight years ago, a boy took up an axe and slaughtered a dozen people. That odd, troubled boy, Jericho Dodd, has been dead and buried in his father’s yard for years, but ever since that massacre, Crow Island has been a dark and unsettling place.

When Jericho’s father begins digging up the past he buried, a compulsion to dig sweeps over the island and soon everyone else is obsessively churning up dirt, desperate to uncover buried secrets. The compulsion leads to violence and as neighbors turn against each other, the island’s famous tupelo honey, harvested from trees deep in a swamp, changes too.

As dread and paranoia seep up from the ground, it becomes clear that the island itself needs something from its residents–before it digs itself apart for good.

Be careful what you unearth from the dirt before this surreal horror novel can worm its way into you, too.

Dig is small town horror, but on an isolated island with only one helicopter and a ferry as a means to escape should the need arise, and of course it does. The island is abundant with wildlife, fish and produce that grows bigger and better than anywhere else, and most of all the sweetest, purest tupelo honey.

Crow Island has had more than its share of tragedy. Eight years ago a young boy took an axe and murdered a dozen people. This was not the first massacre on the island and will not be the last.

This is a story full of larger-than-life characters and an otherworldly mystery that pulled me in from the start. The island is ripe with past trauma and folklore. Specifically, the Gullah-Geechee folklore of the Boo Hags, ominous creatures much like vampires that drain you not of blood but of your very life essence through stealing your breath while you sleep. Supernatural beings like this are why I never trust movies where someone says they will stay until you fall asleep. What good are they then? Sleep is when you are vulnerable!
You will want to set aside enough time to read this one because once you "dig" in, you won't want to stop until the end.

My thanks to Crooked Lane Books for the e-ARC

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About the author

Alphabet of Oddities: A Gothic Bestiary by Ronald Porcelli

Jump down the rabbit hole into the world of artist Ronald Porcelli—terribly twisted, delightfully dark, and frightsomely filled with an alphabet of oddities, creepy creatures, and macabre folklore.

A is for Adzooks that walk with no head.

B is for Boo-zoins that feed on the dead.

C is for Crackings—sweet, they just look gruff.

In Ronald Porcelli’s Alphabet of Oddities, haunting rhymes and frightsome black-and-white illustrations reveal a ghastly world of legendary creatures. With F for Fxchopxtinks, L for Loomis, and X for XyLongs, this ABC book brings macabre folklore and fantasy art together in a collectible package.

Wrapped in ornate foiled patterns with black page edges, this gothic bestiary is a luxurious gift that will send chills down your spine, perfect for Halloween, fans of creepy creatures, collectors of unusual curiosities, and anyone who loves delightfully dark fantasy.

But beware! You might find that some of these monsters are best left in the shadows.

This is a gorgeous illustrated poem. Think Dr. Suess on the more macabre side. The rhymes are fun for all ages, and the black and white illustrations bring them to life. I read an e-ARC but I imagine the foiled patterns and black-edged pages would make it beautiful to display on a shelf or coffee table. Each imaginative and creepy creature has its own illustration and rhyme.

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