Horrors! 365 Scary Stories – A Full Year of Horror
4/22/2017 – 4/28/2017
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.
If you missed the first post you can find it here.
So snuggle deep in your beds while I tell you a bedtime story. Don’t worry, you won’t have nightmares. I promise.
Five Paranoiacs All in a Row – Thomas M. Sipos
Synopsis:
Five people in a room tell of their out-of-body experiences in a group therapy session. But are they really back from the other side or are they?
Review:
I like the story but the title is a bit misleading. I think. I suppose that they could actually be paranoid and just think they’ve died and gone to Hell. Hmm.
A Flash of Silver – Ben P. Indick
Synopsis:
Eric was born a little…furrier than most kids. The fur went away but a silver streak remained. Later he knows his time had come when the moon is full. Unfortunately, the girl next door knows she can’t follow.
Review:
I really liked the story. It was actually a very sweet love story with a bit of a sad ending.
Fly In Your Eye – David Nickle
Synopsis:
A man on vacation gets a fly in his tear duct. despite logic dictating that the fly should die. It lives and crawls from eye to eye.
Review:
Ew, icky, gross. I hate bugs! For Bug-Horror fans it’s a winner. I’m moving on.
For Your Immediate Attention – Peter Atkins
Synopsis:
An edition of Horrors! 365 Scary Stories comes with a prize in the book. And you’re the winner. But unlike the cheap Cracker Jack prizes this one is very special. Someone has to keep the terror alive. Even if it means a death or two.
Review:
I love these kinds of stories. They’re very creepy and effective. Because even though most of your brain is going “Ha! Good story!” the other, whispery part of it is going,”What if…?”. I came across this kind of story in an Alfred Hitchcock Presents book and it was just as effective as this one. By the way, I did count to ten as the story suggested. Still here. Or am I?
Forever – Karen E. Taylor
Synopsis:
Susan Black is a witch. her love spell is fading and John is leaving. Casting a new spell she binds him to her forever. A fatal crash, however, gives new meaning to the words forever.
Review:
Another very good story. Firmly planted in the ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’ territory. With an added dose of you get what you deserve.
Fragment of a Diary Found on Ellesmere Island – Brian McNaughton
Synopsis:
A group of five men stranded in the winter, apparently shipwrecked, and confined to their makeshift shelter draw cards to see who will be eaten. Meat should last a while but the dead are not quiet and they are hungry too.
Review:
A good story, brief but very creepy. I’m curious, though. The end note puts some of what came before into question and it makes me wonder. Are there really five men cannibalizing each other or one or a few men going insane? The meat of the story gives you a lot to chew on (sorry, couldn’t help myself).
From the Swamp Rot Rises My Baby’s Dreams – Tom Piccirilli
Synopsis:
A strange story of the bayou and the even stranger creatures that lurk within.
Review:
Good writing with vivid imagery of the Swamp Rot creature.
Favorite of the Week:
Oh, it’s so hard to choose. They were all so good this week! The two that really stood out for me though were For Your Immediate Attention by Peter Atkins and Flash of Silver by Ben P. Indick. For Your Immediate Attention was creepy and great, Flash of Silver has a bittersweet ending to it. Both were fantastic. A lot of the stories this week were great.
Don’t miss next week’s round-up of stories. They should be good ones!