The Reckoning: A Collection of Dark Tales

by Stephanie Ellis

The day of reckoning has arrived in this collection of dark tales from Stephanie Ellis. Featuring a mix of published and unpublished stories, these tales span a broad spectrum of horror. From the gothic and folk traditions to the urban and traditional, all are represented here. Amongst the pages lie the madness of war, the bloodlust of vampires and the Devil’s work and of course—being British—the revenge of the Tea Lady. Custard cream anyone?

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2018

About the author

Stephanie Ellis writes dark speculative prose and poetry and has been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies. Her longer work includes the novels, The Five Turns of the Wheel, Reborn and The Woodcutter, and the novellas, Paused and Bottled. Her new post-apocalytpic/sci-fi/horror novel, The Barricade is due out this year!

She is a Rhysling and Elgin nominated poet, co-authoring the poetry collection, Foundlings, with Cindy O'Quinn, Lilith Rising with Shane Douglas Keene and solo work Metallurgy.

She can be found at https://stephanieellis.org

Reviews

[Elford Alley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though the themes of revenge and retribution are in every story, there is a such a variety here. Different eras, different styles, with fully-formed characters and fast-moving plots. The Last Monster was definitely my favorite in the collection.

[Michael Fassbender · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here Stephanie Ellis presents a collection of her short stories culled from various anthologies and magazines. They range in tone from deadly earnest to slightly absurd ("The Woman in Slacks" appears to be an intentional send-up of "The Woman in Black" and I don't think that is a spoiler).

Highest marks go to two folk horror offerings, "Beiwe" and "We Walk in the Night as Strangers." Ellis has established herself as a master of this oevre and I look forward to reading "The Five Turns of the Wheel," which I recently purchased.

"The Wire" also stands out as a fine example of a story that changes significantly as the plot unfolds. I generally try to avoid spoilers here, so I'll say nothing more on this count.