Horrors – A Full Year of Horror #10

Horrors! 365 Scary Stories – A Full Year of Horror

03/04/2017 – 03/10/2017

The horror short-short isn’t easy to master, but more than 100 of the genre’s critically acclaimed authors & hottest up-&-comers have taken a stab at it in Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, an anthology that contains a short tale for every day of the year. Steve Rasnic Tem, Wm F. Nolan, Tom Piccirilli, Yvonne Navarro, Peter Atkins, Brian Hodge, Martin Mundt & 166 others give you short, sharp shocks.

Each day I’ll be reading one story per day with a weekly wrap-up on Fridays. If you missed the first post you can find it here.

It’s dark, it’s cold…so cuddle close and we’ll find the light in the darkness together. Maybe, providing the flashlight batteries don’t die.

A Cup of Dragon’s Blood – Juleen Brantingham

Synopsis:
During Doug’s initiation into the Fighting Dragons gang he runs afoul of a wizard. Never, ever hurt a wizard’s cat. It will not end well.

Review:
I was a little torn on this. I thought the ending was darkly humorous but at the same time, I wanted Doug to die for hurting kitties.

Curses – Martin Mundt

Synopsis:
A professional curse-breaker has been hired to break the curse on an unknown ancient book. However, his plan backfires and the curse is just beginning for him.

Review:
I love stories about books, pretty much all books but cursed books have their own special fascination. I was a little bummed we didn’t get to see the actual pages of the cursed book. The way the trap was sprung though was so neat and simple that I had to love it.

Daddy – Tim Waggoner

Synopsis:
Keith, a new father sees his new infant son, not as a baby but as a parasite. A parasite that will eventually steal his life for it’s own. So he decides to do something about it.

Review:
I can’t say I particularly enjoyed the story. Especially where the story seemed to be heading. Even though it makes a slight turn near the end I still can’t particularly say I liked it much. This is, of course, my personal opinion and others may like it better.

Dark Zone– Ed Williams

Synopsis:
A spelunking expedition takes a turn or the nasty when the group, sitting in darkness, realizes they are not the only creatures in the cave.

Review:
Had an interesting premise but, dang it, sometimes I want to see the monster. It’s not very clear if the monster is one of the sightless creatures that the professor mentions or whether the monster is the cave itself.

Daytimer – Steve Rasnic Tem

Synopsis:
A day divided into specific searches of the park. A seemingly homeless man searches the park where he last saw his wife and child. It’s been twenty years and it’s the same routine each day. Things aren’t always what they seem though.

Review:
I have to admit it. The end of the story threw me for a loop and sucker punched me in the feels. Great story.

Dead Letter – Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

Synopsis:
A very deadly chain letter is making it’s way through the office e-mail.

Review:
Not bad. It certainly proves the rule that humans are just as curious as cats. It’s also twice as likely that being curious will be more fatal to humans than cats.

Dead Women’s Things – Kathy Chwedyk

Synopsis:
When Linda was a child her biggest fear upon moving into her aunt’s house were the antiques. Especially the paintings. Running away at seventeen her happiest day is learning her aunt has passed away several years later. Linda just can’t wait to sell her aunt’s precious antiques but her biggest fear may just come true.

Review:
Linda isn’t particularly likable so her comeuppance gave me great pleasure. Since life is so often unfair it’s sometimes very satisfying reading a story where the person in question gets their just desserts.

Favorite of the Week:
This one’s a toughie, it was a very good week for stories. Daytimer by Steve Rasnic Tem finally won out though. Short but it packs a punch in the end that I did not see coming.

Drop by next week for another week’s worth of horror