13 Frights

by Robert Freese

13 Horrors 13 Terrors 13 FRIGHTS Paying a debt Falling in love Moving into a new house Going on a date Hiking down a lonely road Building a snowman Entertaining an old friend Taking a trip to Grandma's Exploring an old farm Picking up a package Attending a show Waiting in a room Auditioning for a movie role Thirteen perfectly normal situations. Thirteen frighteningly macabre tales that very well might drive you stark raving mad! WARNING! By purchasing this book you are stating that you are of good health and sound mind. In the event of madness or psychological trauma caused by reading the stories herein, the author, the publisher and the book seller will not be held responsible for your unfortunate mental condition. Should any early signs of psychotic dementia or nervous disorder reveal themselves, stop reading the book and consult your doctor immediately! Robert Freese is the author of eighty short stories that have appeared in a variety of print and electronic publications. He currently lives in Alabama with his wife. For more information about his work, check out www.robertfreese.com.

164 pages, Paperback

First published October 2, 2006

About the author

I got my start writing about movies in different cinema magazines but I always had an interest in fiction. I sold my first short story to Night of the Living Dead co-author John Russo. Since then, I've had over 100 short stories published as well as the novellas The Drive-in that Dripped Blood and The Santa Thing and the novel Bijou of the Dead. Simultaneously, I also wrote for numerous cinema magazines. I've been a staff writer for The Phantom of the Movies' VideoScope magazine for twenty-five years, contributing movie reviews, articles and interviews with various filmmakers. I've also contributed to magazines like Rue Morgue, Femme Fatales, Cult Movies, Scary Monsters and Grindhouse Purgatory, as well as the Italian language Nocturno and the French language Medusa Fanzine, and zines like Drive-in Asylum, Psychoholics Unanimous, Wet Paint, Film Geek and Film Ex, to name but a few. I was on the editorial team that helped put together Sam Sherman's book When Dracula Met Frankenstein. At the begging of 2022 I co-launched with my partner Paul Mcvay the film reference series It Came From Hollywood. Also in early 2022 I got the opportunity to write the movie tie-in to Brett Kelly's sci-fi space adventure Galaxy Warriors. Working from the original script, it combined my love of fiction and cinema. I am currently working on a new novelization. I have had the great opportunity to interview authors Richard Laymon, John Russo, Gary Brandner, Jack Ketchum, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Grady Hendrix, Chris Poggiali and Deborah Goodrich Royce. My interview with Deborah appears in the back of the paperback release of her excellent novel Ruby Falls. (She also answered questions for me about her acting career for VideoScope #118.)

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

By turns gruesome, haunting, scary, disturbing and weird, Robert Freese's 13 Frights is a fine collection of ghost stories for a dark and stormy night, morning, evening or anytime in between. The writing’s smooth with clear characters, pleasingly different voices and points of view, excellent dialog and scares aplenty as the tales travel full circle from one scriptwriter to another, via haunted wells and smoke-filled diners and more. Evocative, full of surprises—mostly dire and gruesome as befits a book of frights—and well-edited with just a very occasional glitch, this is one of the scariest short story collections I’ve read in a while and highly recommended. But don’t try to write, eat, drink, or travel while reading.

Disclosure: I was lucky enough to get an ecopy of this book when it was offered free. Perhaps I should have read it at Halloween… or perhaps not…

[DAISY READS HORROR · Rating 3 out of 5]

13 Frights had some great stories. My favorite ones were: The Slasher Drive In, Jack Frost (loved the Christmas-time horror theme), Pickfords Well very creepy, & Demon Con, I want to now look up if these conventions really exist. I look forward to reading more from this author.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few stories were very predictable, a few dragged on too long, but there were a few gems in this collection.