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The Horror at Pooh Corner
Having very little brain can be a blessing. Or a curse!
The Hundred Acre Wood has been part of the consciousness of the world for a very long time. For most of the history of the world, it existed on the fringes of awareness, just there, in the corner of your eye. In the early days of the Twentieth Century, a well-meaning fellow by the name of Alan Milne recorded some of the adventures of the denizens of that fell place, though he did brighten the real stories a bit in order to appeal to the children of the day. Now, those real stories can be told.
The dark truth of heffalumps and woozles, what the bees are truly hiding, what happened to all the adults, the story behind Pooh's obsession with hunny, what caused Eeyore's gloomy outlook, why Piglet is truly afraid all the time, why Kanga and Roo really came to the Hundred Acre Wood, what Pooh and Christopher Robin discovered at the North Pole, what caused the great flooding of the Wood, the true purpose for Pooh poetry compositions, the story of Owl's Uncle Robert, and more. These stories, both terrifying and humorous (and sometimes both), can be found in The Horror at Pooh Corner.
The veil between insanity and the Hundred Acre Wood is thin, and cosmic horrors and other fell beings frequently cross over. Find here the true stories of how these encounters affect the denizens of the Hundred Acre Wood.
The Hundred Acre Wood has been part of the consciousness of the world for a very long time. For most of the history of the world, it existed on the fringes of awareness, just there, in the corner of your eye. In the early days of the Twentieth Century, a well-meaning fellow by the name of Alan Milne recorded some of the adventures of the denizens of that fell place, though he did brighten the real stories a bit in order to appeal to the children of the day. Now, those real stories can be told.
The dark truth of heffalumps and woozles, what the bees are truly hiding, what happened to all the adults, the story behind Pooh's obsession with hunny, what caused Eeyore's gloomy outlook, why Piglet is truly afraid all the time, why Kanga and Roo really came to the Hundred Acre Wood, what Pooh and Christopher Robin discovered at the North Pole, what caused the great flooding of the Wood, the true purpose for Pooh poetry compositions, the story of Owl's Uncle Robert, and more. These stories, both terrifying and humorous (and sometimes both), can be found in The Horror at Pooh Corner.
The veil between insanity and the Hundred Acre Wood is thin, and cosmic horrors and other fell beings frequently cross over. Find here the true stories of how these encounters affect the denizens of the Hundred Acre Wood.
- GenresHorror
431 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 20, 2024
9 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Maberry
520 books7,785 followersJONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 20, 2024
Maybe should rate this higher? It was pretty much exactly as advertised. Some of the stories were fantastic. Many were okay. And some I didn’t care for. As I am not generally a big Horror person it doesn’t mean the book was bad. Generally all the authors understood the assignment and did a great job. I’m just not the main target audience on this one. It was good enough. It didn’t ruin my childhood memories. Many stories were clever and most well done.
March 4, 2025
This mash-up of Winnie-the-Pooh with elements of Lovecraftian horror isn't as good as the earlier The Call of Poohthulhu anthology, but it still has just enough good bits to earn a thumbs up.
• In Which We Encounter the Shadow Over Grandfather / Esther M. Friesner
~ 4 stars~
Piglet's grandfather -- Trespassers William -- has called down the eldritch gods upon the Hundred-Acre Wood with the promise of a sacrifice. But there are some forces even the gods don't dare trifle with.
• The Cat and the Dragon / Kary English
~ 2 stars ~
Apparently there are going to be several of these silly little poems scattered throughout the book in tribute to Milne's books of verse, the lesser works in the Pooh canon.
• In Which Piglet Sings Cottleston Pie / D. J. Butler
~ 3 stars~
Pooh and Eeyore are very out of character as erudite schemers who usually work to hide the Hundred-Acre Wood from Lovecraftian forces, but now that something has gone wrong and a maelstrom is upon them, they need Piglet to fly into the breach and save the day. The use of alter egos (Why hello, Henry Pootel! Long time no see!) is clever, and Piglet gets to show some real heroism.
• In Which Christopher Robin Visits the In-Between Places / Alex Shvartsman
~ 2 stars ~
Now this is just too dark. The characters are all human, and there are drug-addicts and serial killers. It's closer to the Pooh slasher movie than the previous two tales. And what goes down with Rabbit's "friends and relations" . . . well . . . that's just wrong. Icky and bleak.
• In Which Piglet Falls Out, and Then In Again . . . / Cedar Sanderson
~ 2 stars ~
Piglet and Tigger set off on an expotition to find acre number one-hundred-and-one. And Piglet does find his way into something. Finding his way out, however, isn't quite so easy, and he finds himself a Wedged Pig in Great Tightness. (It all comes of not having dimensional portals big enough.) Instead of having any sort of fun with it, though, the author is content to just scare Piglet and call it a day. Since everything scares Piglet, this is not the impressive feat the author seems to think it is.
• In Which You Never Can Tell With Bees / Eric James Stone
~ 2 stars ~
Ain't no apocalypse gonna keep Pooh from a potential new beehive full of honey.
• In Which Christopher Robin Faces the Hundred-Acre Monster / Brad R. Torgersen
~ 2 stars ~
An adult Christopher Robin brings his fiancée to the Hundred Acre Wood to introduce her to his childhood friends -- and wait, isn't this the plot of Pooh: Blood and Honey? Will there be a body count? Thankfully, no, but it does try to introduce a magic mythology, have a battle, and get all sentimental in a manner that was just too clunky for me.
• In Which Pooh Discovers Woozles in the Walls / Janci Patterson
~ 2 stars ~
Pooh hears buzzing in his walls. He hopes it is caused by bees making honey, but finding his way into the wall proves tricky. As always, his gluttony will be his downfall.
• Bump, Bump, Bump! / Kary English
~ 2 stars ~
Oh, bother. Another of those useless short poems.
• In Which Eeyore Tries to See Forever . . . / Jonathan Maberry
~ 2 stars ~
Eeyore has lost his tail again. Shoggoth-the-Rat offers to help find it with a spell from De Vermis Mysteriis. Myself, I prefer to simply retrace my steps in such a situation. Less chance of losing one's soul, I've found.
• In Which Owl Tries to Rescue His Uncle Robert / Julie Frost
~ 2 stars ~
Eeyore has set up wards to protect the Hundred-Acre Wood from outside forces. But today those wards are gone, and Owl is talking about needing to bring his Uncle Robert to the forest. As the first half of the book has taught me, visitors never go over well in these stories.
• In Which Woozles Attempt to Manifest Themselves in the Midst of a Friendly Gathering / Jody Lynn Nye
~ 3 stars~
Every day, Owl asks Pooh to tell him about his dreams, for it seems Pooh is able to tell the future through an inner sense of which he is unaware. Owl uses the information to help the other residents of the Hundred-Acre Wood to prepare secret defenses against evil intruders. They also do their best to keep Pooh from seeing the invaders out of fear that if he knew what was happening he would lose his inner sense and leave the forest defenseless. So of course, according to Pooh's most recent dream, the biggest incursion ever is about to happen, and they have only one long-shot idea as to how will they keep Pooh from seeing a horde of the most dangerous Woozles and Heffalumps.
• In Which Rabbit Investigates Shrödinger’s Owl / Gustavo Bondoni
~ 2 stars ~
Rabbit is tired of Owl's endless stories about his Uncle Robert, especially since they seem to contradict each other as to whether Uncle Robert is alive or dead. Rabbit sets out with Eeyore to resolve the matter by finding the old owl, but the answer is maddening.
• In Which Piglet Discovers a Very Unpleasant Truth / Jaleta Clegg
~ 3 stars ~
Piglet finds a new friend who helps him realize just how much anger he has been suppressing about the way his friends in the Hundred-Acre Wood push him around and take advantage of him. Pooh is distracted by his own issues but soon finds he has to do something about Piglet's new attitude ASAP. A strong start gives way to a faltering non-ending.
• In Which Owl Reads a Story with Unintended Consequences / Leigh Saunders
~ 3 stars ~
Owl picks the wrong book to read aloud for storytime and soon Rabbit's friends and relations are entranced and creepy-crawlies are underfoot. It's up to Kanga, Rabbit, Eeyore and Piglet to break the spell. I have to say, I've been liking how powerful Kanga is coming off in multiple stories in this anthology.
• In Which Christopher Robin Has Grown, and Tells a Story of His Own / Michaelbrent Collings
~ 2 stars ~
A dark and dreary retelling of Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter Two: In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place with very annoying first-person narration that feels out of place in the Poohniverse.
• Six Glass Jars / Kary English
~ 2 stars ~
The poet strikes again.
• In Which Pooh Is Reacquainted with the Cult of Silence / Steve Diamond
~ 2 stars ~
Pooh's a world-weary, honey smoking police detective on the trail of a serial killer with the help of his PTSD-suffering sidekick, Piglet.
• In Which Pooh Discovers the Secret of the Hunny / Joseph Capdepon II
~ 2 stars ~
Pooh's deep into a honey jag, and between blackouts all he can think about is refilling his empty pot, unable to understand why all his friends are upset and keep disappearing.
• In Which We Are 666 / Lee Allred
~ 3 stars ~
This isn't a great story, but the change of pace is nice, jumping off with a gunfight and reminding us of A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's war experience as they are recruited in 1927 to take part in a covert military intelligence operation against the machinations of Aleister Crowley.
• Wind in the Wood / Kary English
~ 2 stars ~
This is my favorite of the poems because it is the last one. Thank goodness that is over.
• In Which War Comes to the Hundred Acre Wood / Lehua Parker
~ 2 stars ~
And now we are reminded that Christopher Robin Milne was also a war veteran as we follow him on a World War II mission behind enemy lines to blow up a critical bridge. But wait, is this bridge in France or the Hundred Acre Wood or both? Pooh, dynamite is the wrong sort of stick for Pooh Sticks.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents:
• We Begin with a Bear of Little Brain / Joe Monson
• In Which We Encounter the Shadow Over Grandfather / Esther M. Friesner
• The Cat and the Dragon / Kary English
• In Which Piglet Sings Cottleston Pie / D. J. Butler
• In Which Christopher Robin Visits the In-Between Places / Alex Shvartsman
• In Which Piglet Falls Out, and Then In Again . . . / Cedar Sanderson
• In Which You Never Can Tell With Bees / Eric James Stone
• In Which Christopher Robin Faces the Hundred-Acre Monster / Brad R. Torgersen
• In Which Pooh Discovers Woozles in the Walls / Janci Patterson
• Bump, Bump, Bump! / Kary English
• In Which Eeyore Tries to See Forever . . . / Jonathan Maberry
• In Which Owl Tries to Rescue His Uncle Robert / Julie Frost
• In Which Woozles Attempt to Manifest Themselves in the Midst of a Friendly Gathering / Jody Lynn Nye
• In Which Rabbit Investigates Shrödinger’s Owl / Gustavo Bondoni
• In Which Piglet Discovers a Very Unpleasant Truth / Jaleta Clegg
• In Which Owl Reads a Story with Unintended Consequences / Leigh Saunders
• In Which Christopher Robin Has Grown, and Tells a Story of His Own / Michaelbrent Collings
• Six Glass Jars / Kary English
• In Which Pooh Is Reacquainted with the Cult of Silence / Steve Diamond
• In Which Pooh Discovers the Secret of the Hunny / Joseph Capdepon II
• In Which We Are 666 / Lee Allred
• Wind in the Wood / Kary English
• In Which War Comes to the Hundred Acre Wood / Lehua Parker
• A Request
• About the Contributors
• Additional Copyright Information
• In Which We Encounter the Shadow Over Grandfather / Esther M. Friesner
~ 4 stars~
Piglet's grandfather -- Trespassers William -- has called down the eldritch gods upon the Hundred-Acre Wood with the promise of a sacrifice. But there are some forces even the gods don't dare trifle with.
• The Cat and the Dragon / Kary English
~ 2 stars ~
Apparently there are going to be several of these silly little poems scattered throughout the book in tribute to Milne's books of verse, the lesser works in the Pooh canon.
• In Which Piglet Sings Cottleston Pie / D. J. Butler
~ 3 stars~
Pooh and Eeyore are very out of character as erudite schemers who usually work to hide the Hundred-Acre Wood from Lovecraftian forces, but now that something has gone wrong and a maelstrom is upon them, they need Piglet to fly into the breach and save the day. The use of alter egos (Why hello, Henry Pootel! Long time no see!) is clever, and Piglet gets to show some real heroism.
• In Which Christopher Robin Visits the In-Between Places / Alex Shvartsman
~ 2 stars ~
Now this is just too dark. The characters are all human, and there are drug-addicts and serial killers. It's closer to the Pooh slasher movie than the previous two tales. And what goes down with Rabbit's "friends and relations" . . . well . . . that's just wrong. Icky and bleak.
• In Which Piglet Falls Out, and Then In Again . . . / Cedar Sanderson
~ 2 stars ~
Piglet and Tigger set off on an expotition to find acre number one-hundred-and-one. And Piglet does find his way into something. Finding his way out, however, isn't quite so easy, and he finds himself a Wedged Pig in Great Tightness. (It all comes of not having dimensional portals big enough.) Instead of having any sort of fun with it, though, the author is content to just scare Piglet and call it a day. Since everything scares Piglet, this is not the impressive feat the author seems to think it is.
• In Which You Never Can Tell With Bees / Eric James Stone
~ 2 stars ~
Ain't no apocalypse gonna keep Pooh from a potential new beehive full of honey.
• In Which Christopher Robin Faces the Hundred-Acre Monster / Brad R. Torgersen
~ 2 stars ~
An adult Christopher Robin brings his fiancée to the Hundred Acre Wood to introduce her to his childhood friends -- and wait, isn't this the plot of Pooh: Blood and Honey? Will there be a body count? Thankfully, no, but it does try to introduce a magic mythology, have a battle, and get all sentimental in a manner that was just too clunky for me.
• In Which Pooh Discovers Woozles in the Walls / Janci Patterson
~ 2 stars ~
Pooh hears buzzing in his walls. He hopes it is caused by bees making honey, but finding his way into the wall proves tricky. As always, his gluttony will be his downfall.
• Bump, Bump, Bump! / Kary English
~ 2 stars ~
Oh, bother. Another of those useless short poems.
• In Which Eeyore Tries to See Forever . . . / Jonathan Maberry
~ 2 stars ~
Eeyore has lost his tail again. Shoggoth-the-Rat offers to help find it with a spell from De Vermis Mysteriis. Myself, I prefer to simply retrace my steps in such a situation. Less chance of losing one's soul, I've found.
• In Which Owl Tries to Rescue His Uncle Robert / Julie Frost
~ 2 stars ~
Eeyore has set up wards to protect the Hundred-Acre Wood from outside forces. But today those wards are gone, and Owl is talking about needing to bring his Uncle Robert to the forest. As the first half of the book has taught me, visitors never go over well in these stories.
• In Which Woozles Attempt to Manifest Themselves in the Midst of a Friendly Gathering / Jody Lynn Nye
~ 3 stars~
Every day, Owl asks Pooh to tell him about his dreams, for it seems Pooh is able to tell the future through an inner sense of which he is unaware. Owl uses the information to help the other residents of the Hundred-Acre Wood to prepare secret defenses against evil intruders. They also do their best to keep Pooh from seeing the invaders out of fear that if he knew what was happening he would lose his inner sense and leave the forest defenseless. So of course, according to Pooh's most recent dream, the biggest incursion ever is about to happen, and they have only one long-shot idea as to how will they keep Pooh from seeing a horde of the most dangerous Woozles and Heffalumps.
• In Which Rabbit Investigates Shrödinger’s Owl / Gustavo Bondoni
~ 2 stars ~
Rabbit is tired of Owl's endless stories about his Uncle Robert, especially since they seem to contradict each other as to whether Uncle Robert is alive or dead. Rabbit sets out with Eeyore to resolve the matter by finding the old owl, but the answer is maddening.
• In Which Piglet Discovers a Very Unpleasant Truth / Jaleta Clegg
~ 3 stars ~
Piglet finds a new friend who helps him realize just how much anger he has been suppressing about the way his friends in the Hundred-Acre Wood push him around and take advantage of him. Pooh is distracted by his own issues but soon finds he has to do something about Piglet's new attitude ASAP. A strong start gives way to a faltering non-ending.
• In Which Owl Reads a Story with Unintended Consequences / Leigh Saunders
~ 3 stars ~
Owl picks the wrong book to read aloud for storytime and soon Rabbit's friends and relations are entranced and creepy-crawlies are underfoot. It's up to Kanga, Rabbit, Eeyore and Piglet to break the spell. I have to say, I've been liking how powerful Kanga is coming off in multiple stories in this anthology.
• In Which Christopher Robin Has Grown, and Tells a Story of His Own / Michaelbrent Collings
~ 2 stars ~
A dark and dreary retelling of Winnie-the-Pooh Chapter Two: In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place with very annoying first-person narration that feels out of place in the Poohniverse.
• Six Glass Jars / Kary English
~ 2 stars ~
The poet strikes again.
• In Which Pooh Is Reacquainted with the Cult of Silence / Steve Diamond
~ 2 stars ~
Pooh's a world-weary, honey smoking police detective on the trail of a serial killer with the help of his PTSD-suffering sidekick, Piglet.
• In Which Pooh Discovers the Secret of the Hunny / Joseph Capdepon II
~ 2 stars ~
Pooh's deep into a honey jag, and between blackouts all he can think about is refilling his empty pot, unable to understand why all his friends are upset and keep disappearing.
• In Which We Are 666 / Lee Allred
~ 3 stars ~
This isn't a great story, but the change of pace is nice, jumping off with a gunfight and reminding us of A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's war experience as they are recruited in 1927 to take part in a covert military intelligence operation against the machinations of Aleister Crowley.
• Wind in the Wood / Kary English
~ 2 stars ~
This is my favorite of the poems because it is the last one. Thank goodness that is over.
• In Which War Comes to the Hundred Acre Wood / Lehua Parker
~ 2 stars ~
And now we are reminded that Christopher Robin Milne was also a war veteran as we follow him on a World War II mission behind enemy lines to blow up a critical bridge. But wait, is this bridge in France or the Hundred Acre Wood or both? Pooh, dynamite is the wrong sort of stick for Pooh Sticks.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents:
• We Begin with a Bear of Little Brain / Joe Monson
• In Which We Encounter the Shadow Over Grandfather / Esther M. Friesner
• The Cat and the Dragon / Kary English
• In Which Piglet Sings Cottleston Pie / D. J. Butler
• In Which Christopher Robin Visits the In-Between Places / Alex Shvartsman
• In Which Piglet Falls Out, and Then In Again . . . / Cedar Sanderson
• In Which You Never Can Tell With Bees / Eric James Stone
• In Which Christopher Robin Faces the Hundred-Acre Monster / Brad R. Torgersen
• In Which Pooh Discovers Woozles in the Walls / Janci Patterson
• Bump, Bump, Bump! / Kary English
• In Which Eeyore Tries to See Forever . . . / Jonathan Maberry
• In Which Owl Tries to Rescue His Uncle Robert / Julie Frost
• In Which Woozles Attempt to Manifest Themselves in the Midst of a Friendly Gathering / Jody Lynn Nye
• In Which Rabbit Investigates Shrödinger’s Owl / Gustavo Bondoni
• In Which Piglet Discovers a Very Unpleasant Truth / Jaleta Clegg
• In Which Owl Reads a Story with Unintended Consequences / Leigh Saunders
• In Which Christopher Robin Has Grown, and Tells a Story of His Own / Michaelbrent Collings
• Six Glass Jars / Kary English
• In Which Pooh Is Reacquainted with the Cult of Silence / Steve Diamond
• In Which Pooh Discovers the Secret of the Hunny / Joseph Capdepon II
• In Which We Are 666 / Lee Allred
• Wind in the Wood / Kary English
• In Which War Comes to the Hundred Acre Wood / Lehua Parker
• A Request
• About the Contributors
• Additional Copyright Information
Read
September 13, 2025This is a pleasant blend of Winnie the Pooh and Lovecraftian horror, sometimes creepy, sometimes silly; funny, thrilling, and tragic. The Elder Gods and other terrors mix it up with the plush anthropomorphic critters in the Hundred Acre Wood and vast amounts of imagination, and it's not always clear who'll win.
Most books tend to have a typo or two or other errors, but the final third of the book has stories with major editing fails - typos, wrong words, misspelled words, missing words, and extra words. For all that, it's still very enjoyable.
Most books tend to have a typo or two or other errors, but the final third of the book has stories with major editing fails - typos, wrong words, misspelled words, missing words, and extra words. For all that, it's still very enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews