The Web of La Sanguinaire & Other Arachnid Horrors by Ronald Kelly

 

I must be ahead of schedule for a change because I'm finished reading this before there is any synopsis or purchase info available. 

I believe the publication date is June 18th from D&T Publishing.

This is a collection of the following 8 spider themed stories...

The Web of La Sanguinaire
The Memory Eater
Housewarming
Atomic Arachnid Armageddon!
Cell Number Nine   
The Creeping Sands
Hugs and Kisses
Come See Spider Cave!

A couple of these stories were familiar to me and I believe I may have read them previously in "Sick Stuff"

Ronald Kelly's latest collection of tales all share a theme of 8 legged creepies from which nowhere is safe. They are everywhere, on land and sea, deep underground and in the misty fog of the swamp. Some are so small you won't notice them until it's too late, and some are freakishly large.

They are the stuff of nightmares, and for one woman in The Creeping Sands those nightmares come true.

While some are just your everyday poisonous variety others may have an intelligence and an evil intent.

Not all of them are looking to crawl into orifices where no spider should be and some can even break your heart like in my two favorite stories The Memory Eater, about a man who fears Alzheimer's losing his memories to something even worse, and Hugs and Kisses about a lonely teenage girl who finally finds a friend. These were the more character driven stories and I'm sure it's a difficult thing to fit characters you have time to care about into a short story but Ronald Kelly pulls that off deftly in both of these. I will admit I felt a tear starting to burn in my eye when I read them.

This was a 5 star read for me.

I received an advance copy for review.

About the author

Ronald Kelly was born and raised in the hills and hollows of Middle Tennessee. He became interested in horror as a child, watching the local "Creature Feature" on Saturday nights and "The Big Show"---a Nashville-based TV show that presented every old monster movie ever made ---in the afternoons after school. In high school, his interest turned to horror literature and he read such writers as Poe, Lovecraft, Matheson, and King. He originally had dreams of becoming a comic book artist and created many of his own super heroes. But during his junior year, the writing bug bit him and he focused his attention on penning short stories and full-length novels. To date, he has had ten novels and eight short fiction collections published. In 1992, his audio-book, DARK DIXIE, was included on the nominating ballot for a Grammy Award.

He currently lives in Brush Creek, Tennessee with his wife, Joyce, his two daughters, Reilly and Makenna, and his son, Ryan (Bubba).