Hope Wharf by Mark Towse

 

Hope Wharf is an idyllic town surrounded by crystal blue waters and home to approximately two hundred residents, including best friends Ryan and Zac. There’s only one road in and one road out, and the locals like it that way, happy to cater to the tourists during the holiday season and keen to get their idyllic town back in the off-season. It sounds perfect, but there’s a catch. The last time a local allegedly tried to leave town, they were found on the side of the road with mist coming out of every orifice. Tourists can come and go as they please, but it’s forbidden for locals to leave, and from an early age, children are told about what happens if they try, poor old Tommy Nicholls used as an example. Ryan and Zac are keen to uncover the town’s secrets and arrange a midnight stroll down Mulville Road to test the rumours out for themselves.

Hope Wharf is a town with no theft, no murder, no crime, and no escape for the residents. Everyone knows what happened to the only person who ever tried to leave, and nobody has attempted it since. Best friends Ryan and Zac aren't so sure this is true and set out to test what would happen if they try to get out. After all, tourists are welcome and they flock to this seaside town in droves. They are free to go home when their vacation ends but there may be a nefarious reason for that.

All of the residents are in on an ominous secret and as Ryan and Zac begin to uncover it things take a very unexpected path. This escalated quickly from a story about a boy who just wanted to know what life is like outside of his small town to something much darker.  If you like small town horror as I do, then this is the book for you. You'll definitely think twice about your next summer vacation plan!

4 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy for review.

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Gloria by Bentley Little

 

Considering she had just attended her mother's funeral, Gloria Jaymes never expected to see the woman again, but then her dead mom shows up at her house. Gloria's mom is... different. She's younger than when she died, dressed in clothes from the 1980s. And nobody else in Gloria's family seems to recognize her.

As Gloria tries to figure out the reason for her mother's reappearance ― and the odd behaviors the woman begins to exhibit ― other bizarre events occur. The changes to Gloria's world are small and subtle, at first... then they become much more startling.

The freaky situation might just be connected to a mysterious shed in a small California town. The strangers who gather around the shed seem to know Gloria's name... and maybe they aren't strangers after all.

With Gloria, Bentley Little presents one of his most complex and compelling novels ― one that is certain to surprise readers on every page.

This is a tough one to review. As a long time fan of Bentley Little I have read everything he has ever written. Generally he has a formula that he sticks to and those books are all recognizable by the word "THE" in the title. The Store, The Resort, The Consultant. The Bank, etc. all follow this formula. Occasionally he steps away from that, and those books can be recognized by lack of "The" such as "His Father's son" and "Death Instinct" and now "Gloria"

What all of his books have in common is over the top bizarre situations, but Gloria really takes the cake here. I didn't know what to make of it at first. It seemed like a big dose of crazy "what if's." 

What if your life was different? what if you had children? What if you didn't have children? What if you had a different job? What if your mom died? What if your mom lived? What if you had multiple siblings, no siblings, were wealthier, poorer, a stay at home parent.  What if all of your what ifs sucked and no matter how your life was different that was always the same. Always the grief and the suffering and the loss as if it were predestined no matter what you chose. Like a big case of do overs on ground hogs day. That is what I thought for over the first 150 pages and that's around the time I started getting fed up with it. It wasn't until around page 200 that these constant do-overs were explained but that made it no less crazy. The explanation is weak, and vague, and is never made any clearer.

At the beginning of the book I was all in on this. It was strange and creepy and some of these really bizarre scenes gave me chills. Unfortunately there is always that pesky little too much of a good thing, and I reached that point before the halfway mark.  It was just too much, and no longer enjoyable or unexpected. It started to feel like walking through a Halloween attraction and the way the first couple of times someone jumps out at you it's fun and scary, but by the tenth time it's expected and gone on for too long. There were also random acts of animal cruelty that were pointless. I think this was the author's attempt at a love story but by the end I wanted a divorce. 

3 out of 5 stars

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Alfred Hitchcock's Witch's Brew--Eleven Stories About Magic, Witchcraft, and the Supernatural

 

Witches, sorceresses and a modern vampire feature in Alfred Hitchcock's cauldron of horrors. This hearth-thumping collection of stories, put together by the man who -till his death in 1980- was regarded as the master of terror, is guaranteed to give you the jitters!

This book says it is geared towards "young readers" but I would caution that does not mean children. The stories are definitely not childish, nor are they for those who have only just learned to read. There is no gore, but there is language unsuitable for young children. I would consider it more a young adult anthology or at the very least age 13 and up. Consider it a PG 13 rating.

I am posting a photo of the page which lists the included stories, authors, and original publication year. This anthology was originally published by Random House in 1977.

Even though it has long since gone out of print it is not difficult to find used copies in decent condition still floating around for sale at the second hand bookstores. I found my copy in very good condition at Thriftbooks.

I probably fell in love more with the artwork than the actual stories. The front and back cover art just screamed buy me. The inside cover is gorgeous too and there is also an illustration for every story.

My favorites were the stories by Robert Bloch and Shirley Jackson. They've got me in the mood to dig out my collections by both of them and just binge. I've never read much Robert Bloch before but it's worth noting that all of my favorite episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents were based on stories written by Bloch. Until now the only story I had read by Shirley Jackson was The Lottery and now I'm kicking myself for having waited so long to dig into more of her work. Her story in this anthology "Strangers in Town" is told from the point of view of the town busy body who claims she can not stand gossip all while spewing more of it than anyone. As she spies on her new neighbors they might actually give her something to talk about! This was a 5 star read for me.

'That Hell-bound Train" by Robert Bloch is about a young man who thinks he can outsmart the devil. Also a 5 star read for me.

The rest of the stories, while worth a read, were just not on the same level, but for me, Jackson and Bloch were worth the cost of admission.

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Dancing With Tombstones by Michael Aronovitz

 

This new book from critically acclaimed genre author Michael Aronovitz collects some of his greatest stories that celebrate the beauty of the darkness in the world.

-In the section titled GIRLS, you'll learn "How Bria Died," and will also meet "The Sculptor" in the story that inspired Aronovitz's full-length serial killer novel of the same name.

-In the section featuring PSYCHOS, you'll feel the chill of the Anti-Christ in "Quest for Sadness," and fall prey to the most frightening circus creature on the face of the earth in "The Exterminator."

-In TOOLS & TECH, you'll find out the dark secret of "The Tool Shed," and will also experience the full-length ghost-novella, "Toll Booth."

-And finally, in MARTYRS & SACRIFICIAL LAMBS you'll experience hell on earth in "The Echo," and unwittingly release the darkest force of the forest in "The Falcon."

With Dancing with Tombstones, the author of Alice Walks and The Sculptor deliciously thrusts us down the twisted avenues deep inside the haunt of our most secret repressions.

"She Drags her jump rope on cement and calls you from the heating vent. Turn a promise to a lie and you will be the next to die."

Creepy right? 

I had never read any Michael Aronovitz before. I'm rather shocked by that considering how much I love short horror stories. Somehow I missed out on these in previous publications. These stories are quite dark and deliciously creepy. Several feature children, and those were my favorites because you just never know what children might do. They may have frightening events befall them or they may be the cause of terror. That is why I love them in horror, they are so unpredictable. I'm also a fan of ghosts, and you will meet some here, after all the dead can't rest if they are dancing with tombstones. I enjoyed all of the stories but these are the ones I can't stop thinking about.

The very first story "How Bria Died" in which a teacher regrets telling his class a scary story was one of my favorites.

"The Girl Between The Slats" was sheer brilliance. It led me down a totally unexpected path that there is no way for me to describe without spoiling it for you. Check out your face in the mirror after you read it and see how surprised you look.

In "Puddles" poor Doris Watawitz is in germaphobe hell and I really felt for her. This story was just a lot of gross fun.

"Soul Text" takes a look at the technology of tomorrow that is nearly the horror of today. Maybe we were better off when a tablet was just a pad of paper.

"The Tool Shed" is where siblings discover a gruesome secret.

In "The Falcon" an unusual child is born, grows up, and gets revenge.

"The Soldier" was another of my favorites not because of being scary but because I cared about the characters and it nearly made me cry. I don't expect to care that much about characters in a short story because I only meet them for such a brief time.

Highly recommended to all who love horror and dark fiction.

5 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications.

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