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TV Dinners from Hell
Don't touch that dial! TV Dinners from Hell, the debut fiction collection from Amber Fallon, includes 17 stories from the twisted mind that brought you The Terminal and The Warblers! Almost half of the stories have never before been published!
From the introduction by celebrated author and reigning queen of weird fiction, Mary
Citing early influences like J.F. Gonzalez and Brian Keene, Amber's work is a rich and spicy dish of unflinching violence and unapologetic humanity. There is a pervasive sense in each of these stories of being alone, whether by choice or an error in judgment, and of a history of dinners for one in these characters' pasts. There is also a frank examination of the kind of choices people used to being alone make, good or bad. Much of the work that has influenced Amber is precisely in the realm of universal conditions of aloneness and loneliness; one of the great horrors in tales of the apocalypse or after is what people do with those two conditions, or what is done to them as those conditions evolve. And much like those previous influencial works, Amber captures the inherent vulnerability of those conditions. Like both Brian's and J.F.'s work, she infuses her writing with a kind of honesty and integrity in the face of being alone that warms the gut.
Mouth watering yet? It should be.
Table of
Night Music
The Donor
Pretty Pretty Shiny
Behind the Smile
78154
The Glen
Something Bit Me
Tequila Sunrise
Dawn of the Death Beetles
The Shark that ate Everything
Demolition Derby
Blind
Tell Me How You Die
Clickers in Space
Odessa
The Dick Measuring Contest at the End of the Universe
Ornamentation
From the introduction by celebrated author and reigning queen of weird fiction, Mary
Citing early influences like J.F. Gonzalez and Brian Keene, Amber's work is a rich and spicy dish of unflinching violence and unapologetic humanity. There is a pervasive sense in each of these stories of being alone, whether by choice or an error in judgment, and of a history of dinners for one in these characters' pasts. There is also a frank examination of the kind of choices people used to being alone make, good or bad. Much of the work that has influenced Amber is precisely in the realm of universal conditions of aloneness and loneliness; one of the great horrors in tales of the apocalypse or after is what people do with those two conditions, or what is done to them as those conditions evolve. And much like those previous influencial works, Amber captures the inherent vulnerability of those conditions. Like both Brian's and J.F.'s work, she infuses her writing with a kind of honesty and integrity in the face of being alone that warms the gut.
Mouth watering yet? It should be.
Table of
Night Music
The Donor
Pretty Pretty Shiny
Behind the Smile
78154
The Glen
Something Bit Me
Tequila Sunrise
Dawn of the Death Beetles
The Shark that ate Everything
Demolition Derby
Blind
Tell Me How You Die
Clickers in Space
Odessa
The Dick Measuring Contest at the End of the Universe
Ornamentation
- GenresShort StoriesHorror
140 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 2017
7 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 15, 2019
Review copy
First, let me say I like Amber Fallon, I really enjoyed her novella Terminal, featuring a horde of bloodthirsty psychopaths from beyond the stars. That was great. TV Dinners from Hell, well, let's just say that this collection of seventeen short stories was like most TV dinners, not very tasty. Oh, there were morsels I liked, but as a whole, I was left hungry.
One of the stories I enjoyed was Behind the Smile. A well-crafted tale featuring clowns which included this wonderful gem...
"Mary's mother had told her that the music came from something called a 'ka-lie-oh-pee,' but Mary didn't like it one bit. To her small ears, it sounded haunting and evil."
There was also 78154, a short which effectively built the level of terror throughout. By the way, who's the moron who decided codes were needed to use the restrooms in a building where you already need a badge to get into work?
Something Bit Me was onlya single page but was scary as hell. It totally freaked me out.
Dawn of the Death Beatles lost me when meteorites which had impacted the Earth were referred to as meteors. Sorry. That really bothers me.
There were, however, a couple of other standout stories here. One being, Tell Me How You Die. If you knew how you would meet your end would you take unnecessary risks which didn't involve the activity that would kill you? Well told.
And then there was my favorite, The Dick Measuring Contest at the End of the Universe, A terrific "What if?" story involving alternate universes and Hellen Marshall.
Six entertaining stories out of seventeen is just OK and not enough for me to really recommend, I hear Amber's book, Warblers is really good, maybe I'll give that one a read soon.
TV Dinners from Hell is available now in both paperback and for the Kindle. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
From the author's bio - Amber Fallon lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two dogs. A techie by day and horror writer by night, Mrs. Fallon has spent time as a bank manager, motivational speaker, produce wrangler and butcher. Amber's publications include The Warblers, The Terminal, and others.
First, let me say I like Amber Fallon, I really enjoyed her novella Terminal, featuring a horde of bloodthirsty psychopaths from beyond the stars. That was great. TV Dinners from Hell, well, let's just say that this collection of seventeen short stories was like most TV dinners, not very tasty. Oh, there were morsels I liked, but as a whole, I was left hungry.
One of the stories I enjoyed was Behind the Smile. A well-crafted tale featuring clowns which included this wonderful gem...
"Mary's mother had told her that the music came from something called a 'ka-lie-oh-pee,' but Mary didn't like it one bit. To her small ears, it sounded haunting and evil."
There was also 78154, a short which effectively built the level of terror throughout. By the way, who's the moron who decided codes were needed to use the restrooms in a building where you already need a badge to get into work?
Something Bit Me was onlya single page but was scary as hell. It totally freaked me out.
Dawn of the Death Beatles lost me when meteorites which had impacted the Earth were referred to as meteors. Sorry. That really bothers me.
There were, however, a couple of other standout stories here. One being, Tell Me How You Die. If you knew how you would meet your end would you take unnecessary risks which didn't involve the activity that would kill you? Well told.
And then there was my favorite, The Dick Measuring Contest at the End of the Universe, A terrific "What if?" story involving alternate universes and Hellen Marshall.
Six entertaining stories out of seventeen is just OK and not enough for me to really recommend, I hear Amber's book, Warblers is really good, maybe I'll give that one a read soon.
TV Dinners from Hell is available now in both paperback and for the Kindle. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
From the author's bio - Amber Fallon lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two dogs. A techie by day and horror writer by night, Mrs. Fallon has spent time as a bank manager, motivational speaker, produce wrangler and butcher. Amber's publications include The Warblers, The Terminal, and others.
November 21, 2017
This was a fun and varied collection of short stories/flash fiction that effortlessly shifts between multiple genres, such as; horror, sci-fi and fantasy. I decided to check out more of Amber Fallon's writing after reading her brilliant story Angels' Armageddon in 'Terror in 16 bits' and really enjoying it. Amber's got an easy to read style and a fantastic imagination, I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.
September 13, 2018
These dinners are 17 twisted, tasty flavors of pure mayhem and gore. An incredible collection from a very talented new comer.
November 1, 2017
TV Dinners From Hell is a collection of Amber's short work, some previously published, some new in this collection. If you like horror, this is a collection for you. Most of us have that friend who likes to tell long jokes with that twinkle in their eye. And that's what you getting with Amber Fallon. Only that twinkle means that something awful is going to happen to someone.
What floors me is the breadth of her story ideas. Even her zombie stories aren't the standard zombies. They're unique and weird, and that makes "Night Music" more effective and interesting than the average zombie story.
Amber's prose style shifts from brutally stripped-down to luxurious description at the drop of a hat, and as it serves the needs of the story. The beginning paragraph of "Ornamentation" is long, but the word picture she paints is letter-perfect. You know who this guy is, you know what they're feeling. And she builds a great story on that foundation.
She also has a feel for very unusual plots. "The Dick Measuring Contest At the End of the Universe" is a wonderfully weird premise, one that in lesser hands would just have been jibberish. But Amber has a precise sense of story, and like a blood-spattered roses, these unfold strange petals all the way to the last sentence.
Your TV Dinner is ready, and if you're a horror fan, you're going to scarf this one down
What floors me is the breadth of her story ideas. Even her zombie stories aren't the standard zombies. They're unique and weird, and that makes "Night Music" more effective and interesting than the average zombie story.
Amber's prose style shifts from brutally stripped-down to luxurious description at the drop of a hat, and as it serves the needs of the story. The beginning paragraph of "Ornamentation" is long, but the word picture she paints is letter-perfect. You know who this guy is, you know what they're feeling. And she builds a great story on that foundation.
She also has a feel for very unusual plots. "The Dick Measuring Contest At the End of the Universe" is a wonderfully weird premise, one that in lesser hands would just have been jibberish. But Amber has a precise sense of story, and like a blood-spattered roses, these unfold strange petals all the way to the last sentence.
Your TV Dinner is ready, and if you're a horror fan, you're going to scarf this one down
November 17, 2017
Enjoyable collection of (very) short stories. And by 'stories' I mean more like creepy vignettes It's a common trait among writers' early short work; long on atmosphere, short on plot.
But having already read Amber Fallon's novella TERMINAL I have confidence that her longer fiction will make her a young horror writer to keep an eye on.
But having already read Amber Fallon's novella TERMINAL I have confidence that her longer fiction will make her a young horror writer to keep an eye on.
October 3, 2018
Wonderful snippets of twisted storytelling. Fallon's imagination is truly wicked and I can't wait to dive into her other works.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews