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A review by evavroslin
Midnight in the Graveyard by John Everson, Chad Lutzke, Thomas F. Monteleone
5.0
“Enter, friend. I wish you well, but I’ve got to warn you. These ghosts are hungry.”
So says Jonathan Janz in his excitement-filled foreword to the horror anthology Midnight in the Graveyard, edited by Kenneth W. Cain. There are stories by well-known and newer authors, making for an intriguing combination. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew going in that I wanted to devour this volume, in perfect timing for the Halloween season.
The first story is “Devil’s Dip” by Shannon Felton. It starts off with an embittered (which is putting it mildly) soon-to-be/on the verge of divorced protagonist, who is lamenting and wondering how they got to this point in life. It’s told in a very matter of fact, direct manner, which was engaging. Many readers who have made similar life transitions, including getting out of a small town to then return thinking they’ve done better, find out that sometimes they’re not quite so sure. Friendships that seem like they’re real turn out to be something else. Infidelity turns out to be a major theme. Through tragedy, the protagonist re-lives with a high school friend the Devil’s Dip of the title, and why it was named as such. As it turns out, reality becomes very subjective when it comes to this.
Things take a more supernatural turn from that point as the story continues to dwell on the theme that we often idealize the past, even though we know it’s not good for us. Some things are best left undisturbed. This story was a very impactful way to set the overall tone and mood of the anthology and got things off to a great start.
Next up is “Tug O’ War” by rising up-and-comer Chad Lutzke, who has been making waves of late with longer fiction such as Skullface Boy and The Same Deep Water as You. A group of friends goes to visit their dying friend. I can’t say much more beyond that without spoiling the story completely, so I will state that sometimes the things we are convinced will help should be treated with caution because you should really be careful what you ask for.
“Euphemia Christie” by long-time Samhain and now Flame Tree Press author Catherine Cavendish starts, appropriately, in a cemetery. Two friends like to go through and read the gravestones as a curious interest. One of them sees a man who appears to be from the Victorian Era right after she finds the grave of Euphemia Christie. (For those who will read this story wondering what the heck a sexton is, it’s a term for a person who is a caretaker for cemeteries normally, sometimes acting as bell-ringer and in much older uses, a gravedigger). One of the friends takes her curiosity about Euphemia forward and starts doing more research. She goes exploring to the town where this woman was from. A local barman says the protagonist looks a bit like Euphemia. Cavendish does a masterful job grabbing the reader and pulling them in for a good old-fashioned English ghost story with implications of the past trickling down to the present. It draws to a pulse-pounding conclusion that will definitely have an impact.
“Justin’s Favorite” by Jeremy Hepler follows a couple who move into a new house, mysterious details about one of them emerge, and sometimes the ghosts of the past refuse to stay there.
Todd Keisling is one of my favourite writers. His story, “Holes in the Fabric,” takes place in the early 1980s in Kentucky. And the moment I saw it was related to his upcoming novel, Devil’s Creek, which releases next year, I was even more psyched to have this sort-of prequel in my hands; a taste of what is to come. I got a very distinct Lovecraftian vibe, of things that shouldn’t be, childhood friends and loves returned, and so much more. I don’t want to spoil it beyond this, other than to say that it is mandatory reading and should be one of the stories readers make sure to pay attention to.
“Drown” by Hunter Shea is about a couple who go to haunted B&B for their anniversary (his idea). They are more paranormally-enhanced (for lack of a better term) than it seemed at the outset and it leads in an interesting direction.
“Those Who are Terrified” by Elizabeth Massie was one of my favourite stories of this anthology. The protagonist and her sisters did not like their grandfather who is kind of like a real estate tycoon but that’s not quite the right term. He’s just a guy who does real estate deals, and he bought a place that used to be a hospital and he’s planning to turn it into apartments. The kids find something very disturbing in the basement. Beyond that I’d be spoiling what goes on, but I enjoyed the way this story was told and the heart-wrenching conclusion.
“Cool for Cats” by Scottish writer William Meikle was a sort-of throwback to the Tell-Tale Heart with a gender swap for good measure. It was one of the more entertaining pieces of the anthology.
For all the readers out there who are older siblings and had to take their younger kin trick or treating, “Russian Dollhouse” by Jason Parent will bring back memories. There’s an urban legend on their street that Halloween trick or treating stopped because some children disappeared. Kit and her younger brother, Cole, find a deserted house at the end of the lane that no one has lived in for years. They’re soon joined by Kit’s crush, Jordan, and Melissa, a girl hoping to be his girlfriend, and Pedro. They all think the things going on are just special effects and are convinced that one of them has put it all together in an elaborate Halloween Haunted House experience. It has a cool Stranger Things vibe to it. This was definitely one of my favourite pieces in the anthology.
“The Cemetery Man” by John Everson takes on the typical “young people go to a cemetery to make out, something bad probably happens” trope. I liked the twists and turns this story took. Just a heads-up that it’s more erotically-charged than expected, so if that’s your jam, cool, but if you’d rather not get into that, you may want to skip this.
I felt a huge sense of intimidation reviewing “Haunted World” by Robert R. McCammon because he is one of the living legends included in these pages, but also wanted very much to see what lay in fate for the reader. It starts off on a more humorous note than I expected, and leads into an interesting beginning. Without getting into any spoilers, it’s kind of like Night at the Museum but if it had been a horror movie more in the style of Evil Dead.
Speaking of Stranger Things, another story that evokes darker sensibilities of it comes in the form of “Ghost Blood” by Kelli Owen, which starts with a guy who appears to be a projectionist at the movies at a Drive-In. Without spoiling things, he can see something supernatural, but it has side effects on him. I found this story veered into an interesting direction and enjoyed it.
“The Putpocket” by Alan M. Clark is another story I enjoyed. It is set in Victorian London and is from the viewpoint of a young man under dire circumstances. It involves creepy family drama, and isn’t for the faint of heart.
I looked forward to “Swamp Vengeance” by Brian Moreland with much excitement, having devoured the novels he put out in the past. This one takes place in the Florida swamps. Merle, the protagonist, hears something unexpected and disturbing from people he thought he could trust, and that’s all I can say without going into spoilers. He gets involved in some Native American folklore. I really liked this one. Very interesting fare from Brian, and I’m glad to see in the author bios section that we can expect more new work from him next year.
The stories included in this volume are wonderfully perfect for Halloween reading. Even the ones that didn’t grab me quite as much as I had hoped were of all of great quality. The scares herein are familiar ones for the most part, but it evokes the same excitement we have every Halloween season to re-watch the staples of the horror genre. Some of us might like our scares a bit safer and go for Hocus Pocus or The Nightmare Before Christmas. Regardless of what your preference is, this anthology contains some excellent Halloween treats that most readers will gobble up.
So says Jonathan Janz in his excitement-filled foreword to the horror anthology Midnight in the Graveyard, edited by Kenneth W. Cain. There are stories by well-known and newer authors, making for an intriguing combination. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew going in that I wanted to devour this volume, in perfect timing for the Halloween season.
The first story is “Devil’s Dip” by Shannon Felton. It starts off with an embittered (which is putting it mildly) soon-to-be/on the verge of divorced protagonist, who is lamenting and wondering how they got to this point in life. It’s told in a very matter of fact, direct manner, which was engaging. Many readers who have made similar life transitions, including getting out of a small town to then return thinking they’ve done better, find out that sometimes they’re not quite so sure. Friendships that seem like they’re real turn out to be something else. Infidelity turns out to be a major theme. Through tragedy, the protagonist re-lives with a high school friend the Devil’s Dip of the title, and why it was named as such. As it turns out, reality becomes very subjective when it comes to this.
Things take a more supernatural turn from that point as the story continues to dwell on the theme that we often idealize the past, even though we know it’s not good for us. Some things are best left undisturbed. This story was a very impactful way to set the overall tone and mood of the anthology and got things off to a great start.
Next up is “Tug O’ War” by rising up-and-comer Chad Lutzke, who has been making waves of late with longer fiction such as Skullface Boy and The Same Deep Water as You. A group of friends goes to visit their dying friend. I can’t say much more beyond that without spoiling the story completely, so I will state that sometimes the things we are convinced will help should be treated with caution because you should really be careful what you ask for.
“Euphemia Christie” by long-time Samhain and now Flame Tree Press author Catherine Cavendish starts, appropriately, in a cemetery. Two friends like to go through and read the gravestones as a curious interest. One of them sees a man who appears to be from the Victorian Era right after she finds the grave of Euphemia Christie. (For those who will read this story wondering what the heck a sexton is, it’s a term for a person who is a caretaker for cemeteries normally, sometimes acting as bell-ringer and in much older uses, a gravedigger). One of the friends takes her curiosity about Euphemia forward and starts doing more research. She goes exploring to the town where this woman was from. A local barman says the protagonist looks a bit like Euphemia. Cavendish does a masterful job grabbing the reader and pulling them in for a good old-fashioned English ghost story with implications of the past trickling down to the present. It draws to a pulse-pounding conclusion that will definitely have an impact.
“Justin’s Favorite” by Jeremy Hepler follows a couple who move into a new house, mysterious details about one of them emerge, and sometimes the ghosts of the past refuse to stay there.
Todd Keisling is one of my favourite writers. His story, “Holes in the Fabric,” takes place in the early 1980s in Kentucky. And the moment I saw it was related to his upcoming novel, Devil’s Creek, which releases next year, I was even more psyched to have this sort-of prequel in my hands; a taste of what is to come. I got a very distinct Lovecraftian vibe, of things that shouldn’t be, childhood friends and loves returned, and so much more. I don’t want to spoil it beyond this, other than to say that it is mandatory reading and should be one of the stories readers make sure to pay attention to.
“Drown” by Hunter Shea is about a couple who go to haunted B&B for their anniversary (his idea). They are more paranormally-enhanced (for lack of a better term) than it seemed at the outset and it leads in an interesting direction.
“Those Who are Terrified” by Elizabeth Massie was one of my favourite stories of this anthology. The protagonist and her sisters did not like their grandfather who is kind of like a real estate tycoon but that’s not quite the right term. He’s just a guy who does real estate deals, and he bought a place that used to be a hospital and he’s planning to turn it into apartments. The kids find something very disturbing in the basement. Beyond that I’d be spoiling what goes on, but I enjoyed the way this story was told and the heart-wrenching conclusion.
“Cool for Cats” by Scottish writer William Meikle was a sort-of throwback to the Tell-Tale Heart with a gender swap for good measure. It was one of the more entertaining pieces of the anthology.
For all the readers out there who are older siblings and had to take their younger kin trick or treating, “Russian Dollhouse” by Jason Parent will bring back memories. There’s an urban legend on their street that Halloween trick or treating stopped because some children disappeared. Kit and her younger brother, Cole, find a deserted house at the end of the lane that no one has lived in for years. They’re soon joined by Kit’s crush, Jordan, and Melissa, a girl hoping to be his girlfriend, and Pedro. They all think the things going on are just special effects and are convinced that one of them has put it all together in an elaborate Halloween Haunted House experience. It has a cool Stranger Things vibe to it. This was definitely one of my favourite pieces in the anthology.
“The Cemetery Man” by John Everson takes on the typical “young people go to a cemetery to make out, something bad probably happens” trope. I liked the twists and turns this story took. Just a heads-up that it’s more erotically-charged than expected, so if that’s your jam, cool, but if you’d rather not get into that, you may want to skip this.
I felt a huge sense of intimidation reviewing “Haunted World” by Robert R. McCammon because he is one of the living legends included in these pages, but also wanted very much to see what lay in fate for the reader. It starts off on a more humorous note than I expected, and leads into an interesting beginning. Without getting into any spoilers, it’s kind of like Night at the Museum but if it had been a horror movie more in the style of Evil Dead.
Speaking of Stranger Things, another story that evokes darker sensibilities of it comes in the form of “Ghost Blood” by Kelli Owen, which starts with a guy who appears to be a projectionist at the movies at a Drive-In. Without spoiling things, he can see something supernatural, but it has side effects on him. I found this story veered into an interesting direction and enjoyed it.
“The Putpocket” by Alan M. Clark is another story I enjoyed. It is set in Victorian London and is from the viewpoint of a young man under dire circumstances. It involves creepy family drama, and isn’t for the faint of heart.
I looked forward to “Swamp Vengeance” by Brian Moreland with much excitement, having devoured the novels he put out in the past. This one takes place in the Florida swamps. Merle, the protagonist, hears something unexpected and disturbing from people he thought he could trust, and that’s all I can say without going into spoilers. He gets involved in some Native American folklore. I really liked this one. Very interesting fare from Brian, and I’m glad to see in the author bios section that we can expect more new work from him next year.
The stories included in this volume are wonderfully perfect for Halloween reading. Even the ones that didn’t grab me quite as much as I had hoped were of all of great quality. The scares herein are familiar ones for the most part, but it evokes the same excitement we have every Halloween season to re-watch the staples of the horror genre. Some of us might like our scares a bit safer and go for Hocus Pocus or The Nightmare Before Christmas. Regardless of what your preference is, this anthology contains some excellent Halloween treats that most readers will gobble up.