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A Fistful of Horrors: Tales of Terror from the Old West
Cruentus Libri Press is proud to announce its second anthology.
A Fistful of Horrors gathers together 16 stories from the world’s finest horror authors, each one taking the tried and tested trappings of Western fiction and casting a dark shadow of evil over it.
Within these pages you will read tales of frontier towns with a dark secret; brooding strangers and bloody footprints, snake-women and wolf spirits. You'll read about good men and bad men, about dead men and men that won't stay dead.
Featuring thrilling and horrific slices of original fiction from A.R. Aston, Lisamarie Lamb, Donald Jacob Uitvlugt, John Hunt, Paco, Allen Jacoby, Roxanne Dent, David Thomas, Kevin G. Bufton, Jon McAchren, Jay Wilburn, Tim Tobin, Rony Blechman, Jody Neil Ruth, John Pirog and Cameron Johnston.
A Fistful of Horrors gathers together 16 stories from the world’s finest horror authors, each one taking the tried and tested trappings of Western fiction and casting a dark shadow of evil over it.
Within these pages you will read tales of frontier towns with a dark secret; brooding strangers and bloody footprints, snake-women and wolf spirits. You'll read about good men and bad men, about dead men and men that won't stay dead.
Featuring thrilling and horrific slices of original fiction from A.R. Aston, Lisamarie Lamb, Donald Jacob Uitvlugt, John Hunt, Paco, Allen Jacoby, Roxanne Dent, David Thomas, Kevin G. Bufton, Jon McAchren, Jay Wilburn, Tim Tobin, Rony Blechman, Jody Neil Ruth, John Pirog and Cameron Johnston.
172 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 13, 2012
About the author
Kevin G. Bufton
27 books25 followersBetween 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 12, 2013
A fistful of Horrors is an interesting collection of Western Horror that runs the gambit of storytelling. I generally despise negative reviews so I will attempt to focus on more of the positives here.
The Good.
The Zombies of Red Rock by Roxanne Dent is by far the best of this collection and almost warrants the Kindle price of the anthology. She manages to take troupes of westerns and horror and blends them together perfectly with a slightly different perspective on both. Hard to describe without spoiling the story but it's a very entertaining read that has me looking for more of her works.
A Town Called Hangshaw by Rorry Blechman was a very pleasant surprise with a tale somewhat comedic while managing to delve heavily into horror. The way the story turns just works and can be interpreted into several allegories by a literary mind.
The Knock on the Door by Tim Tobin is an interesting read that manages to pull off a pretty good tale of real world horror twisted into a supernatural tale of perceived vengeance. I admit I have some questions on the main ending but overall it read well.
The Bad
Trying not to get into tearing down specific authors or stories but there are several stories that do not work in this anthology. Some of them made me wonder exactly what could have lost the chance to see print here, that is almost scarier than any monster presented.
A majority of the stories are either good or so-so (With the truly outstanding ones mentioned above) with only a few bad, which should be expected in any anthology. Still there are one or two that seem to just stop with unresolved plots or attempts at ambiguity that don't quite work. I wouldn't use the word "suck" but those few are less than so-so and one had me questioning the main character the whole way as his actions, direction, and story made almost no sense at any point.
The Ugly
The truly ugly here is the lazy editing some of these stories received. While some suffer from plot issues other good ones suffer from a lack of checking. One statement reads" ...he found himself stood not ten feet away..." which is awkward any way you try to look at it.
There are several run on sentences in a few stories, which again throw the reader off. There are some questionable usages as well like "Smelt" used in narrative of more than one story. If used in dialogue it might appear more like an artistic choice but in narrative from 3rd person perspective it's very off putting especially when the narrative language around it avoids such colloquialisms.
Another questionable example is talking about a man who lost his "breeches" (again in narrative) in which I am pretty sure the author meant "britches." There could be some argument with the world and certain dialects usages but that's the danger of using colloquial in narrative. You run the risk of losing the reader in usage rather than focusing on the story. A good editor would point such issues out to an author for revision.
Overall
Worth the kindle price, but not the paperback price but I a part of me would like the good stories mentioned above in a hard copy. However, the not so good makes the paperback not quite worth the money unless Amazon has a huge sale on it.
The Good.
The Zombies of Red Rock by Roxanne Dent is by far the best of this collection and almost warrants the Kindle price of the anthology. She manages to take troupes of westerns and horror and blends them together perfectly with a slightly different perspective on both. Hard to describe without spoiling the story but it's a very entertaining read that has me looking for more of her works.
A Town Called Hangshaw by Rorry Blechman was a very pleasant surprise with a tale somewhat comedic while managing to delve heavily into horror. The way the story turns just works and can be interpreted into several allegories by a literary mind.
The Knock on the Door by Tim Tobin is an interesting read that manages to pull off a pretty good tale of real world horror twisted into a supernatural tale of perceived vengeance. I admit I have some questions on the main ending but overall it read well.
The Bad
Trying not to get into tearing down specific authors or stories but there are several stories that do not work in this anthology. Some of them made me wonder exactly what could have lost the chance to see print here, that is almost scarier than any monster presented.
A majority of the stories are either good or so-so (With the truly outstanding ones mentioned above) with only a few bad, which should be expected in any anthology. Still there are one or two that seem to just stop with unresolved plots or attempts at ambiguity that don't quite work. I wouldn't use the word "suck" but those few are less than so-so and one had me questioning the main character the whole way as his actions, direction, and story made almost no sense at any point.
The Ugly
The truly ugly here is the lazy editing some of these stories received. While some suffer from plot issues other good ones suffer from a lack of checking. One statement reads" ...he found himself stood not ten feet away..." which is awkward any way you try to look at it.
There are several run on sentences in a few stories, which again throw the reader off. There are some questionable usages as well like "Smelt" used in narrative of more than one story. If used in dialogue it might appear more like an artistic choice but in narrative from 3rd person perspective it's very off putting especially when the narrative language around it avoids such colloquialisms.
Another questionable example is talking about a man who lost his "breeches" (again in narrative) in which I am pretty sure the author meant "britches." There could be some argument with the world and certain dialects usages but that's the danger of using colloquial in narrative. You run the risk of losing the reader in usage rather than focusing on the story. A good editor would point such issues out to an author for revision.
Overall
Worth the kindle price, but not the paperback price but I a part of me would like the good stories mentioned above in a hard copy. However, the not so good makes the paperback not quite worth the money unless Amazon has a huge sale on it.
June 26, 2013
When someone mentions the American Old West, images of gunslingers, horses, cowboys and Indians, and stagecoaches immediately spring to mind. The Old West has become almost a mythological time period through films and pulp fiction novels. What does not come to mind is horror. Monsters on horses? Monster horses? Killer rattlesnakes? A Fistful of Horrors: Tales of Terror from the Old West proves just how terrifying those saloons and rocky outcroppings can really be.
The authors here do a wonderful job at capturing the feel of the Old West. The swinging door of the tavern, the smell of sweat after a long ride, stale beer and whiskey, and the constant tension of a shootout fill the pages. In “Medicine Man,” LisaMarie Lamb does a fantastic job with native rituals and myths without descending into stereotype and cliché. She also gives us a brutal and horrific tale of revenge that gives you the shivers. In “Dead Man Walking,” Allen Jacoby takes the classic tale of the gunslinger and gives it a sinister, disturbing twist. Roxanne Dent puts zombies squarely in the middle of the campfire and hot coals in her story “Zombies at Red Rock.” These stories are but a few of the great tales collected here. The authors fuse horror into the feel of the Old West quite well.
This is a themed anthology. If one has some dislike of the Old West, this is not the collection to read. I’m not a big fan of the time period or location, but the stories were wildly entertaining, creepy, and a few just plain frightening. A great read.
Originally published at Horror Novel Reviews
http://bookloversnevergotobedalonerev...
The authors here do a wonderful job at capturing the feel of the Old West. The swinging door of the tavern, the smell of sweat after a long ride, stale beer and whiskey, and the constant tension of a shootout fill the pages. In “Medicine Man,” LisaMarie Lamb does a fantastic job with native rituals and myths without descending into stereotype and cliché. She also gives us a brutal and horrific tale of revenge that gives you the shivers. In “Dead Man Walking,” Allen Jacoby takes the classic tale of the gunslinger and gives it a sinister, disturbing twist. Roxanne Dent puts zombies squarely in the middle of the campfire and hot coals in her story “Zombies at Red Rock.” These stories are but a few of the great tales collected here. The authors fuse horror into the feel of the Old West quite well.
This is a themed anthology. If one has some dislike of the Old West, this is not the collection to read. I’m not a big fan of the time period or location, but the stories were wildly entertaining, creepy, and a few just plain frightening. A great read.
Originally published at Horror Novel Reviews
http://bookloversnevergotobedalonerev...
December 5, 2014
Good collection of zombie stories. There were some actual surprises in some stories. The only flaw is 1-2 stories need a little editing.
April 29, 2024
There are many collections of weird western tales available, some good, some bad, and many mediocre; sorry to say, in my opinion, A Fistful of Horrors falls into the last category. The sixteen stories are competently written but less than half of them have a spark of real interest to me. The volume does begin promisingly with A.R. Aston's religious grotesquerie "The Angel of Solitude" and Lisamarie Lamb's "Medicine Man" but stories like Donald Jacob Uitvlugt's "The Gun of El Lobo," John Hunt's "Cracklin'," and Rony Blechman's "The Devil You Know" rely on easily foreseen twists rather than a real surprise. Some stories seem over long and wear out their welcome. One story, John Pirog's "Where are They?" really doesn't fit my idea of a weird western story, other than the "horror" aspect. For me, the most enjoyable are Roxanne Dent's "Zombies at Red Rock," Tim Tobin's "The Knock at the Door," and Cameron Johnston's "Last Chance Saloon."
January 22, 2019
In desperate need of editing. Some stories unreadable. Bummer. Cool concept though.
October 24, 2021
Ghosts, zombies, cannibals, vampires, something for everyone here. I especially liked A Town Called Hangshaw which defies easy categorization.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews