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A review by weirdtea
Lost Films by Jessica McHugh, Lori Michelle, Brian Evenson, Izzy Lee, Kristi DeMeester, Gemma Files, John C. Foster, Ashlee Scheuerman, Thomas Joyce, Betty Rocksteady, Leigh Harlen, Bob Pastorella, Kev Harrison, Chad Stroup, George Cotronis, Luke Spooner, David James Keaton, Eugenia Triantafyllou, Max Booth III, Kelby Losack, Andrew Novak, Brian Asman, Dustin Katz
3.0
3.5
Overall, this is a pretty damned decent collection of short stories. I’m pleased I stumbled across it.
I loved the theme of lost films—it’s got so much potential and so many different directions to go in. I gotta give credit to a collection that brings inspiration along with it. The stories vary enough in levels of horror and weird that the balance is quite satisfying.
As with most collections, there are hits and misses—and those are going to vary from reader to reader. There were one or two that I was ultimately neutral about. One I thought was weak mostly because it relied on lazy stereotypes (automatic deduction for butterball as descriptor) and didn’t really hang together. A couple I don’t really remember.
My favorites:
Gemma Files’ “The Church in the Mountains” for character, atmosphere, and tension. Cool use of the theme.
“Elephants That Aren’t” by Betty Rocksteady. Wonderfully weird and unsettling with a great hook for the main character. Extra points for the illustration!
“Things She Left in the Woods” by Jessica McHugh kept me reading.
“The Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads” by David James Keaton got off to a slow start. It’s worth getting through the beginning because once it gets rolling it’s really satisfying. There are some excellent ideas and I enjoyed seeing them play out. Also, as a former video store clerk I have to applaud.
Bonus: The Introduction by Max Booth III was particularly well done.
Overall, this is a pretty damned decent collection of short stories. I’m pleased I stumbled across it.
I loved the theme of lost films—it’s got so much potential and so many different directions to go in. I gotta give credit to a collection that brings inspiration along with it. The stories vary enough in levels of horror and weird that the balance is quite satisfying.
As with most collections, there are hits and misses—and those are going to vary from reader to reader. There were one or two that I was ultimately neutral about. One I thought was weak mostly because it relied on lazy stereotypes (automatic deduction for butterball as descriptor) and didn’t really hang together. A couple I don’t really remember.
My favorites:
Gemma Files’ “The Church in the Mountains” for character, atmosphere, and tension. Cool use of the theme.
“Elephants That Aren’t” by Betty Rocksteady. Wonderfully weird and unsettling with a great hook for the main character. Extra points for the illustration!
“Things She Left in the Woods” by Jessica McHugh kept me reading.
“The Fantastic Flying Eraser Heads” by David James Keaton got off to a slow start. It’s worth getting through the beginning because once it gets rolling it’s really satisfying. There are some excellent ideas and I enjoyed seeing them play out. Also, as a former video store clerk I have to applaud.
Bonus: The Introduction by Max Booth III was particularly well done.