Pictures of Fear: Eight Strange Tales of Eerie Images

by Victoria Williamson

Eight unnerving tales of the weird and uncanny from award-winning author Victoria Williamson.

Paintings and photos that are more than they first appear.
A missing jigsaw piece that must be found at all costs.
A sinister shadow cast on the wall by lace curtains.
And a paper doll that resembles its owner just a little too closely…

Do you have the courage to discover what lurks in the background of these pictures of fear?

Genres: Horror

284 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 14, 2026

About the author

A lifelong storyteller and daydreamer, Victoria Williamson is an author and teacher who has lived and worked in Africa, China, America and the UK.

Victoria grew up in Kirkintilloch, north Glasgow, surrounded by hills on the edge of a forest estate where many of her early ghost stories and fantasy tales were born amid the magical trees and spooky old ruined buildings.

After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real life adventures, which included teaching Maths and Science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with special needs in the UK.

A qualified primary school teacher with a degree in Mandarin Chinese from Yunnan University and a Master’s degree in Special Needs Education, Victoria is passionate about creating inclusive worlds in her novels where all children can see a reflection of themselves in a heroic role.

Victoria’s experiences of teaching young children in a deprived area of Glasgow, many of whom were asylum seekers, inspired her debut novel, The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, an uplifting tale of friendship between Glasgow girl Caylin and Syrian refugee Reema.

Victoria writes fantasy, adventure, science fiction and contemporary issue novels for Middle Grade (9-12), Teen, and Young Adult readers. Many of her books have been inspired by children she has met on her travels, both abroad and in the UK. She is currently working on a Middle Grade novel exploring the issues faced by a boy with ADHD who is struggling to fit in with his new step-family, and a spooky adventure novel for Teens, centred around a cast of characters with special needs including deafness, Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy.

Twenty percent of her author royalties for The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle are donated to the Scottish Refugee Council.

You can find out more about Victoria's books, school visits and upcoming events on her website: www.strangelymagical.com

Reviews

[Linda (The Arizona Bookstagrammer)]

I THINK THIS MIGHT BE THE PERFECT☀️😱SUMMERWEEN😱☀️BOOK!
Thank you for the free book (🖼️🍬and assorted goodies!🍬🖼️) Silver Thistle Press @silverthistlepress , and Victoria Williamson @strangelymagicalbooks PUBLISHED JULY 14, 2026
“Pictures of Fear (Eight Strange Tales of Eerie Images)” by Victoria Williamson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Genre: Short Story Horror-Lite.

SYNOPSIS: Eight screamingly weird tales of temptation-and the resulting fall from grace. Among my favorites are:
😱THE OTHER HALF: Desperately-husband-seeking Cynthia meets a handsome portrait.
😱MISSING PIECES: Aspiring violinist Cynthia meets a powerful jigsaw puzzle.
And because I was a paper doll fanatic as a child…
😱PAPER DOLL: Lonely Cora meets her childhood paper doll.

FAVORITE DESCRIPTION: Aging net curtains: “…snowy white through curdled milk to the shade of old men’s teeth…”

The subjects of Williamson’s short stories range from yearning to pretension, perfectionism to compulsion, loneliness to exclusion. Her strangely wonderful characters are eerily eager, frighteningly ferocious, helplessly harmful, and it’s 5⭐️s from me 📚👩🏼‍🦳

[Holly]

If you enjoy creepy short stories that pack plenty of character depth and chilling narratives into just a few pages, look no further! The amazing Victoria Williamson has absolutely delivered!

Pictures of Fear contains eight tales of eerie images: paintings and photographs that are more than they first appear, a missing jigsaw piece that must be found at all costs, a sinister shadow cast on the wall, and a paper doll that resembles its owner just a little too closely.

Each story has its own unique tale to tell, with an ominous presence to them all that leaves you feeling paranoid and unsettled. My favourites were Paper Doll for its downright creepiness, and The Face of Fear, which is ironic because reflections already creep me out!

Thank you so much to Silver Thistle Press for sending me this copy to read and review. My opinions are my own.

[Evelyn]

An absorbing picture, the (definitely not!) ‘perfect’ portrait, a particularly tricksy jigsaw, a hauntingly lonely widow, a photoshop finish, a photographer’s war crime, Penelope - the precious paper doll and a chillingly sticky cobweb situation.

There’s an undercurrent of loneliness, jealousy and discontent threaded through this fascinating collection of well written tales full of foreboding by the wonderful Victoria Williamson.

[Valinora Troy]

Great collection of horror shorts from the very talented Victoria Williamson. All stories revolve around an image of some kind, whether it is a painting, a reflection, or a photograph. I was impressed by the variety of images across the eight tales. All stories are very well written, as you would expect from this author, but what shines most for me is the skilful depiction of characters. Real people, relatable situations (for the most part). Each are tempted and fall, but for different reasons.
My favourite in the collection is The Other Half (the perfect man turns up unexpectedly for 43-year-old Cynthia), closely followed by Paper Doll (a childhood toy brings good luck to Cora, for a while anyway!) and Picture Perfect (Fraser’s photo editing skills have unexpected results) but all the stories are tightly paced, with interesting themes (obsession, loneliness, ambition, rejection, perfectionism) and I read the collection very quickly. Highly recommended for horror fans!

[ScarlettAnomalyReads]

Thank you for the gifted copy and all the cute little extras!!

I do love some weird creepy short story collections and this was another one of those 👀

The Other Half was so good, when the perfect man shows up just for you, it's not always perfume and roses, sometimes it's something way more fucked up.

Also Picture Perfect, I'm always super jealous of people with great editing skills, but Fraser seems to have a magic touch..

There are not a ton of stories in this collection so keeping it short and swet, Def check this out if you need some creepy short stories.

[Bryony]

An interesting collection of short stories involving pictures, creepy pictures that make a person's life miserable. Pictures that change people's lives. Although based on pictures, the undercurrent of the message of these stories is revenge, the protagonist of each story had done something wrong and then got their comeuppance in one way or another, but not in the same way each time.

[Rereader]

Having read many of Williamson's short story collections, the main takeaway I've gotten is if you're a nice person, you can never have nice things. Ever. And if you do, its either a) not going to last long, b) come with swift and severe conseqeunces, c) you'll a limb or your life, or all of the above. 10/10 would recommend.