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.

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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

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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.

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Shadow Flicker by Gregory Bastianelli

 

Investigator Oscar Basaran travels to Kidney Island off the coast of Maine to document the negative effects of shadow flicker from wind turbines on residents living near the windmills, but is unprepared for what he encounters from the islanders.

Oscar’s research shows that sleep deprivation, light deficiency and ringing headaches brought on by the noise and constant strobe-like effect of the sun filtered through the spinning blades of the turbines brings on hallucinatory episodes for the closest neighbors to the machines.

Melody Larson’s elderly father nearly chokes to death after stuffing dandelion heads into his mouth. The Granberrys' pregnant cow repeatedly runs headlong into a fence post. Tatum Gallagher mourns her young son who vanished more than a year ago, presumed swept out to sea by a wave while fishing on the rocky shore, but several people claim to see him appear only in the glimmer of the shadow flicker.

Aerosource, the energy corporation that owns the turbines, hired Oscar to investigate the neighbors’ claims, but the insurance agent shows no allegiance to the conglomerate, especially after learning a previous employee sent to the island a year before has disappeared without a trace.

When Oscar meets former island school science teacher Norris Squires, fired for teaching his students about the harmful effects of shadow flicker, he learns a theory regarding Aerosource that sounds too preposterous to believe.

While it seems the shadow flicker effect has driven some of the island’s animals crazy, is it possible it’s caused an even worse mental breakdown among the human inhabitants? Or is something more nefarious at work on the island?

As Oscar’s investigation deepens, he discovers the turbines create an unexpected phenomena kept secret by a select group of people on Kidney Island who have made a scientific breakthrough and attempt to harness its dark power.

Life has not been kind to some of the residents living on a small island off the coast of Maine. If they had not been struggling under a burden of debt they probably would never have chosen to sell off parcels of their land when Aerosource wanted to put up wind turbines and build an access road.

What's done is done and now those who live closest to the turbines suffer the consequences. Aside from the headaches, lack of sleep, and strange effects on the animals, there is something much worse than these bothersome symptoms that will occur when the blades of those turbines begin to spin backwards. 

Now, a few of the residents have filed a claim against the company and an outsider has arrived to investigate. He doesn't believe much of what he is told at first, until it's too late.

Shadow Flicker is an intriguing, character driven story with one foot in Eco Horror and the other in Sci-Fi. I loved the descriptions of the island and getting to know it's residents. It is a story of love and desperation and well as greed and fear. The horror creeps up slowly until suddenly it comes crashing in like high tide nearer the end.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy.

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