Hardcore Kelli by Wrath James White

 

Katy is a former boxer who is currently working as a stripper when her fighting career came to an abrupt end after a disastrous fight put a stop to her calling before it could even begin. A head injury has left her quick to anger and quicker to lash out at those around her. When an incident at the club leaves her unemployed and with nowhere to go, she is forced to return home to stay with her mother and young sister, whom she hasn’t spoken to for years.

Katy’s young sister idolizes her and is thrilled when she agrees to come out trick or treating with her on Halloween. Even better, Katy dresses up as her favorite superhero; Hardcore Kelli, someone to whom Katy bears an uncanny resemblance. When her young sister goes missing, the line between Katy and Hardcore Kelli becomes blurred as she sets out to find her, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake.

Katy has been used, abused and traumatized, and now the former boxer turned ex-stripper is on her way home to the mother she hasn't seen in years, and the little sister she never really got to know.

Events of the past have left Katy suffering night terrors and a host of emotional and mental disturbances and what may also be undiagnosed PTSD.

Her happy homecoming turns sour when she goes out to hunt down the reason why her sister has gone missing after school. Believing she is the super hero "Hardcore Kelli" from her little sister's comic books she sets off down a dark path of death and destruction. Has she really become a super hero or has she suffered a psychotic break with reality? I'll leave it for you to decide.

This was a quick read with a lot of blood spatter and a very gruesome ending. It's not my usual type of horror because I tend to go for the more supernatural, occult, ghostly reads. This book focuses on the horror that humans perpetrate, and a woman who has been pushed to and beyond the brink.

Revenge may not always be sweet but the vengeance here is quite satisfying.

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications for the review copy.

Get a copy

Horror Library Volume 7 Edited by by Eric J. Guignard

 

The +Horror Library+ anthologies are internationally praised as a groundbreaking source of contemporary horror short fiction stories—relevant to the moment and stunning in impact—from leading authors of the macabre and darkly imaginative.

Filled with Fears and Fantasy. Death and Dark Dreams. Monsters and Mayhem. Literary Vision and Wonder. Each volume of the +Horror Library+ series is packed with heart-pounding thrills and creepy contemplations as to what truly lurks among the shadows of the world(s) we live in.

Containing 30 all-original stories, read Volume 7 in this ongoing anthology series, and then continue with the other volumes.

Shamble no longer through the banal humdrum of normalcy, but ENTER THE HORROR LIBRARY!

Included within Volume 7:

• In "Hand of Glory," a despairing prison inmate studies astral projection in order to escape his cell.

• In "The Key to Mabella," a cemetery groundskeeper discovers a mysterious vault key held by his predecessor and investigates what it unlocks.

• In "Abandon," a tour guide takes friends to visit his home village, long-since deserted and languishing under superstition.

• . . . and more!

• Also including a special guest-artist's gallery of Allen Koszowski!

I have had a love of short horror stories for as long as I can remember. Going all the way back to my childhood when my weekends were spent reading horror comics. Sometimes, in talking to people about horror I come across those who say they just don't care for short stories period. To each their own I suppose, but I often wonder if the reason they don't care for them is because they just haven't come across any that are especially well written. Its not easy to write short stories that have engaging characters and satisfying conclusions. Sometimes writers seem to skimp on the endings. There will be a dramatic buildup but then they don't leave enough time for an adequate ending. Just as you begin to enjoy it, poof it's over and you wonder why you bothered. I have read some of those too! But this is not that! 

Having read some, but not all, of the previous volumes I can say that Horror Library Volume 7 is my favorite so far. I enjoyed the artwork, and all 30 stories are deliciously dark, with satisfying conclusions. That is not to say the stories all end well for our unsuspecting characters, these are definitely not your happily ever after type of tales, but they are well written, down to the last word.

Among my many favorites were Never Better by Michael Harris Cohen which begins with restaurant workers getting revenge on obnoxious customers, before it heads down an even darker path.

The Kid In The Ambulance by Suki Litchfield about an unexpected and unsettling encounter with a long lost friend.

Discovery of Blanks by Darren O. Godfrey about the fate of one man who believes not all people are real, and of his friend who finds out the truth.

Holder City by Garick Cooke   In which man escorts a mysterious woman home after avoiding a collision on the road.

In The Valley by Bentley Little is a tough one to describe so I'll just say it's about the mother of us all.

I'm going to stop at this point because I've caught myself just going in order of the table of contents naming every story as one of my favorites. I don't think there was a bad tale in the bunch. There is mighty fine writing here.

I am going to recommend this to all horror fans, and lovers of dark fiction, including those who say they don't like short stories. This may be the book to change your mind.

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy under no obligation to write a review.

Get a copy

Future Tense: Tales of Apocalyptic Vision by Michaelbrent Collings

 

Worldwide bestseller and master of terror Michaelbrent Collings invites you to peer into the future, to uncover things long hidden, and to experience worlds of a Future Tense…

A world where suicide is illegal – unless you agree to kill yourself over and over again...

A place where childhood games turn back the clock – and bring with them monsters long forgotten...

A home where secrets abound – until the killing begins...

A reality where a writer's dreams can make her rich – if she's willing to sacrifice the universe...

All these, and more: stories of darkness and of light.
Stories of despair, and lingering hope.

Stories of a future unknown, where ignorance feeds our souls, and where the only hope that remains in a world gone dim… resides in Tales of Apocalyptic Vision!

Future Tense is a sci-fi/horror collection of nine short stories and one novella all set in the future, although not necessarily the distant future.

Not all of the stories were a big hit with me, but the ones that were, totally knocked it out of the park.

Among these were, The Floor Is Lava in which old friends reunite... one final time.

Lucid Dreams, about an agoraphobic woman who starts a new medication regimen and suddenly begins to live a full life even though she still can't leave home, and I Can Do This All Night about a man who often claims it's a woman's world but never meant it or believed it, until now.

In my opinion the author saved the best for last with a twisty psychological thriller novella The Stranger Inside which finds a perfect family in their perfect home as they are about to commemorate the anniversary of a tragic loss. What they don't know is that a stranger has been plotting to interrupt these plans in a most horrific way.

Recommended to anyone who enjoys the unexpected, the unusual, and the downright strange. This is a most entertaining collection.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy

Get a copy 

About the author

Haunt of Southern-Fried Fear by Ronald Kelly

 

Down below the Mason-Dixon Line, deep in the shadowy hills and hollows of Tennessee, lives a teller of terrifying tales and a spinner of dark yarns unlike any you have ever heard before. Stories to chill your bones and pepper your flesh with goose bumps. What his true name may be, no one knows for sure. But, if you listen closely, you can hear his voice ringing through the dead of night!

Pull up a tombstone and join your host, The Old Storyteller, as he shares nine tales of ghostly horror that will run a shiver down your spine! Tour a backwoods graveyard, neglected and forgotten…a cemetery haunted by restless spirits and wayward souls. Some are earthbound by sorrow and remorse…others by an unearthly hunger for vengeance!

Now enter…the Haunt of Southern-Fried Fear! 

Well I say it a lot but it bears repeating. I love short horror stories and Ronald Kelly is one of my all time favorite horror writers. As a kid, I also had a huge collection of horror comics. From the time that I was about 8 years old, most Saturday afternoons would find me tagging along with my mother to various flea markets and used book stores. She would be on the hunt for horror novels she hadn't already read, and I would be on the look out for horror comics not yet in my collection. The rest of the weekend would be spent reveling in my purchases that she never would have let me read if she had ever looked inside of one. So this collection of stories totally sends me to my happy place. In the style of those glorious comics of yester-year there is an illustration to go with each story.

In these pages you will meet a ghost hunting family, A woman who has an unusual anniversary, the ghosts of dead children, and more. There are spirits who want only to complete their unfinished business, those who simply don't realize they have passed away, and there are those who are far angrier and seek revenge. If you are in the mood for a ghastly good time you will find it here in Haunt of Southern-Fried Fear.

My thanks to Silver Shamrock Publishing for the review copy.

Available For Pre-order

Author's website