Scan barcode
cmasterson's review
4.0
Full disclosure: I received a PDF copy of this story in the promise of giving a review in return.
Now! Overall, this anthology is a really fun read. My personal favorites from within are "They Had Names" by Evelyn Barouch, "Pliers" by Ann Wuehler, and "Home Visit" by NJ Gallegos. There is vey little I can say about "They Had Names" without spoiling it, but it was amazing. "Pliers" made me audibly yell "Oh, fuck no," and "Home Visit" had a neat story to it.
Now, I will get into my general likes an dislikes.
Room for Improvement:
I always like to end on a positive note, so I will start here. There are two things I am not a fan of, although they are more stylistic in nature. The first is putting "the end" at the end of a story. It almost seems redundant to me, but I can see the dramatic argument for it. The other point is that a lot of the time, thoughts aren't put into italics. This sometimes takes me out of the flow of the prose.
My last point is more general. I have seen this rule broken in a few stories. "Show, don't tell" is something that writers sort of live by. Yes, I can see the value in breaking it on the rare few occasions, though it mostly feels like an exposition dump to me.
What I liked:
The first thing I must complement this anthology on is its namesake: the gore. There were many creative ways of displaying it. I mentioned above that "The Pliers" made me squirm the most. Anything to do with teeth usually makes me cringe.
This anthology also has lots of fun stories as well. Stories like "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater" and "If You Go Down to the Woods Today" (both by Graeme Parker) were simply fun to read. Then there were stories like "One Night in Highgate" by D.A. Schneider that had cool concepts.
Finally, practically all of the stories had awesome prose and descriptions within them, which made for very enticing reads.
Now! Overall, this anthology is a really fun read. My personal favorites from within are "They Had Names" by Evelyn Barouch, "Pliers" by Ann Wuehler, and "Home Visit" by NJ Gallegos. There is vey little I can say about "They Had Names" without spoiling it, but it was amazing. "Pliers" made me audibly yell "Oh, fuck no," and "Home Visit" had a neat story to it.
Now, I will get into my general likes an dislikes.
Room for Improvement:
I always like to end on a positive note, so I will start here. There are two things I am not a fan of, although they are more stylistic in nature. The first is putting "the end" at the end of a story. It almost seems redundant to me, but I can see the dramatic argument for it. The other point is that a lot of the time, thoughts aren't put into italics. This sometimes takes me out of the flow of the prose.
My last point is more general. I have seen this rule broken in a few stories. "Show, don't tell" is something that writers sort of live by. Yes, I can see the value in breaking it on the rare few occasions, though it mostly feels like an exposition dump to me.
What I liked:
The first thing I must complement this anthology on is its namesake: the gore. There were many creative ways of displaying it. I mentioned above that "The Pliers" made me squirm the most. Anything to do with teeth usually makes me cringe.
This anthology also has lots of fun stories as well. Stories like "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater" and "If You Go Down to the Woods Today" (both by Graeme Parker) were simply fun to read. Then there were stories like "One Night in Highgate" by D.A. Schneider that had cool concepts.
Finally, practically all of the stories had awesome prose and descriptions within them, which made for very enticing reads.
ngallegos87's review
5.0
An anthology of amazing horror short stories, each delicious in its own way! I thoroughly enjoyed reading through these. A perfect read for horror fans.
More...