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The Twisted Book of Shadows
Presenting an all-new horror anthology that shatters the mold...Mainstream publishers want all-star lineups. Small press publishers often can't afford to pay pro rates...and even when they can, the names in the table of contents can be limited by the editor's reach or effort. Bestselling horror, fantasy, and thriller authors Christopher Golden and James A. Moore knew there had to be a better way. Inspired by the efforts of legendary anthology Charles L. Grant, who helped move so many new writers in the horror community's conversation, Golden and Moore teamed up with Haverhill House's Twisted Publishing imprint to create...THE TWISTED BOOK OF SHADOWSDetermined to pay pro rates, the editors crowdfunded the project, and then put the word out as far and wide as possible, loudly and repeatedly encouraging submissions by diverse voices, and recruiting a stellar editorial committee to read along with them, including Linda A. Addison, Nadia Bulkin, Rachel Autumn Deering, Lamar Giles, KL Pereira, and Lee Thomas.Out of seven hundred stories received through a blind submission process-none of the editors had any idea who the authors were-nineteen made the final cut. Within these pages you will find the beautifully weird side-by-side with terrifying nightmares, horrifying folklore, and hellish futures. Nineteen unique and haunting tales that truly earned their place in a book entitled...THE TWISTED BOOK OF SHADOWSDiscover your new favorite horror stories by: Melissa Swensen -- M.M. De Voe -- Andrew Bourelle -- Sara Tantlinger -- Jeffrey B. BurtonE�in Murphy -- Sarah L. Johnson -- Jason A. Wyckoff -- Amanda Helms -- Trisha J. WooldridgeLiam Hogan -- KT Wagner -- Rohit Sawant -- P.D. Cacek -- John Linwood GrantGeorge Edwards Murray -- Cindy O'Quinn -- David Surface -- Kristi DeMeesterTHE TWISTED BOOK OF SHADOWS
348 pages, Hardcover
First published September 14, 2019
21 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Golden
798 books2,959 followersCHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 20, 2020
The Twisted Book of Shadows was an unexpected and twisty little delight; following over 700 submissions to a completely open call, the editors somehow narrowed the choices down to the 19 stories that appear here. It's an approach that clearly worked; though there's some stories that really stood out from the rest, I enjoyed them all (if enjoyed is the right word for completely horrified myself with).
As usual, there's too many stories here to get into each one, but these really deserve some spotlight:
- The Pale Mouth, by Melissa Swensen, opens the collection and it's a stunner. Monsters are brought to a domestic dystopia, and there's enough hints about this world to make it one I desperately want to see a full novel in.
- Cake, by M.M. De Voe, follows it up with a different angle on domestic bliss - it's much less definite but easily as horrifying. I found it oddly charming
- Liza, by Jeffrey B. Burton, was another oddly delightful and completely terrifying piece. Everyone needs a home... everyone, and everything.
- Elegy, by Sarah Johnson, was quiet and sad, one of the shorter pieces but it sank it's claws in fast and had me invested much too fast.
There's more in there that deserve a callout, but I've always been a believer in letting people find their own gems; and this collection really is full of them.
As usual, there's too many stories here to get into each one, but these really deserve some spotlight:
- The Pale Mouth, by Melissa Swensen, opens the collection and it's a stunner. Monsters are brought to a domestic dystopia, and there's enough hints about this world to make it one I desperately want to see a full novel in.
- Cake, by M.M. De Voe, follows it up with a different angle on domestic bliss - it's much less definite but easily as horrifying. I found it oddly charming
- Liza, by Jeffrey B. Burton, was another oddly delightful and completely terrifying piece. Everyone needs a home... everyone, and everything.
- Elegy, by Sarah Johnson, was quiet and sad, one of the shorter pieces but it sank it's claws in fast and had me invested much too fast.
There's more in there that deserve a callout, but I've always been a believer in letting people find their own gems; and this collection really is full of them.
October 7, 2019
My review of THE TWISTED BOOK OF SHADOWS can be found at High Fever Books.
A few years ago, there was a bit of a dust-up within the horror community over diversity and representation in anthologies. Sadly, it’s been a fairly common problem over the years and horror has largely been seen as a white man’s genre, while some editors believe it’s simply not their responsibility to seek out diverse voices. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the famous trope that black characters are the first to die in most horror movies. Well, women and writers of color are often the first to be completely overlooked or outright ignored when it comes time for a publisher to put together an anthology. Publishers want big names, like Stephen King or Clive Barker, in their tables of contents to help push sales, which leaves little room for new writers, let alone diverse and marginalized writers.
Frustrated by the lack of representation in horror anthologies, and wanting to create a new anthology that was welcoming new writers, Christopher Golden and James A. Moore, and publisher John M. McIlveen, organized a GoFundMe campaign in October 2016 to raise the money necessary to create The Twisted Book of Shadows. The plan was to pay the writers market rates for their short stories, as well as royalties, and to have those writers enter their stories as blind submissions. The editors and editorial committee would not know who wrote these stories until after they were chosen for inclusion, and the book would not feature any marquee names (i.e., no Stephen King, Joe Hill, or Jonathan Maberry). The editorial committee itself was composed of diverse authors, like Gabino Iglesias, Linda D. Addison, Nadia Bulkin, Rachel Autumn Deering, and others, in an effort to prevent bias when selecting the best of the best from those blind submissions. The call for authors made it clear that everyone was welcome and that this would be a level playing field for all — black, white, Hispanic, Asian, LGBTQ, straight, men, women, and everyone in between were not only welcomed but actively encouraged by the editors to submit.
Out of 700 submissions, 19 stories were selected for publication, 10 of which were written by women (once again disproving the archaic, ignorant, and historically false assumption that women don’t write horror), with voices from the US, UK, Northern Ireland, Canada, and India.
Given that this is a pretty sizable collection of stories, I won’t review each contribution. However, I will say that the measures the editors and publisher took in order to create a level playing field for all authors here was a clear success. Although not every story appealed to me, taken as a whole The Twisted Book of Shadows is a really strong anthology and I finished the book with a handful of favorites and a nice list of new-to-me authors whose works I’ll need to explore in the near future. This anthology has some very rich textures and flavors that help separate it from your common marque anthology, and the editors hard work is casting a wide net to capture those diverse voices paid off.
My favorite story of the bunch, no contest, is Rohit Sawant’s “Brother Mine,” narrated by the teenage Archana Kapur. Her brother, Tarsem, has a black hole in his head. This one has the most ‘out there’ concept, weaving together some light bizarro elements that grow into a really strong work of cosmic horror. Sawant brings it all to the table here, and beyond having one hell of a kick-ass premise, it’s wonderfully written and deftly executed. A couple supremely tense sequences had me gripping my Kindle for dear life, I was so absorbed by Archana’s experiments as she drops item after item into her sleeping brother’s head, and at least two instances where I sat there going “oh no, no no no, don’t do that!” The payoff to each of those moments were wonderfully realized, and the story itself speaks well to Archana’s status as an outsider, as an Indian immigrant growing up in the US. Every layer of this story flat out delivered and it’s easily one of the best in this antho.
Some other great pieces include Melissa Swensen’s “The Pale Mouth,” which opens the anthology and takes a dystopian tack to the horror elements. The world is constantly bathed in light because monsters live in the darkness. Through Layla’s eyes, we get a sense of this new iteration on an old patriarchal society, and because Layla is what’s known as a Primary, her place is in the home, monitoring the persistent sources of light for failure. If a kitchen light, or the refrigerator bulb, go out, she is held accountable, to the point that her husband regularly questions if she actually loves him and her family, or if she’s actually trying to kill all of them. There’s an intriguing The Handmaid’s Tale vibe to this one, and both the conceit of the story and the subtextual narrative about Layla’s place, and women in general, in this world raise a lot questions and provide plenty of food for thought.
“Midnight Son,” by Andrew Bourelle, uses the setting of the Alaskan wilderness to wonderful effect. Alginak is the last of his tribe and when the construction of an oil pipeline proves too disruptive, he sets off into the wild to live out his last days. No matter how far he wanders, though, he cannot escape the shadow of the white men destroying the life and land of the region he calls home. This story was absolutely superb, its focus on nature and Alignak’s connection to the land was captivating, and the supernatural elements were very subtle, which I really appreciated.
Eoin Murphy’s “The Birthing Pool” was a very effective work of occult folk horror, and although it took me a little while to sink into, it really pays off nicely. “Unto the Next” by Amanda Helms was a neat little ghost story with very well drawn teenage characters testing their wills and bravery as they stay overnight in a haunted house. This was a good read to get into the Halloween spirit!
“Mirror, Mirror” by P.D. Cacek was emotionally devastating, and the first half of it freaking wrecked me. This story was extremely dark and revolves around a parent’s death watch over their infant, who is afflicted with a rare terminal illness. This one struck some raw nerves for me and kept me emotionally on edge the whole way through, and the climax spun off into a direction I didn’t seen coming. This is a tough, difficult read, but ultimately very rewarding. Those who have lost a child or who have cared for a child with a terminal illness might want to approach this one with caution, and despite having two healthy boys that I worry over on the regular, I still found this story heart-wrenching simply because of the very realistic manner the parents featured here dealt with the loss of their little one. This was not an easy read — it’s hard hitting and nearly brought me to tears on a couple of occasions over its slim page count.
While the above-mentioned were the standout entries, the rest were pretty damn good on their own, too. Taken on the whole, The Twisted Book of Shadows was a very strong anthology, and I greatly appreciated the editors’ focus on introducing readers to potentially new talent and underrepresented writers. Golden, Moore, and McIlveen went above and beyond in their approach to soliciting and selecting the stories included here, but it’s hard work that fully paid off. It’s also a great lesson for other editors and publishers to learn from, and I do hope we see more anthologies like this hitting the market in the coming years.
[Note: I received an advance copy of this title from the editors.]
A few years ago, there was a bit of a dust-up within the horror community over diversity and representation in anthologies. Sadly, it’s been a fairly common problem over the years and horror has largely been seen as a white man’s genre, while some editors believe it’s simply not their responsibility to seek out diverse voices. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the famous trope that black characters are the first to die in most horror movies. Well, women and writers of color are often the first to be completely overlooked or outright ignored when it comes time for a publisher to put together an anthology. Publishers want big names, like Stephen King or Clive Barker, in their tables of contents to help push sales, which leaves little room for new writers, let alone diverse and marginalized writers.
Frustrated by the lack of representation in horror anthologies, and wanting to create a new anthology that was welcoming new writers, Christopher Golden and James A. Moore, and publisher John M. McIlveen, organized a GoFundMe campaign in October 2016 to raise the money necessary to create The Twisted Book of Shadows. The plan was to pay the writers market rates for their short stories, as well as royalties, and to have those writers enter their stories as blind submissions. The editors and editorial committee would not know who wrote these stories until after they were chosen for inclusion, and the book would not feature any marquee names (i.e., no Stephen King, Joe Hill, or Jonathan Maberry). The editorial committee itself was composed of diverse authors, like Gabino Iglesias, Linda D. Addison, Nadia Bulkin, Rachel Autumn Deering, and others, in an effort to prevent bias when selecting the best of the best from those blind submissions. The call for authors made it clear that everyone was welcome and that this would be a level playing field for all — black, white, Hispanic, Asian, LGBTQ, straight, men, women, and everyone in between were not only welcomed but actively encouraged by the editors to submit.
Out of 700 submissions, 19 stories were selected for publication, 10 of which were written by women (once again disproving the archaic, ignorant, and historically false assumption that women don’t write horror), with voices from the US, UK, Northern Ireland, Canada, and India.
Given that this is a pretty sizable collection of stories, I won’t review each contribution. However, I will say that the measures the editors and publisher took in order to create a level playing field for all authors here was a clear success. Although not every story appealed to me, taken as a whole The Twisted Book of Shadows is a really strong anthology and I finished the book with a handful of favorites and a nice list of new-to-me authors whose works I’ll need to explore in the near future. This anthology has some very rich textures and flavors that help separate it from your common marque anthology, and the editors hard work is casting a wide net to capture those diverse voices paid off.
My favorite story of the bunch, no contest, is Rohit Sawant’s “Brother Mine,” narrated by the teenage Archana Kapur. Her brother, Tarsem, has a black hole in his head. This one has the most ‘out there’ concept, weaving together some light bizarro elements that grow into a really strong work of cosmic horror. Sawant brings it all to the table here, and beyond having one hell of a kick-ass premise, it’s wonderfully written and deftly executed. A couple supremely tense sequences had me gripping my Kindle for dear life, I was so absorbed by Archana’s experiments as she drops item after item into her sleeping brother’s head, and at least two instances where I sat there going “oh no, no no no, don’t do that!” The payoff to each of those moments were wonderfully realized, and the story itself speaks well to Archana’s status as an outsider, as an Indian immigrant growing up in the US. Every layer of this story flat out delivered and it’s easily one of the best in this antho.
Some other great pieces include Melissa Swensen’s “The Pale Mouth,” which opens the anthology and takes a dystopian tack to the horror elements. The world is constantly bathed in light because monsters live in the darkness. Through Layla’s eyes, we get a sense of this new iteration on an old patriarchal society, and because Layla is what’s known as a Primary, her place is in the home, monitoring the persistent sources of light for failure. If a kitchen light, or the refrigerator bulb, go out, she is held accountable, to the point that her husband regularly questions if she actually loves him and her family, or if she’s actually trying to kill all of them. There’s an intriguing The Handmaid’s Tale vibe to this one, and both the conceit of the story and the subtextual narrative about Layla’s place, and women in general, in this world raise a lot questions and provide plenty of food for thought.
“Midnight Son,” by Andrew Bourelle, uses the setting of the Alaskan wilderness to wonderful effect. Alginak is the last of his tribe and when the construction of an oil pipeline proves too disruptive, he sets off into the wild to live out his last days. No matter how far he wanders, though, he cannot escape the shadow of the white men destroying the life and land of the region he calls home. This story was absolutely superb, its focus on nature and Alignak’s connection to the land was captivating, and the supernatural elements were very subtle, which I really appreciated.
Eoin Murphy’s “The Birthing Pool” was a very effective work of occult folk horror, and although it took me a little while to sink into, it really pays off nicely. “Unto the Next” by Amanda Helms was a neat little ghost story with very well drawn teenage characters testing their wills and bravery as they stay overnight in a haunted house. This was a good read to get into the Halloween spirit!
“Mirror, Mirror” by P.D. Cacek was emotionally devastating, and the first half of it freaking wrecked me. This story was extremely dark and revolves around a parent’s death watch over their infant, who is afflicted with a rare terminal illness. This one struck some raw nerves for me and kept me emotionally on edge the whole way through, and the climax spun off into a direction I didn’t seen coming. This is a tough, difficult read, but ultimately very rewarding. Those who have lost a child or who have cared for a child with a terminal illness might want to approach this one with caution, and despite having two healthy boys that I worry over on the regular, I still found this story heart-wrenching simply because of the very realistic manner the parents featured here dealt with the loss of their little one. This was not an easy read — it’s hard hitting and nearly brought me to tears on a couple of occasions over its slim page count.
While the above-mentioned were the standout entries, the rest were pretty damn good on their own, too. Taken on the whole, The Twisted Book of Shadows was a very strong anthology, and I greatly appreciated the editors’ focus on introducing readers to potentially new talent and underrepresented writers. Golden, Moore, and McIlveen went above and beyond in their approach to soliciting and selecting the stories included here, but it’s hard work that fully paid off. It’s also a great lesson for other editors and publishers to learn from, and I do hope we see more anthologies like this hitting the market in the coming years.
[Note: I received an advance copy of this title from the editors.]
November 12, 2019
** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **
First off – big thanks to Michael Patrick Hicks for making me aware of this release. Mr. Golden had posted about looking for some reviewers on Facebook and Hicks kindly tagged myself with a few other reviewers in a comment. I messaged Christopher and he nicely sent me a digital review copy. So thank you Michael and thank you Christopher!
From the get-go, ‘The Twisted Book of Shadows’ lets the reader know that the editors wanted to create a ‘new’ and ‘unique’ anthology. The idea behind this was that they got it funded and then had an open call. The stories submitted were read going in blind – no idea of author’s name, and from that the talented group of readers sent their suggestions to Moore and Golden, who then whittled it down to the 19 stories included here. Over 700 submissions were received, which is a very impressive number, considering that there would be no anchor author or “big name” author to push or market the book.
The stories within are varied, and the themes went all over the place.
With a collection this large, I won’t go through each piece individually, instead, I’ll discuss my top two.
My absolute favourite from this collection was ‘Mirror, Mirror’ from P.D. Cacek. This story opens up with a devastating premise and then Cacek brings home the emotional destruction soon after.
The opening half of this story was horrifically brutal in the best way possible and I had no idea where it would go from there. Then, when Cacek introduces the supernatural “turn,” it was amazing. Just knocked my socks off with where it went and I’m glad there was no holding back!
The other story that really stood out for me was Sara Tantlinger’s story ‘Smeared Star in Your Hands.’ This was a horrific story from start to finish and I absolutely loved just where this one went.
Overall, ‘The Twisted Book of Shadows’ delivers and the lengths that the editors went to ensure unbiased quality and diverseness was featured is astounding.
So far this year, we’ve been gifted with some phenomenal anthologies and ‘The Twisted Book of Shadows’ should sit prominently in the discussion of best anthologies of the year.
First off – big thanks to Michael Patrick Hicks for making me aware of this release. Mr. Golden had posted about looking for some reviewers on Facebook and Hicks kindly tagged myself with a few other reviewers in a comment. I messaged Christopher and he nicely sent me a digital review copy. So thank you Michael and thank you Christopher!
From the get-go, ‘The Twisted Book of Shadows’ lets the reader know that the editors wanted to create a ‘new’ and ‘unique’ anthology. The idea behind this was that they got it funded and then had an open call. The stories submitted were read going in blind – no idea of author’s name, and from that the talented group of readers sent their suggestions to Moore and Golden, who then whittled it down to the 19 stories included here. Over 700 submissions were received, which is a very impressive number, considering that there would be no anchor author or “big name” author to push or market the book.
The stories within are varied, and the themes went all over the place.
With a collection this large, I won’t go through each piece individually, instead, I’ll discuss my top two.
My absolute favourite from this collection was ‘Mirror, Mirror’ from P.D. Cacek. This story opens up with a devastating premise and then Cacek brings home the emotional destruction soon after.
The opening half of this story was horrifically brutal in the best way possible and I had no idea where it would go from there. Then, when Cacek introduces the supernatural “turn,” it was amazing. Just knocked my socks off with where it went and I’m glad there was no holding back!
The other story that really stood out for me was Sara Tantlinger’s story ‘Smeared Star in Your Hands.’ This was a horrific story from start to finish and I absolutely loved just where this one went.
Overall, ‘The Twisted Book of Shadows’ delivers and the lengths that the editors went to ensure unbiased quality and diverseness was featured is astounding.
So far this year, we’ve been gifted with some phenomenal anthologies and ‘The Twisted Book of Shadows’ should sit prominently in the discussion of best anthologies of the year.
Read
November 25, 2019I'm in this collection, ("Groomed") so I'll leave a review (of the other stories) but not a rating, because who can trust the ratings of a book the rater is in?
As with every collection, there are favourites, there are stories which don't quite work for me. Thankfully, all the stories are well written - a benefit of having 700 to choose from, from cosmic horror, to werewolves, to photographing ghosts, zombie worms, mushrooms, obsessive film buffs (x2?) and strange pets. Where some of them fall down, and perhaps this is common with horror, is when the idea, the scenario, is novel and intriguing/disturbing, but the story doesn't quite know how to bring itself to an end. And this is true of even some of my favourites in this collection!
My top 3, then:
“Brother Mine” by Rohit Sawant
Wonderfully weird with a healthy dose of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, this piece sticks in the head (sic).
“For Every Sin an Absolution” by Kristi DeMeester
This is a short gothic piece, where the horror is the seed of compulsion that is created in seeing / imagining something done before. Also, it involves an octopus. Hurrah for octopuses!
“Records of the Dead” by John Linwood Grant
Unravels like a detective story, with a supernatural twist worthy of a Stephen King short. If, perhaps, the ending seems a little throwaway, I'll forgive that for the ride that comes before.
Another highly recommended piece is The Pale Mouth by Melissa Swenson (dare you to read it and not hesitate before opening the fridge!)
As with every collection, there are favourites, there are stories which don't quite work for me. Thankfully, all the stories are well written - a benefit of having 700 to choose from, from cosmic horror, to werewolves, to photographing ghosts, zombie worms, mushrooms, obsessive film buffs (x2?) and strange pets. Where some of them fall down, and perhaps this is common with horror, is when the idea, the scenario, is novel and intriguing/disturbing, but the story doesn't quite know how to bring itself to an end. And this is true of even some of my favourites in this collection!
My top 3, then:
“Brother Mine” by Rohit Sawant
Wonderfully weird with a healthy dose of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, this piece sticks in the head (sic).
“For Every Sin an Absolution” by Kristi DeMeester
This is a short gothic piece, where the horror is the seed of compulsion that is created in seeing / imagining something done before. Also, it involves an octopus. Hurrah for octopuses!
“Records of the Dead” by John Linwood Grant
Unravels like a detective story, with a supernatural twist worthy of a Stephen King short. If, perhaps, the ending seems a little throwaway, I'll forgive that for the ride that comes before.
Another highly recommended piece is The Pale Mouth by Melissa Swenson (dare you to read it and not hesitate before opening the fridge!)
May 4, 2021
The idea of this anthology was fantastic; blind readings of hundreds of submissions resulting in a “new voices in horror” vibe! Unfortunately, most of the stories here just didn’t speak to me. They were okay, not scary, not eloquent, but okay. I hope this idea continues in future anthologies, perhaps with a bit more substance. Two stories were better than all the others...
“Records of the Dead” by John Linwood Grant
“Lydia” by Cindy O’Quinn
“Records of the Dead” by John Linwood Grant
“Lydia” by Cindy O’Quinn
October 13, 2019
I absolutely loved "The Twisted Book of Shadows". It is an outstanding horror collection edited by Christopher Golden and James A. Moore. My favorite stories were "Elegy" written by Sarah L. Johnson and "Cake" written by M. M. De Voe. TBoS was the horror collection I was waiting for for Halloween 2019. A job well done to all of the authors, and to Chris and Jim for bringing it all together. Macabre fun for everyone!
February 23, 2020
This anthology presents a diverse swath of what is available in the horror market today, but few of them really sunk their hooks into me. “Liza” by Jeffrey B. Burton is a nice little story about being adopted by a stray dog, which would be fine if it were a normal dog… “At Least the Chickens Are Alright” by Trisha J. Wooldridge is a delightfully fucked up apocalypse scenario that centers chickens and their ability to eat everything and survive all sorts of hardships. “Unto the Next” by Amanda Helms is a nice YA horror that has some exceptionally well-drawn adolescent crushing that is torn apart by self-destructive tendencies wearing the mask of indestructibility.
October 6, 2024
The Twisted Book of Shadows
Sometimes you REALLY have to wonder who writes these reviews and whether or not these people are getting paid to give the book good reviews regardless of whether the book deserves it or not. I’m not saying this book was bad. It had some decent short stories in it. However, some of them just did NOT fit in a book called “The Twisted Book of Shadows”. Or could it be that the “twisted” part was just lost on me? Some of them I did have to re-read a few times. Let’s start off with the ones I thought had promise.
“The Pale Mouth” was the first story. It was briefly about a woman Layla who was known as a “Primary”. Her job was to make sure all the electricity stayed up and running in her home. If she didn’t a monster called “The Pale Mouth” would get in and steal her children and leave there eyeballs behind. It kinda hints (slightly) that she made this mistake before (or maybe came close). She makes several mistakes in the story. All the while “the darkness” aka Pale Mouth keeps calling out to her. Her husband (who nags at her brought out the story) nags at her one time to many and that’s the end of him. Now I’m not sure why my mind really wanted to make this lady a robot. Weirdly it was satisfying for the bitchy husband to get clawed to bits.
“The Cake” was also a good fit! It was about strange things going on around a two-year-old named Sarah. She’s found with a clever and blood-stained clothes. Another time she’s found on the windowsill. Then she locks her mother and brother out and when they get back in the cat is dead. So, all the while we’re thinking it’s Sarah, but then we find out it’s one of her brothers.
“Smeared Star In Your Hands” was a good one! It was about a lady who can’t concieve and goes to a witch. Only when the child is born there’s something off about it and she kills it. Only it comes back so she and her husband have to go into hiding. It finds them and as a sacrifice the lady goes with it so she want take the husband. I would have liked to see where she took the lady but other than that.
Another good one was “Unto The Next” This was about two friends (Cassie and Jerome) who decide to spent the night in a house that is said to be haunted by a woman. They find out that the woman is Cassie’s mother who left her some years back. Cassie’s mother has a collection of faces in jars in the attic. In order for her to leave, she has to find someone to take her place. She tries to take Jerome and Cassie but then recognizes Cassie and tells her to leave. She goes after Jeremone but Cassie sacrifies herself and now she’s the lady in the attic. This story showed REAL courage and love. The only way I could make that kind of sacrifice for someone was if the attic has a computer with a TON of books on it. Maybe a few streaming channels. I think I’d be good! I don’t need much!
“Groomed” also wasn’t so bad. It was about a girl whose “Ma” gets her ready for a wedding ceremony. Only she doesn’t tell her anything about who she’s marrying. The ceremony turns out to be a transfer of her young body to the grandma’s old body.
There were some stories that I’m not sure how they made the cut for this book like “Elergy”. It was about a transvestite (George) and a lady named Clem that met at a baby shower and go on to start dating and then have a child together. I guess something happened to break them up and they met up again in a graveyard because Clem calls George and wants to photograph him. His parents have long since cut him off but Clem tells him the grandparents want to meet their child at Thanksgiving. YEEEAH! The only thing that would make this fit is if George died. And maybe I did slightly remember an accident. Still this DEFINITELY could have been left out!
Another one I felt like should be skipped was “Records of the Dead” because it just DRAGGED. From what I can tell it was about a lady that because of her grandmother wanted to hunt down an old film her grandfather had that didn’t really have any value but was sentimental to him. Then she finds the man that has the film and the reason it was *missing* was there was a killing on it. That’s probably a lousy summary of it but I just wanted to get threw this one and be done with it!
I also would have left out “Lydia” It’s about an older sister talking to her younger sister about how weird she always thought she was when she was a kid and how she resented her. She also resented their parents splitting up and how the younger sister went away eventually. UMMM! OK! NOTHING SCARY HAPPENS IN THIS STORY! I got the feeling that the younger sister (and I don’t know why but) was in a mental institution. It doesn’t say this but that’s just where my mind went. But unless this story flash’s back to some scary events that happened with the dolls (and it really should have done that) then why was this one added. Or unless the older sister is the one in the mental institution and she has no younger sister and all the events that went on were HER but she’s kinda like Norman Bates. Now *THAT* would be a twisted book of shadows story!
I definitely would have left out “For Every Sin An Absolution” This is about a mother who takes her daughter to the circus and tells her (her) father is the octopus in the tank that people have come to see eating a rat. Yes you read that right. The mother dies years later and she’s found with a finger missing. She goes back to the tent and finds the same octapus with her mother’s finger in it’s mouth. Then she passes out and is found by a couple and taken to their house. Then she returns to her mother’s house. YEEEEAAH!! It was definitely twisted. I’ll give it that but..
Then there was “Underground” which wasn’t really “twisted” or “Scary” for that matter. It was about - Nicolai and Gregor watch as a man’s body lays before them in the reformatory. No one knows how he died. Another man (Demetri) has to be taken to the Rubish door and deposited of. He says its from a mushroom infection. Gregor notices that when the hands take the dead bodies they’re wearing gloves because they’re scared to touch them. So, they’ll escape by covering themselves in infected blood. Only Nicolai makes it out.
Like a lot of horror short stories, the others are mediocre and just trail off in a vague way. Not giving me any thoughts at all. “Midnight Sun” is about a man that turns into a werewolf and kills a man for building on his land. Then he goes to live with the werewolves. “Liza” is about a couple that find a strange dog that mthey take to the doctor and he finds something off about it. When the husband tries to get rid of it, it threatens the wife. So, they just let it stay. Only he DOESN’T REALLY DO ANYTHING ODD! There’s a instance in the doctor’s office when one of the other animals goes crazy and bites the coctor’s hand off but it’s NOT THE DOG. Unless it was somehow CONTROLLING the other animal. Now *that* would make it a good story. Hmm! Maybe it was!
Another vague one was “Coyote” which was about a man who wants to be a film student and goes to visit his grandfather. He shows him a bunch of footage he shot and then starts to tell him about a contagious disease going around that killed half the set. He gives him a device to play old reels. When he plays it later, there’s some footage that suggests the relative (grandfather?) got bite by a wolf. Later he hits an animal and then when he goes to look for it falls in a pit. He sees the wolf but it transforms. Then he says some words to it and it just leaves. Then he sees it when he gets out the hole. Ok so was this his grandfather (relative). Did he all of a sudden recognize him and that’s why he didn’t attack him? Then how could he keep changing forms like that?
Yet another one with a ending that just trailed off was “Atleast Not The Chickens” It was about (from what I could tell) a LBGQT person named Drew who worked at a farm. The strang thing was the animals would be dead but they’d still be alive. Then they’d have maggots all over them and have to be put down. At the end of the story, there’s a dog attack and the chickens tear the dog up. One comes over to Drew and is about to attack him, looks at him, and then walks off and goes back to feasting on the dogs corpse. Ok now I can visually see how this story WOULD be horrifying and it IS a good fit, but the ending. Maybe this style of story doesn’t appeal to me. Give me an ending that’s CONCLUSIVE and doesn’t leave the story up in the air.
“Brother Mine” also did this. Here was a story that had potential. It was about a boy with a black hole in his head and his sister kept testing it by throwing things into his head. Even going so far as to shoot at him because she knew the bullet with disappear into his head. She ends up in a mental facility because she cuts him while trying to save him from something evil that comes out his head. But then the end trails off with her knowing the evil thing will come back so she has a plan for it. It involves a lighter. That’s all we get. The dark part of my mind jumped straight to she’s gonna set herself on fire. If she kills herself it can’t get to her anymore. Maybe that wasn’t what was meant to be taken from it but that’s just how I perceived it.
Some of them had “moments”. For example, “The Birthing Pool”. If you were about to have a baby and your husband took you to a community center and all of a sudden they turned on you and wanted to sacrifice you. Then finding out your husband is one of them. That’s enough in itself to make you have induced labor OR lose the baby all together. Then in “Angelmutter” There’s a part at the end where the mother walks toward the lady with all the faces and melts into her. Briefly it’s about this lady whose daughter was just born and she won’t stop crying so she takes her for a midnight ride. On the ride, the baby gets sick. They stop at a gas station and an old lady is called that says she knows what to do. Then she takes them to this creature who *healts* people. But the lady is like a grotesque collection of other people in one body. The lady wants the baby but she invites the mother to *join her* too (and she really does JOIN HER).
In “Beneath The Skin” there’s a lady girl that gets controlled by a “Bird Lady”. Then by the end of the story not only is “The Bird Lady” inside her but her aunt and cousin.
Rating: 7 There were enough good stories and stories that had potential to give this a low B.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2021
I remember when this book was a "big deal" in horror publishing. From start to finish, announcement to submission to selection to publication, I believe it took nearly 2 years to complete, mainly because they wanted to do something NOBODY ELSE ever did and pay market rates & royalties to "nobodies" selected through a blind submission! After all that, for this book to be this underwhelming, almost makes one cry-laugh.
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January 12, 2025"Lydia" by Cindy O’Quinn - This story's protagonist is a woman named Rose who is having a conversation with her younger sister Lydia about the time spent together growing up. From the things that are said the reader would get an impression that perhaps Lydia is mentally disturbed but the end of the story reveals that it is Rose who is mad.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2021
The talent assembled here is second to none, and for sure, one of the highlights goes to Cindy O'Quinn's "Lydia"! Recommended for sure.
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