Dead Bait 4

Dead Bait #4

by Cameron Pierce (editor)

Beneath the surface, no one can hear you scream.

By turns terrifying and hilarious, Dead Bait 4 is anthology about the fears that dwell beneath the surface — and within the human heart. Lake monsters, lamprey invasions, and humanoid fish from the deep are only some of the strange encounters in this collection of twenty-two stories of aquatic horror. From splatterpunk to horror comedy to literary surrealism, Dead Bait 4 is as wide-ranging as the bodies of water that encompass this planet.


When the fish come out, you’d better believe there will be consequences.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Short Stories

348 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 27, 2017

About the author

Cameron Pierce is the author of eleven books, including the Wonderland Book Award-winning collection Lost in Cat Brain Land. His work has appeared in The Barcelona Review, Gray's Sporting Journal, Hobart, The Big Click, and Vol. I Brooklyn, and has been reviewed and featured on Comedy Central and The Guardian. He was also the author of the column Fishing and Beer, where he interviewed acclaimed angler Bill Dance and John Lurie of Fishing with John. Pierce is the head editor of Lazy Fascist Press and has edited three anthologies, including The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade. He lives with his wife in Astoria, Oregon.

Reviews

[David Keaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just cracked open Dead Bait 4, and I've burned through almost all of it already. I'm not sure what I expected but this is really great stuff. Thoughtful, top-quality stories, and not just because water-based horror is a big favorite of mine. When I finished the first story, "The Thief Who Married the Sea" by C.S. Nelson, I immediately re-read it, both because I was a little lost and because it was amazing. There's that sweet spot of wanting more detail and trying to understand exactly what just went down, and I can see why Cameron Pierce began the book here. And Christine Morgan's "They Wait," a story from a surprising POV, was so engaging that I'm still very sad but energized afterwards. One of the top stories from the book for sure, and a unique flip on the rest of the plots. Other standouts: Josh Chaplinsky's "For the Seafood Lover in You" has the funniest title and finally takes a certain Red Lobster staple to task in gross, hysterical fashion, Adam Cesare's "The Blackest Eyes" has some movie-bound terror and a clever spin on the aquatic theme by basing his tale in a special-effects studio, Max Booth's "Wet Texas" had a fun Stephen King "Jaunt" vibe with all the screaming at the end (raising a question I never considered), Gabino Iglesias' "Cold Grave" does a short and nasty allegorical hybrid crime/horror piece (about hybrids!), Weston Osche's "Catfish Gods" was a beefy story with a confident, river kids/Joe Lansdale vibe, as well as a big-ass catfish. And MP Johnson's "Fish Launcher" is definitely in my top three here, a crazy, full-throttle romp that's both oddly touching and has the most baffling beast in the book, like something someone would have painted on the side of a '70s van or a black-light poster. Spoiler, I'm just going to go ahead and describe it a bit: Imagine a giant googly-eyed skull bobbing around in the water firing goddamn fish at people like a T-shirt cannon and you're almost there, kinda played out like a segment from Creepshow 5 or something. And the last story by Nate Southard, "Where the River Bends" was a perfect finale. I felt like I was in editor Pierce's head (or water) with his thesis here. Other fine stories throughout. Anyhow, it's cool to know some of these people. They're good at this.

(full disclosure: I have a story in here about a flea)

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull, forgettable, middling.

[Shiv (The Horrorlander) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dead Bait series is a fun set of horror short story collections featured around water horror.
The first book was fantastic, second one was pretty good, third one was alright with a downturn in quality... so how did this fourth book fair?
It was good actually, quality goes back up to conclude the series.

The short stories which impressed me:

"The Appetite of Old Simba": About a reporter who boards a ship of fisherman in the hopes of catching a glance at an infamous sea monster around these local waters. Things get strange when he sees one of the men has a tattoo of a naval crucifix with a jellyfish in place of Jesus...and Jesus do things get wild!

"For The Seafood Lover In You": A fantastic and horrific story with some horror comedy elements, about some people visiting a seafood restaurant and a sea louse parasite lodge itself of one of their mouths, feasting on the tongue. Things get crazier and crazier when you find it out it might be sentient with some malicious plans...

"Out There Having Fun": You ever heard of a sea cucumber? Look it up, and now imagine one of the most horrific and gruesome stories about a group of friends enjoying some time at the beach in a typical beach movie fashion, until they see and investigate some strange things out in the water. NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH

"Catfish Gods": A coming-of-ageish story about some boys going fishing near a local dam in a lake they admire, Moby Dick style to fish for some supposed giant catfish that are said to lurk in the murky bottoms where weeds seemingly reach out to grab and drown you... The story then ends up actually being beautiful and thought-provoking without the artsy fartsy stuff, which is great!

Some other fun stories in here, a few boring/bad ones at the very beginning of the book you have to get through. And always...stay away FROM THE WATER PEOPLE!

[Bob Comparda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great oceanic horror themed book of 22 short stories. My favorite was from Andrew Wayne James of whom I've never heard of before, some other stand outs were Max Booth III, Matt Serafini, Nate Southard, and Christine Morgan. Only got tired of reading stories about fish a little bit. I'd recommend to anyone who likes Jaws.

CS Nelson - The Thief Who Married the Sea ⭐
Meghan Arcuri - The Most Painful Companion ⭐⭐⭐
MP Johnson - Fish Launcher ⭐⭐
Adam Cesare - The Blackest Eyes ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dyer Wilk - The Appetite of Old Simba ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Brendan Vidito - The Black Waters of Babylon ⭐⭐
Max Booth III - Wet Texas ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Joshua Chaplinsky - For the Seafood Lover In You ⭐⭐⭐
S.T. Cartledge - The Dunpeal Trawler ⭐⭐
Bram Riddlebarger - The Wheel House ⭐⭐⭐
Sam Reeve - You'll Like It Here ⭐⭐⭐
Matt Serafini - Yacht Rock ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Amber Fallon - Lamprey Luau ⭐⭐⭐
Christine Morgan - They Wait ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Andrew Wayne Adams - Out There Having Fun ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
David James Keaton - A Prayer for the Surfer Boys ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Weston Ochse - Catfish Gods ⭐
Gabino Iglesias - Cold Grave ⭐⭐⭐
D.G. Sutter - John Dory ⭐⭐
C.V. Hunt - It Came From the Sea ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Kathryn E. McGee - Room of Water ⭐⭐
Nate Southard - Where the River Bends ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Jillian]

Only read Wet Texas by Max Booth iii 5/5 obv