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Strange Finds: Short Story Collection
Bloody Mary peers between the cracks of her fractured mirror.
In Camelot, a Squire meets an entity older than the stars.
A woman falls in love with the personification of flame.
A Faerie girl sets out to woo her beloved, by any means necessary.
In this first short story collection from award-winning writer Georgia Cook, discover twenty-three tales of myth, magic and horror.
Sometimes terrifying, sometimes magical, always strange. Open this book and unearth these Strange Finds.
In Camelot, a Squire meets an entity older than the stars.
A woman falls in love with the personification of flame.
A Faerie girl sets out to woo her beloved, by any means necessary.
In this first short story collection from award-winning writer Georgia Cook, discover twenty-three tales of myth, magic and horror.
Sometimes terrifying, sometimes magical, always strange. Open this book and unearth these Strange Finds.
274 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 1, 2025
2 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Georgia Cook
50 books22 followersGeorgia Cook is an illustrator and writer from London. You can find her work in such places as Baffling Magazine, Luna Station Quarterly, and Vastarien Lit, and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and Reflex Fiction Award, among others.
She has also written and narrated for the horror anthology podcasts 'Creepy', 'The Other Stories', and 'The Night's End'
She can be found on twitter at @georgiacooked and on her website at https://www.georgiacookwriter.com/
She has also written and narrated for the horror anthology podcasts 'Creepy', 'The Other Stories', and 'The Night's End'
She can be found on twitter at @georgiacooked and on her website at https://www.georgiacookwriter.com/
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 1, 2025
Frightening and enchanting tales. Each one is unique and haunting.
May 18, 2025
I found this book while browsing the works of other indie authors on tumblr. I bought it immediately when I saw the one sentence description on the back for a Camelot story. I haven't finished reading the full anthology yet, but for the sake of my Arthurian enthusiasts, here's a review of The King in Gold!
Right off the bat I love that it's in Griflet's point of view. It's so awesome to read stories from the perspective of lesser known characters. There are little details about this story that my fellow Arthurian snobs will love, such as in inclusion of Sir Bedivere as Griflet's older cousin and mentor, the accurate description of Bedivere's coat of arms, and best of all, the detail of Bedivere's missing hand as detailed in the Mabinogion. That last point may seem a small thing, but it's important to us Arthurian readers, particularly after Lev Grossman completely fumbled it in The Bright Sword. Down with magical "fixes" for disability, up with badass prosthetics.
Beyond the Griflet and Bedivere realness, this is one of the best portrayals of Sir Dagonet I've read in recent years. I love the A win for the Dag fans out there, this one's a keeper. He's a freak on main as Anonymous intended.
Arthurian elements aside, I found the premise grabbed me immediately and kept me interested throughout the story. I was invested in the mystery with Griflet the whole way along. The slow reveal of details as the layers of doubt and apprehension peeled away was perfectly paced. The prose was evocative and balanced well with the dialogue, no stretch of writing overstayed its welcome. I found the conclusion to be satisfying if abrupt. (Only because I wish it was a whole novel!)
My biggest con for this was the lack of women. I would have liked to see Queen Guinevere on page or perhaps even a mention of Morgan le Fay. It would've made sense for Griflet to suspect Morgan was behind all that was happening, even better if she happened to be at court as everything went down. Perhaps she could've been in good standing with her brother Arthur at the time and was attempting to deal with the issue in Merlin's absence. But this is a nitpicky complaint that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the story.
My final rating is 5/5 stars. I'd love to read more sojourns into the Arthurian world that Georgia Cook may take. Hint hint.
Right off the bat I love that it's in Griflet's point of view. It's so awesome to read stories from the perspective of lesser known characters. There are little details about this story that my fellow Arthurian snobs will love, such as in inclusion of Sir Bedivere as Griflet's older cousin and mentor, the accurate description of Bedivere's coat of arms, and best of all, the detail of Bedivere's missing hand as detailed in the Mabinogion. That last point may seem a small thing, but it's important to us Arthurian readers, particularly after Lev Grossman completely fumbled it in The Bright Sword. Down with magical "fixes" for disability, up with badass prosthetics.
Beyond the Griflet and Bedivere realness, this is one of the best portrayals of Sir Dagonet I've read in recent years. I love the A win for the Dag fans out there, this one's a keeper. He's a freak on main as Anonymous intended.
Arthurian elements aside, I found the premise grabbed me immediately and kept me interested throughout the story. I was invested in the mystery with Griflet the whole way along. The slow reveal of details as the layers of doubt and apprehension peeled away was perfectly paced. The prose was evocative and balanced well with the dialogue, no stretch of writing overstayed its welcome. I found the conclusion to be satisfying if abrupt. (Only because I wish it was a whole novel!)
My biggest con for this was the lack of women. I would have liked to see Queen Guinevere on page or perhaps even a mention of Morgan le Fay. It would've made sense for Griflet to suspect Morgan was behind all that was happening, even better if she happened to be at court as everything went down. Perhaps she could've been in good standing with her brother Arthur at the time and was attempting to deal with the issue in Merlin's absence. But this is a nitpicky complaint that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the story.
My final rating is 5/5 stars. I'd love to read more sojourns into the Arthurian world that Georgia Cook may take. Hint hint.
May 7, 2025
Thank you to Georgia Cook on Tumblr for giving me a free digital ARC. This doesn’t influence my review in any way.
This is one of the more interesting short story collections. There are a lot of stories that range from 7-8 pages to 1-2 pages each. They all touch on the supernatural or paranormal bits of what could be everyday life and they all are about finding something. Be it strange, terrifying, darker than space, or what your parents have always warned you against, something is always found. And I loved how each story touched on these things.
Short story collections in my opinion are always going to have the really really good stories, and there are generally going to be stories that don't feel like they fit the call to action. Georgia does well though in that all of her stories pulled me in. I did have favourites, like Mary, Mary, which talks about three Marys throughout history and fairy tales that had their stories changed and morphed to fit what people think of them; Skin Deep, that definitely touched a bit on horror and the eyes of Hollywood; and Repossession, about a demon trying to get a lawyer to take on his case after he got "evicted" by the body he was possessing. All of these stories and many more in this collection touch a little bit on those things that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. And even the stories that weren't my favourite still pulled me in.
I think what I like best about this book though is that it is a collection, so if you're going through a reading slump, you don't need to read a whole book, but a story. Or if you get unsettled easily, then just a story and then go read something else that calms you down. I also love that this collection ranged from slightly on this side of reality, to fantasy, to horror, to the supernatural. There is something for just about everyone in this collection.
This is one of the more interesting short story collections. There are a lot of stories that range from 7-8 pages to 1-2 pages each. They all touch on the supernatural or paranormal bits of what could be everyday life and they all are about finding something. Be it strange, terrifying, darker than space, or what your parents have always warned you against, something is always found. And I loved how each story touched on these things.
Short story collections in my opinion are always going to have the really really good stories, and there are generally going to be stories that don't feel like they fit the call to action. Georgia does well though in that all of her stories pulled me in. I did have favourites, like Mary, Mary, which talks about three Marys throughout history and fairy tales that had their stories changed and morphed to fit what people think of them; Skin Deep, that definitely touched a bit on horror and the eyes of Hollywood; and Repossession, about a demon trying to get a lawyer to take on his case after he got "evicted" by the body he was possessing. All of these stories and many more in this collection touch a little bit on those things that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. And even the stories that weren't my favourite still pulled me in.
I think what I like best about this book though is that it is a collection, so if you're going through a reading slump, you don't need to read a whole book, but a story. Or if you get unsettled easily, then just a story and then go read something else that calms you down. I also love that this collection ranged from slightly on this side of reality, to fantasy, to horror, to the supernatural. There is something for just about everyone in this collection.
April 17, 2025
This is utterly beautiful, mesmerising prose full of fabulous unease, oddity and downright horror. The sheer variety of characters, locations, realities and genres in this collection of short stories is incredible. Every tale is a winner and utterly unique with humour, sharp shocks and rising dread. Cook can genuinely cast spells with words and plays with your senses so deftly, you genuinely believe she lives in these worlds she created - you're just visiting. These stories are modern and timeless, queer and inclusive, with horrors hidden and planted like terrible fossils to stumble on. Like Susanna Clarke, she properly understand the beauty horror and menace of faerie but her stories are not limited to folk horror, there's enough ingenuity and world building here for a season of Black Mirror. If you're a horror fan or just fancy dipping your toe into another world for a change, buy it - each story unwinds like a novel in itself, so in one book it's a bargain!
April 27, 2025
What a beautiful compilation of tales. Twenty-five vastly different genres of writings wrapped up like an unexpected wonderous gift. Georgia Cook takes us effortlessly from whimsey to romance to absolute horror without missing a beat. Out of the entire book there was only one tale that I was not completely enamoured with, and even that one was a well written story. The book was recommended to me by an author whose works I very much enjoy so I decided to take a leap of faith and add it to my TBR pile. I am very glad that I did.
I received a copy of this book via the author and I leave my voluntary opinion of the work.
I received a copy of this book via the author and I leave my voluntary opinion of the work.
October 28, 2025
A little over four stars for me, like a lot of short story collections the book has some excellent stories, some good stories and a couple that missed the mark for me
I have to admit to being more of a fantasy reader than a horror reader but it did not effect my enjoyment of the book at all
I particularly enjoyed
Plea Deal
The King in Gold
Jam Jar
Would i recommend this book? Definitely but with the caveats about not every story will hit, as much due to the diversity of the stories and not due to her skill or ability
I have to admit to being more of a fantasy reader than a horror reader but it did not effect my enjoyment of the book at all
I particularly enjoyed
Plea Deal
The King in Gold
Jam Jar
Would i recommend this book? Definitely but with the caveats about not every story will hit, as much due to the diversity of the stories and not due to her skill or ability
May 7, 2025
A unique combination of nightmares and fantasy. They're usually wrapped inside each other with whimsy leading the way toward horror and the horrors traced with flints of joy.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews