Interior Darkness by Peter Straub

Description

Celebrated author Peter Straub's mastery of the short form shines in this wide-ranging collection of his most chilling, intense, and compelling tales from the past twenty-five years.

Peter Straub has spent forty years at the forefront of modern literary horror. The stories assembled here represent his astonishing range and his ability to terrify, transport, and hold a reader hostage.
     "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff" is a darkly comic masterpiece in which a stern estate lawyer known as the Deacon hires a pair of "Private Detectives Extraordinaire" to investigate and seek revenge on his unfaithful wife. In "The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine," a man and his much younger lover explore their decadent and increasingly sinister fantasies on a luxurious yacht in the remotest stretch of the Amazon River. "Blue Rose" finds violence and power in the hands of the most innocent among us, leading to a conclusion that is fully surprising and devastating.
     Each story cracks the foundation of our reality and opens our eyes, taking us further and further into the darkness that normally remains deeply, and safely, hidden. Interior Darkness is the gold standard of literary horror.

 

The name fits and Peter Straub wears it well. Interior Darkness could not be more aptly titled. These stories are quite dark and I enjoyed them all. My favorites were “Blue Rose” - in which a little boy’s sadistic streak  blossoms when he finds a book on hypnosis and discovers he has a knack for it.
“Pork Pie Hat”  - a creepy tale told by a jazz musician of his last time trick or treating as a child and why he never goes out on Halloween again.
“The Buffalo Hunter”  - A man who lives more in his mind and in books than in the real world develops a strange affinity for drinking cheap vodka out of baby bottles. “Ashputtle” - About a teacher who you really wouldn’t want around your children.

I received an advance copy for review

Life After Dane by Edward Lorn

Description
A mother’s love is undying… and so is Dane.

After the state of Arkansas executes serial killer Dane Peters, the Rest Stop Dentist, his mother discovers that life is darker and more dangerous than she ever expected.

The driving force behind his ghostly return lies buried in his family’s dark past. As Ella desperately seeks a way to lay her son’s troubled soul to rest, she comes face to face with her own failings.

If Ella cannot learn why her son has returned and what he seeks, then the reach of his power will destroy the innocent, and not even his mother will be able to stop him.


Ella Peters thought she was going to live happily ever after when she married Phillip and gave birth to their son. Instead she sat back and watched the makings of a serial killer. As the abuse Dane suffers turns more and more horrific Ella seems desensitized to it all. When Dane is found guilty and put to death for his crimes that should have been the end of it. Instead Dane has other plans and Ella may have to face some justice of her own. Dane is back and he is coming home to momma. I didn't think I could ever feel sympathy for a serial killer, and yet in those years when Dane was growing up, I did. I'm not sure who is the worst villain in this story, the murderer himself, the father who made him that way or the mother who never lifted a finger to protect her son. Either way this was a hell of a story.  I would rate it 4 of 5 stars.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

Dark Moon Digest Issue #22 by Lori Michelle and Max Booth III

 Description
Dark Moon Digest #22 includes the fiction: “Late Fee” by Patrick Lacey, “Horror Junkie” by Michael Schutz-Ryan, “Room 207” by Cooper O’Connor, “Drummer Boy” by Kenneth O’Brien, “The Seventh Date” by Mason Gallaway, “That’s the Price You Pay” by Matt Hayward, “Ion Dissonance” by Benoît Lelièvre, and “Girl Six” by John C. Foster. Also included are Jay Wilburn’s “Bits of the Dead” column, book reviews, and an excerpt from Vincenzo Bilof’s upcoming novel The Violators


Here lies some first rate, freaky, creepy, fiction. Which begs the question, if this is issue #22 where can I get my hands on the first 21? Because I want them all and so will you.
If you like short horror stories you will love these.
In "Late Fee" A spurned lover gets more than he bargained for when he wanders into an old timey 80's style video store.
"Horror Junkie" is a tale of best friends and roommates who share an affinity for horror movies until one of them gets a bit too extreme.
"Room 207"  is probably best left alone but a man on his way to surprise his wife makes a quick stop-over at a motel and lets his curiosity get the best of him. 
In "Drummer Boy" a happily married couple who have been trying to conceive find an antique toy that may bring them luck. Of course not necessarily good luck....
"The Seventh Date" is a tale of a love spell gone wrong.
"That's The Price You Pay" is a story of a shop owner and the strange curios for sale in his antique shop, though there is no charge to see the main attraction in his store.
"Ion Dissonance"  is a story of a young man who can't quite tell where dreams end and reality begins.
In "Girl Six' an interrogation takes a very strange turn. 
All in all these stories were quite unnerving!

I received a complimentary copy for review.

They Call Me Crazy by Kelly Stone Gamble

Description
"Cass Adams is crazy, and everyone in Deacon, Kansas, knows it. But when her good-for-nothing husband, Roland, goes missing, no one suspects that Cass buried him in their unfinished koi pond. Too bad he doesn’t stay there for long. Cass gets arrested on the banks of the Spring River for dumping his corpse after heavy rain partially unearths it.

The police chief wants a quick verdict—he’s running for sheriff and has no time for crazy talk. But like Roland’s corpse, secrets start to surface, and they bring more to light than anybody expected. Everyone in Cass’s life thinks they know her—her psychic grandmother, her promiscuous ex-best friend, her worm-farming brother-in-law, and maybe even her local ghost. But after years of separate silences, no one knows the whole truth. Except Roland. And he’s not talking."

Life in a small town is not the peaceful happy "Mayberry" that some people imagine. This novel portrays a more accurate depiction.
Everybody knows everybody else's business, or at least they think they do. They sure don't mind sharing everyone else's business either if it gets them a bit of attention. So of course it's common knowledge that Cass Adams is just plain crazy, like her mother before her was crazy. Her witch of a grandma might not be all there either. Her Husband Roland is a great guy, at least to your face. Maybe not so great behind closed doors, and maybe Cass isn't so lucky after all to have landed the husband every other girl wanted for their own. Even so, she should not have killed him. Or should she? Maybe he deserved it. Though he didn't even beat up on her all that much. What's a few blows to the top of the head and a degrading insult or two. Who can blame him when she won't even lift a finger to clean up the tar paper hovel of a shack he has her living in. Or maybe she didn't really do it. She says she did but everybody knows she's crazy as a loon, and if that's what everybody thinks it must be true.
This story, told in first person from multiple points of view, with sarcasm and wit kept me up turning pages all night long. I would rate it 5 of 5 stars.

I received a complimentary copy for review