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Candle Cove and Other Stories
An online forum discusses a horrifying children's TV show remembered from youth. An ancient dead thing finds its way back to life via others' dreams. An isolated man learns what it's like to be abandoned by existence itself. These stories and many more in this collection of short horror from the creator of Candle Cove. Contains work originally printed in Ichor Falls: A Visitor's Guide and But In The Dead of Night: Selections from Thirty Years of Nightmares.
84 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 11, 2021
Last week I decided to read a tor.com freebie called Two Truths and a Lie which is a story based on an internet creepypasta entitled "Candle Cove" which was then the influence for the first season of Channel Zero, a show I watched and enjoyed. And since I had now had two "Candle Cove" retellings under my belt, I thought I'd bite the bullet and read the original.
And it was just ok. I much preferred the meatier and juicier stories that others had come up with based on this original idea. Because this story took all of about 4 minutes to read and was written unconventionally in the style of an internet forum or Reddit thread where a user asks the interwebz if anyone had heard of a children's show from the 70s called Candle Cove. The story is made up of responses of others users and the story grows creepier with every memory and every comment thereafter.
I enjoyed the concept of this story, that memory is unreliable and transient. Most people are actually unaware of the way memories are stored in the brain. When you remember something, you are actually remembering the last time you remembered that something rather than the thing itself. Which is what makes memory and eyewitness testimony such inconsistent concepts. It is the reason for false memories, the reason that so many compulsive liars begin to believe their own lies, the reason that memory is studied and examined and found somewhat mystical.
I give it 3 solid stars mostly for creativity and idea rather than for plot of stylistic finesse. I like that it has inspired so many others who have created really awesome stories around this idea, and it does have a lasting factor and makes you think long after you've read it. But as an actual story itself, it is on the weaker side for me.
Read it for FREE here:
https://www.creepypasta.com/candle-cove/
And it was just ok. I much preferred the meatier and juicier stories that others had come up with based on this original idea. Because this story took all of about 4 minutes to read and was written unconventionally in the style of an internet forum or Reddit thread where a user asks the interwebz if anyone had heard of a children's show from the 70s called Candle Cove. The story is made up of responses of others users and the story grows creepier with every memory and every comment thereafter.
I enjoyed the concept of this story, that memory is unreliable and transient. Most people are actually unaware of the way memories are stored in the brain. When you remember something, you are actually remembering the last time you remembered that something rather than the thing itself. Which is what makes memory and eyewitness testimony such inconsistent concepts. It is the reason for false memories, the reason that so many compulsive liars begin to believe their own lies, the reason that memory is studied and examined and found somewhat mystical.
I give it 3 solid stars mostly for creativity and idea rather than for plot of stylistic finesse. I like that it has inspired so many others who have created really awesome stories around this idea, and it does have a lasting factor and makes you think long after you've read it. But as an actual story itself, it is on the weaker side for me.
Read it for FREE here:
https://www.creepypasta.com/candle-cove/
October 16, 2017
A short collection of short horror stories, but stories which pack a real punch. Candle Cove is the story the recent SyFy series "Channel Zero" is based on, but while the TV adaptation is a sprawling tale of some 8 hours, the original story is a mere handful of pages. Despite that, it is every bit as affecting as its TV translation. The power of Straub's writing is in his ability to conjur vivid images with the sparsest of language. The stories in this collection carry far more weight than their small page count would have you believe. There are touches of MR James in Straub's writing, as horrors unseen approach out of the corner of the eye, cutting the storytellers short and leaving their ultimate fate to the reader's imagination. A superb collection.
October 5, 2017
Short horror stories I find very hit and miss. It's so hard for the author to get under my skin or in my head in such a short space in time. It's even more difficult if the story is only a few pages long.
So it doesn't surprise me that the majority of these stories I didn't find scary at all. Plus Kris Straub is way more intelligent than me, so a couple of stories I didn't even understand.
But 'Curious Little Thing' was fantastic. That managed to worm it's way in deep. I'll be closing my eyes when shutting doors for quite a while!
So it doesn't surprise me that the majority of these stories I didn't find scary at all. Plus Kris Straub is way more intelligent than me, so a couple of stories I didn't even understand.
But 'Curious Little Thing' was fantastic. That managed to worm it's way in deep. I'll be closing my eyes when shutting doors for quite a while!
January 27, 2019
Just read the creepypasta 'Candle Cove' from this collection. It was dark and among the best short horror stories out there.
September 26, 2017
"September 26, 2017 –
70.0% "If movies can get something that's novels not the perfect way but still... in this whole story everyone and everything is a killer.
...
What's really happening?"
September 26, 2017 –
70.0% "People say that opinion by itself is bitch... but everything getting twisted is what this whole story is all about."
September 26, 2017 –
70.0% "If I start reviewing... in the end... probably something on the way is going to get away... the hwole idea is nothing to get away each thought each detail to be here and to start judging the book as much as possible."
September 26, 2017 –
70.0% "If you are here and you are reader it means that you are special... but how is possible somebody to enter his own mind and stranger also to get there... it's just very weak grounded story if you ask me."
September 26, 2017 –
60.0% "This game here is all about weak Consciousness... nothing else"
September 26, 2017 –
50.0% "Playing with mind... time has stopped for some people for others hasn't. All people get insane here... all people can manipulate everything and everyone here."
September 26, 2017 –
50.0% "I need something to get out of from boredoom... I need a gateway..."
September 26, 2017 –
50.0% "Silence what's going to creep you out here"
September 26, 2017 – Started Reading"
- It has been a long time since the whole thing happen.
70.0% "If movies can get something that's novels not the perfect way but still... in this whole story everyone and everything is a killer.
...
What's really happening?"
September 26, 2017 –
70.0% "People say that opinion by itself is bitch... but everything getting twisted is what this whole story is all about."
September 26, 2017 –
70.0% "If I start reviewing... in the end... probably something on the way is going to get away... the hwole idea is nothing to get away each thought each detail to be here and to start judging the book as much as possible."
September 26, 2017 –
70.0% "If you are here and you are reader it means that you are special... but how is possible somebody to enter his own mind and stranger also to get there... it's just very weak grounded story if you ask me."
September 26, 2017 –
60.0% "This game here is all about weak Consciousness... nothing else"
September 26, 2017 –
50.0% "Playing with mind... time has stopped for some people for others hasn't. All people get insane here... all people can manipulate everything and everyone here."
September 26, 2017 –
50.0% "I need something to get out of from boredoom... I need a gateway..."
September 26, 2017 –
50.0% "Silence what's going to creep you out here"
September 26, 2017 – Started Reading"
- It has been a long time since the whole thing happen.
January 21, 2021
A collectiin of weird, campfire like stories that only had a few standouts.
The first, of course, is the eponymous Candle Cove. Like the best creepypastas, it's all the more effective for its simplicity, and chilling to the bone. The Channel Zero season based off of it is also great.
The other standout is Curious Little Thing, about a man who is haunted by the specter of a teenage girl. She only appears as he's closing a door or closet, and she appears around its "corner," darting out of sight and of course she's never there when he looks for her. This one kind of scared the shit out of me.
As for the rest, it's clear that Straub has talent and good ideas but few stories make much of an impact outside the above mentioned two. I'd be curious to know what his long form stories are like.
The first, of course, is the eponymous Candle Cove. Like the best creepypastas, it's all the more effective for its simplicity, and chilling to the bone. The Channel Zero season based off of it is also great.
The other standout is Curious Little Thing, about a man who is haunted by the specter of a teenage girl. She only appears as he's closing a door or closet, and she appears around its "corner," darting out of sight and of course she's never there when he looks for her. This one kind of scared the shit out of me.
As for the rest, it's clear that Straub has talent and good ideas but few stories make much of an impact outside the above mentioned two. I'd be curious to know what his long form stories are like.
March 2, 2021
Like every short story collection it has some good and bad ones. Of course the famous Candle Cove, a known creepy pasta that has it's own tv adaptation is the main attraction and the reason I read the stories at all. It's one of those stories that's simple but powerful on it's own, and it's something most of the stories share, even if not all are as thought provoking as this one.
January 9, 2024
short & more sci fi than i thought :) i especially really liked the dream diary section.
fav stories:
curious little things: 4/5 WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. this one literally made me cry it scared me so bad
three miles up a narrow dirt road: 4/5 dance for me balloon man. this is what i imagine ceasing to exist to mean.
extreme measures: 4/5 :/
fav stories:
curious little things: 4/5 WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. this one literally made me cry it scared me so bad
three miles up a narrow dirt road: 4/5 dance for me balloon man. this is what i imagine ceasing to exist to mean.
extreme measures: 4/5 :/
February 4, 2019
The short story that Channel Zero: Candle Cove is based on is only a few pages long so that was disappointing. The other stories were equally short but thought provoking and offer a good horror punch. I would have enjoyed this more if the stories were longer.
November 25, 2024
The title story is by far the best of this collection. It has an interesting idea about memory and not remembering things correctly, or remembering things that haven’t happened at all, and how scary that can be.
December 4, 2025
The brain of Kris Straub is truly unique in that he twists such short moments in his stories with so few words. I enjoyed this book immensely, but I think a big part of that is due to my love for the short story Candle Cove.
April 17, 2020
A nice collection of short horror stories. I appreciate Straub's ability to leave most of the terror to the imagination of the reader. It's true in all of his work, and especially effective here.
April 2, 2021
Feels like a pretty natural progression from Lovecraft. I appreciated the brevity, but when you read them all in one sitting they wind up losing their impact. Candle cove is an all timer, though.
Read
August 4, 2023"Indistinguishable" ★★
"Candle Cove" ★★★★★
"Candle Cove" ★★★★★
March 11, 2024
I enjoyed the extra entries at the end, especially the final one with the little yellow butterfly.
May 1, 2025
Candle cove is another classic I will never forget, the mass unraveling of the horror of the tv show is fantastic AND its apart of the local 58 universe.
February 11, 2026
I tried showing this story to my friend but all she sees is a blank screen. Does anyone know why this is happening?
January 4, 2017
Quite good. Kris Straub has got creepypastas down to an art.
February 13, 2017
This is more a collection of haunting images than actual stories. There are some great and disturbing images, most notably in "Curious Little Thing" and "The Hirsch Camera" but they're only images, without the lovely puff pastry wrapper of plot and characterization to make them full stories.
"Candle Cove" is a truly great story, as is "Springboy" (the latter is a five-star story and really upsetting), but they're the exception rather than the rule. Otherwise the stories are largely narrated by what feels like the same character in different situations but with no explanation.
Others, like "The Fulcrum", "Titanium Christ" and "The Springwood King" aren't really even vignettes, just... disturbing images with a weak attempt at context. I felt like I was missing some backstory about the town or about some unifying event before the book opens, and I kept looking for that context as I worked through the stories, but ultimately, I was left more puzzled than anything else.
I can definitely see the appeal of flashfic centered around haunting images, but on the whole, I needed much more.
"Candle Cove" is a truly great story, as is "Springboy" (the latter is a five-star story and really upsetting), but they're the exception rather than the rule. Otherwise the stories are largely narrated by what feels like the same character in different situations but with no explanation.
Others, like "The Fulcrum", "Titanium Christ" and "The Springwood King" aren't really even vignettes, just... disturbing images with a weak attempt at context. I felt like I was missing some backstory about the town or about some unifying event before the book opens, and I kept looking for that context as I worked through the stories, but ultimately, I was left more puzzled than anything else.
I can definitely see the appeal of flashfic centered around haunting images, but on the whole, I needed much more.
March 14, 2016
A wonderful little collection of stories; each of which stacks another brick in the rotten foundations of an eerie ghost town. Ichor Falls as a setting is far creepier, and far more believable, than any of Stephen King's Maine-centric horror.
From the descent into mania portrayed in 'Lemon Blossom Girl', to the story which must, by now, be considered among the first "classics" of the internet era; 'Candle Cove' - this array of disjointed, but puzzling and unnerving stories build not the character of an individual, but of a place.
In that way, Ichor Falls becomes a kind of antihero - a troubled, melancholic place. Though filled with people, after a period of abandonment, none of its inhabitants can fathom the true horrors that lie beneath the surface. But it never boils-over - never erupts into violence or bloody horror.
Instead, as depicted in Straub's collection, Ichor Falls broods, silently, in the woods, and leaves us dreading the unspoken.
From the descent into mania portrayed in 'Lemon Blossom Girl', to the story which must, by now, be considered among the first "classics" of the internet era; 'Candle Cove' - this array of disjointed, but puzzling and unnerving stories build not the character of an individual, but of a place.
In that way, Ichor Falls becomes a kind of antihero - a troubled, melancholic place. Though filled with people, after a period of abandonment, none of its inhabitants can fathom the true horrors that lie beneath the surface. But it never boils-over - never erupts into violence or bloody horror.
Instead, as depicted in Straub's collection, Ichor Falls broods, silently, in the woods, and leaves us dreading the unspoken.
January 22, 2026
A great collection of short horror stories that explore a wide range of concepts. Despite it's astoundingly short length, a lot of these stories are something I think will stick with a lot of people. The stories all have a very surreal, dreamlike feel to the horror that makes it come across as a selection of odd nightmares. The last four are explicitly entries from the author's dream journal, and yet feel surprisingly coherent and thematically interesting.
October 19, 2016
This was an interesting collection of short stories. It reminds me a little bit of the scary stories from the dark but an adult version and a bit more dark. I really really enjoyed the candle cove story. That was very interesting. All of them were good though and I enjoyed it
January 4, 2017
this rating is just for candle cove, which i read on creepypasta. takes about 5 min to read, max, and it's very creepy indeed. short and effective.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews