Finished 6 in March, with one DNF.
The Haunting of Henderson Close by Catherine Cavendish was an old fashioned gothic ghost story combined with a 100 year old murder mystery. The characters tended to be stereotypes at best, but the story had a good flow to it & it kept my attention. Also a surprise twist at the end that I did not see coming. This was the first thing I've read by Cavendish and I would definitely pick up something else by her in the future. 3.5 / 5
A Little Purple Book of Phantasies by Gahan Wilson. Known more for his work as an illustrator, Gahan Wilson was also an accomplished short story writer, as evidenced in this small collection of his fiction. Favorites were 'The Marble Boy', a chilling tale of revenge from the grave, 'The Sea Was as Wet as Wet Could Be', an interesting combination of the influences of Lovecraft & Lewis Carroll, and 'The Outermost Borough', a modernized version of 'Pickman's Model'. 4 / 5
Enter, Night by Michael Rowe breathes life into the classic vampire story by intertwining it with the Wendigo myth. Rowe grabs your attention with the very first line of the novel and doesn't let up until the end of the story. And these are blood and guts vampires; Twilight fans need not apply. Rowe does tend to be wordy at times, spending time on at least one length backstory that went no where, and there is a 50+ page epilogue at the end of the book that is somewhat slow & dry (actually it does not to be read to enjoy the story and is not identified as an epilogue in the book), but it does give the backstory on the origins of the vampire back in the 1700's. Overall, I thought this was a very good book that did something most new vampire stories do not do; it added something new to the vampire mythos. 4 / 5
In Darkness, Delight: Creatures of the Night ed. by Andrew Lennon & Evans Light. Read the first four stories and did not like any of them. I won't be picking this one up again. DNF
In stark contrast, The Twisted Book of Shadows ed. by Christopher Golden & James A. Moore was one of the best anthologies in recent memory. I found just about every story to be interesting with a well executed plot line. Almost all of the authors were new to me, which was a pleasant surprise in an anthology of such high quality. There were several memorable stories throughout the book, with my favorites being 'Midnight Sun' by Andrew Bourelle (an interesting take on the werewolf story), 'Liza' by Jeffrey Burton (is it a dog? Or is it something else?) and 'The Birthing Pool' by Eoin Murphy (sacrificial cult ceremony with Lovecraftian overtones). Highly recommended for fans of short horror fiction. 4 / 5
The Hiding Place by CJ Tudor was a solid follow up to her first book, The Chalk Man. While I would categorize The Hiding Place as a suspense/thriller, there is a definite supernatural vein running throughout the story, which owes more than a nod of the head to Pet Semetery. There are a lot of 'Oh Shit' moments toward the end of the book, and not all of them hold up to scrutiny, but in general, fans of The Chalk Man should enjoy The Hiding Place. Looking forward to the next effort from Tudor. 4 / 5
Stranded was a chapbook that included the winning stories from a writing contest run by Dark Regions Press. I'm not a big fan of flash fiction, and found these stories to be too constrained by the story length guidelines (stories were 2 to 4 pages in length; don't know the word count). This one was strictly a time killer. 2 / 5
B
The Haunting of Henderson Close by Catherine Cavendish was an old fashioned gothic ghost story combined with a 100 year old murder mystery. The characters tended to be stereotypes at best, but the story had a good flow to it & it kept my attention. Also a surprise twist at the end that I did not see coming. This was the first thing I've read by Cavendish and I would definitely pick up something else by her in the future. 3.5 / 5
A Little Purple Book of Phantasies by Gahan Wilson. Known more for his work as an illustrator, Gahan Wilson was also an accomplished short story writer, as evidenced in this small collection of his fiction. Favorites were 'The Marble Boy', a chilling tale of revenge from the grave, 'The Sea Was as Wet as Wet Could Be', an interesting combination of the influences of Lovecraft & Lewis Carroll, and 'The Outermost Borough', a modernized version of 'Pickman's Model'. 4 / 5
Enter, Night by Michael Rowe breathes life into the classic vampire story by intertwining it with the Wendigo myth. Rowe grabs your attention with the very first line of the novel and doesn't let up until the end of the story. And these are blood and guts vampires; Twilight fans need not apply. Rowe does tend to be wordy at times, spending time on at least one length backstory that went no where, and there is a 50+ page epilogue at the end of the book that is somewhat slow & dry (actually it does not to be read to enjoy the story and is not identified as an epilogue in the book), but it does give the backstory on the origins of the vampire back in the 1700's. Overall, I thought this was a very good book that did something most new vampire stories do not do; it added something new to the vampire mythos. 4 / 5
In Darkness, Delight: Creatures of the Night ed. by Andrew Lennon & Evans Light. Read the first four stories and did not like any of them. I won't be picking this one up again. DNF
In stark contrast, The Twisted Book of Shadows ed. by Christopher Golden & James A. Moore was one of the best anthologies in recent memory. I found just about every story to be interesting with a well executed plot line. Almost all of the authors were new to me, which was a pleasant surprise in an anthology of such high quality. There were several memorable stories throughout the book, with my favorites being 'Midnight Sun' by Andrew Bourelle (an interesting take on the werewolf story), 'Liza' by Jeffrey Burton (is it a dog? Or is it something else?) and 'The Birthing Pool' by Eoin Murphy (sacrificial cult ceremony with Lovecraftian overtones). Highly recommended for fans of short horror fiction. 4 / 5
The Hiding Place by CJ Tudor was a solid follow up to her first book, The Chalk Man. While I would categorize The Hiding Place as a suspense/thriller, there is a definite supernatural vein running throughout the story, which owes more than a nod of the head to Pet Semetery. There are a lot of 'Oh Shit' moments toward the end of the book, and not all of them hold up to scrutiny, but in general, fans of The Chalk Man should enjoy The Hiding Place. Looking forward to the next effort from Tudor. 4 / 5
Stranded was a chapbook that included the winning stories from a writing contest run by Dark Regions Press. I'm not a big fan of flash fiction, and found these stories to be too constrained by the story length guidelines (stories were 2 to 4 pages in length; don't know the word count). This one was strictly a time killer. 2 / 5
B
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