A Dark Assortment by Mikey Campling

Description

Don't be afraid. They're just stories, aren't they? Sometimes that noise you can hear upstairs is just the old floorboards creaking as they settle down for the night. Sometimes. But there's no need to worry because, that face you saw at the window was just a reflection. There's no one else here. You're alone. But that's OK because you're safe in your bed. And all those things you fear deep down in the dark reaches of your soul... well, they only happen in stories, don't they? A Dark Assortment is a collection of seventeen stories; a chocolate box of handmade treats. But beware - beneath each richly decorated shell, there's a seed of delicious darkness. These stories with a twist are perfect for fans of Edgar Allan Poe, and if you enjoy books like Ray Bradbury's "Illustrated Man" and Roald Dahl's "Skin" then we'll get along just fine. Oh - before I go, I'll wish you all Sweet Dreams.

This was a quick read. I do love short stories but I am not a big fan of "flash fiction" and at barely over a page long several of these would fall into that category. I'm not even going to pretend that I understood the stories that were that short. However if you like flash fiction this may be the book for you. There were a few gems mixed in with the bunch, that were longer and that I did find enjoyable. Among those were "Listen" which is a modern version of the Tell Tale Heart, "Focus" about a blogger who is too wrapped up in himself to notice life passing him by, and "Christmas Comes But Once, about a man who has lost the holiday spirit but may have found himself. Or at least that is my interpretation.  I could very well be wrong. If you read it let me know what you think.
I received a complimentary copy for review.

The Devil's Serenade by Catherine Cavendish

Description
Maddie had forgotten that cursed summer. Now she’s about to remember…“Madeleine Chambers of Hargest House” has a certain grandeur to it. But as Maddie enters the Gothic mansion she inherited from her aunt, she wonders if its walls remember what she’s blocked out of the summer she turned sixteen. She’s barely settled in before a series of bizarre events drive her to question her sanity. Aunt Charlotte’s favorite song shouldn’t echo down the halls. The roots of a faraway willow shouldn’t reach into the cellar. And there definitely shouldn’t be a child skipping from room to room. As the barriers in her mind begin to crumble, Maddie recalls the long-ago summer she looked into the face of evil. Now, she faces something worse. The mansion’s long-dead builder, who has unfinished business—and a demon that hungers for her very soul.


As a young lonely child Maddie looked forward to her time spent at Aunt Charlotte's house. Maddie is an only child but her imagination creates the siblings she wishes she had. She is often scolded for talking to herself, but at Aunt Maddie's house she is free to chatter away to her imaginary brother and sisters while her parents are off on Safari. Now that Maddie is a grown woman and has inherited her Aunt's house she struggles to remember what happened the summer she turned 16 and why she never visited Charlotte again. Strange things are seen and heard in the house and rumors abound concerning Aunt Charlotte and the previous owner. Maddie begins to wonder if she is losing her mind or if something more sinister is at work. I would rate it 4 out of 5 spooky stars.

I received an advance copy for review

Can You Keep A Secret by R.L. Stine

Description
R.L. Stine has built his legacy on scaring children and teenagers. Now he's back with another spine-tingling tale of horror in this new Fear Street book about temptation, betrayal, and fear.

Eddie and Emma are high school sweethearts from the wrong side of the tracks. Looking for an escape their dreary lives, they embark on an overnight camping trip in the Fear Street Woods with four friends. As Eddie is carving a heart into a tree, he and Emma discover a bag hidden in the trunk. A bag filled with hundred-dollar bills. Thousands of them. Should they take it? Should they leave the money there? The six teens agree to leave the bag where it is until it's safe to use it. But when tragedy strikes Emma's family, the temptation to skim some money off of the top becomes impossible to fight. There's only one problem. When Emma returns to the woods, the bag of money is gone, and with it, the trust of six friends with a big secret.

Packed with tension and sure to illicit shivers in its readers, this new Fear Street book is another terrifying tale from a master of horror.

Emma is a typical teen aside from the strange dreams she’s been having about wolves. She thinks they might be caused by something that happened when she and her sister Sophie visited their aunt as very young children and she was bitten by a dog. However neither she nor Sophie can really remember the dog bite and there is no scar. Strangely enough there have been some wolf attacks in town. One night Emma sneaks off with her boyfriend and some of their friends for a camp out in the woods. When they find a brief case full of money stashed in a tree greed and distrust among the friends may become a problem. Meanwhile there is more then one secret going on that needs to be kept.. or discovered. This was a fun read although a little less on the spooky side than some of the others by R.L. Stine
I received an advance copy for review

Return to Deathlehem: An Anthology of Holiday Horrors for Charity

Description

Slay bells ring,
Kids are screaming,
In the lane, snow is blood stained.
There's nowhere to hide,
Krampus has arrived,
There'll be feasting in a winter slaughter land…

Welcome Back
to
Deathlehem

… where the office Secret Santa proves more dangerous than a game of Russian roulette…
… where trips to Grandma’s house are fraught with danger…
… where a traditional Nutcracker poses a threat to a pair of would-be thieves…
… where ghosts of Christmases past haunt and take vengeance against the living…
… and many more!

Twenty-three tales of holiday horror that benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

I love a good Anthology and the only thing I love more than short horror stories with a Halloween theme is short horror stories with a Christmas theme. I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite from these creepy little gems but I suppose I am partial to Krampus stories and would have to say I loved those. I think this volume was even better than last year's.

Authors include JP Behrens, Steven Bigwood, Rose Blackthorn, Chantal Boudreau, Kevin G. Bufton
Alyn Day, Nicole DeGennaro , David J. Delaney, Gerard Griffin
Vicky MacDonald Harris Susan Jay Geoffrey K. Liu  Kerry G.S. Lipp  Steph Minns, Christopher M. Morgan, Mark Parker, Jordan Phelps, Mike Pieloor, Joel Reeves, Michael Shayne, Philip Thorogood
DJ Tyrer, Jay Wilburn