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short stories

10 stories

Monsters In The Dark: 13 Short Stories Of Terror

Red Cape Publishing are excited to announce the release of Monsters in the Dark, the debut collection by Donovan ‘Monster’ Smith, on October 15th Step into a world of nightmares with Monsters in the Dark, the debut collection of short stories from Donovan ‘Monster’ Smith. Including thirteen disturbing tales featuring a host of horrific creatures – from aliens to sea monsters, hellish abominations to demonic pumpkins – Monsters in the Dark is the perfect read for fans of creature-features and horror. Available to pre-order on Kindle now at https://mybook.to/MitD Paperback coming October 15th

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Nov 22, 2021

Amazon Prime VideoBooksReviews

Wasatch Witches: A Collection Of Utah Horror Is An Anthology That Will Haunt You – Book Review

Wasatch Witches: A Collection of Utah Horror is an absolutely amazing collection of 25 short stories and poems that are tied together with the thread of witches. Each author deals with witches in their own way and each author stands out strong in their own ways! I do fully admit that starting the bold statement “Witches are real” (and the introduction that follows) sets a perfect scene for the world this book creates. In this world, witches ARE real and they are many things…terrifying, gentle, mischievous, dark, lovely and wonderfully represented on these page. Yes, each entry is about witches and Utah, but there is such variety within that world that each story felt fresh and unique. Not only are the authors strong, but the chosen selections and organization of the anthology is very strong. Now, obviously in any anthology there are selections that individual readers are more drawn to than others; however, I can definitely say that, while there

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Capt McNeely

Jun 6, 2021

Amazon Prime VideoBooksReviews

‘Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women’ Is A Book For Everyone

Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women is a perfectly mixed recipe of cultural expectations, racial stereotypes, gender roles, and their own versions of terror. The mix of everything in this collection of short stories almost creates a genre all to itself in the best of ways. First of all, the title…this title is not “Loud Women” or “Women Speaking Out.” Using the word “Unquiet” fully emphasizes the breaking from the norm that these authors and their stories show. I struggled with how to review this book, to be honest. It feel like it covers so many things and with so many different authors…whatever you are looking for in this book, you will find it. It is a beautiful collection of Asian women authors who have gathered their stories together to celebrate, critique, honor and share their cultures, trials and successes through mythology, traditions and horror. Editors Lee Murray (interviewed here) and Geneve Flynn have truly struck gold with this collection.

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Capt McNeely

Jan 8, 2021

Amazon Prime VideoBooksReviews

Reading ‘We Bleed Red & Green: 12 Chilling Tales For Christmas’ Needs To Be Your New Christmas Tradition (Review)

Merry Christmas, everyone! I love the ever-growing genre of Holiday Horror and Jeff C. Carter has added a brand new collection of short stories to the holiday horror world. His collection We Bleed Red and Green is not ONLY a short story collection, but a unique, fun, gory, original collection of stories, poetry, parodies, coded messages and more. In his book, Carter does not shy away from horror and gore, but he also finds a way to really have the Christmas spirit present in his world of darkness and fear. This anthology is a perfect way for Carter to show off his writing abilities in a variety of styles. As much as I enjoyed each individual story, I enjoyed how unique each story was from each other and how well each story was written. This collection never gets repetitive or boring, it is a different feeling and a different nightmare on every page. Some stories are clever and funny, some

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Capt McNeely

Dec 20, 2020

Amazon Prime VideoBooks

‘Bleak Precision’ Book Review: A Dark Journey Into True Horror

Right off the bat, let me say that after reading Greg Chapman’s short story collection Bleak Precision, the stories live up to the title. This book is “bleak” and dark. That, however, as you all know, is not a bad thing. If you are on horrorfuel.com, I am assuming you enjoy the darkness…I know I do. Characters The characters in these short stories are dark, twisted, tortured characters who suffer from a wide array of issues. They are struggling to survive, or thriving in destruction. Simply, they are wholly unlikable. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t engrossing and creatively intriguing. I felt such a morbid twist of curiosity, hatred, and pity for each character individually. Chapman really does design a great character and it is honestly kind of refreshing to have an author who has no need or desire to create likable or redeeming people. They are all colorful, varied, and heavy. There are, of course, victims who are pitied,

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Capt McNeely

Aug 12, 2020

News

Book Review: ‘The Captivating Flames of Madness’

I recently received a copy of the book The Captivating Flames of Madness by Jeff Parsons. This collection of 22 short stores is published by HellBound Books and a magnificent journey into darkness and horror! “We’re all just one event, mishap, or decision away from things that could change our lives forever. What would you do if fate led you astray into a grim world where you encountered vengeful ghosts, homicidal maniacs, ancient gods, apocalyptic nightmares, dark magic, deadly space aliens, and more?” Characters The characters in Parson’s stories are deep. They are layered and full of life and experiences that go far beyond the frame of the stories. Each character that I came across I each story, regardless of age, gender, race, time period, mortal or supernatural, good or bad…I was intrigued. This is a very impressive thing to do especially in a short story where you have to set up a character in a few words or sentences

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Capt McNeely

Aug 7, 2020

Books

Book Review: Lee Murray’s ‘Grotesque’

According to the afterword in Lee Murray’s short story collection Grotesque, she “steals” ideas for her stories. Murray describes how she listens to conversations, “frankensteins” people’s appearances and personalities together to create characters and uses old legends to twist into her own words and world. I am so happy that I took the time to read the afterword because throughout the entire collection I kept asking myself “how can someone write with such diversity in language, characters, and plot?” If I didn’t know better and without the Maori theme that ties through many of Murray’s stories, I truly would have expected each of these stories to be written by different authors And let me be clear: That is an exceptionally good thing! It is difficult to review collections like this. I am going to be very careful not to give any plot spoilers and I am going to shy away from focusing too heavily on any particular story (although I

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Capt McNeely

Jul 27, 2020

News

Kasey Pierce is Back with an Expanded Collection of Short Stories

In 2015 the horror world was wonderfully blown away by a collection of terrifying stories by Kasey Pierce. This collection was met with awe and excitement selling out in a mere two days. Now it returns in a new and expanded version! This new version will include two brand new stories as well as new art by comic artist Ryan Lee and others. Pierce has accompanied many of her stories with short films and ideally, she wants to do an anthology film of her stories narrated by horror icon Dirk Manning on commentary. “If we can get to $3,000, we’re not only going to edit them all together in one video.” “If you’re already a fan of Kasey’s, this will be the definitive “bookshelf” piece of her early career, and if you’re new to her work, you couldn’t ask for a better jumping on point! Get yours now and help us get these beautiful books printed and out into the

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Capt McNeely

Jan 21, 2017

News

Slenderman – The Modern Terror

A simple contest on June 10, 2009 by the internet forum Something Awful created a modern and unique monster. The contest challenged people to take everyday photographs and make them appear paranormal. Complete with comments from faux eye –witnesses, forum poster Victor Surge used images of groups of children and inserted a man. This man was tall, thin, white-faced and wearing a dark suit with a red tie. As this man stood ominously over the children, a phenomenon was born. Slenderman was not developed from ancient myths, or fairy tales. He is not found in a book and merely brought to life via media or film. This man is a wonderful piece of modern folk-lore. Generations from now, Slenderman will be included in the cannon of horror along with gremlins, trolls, the boogieman and everything else that goes bump in the night. One of the scariest things about Slenderman — and it was absolutely intended by his creator — is

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Capt McNeely

Nov 25, 2016

BooksReviews

Tales from The Book of Dark Magic by C. R. Sztaba.

Tales from The Book of Dark Magic by C. R. Sztaba is the first short story collection of author C. R. Sztaba. The book was sent to us by our friends at Kensington Gore Publishing for an honest review and feature on the website. I personally am a fan of short story collections and anthologies, so I was eager to pounce on this collection and become familiar with a new author in the process. Book Description: Tales From The Book Of Dark Magic is a collection of short turbine stories by C.R.Sztaba. “The new name in horror” from Kensington Gore’s Hammered Horror publishing company. Read, if you dare,” The Unicorn Surgeon”. A story about a man who likes to operate on his victims in the most diabolical way. Or, “The Little People”. the creepy tale of a family who discover with terrifying consequences that their new home has wanted guests hiding in the cellar. These stories will have you checking

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Fox Emm

Jul 4, 2015

short stories

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