It Was All a Dream 2: Another Anthology of Bad Horror Tropes Done Right

by Brandon Applegate (Editor), Matthew M. Bartlett (Foreword Author), Joe Koch

That cat that always jumps out of the closet at the wrong time, the killer that just won't die, the vengeful curse of a disturbed native burial ground-these tropes and countless others haunt the horror genre like chain-rattling ghosts. Everyone has one that gets under their skin. But these writers sharpened their pencils, picked their favorite, and made it work! These twenty-nine stories feature murderous cows, outer space plagues, very bad dreams, and weed-smoking clowns that take worn out tropes and turn them on their heads to genuinely chilling effect.

Featuring original fiction from:

Joe Koch, D. Matthew Urban, Tom Coombe, Rebecca Harrison, Edward Lodi, Liam Hogan, Yelena Crane, Najua Ismail, Cassandra Daucus, Briar Ripley Page, Amanda Cecelia Lang, Tiffany Michelle Brown, Angelique Fawns, Sydney Paige Guerrero, David J. Thirteen, Michael Pearson, Steve Loiaconi, Mark Silcox, Angela Sylvaine, Dana McKay, Ria Hill, Cynthia Gómez, Avra Margariti, J.L. Foux, Red Lagoe, Francis J. Matozzo, Gwendolyn Kiste, Nadia Bulkin, and Rena Mason

Foreword by Matthew M. Bartlett

Interior illustrations by Christopher Castillo Díaz

And a full-wrap cover by Trevor Henderson

Genres: Horror

360 pages, Paperback

Published August 13, 2024

About the author

Brandon Applegate lives and writes in an overbaked suburban hellscape near Austin, TX with his wife and two kids who have, so far, failed to eat him. He spends his scant spare time exploring his passions for spooky stories, naps, and very good chairs. He's the editor-in-chief of Hungry Shadow Press and author of the short fiction collection Those We Left Behind and Other Sacrifices, along with many other stories, a few of which have been published, and others he hoards greedily beneath his floorboards.

Reviews

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this book for review on booksirens.

3.5 stars rounded up. It was a decent collection of short horror stories based on "bad tropes" in horror. Some of them I really enjoyed while others didn't made an impact. My favorite on was the kne inspired by the teeth trope.

[AgoraphoBook Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This collection is filled with truly unique stories… (I mean we literally kick things off with a sharp little story that's told from the point of view of the very words on the pages of the haunted book that's being messed with) This is one of the best short story collections. Genius! This is impressive stuff here.

Hilarious, surprising, scary…. These stories have some serious tropes to undo, and they subvert expectations marvelously.

These are scary situations where there is no waking up safe or sound; that bump in the night was something… and no, it's not just the cat!

Eating, drinking, and breathing horror the way I do makes it quite difficult for me to feel surprised…. and one story after the other…. this book has me constantly surprised. I was so entertained, and will be HIGHLY recommending this collection to others!

4.5 / 5

Top 10 personal favorites:

- The Long People

- The American Dream

- Emily's Teeth

- The Things I Miss

- The Mortal Gods

- Birth of A Sucker

- Track 9

- Be Kind, Please Rewind

(The illustrations before the stories are incredible as well!)

[Cassie ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this collection of horror stories. They are all short and easy to read. Twists I didn't expect and ideas that are interesting. Would recommend to someone who wants some unique bite sized horror.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

[Chris Bissette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up for two reasons - the premise is very fun, and Joe Koch has a story in it that plays with the conventions of torture porn.

This was a fun read overall, but it suffers from the problem of many anthologies of its kind in that it's simply far too big. There are 29 stories in here,and I think I would have much preferred it if there were half that amount, because while there's some really good stuff in here there is also - inevitably - a lot of filler.

Here's a short rundown of the stories I enjoyed most:


Joe Koch's 'Untitled, With Demon' is very good and definitely evokes films like Martyrs. This was the main reason I picked the book up, so I'm very pleased I enjoyed this one.
D. Matthew Urban's 'We Are Words' is almost too ridiculous, but it takes the trope of the Cursed Book Bound In Human Skin and simply allows it to play out to it's silliest conclusion. I liked it a lot.
'An Otherwise Ordinary Night' by Steve Loiaconi tackles crytpids and specifically the Mothman, in a nasty little slice of forest road horror with a nice twist that I didn't see coming.
;The Unburied; by Cynthia Gómez takes one of the oldest, most played-out tropes in horror - the Native American burial ground - and does something really fun with it. The story itself is a very good, very effective horror tale that seems to be playing the trope straight, but the ending was the only thing in the book that made me laugh out loud. Short horror fiction is often at its best when it functions like a joke, and this is an example of that. This isn't the first of Gómez's stories I've really liked this year - I was a big fan of 'Lips Like Sugar' from Luna Station Quarterly, which I read when it was nominated for the Ignyte Awards - so I'm definitely going to be seeking out more of her fiction after this.
'Mary Mary, Quite Contrary' by Angela Sylvaine manages to make the Bloody Mary story actually good, which is really quite a feat.
'Be Kind, Please Rewind' by Gwendolyn Kiste is the final story in the anthology and I think probably my favourite, too. It definitely takes the book out on a high note, doing something really interesting with slasher films, final girls, and the trope of the killer always rising from the dead, and elevating it into something really poignant and meaningful. I loved this one.


All in all I enjoyed this, and the highlights made up for the stories that I didn't really care for even if the latter category was about half of the book. I love the concept, though, and I'm interested to check out the first volume and see which tropes were tackled there. I also found a couple of writers I'm definitely going to explore a little more, too, and that's ultimately what I go to anthologies for, so in that regard I count this as a success.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Brandon Applegate's anthologies. They always have a blend of diverse authors who understand the assignment and while not all stories are up my alley, I don't think I've ever read one I actually hated. This one is no different. Although I have to admit I preferred the first part, It Was All a Dream 2 brings the reader even more short horror stories based on the "overused" tropes. This premise ensures that people applying are fans of horror and have a solid understanding of how it's written.

But off to the book. Although I haven't had as many stand-out stories as in the first part, many gems still caught my attention. "When the Motherf***er Just Won't Die" and "Be Kind, Please Rewind" play on slasher and final girl tropes which are very close to my heart and I always want to see more of them. "Track 9" was perfectly haunting and I appreciated the nod to my country's history. "Birth of the Sucker" connected vampires and chronic illness. "The Mortal Gods" was extremely my vibe because of the way it connected gods and fairytales and I loved the twist in "Restless". I honestly don't think any of the stories were badly written, some of them were just more up my alley than others, so there isn't much criticism to offer. I have a hard time reading anthologies and often get bored with them but the fact that this is my third edited by this author puts him very high on my list of must-read stuff.

If you love horror, do yourself a favor and check out this book (as well as the first part). It's truly a love letter to horror and its tropes and it has some truly unique and fresh ideas. I can't wait to see more anthologies like this.

[Praveen (பிரவீண்) KR · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out the detailed review @ https://kalaikoodam.blogspot.com/2024...

The read gave me mixed feelings. There were stories which I enjoyed very much but also stories which did not go well for me. The start was good with the first story setting in the right environment for a good read but then the couple of stories that followed did not work well with me. Four or five stories down the lane I started enjoying the stories with occasional ones that did not work for me. It was an undulating read which did seem to deter the flow. Since I have been going through a period of reading slump, this drastically hampered my reading experience. This does not mean that the writing was bad. It's just that I did not enjoy those stories. On the positive side, I got to read a whole variety of tropes within the genre. Most of the authors have given their own twists and tweakings to those tropes making the reading enjoyable. Some of the stories that I enjoyed were "We Are Words", "The Wind Through Chimneys", "Emily's Teeth", "Three Sisters Stars" and, "This is Your Wake-Up Call". There were these story notes at the end, where the writers give us a small insight into how they selected the particular trope and how they gave it a twist of their own. It was insightful to see how the thought process works. There were illustrations at the start of every story which I liked.

In short, this anthology is a mixed bag of horror short stories and for me, it is a decent one-time read. People who love to explore various tropes in the genre can give this book a try.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first It Was All a Dream anthology, but wasn't aware there was a sequel until last week. I immediately ordered this one and was eager to read it as soon as it arrived. Was it as satisfying as its predecessor? Ultimately, yes.

Stand out stories include:

The Wind Through the Chimneys by Edward Lodi - An elderly man traps burglars he lures to his estate in its chimneys, which apparently is the perfect way to smoke them before eating them. I love a good cannibalism story and this one was delightful.

The Mortal Gods by Sydney Paige Guerrero - Beauty and the Beast vibes minus the romance. An empowering take on the virgin sacrifice trope.

Be Kind, Please Rewind by Gwendolyn Kiste - A final girl gets a chance to rewind time and save her friends and family. How far back will she go? And what happens to the undead slasher when she does this?

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary - I love a good Bloody Mary story (even more than I love a good cannibal story). In this one, Amity visits her popular classmate's home for a slumber party where they play the infamous game. Amity and her hostess are the only ones that can see the spirit in the mirror. But is Amity's new friend up to something?

Bad Vibrations by Nadia Bulkin - A man going into anthropology to follow in his famous grandfather's footsteps learns the truth behind a sinister sculpture his grandpa aquired in his travels.

The Unburied by Cynthia Gomez - Dave begins to lose it after he tosses what he believes to be a sacred relic that was found on his construction site. Thematically similar to "Bad Vibrations."

An Otherwise Ordinary Night by Steve Loiaconi - A dad driving home from work trying to get to his son's game encounters a girl running from a (not necessarily "the") Mothman on a deserted road. A play on the random side character who just exists to add to the body count trope.

[Katie Brunecz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

It Was All a Dream 2 once again explores the well-worn tropes of horror, from the title cliche of dreams, to haunted houses and supernatural serial killers, and seeks to subvert those expectations at every turn.

The first thing I will say is that all of the stories in this anthology are extremely well written, and stylistically diverse in a way that makes the anthology an interesting read. There's something for everyone in this collection.

As for the pieces themselves, they were admittedly hit or miss. Many were fun and unique, but there were several that I truly didn't 'get'until I read the authors note and discovered the intended trope. Beyond that, I felt that while the stories were well-written and compelling, a large number were lacking a true horror element.

Standout Stories for me:

We are Words

The Wind Through the Chimneys

The Luthier

Blood Sweat and Tears

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Tom Coombe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I have a story in this collection, same as in volume one.

It's hard to pick favorites here, but among the standouts are:

* D. Matthew Urban's "We Are Words," a delightfully inventive take on the "cursed book" trope
* Amanda Cecilia Lang's "Rocket Pop," a friendlier take on the scary clown trope than what I put forth last time out
* Cassandra Daucus's "Emily's Teeth," a funny and surprisingly sweet take on college-aged romance that I won't spoil by describing further (and if you think you've guessed what's going on based on the title, you haven't)
* Nadia Bulkin's "Bad Vibrations," which flips the "cursed object from a foreign land" trope on its head and has the best ending here.
* Steve Loaiconi's "An Otherwise Ordinary Night," a Mothman tale that gave me the biggest laugh in the collection.


Once again, I'm proud of the company that I'm in here, and grateful to Brandon at Hungry Shadow for giving me a chance (even if I have continuously called his press "Hungry Shadows" over the years).

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love horror short story collections, and especially ones written by a variety of authors because they are so completely unique to each other with style and content. The title immediately attracted me because it promised a reversal of what is normally expected, and it was very true to that. There were some stories where I was unsure which trope was being used, but thankfully there were notes from each author afterwards. While I enjoyed all of these stories, If a Cow Could Hold My Hand and Mary Mary, Quite Contrary stood out most to me. I'd happily recommend this book to all horror fans.

Thanks to BookSirens and the authors for an advanced copy to review.

[Brian Mcclain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another in a line of consistently impressive anthologies this collection did exactly what it set out to do by portraying imaginative and inventive twists on common tropes in horror writing. Some of them were fairly straight forward and some veered well off the beaten path but to a one they were imminently readable and enjoyable.

In fact I struggle to come up with a stand out work, if only because there wasn't a story that stood out from the pack either by being leagues ahead of the rest or leagues behind.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Doreen Fernandes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this collection of horror tropes. Some stories are really scary. Here you will come across several types of monsters, some human and others otherworldly. Accepting an invitation to a slumber party turns out to be a revelation when the hostess summons the spirit of Mary. Encountering circus clowns can be far from entertaining especially when you have to run for your life. Horror fans will love this book. Looking forward to more

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great horror anthology, I was hooked from the tagline, bad horror tropes done right. Each story had that horror element that I was looking for and enjoyed going from story to story. It took the bad trope and worked overall in this and hope to read more anthologies from this publisher.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kajsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun. I love almost all horror tropes there is (except for clowns) and this anthology contained a lot of different tropes. With this many short stories you can't love them all but the stories are all of good quality and enjoyable.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Joan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, Brandon Applegate

This collection of spooky tropes covers a wide variety of horrors. I enjoyed the stories some more the others.

The wind through the chimneys and bad vibrations were two of my top favorite stories in this collection.

I really like the art work before each story.

The cover art is very creepy.

[Emily Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories offer a unique twist on old movie classics. Does that kill. A strange plauge from outer space. Each one is different from the usual story.

[Jupiter Spook · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 for me

An interesting collection of horror stories, some of them were really good but quite a few were a miss for me.

[Cherry Nox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it… TBC

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second volume of an anthology series which, thanks to Brandon Applegate, is even better than the first. The wide-ranging stories are consistently well-written, the authors never stray from the assigned theme, and truly attempt to draw the reader in and make the best of their alloted length. I personally find these kinds of anthologies pure candy for the horror fan, and try to recommend them to everyone.