Scan barcode
murrayviolet's review
4.0
Score: 4.5/5
Midnight from Beyond the Stars is a short story collection. It contains 33 stories from 33 awesome authors. The theme is alien horror, which, to be honest with you guys, I’ve never read anything like that before. Every single author put their ideas into their stories very well. Some of them were brutal. Some of them were full-on action. Only a couple that I found were not that good.
I was in the group called “Horror Aficionados” on Goodreads. As you can tell from the title, it’s a group of horror lovers. Every month, the group members will pick 2 horror books for a group read. Some months will have special guest authors. Midnight from Beyond the Stars was the book in October 2021, this was from the special author category.
Because this book has 33 short stories, I can’t summary every story for you guys. Therefore, I decided to pick 3 of my favourite stories from the book.
The first one is Abduction Annie by Ronald Kelly. It is about Annie Newman, a waitress at a restaurant, told people in her town that she was abducted by aliens. Not a single person believed her, plus she got teased a lot by the customers in town. I felt so sorry for her because the story was hard to believe. The whole town accused her of lying. Her family drama was another headache subject. Annie had to deal with a lot of issues. Why do I like it then? Well, there was sadism and rape. I know not many people like those but I’m a weird one. I love those stuff (in the books, obviously). It was pitiless and I could see the dark side of humans. I finished this story with big satisfaction.
The next story is called The Little Voice by Gabino Iglesias. It’s about a dad named Andy who had to go to the sun for mining. Andy didn’t want to do the job but the money he’s going to get was amazing. While Andy was in a spaceship, there was something wrong with the teammates. Will Andy survive? OMG! This story was remarkable. I adored it so much. I could feel the father emotion from Andy. He was willing to do anything for his baby girl. Not just that, the horror was also provocative and hideous. It gave me Alien vibes.
The last story is Fourteen Gallons by Red Lagoe. Meredia and Elle had to stay inside the house only because there were extraterrestrial microorganisms outside the environment. They couldn’t drink or eat anything due to the contamination of the microorganisms. They sustained their life with canned food and leftover juice from the cans. This story made me think of global warming so much. It was so real. What if in the next 40 years we have to live like that. Survive by drinking canned juice only because everything outside can kill us. That was truly a real horror story, in my opinion.
Those are just 3 stories of many. Other stories were also excellent. I want everyone to give this book a shot because it is packed with excellent horror authors and well worth the money and time.
Connect with Biblioteca di VIolet via:
Instagram
YouTube
Facebook
Midnight from Beyond the Stars is a short story collection. It contains 33 stories from 33 awesome authors. The theme is alien horror, which, to be honest with you guys, I’ve never read anything like that before. Every single author put their ideas into their stories very well. Some of them were brutal. Some of them were full-on action. Only a couple that I found were not that good.
I was in the group called “Horror Aficionados” on Goodreads. As you can tell from the title, it’s a group of horror lovers. Every month, the group members will pick 2 horror books for a group read. Some months will have special guest authors. Midnight from Beyond the Stars was the book in October 2021, this was from the special author category.
Because this book has 33 short stories, I can’t summary every story for you guys. Therefore, I decided to pick 3 of my favourite stories from the book.
The first one is Abduction Annie by Ronald Kelly. It is about Annie Newman, a waitress at a restaurant, told people in her town that she was abducted by aliens. Not a single person believed her, plus she got teased a lot by the customers in town. I felt so sorry for her because the story was hard to believe. The whole town accused her of lying. Her family drama was another headache subject. Annie had to deal with a lot of issues. Why do I like it then? Well, there was sadism and rape. I know not many people like those but I’m a weird one. I love those stuff (in the books, obviously). It was pitiless and I could see the dark side of humans. I finished this story with big satisfaction.
The next story is called The Little Voice by Gabino Iglesias. It’s about a dad named Andy who had to go to the sun for mining. Andy didn’t want to do the job but the money he’s going to get was amazing. While Andy was in a spaceship, there was something wrong with the teammates. Will Andy survive? OMG! This story was remarkable. I adored it so much. I could feel the father emotion from Andy. He was willing to do anything for his baby girl. Not just that, the horror was also provocative and hideous. It gave me Alien vibes.
The last story is Fourteen Gallons by Red Lagoe. Meredia and Elle had to stay inside the house only because there were extraterrestrial microorganisms outside the environment. They couldn’t drink or eat anything due to the contamination of the microorganisms. They sustained their life with canned food and leftover juice from the cans. This story made me think of global warming so much. It was so real. What if in the next 40 years we have to live like that. Survive by drinking canned juice only because everything outside can kill us. That was truly a real horror story, in my opinion.
Those are just 3 stories of many. Other stories were also excellent. I want everyone to give this book a shot because it is packed with excellent horror authors and well worth the money and time.
Connect with Biblioteca di VIolet via:
YouTube
gentlemanjeff's review
4.0
While the variety stagnates at times, this large collection (33 stories) contains an unusual number of very high quality pieces, which is balanced out by the unusual number of low quality works, with an expected scattering of middling tales between them. The focus of the book is more specific than I realized from descriptions, in that each story revolves around an alien lifeform, rather than simply being set in space, on another planet or in some alternative universe. This actually turned out to be a great fit for me, because I love monster horror, so, to me this was just a collection of monster stories (often) set in space.
Standouts, in no particular order, include:
"The Fear of Fallen Leaves" by James Newman
"A Cat Named Sue" by Jennifer Soucy
"Midnight Dreary" by Owl Goingback
"Whatever You Want Most" by Megan E. Hart
"From the Sky and Above" by Patrick Lacey
Standouts, in no particular order, include:
"The Fear of Fallen Leaves" by James Newman
"A Cat Named Sue" by Jennifer Soucy
"Midnight Dreary" by Owl Goingback
"Whatever You Want Most" by Megan E. Hart
"From the Sky and Above" by Patrick Lacey
wellwortharead's review
dark
fast-paced
4.0
I have enjoyed the previous horror anthologies published by Silver Shamrock, but I had put off reading this one for a while. I do love short horror stories but the title and the cover made me think this one may be just a little too outer spacey and sci fi for me. Well I'm here to say I was wrong. There were some stories that were not my cup of Tang, but most are full of terror and suspense that occur right here on earth. In fact you need not venture further than your local diner or hair salon for some of these spine tinglers.
My many favorites were-
Abduction Annie by Ronald Kelly in which a meddlesome mother in law finds out whether her daughter in law was truly abducted by aliens.
Unravelling by Stephanie Ellis, about a mother's boundless love.
Snow Blind by Kristopher Triana, in which a woman seeks shelter on the road from a brutal storm.
The Fear of Fallen Leaves by James Newman takes place in my favorite time of year, but Halloween is rough on a single mom who has a phobia of fallen leaves.
The Bulge by Rob E. Boley is a darkly humorous bit of body horror in which a man fears he has caught a "sex disease" but then probably wishes it was that simple.
Skin-Wrapped Gift by Chad Lutzke in which a lonely old man receives a gift that can end the world.
Too Many To Count by Jeremy Hepler in which a quiet evening at home is interrupted by strange creatures.
A Cat Named Sue by Jennifer Soucy begins with a girl who is desperate to keep her cat alive after it tried to defend her from her abusive step father.
The Sky and Above by Patrick Lacey is about a man who would do whatever it takes to get his missing girlfriend back
Skin Tags by Vivian Kasley is another really fun but gross body horror that begins innocently enough with a hair cut.
Whatever You Want Most by Megan E. Hart is about a lonely widow who drowns her sorrows in alcohol and edibles while raising her kids alone.
So whether you do like tales of life from other planets or whether you just enjoy straight up horror as I do, I think you will find this anthology to be an out of this world read.
My thanks to Silver Shamrock Publishing for the review copy.
More...