Nightmares Unhinged: Twenty Tales of Terror

by Joshua Viola (Editor and Contributor), Mario Acevedo, Edward Bryant

Nightmares come in many forms. Some rend the veil of sleep with heart-stopping madness. Others defy sanity to leave a helpless corner of your mind twitching for release. Sometimes, hours after waking, a nightmare drifts across your memory, tainting your day with wisps of discomfort. NIGHTMARES UNHINGED reveals horror in all its mutable forms—abject to absurd—through twenty tales of terror.

Contributors include Mario Acevedo, Edward Bryant, Dustin Carpenter, Sean Eads, Keith Ferrell, Warren Hammond, Jason Heller, Gary Jonas, Stephen Graham Jones, J.V. Kyle, Aaron Michael Ritchey, Jeanne C. Stein, Steve Rasnic Tem, and Dean Wyant. Foreword by New York Times bestseller Steve Alten. Edited by Joshua Viola. Illustrations by Aaron Lovett.

A portion of the book's proceeds will be donated to Rocky Mountain Cancer Assistance in honor of Melanie Tem.

Contents:

Foreword “Terrors in the Night” by Steve Alten

Introduction “Reclaim Your Fears” by Joshua Viola

“The Brollachan” by Steve Rasnic Tem

“Fangs” by J.V. Kyle

“Be Seated” by Keith Ferrell

“The Man Who Killed Texas” by Stephen Graham Jones

“Scarecrows” by Joshua Viola

“Zou Gou” by Mario Acevedo

“Needles” by Joshua Viola and Dean Wyant

“The Projectionist” by Jason Heller

“The Wolf’s Paw” by Jeanne C. Stein

“Danniker’s Coffin” by Keith Ferrell

“Deep Woods” by Aaron Michael Ritchey

“Diamond Widow” by Dustin Carpenter

“The Camera” by Joshua Viola

“Lost Balls” by Sean Eads

“Bathroom Break” by J.V. Kyle

“Marginal Ha’nts” by Edward Bryant

“Delicioso” by Warren Hammond

“The Librarian” by Joshua Viola

“Gurgle. Gurgle.” by Mario Acevedo

“Taking the Dare” by Gary Jonas

Afterword “Melanie Tem: Hubble’s Child” by Edward Bryant

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Horror Thriller, Amazon

285 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2015

About the author

Joshua Viola is a two-time Colorado Book Award finalist and co-author of the Denver Moon series. His comic book collection, Denver Moon: Metamorphosis, was included on the 2018 Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel. He edited the Denver Post bestselling anthology, Nightmares Unhinged, and co-edited Cyber World—named one of the best science fiction anthologies of 2016 by Barnes & Noble. His fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and has been reprinted by Tor.com. He is owner and chief editor of Hex Publishers.

Reviews

[Emma Sea · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's an aniseed flavor of misogyny running through most of these stories. Reading them as a collection only strengthens it.

**

Got to the 15th story, and a definite sense of "sheesh, not another interchangeable & entitled male protagonist" speared me through the guts. If you told me that these guys were online buddies from an MRA website comments sections, who decided to publish an anthology, you would elicit zero surprise from me. But I'd tell Stephen Graham Jones and Steve Rasnic Tem to stop hanging around with Viola and his ilk.

**

So I get to the 17th story. It opens, "Stuart leaned against the bar and studied the crowd, wondering exactly which one of these chicas he was going to kill." I roll my eyes. Is it within me to finish this book?

**

A: No.


Twenty stories. Nineteen by men. One (very boring one) by a woman. Way to go on the diversity front.

Sixteen read. Fifteen reviewed. Three enjoyed. I do not rec this anthology. I do rec checking out Stephen Graham Jones and Steve Rasnic Tem.

ETA: Apparently the editor is a video game designer. This may explain a lot about both video game characters and this book.

Individual reviews


The Man Who Killed Texas - Stephen Graham Jones - 4 stars
give me more of this any time. Great characterization; made me believe in the people and the setting 100%

The Brollachan - Steve Rasnic Tem - 3.5 stars
creepy good. The phone call from Caitlin's mom genuinely unnerved me.

Scarecrows - Joshua Viola - 3.5 stars
Highly satisfying. Everything happened just as it should.

Needles - Joshua Viola & Dean Wyant - zero stars
This would have been more successful if the authors had actually put some characterization into Natalie, more than:

"Oh my God, the baby's coming! The baby's coming!" Natalie screeched and rushed to the bathroom.

What aspect of terror is it that they were trying to communicate? The monstrosity of a woman who uses drugs while pregnant? The terror of having a living being growing inside your body? Because it's the needles here that are the terrifying thing to me, but the idea ends up being poorly explored. So much disappoint. Also, no sex worker would ever think the guy in the Dormeuil suit is going to be a 'gentlemen' He's not even going to be a gentleman to the girl he picks up in the bar for a one night stand. Always watch out for the rich ones in designer suits - they're the absolute worst.

Danniker's Coffin - Keith Ferrell - 2.25 stars
Not a horror exactly, but an interesting character sketch. Sound writing.

Zou Gou - Mario Acevedo - 2.5 stars
held back too much. Dial that up to some serious amputation torture porn and I can rec this to a bunch of avid readers. Also, watch your othering, Acevedo. When you write "Three men and one of the black women" you imply that "men" are, by default, white men.

Fangs - J.V.Kyle. - 2 stars
*shrugs* It was fine.

The Projectionist - Jason Heller - 2 stars
Fridged the mom. Language got a bit overwrought. Needed another edit.

Lost Balls - Sean Eads - 1.75 stars
you should see my face right now. Good until half way. Intriguing. Promising. And then...


Bathroom Break - J.V. Kyle - 1 star
oh FFS. Just no. Linda did not behave like a believable human woman (outside of bad 70s porn). Classic premise in the vein of Frederic Brown, but, dude, you need to put more effort into the construction than that.

Be Seated - Keith Ferrell - One star
I think I missed something. The story did a fly buy

Diamond Widow - Dustin Carpenter - 2 stars
A little clunky and over-telegraphed, but a solid idea.

The Camera - Joshua Viola - 1 star
*side-eyes the story*
The writing style distances us from the protagonist. This needed a closer pov to work, amongst other things.

Wolf's Paw - Jeanne C. Stein 1 star
An updated Little Red? Don't let your kid out of your sight at the payground? Should have taken that all the way. The ending felt pointless.

Deep Woods - Aaron Michael Ritchey - half a star
So disappointing. No effort to unpack what is scary about female friendships or the fleeting sexual attractiveness of youth (and what it will and will not get you). Maybe this story is vaguely titillating to a highly sheltered MRA. The half is for the humor in the basic premise. Shame Ritchey didn't bother to actually craft a story around it.

[Mark Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nightmares Unhinged," an anthology from Denver-area Hex Publishers, offers 20 well-written tales with an overall dark vibe. Gore? Some. Cool story concepts with some fresh wrinkles? Why, yes, thank you. There are several that seemed, to me, highly original. And 13 of the 15 writers live in Colorado—a fine showcase for Colorado talent. (I'm no horror expert as my previous reviews will testify, but these are my thoughts below about each story.)

Steve Rasnic Tem’s understated and perfectly creepy “The Brollachan” starts things off but the horror is mostly by implication in a boy-meets-girl teenage tale with a dark twist. Tem slips in the juicy stuff when you’re not looking, right down to the love bites. A beauty.

J.V. Kyle’s “Fangs” takes a perverted run at a vampire who likes a twist with his blood—anesthetic. The craving leads him to realize that women in white uniforms are carriers of this special something. And soon he is in a dentist’s office and, well, the ending is pure piece of deft table-turning.
In “Be Seated,” Keith Ferrell tells a story about a special chair. The storyteller concedes to his own circumspect style of relaying events and the tale of murder requires full reader attention, no hand-holding allowed.

America is “coming down like dominoes” in “The Man Who Killed Texas,” by Stephen Graham Jones. The one is about “the cough” and a guy named Baylock and a militia holding the line against an insidious and deadly invasion that will test Baylock in a whole host of nerve-jangling ways—family values and all of that.

“Scarecrows,” by Joshua Viola, is brisk tale of comeuppance and justice and plays with the tropes of horror—the edge of town, teenage taunting, and things that come alive.

Mario Acevedo’s “Zou Gou” (Chinese for “lackey”) is a trippy bit of horror mixed with sci-fi—drones, robots, sex and armless human bodies who are part of a creepy experiment in resilience. A wild imagination at work.

By the time we get to “Needles,” co-written by Joshua Viola and Dean Wyant, we are finally (story #7) digging down in the grisly material. A desperate drug addict named Natalie takes a john, an overly generous man in a Dormeuil suit. Natalie gets hurt—and high. But things are never quite the same. The ending is both gory and gotcha. Think “Alien” on drug-inducing steroids.

Jason Heller’s “The Projectionist” is one of my favorites here, riffing on nostalgia for old-school cinema versus robotic, remote-controlled digital projectors and the “flickering of fiction” in movie reels. The story features a 12-year-old boy and a movie projector. But not just any machine, but a lifelike thing with special powers. “The projector engulfed the entire booth. It wasn’t a large space, as far as I could tell. The machine filled it like a nest of serpents that had overgrown its terrarium. Instead of snakes, though, tubes and pistons and pneumatic cylinders twisted their way around the central mass of the apparatus, which wheezed and trembled like the torso or thorax of some impossible beast.” With terrific vocabulary, a nifty message and a genuinely scary concept, “The Projectionist” has a knockout a-peel.

Jeanne C. Stein brisk “The Wolf’s Paw” is a battle in Balboa Park (San Diego) between wolves and vampires, told from the point of view of Anna, Stein’s longtime heroine from The Anna Strong Chronicles. Like those books (I’ve only read a few) “The Wolf’s Paw” mixes fast action, strong emotions. It’s feral vs. civilized, both within and without.

Keith Ferrell returns with “Danniker’s Coffin,” a story about a 71-year-old who is a coffin maker’s son and planning to put up a fence around his property now that the neighbor’s house is empty. This thoughtful tale, as much a character portrait as anything else, touches on burial methods, fate, and self-determination. Beautifully written, this was one is practically genteel.

“Deep Woods” is Aaron Michael Ritchey’s quick tale of three girls in a pickup on the way to the old, familiar “cabin the woods” with creaking doors and a freak. Ritchey uses fast flourishes to set the scene and the monster. “A fringe of hair and balding, gnarled flesh. Pulpy, misshapen brow and cheeks. Wet mouth.” Yes, there will be axes. Yes, blood will fly. The final score is freak, _ and alive girls _. What? You thought I would tell?

Dustin Carpenter’s “Diamond Widow” offers a dark turn on black widows everywhere, insect and human. Logan “the stock broker” is lured into a lair of jewels where the pressure, shall we say, gets intense.
“Deep Woods” would also work as a title for “The Camera,” by Joshua Viola, a story about a couple that encounter strange items and creepy rangers in the woods. But all the world is a stage, it turns out, even way out in the middle of nowhere where fear can be exploited for maximum effect.

“Lost Balls,” by Sean Eads, is a pleasant little tale of golf except it’s not only the balls that go missing. This is a twisted take on “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” and acknowledges its roots within. Yes, “balls” has multiple meanings. Trolls, knives, testicles, and bargains with the world. The next time you hit a ball out of bounds, you might just go ahead and kiss it good-bye.

“Something about company affairs seem to jumpstart, well, company affairs, if you know what I mean.” That’s our narrator in “Bathroom Break” by J.V. Kyle about a fling with Linda, all suburbs on the outside and all Goth on the inside. That’s true for the house where she lives. And more. Our hero thinks he’s good at solving problems but overlooks cleaning up at the wrong time. Linda’s talents and inner drive can’t be underestimated.

“Marginal Ha’nts,” by Edward Bryant, is a touch of genius. Brilliant concept, brilliant delivery and spot on with day-to-day willies. Now we have an explanation for the “lukewarm hauntings and tepid terrors.” Moving to a new house? I think every real estate agent in the country should pass this out at closing. Enough said. The ending gave me a laugh.

“Juarez in July was like standing over a barbecue pit,” thinks Stuart near the beginning of “Delicioso,” by Warren Hammond. Here in Juarez, Stuart stands out as a “star” with white skin and American accent. Stuart is on the prowl and, at home behind the triple locks of his rooftop apartment, he has a whole toolbox by the sofa with what he needs. You know, like a carrot peeler. And knives. “So many knives.” You know the rule about mentioning a knife in a horror story—it will get used. Hammond’s skills at taut storytelling are in full display here.

New librarian Emma has “outgrown the eyeliner and The Cure albums, but her infatuation with devilish things” remain. She’s being trained in Joshua Viola’s “The Librarian” and encounters a strange customer with odd habits. This one is part genie-in-a-bottle with a happy ending. Say what?

In Mario Acevedo’s “Gurgle Gurgle,” legalization of marijuana in Colorado and high school boy’s standard yearnings are pureed in a frothy, funny story that also plays off genies and magic lamps, this time in very direct fashion. Genies take everything so literally, of course.

And, finally, Gary Jonas’ “Truth or Dare” plays with unusual neighbors, mysterious basements and that common little habit of kids being carved to pieces. This one is not child’s play. You get the picture.
Jonas’ piece might be the final story, but it’s not the last piece of beautiful writing—that honor goes to Edward Bryant’s powerful and moving tribute to the late Melanie Tem, the author of a dozen or so novels and many, many short stories. The tribute to this remarkable “fantasist” will inspires awe—and make you want to read her books.

[Thrift Store Book Miner · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have one of those sleep tracker devices that keeps track of your REM sleep, reading this book will give your tracker twenty reasons to show something crazy happening to you at night when you dream. In case you somehow have your tracker linked up to your GoodReads "Currently Reading" selection, it may tell you to read something else for a while so you might have a few nights without your brain going haywire during REM from dreaming of spirits in the woods, serial killers, vampires, trolls under the bridge, demonic scarecrows, or society falling to a plague. But if you're not one of those sleep optimization people, get ready to drink some ill advised late night caffeine and plunge into this ghoulish collection and discover some great independent horror writers. Your nightmares at night might even give you a story idea of your own.

The only author I had previous read before starting this was Stephen Graham Jones. His story in here, "The Man Who Killed Texas" was a major highlight. The other stories were great introductions to other writers I had never heard of before, many who's other works I will be adding to my "Want To Read" list. Written mostly by Colorado based authors, this collection shows that underneath the scenic mountain views and radiant high altitude sunshine, there lies a shadowy undercurrent of dark imagination to rival good ole' Castle Rock, Maine. The tales in this collection range from dark humor to grim and ghastly shocks. There's twists on classic horror themes along with some original terrors. Some stories hit harder than others, but all are at least entertaining.

Besides Stephen Graham Jones's contribution mentioned above, some of the most memorable stories in this collection were:
"Fangs", by JV Kyle, which puts a twist on the vampire story.
"Zou Gou", by Mario Acevedo, a disturbing sci-fi horror tale.
"Needles, " by Joshua Viola and Dean Wyatt, a tale of drug addition that takes a demonic turn.
"Diamond Widow", by Dustin Carpenter, a story that will make you never look at diamond jewelry the same way again.
"Delicioso", by Warren Hammond, a serial killer story that takes a surprising turn.
"Gurgle, Gurgle", by Maria Acevedo, the funniest story in the collection, a THC infused spin on the genie in the bottle myth.
and
"Taking the Dare", by Gary Jonas, a story of telepathy and that creepy guy across the street.

So, if you don't mind sending your sleep tracker into a tail spin, or don't wear one to begin with, pick this collection up and get those nightmares rolling!

[Stan James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Warning: There be spoilers ahead, so if you want to be surprised(ish) while reading, you may want to skip this review.

Nightmares Unhinged is not a bad collection of horror stories but it's not an outstanding one, either. It contains few surprises and while some of the stories are fun, a good portion of them are filled with nasty, unlikable protagonists who usually get their comeuppance. If that's your thing you may enjoy these stories more than I did.

Here's a one or two-sentence review of all twenty:

"The Brollachan" - A shapeless monster of legend takes over a girl while her grandmother rends the English language apart with the world's greatest Scottish accent, lovingly depicted in phonetic detail. At least you don't end up hating all of the characters, d'ye no ken?

"Fangs" - Vampire vs. dentist. The more cruel and clever one wins. Sorry, vampire!

"The Chair" - Homage to Lovecraft featuring, yes, a chair. It levitates so that's weird.

"The Man Who Killed Texas" - Proving that family is not always the best thing in the aftermath of a global pandemic. A sad tale told well.

"Scarecrows" - Kids and evil scarecrows. There, I just rewrote the story in four words.

"Zou Gou" - Mean aliens conquer the Earth and conduct mean experiments. Twist ending! (But not really.)

"Needles" - A PSA for why junkies should not get pregnant. No one here is likable and the life lesson seems to be "don't sleep with weird monster men."

"The Projectionists" - Creepy old man runs the projector for Grandma's two-screen movie theater. Grandson gets curious, skin unravels like unspooling film (that's a metaphor. Actually, it's not, his skin really unravels).

"The Wolf's Paw" - Vampire vs. Werewolf. This time the vampire wins.

"Danniker's Coffin" - The end of the family line comes to terms with his inability to carry on the tradition of coffin-making and his own mortality, neatly combining the two. A nice break from vampires vs fill-in-the-blank.

"Deep Woods" - a gory prequel (sequel?) of sorts to Friday the 13th. Everyone is unlikable but everyone dies, so it kind of balances out.

"Diamond Widow" - not-so-clever jewel thief and creepy guy picks up a jewel-making woman who turns the tables on him by turning him into a diamond. Not through magic, through some sort of crushing machine. Seriously.

"The Camera" - Unlikable couple hiking in the woods. Staged sex, shootings and revenge. Why did I read this?

"Lost Balls" - Troll vs golfers. The troll wins. Balls--the kind men have between their legs--figure prominently in the story.

"Bathroom Break" - Creep has an affair, decides to end it when his office co-worker turns out to be a little too goth for his liking (velvet drapes and black sheets, oh my), ends affair by snapping her neck in a washroom at staff Christmas party but the joke's on him because she shambles back to the party naked, holding out his wedding ring while his wife looks on. Because being goth means you come back to life as a zombie or something.

"Marginal Ha'nts" - Genuinely fun story about a new ghost who aspires to be the best ghost he can be.

"Delicioso" - Would-be psycho killer tries to pick up latest victim but--twist!--she's also a psycho killer and is a better one than he. You may have guessed but neither character is likable.

"The Librarian" - Funny, albeit somewhat corny tale of a strange librarian, his new and unsuspecting assistant and an even stranger regular customer. I won't spoil this one even if you may see what's coming. It's hammy but it works.

"Gurgle, Gurgle" - In which half the text is in italics because the author is constantly dropping in Spanish words. A nephew inadvertently discovers the genie lamp of his uncle and along with his friend makes a few wishes with monkey's paw-like consequences. A light if predictable story. Warning: contains giant exploding penis.

"Taking the Dare" - Neighborhood kids think the creepy man living on their street is the local serial killer. And he is! Lots of stabbing and chasing. The protagonist gets "flashes" from making contact with people, ala Johnny Smith. In a longer story this might have been more significant, but here it's simply the device to get the plot rolling. Promises more than it delivers.

[Roger · Rating 1 out of 5]

I purchased Nightmares Unhinged so that I could have something else for Stephen Graham Jones to sign when I met him. (Total aside: what a nice guy and yes Virginia he signed all my books.) It appears Nightmares Unhinged was actually a tribute volume for the late Melanie Tem-a small blurb on the back cover states that a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Rocky Mountain Cancer Society in her honor. However when I review a book I judge on content rather than intent. So I can only give this anthology one star as there is only one good story in it, by the aforementioned Stephen Graham Jones. All the other entries were drab, sad, or uninspired.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quality anthology! No stories that really drug it down. Definitely recommend.

[Keeley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of my problems with this anthology are mentioned in other reviews here, so I'm choosing to focus on what I did like instead.

Keith Ferrell's "Danniker's Coffin" isn't exactly a horror story (in my opinion), but rather a somber meditation on family legacy and one's own mortality. Deeply lonely.

Edward Bryant's "Marginal Ha'nts" is fun and light, following a man mildly annoyed by the ghosts haunting his new house. I could've done without Nadja's character since she adds little of value to the story besides being a hot woman for the protagonist to gawk at (somehow still one of the better depictions of women in this collection).

I loved the front half of Sean Eads' "Lost Balls" but found the reveal under the bridge goofy and dissatisfying.

The weirdness of Keith Ferrell's "Be Seated" and Jason Heller's "The Projectionist" was appreciated, although the stories themselves left a bit to be desired.

Objectively very funny of editor Joshua Viola to have 6 of the 20 stories be at least co-written by him.

Overall, not a collection for me (as I am not a horny 13-year-old boy).

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good read!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would rate this collection of stories at 2.75 stars after carefully considering each of the 20 narratives included within its pages. It took me a rigorous four months to work my way through this book—a testament to my determination to reach the end, despite the challenges I faced. Many of the stories felt rather uninspired, making them a struggle to engage with, especially when even the shorter tales seemed to drag. A couple of times, I found myself setting the book aside in favor of other activities, desperately in need of a break from the lackluster content.

Fortunately, the final four stories were engaging enough to carry me through the finish line, with a few memorable entries sprinkled in the middle that reignited my interest and encouraged me to persist. However, I must confess that I found these tales to be far from terrifying. Perhaps some readers might encounter a jump or two; however, they failed to evoke any genuine fear in me.

I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this anthology, as the experience of reading it felt like an arduous journey rather than an enjoyable escape. Interestingly, I had previously read works from only one of the featured authors, whose contribution I appreciated—even if it was quite mild in its thrill.

In summary, this collection may be worth a read if you're curious about what these authors consider frightening, but be prepared for an underwhelming experience, as it appears they possess a notably low threshold for true horror. I'm ready to move on!

[Michael Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great diverse collection

I'm a big fan of horror anthologies and this one proved to be very enjoyable. Depending on your tastes in horror not all of these stories will appeal. I felt some of the authors left their stories so ambiguous they almost seemed unfinished. Having said that though, there are some great chills to be found within these pages. The story of a junkie prostitute whose needles begin to be absorbed into her body was one of my favs. At under two dollars for twenty stories and with a portion of the royalties going to a Colorado cancer centre, you're not only supporting Indies but getting a great read and helping to fight cancer. Give this anthology a try.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is clawing a 3 tbh. Alot of the stories were just meh, a good reveal ruined by a bad setup. SGJ's The Man Who Killed Texas was ofc the best of the collection. The other two I'd say were top tier were Zou Ghou by Mario Acevedo (this one actually made me feel ill so kudos) and Taking the Dare by Gary Jonas. Just overall not very nightmarish.

[BRANDY BRIGGS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely Unhinged

Most of the stories kept you interested, at the clymactic areas where typical horror fans usually call it, many of the stories surprisingly & refreshingly go completely off kilter in a way you can appreciate.

[Mary kerrigan-gee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't for me.

I alway plough on with a book.. No matter what, but I have to say I just could not even get halfway through, I found the stories to be vague and scatty, not scary at all. That's not to say someone else might not love this book, it just didn't do it for me - sorry.

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly good stories in this anthology, and just the right size; not so short that they didn't make sense, and not so long they felt drawn-out. Well written, great plots, not too gory. I was sorry when it ended!

[Demorris Bethea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly interesting stories.

Stories were moderately interesting they work very well while waiting to take care of any scheduled appointments(i.e. doctor,dmv, etc.) I will continue to buy this genre of books. Long live the Master Stephen King.

[David M. Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice selection of mostly scary short stories.

The best thing about this collection of scary short stories is that they each only take minutes to read instead of hours or days. Most are quite entertaining but a couple of them left me with ?

[Billy Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was...whelming...

A few stories here had my attention but kind of ended a little on the dull side. I was expecting some decent gore, scares, panic, insanity...but these "nightmares" were more like dreams of unicorns and cotton candy instead of raging werewolves and arsenic.

[Bret Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy, suspenseful, scary collection of horror short stories! Not for the faint of heart!

[Jim LeMay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific short stories by masters in the field of horror fiction.

[Father Longlegs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Few good ones, more “eh” ones. Worth the 2 bucks but wouldn’t read again or recommend to anyone I know.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the stories were entertaining. A few weren't horror though. Good variety.

[Pegggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Very much enjoyed this book, a quick read, good stories and a wide range of terrible topics, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes terror stories

[David J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical collection of horror shorts. Some good, a couple great, some bad.

[Tim Roberson · Rating 4 out of 5]

REALLY enjoyed the majority of these with my favorites being the ones by Gar Lucas but especially Joshua Viola. His were by far my favorites of all in this collection.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a paperback copy of “Nightmares Unhinged”, edited by Joshua Vioka, on Goodreads.com and am posting an honest review. I gave it a rating of 3 stars.

Overall, a mixed bag of horror short stories from Colorado writers. Most are forgettable, not worthy of a top-notch horror anthology. I read a number of horror anthologies years ago. This is my first venture back into the genre recently. If this is a good example of what’s out there currently, the quality of work has definitely declined.

My favorite story in this book was Stephen Graham Jones’ ‘The Man Who Killed Texas’. It’s a gritty tale of a desperate man forced to choose between two equally horrible outcomes when faced with a life-or-death situation. This one will stay with you for a long time. 5 stars!

One of the better stories was J. V. Kyle’s ‘Fangs”, reminicent of two great masters, Robert Bloch and Frederic Brown. Sean Eads’ ‘Lost Balls’ makes me glad I’m not a golfer. Keith Ferrell’s ‘Danniker’s Coffin’ was an interesting character study. Ed Bryant wrote a terrific homage to Melanie Tem.

If you must read this book, check it out of your local library; don’t spend your hard-earned cash on it.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Received from Goodreads giveaway for a honest review. This book wasn't as good as I was hoping for it to be. The stories were drawn out with almost no suspense to build up to that ultimate frightening ending I was looking for. The endings mostly just popped out of nowhere for the most part. The stories weren't scary and didn't give me that thrill I was looking for. I guess I can say that these stories lacked in the fear factor department, unfortunately. Now I don't want anyone to not give this book a chance with that being said. Everyone has something different that may scare them when it comes to reading. I'm thinking maybe because these were short stories they weren't as drawn out as I hoped for them to be either. If they were longer and had more of a plot I probably would've gotten some satisfaction. I am a fan of horror stories so I'm sad that this anthology didn't impress me as much as I hoped it would. But seriously give this a chance if you are into scary stories because you may like it.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The COVER is fabulous! The cover is chilling and thrilling.... I just really wish the stories
had also been. I kept waiting and hoping for the tales to be scary...they were not.
The cover and the title obviously have NOTHING to do with the writings.
Oh well, if I want a good scare, I can go look at my credit card bills.

[Scarlett Algee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unhinged? Unbeatable.

Easily the best collection I've read all year. These stories may be classed as horror, but it's a subtle horror: wafting into your nostrils, worming beneath your skin, leaving you with afterimages that cling with demented determination. Twisted family ties, latent gifts blossoming late, imprudent wishes--all wonderfully crafted and disturbingly possible.

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sounds great! I hope to win, read it and enjoy the story ... If I win, the review will be updated once I finish the book :)

[Andrew Padbury · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of this collection was horrible; in my opinion. I was excited to see a collection of Colorado authors, but was quickly reminded that being local doesn't equal being talented.