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Vermin
Someone has purchased the infamous Martindale mansion, long abandoned following an unspeakable murder. And it has a pest problem. A very big pest problem.
Originally published on Reflection's Edge.com, Vermin is classic horror designed to get under your skin. Read it with the lights on. And a can of Raid.
Originally published on Reflection's Edge.com, Vermin is classic horror designed to get under your skin. Read it with the lights on. And a can of Raid.
ebook
First published January 18, 2011
About the author
Allison M. Dickson
55 books305 followersAllison M. Dickson is the author of several well-reviewed independently published novels and short stories covering everything from horror and sci-fi to suspense.
Her major debut thriller, THE OTHER MRS MILLER, is due out from Putnam on 7/16/19! Learn more at her work at allisonmdickson.com.
Her major debut thriller, THE OTHER MRS MILLER, is due out from Putnam on 7/16/19! Learn more at her work at allisonmdickson.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
January 4, 2015
Creepy short story that makes your skin crawl. Confession time, I really, REALLY hate bugs. I am rather peaceful and only kill five bugs on sight (cockroaches, mosquitos, house flies, lice and ticks. Yes, the least two are arachnids, but you know what I mean.) The rest get a piece of paper under them and taken outside to a bush if the weather is nice. If the weather is nasty, I ignore the bug if I can.
With the house in this book, napalm. (SHUDDER)
Just thinking about the house and what happened to the people in it, my skin crawls and I feel slightly nauseated.
I got this for free on the Kindle a while ago and not sure what the price is now, but if you like horror and grossness with bugs and some gore, then this will probably be a worthwhile buy for you. I wouldn't pay more that $1.99 for it, because it is short, not due to quality of the story. I can see it being expanded into a full book. That would be interesting to read. Four solid, grossed out stars.
With the house in this book, napalm. (SHUDDER)
Just thinking about the house and what happened to the people in it, my skin crawls and I feel slightly nauseated.
I got this for free on the Kindle a while ago and not sure what the price is now, but if you like horror and grossness with bugs and some gore, then this will probably be a worthwhile buy for you. I wouldn't pay more that $1.99 for it, because it is short, not due to quality of the story. I can see it being expanded into a full book. That would be interesting to read. Four solid, grossed out stars.
November 17, 2011
I didn't realize who the author was until I began posting this review. I downloaded Vermin and Dust last night, and both were excellent! Vermin completely creeped me out. Excellent storytelling and I'm now a fan!
-Vincent Hobbes
-Vincent Hobbes
December 23, 2013
Scooping up a new (to me) short from Allison M. Dickson is always a treat. Even if I don't know what it's about when I pick it up, I do know that there will be horror, and there will most likely be some humor - my literary Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!! "You got your Horror in my Humor!", "You got your Humor in my Horror!"
Vermin is a squirmy, and sometimes uncomfortable read! Along with my hatred of the creepy-crawly, I have just recently read a Weird News article, with pictures, about an area in Australia that suffered major rainfall - leading to most of the land flooding. People were temporarily relocated, and the pics showed houses, fields, & trees covered by a fine, white 'layer' of what turns out to be spider webs!!Aaarrrgggggghhh!!! ::shudders:: The flooding forced these big, ugly, poisonous spiders to relocate, too. The web that is covering EVERYRHING (everything! Even saw a covered dog!) is jam packed with these things, not just a lot of unoccupied real estate with a spider here n there. Nope. Any direction you turn - you're walking into something and getting a face-full of spiders. So, yeah... bad timing on my part!!
I dare you to look! If you Google safer pics of just the trees, it's almost pretty - if you don't remember the horrifying details.
THAT, along with Allison's descriptive writing really put me right along side of Oscar while he goes through this haunted & infested house. Ok, well - maybe not along side of... how about a step behind? Oscar is already regretting his decision to do this job. He could have switched jobs with another exterminator after hearing about the house's history, and the extent of the infestation, but he knows decisions like that are never forgotten by the bosses. They're never forgotten by your co-workers, either! Rumors among the troops can ruin your reputation faster than any actual screw up, so he pulls up his big-boy pants, laces his boots, and heads into a nightmare worse than anything he could have ever imagined!
Be warned - if you're phobic, you may be sleeping with the lights on for a night. Or seven.
Vermin is a squirmy, and sometimes uncomfortable read! Along with my hatred of the creepy-crawly, I have just recently read a Weird News article, with pictures, about an area in Australia that suffered major rainfall - leading to most of the land flooding. People were temporarily relocated, and the pics showed houses, fields, & trees covered by a fine, white 'layer' of what turns out to be spider webs!!Aaarrrgggggghhh!!! ::shudders:: The flooding forced these big, ugly, poisonous spiders to relocate, too. The web that is covering EVERYRHING (everything! Even saw a covered dog!) is jam packed with these things, not just a lot of unoccupied real estate with a spider here n there. Nope. Any direction you turn - you're walking into something and getting a face-full of spiders. So, yeah... bad timing on my part!!
I dare you to look! If you Google safer pics of just the trees, it's almost pretty - if you don't remember the horrifying details.
THAT, along with Allison's descriptive writing really put me right along side of Oscar while he goes through this haunted & infested house. Ok, well - maybe not along side of... how about a step behind? Oscar is already regretting his decision to do this job. He could have switched jobs with another exterminator after hearing about the house's history, and the extent of the infestation, but he knows decisions like that are never forgotten by the bosses. They're never forgotten by your co-workers, either! Rumors among the troops can ruin your reputation faster than any actual screw up, so he pulls up his big-boy pants, laces his boots, and heads into a nightmare worse than anything he could have ever imagined!
Be warned - if you're phobic, you may be sleeping with the lights on for a night. Or seven.
August 15, 2011
Have you met my new obsession, Allison M. Dickson? Well, you definitely should. She writes like her brain is on fire and she's got a tanker truck of petrol just waiting to light that baby up even higher. This lovely little tale is creepy and freaky in the wonderful way that old Stephen King short stories used to be, and it has succeeded in keeping me from ever going into the crawlspace under my house again. Read with the lights on and a can or two of Raid within reach.
December 27, 2011
Totally reminded me of Stephen King and Bentley Little! This author is amazing and I hope to read newer selections soon! I highly recommend every single short story written by her already!
October 15, 2014
To start with, Insects and bugs are just plain creepy. Sure, we can be logical and know that they are smaller than us and easy to step on and kill. Or to rescue and lead outside depending on how "nature loving" you are. And we know that most of the time they can't truly hurt us, focusing on "safe" bugs and ignoring the black widow spiders and other similar poisonous small creatures. But at the same time, bugs creep us out. Whether it is the single cockroach that runs over your bare foot while you are retrieving some in the darkened garage or it is the 100s of ants that swarm the dog food bowl for the uneaten portion of the morning meal, they can give us the heebie jeebies.
So reading a short story about two exterminators who have to deal with an abandoned house that is overrun with bugs is a great way to freak readers out. Dickson does an awesome job of doing exactly that. The steps the exterminators take and their professionalism when they start out firmly root the book in reality. This just means that all the insect-centric moments are that much creepier.
My only negative was that the "big bad" seemed a bit of a cliche. Of course there are only so many things that you can do to your protagonist when they run into a ton of bugs and most of those things will seem like a cliche. However, it was only a minor negative to a solid story.
So reading a short story about two exterminators who have to deal with an abandoned house that is overrun with bugs is a great way to freak readers out. Dickson does an awesome job of doing exactly that. The steps the exterminators take and their professionalism when they start out firmly root the book in reality. This just means that all the insect-centric moments are that much creepier.
My only negative was that the "big bad" seemed a bit of a cliche. Of course there are only so many things that you can do to your protagonist when they run into a ton of bugs and most of those things will seem like a cliche. However, it was only a minor negative to a solid story.
October 22, 2012
This short horror story is the perfect read during this time of year (fall)--cool temperatures that make you snuggle by a fire, evenings where it is dark much too soon and haunted houses popping up on every corner. Have you really noticed the abandoned house a few doors down? Maybe you should!
Someone from out of town has purchased the Martindale mansion. It's been vacant for years and weird stories surround its past. To get the home ready for its new owners, a pest management company is hired to do removal and fumigation. That's when the horror starts!
Just what would happen to a house left vacant for years and bugs have been left to take over? Your imagination won't take you as far as this story goes.
While this was a short tale, it was just the perfect length for this creepy read. This story makes you actually feel as if things are crawling all over you and will leave you itching and twitching. It's hard to do horror, a really good horror. It's hard to compete with all the ideas that have been done a million times plus I think it's hard to just legitimately scare people anymore. Most people want blood and gore instead of the good old-fashioned creeps. This story is the good, old-fashioned creepy kind of story!
Someone from out of town has purchased the Martindale mansion. It's been vacant for years and weird stories surround its past. To get the home ready for its new owners, a pest management company is hired to do removal and fumigation. That's when the horror starts!
Just what would happen to a house left vacant for years and bugs have been left to take over? Your imagination won't take you as far as this story goes.
While this was a short tale, it was just the perfect length for this creepy read. This story makes you actually feel as if things are crawling all over you and will leave you itching and twitching. It's hard to do horror, a really good horror. It's hard to compete with all the ideas that have been done a million times plus I think it's hard to just legitimately scare people anymore. Most people want blood and gore instead of the good old-fashioned creeps. This story is the good, old-fashioned creepy kind of story!
November 27, 2011
Allison M. Dickson is an amazing writer. This story reminded me of Stephen King's short story called, "Graveyard Shift" where men are hired to clear out an industrial basement filled with rats. However having said that, that's the only similar thing for me.
I thought the attention to detail of all the creepy crawling things were so real, I just shivered thinking about it. It's a story you can read in an hour, but you will check the bed for certain before you get in it.
I wished this story had been longer. A full book, I would have liked to know more about the house, the history, the people in it. I think there was still a lot of story there. But if that was not her intention the story works just fine. I am truly looking forward to more work by this author!
Currently it's free on Amazon and worth the read.
I thought the attention to detail of all the creepy crawling things were so real, I just shivered thinking about it. It's a story you can read in an hour, but you will check the bed for certain before you get in it.
I wished this story had been longer. A full book, I would have liked to know more about the house, the history, the people in it. I think there was still a lot of story there. But if that was not her intention the story works just fine. I am truly looking forward to more work by this author!
Currently it's free on Amazon and worth the read.
June 17, 2013
What a GREAT READ!! This author was able to achieve what many authors who write a short story can't. This short story had a beginning, middle and an ending, it didn't seemed rushed and I was satisfied with the ending!! I say BRAVO to this author, BRAVO!! If you want to read a scary, creepy short story then this is for you! You will find yourself dusting your shoulder off and feeling something crawling on the back of your neck!! AWESOME just AWESOME! I love writers like this one!! Your going to enjoy this story, I sure did!!
October 18, 2011
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Get it off get it OFF!
This was a straightforward but spectacularly EWWW horror short story. A couple of exterminators have to clean up a house that's rumored to be haunted and discover more than they bargained for: it's either going to be a retread or it's going to be a classic, depending on the way it's pulled off, right? It's a classic. YUCK. I hate bugs.
This was a straightforward but spectacularly EWWW horror short story. A couple of exterminators have to clean up a house that's rumored to be haunted and discover more than they bargained for: it's either going to be a retread or it's going to be a classic, depending on the way it's pulled off, right? It's a classic. YUCK. I hate bugs.
January 21, 2012
A quick read to dive into a haunting atmosphere, where the carefully chosen words used create vivid & grotesque images. I didn't prefer the ending, it was a little bit safe and usual for me. Overall, it reminded me of the quirky, yet freaky, short flicks featured in Tales from the Darkside that I enjoyed as a kid.
January 19, 2013
All I could think of when reading this short story was my childhood home and the Stephen King CREEPSHOW interlude "They're Creeping Up on You." Both of these things make my skin crawl, literally. I would love to see what would happen if this house was subjected to a full-length narrative treatment.
December 9, 2011
This book had my heart bounding at every second, and gave me goosebumps all over my arms. The imagery was just fantastic, I could actually picture my self in the house. Although, I do have to say that it was disturbing in a few places. Just got to say that I recommend this book to everyone!
December 16, 2011
Okay, this one is creepy and gross.
Just the right amount to keep me from sleeping.
An exterminator team finds an odd job difficult to complete...
I was cringing the all time i was reading this one.
Dont know if i should thank or blame the author!
Recommended for horror short story!
Just the right amount to keep me from sleeping.
An exterminator team finds an odd job difficult to complete...
I was cringing the all time i was reading this one.
Dont know if i should thank or blame the author!
Recommended for horror short story!
January 16, 2012
I felt a realistic sense of horror while reading this, simultaneously feeling the imagined sensation of something vile crawling on my skin. Twilight Zone fans will love the twist at the end, and as with all the shorts by Dickson that I've read, this one was riveting and excellently paced too.
April 9, 2012
well, if that doesnt make some have a bug phobia, i dont know what will. It was very creepy for me. Im not one to get scared, but that one actually got my heart pounding. Great storyline, i can imagine it as one of those mini series, like Goosebumps, but better and not for children. It was goooood
January 19, 2013
An abandoned house full of creepy crawlies...yuk! Ms Dickson takes the reader into the story and makes their skin crawl. This is a great "revenge of the insect world meets an alien bug". Beware: not for the squeamish.
September 20, 2011
Zip up your hazmat suit and for the love of god, DON'T GO THROUGH THAT DOOR! A creepy, darkly fascinating little scare.
December 8, 2011
What a truely terrifying short story! It's been a long time since I've read anything that honestly made my heart pound and had me cringing under the covers. Don't read this one alone in the dark!
December 11, 2011
I really liked this story. I can't wait to read others by this auther.
January 28, 2012
I liked it. In a creepy crawly kind of way. Pretty short but packs a punch. Makes me want to check out more of her stuff... she seems to have quite a following.
March 13, 2012
So good. So creepy and chilling. Really, really good. I want more!
March 21, 2012
Dickson's horror stories have a way of making you very glad you are not the main character by the end! A good read in a classic horror style.
May 26, 2012
Super creepy. Pretty scarey! Not what i normally read.
July 11, 2013
Although short in length this horror story were was very good. It actually gave me goose bumps. Kudos to Mrs. Dickson on an excellent job.
November 12, 2013
Good creepy bug story.
July 28, 2014
I absolutely loved this little gem. It is scary and funny, a perfect quick read. It would be a great story to tell over a camp fire too.
July 10, 2012
Very good short story about an exterminator. That sounds weird but it's true.
May 22, 2012
After reading Dust, I was super excited to read some more stories by Allison M. Dickson. And so I dove into this story with high expectations. The first page was filled with excellent descriptions that painted a vivid mental image. You can tell the author loves using metaphors and is very skillful at putting them to use in her stories. But by the end, unfortunately I just didn't enjoy this one as much as I had hoped.
Basically we have the local "haunted house". This house was the scene of a horrible massacre, where a senator killed his own family. It has sat empty for quite some time and as expected, has been overtaken by vermin. Someone has decided to purchase the house and clean it up, so the local exterminators have arrived on the scene to clear out the infestation. There is Wes, an inspector who rarely works in the field anymore but wants to personally oversee this job, and there is Oscar. Oh Oscar.
I think he is one of the main reasons I couldn't enjoy the story. He seems to be so painfully inept at his job that it was hard for the story to maintain one iota of believeability. Sure, he's cleaning out a house that was the scene of gruesome murders. I'll give him that. I would be jumpy too. But he freaks out a little too easily. Not only does he panic, attempt to run away and has his foot go through the moldy floor, he then kicks a hole in the wall in the process of freeing his foot. As the new homeowner, I'd be pretty ticked off.
Things go downhill from here for our unfortunate exterminators. Turns out this house is infested beyond their wildest imaginations. Since it is a rather short story, I'm going to use spoiler tags for a moment:
I have to say, the ending almost makes up for the rest of the story's shortcomings. It makes your skin crawl. It makes you want to stock up on Raid. But overall, I feel that the story relies too much on your fear of bugs instead of being a truly good read. I am still looking forward to reading more stories by this author though!
Basically we have the local "haunted house". This house was the scene of a horrible massacre, where a senator killed his own family. It has sat empty for quite some time and as expected, has been overtaken by vermin. Someone has decided to purchase the house and clean it up, so the local exterminators have arrived on the scene to clear out the infestation. There is Wes, an inspector who rarely works in the field anymore but wants to personally oversee this job, and there is Oscar. Oh Oscar.
I think he is one of the main reasons I couldn't enjoy the story. He seems to be so painfully inept at his job that it was hard for the story to maintain one iota of believeability. Sure, he's cleaning out a house that was the scene of gruesome murders. I'll give him that. I would be jumpy too. But he freaks out a little too easily. Not only does he panic, attempt to run away and has his foot go through the moldy floor, he then kicks a hole in the wall in the process of freeing his foot. As the new homeowner, I'd be pretty ticked off.
Things go downhill from here for our unfortunate exterminators. Turns out this house is infested beyond their wildest imaginations. Since it is a rather short story, I'm going to use spoiler tags for a moment:
I have to say, the ending almost makes up for the rest of the story's shortcomings. It makes your skin crawl. It makes you want to stock up on Raid. But overall, I feel that the story relies too much on your fear of bugs instead of being a truly good read. I am still looking forward to reading more stories by this author though!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews