Nightmare Abbey 9 edited by Tom English

9th gigantic volume of this critically-acclaimed horror magazine/book.

Creepy GHOST STORIES & other weird tales!

Horror Comics on Trial! (History of American Horror Comics, part 6)

Horror Delve's list of great HALLOWEEN HORRORS

Classic horror movie: Hangover Square

11 terrifying tales by today's top writers!

A new Magnus Supernatural Dog Tale

Another chilling visit to Bone Street!

Indy (the Horror Husky) makes the cover of Time!

Art by World Fantasy Award-winner Allen Koszowski

Heavily illustrated: movie stills, comic book covers, cool facts!

Get it now, fellow fiends!

Nightmare Abbey 9 is hot off the presses and ready to haunt your shelves with chilling tales of the weird and wondrous.

Aside from the top-notch fiction and artwork, I am amazed time after time when every volume manages to send me down a rabbit hole of horror heaven as I read the articles that send me gleefully researching the movies, old TV shows, or horror publications of the past that I have somehow missed out on.

In this issue, the article and still shots from the 1945 horror/noir movie Hangover Square compelled me to pause my reading in order to find this must watch movie. It was one I had never heard of, and I am so glad for its inclusion here because I loved it.

As far as the fiction, it is delightfully dark. Among my many favorites were Under The Hood by Gary Fry, which reminded me a great deal of the pilot movie for the old Night Gallery series, complete with paintings that should not be messed with.

The Other Shore by Kelly White, about a ghostly seaside encounter, and Out In The Cold by Steve Rasnic Tem, a sorrowful tale of an elderly man whose family seems to have no time for him.

I'm now off to search for some of the stories mentioned in the article Horrifying Halloween Tales, because, like I said, I've gone down the rabbit hole of horror heaven. Join me if you dare.

My thanks to Dead Letter Press

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Where He Left Me by Nicole Baart

College professors Sadie Sheridan and Felix Graham are on sabbatical at Hemlock House, located on a remote mountain homestead established years ago by Felix’s family. When Felix leaves on a work trip but doesn’t return, effectively stranding Sadie on the mountain, her world collapses.

Alone at Hemlock House, frantic Sadie struggles to make sense of what her missing astronomer husband left behind. Forced to confront two mysterious trespassers just as a powerful storm bears down, Sadie and the strangers have no choice but to ride it out together. As conditions worsen and shocking secrets are revealed, Sadie must face whether or not she ever knew the man she married and is she fighting only for her own survival now—or still for the man who promised her the stars?

Newly married and madly in love, Sadie is anxiously awaiting her husband's return from a business trip to the remote mountain home belonging to his family, where he and Sadie have been staying. When he is late, she is at first disappointed, but later terrified that something has happened to him when he still has not arrived the next day. They haven't fought, his clothes are in the closet, he wouldn't just leave her without telling her, and abandon his belongings... would he? And who is that on the trail cams creeping around in the woods?

When I read the synopsis about being stranded on the mountain with the snowstorm on the way and the trespassers in the woods, I thought this was right up my alley!

The story is told on two timelines, and although the present-day goings on were sometimes suspenseful and chilling It didn't take long before I was getting annoyed with being pulled out of the action when it flipped back to the days when Sadie first met her husband, how they became friends before they dated etc. It was sweet at first, but eventually I wanted to skim those chapters.
Another thing that irked me was Sadie's response to the whole missing husband thing. She was not in fact "stranded on the mountain," she had a way to get down, but chose to stay until the storm came. She waited a ridiculous amount of time before reporting her husband missing. I know TV shows and movies claim you need to wait 48 hours to report a missing person, but in reality, there is no such waiting period. She made a point of checking to see if his flight was on time, but had she called the police, they could have easily found out whether or not he ever got on that plane. 

So while I enjoyed the mystery of the present day plotline, I found some of Sadie's decisions to be unbelievable, and I just wanted to get on with it instead of being constantly interrupted with flashbacks.

This was just an OK read for me. Not bad, not great.

My thanks to Atria Books for the gifted copy.

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About the author

 

Unusual Occurrences by Glenn Rolfe

Glenn Rolfe's UNUSUAL OCCURRENCES delivers chills, heartbreak, and small-town horror as only he can. This collection of dark stories— from a haunted coin ("Skull of Snakes") to murder mystery ("Abram's Bridge") to critters of all sorts ("Girl by Day" "Harry's Inevitable Extinction") to the author's personal take on his brother's passing ("The Rooster") and a Christmas story like something out of Natural Born Killers ("Welcome to Paradise")—will keep you turning the pages into the night, freaking you out one minute, and breaking your heart the next.

If you've not read Rolfe, this is one hell of an introduction!.

Track listing: 1. Out of Range 2. Abram's Bridge 3. The Fixer 4. Not Kansas Anymore 5. Skull of Snakes 6. Fire 7. Too Much of a Dead Thing 8. Harry's Inevitable Extinction 9. Halloween Worm 10. The Rooster 11. The House on Mayflower Street 12. Jackie Boy 13. Welcome to Paradise 14. Girl By Day 15. Boom Town

 

I love short horror stories —you are probably tired of hearing me say that, but I just can't get enough of them. I am so glad I chose Unusual Occurrences for my first read of the month.

Within the first sentence or two at the start of each story I was instantly engaged and eager for more. That is a most impressive skill that not all possess, to be able to come up with that perfect sentence that a reader can't walk away from. 

 These stories have been previously published before being collected here, but I had only read one of them in the past. It still packed a punch for me as a reread, and that is rare. Most stories were new to me and I enjoyed every single one of them.

Glenn Rolfe has a gift for hooking the reader immediately as he weaves tales of vampires, ghosts, aliens, UFOs, and more in this excellent collection of dark fiction that delivers shivery chills one minute and a heart-breaking gut punch the next.

5 out of 5 stars

ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op

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Scaring and Daring: Terrifying Takes on 15 Classic Tales—A Horror Writers Association Anthology

 Abandon all hope, ye who enter here! 

Get ready for a terrifying spin on some of literature’s most beloved tales—no story is safe! From Captain Hook’s run-in with dark magic to Sherlock Holmes narrowly escaping graveyard spirits to a happily never after for Cinderella, this horror anthology is anything but a bedtime story. In this terrifying new collection for young readers, the best-loved stories from the literary canon are revisited and reimagined with a deadly twist by some of the top authors working in middle grade today. 

Featuring tales from New York Times bestselling authors Jonathan Maberry and Kelley Armstrong, Carlos Hernandez, Lisa Morton, Maurice Broaddus, and many others, this collection will haunt you long after you turn the last page. Read on—if you dare!

Created by award-winning editor Eric J. Guignard.

• In “The Hound of the Basking Villas," a wily girl teams with young Sherlock Holmes to search for a missing boy in a fae-haunted cemetery.

• In “The Boy of La Mancha Rides a Ghost Horse," a young Don Quixote, along with his stalwart companions, seeks honor and recognition by capturing (before time of his mother’s curfew) a ghost horse that terrorizes all of La Mancha.

• In “Hook and the Hand of Fate," Captain Hook trades a promise for the return of his hand, but learns that barters cannot be broken in Neverland.

• In “Prince Badi az-Zaman and the Ogress Fattan," a young prince sets out to find an ogress responsible for mayhem among his people, only to learn not all is as seems.

. . . and more!

Some of my favorite writers have breathed new life into classic tales to delight young readers and the young at heart. My favorites were based on the stories I loved best as a child.

The Glass Slipper by Sherrilyn Kenyon imagines a very different fate for Cinderella after she marries her prince.

The Hound of the Basking Villas by Kelly Armstrong leads young sleuths to a graveyard in a spooky search for a missing boy.

The GruelMaster by Nathan Carson could have saved Oliver Twist from going hungry.

The plight of missing people is blamed on an Ogress in Prince Badi Az-Zaman and the Ogress Fattan by Tanvir Ahmed, but who is the real culprit?

The Secret Thing in the Garden by Delilah S. Dawson is a far spookier version when young friends attempt to dig a pond.

Wolf In The Mirror by Sarwat Chadda pays homage to The Jungle Book where Mowgli should have been left alone.

Freckle and Hide by Jonathan Mayberry is about a boy with anger issues and his timid adopted dog.

The Shadows in The Rock by Joe R. Lansdale is a Huck Finn rafting adventure.

These were my favorites, yours may differ. The recommended reading age is 8-12 years old, but there is no reason older children wouldn't relish these tales. I think younger kids may struggle with some of the words and may be better suited to have the stories read to them.

My thanks to Eric J. Guignard for the hardcover copy.

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