The Dead Sea

by Kevin G. Bufton (Editor & Author), Cameron Suey, Jay Wilburn

On the open seas, nothing is more deadly than the cold and uncaring ocean...

...until the dead start to rise from beneath the waves and take their vengeance on the living.

Cruentus Libri Press brings you sixteen tales of horror and the macabre set upon the high seas, where vampires and zombies, werewolves and ghouls and every manner of undead fiend is ready to slake their thirst and where there is no escape, save for the cold, eternal embrace of the inky black water.

The Dead Sea contains stories from the world's finest horror authors, including Chris Bauer, Cameron Suey, Jay Wilburn, Brent Nichols, Scott L. Vannatter, Robbie MacNiven, W.B. Stickel, Ken Goldman, Kevin G. Bufton, Kristal Stittle, Christopher Hivner, Joanna Parypinski, Ken MacGregor, Paul S. Huggins, Sara Taylor and Paco.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

178 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 2013

About the author

Between 2009 and 2017 Kevin G. Bufton wrote a total of sixty-nine short stories, which appeared in anthologies, magazines, and websites the world over.

His entire back catalogue can be found in his 2017 collection - The Basement Sessions: Collected Fiction (2009-2017).

Since 2017, he has chosen not to write any more fiction, content to columns and book reviews for his website.

He lives in Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, with his wife and their two children, where he writes his darkest fiction whilst wearing his brightest shirts.

He thinks the world could do with more rum.

Reviews

[Michael Fierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, rare horror collection of tales set on the sea. The Dead Sea.

Here are several I liked:

The Curse of the Cristobel by Brent Nichols (5/5): Spanish conquistadores vs. zombies. Good characters, great writing, cool fight sequences.

Bad Fruit by W.B. Stickel 4/5: A modern tale of castaways stranded on an island with minimal food supplies, and the horrible effects on them from consumption of the only plentiful fruit to be found.

Shark's Tooth by Ken Goldman 5/5: An ex-military officer, many years ago, hid a cache of gold teeth at the bottom of the ocean, and his attempt to retrieve them in shark infested waters. This one should've been funny, but it wasn't.

Hooked by Kevin G. Bufton 4/5: A captain whose loss of his hand, leads him on a maniacal hunt for the man? creature? demon? that did it to him. *Like a couple of other reviewers said, strangely, this reminded me most of Moby Dick (though, mild spoiler, don't expect any whales).

Lost at Sea by Kristal Stittle 4/5: A man lost at sea finds a luxury cruiser adrift with seemingly no crew or passengers, until he finds a young girl on board.

The Island of Doctor Moldovon by Joanna Parypinski 5/5: Dracula's empire has survived for decades in eternal war with the rest of the world and its' military factions. Soldiers on a mission to infiltrate his land and destroy his forces are shipwrecked onto an island of the vampires doctor, Doctor Moldovon, whose experimentations on his human subjects is grotesque and ghastly. A sort of homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula and H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau.

Overall, I am very happy to have read this. And own the paperback. I liked some of the other stories, only not quite as much.

Kevin G. Bufton put together a keeper of a book. There were several typos and such but all of that can be overlooked when there are as good of stories as this to read.

Would have merited 5 stars if not for a few I just couldn't get into.

I look forward to reading more stories by the authors I highlighted above.

* Recommended to all fans of zombies, vampires, pirates, and ocean voyage horror.

[B K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book because Kristal Stittle has a story in it - it was great! A lot of the other stories were also great, some just so-so. Overall I enjoyed it.

[Jay C · Rating 3 out of 5]

16 horror tales of varying quality, all dealing with, or taking place on, the sea. Strongest, in my opinion, were "The Curse of the Cristobel" (zombies vs. Spanish conquistadores!) by Brent Nichols and "Lost at Sea" by Kristal Stittle, featuring a luxury yacht version of The Flying Dutchman. Also interesting were "Bad Fruit" by W.B. Stickel, "Sharks Tooth" by Ken Goldman, and Joanna Parypinski's "The Island of Dr. Moldovan," an alternate history story where Dracula has lived on for centuries and leads a Wallachian Empire which controls most of Europe.

Overall, the anthology contained a lot of distracting typos or misspellings. Some made me wonder if spell check was relied upon too heavily, since several cases of past-tense vs present-tense errors made it past the goalie.

[Hakan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of short horror stories which share the common theme of being tied to the sea.

I liked "Curse of the Cristobel" best, closely followed by "The island of Dr. Moldovan", both alternate history stories. "Sharks Tooth" was also fine, but the rest go to the lower region of interest, making the overall vote three stars of mixed bag.