What do you think?
Rate this book
Ode To Death
“ODE TO DEATH is a celebration of good, old fashioned storytelling and creeping dread. I couldn’t stop turning the pages and you won’t be able to either. I had a great time with this collection.” — Richard Chizmar From author Andrew Lennon comes a new collection of eighteen titles, including short stories, drabbles and poetry. This versatile collection will have you fearing those noises coming from the attic, questioning whether you should enter that haunted house at the fairground, thinking twice before you stay in a motel on a desert-stricken highway. It will touch you emotionally when you witness a person’s struggles, their discovery of new friends, how they can triumph and live to see another day, raising their heads to create their own Ode to Death.ContentsMy Ode to Death House of Illusion Lunchtime Ghost Story No Sleep Caravan Buried Santa Claus Comes at Night Dog Race Trying to Write a Horror Story Hide Behind a Smile Visiting Time Stress Blanket Red Shoes New Beginning The Secret Life of my Imaginary Friend Lover One Night In Hotel “Andrew Lennon is a rising star of horror” - Iain Rob Wright, author of the Hell on Earth series “Lennon harkens back to the glory days of horror, where nothing is what it seems and everything is terrifying!” – Ryan C. Thomas, author of The Summer I Died "Andrew Lennon is definitely not for the faint of heart – his writing takes a chilly dip into the pitch blackness of the human psyche." - Sam West, author of Djinn "Lennon's words scream resoundingly from every page and make you read with the lights on!" --Christopher Motz, author of Pine Lakes "Andrew Lennon brings his unique brand of no-nonsense horror to his latest collection, smartly keeping the focus right where it should telling a great story." - Evans Light, author of Tales of Terror “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything I’ve read by Lennon. I can never wait to see what he does next.” - Kevin J Kennedy, creator of Collected Horror Shorts. "The best horror writers have the ability to make you believe the words on the page could happen in reality. ODE TO DEATH is full of these moments and cements Andrew Lennon as one of the rising stars in the horror fiction genre." - Michael Bray, author of Whisper “Deliciously dark, brutal and thoroughly entertaining. If Andrew Lennon isn’t already on your radar then he should be.” - Peter McKeirnon, author of Death in a Northern Town
- GenresHorrorCollections
180 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 19, 2019
22 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Lennon
81 books279 followersAndrew Lennon is the bestselling author of Every Twisted Thought and several other horror/thriller books. He has featured in various bestselling anthologies, and is successfully becoming a recognised name in horror and thriller writing.
His work has appeared alongside horror royalty such as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Richard Chizmar, Clive Barker, and many more.
Andrew is a happily married man living in the North West of England with his wife Hazel & their children.
For more information please go to www.andrewlennon.co.uk
His work has appeared alongside horror royalty such as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Richard Chizmar, Clive Barker, and many more.
Andrew is a happily married man living in the North West of England with his wife Hazel & their children.
For more information please go to www.andrewlennon.co.uk
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
October 4, 2019
Very tasty collection of stories and some poems. In 'House of Illusions' you'll learn real horror at a fair. 'Lunchtime' gives you a delicious meal made of special ingredients. 'The Caravan' is one of the first highlights with its bizarre ending. You don't want to have this 'Santa Claus Comes At Night'. The author also directly pays homage to Stephen King with the stories 'Dog Race' (Cujo) and 'Trying To Write A Horror Story' (Misery). 'Visiting Time' is a piece of satirical horror when inmates of a nursery home are compared to Zombies and act like them. The most brutal and violent story here certainly is 'Red Shoes'. Here you follow a deranged serial killer with a fetish of red shoes. The reader is left in horror with the last story 'One Night In Hotel'. I liked the reference to 'Hotel California' here. Well composed, well written with nasty twists and more or less violent action. I can highly recommend this interesting and diversified collection.
April 21, 2019
ODE TO DEATH is a collection of short stories and poetry that has a lot going for it!
I've been a fan of Andrew Lennon's for a while now and when he asked if I would be willing to read an ARC of his latest, I hopped on the chance! (Not as quickly as I would have liked, but what can you do?)
This collection started out with a humdinger, HOUSE OF ILLUSION. Spooky clowns + spooky carnival = Happy Char! This was my favorite story in the book.
I also very much enjoyed SANTA CLAUS COMES AT NIGHT, (this one actually gave me a nightmare, and I NEVER have nightmares), RED SHOES, (which had absolutely nothing to do with the Elvis Costello song), ONE NIGHT IN HOTEL, and THE SECRET LIFE OF MY IMAGINARY FRIEND, (written with Stephen White.)
I also liked the poems that are sprinkled throughout in between the stories.
So why only 3 stars if I liked and even loved most of these stories and poems? It was the editing. There were a lot of errors here, like passed instead of past,(more than once), and also a lot of missing words or the wrong words. Every time I noticed those, it took me out of the story. This took my rating from 3.5/5 down to 3/5.
I will still read pretty much anything from Andrew Lennon, (in fact, I'm reading a collection he helped to edit right now), but the grammatical errors here took away from my enjoyment of the book. I still recommend it, but beware of these issues.
*Thanks to Andrew Lennon for the e-ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*
I've been a fan of Andrew Lennon's for a while now and when he asked if I would be willing to read an ARC of his latest, I hopped on the chance! (Not as quickly as I would have liked, but what can you do?)
This collection started out with a humdinger, HOUSE OF ILLUSION. Spooky clowns + spooky carnival = Happy Char! This was my favorite story in the book.
I also very much enjoyed SANTA CLAUS COMES AT NIGHT, (this one actually gave me a nightmare, and I NEVER have nightmares), RED SHOES, (which had absolutely nothing to do with the Elvis Costello song), ONE NIGHT IN HOTEL, and THE SECRET LIFE OF MY IMAGINARY FRIEND, (written with Stephen White.)
I also liked the poems that are sprinkled throughout in between the stories.
So why only 3 stars if I liked and even loved most of these stories and poems? It was the editing. There were a lot of errors here, like passed instead of past,(more than once), and also a lot of missing words or the wrong words. Every time I noticed those, it took me out of the story. This took my rating from 3.5/5 down to 3/5.
I will still read pretty much anything from Andrew Lennon, (in fact, I'm reading a collection he helped to edit right now), but the grammatical errors here took away from my enjoyment of the book. I still recommend it, but beware of these issues.
*Thanks to Andrew Lennon for the e-ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*
July 10, 2020
This book is short stories mixed with horror poems and I really enjoyed all the stories in the book!
I will set out the titles of the stories along with a cryptic note of what the story is about without giving away spoilers. :) Also I am just doing the stories and not the poems.
House of Illusion: Two teens go on a carnival ride into terror and come out "changed".
Lunchtime: Mmmm.....good, but wait....what is in this meal?!
Ghost Story: Don't take loved ones for granted.
Caravan: A safe haven becomes a scene of a crime.
Buried: The feelings of death.
Santa Claus Comes At Night: One family finds out the hard way that not all good things come from Santa appearing in the home.
Dog Race: Human vs. Dog - who will win the race and which one will survive?
Trying To Write A Horror Story: A nutso #1 fan goes to extremes with an author.
Visiting Time: There is no such things as zombies, right?
Red Shoes: A serial killer gets more than he bargained for when he tries to kill someone.
The Secret Life of My Imaginary Friend: Who you are with is not always the person you think you know.
Lover: A wife "goes around the bend" with her husband and has a bloody good time with him.
One Night in Hotel: Hotel room haunted? An entity makes its presence known, but is that really what has invaded the room?
That is about as much as I can give out on a review of each book as the stories are short so cannot reveal too much. Giving this book four stars!
I will set out the titles of the stories along with a cryptic note of what the story is about without giving away spoilers. :) Also I am just doing the stories and not the poems.
House of Illusion: Two teens go on a carnival ride into terror and come out "changed".
Lunchtime: Mmmm.....good, but wait....what is in this meal?!
Ghost Story: Don't take loved ones for granted.
Caravan: A safe haven becomes a scene of a crime.
Buried: The feelings of death.
Santa Claus Comes At Night: One family finds out the hard way that not all good things come from Santa appearing in the home.
Dog Race: Human vs. Dog - who will win the race and which one will survive?
Trying To Write A Horror Story: A nutso #1 fan goes to extremes with an author.
Visiting Time: There is no such things as zombies, right?
Red Shoes: A serial killer gets more than he bargained for when he tries to kill someone.
The Secret Life of My Imaginary Friend: Who you are with is not always the person you think you know.
Lover: A wife "goes around the bend" with her husband and has a bloody good time with him.
One Night in Hotel: Hotel room haunted? An entity makes its presence known, but is that really what has invaded the room?
That is about as much as I can give out on a review of each book as the stories are short so cannot reveal too much. Giving this book four stars!
August 29, 2019
Yay!! This book was really fun. I liked all the stories and Steve White did a damn great job narrating. Each story is different but all of them are good. I would certainly read more by Andrew Lennon!
**i received this audio book in exchange for a honest review. this is it. **
**i received this audio book in exchange for a honest review. this is it. **
March 24, 2019
A solid collection of stories with something for every horror lover - carnivals, cannibals, serial killers, zombies and the devil. Personally, my favorites were Trying to Write a Horror Story (A Tribute to Stephen King's Misery) which went an unexpected way and Visiting Time which was just great.
A fun read!
A fun read!
October 7, 2019
What a wonderful creepy chilling collection of stories and poems this is. If you didn't know it you would think it was an anthology of different authors but it's just Andrew Lennon doing what he does best which is creeping me the f*** out. I've met this author and he's a really nice person in real life but the creativity that his mind spews out onto the paper is just fantastic. Definitely a fantastic book to sink your teeth into.
March 14, 2019
If someone told you they fear nothing, believe them. We all fear nothing. We all fear waking up one day and finding that we are not where we wanted to be at this stage of our life. That somewhere in the back of your mind you've been having delusions of adequacy and that we somehow don't measure up to society's standards. Being nothing is something we all fear. If someone tells you they have never felt this way or they don't fear feeling like that, they are lying, not only to you but to themselves. Andrew Lennon weaves this underlying fear expertly through the stories of the book Ode To Death.
From a young man fearing that he isn't brave enough to keep his new girlfriend safe in an off kilter world of the carnival to a child who finds that the worst thing about a visit to Grandma isn't a sloppy kiss or a pinched cheek, Andrew Lennon plays to that fear of we are not enough. A mixture of short stories, flash fiction, and poetry; Ode To Death is a mere glimpse at the mind of a man who knows how to add this honest human fear to his horror.
Stand out stories include:
House Of Illusion
Caravan
Red Shoes
Visiting Time
One Night In A Hotel
Happy reading, may all your nightmares be of your own choosing and never leave the page.
From a young man fearing that he isn't brave enough to keep his new girlfriend safe in an off kilter world of the carnival to a child who finds that the worst thing about a visit to Grandma isn't a sloppy kiss or a pinched cheek, Andrew Lennon plays to that fear of we are not enough. A mixture of short stories, flash fiction, and poetry; Ode To Death is a mere glimpse at the mind of a man who knows how to add this honest human fear to his horror.
Stand out stories include:
House Of Illusion
Caravan
Red Shoes
Visiting Time
One Night In A Hotel
Happy reading, may all your nightmares be of your own choosing and never leave the page.
March 3, 2019
Ode to Death is a brilliant collection of stories and poems by Andrew Lennon. It has magnificent old school cover art, a touching dedication, and is aptly titled.
I want to begin with the poetry. I found the poetry deep and moving. I am not judging it on its correctness of form, but if you want to, go right ahead. I am talking about the words, the messages, the meanings, the way they touched my soul. Of course, these are dark poems, but why would one expect any different in an ode to death?
The stories have Lennon’s signature expert characterization and building dread. The characters and suspense are very compelling. Even when the building dread makes you want to run from the story, you just have to know what happens to the characters. “The Secret Life of My Imaginary Friend” is a particularly haunting and ultimately shocking tale. I had to read it twice. It was that mind-blowing. The horror drabble “Lover” was also especially impactful, almost poetic in its delivery, gruesome in implication.
A few of these you may or may not have seen in anthologies. A couple of these are tributes to well-known works of King, but they are unique stories, wholly Lennon, even if another inspired them.
Andrew Lennon’s storytelling never fails to impress. If you are not familiar with his works, this is a great place to start. If you, like me, are fan of his work, this is a must have for your library.
A shelf-worthy collection for your collection. Highly recommended for the horror connoisseur.
I want to begin with the poetry. I found the poetry deep and moving. I am not judging it on its correctness of form, but if you want to, go right ahead. I am talking about the words, the messages, the meanings, the way they touched my soul. Of course, these are dark poems, but why would one expect any different in an ode to death?
The stories have Lennon’s signature expert characterization and building dread. The characters and suspense are very compelling. Even when the building dread makes you want to run from the story, you just have to know what happens to the characters. “The Secret Life of My Imaginary Friend” is a particularly haunting and ultimately shocking tale. I had to read it twice. It was that mind-blowing. The horror drabble “Lover” was also especially impactful, almost poetic in its delivery, gruesome in implication.
A few of these you may or may not have seen in anthologies. A couple of these are tributes to well-known works of King, but they are unique stories, wholly Lennon, even if another inspired them.
Andrew Lennon’s storytelling never fails to impress. If you are not familiar with his works, this is a great place to start. If you, like me, are fan of his work, this is a must have for your library.
A shelf-worthy collection for your collection. Highly recommended for the horror connoisseur.
March 3, 2019
A good solid collection of short stories. Something for every horror fan in these, some I'd rate as 3* and some 5*. Nice addition of a little poetry, something different and it helped separate each tale so they didn't merge into one of your reading cover to cover. My only real criticism is that proofreading and corrections could be better but that's something that always annoys me! All in all a good horror collection to dip in to giving a quick thrill with your cuppa!
September 30, 2019
3.5 stars (I rounded up... rounding down seems too sleazy)
Disclaimer:
Ebook gifted for honest review.
17 little entries into this tight collection from Lennon. A couple are short prose and quite a few creepy stories.
The Good:
My favorites would have to be Santa Claus Comes at Night, Red Shoes and Visiting Time and One Night in Hotel. I found these stories to have a good back story. As much as I enjoyed them, I sort of stumbled a bit over some of the situational dialogue, but was easily overlooked.
The Bad:
Dog Race- a Tribute to Cujo... I feel like the tossing about of Stephen Kings name was completely unnecessary and denigrated the integrity of an otherwise satisfying read. I feel like it cheapened the unique story by tying it to Cujo.
The Ugly:
I apologize in advance if this comes across as harsh...
Trying to Write a Horror Story- A Tribute to SKing’s Misery)
I know that the text is designed to read like manic unconnected thoughts from a writer with a case of block. Although it was a bit bleh for me, I stick with it.
Then enters the Misery connection and I just can’t like it. I get the fandom. I understand wanting to throw Tribute to one of the masters of horror. King put horror on the map, gave us our own section at the bookstores! What I don’t like is that the Tribute falls short when the most horrific part of the book the author is paying homage to... is wrong. Annie didn’t get a hammer, she got an axe. She didn’t hobble, she butchered the foot clean off. As a huge King/Horror fan, I just don’t understand how that slipped by.
To be fair, the ending of the short was a great twist (won’t spoil it), I just can’t get over throwing Tribute to an author and getting the best scene in the book so wrong.
Thank you Andrew for allowing me to read this collection.
Disclaimer:
Ebook gifted for honest review.
17 little entries into this tight collection from Lennon. A couple are short prose and quite a few creepy stories.
The Good:
My favorites would have to be Santa Claus Comes at Night, Red Shoes and Visiting Time and One Night in Hotel. I found these stories to have a good back story. As much as I enjoyed them, I sort of stumbled a bit over some of the situational dialogue, but was easily overlooked.
The Bad:
Dog Race- a Tribute to Cujo... I feel like the tossing about of Stephen Kings name was completely unnecessary and denigrated the integrity of an otherwise satisfying read. I feel like it cheapened the unique story by tying it to Cujo.
The Ugly:
I apologize in advance if this comes across as harsh...
Trying to Write a Horror Story- A Tribute to SKing’s Misery)
I know that the text is designed to read like manic unconnected thoughts from a writer with a case of block. Although it was a bit bleh for me, I stick with it.
Then enters the Misery connection and I just can’t like it. I get the fandom. I understand wanting to throw Tribute to one of the masters of horror. King put horror on the map, gave us our own section at the bookstores! What I don’t like is that the Tribute falls short when the most horrific part of the book the author is paying homage to... is wrong. Annie didn’t get a hammer, she got an axe. She didn’t hobble, she butchered the foot clean off. As a huge King/Horror fan, I just don’t understand how that slipped by.
To be fair, the ending of the short was a great twist (won’t spoil it), I just can’t get over throwing Tribute to an author and getting the best scene in the book so wrong.
Thank you Andrew for allowing me to read this collection.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 26, 2019
A brilliant collection of poems,shorts and longer stories I loved i
t! I rea!ly connected with the shorts because they were so in depth with my experiences. Both horrifying and humorous at times ,an absolutely brilliant read! Bite size chunks for a coffee break and meaty stories for a good sit down. Give it a whirl, a fantastic read.
t! I rea!ly connected with the shorts because they were so in depth with my experiences. Both horrifying and humorous at times ,an absolutely brilliant read! Bite size chunks for a coffee break and meaty stories for a good sit down. Give it a whirl, a fantastic read.
August 28, 2019
Ode To Death a collection of short stories and poems that just dives right into the darkest realms of the world. I am a huge fan of anthologies like this and I actually got this on audible and wow was not disappointed at all. It will go from the murder, Santa sneaking into a child's room, I mean it was just amazing. Every story was so well written. I was actually very impressed. Anyone that loves anthologies as I do and love dark and sometimes extreme horror, you need to check this one out. I am now a huge fan. Just incredible!!!
March 1, 2019
Brilliant,
What a book, heartstopping in places, spooky, and also puke inducing. Well done andrew lennon, i think this is one of the best to date
What a book, heartstopping in places, spooky, and also puke inducing. Well done andrew lennon, i think this is one of the best to date
April 24, 2019
Good mix of short stories and poems.
Mr Lennon writes a good tale of horror
Mr Lennon writes a good tale of horror
March 19, 2019
ODE TO DEATH
Whoa! Spooky twisted writing that will have your eyes stuck open looking for evil things. Creepy real! Best read at night, late at night by yourself.
Whoa! Spooky twisted writing that will have your eyes stuck open looking for evil things. Creepy real! Best read at night, late at night by yourself.
February 14, 2023
Thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories and poems. Lennon is very talented and needs more eyes on his work.
April 12, 2020
Great collection of short stories by Andrew Lennon. A lot of fun twisted tales in here. My favorites being Caravan, Visiting Time, and Red Shoes!
February 19, 2023
This is a short story collection sprinkled with some poems throughout. I’d give it 3.5/5 and rounded up to 4. While I thoroughly enjoyed the poems and most of the stories, some just fell a little flat for me. (Not that they aren’t good, they just aren’t my cup of tea). Definitely still worth a read!
March 12, 2020
This is the second Lennon book that I have listened to and narrated by White. I really enjoy Lennon's stories. Some are quite original and I like his sense of humor. One thing I would suggest is that the narrator give a longer break or make some more pronounced division between the stories. It all seems to run together. I can't count how many times I would find myself confused then realize the last story ended and a new one began. I would have liked more definition there. But - the stories are great and I will be reading more.
June 14, 2019
Nice shorts
I enjoyed this book! I particularly liked the story about the red shoes, I guess because I'm twisted like that. It was gore graphic detailed. It was pretty cool that there were some poems between the stories changing the pace of things! Four stars!
I enjoyed this book! I particularly liked the story about the red shoes, I guess because I'm twisted like that. It was gore graphic detailed. It was pretty cool that there were some poems between the stories changing the pace of things! Four stars!
January 31, 2021
Anthology of horror tales.
I enjoyed reading it
I enjoyed reading it
September 25, 2019
Caution: this review may have a spoiler about one of the stories.
Good, old-fashioned, bite-sized horror stories and poetry.
I received a free copy of the audiobook version of this collection in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, I enjoyed listening to this collection. The stories were competently written with fun (if not a little predictable) scares. The audiobook narrator (who is British with what I THINK is a London accent) read the stories well... though admittedly his American accent needs some work since it sounded like the equivalent of an American whose only exposure to any of the various British accents is Downton Abbey. (I'm trying to be honest, not cruel.)
I especially liked the tributes to Stephen King and to the story with the red shoes. Caution to sensitive readers, though: the last story in the bunch has a pretty explicit rape scene.
If you have a few bucks to spare and want something rather short (but certainly not sweet) to read, I encourage you to give this book a try.
Good, old-fashioned, bite-sized horror stories and poetry.
I received a free copy of the audiobook version of this collection in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, I enjoyed listening to this collection. The stories were competently written with fun (if not a little predictable) scares. The audiobook narrator (who is British with what I THINK is a London accent) read the stories well... though admittedly his American accent needs some work since it sounded like the equivalent of an American whose only exposure to any of the various British accents is Downton Abbey. (I'm trying to be honest, not cruel.)
I especially liked the tributes to Stephen King and to the story with the red shoes. Caution to sensitive readers, though: the last story in the bunch has a pretty explicit rape scene.
If you have a few bucks to spare and want something rather short (but certainly not sweet) to read, I encourage you to give this book a try.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2019
I listened to the audio book with no idea what the book was about besides it's title. The narrator had a heavy British accent that took an American like me a little time to get accustomed to what I was hearing. I thought this book was a novel and was pleasantly surprised to find out it was a book of short stories involving death in some form. The stories were really well done! I loved the poetry thrown in to help change the pace to the next story or give the reader an idea of what was to come. The stories contained murder, deception, depravity and some moments of humor. It was a wonderfully put together quick read. I am looking forward to reading more from Andrew Lennon!
July 9, 2019
A great little read
Another book of short stories. Though I'm not a fan of i again enjoyed so maybe I'm more of a fan than i thought it i wasn't reading the right books. But this was a really good horror collection. Full of twists and great storylines that kept you wanting to read more and go to see what the next story holds. Each as good as the other and the poems Inbetweeners a great break to take you into the next. I've found that a really good thing to S stop the stories from rolling together.
But all in all a great book to read.
Another book of short stories. Though I'm not a fan of i again enjoyed so maybe I'm more of a fan than i thought it i wasn't reading the right books. But this was a really good horror collection. Full of twists and great storylines that kept you wanting to read more and go to see what the next story holds. Each as good as the other and the poems Inbetweeners a great break to take you into the next. I've found that a really good thing to S stop the stories from rolling together.
But all in all a great book to read.
October 4, 2019
Ode to Death leans hard into existing horror tropes. Lennon wears his love for horror on his sleeve proudly. Serial killers Freudian murders, killer carnivals, zombies and good old cannibalism all show up this collection.
A pulpy love for the genre bounds and there is something here for any fan of old school horror
A pulpy love for the genre bounds and there is something here for any fan of old school horror
July 16, 2022
Well Andrew Lennon you've done it again!! This book of short stories are soo good, and some frustrating as with alot of Andrew's work leaves you wanting MORE!! I especially loved the story of Andrew being stalked by a fangirl.. Loved it!! If you like horror stories and gruesome tales (MY Favorite) Then don't walk, run to get Ode to Death!!
October 3, 2021
Nice collection
This is a nice collection of horror shorts with a few poems thrown in for good measure. A good read throughout but if I had to pick a favourite story it would be Red Shoes.
This is a nice collection of horror shorts with a few poems thrown in for good measure. A good read throughout but if I had to pick a favourite story it would be Red Shoes.
November 18, 2021
I have ever only had one complaint about the work of Andrew Lennon. That is,He gets me too Interested in the characters that he introduces in his short stories. And then I don't get to spend enough time reading about them! 😬😬 Other than that 1 gripe, I find his work to be brilliant!
November 23, 2019
These pieces have some good twists. There are some nicely creepy moments at times. Definitely worth checking out.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews