Blood Rites: An Invitation to Horror

by Brian Lumley, Joe McKinney, Nathan Crowder

Twenty-three authors. One exclusive anthology.
Blood Bound Books celebrates its third year of publishing with Blood Rites, a gathering of dark talents that have shared our dreams-and shaped our nightmares. We individually summoned each author to contribute his or her voice to this choir of the damned. Now, we invite you to join the ritual...

Authors include: Brian Lumley, Joe McKinney, Nathan Crowder, Lisa Morton, Daniel O'Connor, Jeff Strand, John McNee, K. Trap Jones, Maria Alexander, Ed Kurtz, Desmond Warzel, Mark C. Scioneaux, Brad C. Hodson, Gregory L. Norris, Monique Bos, Aric Sundquist, Christopher Hawkins, Chad McKee, Adrian Ludens, Bryan Oftedahl, Angela Bodine, Matt Moore, Douglas J. Lane

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

262 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 25, 2013

About the author

Brian Lumley was born near Newcastle. In 22 years as a Military Policeman he served in many of the Cold War hotspots, including Berlin, as well as Cyprus in partition days. He reached the rank of Sergeant-Major before retiring to Devon to write full-time, and his work was first published in 1970. The vampire series, 'Necroscope', has been translated into ten languages and sold over a million copies worldwide.

He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an impressive collection of short stories. Normally I find collections like this can be a bit hit and miss with some rubbish in amongst a few gems but I enjoyed all of these stories. Sure some were better than others but none were less than 3*/5 and we had plenty of 4’s and 5’s. I read one roughly every day, each day a different story and they are wildly different - I think we have all types of horror here so I am sure there is something for everyone. Thoroughly enjoyed this and I do recommend for any horror fans out there.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was prepared to declare this one of the best anthologies I've read in awhile after finding the first four stories and six of the first eight to be really enjoyable. Sadly, as seems the norm these days, for the rest of the collection the stories were mainly average, with a few that had great potential but sputtered out at the end, and a couple I didn't finish. For the most part the tales were at least a little better than a lot of the short fiction out there, but once you get past the Brian Lumley tale the rest of the stories taper off.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great short story collection for October. You know it’s going to be bloody, it’s in the title and you know it might be pretty good from the line up of well known genre authors, but what turned out to be a pleasant surprise is just how uniformly good the quality was divided equally between the writers I knew and those I’ve never even heard of. The thing with anthologies is that for some reason that don’t really stick in my memory, the overall idea of how much I liked it does, but for the life of me I can’t recall specifics, especially now a week later when I’m reviewing the book, but…the second story alone was worth checking this anthology out. An absolute powerhouse, haunting, viscerally disturbing tale of psychological darkness from a completely new to me author. In fact, where the more famous names delivered quality one might come to associate with their writing over the years, it is the rest…the lesser known authors that you got to watch out for. And since the book is split about evenly between the two, it’s a perfect balance and you get to discover new authors to follow. This book barely has any reviews, but it ought to, and I’m sure it’ll find a readership with serious genre fans. Maybe even attracts new fans to the genre. It is, after all, meant to be an invitation. Personally, I very much enjoyed this collection, I liked the quality of writing, the original takes on familiar themes and the propensity towards the psychological nightmarishness and character development instead of the overreliance on gore and guts. If this book were to have a soundtrack, it would be something like the creaky stairs of an old haunted manse overlaid with mourning songs from the ghouls and goblins choir intermittently pelted with the relentless October rain. It’s good, hauntingly good. Recommended.

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a kid in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I read a lot of horror comics, such as DC's House of Mystery and House of Secrets, and all of Charlton's horror titles. I also read the black and white Warren magazines Eerie and Creepy. Reading Blood Rites: An Invitation to Horror reminds me of those days, because while all of the stories in the anthology were adequate entertainment, most of them were mediocre and forgettable, with a few gems scattered among them. And that reminds me of most comic books stories: short, mildly entertaining, but mostly forgettable with a few standouts every now and then.

[Lel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mix of horror stories. Some were very creepy to the point of not wanting to be alone in the house. Others were disappointing and left me wondering where the horror was. Overall a good read though.

[Alan Loewen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eerie and Poetic

An amazing collection of darkness, this anthology does not have one bad story in the bunch. Both highly imaginative and deeply disturbing, this collection holds great rewards for the horror connoisseur.

[Lallen]

Like any anthology this collection has very good stories, some mediocre stories and some just silly. Entertaining none the less

[Trish Arias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great short stories

This is a read if you do not have time to dive into a full novel. The short stories reminded me of my favorite show as a kid the twilight zone. I never missed an episode. Please down load this book you will not be disappointed.

[John Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enthralling and Spooky!

This collection of short stories was of the highest standard. The element of horror varied from one story to the next but all had a supernatural theme. I will admit to not understanding one or two stories but, overall, I found the collection very entertaining.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn’t put this down.

Each story was different from the next and kept me reading all through the night. Even though they are short stories, they were gripping and had you from beginning to end. I hope there are sequels.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

These were like Alfred Hitchcock: great, surprising endings. Problem is, anthologies are hard to read because it's hard to get into so many stories. I lost interest about midway.

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was (briefly) free on Kindle; since it was October I nabbed it. It was certainly worth the going price of $2.99; none of the stories are actively bad, most are reasonably good, and a couple made a significant impression on me. These include:

"The Candle and the Darkness", by Aric Sundquist. A small holy candle protects a mother and daughter against the Darkness of Armageddon, as long as it lasts.

"The Lullaby Man", by John McNee. A childhood bogeyman. A really creepy childhood bogey man.

"The True Worth of Orthography", by Lisa Morton. A sorcerer who does his spells by calligraphy hires a Hollywood screenwriter to help him craft some big spells. Not horror by any measure I understand, but quite good.

"Who Is Schopenhauer?", by Bryan Oftedahl. A Kafkaesque situation with a most unpleasant twist.

"The Leaving", by Matt Moore. A town with a really scary curse.

It being an anthology, the style and quality of the writing varies, but never gets near the quasi-literate zone.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of stories, even though not all of them were that scary (or I'm just getting desensitised) and a few were weaker than others. I particularly liked Shine On, Harvest Moon which combined horror with an important lesson in the potential consequences of bullying, the Lady with Teeth Like Knives another with an important life lesson embedded in its pages and the Butterfly which combined the natural and captivating beauty of a butterfly with the horror of death in a subtle and disturbing way. I also really enjoyed the Leaving, which is a classic tale of a small town with a deadly curse and Corpse Lights which gave a new twist to the will of the wisps that are so often seen around ponds and marshlands.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often, I find it difficult to rate anthologies since there are usually excellent mixed with, shall we say, not so excellent. This collection is far easier though. There are a few that deserve more than 5 stars and only one that I would rank as 3 stars and please note that I try to base this on the genre not the entire world of literature. I enjoyed these tales very much and read all of them within two days. I highly recommend it and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Read via Kindle Unlimited

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book.

This was a good book, not a great one, but worth reading. I’m not going through each story and say what I liked and disliked as this my prejudice your thoughts and enjoyment of the stories.
Although this was stated as a Horror Anthology I did not find the books to be that frightening. Good storytelling yes, horror not so much. If you are on the sensitive side this might affect you more.
Like I said, good book but not great. Still worth a read though.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many Eerie Stories

I love short stories. They give you the opportunity to discover new authors. Short stories require authors to slice away unnecessary words and draw you in quickly. This book is a fine example of this art. Many intense stories, some better than others, all good. I am glad I found this book in a group giveaway. There are several authors I will be following and purchasing more of their work.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of short stories........... I read all but 1 that turned me off in the first few pages. Not saying which one, cause maybe YOU'LL like it! LOL Fast read........... they were short enough that I could read one whole story while on my half hour lunch bread at work! LOVE this type of book........ you can put it down and resume it at any time. Def worth adding to your to read list!

[barbara g sercu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good anthology

I enjoy anthologies to sample a variety of authors and discover new ones to enjoy. About seventy five percent were very good. The rest were okay. Not bad for the collection.

[Ursula Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

An okay read....not going to go through each individual short story just would say one or 2 were good others were not good at all...wouldn't really recommend

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy short stories

Slow burn, old school horror. More creepy than gory, and well written. Just the thing for an autumn evening close to Halloween.

[Nix · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Stories were hit or miss with me but overall I enjoyed reading this book

[Brett Grossmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not enough Lunley. Pretty good but not great

[Clinton Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review

This collection had some pretty good stories. I enjoyed the variety of different horror styles . I would definitely recommend.

[Newsfoia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something for everyone

A lot of creative stories. Interesting how the creative minds come up with something weird and make it rationale and reality.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this was a very well-written and varied collection of horror stories. I would recommend.

[A.E. Faulkner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed some of the stories in this anthology. Some I didn't finish, so it's hard to give an overall rating because some stories were definitely 5 stars for me. If I had to rate the overall book, I'd give it a 3.5 but I'm rounding up to a 4 because of how much I enjoyed some of the stories. My faves in this collection:
-Shine On, Harvest Moon
-Cold Comfort of Silver Lake
-The Trapdoor