When the Lights Go Out - Ink Slingers' Halloween Anthology

by Joleene Naylor, D.M. Yates, Maegan Provan

A collection of twenty-five short stories just in time for Halloween. Enjoy thrills, chills, and mysteries. Meet ghosts, demons, vampires, and monsters everywhere from dark city streets to the English countryside. Scares lurk in the most unexpected places and, when the lights go out, no where is safe and no one will be spared.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Halloween, Short Stories

324 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 23, 2015

About the author

Joleene Naylor is the author of the glitter-less Amaranthine vampire series, a world where vampires aren't for children. As a compliment to the novel series, she has also written several short stories, including the Vampire Morsels collection.

In her spare time, Joleene is a freelance book cover designer and for-fun photographer . She maintains several blogs full of odd ramblings, and occasionally updates her website at JoleeneNaylor.com. In what little time is left she watches anime and pins recipes and DIY, all from a crooked Victorian house in Villisca, Iowa. Between her husband and her pets, she is never lonely, and should she ever disappear one might look for her on a beach in Tahiti, sipping a tropical drink and wearing a disguise.

She currently has several books available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple and Smashwords.

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This was an interesting collection of short stories. Some of them were really creepy, and a few were a little odd. Some of them fit the Halloween theme better than others, but like most short story collections, some stories were better than others.

Overall though it was entertaining with more good than bad.

[Barbara Tarn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave star ratings to each story, then divided the total by 24 (excluding my story, of course).
The favorite stories are: Midnight Summons, Loving Reflections, The Blue Die, Behind the Door, Legends and Lies, Reapers, Beldren and Through the Willow Tree!
Way to go, fellow authors!

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

When The Lights Go Out combines two of my favorite characteristics in a book: horror and short stories. Though not every single short I would have given 5 stars to, the overall anthology is well laid out and gives the reader quite the variety of dark tales to delve into.

Among the sub-genres included are vampires, paranormal, the deviant personality, strange and gifted felines, mythology, twists of fate, and dark fantasy.

My two favorite stories in this collection are Unforgotten by Joleene Naylor, and Malediction by Roger Lawrence. The former of these two picks follows the conundrum of two lifelong friends who share a dark secret from their childhood. Recent events combined with guilty consciences bring about an unwelcome conclusion to their ordeal.

Malediction is a great short story that leads the reader through the mysterious life of a seemingly immortal being that appears to be cursed with an eternity of solitude until a solution occurs to him. Tormented by the moral dilemma posed before him, the man has to chose between a wrong doing and the torture of eternal loneliness.

[T. Giachetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keep the lights on!

Fantastic variety of stories, something for all who are a horror fan. Great short story writing, will be reading more!

[Candra Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great anthology

I love horror anthology movies and books. That is the reason I checked this one out to begin with and i was not disappointed. These stories are fairly original takes on old monsters.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of various short stories designed to send shivers down your spine, and in some cases to tickle your black funny bone. There's not really a single stand out story for me as all of them are good, griping you from start to finish even if you don't know exactly where they are taking you. Each story also has a short biography of the author and a synopsis of one of their books (yes, shameless marketing but an excellent idea too) so you can read more by the same authors should you wish.

[Lily · Rating 2 out of 5]

found only 7 good stories out of 25 that's why 2 stars

1. Midnight Summons : 3 stars : interesting
2. Loving Reflections : 4 stars : really creepy
3. Unforgotten : 4 stars : creepy killers
4. Behind the Door : 5 stars !! : loved the creepy concept
5. The Midnight Zone : 4 stars : really freaky
6. Through the Willow Tree : 4 stars : borrowed concept but well written
7. The Mirror : 3 stars : not bad ... love mirror stories .. creepy

[Nicollette Blackeagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Magnitude of Different Stories

This book is filled with many stories some are creepy and some seem to teach morals. The stories are well written and creative with each story containing likeable and hated characters. I highly recommend this book. This is my honest unbiased review that I am voluntarily leaving of my own volition.

[Kaitlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read two stories and I just can’t continue.

The first story mixed up character relations (referred to someone’s fiancé as their brother). The second story has within the chunk of a third paragraph third person pov, first person pov, and some dialogue.

I have so many other books to read that I can’t spend any more time on this collection.

[Doris Westfall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book by Mary Kubica. It was very interesting and twisty. I was surprised at the ending. I will read more of her books which are psychological thrillers along the lines of Frieda McFadden and Ruth Ware. I think if you like them, you’d like Mary Kubica.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple of stand out stories, but most were just bad.