Dark Screams: Volume Eight- Edited by Brian James Freeman & Richard Chizmar

Description

Available to preorder now at  Amazon ahead of the Halloween publication date!

Frank Darabont, Bentley Little, Benjamin Percy, Billie Sue Mosiman, Kealan Patrick Burke, and Glen Hirshberg share chilling tales of ancient evils and wicked desires in this spooky collection assembled by renowned horror editors Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar.

WALPUSKI’S TYPEWRITER by Frank Darabont
They say that genius is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration. For Howard Walpuski, it’s an IBM Selectric II typewriter, a nefarious secret, and a whole lot of blood.

THE BOY by Bentley Little
Christine has found the perfect neighborhood to raise her family: a quaint, quiet, friendly place where everyone gets along. Everyone, that is, except for the boy.

TUMOR by Benjamin Percy
He dodged death in the nick of time when the golf ball-sized tumor was surgically removed from his head. But the tumor isn’t done with him.

TWISTED AND GNARLED by Billie Sue Mosiman
He’s smart. Smarter than anyone knows. No one has linked him to the string of bodies he’s left up and down the California coast. Only one woman has ever come close—and she’s no match for his intellect.

THE PALAVER by Kealan Patrick Burke
It’s time for Oscar Dennihy to close his failing barber shop and retire—until a mysterious customer tells him a truly hair-raising tale . . . and gives Oscar a wonderful and terrible new purpose.

INDIA BLUE by Glen Hirshberg
Like most Americans, Enrico never gave much thought to the sport of cricket. Not until America’s Rockin’ Professional Cricket game—a spectacle that will live forever in his most horrible nightmares.

 

 I have said it before but I'll say it again. Dark Screams has quickly become one of my favorite Horror Anthology series of all time. I was thrilled to be able to grab an advance copy of this most recent installment, and excited to see new stories by 2 of my favorite authors Bentley Little and Kealan Patrick Burke.

 

"The Boy" by Bentley Little was brilliant. Once again Bentley Little is able to take an ordinary every day experience such as settling in to a new neighborhood, and turn it into something horrifying. Christine the happy house wife is pleased to meet her new neighbors and discover that they are also home during the day. They have lots in common and will be the best of friends. I wish I could say more without giving away too much. Suffice it to say this story was shocking and quite relevant to current attitudes and events.

 

"The Palaver" by Kealan Patrick Burke also hit a high note for me. Poor Oscar has virtually no customers left in his failing barber shop. He spends more time sweeping up hair that isn't there than he does plying his trade. He doesn't want to retire. "It was his father's business and his grandfather's before him." As he is readying to close one day a stranger walks in, and tells him a story that will change everything.

 

"Walpuski's Typewriter" by Frank Darabont was both humorous and gruesome. A struggling writer with unpaid bills and a broken typewriter makes the deal of a lifetime to get it repaired.

 

These were my 3 favorites in the collection and I will leave at that so as not to avoid any spoilers.

I would highly recommend this volume (along with all previous volumes) to any horror fan.

 

I received an advance copy for review.

Praise for the Dark Screams series“A wicked treat [featuring] . . . some of the genre’s best.”—Hellnotes, on Volume One

“Five fun-to-read stories by top-notch horror scribes. How can you lose? The answer: you can’t.”—Atomic Fangirl, on Volume Two

“If you have not tried the series yet, do yourself a favor and grab a copy of any (or all) of the books for yourself.”—Examiner.com, on Volume Three

“Fans of horror of every variety will find something to love in these pages.”—LitReactor, on Volume Four

“[Volume Five] runs the gamut from throwback horror to lyrical and heartbreaking tales.”—Publishers Weekly

Money Back Guarantee (Mail Order Massacres) by Hunter Shea

Available for preorder at Amazon
Description
YOUR MONEY BACK OR YOUR LIFE . . .
 
Protect America’s shores with your very own nuclear submarine! Constructed from durable fiberboard material, this submersible is large enough for two kids! Sail off into imaginative international intrigue for just $1.99! If this toy doesn’t float your boat, return it for a full refund!

With her son’s heart set on piloting his own nuclear submarine, Rosemary Lanchester orders the craft advertised on the back of a comic book. What arrives is more sub-standard than submarine, but her son loves the cheap piece of cardboard. Until he and a friend nearly drown when they take the sub for a deep sea dive in the swimming pool.

Enraged, Rosemary reports the toy’s manufacturer to the Better Business Bureau. The company’s customer service center retaliates with threatening phone calls. Then her son and husband mysteriously disappear.

To save her family, Rosemary tracks down the company’s headquarters with the help of her brother—a survivalist with enough toys of his own to wage an all-out war.

And she still wants her $1.99 refunded.

Not to nitpick but my obsessive compulsive nature requires that I state that the money back guarantee was for 5 dollars, not $1.99

Having previously read Optical Delusion and Just Add Water by Hunter Shea I was anxiously awaiting this third installment, and as much as I enjoyed both of those, this is by far my favorite adventure into the horrors of mail order shopping.

Set in the 1980s and steeped in all it's glorious culture of Tupperware parties this fast paced horror takes what should be a mundane ordinary experience and turns it into something horrifying.
Against her better judgment, Rosemary allows herself to be talked into purchasing a toy from an advertisement in the back of a comic book for her son Dwight. Naturally, when it finally arrives it's a piece of junk. When Dwight and his friend nearly drown while playing, Rosemary has quite literally a hell of time trying to track down the elusive "AdventureCo" manufacturer that nobody has ever heard of. Unfortunately for Rosemary, AdventureCo has heard of her, and they do not like complaints.
5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

Dawn in Damnation by Clark Casey

Buddy Baker is a dead man. Literally. After gunning down more men than Billy the Kid—and being hung by a rope necktie for his crimes—the jolly, fast-drawing fugitive reckoned he’d earned himself a nonstop ticket to hell. Instead, he finds himself in Damnation: a gun-slinging ghost town located somewhere between heaven and hell.

There are no laws in Damnation. Only two simple rules: If you get shot, you go directly to hell. If you stay alive without shooting anyone for one year, you just might get into heaven.

Hardened outlaws pass the time in the saloon playing poker and wagering on who will get sent to hell next, while trying not to anger the town’s reclusive vampire or the quarrelsome werewolves. Buddy winds up in everyone’s crosshairs after swearing to protect a pretty gal who arrives in Damnation pregnant. Her child might end up a warm-blooded meal for the supernatural residents, or it could be a demon spawn on a mission to destroy them all.


Damnation is somewhere between heaven and hell, the place where you end up if you don't make it to heaven. If you die while you're there (even though you are already dead?) it seems to put you on the fast track to hell. If you can behave yourself and not kill anyone, rumor has it that you might be allowed into heaven after a 1 year stay. So far nobody knows. Oddly enough there is no shortage of bacon here and although you can't starve to death when you are already dead, the townsfolk do seem to enjoy being able to eat piles of bacon strips. Women are few and far between in Damnation, and on the rare occasion one shows up they tend not to last too long. When a pregnant dead woman lands herself in Damnation somehow still carrying a live unborn baby it's an unusual situation even for this odd town.
Although I do enjoy comedy/horror this one just wasn't my cup of tea. I think fans of fantasy may enjoy it more than horror fans.
3 out of 5 stars from me.
I received an advance copy for review

Lay Me to Rest by E. A. Clark

Description

Some secrets never stay buried for long…

Devastated by the death of her husband, Annie Philips is shocked to discover she is pregnant with his unborn child. Hoping for a fresh start, she travels to a remote stone cottage in Anglesey, amidst the white-capped mountains of North Wales.

She settles in quickly, helped by her mysterious new neighbour, Peter. But everything changes when Annie discovers a small wooden box, inlaid with brass and mother-of-pearl. A box she was never supposed to find…

Annie soon realises that she isn’t alone in the cottage. And now she’s trapped. Can she escape the nightmare that she has awoken, or will the dark forces surrounding the house claim her life – and that of her baby?

 

Annie is struggling to come to grips with her status as newly widowed. She is about to become a single mom and grieving not only the loss of her husband, but the fact that he will never know the child he so desperately wanted.

Her sister suggests a change of scenery may help lift her from her depression. So off she goes for a stay in what is meant to be a peaceful little cottage in the country. That peace and quiet is short lived when it becomes apparent that more than one ghost inhabits this property and is seeking the closure and justice they never got in life.

This was not really a story I would have expected to find in the horror section, but it was a fairish paranormal mystery.

3 out of 5 stars

 

I received an advance copy for review.