The Shapes Of Midnight by Joseph Payne Brennan

Description

"Joseph Payne Brennan is one of the most effective writers in the horror genre, and he is certainly one of the writers I have patterned my own career upon," declared Stephen King. "In fact," he added, "The Shapes of Midnight could serve as an exercise-book for the young writer who aspires to pen and publish his or her own weird tales."
A poet as well as a writer of horror fiction, Brennan worked at Yale's Sterling Memorial Library as an acquisitions assistant for over 40 years. He wrote hundreds of stories for Weird Tales and other pulp magazines. This new edition of his increasingly rare compilation, The Shapes of Midnight, presents 10 of his best stories.
Selections include "Diary of a Werewolf," a first-person account of bloody sprees; "The Corpse of Charlie Rull," recounting the rampage of a radioactive zombie; "The Pavilion," which unfolds at an abandoned seaside haunt with something ghastly beneath its pilings; "House of Memory," a wistful look at the past's imaginative grip; "The Willow Platform," featuring the machinations of a self-styled warlock; and other chillingly memorable tales.

This was a short but fun anthology featuring stories of madness, sorrowful memories, and murder.
My favorites were Diary of a Werewolf in which a recovering drug addict begins to feel a strong compulsion to run wild in the woods, and Pavilion in which a murderer returns to the scene of his crime. The rest were just ok reads for me, though others may enjoy them more than I did. If you are into short horror stories give this one a read.

I received a complimentary copy for review.



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About the author
Joseph Payne Brennan was an American writer of fantasy and horror fiction, and also a poet. Brennan's first professional sale came in December 1940 with the publication of the poem, "When Snow Is Hung", which appeared in the Christian Science Monitor Home Forum, and he continued writing poetry up until the time of his death.

He is the father of Noel-Anne Brennan who has published several fantasy novels.

Pieces by Rebecca Rowland and Michael Aloisi

 Thirty boxes. Thirty body parts. Eighteen turned in to authorities.A forensic technician from a quiet Massachusetts suburb does the unthinkable: stalks a local woman, abducts her, divides her body into thirty pieces, and mails the sections to random Americans across the country. Each white postal box that Dennis Sweeney prepares contains an ambiguous note and a piece of Julie Piedmont. Most of Sweeney’s intended recipients contact the authorities about their gruesome packages, but twelve of the parcels go unreported. Pieces, the genre-bending hybrid of crime thriller infused with a short-story vibe, takes a closer look at the body parts that were never recovered and the possible reasons why their recipients never told anyone about their grotesque discoveries. Weaving the accounts together is Dennis’ story as well as Jackson Matthews’, the reporter to whom Dennis chooses to document his sick game.

 

I just finished this book and I am not even sure how to adequately review it. I am imagining someone else describing it to me and had they told me that there were so many characters my first thought would be this may not work for me. Just as too many cooks spoil the soup, too many characters can make a plot hard to follow. Yet that is not at all the case with Pieces, even though there are so many characters with their own story lines they are all brilliant offshoots of the main plot.

Jax is reporter who is unhappy in his job and dreams of giving it up to pursue his art full time. Just as this dream comes closer to fruition he receives a body part of a murder victim from someone claiming to be his number one fan. Included is a demand that he write the story of a lifetime to propel himself back to award winning journalism. Dennis Sweeny is a twisted individual. I don't think there has been a boy with such an odd relationship with his mom since Psycho. Though he gives a reason for sending a body part to his favorite journalist, his reasons for choosing the other recipients of human remains are less clear. Most people report their deliveries to the authorities, but my favorite parts of the book revolve around the remarkable characters who don't report their packages. I would recommend this book for any fan of horror or psychological thrillers.

5 out of 5 stars

 

I received a complimentary copy for review.

 

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About the authors

Rebecca Rowland grew up in Western Massachusetts but spent much of her early adult life in the Boston area. She has taught high school English, worked as a librarian, and freelanced as a copy-editor for graduate students, publishing houses, a celebrity's blog, and a large city union. Her first published work of length was a ghostwritten memoir of a former victims' rights advocate.

She is a proud member of both the American Library Association and the Horror Writers Association, sincerely appreciates sharp satire, quick wit, and well-written psychological horror, and lists her literary influences as Flannery O'Connor, A.M. Homes, and Chuck Palahniuk. Despite her infatuation with the ocean and unwavering distaste for icy weather, she has made a home with her family in a land-locked city of New England.
Visit RowlandBooks.com for more information.

 

Michael Aloisi, known to his fans as AuthorMike, is the author of seven books, including a number one bestseller. He has done book tours in over five countries and twenty states, sold movie/television rights, starred in his own web series, been featured in documentaries and had his books featured in over one hundred media outlets around the world. Mike has an MFA in Writing and currently he lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two children.

Visit: AuthorMike.com to learn more about his books and other projects 

Violet by Scott Thomas

In the lineage of Peter Straub's Julia, Scott Thomas’ Violet is the disturbing tale of a woman haunted by her long-abandoned imaginary friend.

For many children, the summer of 1988 was filled with sunshine and laughter. But for ten-year-old Kris Barlow, it was her chance to say goodbye to her dying mother.

Three decades later, loss returns—her husband killed in a car accident. And so, Kris goes home to the place where she first knew pain—to that summer house overlooking the crystal waters of Lost Lake. It’s there that Kris and her eight-year-old daughter will make a stand against grief.

But a shadow has fallen over the quiet lake town of Pacington, Kansas. Beneath its surface, an evil has grown—and inside that home where Kris Barlow last saw her mother, an old friend awaits her return.


Many years ago Kris lost her mother to cancer while at their family lake house. Yet she remembers the lake house as a place of comfort. It is for that reason that she packs up her daughter Sadie and heads out to this long abandoned home in hopes of helping Sadie recover from the recent loss of her father. Time may have colored Kris's memories because they are far more cloudy than the waters of the crystal clear lake.
I picked up this book not only because of the description but because I loved the author's previous work "Kill Creek." After reading Violet I can now say that Scott Thomas is on my list of must read authors. Violet took me to a place of great emotional turmoil. It is a story of love and loss, and much of the first half focuses on the way our own minds try to deal with traumatic events. Gradually this story moves from unnerving to frightening as Kris Barlow remembers her past through her daughter's eyes. There is something at the lake house that Kris has forgotten, but it remembers her, and has been waiting for her return.
5 out of 5 stars
I received an advance copy for review.
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About the author
Scott Thomas is the Stoker-nominated author of Kill Creek, which was selected by the American Library Association's reader committee as the top horror book of 2017. Originally from Coffeyville, Kansas, Scott attended the University of Kansas where he earned degrees in English and Film. He has written TV movies and teleplays for various networks including Netflix, Syfy, MTV, VH1, the CW, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and ABC family. Scott was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his work on R.L. Stein's The Haunting Hour. He lives in Sherman Oaks, California with his wife and two daughters.

The Whispered Tales of Graves Grove -Multiple authors

Edited by J.S. Baily and Kelsey Keating

Description
Nestled within the folds of the Canadian Rockies, Graves Grove probably isn’t the picturesque place you’d like to stay for long. Peculiar things happen here. The citizens seem normal superficially—they function well enough. But each one is deeply disturbed, wrapped in secrets and neuroses which drive them to strange behaviors.
And then there are all the missing children. And why is everyone afraid of that sycamore tree?
The Whispered Tales of Graves Grove is an anthology of stories taking place throughout the history of this mysterious town, from its founding to its future. Read them…if you dare.

 A themed anthology about a small Canadian town and the odd, and sometimes horrifying events that transpire there.

 

As soon as I saw the cover I knew this book would be coming on vacation with me. That old tree could not be a more perfect representative for this anthology, That sycamore is featured throughout the stories and is practically one of the main characters. All the tales take place in Graves Grove, a picturesque town with a dark past and a pervasive evil that still thrives to this day. One of my favorite characters who pops up in multiple stories is Copper the town stray dog. He belongs to everyone and to no one, and has a secret of his own much like the other residents. You will meet ghosts and demons, witches and trapped souls in Grave's Grove. Most of the stories are quite dark and eerie but one in particular was rather humorous. There is a bronze statue in the town square that somehow changes it's clothes on a daily basis. The townspeople are quite used to this. In one amusing story we learn how this came to be, and it was one of my absolute favorites in the whole collection.
4 out of 5 stars.
I received a complimentary copy for review.

 

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J. S. Bailey enjoys writing eerie tales of the supernatural that keep readers on the edges of their seats. She has published six novels and twenty-one short stories, with more on the way. Bailey is fond of long walks in the woods, British television, and lots of burritos. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and cats.

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