What do you think?
Rate this book
Twisted Library - Volume 1: Short Horror Stories Anthology
◆The first book in a new series of short horror anthology stories for adults, young adults, and older teens.◆Welcome to the Twisted Library series, where you will be able to browse the many tales of terror.
This collection of ten chilling horror and suspense stories delves into the realm of things that go bump in the night, demonic beings that live amongst us, an evil that lurks within our minds, skin-crawling moments, and nightmares beyond anything you can ever imagine.
Here is a brief look at the terrifying stories that may cause you to stay up at
★ They Sleep At The Foot Of Our Beds - I haven’t been feeling the same since my two beloved cats passed away. In hindsight, I realize that they were protecting me from something evil, something that I could not see but certainly something that I could feel. This thing has been waiting for some time to hurt me and for a while, my cats kept it at bay.
★ The Real Mr.Sandman - An investigation became a nightmare when a demon violates a young girl's mind, how can there be any sort of escape when your dreams are owned by this demon?
★ The Choice Is Yours - In this life, there is no denying that our choices define us. Some choices lead to great things while others lead to disappointment, fear, and even murder at times.
★ The Old Market Street Vendor - Sometimes, in street markets you'll find a stall that sells interesting and unusual trinkets. Nothing unusual about that however, Officer Geoffrey discovered something very odd about the old vendor's stall...especially after people began to go missing.
★ Demon Bed - Maddy and Jim, a loving young couple with a dog and a happy life. They bought a beautiful antique four poster bed to furnish their new home. From that day forward strange things began to occur; things beyond anyone's nightmares.
★ Iceberg Deep - The ship is wrecked. They couldn’t fix it before the ice of the arctic surrounded the hill. Half of the crew has gone missing. A crewmate knows where everyone is going, towards the lone iceberg standing in the middle of the infinite icy desert.
★ Stone Cold Kiss - In the old, abandoned art building is a secret known only to him. He harbors a one-sided love for a woman made of stone. But as strange things begin to happen around him, he suspects that his love has awoken something…or someone.
★ The Crone Pit - Thinking a short break would be good for her after her mother’s death, Reba’s fiancé, Jamie, drags her out on a long weekend. After a short hike, Reba soon finds herself trapped in a pit, where she finds a chained up old woman who tells her horrifying accounts of Reba’s future.
★ The Tortured Artist - After months of therapy, Margene returns to her passion for sculpting, channeling her pain and rage into a final art piece for her scholarship. But when her only friend's daughter tries to interfere with her creative process, the artist's repressed memories of abuse and torture resurface, leading her down a path of vengeance and madness.
★ The Bridge - I have very little to tell. All I can say for certain is that it was something dark. A hunched, huddled shape, something like a shadow, glimpsed for just for an instant from the corner of my eye. It stayed for a moment, like a smudge or an inky blur, on the very edge of vision, before, in a flash of thick black hair, it disappeared again. back beneath the bridge.
This collection of ten chilling horror and suspense stories delves into the realm of things that go bump in the night, demonic beings that live amongst us, an evil that lurks within our minds, skin-crawling moments, and nightmares beyond anything you can ever imagine.
Here is a brief look at the terrifying stories that may cause you to stay up at
★ They Sleep At The Foot Of Our Beds - I haven’t been feeling the same since my two beloved cats passed away. In hindsight, I realize that they were protecting me from something evil, something that I could not see but certainly something that I could feel. This thing has been waiting for some time to hurt me and for a while, my cats kept it at bay.
★ The Real Mr.Sandman - An investigation became a nightmare when a demon violates a young girl's mind, how can there be any sort of escape when your dreams are owned by this demon?
★ The Choice Is Yours - In this life, there is no denying that our choices define us. Some choices lead to great things while others lead to disappointment, fear, and even murder at times.
★ The Old Market Street Vendor - Sometimes, in street markets you'll find a stall that sells interesting and unusual trinkets. Nothing unusual about that however, Officer Geoffrey discovered something very odd about the old vendor's stall...especially after people began to go missing.
★ Demon Bed - Maddy and Jim, a loving young couple with a dog and a happy life. They bought a beautiful antique four poster bed to furnish their new home. From that day forward strange things began to occur; things beyond anyone's nightmares.
★ Iceberg Deep - The ship is wrecked. They couldn’t fix it before the ice of the arctic surrounded the hill. Half of the crew has gone missing. A crewmate knows where everyone is going, towards the lone iceberg standing in the middle of the infinite icy desert.
★ Stone Cold Kiss - In the old, abandoned art building is a secret known only to him. He harbors a one-sided love for a woman made of stone. But as strange things begin to happen around him, he suspects that his love has awoken something…or someone.
★ The Crone Pit - Thinking a short break would be good for her after her mother’s death, Reba’s fiancé, Jamie, drags her out on a long weekend. After a short hike, Reba soon finds herself trapped in a pit, where she finds a chained up old woman who tells her horrifying accounts of Reba’s future.
★ The Tortured Artist - After months of therapy, Margene returns to her passion for sculpting, channeling her pain and rage into a final art piece for her scholarship. But when her only friend's daughter tries to interfere with her creative process, the artist's repressed memories of abuse and torture resurface, leading her down a path of vengeance and madness.
★ The Bridge - I have very little to tell. All I can say for certain is that it was something dark. A hunched, huddled shape, something like a shadow, glimpsed for just for an instant from the corner of my eye. It stayed for a moment, like a smudge or an inky blur, on the very edge of vision, before, in a flash of thick black hair, it disappeared again. back beneath the bridge.
122 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 19, 2023
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 21, 2024
This collection of short horror stories was a quick read which I read in one sitting. Unfortunately out of the 10 stories I only enjoyed 3..the others I think I forgot about instantly. My favs though where The old market street vendor, the crone pit and the bridge. Those 3 stories I give 4 stars too. There’s 2 more volumes in these short story collections so I’ll be getting the others. Defo worth a read for any horror fan.
December 14, 2023
*1.75 stars*
This was rough. The stories weren’t good and were super forgettable, the writing was possibly the worst I’ve seen and the grammar was atrocious.
This was rough. The stories weren’t good and were super forgettable, the writing was possibly the worst I’ve seen and the grammar was atrocious.
October 12, 2024
I’m still trying to finish this mess of a book, but it is extremely hard. I found myself correcting the writing just to get through a sentence and have it make sense. This book made me spend more time editing to figure out what was trying to be said than getting lost in an interesting or even ok story.
This book apparently was never edited or proofread by the authors. It is absolutely terrible. There are paragraphs that are 5-6 run on sentences. That’s it. The entire paragraph is a run on sentence that had about 2-3 thought/events/locations/times mushed together. Missing words, misspelled words, incorrect words or verb tense used, the list goes on. The stories feel like they were written by children. These are not stories with quality writing, well thought out plots or characters, there aren’t even any well developed scenes. The writing is all over the place as far as word choice, tense, verbs used and punctuation is non existent. There isn’t an ounce of horror or scare factor here because the writing is so embarrassingly bad. Anything they are trying to make creepy is just laughable and cringy with how poorly written each story is. By the time I’ve slugged through a quarter page run on sentence, I’ve forgotten what was even supposed to be happening. It is so bad I’m hoping this book is a joke. It’s not just there wasn’t an editor involved in this project or no one proofread their work…or even clicked spellcheck on their computer…it’s the fact these authors cannot wrote a basic sentence. It’s a lot of rambling, present/past tense mush with some scary words and a lot of misused words strung together and labeled a sentence. Excuse me. A paragraph. I can’t imagine adults writing like this, not even high school age teens. This needed a lot of editing help and a refresher for freshmen writing comp before it was ever considered remotely passable to send for publishing.
The author bios are as comical and terrible as the stories. If you do decide to suffer through this one, don’t skip those. I found some of them to be more entertaining than the actual stories with how ridiculous, self righteous, poorly written, and just flat terrible they were. Notable bios are also included in the individual story reviews below. These authors think very highly of themselves and believe they are master writers.
I’ll update the stories as I trudge through this fiasco, but I cannot recommend this book. It is beyond poorly written and a great example of a tool to use to show people how not to write. There are other horror anthologies out there far better. Save yourself time and a headache, skip this mess. It is free on KU and that is too high a price for whatever this mess is.
The first story “They Sleep at the Foot of Our Beds”
1 star
This was so painful I almost couldn’t finish it. In a 10 page story we get the phrase “my cats,” “the cats,” or just “cats” over 23 times. In one long run on sentence the author says “my cats” 4 times. Do these cats not have a name? If they are so special to the character and with her so long, why do these creatures not have names? Each sentence is just her saying my cats and the thing’s breath is putrid or something similar. There’s zero plot. Nothing happens. I mean nothing. The cat thing is so repetitive it’s exhausting. The breath comment so repetitive it’s annoying. I didn’t care for the character at all. I just wanted her to shut up about her cats if she couldn’t bother to change it up with their names, nicknames or hell even say my felines just to get a different phrase. We never know what the thing is or what it wants and the story just abruptly ends. No explanation. This one had potential if an editor had caught the repetition/helped create a better, engaging flow as well as correct all the run ons and had more development for l the story and entity. This had a first draft of thoughts feel and not a complete work feel. I’d love to see this one developed more because it could be a good creepy entity story.
Example of the writing:
“I feel suggestible to psychic attacks and now that both of my cats are gone I haven’t been feeling safe happy or safe since.”
“After losing both cats I feel I can’t breathe and on a good day I stumble through my day but my appreciation for life and creativity is gone and I can’t face my loved ones. I had lost my eldest first and my youngest second, they weren’t close but they still enjoyed each other’s company enough to get on, rub noses, share food and sleep in close proximity.”
“My cats stopped me from doing stupid things, my cats gave me a purpose to live and the chance to look after them and learn how to look after myself. I need to keep looking after myself now without them and I cannot let this man (if he is even a man) hurt me.
It was like my cats were keeping him away from me, cats are known to scare off evil spirits and I doubt any amount of sage will get rid of this thing. I can only toss and turn in my bed, trying to ignore his malicious presence.”
Author bio:
While this author isn’t for me and the story needed a lot more work and editing, I did enjoy her bio and have mad respect for her overcoming some personal struggles and turning those into works to help others fighting those same battles. I can’t imagine it’s an easy topic to open up about and kudos to her for doing so to help others.
The Real Mr. Sandman
1 star (it should be lower)
This one was so horribly written it detracted from the story. I kept trying to figure out what author was trying to say because the errors and writing were so bad and in doing so, couldn’t really focus if there was a story actually taking place. I felt like this was something written during a 5th grade English exercise where the author had 5 min to write a 10 page story. It felt that poorly done. Another 10 pages of run on sentences, incorrect words and verb tense, missing words, and no clearly defined plot or storyline developed.
Author bio:
This one made me snort laugh. Clearly writing is not easy for the author or this story would’ve been, better… At the very least it would’ve been proofread, but seeing how he thinks writing is so easy he just has to push a key, he’s clearly not aware you have to make sure you’re pushing the correct key. Yes, when you move your fingers words come out Zairol, but that doesn’t mean they are correct words, let alone worth coming out. Writing doesn’t mean just making words appear, there does need to be some talent and basic skill. The part of the keyboard that needed your fingers over it was spellcheck. We won’t touch the study of commerce and keen interest in the medical field.
From the first lines of bio: “I'm a guy who likes to write. Why do I like to write? Because writing is easy, look how easy it is to put words like I am doing right now. All I have to do is move my fingers on a keyboard or tablet and words come out. Simple as that.”
This book apparently was never edited or proofread by the authors. It is absolutely terrible. There are paragraphs that are 5-6 run on sentences. That’s it. The entire paragraph is a run on sentence that had about 2-3 thought/events/locations/times mushed together. Missing words, misspelled words, incorrect words or verb tense used, the list goes on. The stories feel like they were written by children. These are not stories with quality writing, well thought out plots or characters, there aren’t even any well developed scenes. The writing is all over the place as far as word choice, tense, verbs used and punctuation is non existent. There isn’t an ounce of horror or scare factor here because the writing is so embarrassingly bad. Anything they are trying to make creepy is just laughable and cringy with how poorly written each story is. By the time I’ve slugged through a quarter page run on sentence, I’ve forgotten what was even supposed to be happening. It is so bad I’m hoping this book is a joke. It’s not just there wasn’t an editor involved in this project or no one proofread their work…or even clicked spellcheck on their computer…it’s the fact these authors cannot wrote a basic sentence. It’s a lot of rambling, present/past tense mush with some scary words and a lot of misused words strung together and labeled a sentence. Excuse me. A paragraph. I can’t imagine adults writing like this, not even high school age teens. This needed a lot of editing help and a refresher for freshmen writing comp before it was ever considered remotely passable to send for publishing.
The author bios are as comical and terrible as the stories. If you do decide to suffer through this one, don’t skip those. I found some of them to be more entertaining than the actual stories with how ridiculous, self righteous, poorly written, and just flat terrible they were. Notable bios are also included in the individual story reviews below. These authors think very highly of themselves and believe they are master writers.
I’ll update the stories as I trudge through this fiasco, but I cannot recommend this book. It is beyond poorly written and a great example of a tool to use to show people how not to write. There are other horror anthologies out there far better. Save yourself time and a headache, skip this mess. It is free on KU and that is too high a price for whatever this mess is.
The first story “They Sleep at the Foot of Our Beds”
1 star
This was so painful I almost couldn’t finish it. In a 10 page story we get the phrase “my cats,” “the cats,” or just “cats” over 23 times. In one long run on sentence the author says “my cats” 4 times. Do these cats not have a name? If they are so special to the character and with her so long, why do these creatures not have names? Each sentence is just her saying my cats and the thing’s breath is putrid or something similar. There’s zero plot. Nothing happens. I mean nothing. The cat thing is so repetitive it’s exhausting. The breath comment so repetitive it’s annoying. I didn’t care for the character at all. I just wanted her to shut up about her cats if she couldn’t bother to change it up with their names, nicknames or hell even say my felines just to get a different phrase. We never know what the thing is or what it wants and the story just abruptly ends. No explanation. This one had potential if an editor had caught the repetition/helped create a better, engaging flow as well as correct all the run ons and had more development for l the story and entity. This had a first draft of thoughts feel and not a complete work feel. I’d love to see this one developed more because it could be a good creepy entity story.
Example of the writing:
“I feel suggestible to psychic attacks and now that both of my cats are gone I haven’t been feeling safe happy or safe since.”
“After losing both cats I feel I can’t breathe and on a good day I stumble through my day but my appreciation for life and creativity is gone and I can’t face my loved ones. I had lost my eldest first and my youngest second, they weren’t close but they still enjoyed each other’s company enough to get on, rub noses, share food and sleep in close proximity.”
“My cats stopped me from doing stupid things, my cats gave me a purpose to live and the chance to look after them and learn how to look after myself. I need to keep looking after myself now without them and I cannot let this man (if he is even a man) hurt me.
It was like my cats were keeping him away from me, cats are known to scare off evil spirits and I doubt any amount of sage will get rid of this thing. I can only toss and turn in my bed, trying to ignore his malicious presence.”
Author bio:
While this author isn’t for me and the story needed a lot more work and editing, I did enjoy her bio and have mad respect for her overcoming some personal struggles and turning those into works to help others fighting those same battles. I can’t imagine it’s an easy topic to open up about and kudos to her for doing so to help others.
The Real Mr. Sandman
1 star (it should be lower)
This one was so horribly written it detracted from the story. I kept trying to figure out what author was trying to say because the errors and writing were so bad and in doing so, couldn’t really focus if there was a story actually taking place. I felt like this was something written during a 5th grade English exercise where the author had 5 min to write a 10 page story. It felt that poorly done. Another 10 pages of run on sentences, incorrect words and verb tense, missing words, and no clearly defined plot or storyline developed.
Author bio:
This one made me snort laugh. Clearly writing is not easy for the author or this story would’ve been, better… At the very least it would’ve been proofread, but seeing how he thinks writing is so easy he just has to push a key, he’s clearly not aware you have to make sure you’re pushing the correct key. Yes, when you move your fingers words come out Zairol, but that doesn’t mean they are correct words, let alone worth coming out. Writing doesn’t mean just making words appear, there does need to be some talent and basic skill. The part of the keyboard that needed your fingers over it was spellcheck. We won’t touch the study of commerce and keen interest in the medical field.
From the first lines of bio: “I'm a guy who likes to write. Why do I like to write? Because writing is easy, look how easy it is to put words like I am doing right now. All I have to do is move my fingers on a keyboard or tablet and words come out. Simple as that.”
July 2, 2023
Quick read will give you chills
Great find for a quick read. The stories were all unique with a little chill. Plus the anthology gives you a chance to be introduced to new authors.
Great find for a quick read. The stories were all unique with a little chill. Plus the anthology gives you a chance to be introduced to new authors.
May 1, 2024
I couldn’t really get into this book. I thought the short stories would make me sail through reading it but I just couldn’t get into any of them so had to take a break and read 3 other books before finishing this. Tbh I wish I hadn’t even bothered wasting my time 😞
October 13, 2024
Most of the stories in this were pretty terrible. There were a few ok ones but nothing that stood out as spectacular. So many grammar slips and typos. Most of the stories seemed like they were written by kids, very amateur.
April 14, 2024
Some good ones, mostly crap
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews