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Something Terrible
SINS OF THE FATHER
A father uses gene doping, manipulating his child’s DNA, to create the perfect son, the “Alpha Male”, with disastrous results.
SOMETHING TERRIBLE
A man believes his best friend has molested his daughter and sets out to avenge her. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, he takes out the years of pain his daughter will experience in the future on his friend, one pound of flesh at a time.
SAMSARA
A Buddhist is reincarnated over and over, dying in increasingly horrific ways.
AMBER ALERT
A man uses black magic and genetic engineering to end racism and discrimination for good by creating a new master race to succeed mankind.
Four brutal novellas and a bonus story from one of horror fiction’s most extreme and controversial authors…and his son.
Black Voltage #45
A father uses gene doping, manipulating his child’s DNA, to create the perfect son, the “Alpha Male”, with disastrous results.
SOMETHING TERRIBLE
A man believes his best friend has molested his daughter and sets out to avenge her. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, he takes out the years of pain his daughter will experience in the future on his friend, one pound of flesh at a time.
SAMSARA
A Buddhist is reincarnated over and over, dying in increasingly horrific ways.
AMBER ALERT
A man uses black magic and genetic engineering to end racism and discrimination for good by creating a new master race to succeed mankind.
Four brutal novellas and a bonus story from one of horror fiction’s most extreme and controversial authors…and his son.
Black Voltage #45
214 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
37 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
Wrath James White
127 books1,160 followersWrath James White is a badass motherfucker who writes baddasss books for other badass motherfuckers. He is a J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award winner and a Bram Stoker Award nominee with over two dozen books in print.
Wrath is the author of RABBIT HUNT, THE BUG COLLECTOR, and such extreme horror classics as THE RESURRECTIONIST (now a major motion picture titled "Come Back To Me") SUCCULENT PREY, it's sequel PREY DRIVE, 400 DAYS OF OPPRESSION, and many others.
To follow his Substack, purchase books, get the latest updates about upcoming releases, signed books, merchandise, and more, go to:
https://linktr.ee/wrathjameswhite
Wrath is the author of RABBIT HUNT, THE BUG COLLECTOR, and such extreme horror classics as THE RESURRECTIONIST (now a major motion picture titled "Come Back To Me") SUCCULENT PREY, it's sequel PREY DRIVE, 400 DAYS OF OPPRESSION, and many others.
To follow his Substack, purchase books, get the latest updates about upcoming releases, signed books, merchandise, and more, go to:
https://linktr.ee/wrathjameswhite
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 14, 2019
'Bodacious' women, 'terrific pain' and the rest of the tropes aren't really my fav ones. Still, quite readable and quite horrible.
Q:
My father was not a perfect man. His imperfections were his own personal obsession that he’d spent a lifetime trying to overcome. From track to gymnastics to boxing and wrestling, he’d tried and failed to excel in athletics even as he made a name for himself in science and academics, winning awards and research grants over scientists decades his senior. But this was not enough. He threw himself into art and music with the same zeal with which he’d attacked athletics, with similar results. He spent more than a decade laboring at the piano and the violin and nearly as much time smearing oils and watercolors over a canvas. He even wrote several dozen abysmal poems before conceding defeat somewhere in my tenth or eleventh year of life. I can still recall the joy I felt at no longer having to watch him curse and swear over some hideous mockery of a landscape or having to cover my ears as he drudged his way through Beethoven or Mozart, making a soulless cacophony on the piano. That was, until he refocused his obsession with perfection on me.
My father could not accept his limitations. He could not accept the idea of limitations as a human condition. He believed deep in his soul that anything could be achieved with hard work, that a man’s will could bend and shape time and space. He believed in the limitless potential of the human spirit. In that sense, he was an idealist, a romantic, you might say. His perfect human was intellectually, creatively, physically, and aesthetically gifted, Nietzsche’s the Übermensch. It tortured him that he had only mastered the intellectual, but I believe his greatest disappointment was his appearance, his eyes. (c)
Q:
Everything in our culture is determined by beauty, from the car you drive, the house you buy, your clothes, and even your job prospects. How many beautiful homeless people do you know? The economic, social, romantic, and even political opportunities are exponentially higher for more attractive people. (c)
Q:
How do you know they were inferior?
Because they weren’t me. (c)
Q:
He doesn’t suffer from these disorders. We suffer from them. The public. (c)
Q:
I would have quit long ago, saved myself the nightmares, except not helping makes the nightmares worse. I can’t stand to think that there are children out there, lost, in the hands of some pervert, that I could have helped find. So I look for them. I volunteer for every search. I am the hero. I wish I could stop. (c)
Q:
My father was not a perfect man. His imperfections were his own personal obsession that he’d spent a lifetime trying to overcome. From track to gymnastics to boxing and wrestling, he’d tried and failed to excel in athletics even as he made a name for himself in science and academics, winning awards and research grants over scientists decades his senior. But this was not enough. He threw himself into art and music with the same zeal with which he’d attacked athletics, with similar results. He spent more than a decade laboring at the piano and the violin and nearly as much time smearing oils and watercolors over a canvas. He even wrote several dozen abysmal poems before conceding defeat somewhere in my tenth or eleventh year of life. I can still recall the joy I felt at no longer having to watch him curse and swear over some hideous mockery of a landscape or having to cover my ears as he drudged his way through Beethoven or Mozart, making a soulless cacophony on the piano. That was, until he refocused his obsession with perfection on me.
My father could not accept his limitations. He could not accept the idea of limitations as a human condition. He believed deep in his soul that anything could be achieved with hard work, that a man’s will could bend and shape time and space. He believed in the limitless potential of the human spirit. In that sense, he was an idealist, a romantic, you might say. His perfect human was intellectually, creatively, physically, and aesthetically gifted, Nietzsche’s the Übermensch. It tortured him that he had only mastered the intellectual, but I believe his greatest disappointment was his appearance, his eyes. (c)
Q:
Everything in our culture is determined by beauty, from the car you drive, the house you buy, your clothes, and even your job prospects. How many beautiful homeless people do you know? The economic, social, romantic, and even political opportunities are exponentially higher for more attractive people. (c)
Q:
How do you know they were inferior?
Because they weren’t me. (c)
Q:
He doesn’t suffer from these disorders. We suffer from them. The public. (c)
Q:
I would have quit long ago, saved myself the nightmares, except not helping makes the nightmares worse. I can’t stand to think that there are children out there, lost, in the hands of some pervert, that I could have helped find. So I look for them. I volunteer for every search. I am the hero. I wish I could stop. (c)
March 23, 2021
I don't know why it took me so long to finally read this collection from Wrath and his son Sultan. It was incredible. In my opinion Wrath is best when he is writing shorter pieces - I'm looking at you The Ressurectionist (my least favorite work by Wrath) lol - and the two novellas and the one co-written with his son in this collection were doozies! About his son, that m'fer can write as well and I hope he will continue to follow in his father's footsteps. Some pretty disturbing content and topics are covered in these stories, but that should be expected, no? I have not been a huge fan of Wrath's more BDSM themed stories and luckily there is little within the pages of this book so if you liked The Book of a Thousand Sins, or His Pain, Population Zero and didn't enjoy Cupid in Bondage or 400 Days of Oppression (still great just not my cup of tea) as much, then I would highly recommend this collection of novellas. Or if you just want to get that 'oh shit he's really going there' feeling while reading, then get this book!
May 18, 2023
Like father, like son
Sultan Z White is a name to watch out for. His storytelling is like his father's being brutal and beautiful at the same time.
Each story in this collection will follow you into your dreams.
Sultan Z White is a name to watch out for. His storytelling is like his father's being brutal and beautiful at the same time.
Each story in this collection will follow you into your dreams.
January 1, 2021
Ohhh some nasty little stories in this one! The first story is definitely the stand-out for me.
August 28, 2015
A brutal and entertaining five stories written by the author, Wrath James White, and his son Sultan Z. White. All of the stories are really good but the first two were my favorite. My favorite overall being Sins Of the Father" which was cowritten by the father and son duo. It's a 50ish page story that starts with a young man go on a vicious rampage killing In the most horrible ways imaginable. After getting caught or (giving himself up?) He goes on to explain how his scientist father used genetics to alter him into the next evolution of humans, ridding him of certain emotions and using research to make them physically superior. It's way deeper than that because there is still the dynamics between the father and other son. Every story something terrible does happens but The Whites give their characters humanity which makes the story way more interesting than just nihilistic killing. With that being said the world created in these stories are pretty nihilistic. Maybe that sounds like a contradiction but I mean it as a compliment. I also loved the opening story which shares the title of the book, Something Terrible. As a father or a 4 and 2 year old this story creeped me out on a personal level plus it has a wicked twist. Another of my faves is the hilarious and messed up killer baby story called Amber Alert.
I was a fan of Wrath James White before this book and I am even more of a friend now. I will keep and eye out for his son In the future too! I would recommend Something Terrible fans of JF Gonzalez or Brian Keene. It's just an all around dope read for fans of horrors.
I was a fan of Wrath James White before this book and I am even more of a friend now. I will keep and eye out for his son In the future too! I would recommend Something Terrible fans of JF Gonzalez or Brian Keene. It's just an all around dope read for fans of horrors.
May 7, 2015
I heard excerpts from the story entitled, Sins of The Father, the story co-written by father and son. It was just as the limited edition hardcover had come out, and I wanted to get my hands on a copy to find out the end of this deeply disturbing and brutal story. Wrath's work is brutal, visceral, and not for the faint of heart, and it seems his son, Sultan, is cut from the same stone. The other stories, two by Sultan, and two by Wrath, are unrelenting in theme and content. What the reader can garner from this tome is that there is a horror dynasty. All of the stories have a genesis in a dark and evil place; the human heart. The stories focus on this darkness and shine some light on it for all to see, but no matter how much light is shone we can never see all the dark corners or crevices and one has to worry if the darkness will creep into us.
November 10, 2020
This was far from great. The first story was ok, but very predictable. It did have a gut punch scene, which was the only redeeming factor. The second story was by far the best and had a great story and plot twist. The third was the weakest of the bunch and fourth forgettable. Not bad for a collection if you just need to kill time.
September 29, 2024
SOMETHING TERRIBLE [2015] By Wrath James White (with Sultan Z. White)
My Review 4.4 STARS
“Something Terrible” [2015] is a collection of what has been described as five brutal novellas and a bonus tale penned by “one of horror fiction’s most controversial authors Wrath James White and his son!” I have read that Edward Lee is the uncontested King of Extreme Horror, but it is he who anointed Wrath James White as “the premiere author of hard-core horror. Period.” This was my first encounter with reading any works by James Wrath White. I knew that he and Brian Keene were the co-founders of the Splatterpunk Awards which were implemented in 2018. The J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award went to James Wrath White this year.
This is a collection of stories and my method of rating collections of stories by one author or anthologies by a number of authors is to rate each entry and then average the ratings, which is what I have done in this case.
The novel was accompanied by an interesting and informative Foreword by Brian Keene entitled ironically “Something Wondrous”. It stressed the importance of writing about the things and the experiences that the author knows. This may sound like creative writing 101 but it is in fact a guideline to live by if an author would like to win in the rat race that exists in all genres and sub-genres today. Budding new writers are brave to enter the world of fiction and attempt to carve his or her own niche out of the crowded space of famous writers and household names that are legends in his or her own time.
The first two stories, 1] “Something Terrible” By Wrath James White, and 2] “Sins of the Father” penned by the father and son duo, were both outstanding and well deserving of 5-Stars each. The third novella [“Samsara”] by Sultan Z. White I found lacking largely due to my inability to relate to the storyline. I did not feel that I understood the point at first, but upon some retrospection I believe I grasped the point of the extreme horror tale. It was rated a weak 3 Stars. The fourth novella, named “Fallen Apple”, written by the son, was really good, excellent in fact. I rated it 5 Stars. The fifth novella named “Amber Alert” was well written and the underlying theme initially gripping due to the set up for the story. Then the tale of extreme horror “unleashed hell on Earth”. There were some veins of dark humor running through the blood and gore, but aside from proving that “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions”, I felt it was too much of a “good thing”. I rated it a reluctant 4 Stars. The overall collection of novellas was rated 4.4 Stars.
This may have been my second brush with the works of Wrath James White since I recall that he wrote the legendary “Poisoning Eros” together with Monica J. O’Rourke. I had been prepared to say I planned to read more by this true “Heavyweight” in the ranks of authors turning out some truly extraordinary examples in their preferred genre of extreme horror. I only happened to remember the controversial novel “Poisoning Eros”. It was the first Group Read Selection at the time I joined EGW. The novel that drew me to White was his most popular book "The Resurrectionist" which was adapted to film. I bought the book, have not seen the film. I am looking forward to it.
EXCEPTIONALLY ORIGINAL AND WELL WRITTEN COLLECTION OF NOVELLAS FROM A STAR IN THE GALAXY OF EXTREME HORROR
My Review 4.4 STARS
“Something Terrible” [2015] is a collection of what has been described as five brutal novellas and a bonus tale penned by “one of horror fiction’s most controversial authors Wrath James White and his son!” I have read that Edward Lee is the uncontested King of Extreme Horror, but it is he who anointed Wrath James White as “the premiere author of hard-core horror. Period.” This was my first encounter with reading any works by James Wrath White. I knew that he and Brian Keene were the co-founders of the Splatterpunk Awards which were implemented in 2018. The J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award went to James Wrath White this year.
This is a collection of stories and my method of rating collections of stories by one author or anthologies by a number of authors is to rate each entry and then average the ratings, which is what I have done in this case.
The novel was accompanied by an interesting and informative Foreword by Brian Keene entitled ironically “Something Wondrous”. It stressed the importance of writing about the things and the experiences that the author knows. This may sound like creative writing 101 but it is in fact a guideline to live by if an author would like to win in the rat race that exists in all genres and sub-genres today. Budding new writers are brave to enter the world of fiction and attempt to carve his or her own niche out of the crowded space of famous writers and household names that are legends in his or her own time.
The first two stories, 1] “Something Terrible” By Wrath James White, and 2] “Sins of the Father” penned by the father and son duo, were both outstanding and well deserving of 5-Stars each. The third novella [“Samsara”] by Sultan Z. White I found lacking largely due to my inability to relate to the storyline. I did not feel that I understood the point at first, but upon some retrospection I believe I grasped the point of the extreme horror tale. It was rated a weak 3 Stars. The fourth novella, named “Fallen Apple”, written by the son, was really good, excellent in fact. I rated it 5 Stars. The fifth novella named “Amber Alert” was well written and the underlying theme initially gripping due to the set up for the story. Then the tale of extreme horror “unleashed hell on Earth”. There were some veins of dark humor running through the blood and gore, but aside from proving that “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions”, I felt it was too much of a “good thing”. I rated it a reluctant 4 Stars. The overall collection of novellas was rated 4.4 Stars.
This may have been my second brush with the works of Wrath James White since I recall that he wrote the legendary “Poisoning Eros” together with Monica J. O’Rourke. I had been prepared to say I planned to read more by this true “Heavyweight” in the ranks of authors turning out some truly extraordinary examples in their preferred genre of extreme horror. I only happened to remember the controversial novel “Poisoning Eros”. It was the first Group Read Selection at the time I joined EGW. The novel that drew me to White was his most popular book "The Resurrectionist" which was adapted to film. I bought the book, have not seen the film. I am looking forward to it.
EXCEPTIONALLY ORIGINAL AND WELL WRITTEN COLLECTION OF NOVELLAS FROM A STAR IN THE GALAXY OF EXTREME HORROR
March 12, 2025
Something Terrible by wrath james white
In this heart wrenching tale, a protective and overworked father is forced to prove just how protective he when his young daughter tells him something terrible.
the writing, the pase of the story, the twist: this story is so polished you could even say it's sanded down and splinter free.
you know I like em violent and boy o boy, this one is action packed and the violence is scalding hot!
bonus! this story is set in the Austin area and I was able to map out the events in my head which made this extra exciting!
💪💪💪💪💪/5
Sins of the Father
By Wrath James White and Sultan Z white
In an effort to create the perfect son, a father preforms experiments on his son. but his efforts degenerate and what he creates is something terrible.
this story really grabs you by the throat from the get go with an absolute brutal display of violence and then leaves you mind blown and questioning everything at the end. I'm seriously to be thinking about that ending for a while.
💉💉💉💉💉/5
Samsara
By Sultan Z White
In Sultan's first solo story In this collection he puts samsara into a different prespective. he reminds us that it's not only constant rebirth but it is also constant death and how that can truly be something terrible.
While Sultan writes with just as much blood and his pen is just as volatile as his father's, he definitely has his own voice and unique style to his story telling. I really enjoyed this story and can't wait to read more from Sultan Z. White.
🐑🐑🐑/5
in this fast pased and gut punching story a son's life mission is to become something more, something stronger, something better than his alcoholic father. but has he gone too far? has he become something worse? something terrible?
Sultan...holy cow that was intense. while this story did feel complete as it is, it still left me wanting more. I need to know what happened next! this story was one of my favorites in this collection
🥊🥊🥊🥊/5
Amber Alert
By Wrath James White
Martin James is on a mission to create one perfect race to end all hate and racism but we're his efforts thrown off course? did he bite off than he can chew and end up creating something terrible?
while still gory and unhinged, this story had a completely different vibe from the other stories in this collection while still holding a similar message
I enjoyed "amber alert". I'm not sure I've read anything by Wrath that I could compare to this story. it would be really cool to see this as a black and white episode in a Wrath anthology Series. 👀
🚨🚨🚨🚨/5
Overall this collection blew me away, probably one of my favorites anthologies.
I can not wait to read what comes next from Sultan Z White.
5/5
In this heart wrenching tale, a protective and overworked father is forced to prove just how protective he when his young daughter tells him something terrible.
the writing, the pase of the story, the twist: this story is so polished you could even say it's sanded down and splinter free.
you know I like em violent and boy o boy, this one is action packed and the violence is scalding hot!
bonus! this story is set in the Austin area and I was able to map out the events in my head which made this extra exciting!
💪💪💪💪💪/5
Sins of the Father
By Wrath James White and Sultan Z white
In an effort to create the perfect son, a father preforms experiments on his son. but his efforts degenerate and what he creates is something terrible.
this story really grabs you by the throat from the get go with an absolute brutal display of violence and then leaves you mind blown and questioning everything at the end. I'm seriously to be thinking about that ending for a while.
💉💉💉💉💉/5
Samsara
By Sultan Z White
In Sultan's first solo story In this collection he puts samsara into a different prespective. he reminds us that it's not only constant rebirth but it is also constant death and how that can truly be something terrible.
While Sultan writes with just as much blood and his pen is just as volatile as his father's, he definitely has his own voice and unique style to his story telling. I really enjoyed this story and can't wait to read more from Sultan Z. White.
🐑🐑🐑/5
in this fast pased and gut punching story a son's life mission is to become something more, something stronger, something better than his alcoholic father. but has he gone too far? has he become something worse? something terrible?
Sultan...holy cow that was intense. while this story did feel complete as it is, it still left me wanting more. I need to know what happened next! this story was one of my favorites in this collection
🥊🥊🥊🥊/5
Amber Alert
By Wrath James White
Martin James is on a mission to create one perfect race to end all hate and racism but we're his efforts thrown off course? did he bite off than he can chew and end up creating something terrible?
while still gory and unhinged, this story had a completely different vibe from the other stories in this collection while still holding a similar message
I enjoyed "amber alert". I'm not sure I've read anything by Wrath that I could compare to this story. it would be really cool to see this as a black and white episode in a Wrath anthology Series. 👀
🚨🚨🚨🚨/5
Overall this collection blew me away, probably one of my favorites anthologies.
I can not wait to read what comes next from Sultan Z White.
5/5
September 2, 2022
I met Wrath at a convention, and he sold me this book. I was excited to read not only these stories from him but also from his son, Sultan.
The first two stories, "Something Terrible" and "Sins of the Father" are horrific but have the literary ease of all Wrath's stories. You get engrossed in the story fairly quickly, and these are both stories that leave a scar.
My problem with short story anthologies is there are always stories I don't like, which is why I took a star off. Even in this one, and I love everything I've read from Wrath. While I like Sultan's story "Fallen Apple," I wasn't a fan of "Samsara." It's an interesting concept, and Sultan could have taken this story further. But there were a lot of inconsistencies here, and his characters were all over the place. I also didn't like the story, "Amber Alert." It was interesting initially but dragged on way longer than it should have.
Despite these flaws, I did enjoy this anthology and recommend it to others.
The first two stories, "Something Terrible" and "Sins of the Father" are horrific but have the literary ease of all Wrath's stories. You get engrossed in the story fairly quickly, and these are both stories that leave a scar.
My problem with short story anthologies is there are always stories I don't like, which is why I took a star off. Even in this one, and I love everything I've read from Wrath. While I like Sultan's story "Fallen Apple," I wasn't a fan of "Samsara." It's an interesting concept, and Sultan could have taken this story further. But there were a lot of inconsistencies here, and his characters were all over the place. I also didn't like the story, "Amber Alert." It was interesting initially but dragged on way longer than it should have.
Despite these flaws, I did enjoy this anthology and recommend it to others.
February 14, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Something Terrible by Wrath James White and Sultan Z. White
I loved this collection of horror short stories!
The writing is excellent, and there is definitely something for everyone in Something Terrible. From vengeance taken out on the wrong person, to DNA experiments, to the horrors of forced reincarnation to a maniac trying to create the perfect race - you will find it all in here.
A truly chilling work of art!
Something Terrible by Wrath James White and Sultan Z. White
I loved this collection of horror short stories!
The writing is excellent, and there is definitely something for everyone in Something Terrible. From vengeance taken out on the wrong person, to DNA experiments, to the horrors of forced reincarnation to a maniac trying to create the perfect race - you will find it all in here.
A truly chilling work of art!
October 1, 2020
Good quick reaf
Pretty decent read, very interesting stories all ending in cliff hangers.
Enjoyed every chapter which is rare, would definitely recommend
Pretty decent read, very interesting stories all ending in cliff hangers.
Enjoyed every chapter which is rare, would definitely recommend
August 25, 2021
brutal, gory it made me mad and some scenes stayed with me. 10/10
September 1, 2015
I am a big fan of pretty much all books by this author, but this book was terrible. Predictable stories, and no real substance to any of them. I would give this one a pass, to avoid disappointment. Hope his next work has more flare and less.....well less blah.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews