The Scarecrow and Other Stories by G. Ranger Wormser

 

This October, feel the terror of a woman’s touch with one of horror’s best kept secrets…

Shadow House Publishing kicks off MACABRE MISTRESSES, a series devoted to women horror authors and their unique contribution to the field, with a landmark collection by an unjustly neglected author.

THE SCARECROW AND OTHER STORIES, by G. RANGER WORMSER, is the most disturbing book that you have never read! This suppressed collection of death, demons, and desire ranks the author alongside Shirley Jackson and Joyce Carol Oates as a mistress of literary dark fiction. Surprisingly modern, these minimalistic, knife-edged fear fables tackle sexism, prejudice, and cruelty. They speak as powerfully to readers in the 21st century as when first published. We are proud to unleash this long-neglected collection to haunt–and challenge–a new generation.

Gwendolyn Wormser was an unacknowledged mistress of psychological horror, haunting atmosphere, and adroit social criticism. Her deeply introspective stories of sentient scarecrows, shapeshifters, and specters also revealed the daily terror and abuse that women suffered in the early 20th century. Neglected since their 1918 publication, these twelve numinous nightmares are deeply unsettling, lyrical, and uncanny…they are also grim, decadent, and beautiful.

Edited by supernatural fiction author and critic WILLIAM P. SIMMONS, this long overdue monument to an unsung horror heroine includes a comprehensive Introduction discussing the author’s distinctive approach to supernatural fiction.

This author was previously unknown to me except for the title story that I enjoyed in an anthology that I read a couple of months ago. Gwendolyn Wormser should have been an important voice in horror yet was somehow largely overlooked until now.  Written in the days before shock and gore was the formula, and blood and guts the norm, her stories are suspenseful and eerie. The writing is haunting and lyrical, full of atmosphere and and rich with emotion.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys dark fiction from days gone by.

I received a complimentary copy.

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The Scarecrow and Other Stories Table of Contents:

Here There Be Monsters
The Scarecrow
Mutter Schwegel
Haunted
Flowers
The Effigy
The Faith
Yellow
China-Ching
The Wood of Living Trees
Before the Dawn
The Stillness


About the Editor: William P. Simmons is a supernatural fiction author, critic, & journalist. Eight of his stories earned Honorable Mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. By Reason of Darkness was praised by Publisher’s Weekly & All Hallows & Cemetery Dance. Graham Masterton, Hugh B. Cave & T.M. Wright have endorsed his fiction, and he has interviewed such authors as Richard Matheson, F. Paul Wilson & Caitlin Kiernan.

MACABRE MISTRESSES is a series of classic and rare supernatural fiction from the ‘shocking ladies’ who transformed the tale of terror.

SHADOW HOUSE PUBLISHING preserves our horror heritage with authoritative and affordable special editions of quality supernatural literature.

Second Chances by P.D. Cacek

 

It has been four years since the first Travelers came back, and in that time their numbers have grown. There is still no explanation for their existence, but for the most part they have been accepted into society and given special protection under the law. There are those, however, who see these Imposters as a threat to both their lives and their faith. The True Borns believe in "One Body, One Soul" and will do everything and anything in their power to put an end to the Travelers. 

This is the sequel to Second Lives in which lives that were cut short return from the dead, not as newborns and not with new lives, but in the bodies of the recently deceased.

They are called the Travelers, and although there are more of them than ever, and they have been given more rights and protections, there are still those who believe they are an abomination.

I loved the start of the story when we first meet the soon to be "traveler" but as the book progressed she was less of a main character than I had hoped. The plot mostly moves on to a group of religious zealots and a woman who is willfully ignorant of her child's mental instability. I was not nearly as emotionally invested in this sequel and it's new characters. This was just an ok read for me when compared to my love for the first book.

3 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review

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About the author
Patricia Diana Joy Anne Cacek (December 22, 1951, Hollywood, California) is an American author, mostly of horror novels. She graduated with a B.A in Creative Writing from California State University, Long Beach in 1975

Ink by Jonathan Maberry

 

From New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry comes a standalone supernatural thriller Ink, about a memory thief who feeds on the most precious of dreams.

Tattoo-artist Patty Cakes has her dead daughter's face tattooed on the back of her hand. Day by day it begins to fade, taking with it all of Patty's memories of her daughter. All she's left with is the certain knowledge she has forgotten her lost child. The awareness of that loss is tearing her apart.

Monk Addison is a private investigator whose skin is covered with the tattooed faces of murder victims. He is a predator who hunts for killers, and the ghosts of all of those dead people haunt his life. Some of those faces have begun to fade, too, destroying the very souls of the dead.

All through the town of Pine Deep people are having their most precious memories stolen. The monster seems to target the lonely, the disenfranchised, the people who need memories to anchor them to this world.

Something is out there. Something cruel and evil is feeding on the memories, erasing them from the hearts and minds of people like Patty and Monk and others.

Ink is the story of a few lonely, damaged people hunting for a memory thief. When all you have are memories, there is no greater horror than forgetting.

First I have to say I was thrilled to pieces when I found out that the setting for Ink is Pine Deep. Although this is a stand alone book and you need not have read the Pine Deep Trilogy to enjoy it you are missing out on some of the best horror fiction of all time if you have skipped it. You'll also wonder what the "trouble" is they keep referring to that Pine Deep has suffered through in the past, and that Val and Crow have managed to survive.

I don't believe the description of this book does it justice. It calls Monk Addison a private investigator. Oh No. Nope. What a boring and inaccurate description for such a complex character. A psychic vampire has come to Pine Deep. It does not need the memories of others to survive, but it revels in them. Especially in the deepest darkest most painful or life altering experiences they have had. It also gets some sort of twisted sexual thrill out of the suffering of others. Stealing their memories allows it to experience them as if they were his own, and he also has the ability to exert mind control over others, getting them to do his bidding.

All fans of  the trilogy need to read this book, and  if this is your first visit to Pine Deep I would recommend that you read the earlier books.

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy.

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Ghost Road Blues/Dead Man's Song /Bad Moon Rising

About the author
JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author, anthology editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. He was named one of the Today’s Top Ten Horror Writers. His books have been sold to more than two-dozen countries.

Midnight in the Pentagram Edited by Kenneth W. Cain

 As the clock’s pendulum steadily counts down towards the midnight hour, the growing scent of brimstone hangs heavy in the air. The universal symbol of all that is evil, the pentagram, or the inverted pentacle, has been carved in the hardwood floor. Its shape is often described as the goat of lust attacking the Heavens with its horns during the witches’ sabbat. Five obsidian candles flicker as the incantations begin. Who will be summoned during this unholy evening? Will it be Baphomet? Or Belial? Maybe even Lucifer himself? The roof timbers groan. Stressed plaster drops to the floor. The demon approaches, holding its ancient grimoire filled with evil stories, written in blood…and here they are.

From the depths of hell Midnight in the Pentagram has risen to entertain you with stories steeped in evil and simmered in fear. Demons frolic among humans, sometimes with their own purpose, or perhaps inadvertently summoned by middle school girls who never expected their ritual to wield such results. 

Demons are not the only beings looking to lead you astray, beware too the people who accept you into their twisted family when you are at your most vulnerable, such as occurs in one of my favorite stories in this book The Corn Maidens by Brian Moreland. I think I could best describe this as  Midsommar meets Dark Secret of Harvest Home but scarier. Father Macleod by Tony Tremblay was another of my favorites about a priest who attempts to rid his nephew of the demon that has possessed him. Another story of possession of a stranger type was Legion Cast Forth by Robert Ford in which demons are driven from their human hosts and into the swine belonging to Cletus the pig farmer. But Cletus is tired of this low paying deal and wants to strike a new bargain. Speaking of demonic possession Diminishing Returns by P.D. Casek takes a look at what may happen if a demon possessed someone with Alzheimer's disease.

Witches' Night by Owl Goingback was another of my favorites. When kids meet up in the cemetery with a spell book one night what could possibly go wrong?    The Other by Laurel Hightower was another possession story with a creepy twist.  Hellseed by Tim Curran was like a folktale, what happens when you bargain with witches and don't pay up? Babyteeth by Azzura Nox  begs the question, what could lead a mother to kill her baby? Was it only post partum depression? My Body by Wesley Southard features bloody good fun and delicious food with a dark side as one restaurant reviewer/critic discovers.  Discovering Mr Jones by Cameron Ulam is the story of  a junk hauling crew who discover an unexpected and unwelcome surprise in a hoarder's home . The Gods of our Fathers by Todd Keisling  Is the story of poor Mary who has lost her mother and does not belong in Christian school.

In Second Sight by Allan Leverone a blind woman has a most successful ocular transplant surgery and sees more than she ever wanted to, and perhaps more than she can stand.

All of these and more await you in the pentagram, enter if you dare.

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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