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murrayviolet's review
4.0
Score: 3.75/5 round-up for 4/5
Midnight Shadows is a book that contains 24 horror short stories, written by 24 authors. Eerie River Publisher, a fairly new publisher, published this book. I could not recall how I came across this novel or the publisher. However, I remember I wanted to read anything from this fresh imprint, so I chose Midnight Shadows! The reason is it is not one type of sub-genre book. It combines zombie, possession, and a bunch more. Plus, the price was too attractive to ignore!
I decided to pick 3 of my favorite stories and review them here. It would be way too long if I review every single story. In the end, I will summarize the overall book.
Tasty Treat by Tim Mendees is one of my favorite short stories from this book. It is located in the first chapter. The story is about two best friends, Simon and John, who were planning to see the circus held in the city they lived in. Since they lived in a small town, there were not many things to do. Therefore, the coming of the circus made town people very excited. Most importantly, the cotton candy of this circus was very famous! For those of you who have Coulrophobia and do not like the circus, this will be very daunting because the author did a splendid job describing all the uncanny details of the clowns. There were two particularly disturbing scenes I could not get past by. I will not tell you which and which, however, I can guarantee you that there were really disgusting. I salute this author for the fact that within a limited amount of pages, he managed to scare the bejesus of me. All I can say is I will NOT eat any cotton candy without checking the source. That is it! I could not wait to read whatever he wrote next!
Hush by Kimberly Rei is another brilliant story I experienced. It was placed right after Tasty Treat which is double the fun! The plot is about a woman living in a psychiatric hospital. She always heard whispers in her ears. It wanted her to hurt people. All this happened after she went shopping at an antique store. In Thailand, antique stuff is one of the things Thai consider “suspicious” because the previous owner might “come back” for their belongings. I am not sure if Western has a similar idea but because I am Thai, this story scared me to the core. I legitimately had a bad dream after I finished reading it. The author clarified the lady's behavior very well, specifically when she started to act abnormally. I could imagine her actions in my head crystal clear. Love it!
The last one is The Mirror That Tells Truths and Lies by McKenzie Richardson. This involves body (and beauty) horror. The synopsis is Kelsey, a lady who has a perfect body and perfect face, just got a mirror from her friend as a gift. She fell in love with it and decided to hang it in her room. Every time when Kelsey used this mirror, she always found flaws in her body. For example, her arms were too big, or her chin had too much fat. With all those ugly things that appeared in her eyes, she must do something about the issues! This one got me a little ill. I only hope that such a mirror will never ever exist on this planet. Otherwise, it will be very bad. I like the idea of this story so much. The author was creative. The description of Kelsey's odd behavior was excellent. 5 Stars read no doubt.
It is quite difficult to leave another good story like Dottie by Austin Shirey behind. The synopsis is what happens if the Smart Home had feelings. I loved his idea. You guys should check it out. Most of the rest of the stories were alright. I mean, they were enjoyable but nothing to be memorable. However, I could see the efforts of all the authors, so I want to support them. Before finishing this review, I'd like to post my favorite quote from The Mirror That Tells Truths and Lies here.
“Beauty was pain, and she would do anything to unleash her true self, the perfect specimen she knew lay buried within”
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Midnight Shadows is a book that contains 24 horror short stories, written by 24 authors. Eerie River Publisher, a fairly new publisher, published this book. I could not recall how I came across this novel or the publisher. However, I remember I wanted to read anything from this fresh imprint, so I chose Midnight Shadows! The reason is it is not one type of sub-genre book. It combines zombie, possession, and a bunch more. Plus, the price was too attractive to ignore!
I decided to pick 3 of my favorite stories and review them here. It would be way too long if I review every single story. In the end, I will summarize the overall book.
Tasty Treat by Tim Mendees is one of my favorite short stories from this book. It is located in the first chapter. The story is about two best friends, Simon and John, who were planning to see the circus held in the city they lived in. Since they lived in a small town, there were not many things to do. Therefore, the coming of the circus made town people very excited. Most importantly, the cotton candy of this circus was very famous! For those of you who have Coulrophobia and do not like the circus, this will be very daunting because the author did a splendid job describing all the uncanny details of the clowns. There were two particularly disturbing scenes I could not get past by. I will not tell you which and which, however, I can guarantee you that there were really disgusting. I salute this author for the fact that within a limited amount of pages, he managed to scare the bejesus of me. All I can say is I will NOT eat any cotton candy without checking the source. That is it! I could not wait to read whatever he wrote next!
Hush by Kimberly Rei is another brilliant story I experienced. It was placed right after Tasty Treat which is double the fun! The plot is about a woman living in a psychiatric hospital. She always heard whispers in her ears. It wanted her to hurt people. All this happened after she went shopping at an antique store. In Thailand, antique stuff is one of the things Thai consider “suspicious” because the previous owner might “come back” for their belongings. I am not sure if Western has a similar idea but because I am Thai, this story scared me to the core. I legitimately had a bad dream after I finished reading it. The author clarified the lady's behavior very well, specifically when she started to act abnormally. I could imagine her actions in my head crystal clear. Love it!
The last one is The Mirror That Tells Truths and Lies by McKenzie Richardson. This involves body (and beauty) horror. The synopsis is Kelsey, a lady who has a perfect body and perfect face, just got a mirror from her friend as a gift. She fell in love with it and decided to hang it in her room. Every time when Kelsey used this mirror, she always found flaws in her body. For example, her arms were too big, or her chin had too much fat. With all those ugly things that appeared in her eyes, she must do something about the issues! This one got me a little ill. I only hope that such a mirror will never ever exist on this planet. Otherwise, it will be very bad. I like the idea of this story so much. The author was creative. The description of Kelsey's odd behavior was excellent. 5 Stars read no doubt.
It is quite difficult to leave another good story like Dottie by Austin Shirey behind. The synopsis is what happens if the Smart Home had feelings. I loved his idea. You guys should check it out. Most of the rest of the stories were alright. I mean, they were enjoyable but nothing to be memorable. However, I could see the efforts of all the authors, so I want to support them. Before finishing this review, I'd like to post my favorite quote from The Mirror That Tells Truths and Lies here.
“Beauty was pain, and she would do anything to unleash her true self, the perfect specimen she knew lay buried within”
Connect with Biblioteca di VIolet via:
YouTube
More...