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It, Watching
Turn, and you see nothing.
But it is surely there.
Watching…
Enter a dark, terrifying world where it’s best to watch where you’re going, to keep a sharp look out, to be very careful. A world where a cheap, traveling circus keeps its darkest secret in the rear of a trailer. Where garden gnomes and ventriloquist dummies plan revenge. Where ignorance is hardly bliss. Where a visit to Grandmother’s house takes a horrifying turn. Where a doctor plays with the sanity of his underling. Where toothed creatures live and follow in the shadows. Where kids who ignore their mamas find trouble in an old oak tree. Where curiosity kills more than the cat.
It, Watching is Bram Stoker Award-winning author Elizabeth Massie’s long-awaited seventh collection of horror short stories. It offers tales of dread, suspense, terror, mystery, and an occasional touch of humor. The stories span Massie’s thirty-three year writing career, with goodies her readers may have missed as well as some brand new tales.
Cover art by Cortney Skinner
“Elizabeth Massie is personally one of my favorite authors. Her writing is true, heartfelt, and wildly original. She is one of the greats.” – Bentley Little, author of The Haunted, The Collection, and The Consultant
“Elizabeth Massie is a force to be reckoned with. She’s an accomplished writer who never fails to engage the heart and mind.” – Jack Ketchum, author of The Girl Next Door, The Secret Life of Souls, and The Lost
“Elizabeth Massie seduces you with her smooth prose and rich characterization and leaves you gasping when it all comes together.” – F. Paul Wilson, author of The Keep, Fear City, and Panacea
Included in It,
Wet Birds
Tintype
Darla and Gina Try to Keep Out of Debt
Don’t Look at Me
Sister, Shhh
Breathe Me
18P37-C, After Andrea Was Arrested
The Darkton Circus Mystery
The Tree
My Treat (poem)
Sickle Moon
Dust Cover
Pisspot Bay
Sarah, In the Attic
I Have a Little Shadow
The Well
Landfill
The Replacement
But it is surely there.
Watching…
Enter a dark, terrifying world where it’s best to watch where you’re going, to keep a sharp look out, to be very careful. A world where a cheap, traveling circus keeps its darkest secret in the rear of a trailer. Where garden gnomes and ventriloquist dummies plan revenge. Where ignorance is hardly bliss. Where a visit to Grandmother’s house takes a horrifying turn. Where a doctor plays with the sanity of his underling. Where toothed creatures live and follow in the shadows. Where kids who ignore their mamas find trouble in an old oak tree. Where curiosity kills more than the cat.
It, Watching is Bram Stoker Award-winning author Elizabeth Massie’s long-awaited seventh collection of horror short stories. It offers tales of dread, suspense, terror, mystery, and an occasional touch of humor. The stories span Massie’s thirty-three year writing career, with goodies her readers may have missed as well as some brand new tales.
Cover art by Cortney Skinner
“Elizabeth Massie is personally one of my favorite authors. Her writing is true, heartfelt, and wildly original. She is one of the greats.” – Bentley Little, author of The Haunted, The Collection, and The Consultant
“Elizabeth Massie is a force to be reckoned with. She’s an accomplished writer who never fails to engage the heart and mind.” – Jack Ketchum, author of The Girl Next Door, The Secret Life of Souls, and The Lost
“Elizabeth Massie seduces you with her smooth prose and rich characterization and leaves you gasping when it all comes together.” – F. Paul Wilson, author of The Keep, Fear City, and Panacea
Included in It,
Wet Birds
Tintype
Darla and Gina Try to Keep Out of Debt
Don’t Look at Me
Sister, Shhh
Breathe Me
18P37-C, After Andrea Was Arrested
The Darkton Circus Mystery
The Tree
My Treat (poem)
Sickle Moon
Dust Cover
Pisspot Bay
Sarah, In the Attic
I Have a Little Shadow
The Well
Landfill
The Replacement
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
222 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 22, 2017
7 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Massie
184 books162 followersElizabeth (Beth) Massie is a 2-time Bram Stoker Award and Scribe Award-winning author of horror/suspense, historical fiction, media tie-ins, nonfiction, and short fiction for adults. She also writes novels for teens and middle grade readers. Her series, Ameri-Scares, is currently in development for television by Warner Horizon (Warner Brothers), LuckyChap, and Assemble Media. Stay tuned! She lives in the Shenandoah Valley with her husband, illustrator Cortney Skinner.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 6, 2022
I'll put a ✓ next to my favorites:
*A group of kids partying in the woods become trapped amidst a zombie outbreak
*One prisoner forces another to do a grisly job for him
*A middle aged couple come up with a creative way to supplement their income ✓
*A little girls toys teach her abusive mother a lesson
*A ghost out to avenge her best friend and teach her cruel husband a lesson
*A group of lab animals prepare to resist their captors
*A father gives his daughter a special place in his circus
*A bratty kid learns the hard way to listen to his mother
*A lonely ghost looks forward to Halloween
*A young teen ventures into the woods to get rid of a dark secret and stumbles upon two old sisters, rumored to be witches by the locals
*A college student is having problems in her new apartment - and she's sure it's coming from the vent
*A teen arrested for a crime he didn't commit decides confessing may be preferable to the interrogation process ✓
*A new bride meets her husband's ex wife in a strange way
*A woman dubbed "Mother Claire" for her charity work is relentlessly hounded by demons
*A girls grandmother leaves her a special treasure down in the well ✓
*A man who thinks his coworker must be a hoarder finally finds out what he is doing with all his scavenged items ✓
*A grieving couple gets a replacement daughter
---------------
Overall, I did like this collection; the stories were unique and I think there's a lot of variety - something for everyone. I would definitely like to try reading a novel by this author next.
*A group of kids partying in the woods become trapped amidst a zombie outbreak
*One prisoner forces another to do a grisly job for him
*A middle aged couple come up with a creative way to supplement their income ✓
*A little girls toys teach her abusive mother a lesson
*A ghost out to avenge her best friend and teach her cruel husband a lesson
*A group of lab animals prepare to resist their captors
*A father gives his daughter a special place in his circus
*A bratty kid learns the hard way to listen to his mother
*A lonely ghost looks forward to Halloween
*A young teen ventures into the woods to get rid of a dark secret and stumbles upon two old sisters, rumored to be witches by the locals
*A college student is having problems in her new apartment - and she's sure it's coming from the vent
*A teen arrested for a crime he didn't commit decides confessing may be preferable to the interrogation process ✓
*A new bride meets her husband's ex wife in a strange way
*A woman dubbed "Mother Claire" for her charity work is relentlessly hounded by demons
*A girls grandmother leaves her a special treasure down in the well ✓
*A man who thinks his coworker must be a hoarder finally finds out what he is doing with all his scavenged items ✓
*A grieving couple gets a replacement daughter
---------------
Overall, I did like this collection; the stories were unique and I think there's a lot of variety - something for everyone. I would definitely like to try reading a novel by this author next.
April 1, 2020
I’ve been a fan of Elizabeth Massie since her Leisure Publishing days. Not merely an excellent writer, she’s also one of the few who can terrify without even setting foot into the realm of supernatural, which is to say she is that good at the psychological terrors, the nightmares that people are and can be to themselves and one another. In fact, the last anthology I’ve read of hers was specifically like that. And this one wasn’t. This one did often veer into the supernatural, from the traditional genre features like zombies and vampires and ghosts to the more original scenarios. All done so very well. A proper multigenerational Virginian, Massie writes South, but a certain variety, a dirty South, a place of poverty, limited choices and opportunities. It’s the unwashed version of the Southern Gothic. A very specific sort of ugliness born out of quiet desperation and cheap alcohol. Backwoods and backwards, steeped in traditions, superstitions and local folklore…these stories are dark, disturbing and strangely immersive. Or maybe not so strangely, the immersion is really owed to Massie’s excellence as a writer. But you do really get into these stories, it’s kind of like traveling to places you’d never want to go and then finding yourself unable to look away from the fatal crashes of people’s lives…if you forgive the mixed metaphors. Basically, I’m saying it’s good, it’s really good. And these are proper short stories too, not sketches, not glimpses, but actual lives. Start to finish, each and every one tells an original story. Goes by quickly and certainly entertains plenty. I’m not a fan of the South in any shape or form, but literary and only then done by select few and Massie is definitely on that list. Definitely one of the best kindle freebies I’ve found lately.It...the darkness...is watching you. For fans of eerie, creeping kudzu vines of scary stories. Recommended.
January 10, 2018
With "It, Watching," Elizabeth Massie further solidifies her reputation as a master storyteller of the creepy and macabre. There's not a misstep in the bunch. Hell, one of the stories here is only 50 words long, and it still packs a grim punch.
Massie's love for "The Twilight Zone" shows in the majority of the stories. With a deft hand, she leads you down trails you might as first mistake for prosaic or formulaic, only to brilliantly pull the rug out from under you in the final pages. With everything from zombies, vampires, witches, and more, she subverts genre conventions and before you know it she's playing your spine like an eerily untuned piano. You finish each story breathless, with a wicked smile on your face, loving every minute of the ride.
Massie's characters are so authentic that you can almost hear them breathing over your shoulder. Good horror stories must unnerve and disturb, or, at the very least, give you chills. And those reactions are only earned by the ability to empathize with the characters (even if you in no way sympathize with them). And Massie is a master at populating her tales with believable, empathetic characters.
Sometimes, those characters aren't even human, or, not QUITE human. "Don’t Look at Me," told from the point of view of an old lawn gnome, will have you cheering (perhaps guiltily; perhaps not) for its narrator's revenge. And the stories "18P37-C, After Andrea Was Arrested," about a lab monkey, and "The Replacement," about a child clone, are not only chilling but so intensely heartbreaking that you might find tears brimming in your eyes. I did.
The most disturbing tale, for me, is "Tintype," a nihilistic Civil War-era meditation on the horrors of war and the lengths one might go to survive. It proves that sometimes the most despicable acts we humans commit against one another are those that scar the mind.
Massie also has a wicked sense of humor, and a couple of the tales—"The Tree" and "Landfill" being prime examples—end on deliciously vicious notes that would make the Cryptkeeper proud. And the zombie tale "Wet Birds" makes for a gruesome pairing with her infamous story "Abed."
If you're a fan of horror fiction, Massie should already be on your radar and hopefully in your rotation. If not, then you need to introduce yourself to her imaginative, disturbing, and brilliant work. And "It, Watching" is a perfect place to start. If you are familiar with her work, then this collection will be every bit the treat you expect it to be.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Massie's love for "The Twilight Zone" shows in the majority of the stories. With a deft hand, she leads you down trails you might as first mistake for prosaic or formulaic, only to brilliantly pull the rug out from under you in the final pages. With everything from zombies, vampires, witches, and more, she subverts genre conventions and before you know it she's playing your spine like an eerily untuned piano. You finish each story breathless, with a wicked smile on your face, loving every minute of the ride.
Massie's characters are so authentic that you can almost hear them breathing over your shoulder. Good horror stories must unnerve and disturb, or, at the very least, give you chills. And those reactions are only earned by the ability to empathize with the characters (even if you in no way sympathize with them). And Massie is a master at populating her tales with believable, empathetic characters.
Sometimes, those characters aren't even human, or, not QUITE human. "Don’t Look at Me," told from the point of view of an old lawn gnome, will have you cheering (perhaps guiltily; perhaps not) for its narrator's revenge. And the stories "18P37-C, After Andrea Was Arrested," about a lab monkey, and "The Replacement," about a child clone, are not only chilling but so intensely heartbreaking that you might find tears brimming in your eyes. I did.
The most disturbing tale, for me, is "Tintype," a nihilistic Civil War-era meditation on the horrors of war and the lengths one might go to survive. It proves that sometimes the most despicable acts we humans commit against one another are those that scar the mind.
Massie also has a wicked sense of humor, and a couple of the tales—"The Tree" and "Landfill" being prime examples—end on deliciously vicious notes that would make the Cryptkeeper proud. And the zombie tale "Wet Birds" makes for a gruesome pairing with her infamous story "Abed."
If you're a fan of horror fiction, Massie should already be on your radar and hopefully in your rotation. If not, then you need to introduce yourself to her imaginative, disturbing, and brilliant work. And "It, Watching" is a perfect place to start. If you are familiar with her work, then this collection will be every bit the treat you expect it to be.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
September 23, 2017
It, Watching by Elizabeth Massie is a well written collection of scary stories that will have you sleeping with the lights on. A collection that I highly recommend for all horror lovers to add to their must-read list, especially as Halloween draws near.
February 28, 2026
Review to come.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews