Reader Beware

by Briana Morgan (Editor), Roxie Voorhees (Editor), Andrew Robert (Editor)

WELCOME TO FEAR STREET

You've heard the stories about Fear Street—the unexplained mysteries, missing people, the things that lurk in the dark—but wouldn't you rather experience them for yourself?

You aren't scared, are you?

From Briana Morgan, author of THE TRICKER-TREATER AND OTHER STORIES, and Roxie Voorhees, author of THE TURQUOISE DOOR, comes a collection of super-chilling tales of teen horror.

A little nostalgia and an ode to Stine, this anthology promises to keep you up at night.

READER BEWARE!

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Adult

300 pages, ebook

First published October 1, 2023

About the author

Briana Morgan is a horror writer, editor, and author of The Tricker-Treater and Other Stories, which won a Godless 666 Award for Best Audiobook. With more than a decade of experience scaring herself and others, Briana has a fresh voice that shines through in her latest book, The Reyes Incident, which has sold more than 16,000 copies to date. Her other books include Mouth Full of Ashes, Unboxed: A Play, and more.

Briana has a BA in English and Creative Writing from Georgia College & State University. She is also an active member of the Horror Writers Association. When not writing, Briana loves reading disturbing fiction, playing video games, and traveling with her husband.

Reviews

[Sharron Joy Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here there are demons , sea monsters, the Easter bunny, slumber parties, road trips, chain emails, bullies, nosy neighbours, summer camp, boarding schools, video games, ghostly passengers, traditions, rituals and legends. These are in homage to the classic 90’s Fear Street stories and these are so good. Feeling very much grounded in that era but with far more diverse representation, there are disabled and LGBTQIA characters as well as different ethnicities and beliefs.

These are gory, gruesome, creepy, disturbing razor sharp stories that tap into primal human fears, just like the originals and I loved them all!

There are otherworldly visitors, slashers, demons, urban legends , small town killers, cults, nightmares, vengeful ghosts, aliens, neighbours from hell, buried secrets and more.

With themes of family, loss, grief, guilt, fear, revenge and redemption these are nostalgic journeys into a much loved world and the 90’s references will make you smile, a fantastic YA collection!

[Mattie Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me feel like the Scholastic Book Fair arrived and I got to go home with multiple Goosebumps and Fear Street books (I may still stalk them down when the book fairs come to my kids school haha). The nostalgia of the 90's was real with this one and it just made me feel like a kid again up late at night with my flashlight, except now it's a Kindle Paperwhite. The stories range from ghostly ladies in wait to aliens, demons, video games, summer camp, high school bullies, chain emails, creepy neighbours, slumber parties, and even...the Easter Bunny? I did really enjoy the mix of reading some stories that had a more Goosebumps feel to them and then getting to the next story and it being a good slasher. And there were some that were a good mix of both! This is a fantastic young adult read, but I think it'll also make a great hit with the adult audience whose love for horror started with reading about the things that lurk and go bump in the night!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will also be sharing SOME of the stories with the next generation of horror reader (she's a little young for the slashers) who has started taking my old Goosebumps books and reading them ☺️

[Leighah · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you grew up reading Fear Street this is a cool trip down memory lane. Did I figure out the endings before I got to the end? Yes. Did I yell at the book for characters doing stupid predictable things? Also yes. But that is half the fun of this book. I can't say I didn't enjoy any of the stories in this book as they were all very different from each other. Green Velvet did stand out for me though. Since reading this I now want to go back to my childhood and hunt out my box of old fear street books.

[Rosina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg this anthology took me back to the time of the scholastic school book fairs. All these authors did an amazing job at transporting me back to the good old days off saving money up to get the next goosebumps or fear st book. This anthology holds something for everyone from ghosts to slashers to things that go bump in the woods and a demon from another dimension and of course some gore. They are also all inclusive. I absolutely loved loved loved all these stories.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the nostalgia of a fear street style of book in all the short stories involved in this anthology. I also liked that some were a little different and science fiction but others were horror/creature stories. A few were also urban legends which I enjoyed as well.

[Susan Wical Baughman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having loved RL Stine's MasterClass on writing horror,
having graduated from RL Stine's Goosebumps, Fear Street and others,
to Stephen King, Dean Koontz--
am now reading all the horror anthologies I can find--
and reading the books of the authors in
those anthologies if available...
Enjoyed every story in this anthology--"Reader Beward,"
Thanks!

[Emily Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beware

A girl finds holy cards that might save a life. A Easter egg hunt gone wrong. A boarding school with a floor students can't go on. These and other tales to chill your bones.

[Maja Bubanj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Odlična. Prava posveta Stineu. Ako ste uživali u njegovim knjigama, uživati ćete i u ovim kratkim pričama.

[Joan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to all the authors involved with this book

This was a great coming of age / young adult anthology. There were holidays, curses, urban legends, and many more tales to give you a fright.

The three of the stories I liked the best were

Wicked Baskets by Nikki R. Leigh A Easter Tale

Swimming pool by
Wendy Dalrymple
Loved the ending of this story the best

Green Velvet by
Grace Athanasiou
an urban legend that takes place on a lonesome highway



Thirteen Stories

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun reading these stories. R.L. Stine's Fear Street and Goosebumps books played a huge part in me getting into horror. So it was nice getting to read similar stories as an adult. Many of these stories also feature queer characters, which made this anthology even more of a joy to read. I really appreciate that DarkLit Press published this book.

[Jia Hui · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read Fear Street as a kid but I do relate to staying up late to read when I was young and I want to experience that thrill of reading such stories now!

All the stories are pretty creepy. Demons, monsters, murderers, haunted objects and more, there’s something in here for everyone, and makes a good palette cleanser while in between bigger books.

The 90s references definitely make this a nostalgic read and I also love the mental health and lgbtq representation that appears throughout the book. Highly recommended!

[Siobhan Falen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short horror stories that will draw you down a street of nostalgia while also mingling with nods to modern-day horror. If you enjoyed Stine, this might be right up your alley.

I enjoyed eating through these stories. Like most anthologies, some stories really knocked the ball out of the park for me and others missed the mark, but not a single one was poorly written. Such a wide variety here from revenge tales to supernatural video games to towns welcoming newbies with open-armed traditions, there's something to appeal to most horror readers. This one was fun and may have to join my shelf in the area with Stine and Pike instead of tucked away with my Indie writers.

[Collie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the stories were fine, a few felt like they were trying too hard, but for me this just didn't feel like Fear Street the books, and more like the Netflix movies.

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror]

Not finishing this one for now. It's not the book at all; it's totally me. I just can't get into this right now. I definitely plan on finishing it sometime in the future.