Dead Orphans: A Collection of Dark Short Fiction

by Bert Edens

"Dead Orphans" is a collection of short horror and dark fiction by Bert Edens. This contains everything from tweets to drabbles to short stories.

Content Warning: This book contains topics that include but are not limited to suicide, domestic violence, extreme violence, violent sex, harm to children, and sexual assault. While not entirely extreme horror, this collection absolutely contains elements of it.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories

185 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 20, 2024

Reviews

[Keri M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved each and every story!!! The tweets were awesome too!! This was a creepy wonderful collection!! Do yourself a favor and give this a read! It was awesome!!

[Amanda Ruzsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of poetry, drabbles and tweets was magnificent. I have only recently discovered that even just a few sentences can evoke terror, dread, gloom and everything in between, and Eden’s does it well. His drabbles pack as much punch as his shorts and I could not put this one down without hating doing so. The emotional responses are many with this collection. Specifically, horrified. “Conchita,” Tough Love,” “Decisions, Decisions,” were my favorites, all definitely embedded in my memory. I cant pick a favorite “Drabbles” because many of them left me slack jawed with just a handful of sentences. Another awesome thing about this book is that we get a look into how the stories came to be, adding a reality to them beyond what their immersive tales already convey. Definitely recommend!

[Justin | reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bert has a great collection of short stories, tweets, and dabbles of all different sorts, but it definitely has horrifying scenes and I absolutely recommend you check this book out! I wasn’t expecting it to be so dark, but Bert did not let me down and this was awesome! 4.5 stars all day long!

[Veronica ☠️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of dark, spooky fiction! The title Dead Orphans was made because all of these stories didn't have a permanent home in anthologies and I thought that was a clever move. These were great stories but I'd like to highlight 3 of my favourites

1) Conchita: A little girl named Conchita is at a resort with her dad when she accidentally drops her plate and it breaks. Her dad furious, takes her back to their table and he eats without giving her anything. People start to notice but don't do much. Once they were done they head to the beach where Conchita sees something beautiful
--You really wanna smack this dad! The way he treats his daughter in public is horrendous. This one was sad, yet beautiful.

2) Tough Love: Thomas and his wife Roxy were in an accident in the water. Thomas being a good swimmer got himself and his wife to shore but he needed to get them food. He swam for crab, shrimp, whatever he could find. But he wanted more, he wanted meat.
--This was quick and delicious just the way I like it!

3) It's Always The Quiet Ones: Ethel and her 2 friends were all in the nursing home together. The girls have heard of Frankie and his pleasuring ways. The man can eat like no other and the ladies wanted a sample! They devised the perfect plan until that plan failed and took a bloody turn
--This one was hilarious! You never think people in rest homes would be getting down and dirty but surprise! I loved the turn at the end and it was very fun!

There's also tweets sprinkled throughout the book which are pretty fun also. I enjoyed the darkness of these stories and I'm excited to read more from this author!

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yikes! Bert Edens' collection, 'Dead Orphans,' was way more horrific and darker than I was prepared for. I have no trouble with extreme horror, but this isn't actually the kind of gory, depraved, bloody horror usually filed under labels such as "extreme" or "splatterpunk." This is something else, a humorless darkness lathered with some sort of gritty realism I was not expecting: it stung and upset me the way only real, unconventional horror can. The collection visits often themes with great triggering potential, as per the synopsis (violence, assault, harm to children). Fathers are portrayed as monsters, daughters end up taking revenge for their abuse, couples are at each other's throats, girls are bullied, and zombie-like children try to show their kind of love to parents. The story length varies greatly: from flash fiction to tweets to drabbles to proper short stories. Every tale stands on its own, with its own setting (from the Dominican Republic to Paris to the Ol' Wild West), its own kind of suspense, its own shocking ending. Some of them are indeed true shockers. Others are creepy, but not merely so; they lead into some memorable graphic scenes certainly worth writing home about! Author's notes are a nice touch as well. My particular standouts were: “Coffee and Pie with a Friend,” about women getting taken advantage of by gangs in Paris; “Decisions, Decisions,” an atypical zombie story; and “Second Fork to the Left,” a very good Western horror story. Overall, this is an awesome collection, but not for the faint of heart. Recommended!

[Bryan Stubbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid collection of horror stories.

Most impressive were the microfiction pieces. Horror in a tweet pretty much. As a writer, I learned a lot by seeing what could be accomplished in so few words.

Many of the stories skew towards extreme horror. A couple went past what I'm accustomed to. There is a content warning on the back. I'm not complaing. Just letting other readers know.

If you like some rougher horror or microfiction, this definitely is for you.

[Lynda Walls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely Dark

You should consider yourself immune to pretty much anything disturbing before reading this or you certainly will be after. It’s very good at being what it is. I did enjoy these stories, knowing it’s all fiction. Keep that in mind and enjoy!

[Mickey Tompkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dark dark collection of short stories, 12 in fact along with some tweets the author has posted on Twitter/X, or. Twix if you will.

Some of my favorites were

Cold Bones - about a gambler and his girlfriend who stop at an itialin diner for some food. The chef sees he's a betting man and has him roll the dice on his life so to speak.

Conchita - About a 5 yr old little girl and her father who are vacationing, well her father is vacationing, she is being neglected.......this was a sad one.

Love And Infamy - This is about a couple of twins, who are both 115yrs old, but only the twin who was born "Seven damn minutes" early is getting the fame for being the oldest living person alive. The other twin is jealous and decides she wants said fame.

Swinging For The Fences - This about a 15yr old girl who's father has SA'd her since she was 8. Her mother doesn't belive her, and she's had it with the abuse. Her father is also her softball coach and has now moved on to one of her teammates. One night she wants to play a deadly game of softball with him.

All of the stories in this collection have something for someone, they are all dark in their own way, and they are all unique and different. Same with the tweets. I would have loved to come across these when they posted and read the comments.

I really appreciated the author notes after each story, which tells his inspiration for each one.

Bert has a dark mind, and I would like to read more of his work.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic collection of stories that kept me on the edge of my seat! I loved a few stories from it but every other story was just as good. The lovely thing about the ones I loved is that they had different settings. A Western, another occult-ish, and the rest are just lovely bits and pieces of stories that give us a glimpse of the world, that scary stories don't just happen in America.

Give it a read, you'll love them all!

[Sarah DeRosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many good elements to this collection of short stories to rant and rave about. I would specifically love to highlight the experimental nature of which this collection was comprised. Cleverly titled "Dead Orphans", this work was constructed of several brief tales from the adventurous mind of Bert Edens that had no where to go. There is a variety that truly eludes to satisfying the reader's appetite, no matter what they are craving.
I applaud Eden's experimental writing exercises that made their way in between the pages of this book and believe it is a truly innovative concept. Also worth highlighting are the notes after each story that explain where the concepts originated from and what they were created for.
Be prepared to be amazed!

[Maria Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

I was initially hesitant to read a book by an unfamiliar author, but I am glad I decided to give it a chance. The book exceeded my expectations, and I found it to be exceptionally well-written. My favorite short stories were "Conchita" and the Tweets. I highly recommend this book to others and give it a rating of 5/5 stars.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great dark read. Very imaginative and disturbing.

[Isaac A R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories were good, and I loved the one of the old ladies. But some of the stories were not that good.

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good little short stories. I read one or more each night for bed to wind down. Will definitely recommend and read more from this author.

[Kaitlyn Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yikes

I’ve read dark stories. But I feel the nature of a short story makes the feel of these stories that much more powerful. There’s no time to sit in the dark and get comfortable before the next story comes along and shows you how much darker it can get.

Each time a story/tweet/etc ended I found myself saying out loud, “damn”. “Oh sh*t” “jesus!!” And I kept turning the page because it was impossible to put down.

Heed the warnings, Bert holds no punches and nothing/no one is off limits.

[April Seymour · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a page turning, chilling read, creatively formatted with a combination of tweets and short stories. The short stories had a strong sense of foreboding and suspense, and the tweets pack a punch in a small amount of words.

[Megan Russ · Rating 4 out of 5]

These lost short stories were the perfect spooky season read. Each story is a little different with individuality and a unique story telling style. The micro entries were a treat, dark and emotional. I am glad all these orphans got put into one collection for us to enjoy.
I greatly enjoyed the dark poetry. I find horror poetry to be thought invoking and feeling provoking. These haunting tales might just provoke you into continuing into their beautiful dark orphanage.
Great short story collection I would gladly recommend to any horror reader. Thank you for the awesome stories and fun read.

[Ann Adolphson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book on Terrify your tablet day. It has a bunch of creepy crawly stories in it. This book is the perfect book to read before Halloween. Some of stories in this book could probably good for a chapter book even.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yikes! Bert Edens' collection, 'Dead Orphans,' was way more horrific and darker than I was prepared for. I have no trouble with extreme horror, but this isn't actually the kind of gory, depraved, bloody horror usually filed under labels such as "extreme" or "splatterpunk." This is something else, a humorless darkness lathered with some sort of gritty realism I was not expecting: it stung and upset me the way only real, unconventional horror can. The collection visits often themes with great triggering potential, as per the synopsis (violence, assault, harm to children). Fathers are portrayed as monsters, daughters end up taking revenge for their abuse, couples are at each other's throats, girls are bullied, and zombie-like children try to show their kind of love to parents. The story length varies greatly: from flash fiction to tweets to drabbles to proper short stories. Every tale stands on its own, with its own setting (from the Dominican Republic to Paris to the Ol' Wild West), its own kind of suspense, its own shocking ending. Some of them are indeed true shockers. Others are creepy, but not merely so; they lead into some memorable graphic scenes certainly worth writing home about! Author's notes are a nice touch as well. My particular standouts were: “Coffee and Pie with a Friend,” about women getting taken advantage of by gangs in Paris; “Decisions, Decisions,” an atypical zombie story; and “Second Fork to the Left,” a very good Western horror story. Overall, this is an awesome collection, but not for the faint of heart. Recommended!

[Shaun Filion · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the synopsis says, this collection has a mix of -tweets, drabbles, and short stories.
And it is absolutely incredible, the way Mr. Eden's can really horrify you ,or take you down a dark path , in a short tale or with even just a few words. And he proves this so many times throughout this book. I'd happily be the first in line if he compiles another collection like this.

[Bernardo Villela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is many things that I love to see in the horror genre, and fiction in general, in one bundle. The stories are diverse in topics, themes, lengths, and locations which is rare in a collection in part because it’s hard to pull off but Edens does so deftly.

The stories are relentless and uncompromising which doesn’t make it a collection for everyone but those who can appreciate the tonal and psychological terrors beneath the bloodshed, as well as the messaging, will get a great deal out of these stories.

The lengths and locations of these stories also deserve special mention. Microfiction deserves love and the organization of sections of drabbles and tweet-length fiction amongst shorts of various lengths does aid the overall flow of the collection and allow for some common themes to bind disparate narratives together. It’s great to see American horror fiction bringing foreign settings and cultures into play in naturalistic and unique ways and Edens definitely does that here in a handful of stories that are among the standouts to me.

If you’re into intense horror you should jump into this collection as blind as you can because you’re in for as many surprises as if you were reading a twisting-and-turning novel.

[Angel Medina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew that I was in for a set of dark stories. However, these were really dark stories. The thing about these stories is that many of them had a sense of realism, which made them scarier. Bret has a talent for building dark worlds and it shows. After each story, he writes how he got the idea for the story, which I thought was a great added touch. It's not something that is often seen, so bonus points to that.

There were even microfiction stories sprinkled in as well. This was a great palette cleanser after all the novels I've been reading. It's an awesome collection that needs to be read in the dark for the best experience. Trust me, there are scares to be had in this collection!

[Christopher Mesloh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very solid 3.5⭐️’s. With 8 stories, tweets and a handful of drabbles (I wasn’t familiar with these) this collection has something for everyone. I really enjoyed the author notes after the stories describing the background and origins of the tales. Looking forward to reading more of his work!

[Elford Alley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very dark and enjoyable collection of short stories, from flash fiction and drabbles to longer tales of woe.

[Jeff Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horror readers beware. The stories in this collection are often startling, sometimes downright shocking, and a few of them may be considered taboo - these stories sure don’t shy away from the telling it as it is. To daylight evil and remove its power, you have to talk about it. These stories do that. They will lure you into them! My personal favorite was “Must Go Back”. After each story, the Author Notes are a nice touch. They give you an insight into how the inspiration for the story came to life. Also included are tweets. Extra short stories. Reading through them, I realized it must be extremely difficult to pare these stories down to the essentials yet still be able to grab your attention. Cool. Well done!

[Carmen Lopez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf

[Jeff Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great mix of dark, depressing stories.