Inspired by the hit TV series Creepshow™ from executive producer Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead), this anthology boasts 13 new terrifying tales.
Creepshow: 13 Tales of Terror features original stories by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), David Avallone (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark), Nancy A. Collins (Swamp Thing, Blade Runner, Sonja Blue), Dennis Crosby (Death's Legacy), Keith R.A. DeCandido (Supernatural Crimes Unit, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Gwendolyn Kiste (The Haunting of Velkwood), Jonathan Maberry (V-Wars), Lisa Morton (Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween), Nick Roberts (The Exorcist’s House), Thomas E. Sniegoski (Hellboy, Vampirella), Tim Waggoner (Terrifier, Halloween Kills novelizations), Simon Bestwick (Kolchak Eras), and James Aquilone (Kolchak: The Night Stalker).
Creepshow: 13 Tales of Terror is a macabre celebration of the series’ legacy — twisting morality tales of terror, justice, and cosmic retribution, told through the Creep’s ghoulish grin.
The anthology features a cover from Russ Braun (The Boys, Kolchak: The Night Stalker), and each story is accompanied by a full-page piece of art featuring The Creep from EV Cantada.
Nancy A. Collins (born 10 September 1959) is a United States horror fiction writer best known for her series of vampire novels featuring her character Sonja Blue. Collins has also written for comic books, including the Swamp Thing series, Jason Vs. Leatherface, Predator: Hell Come A Walkin and her own one-shot Dhampire: Stillborn.
Collins was born in McGehee, Arkansas, United States. She lived in New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1980s; after time in New York City and Atlanta, Georgia she settled in Wilmington, North Carolina in the late 2000s.
Collins has written twenty novels since 1989, many of which refer to and directly include races of creatures the author calls Pretenders, monsters from myth and legend passing as human to better hunt their prey.
Collins has also written a number of highly acclaimed Southern Gothic short stories and novellas, most of which are set in Seven Devils, Arkansas, a highly fictionalized version of her hometown.
Most recently, she has focused her attention onto the Golgotham urban fantasy series,published by Penguin. Golgotham is the 'supernatural' ghetto of New York City, where creatures from myth and folklore--including witches,shapeshifters,leprechauns and centaurs--live and work in uneasy alliance with mankind.
“CREEPSHOW: 13 Tales of Terror” by various authors is the first-ever prose short-story collection inspired by this legendary horror franchise. CREEPSHOW has been a big part of my life for decades now. I saw the original CREEPSHOW movie when I was about 10 years old, and loved every moment of it. I love the CREEPSHOW franchise so much that I originally subscribed to the streaming service Shudder just to watch and enjoy the CREEPSHOW TV Show. Hell, I even listened to the original CREEPSHOW movie soundtrack while reading this. Needless to say, I love CREEPSHOW and was beyond excited to read this once it was available.
Before I dive into my horror book review, here are all the trigger warnings I found while reading:
- Religion - Violence against animals (cats, bats) - Hunting animals - Politics - Rape - Drinking and driving - Nazism - Racism - Violence against children - Parental abuse
If any of these trigger you, please do not read this book. Moving along, I enjoyed this book on my Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, which made the special CREEPSHOW illustrations before every chapter look amazing. I loved this touch of The Creep, giving a quick, terrifying intro to the short story that awaited. I enjoyed most of the short stories here, as the writing was exceptional and creepy, with the usual plot twists you’d expect from CREEPSHOW.
These plot twists were so damn good that they felt like their own episodes in a CREEPSHOW movie or TV show. Don’t worry, no spoilers here, but this had some of the best, visceral, insane horror I’ve ever read in an anthology. Everything was so crazy and unique, it left such an impression on me. I made many weird faces while reading all those horror events and situations.
You have everything from creatures and ghosts to sea horrors, vampires, horror train rides, and more. There is definitely a little something here for any avid horror reader to enjoy.
Honestly, almost every single story hit the mark, but these 11 were the absolute standouts for me:
With All the Boards Nailed Just Right by Jonathan Maberry Five Is the Best Number by Gwendolyn Kiste Dead Line by Dennis K. Crosby Tiny House (of Terror) by James Aquilone When the Mask Falls by Tim Waggoner The Great Makeover by Lisa Morton Instant Karma by Keith R.A. DeCandido Longings From a Dusty Shelf by Thomas E. Sniegoski If You’re Flapping and You Know It by Nick Roberts Companion Piece by Nancy A. Collins Blood and Tinsel by Steve Niles
If I had to pick my favorite short story, I’d pick “If You’re Flapping and You Know It” by Nick Roberts, because it was so disturbing and graphic that I will never look at a bat the same ever again. I’ll leave it at that.
I give “CREEPSHOW: 13 Tales of Terror” by various authors a 5-Star rating out of 5. The diversity of horror here is magnificent, and it was such a blast to read. If you love CREEPSHOW as much as I do, you will cherish this collection. If you’re looking for a great horror anthology, this is up there with the best of them. They did a fantastic job selecting an incredible roster of authors for this book, and it shows. They did the CREEPSHOW franchise proud with this first-ever, and hopefully, the first of many more CREEPSHOW books done in anthology prose style.
*The Companion Piece*: 10/10 Perfect *Longings From A Dusty Shelf*: 9.4/10 Great *Five Is The Best Number*: 9/10 Great *The Predator’s Heart*: 8.8/10 Very Good *When The Mask Falls*: 8.5/10 Very Good *The Hide*: 8.5/10 Very Good *If You’re Flapping And You Know It*: 8/10 Good *Dead Line*: 7.8/10 Pretty Good *The Great Makeover*: 6.8/10 Decent *Tiny House (Of Terror)*: 6.5/10 Decent *Blood And Tinsel*: 6/10 *With All The Boards Nailed Just Right*: 6/10 Okay *Instant Karma*: 6/10 Okay
Overall this was an amazing collection, my favorite thing from Creepshow since the first two movies and the Volume 1 Comic. *The Companion Piece* by Nancy A Collins is now my favorite story in the IP bar none. Amazing western story that reminded me a lot of the movie *Sinners* in atmosphere, themes, and characters. It was the most fleshed out, and ended not only being inspired by Joe Lansdale’s *The Companion*, actually tied into by the end. *Longings From A Dusty Shelf* felt like The Crate mixed with Father’s Day and ended up throwing it’s own unique twists, that one is in my Top 5 stories of the IP. *The Predator’s Heart* felt like something straight of out Horrors Of War by Tim Curran and definitely something he’d write. *Five Is The Best Number* was also a great weird yet satisfying haunted house revenge story.
Overall collection had a lot of fun stuff in it, no bad stories at all, and the last story made The Creep into a canon tale like for some nods
Some that know the great works of Stephen King and Robert McCammon might understand that Night Shift and Blue World are considered by many anthology horror readers to be essentially quintessential reads of the genre. Maybe Full Throttle by Joe Hill comes to mind. But this little short story collection released in 2026 based on the Creepshow IP, my all time favorite IP, has now entered the penthouse suite. And if you think I’m kidding, I’m not stretching when I say this might very well be in my top 10 favorite anthology collections of all time. I won’t go into spoilers or details but I’ll share my ratings of each story. Please do yourself the favor and read this magnificent book. And also - I think it would be essential for you to read Joe Lansdale and co.’s short story called The Companion before reading this collection (you’ll see why).
With All The Boards Nailed Just Right — 7/10 ⭐️ light good The Hide — 8/10⭐️ high good Five Is The Best Number - 9/10⭐️ great Dead Line - 8/10⭐️ high good Tiny House (Of Terror) - 6.5/10⭐️ decent When The Mask Falls - 8.5/10⭐️ pretty good The Great Makeover - 7/10⭐️ light good Instant Karma - 6.5/10⭐️ decent Longings From A Dusty Shelf - 8.5/10⭐️ pretty good If You’re Flapping And You Know It - 7.5/10⭐️ good The Predator’s Heart - 9/10⭐️ great Companion Piece - 10/10⭐️ fantastic Blood And Tinsel - 6/10⭐️ okay
The highlights of the book is Nancy Collins’ follow up to Joe Lansdale’s iconic story. What a fun time. Also, if you want something more unique and subtexty please try Five Is The Best Number and The Predator’s Heart out as well. The rest all fluctuate between and okay to pretty good time. If you like throwbacky types of stories, Longing From A Dusty Shelf takes three well known Creepshow yarns and spins it into a new tale of conglomeration. Then there are straight up throwbacks to EC comics and DC Bronze Age Horror with WATBNJR, The Hide, and Dead Line. The last story Blood and Tinsel might be the weakest story of the bunch, but if you love The Creep, just wait and see.