Corruption of Existence

by Jennifer Sahms

"Sahms does an excellent job of heightening the horrific moments and stretching out the terror, suspending you in a nightmare web." - Wofford Lee Jones, author of Soul Dreams, Lethal Doses, These Bloody Games We Play

A raw, cinematic, and brutal collection of eight novelettes and novella - each one a descent into psychological horror and grotesque mutilation. These stories drag you deeper into the darkest corners of the mind, corrupting your thoughts one page at a time.

"A tapestry of terror. Sahms not only offers nightmare fuel with this collection, but the match to light it ablaze and devastate." - A.D. Aro, author of the Bumps in the Night series

Copyright © Jennifer Sahms 2025. All Rights Reserved.This book and its contents are protected under international copyright laws. No part of this work may be copied, stored, or used for machine learning, AI training, data mining, or any automated processing without explicit written permission from the author. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or use—whether by individuals, organizations, or AI systems—is strictly prohibited and subject to legal action.

Kindle Edition

Published August 13, 2025

Reviews

[A.D. Aro]

A tapestry of terror. Sahms not only offers nightmare fuel with this collection, but the match to light it ablaze and devastate.

[Jim D'Andrea]

I received this book as a gift--it's an anthology of short stories, so I am reading the tales out-of-order. I just finished "The Children Can't Come Out to Play" and I absolutely loved it. It's a dystopian yarn that had clear influences of "The Village" and "Signs" by M. Night Shyamalan. I'm assuming the author may be a fan. But it also reminded me a bit of Stephen King's "Storm of the Century". Sahms is a wordsmith who constructs a creepy world where life has been interrupted by an unknown catastrophe, and although the adults have survived, there are no more children. It's a really great story idea, and she sucks the reader into this cold and disturbing world that is laced with fear and sadness. This was a really well-written story, and I'm excited to go through each one of the shorts and see if she can match the piqued sense of horror she was able to create with this one. I highly recommend this book!

[Liz]

These 8 novellettes are so efficiently horrifying because they are populated with seemingly everyday people in situations and settings that are not unique; dating, camping, trick or treating. On the occasion that setting and circumstances may be a bit unique or say post-apocalyptical the emotions evoked are universal, the tension and skin crawling build at a perfect pace.

Sahm’s is a great story teller. I was just as satisfied by these tales as I was by many found in Stephen King’s collections. They could be used as the basis for an 8 episode series like Back Mirror but blacker and bloodier.

For those of you who like a quote, here is one of my favorites. “Something human was missing. It's as if the heavy breathing was too deliberate the gasps too long and whatever was outside understood the shape of sorrow but not the weight the emotion carried”

[C Webster]

A fantastic collection of novella-length stories. I love how they’re Sahm’s riffs on familiar tropes - for example, the haunted house, the camping trip, the local ghost story, the post-apocalyptic world - but written with a fresh and stylish approach that draws the reader in.

I have my favorites, but don’t want to steer anyone in their direction! Highly recommended!

[Dustin Hendrix]

This collection of novellas by author Jennifer Sahms is not for the faint of heart. There were multiple times during reading I had to put the book down because the subject matter was so dark and grotesquely detailed. The stories weaved throughout cover all sorts of subject matter, from horrifying events on Halloween night, to a romantic online hookup with a wicked twist, to a camping trip from hell.

I loved not being able to tell which direction the author was taking me in through each story, as each has its own unique story world and otherworldly monsters. These stories are well-told and will keep you gripped as you turn each page, leaving you fascinated yet horrified. Although they are stories of fiction, they touch on real-world elements that reflect the evils that exist within humanity.

[kim johnson]

This is best described as adult version of Goosebumps.