Horrors! 365 Scary Stories – A Full Year of Horror
08/19/2017 – 08/25/2017
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.
A Perfect Lady – David Niall Wilson
Synopsis:
Eric has always loved his boat, the Old Mary. She’s always been there for him through hangover, troubles at home or bringing in a good day’s catch. On the night he escapes from his family a killer storm strikes. And Eric finds out how much Old Mary loves him back.
Review:
A good story, clearly illustrating how much a professional fisherman loves his boat. Like a cowboy and his horse.
Phone Tag – John R. Platt
Synopsis:
A very deadly game of phone tag with a family…and the monsters who have kidnapped their little girl.
Review:
Thinking about the actual logic of the story it falls apart a bit. I mean, if you’re a kidnapper and keep getting the answering machine, then obviously they haven’t gotten you’re message. But, it’s so creepy while you’re reading it that logic doesn’t really occur to you.
Picnic Under the Sky – Greg van Eekhout
Synopsis:
A man and his girlfriend are lying under the sky, looking at the clouds, finding what pictures occur to them. Unbeknownst to his girlfriend, however, the men in his family can read the future in the clouds. And the future isn’t promising. He sees the horses of Armageddon and rockets lifting into the air.
Review:
A very interesting story that uses a unique form of divination.
Picture This – Scott Edelman
Synopsis:
A man thinks his soul has slowly been stolen through the lens of the camera. How could his family have not seen it?
Review:
A decent story about a killer. Not much more to it, really.
The Piggy Bank – Don D’Ammassa
Synopsis:
Old Man Crenshaw lives alone and keeps to himself. He only comes to town every now and then with two nice, crisp hundred dollar bills. Buster wants to ‘liberate’ a bit of that money from him. Searching Crenshaw’s house Buster finds a large pig-shaped bank. Filled with cash. It’s a shame that Buster didn’t notice the long, sharp teeth of the bank.
Review:
A good story. It kind of reminds me of The Legend of Wooley Swamp by The Charlie Daniels Band.
Pine Supine – Robert Devereaux
Synopsis:
A reverend of a town plagued by vampires is approached by a hunter. But which is the hunter and which is the hunted?
Review:
A good story but it tries a little too hard at the olde tyme language. It sounds a bit unnatural.
Pinning Dante – Randy Miller
Synopsis:
Grandma likes to watch wrestling. The latest villain, Dante, has her poking random people with hat-pins, thinking it’s Dante. Finally, in the home, she goes quietly in her sleep, her final wish being to get Dante right in the butt. Does she succeed?
Review:
A good story with a cute twist at the end. Also a very clever pun on the name.
Favorite of the Week:
A rather slow week. Phone Tag by John R. Platt is creepy as heck. If you don’t think too much about the realism of it, it definitely gives you chills.
Kind of a slow week but that’s what is great about short story collections. You never know what’s coming next. Join us again next week for another round of spooky stories to give you the creeps.
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GracieKat was the first co-host of Sci-Fi & Scary, Lilyn’s partner-in-crime, and sub-head of the Coolthulhu Crew. She reviews horror books, movies, and games for the site. She also does a weekly Focus on the Frightful feature, and is the site list-maker. She is also in control of the Sci-Fi & Scary podcast which will relaunch soon.
Gracie is also a member of the Ladies of Horror Fiction crew.
Nice post!
Thank you!