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The Midnight Exhibit #1
The Midnight Exhibit, Vol. 1
Wealthy couple drunkenly ditch their car and a strange tow truck driver regales them with off-putting stories, stories relating strangely to their personal lives. With short fiction by Stephen Graham Jones (Mongrels, Mapping the Interior, The Only Good Indians), Philip Fracassi (Behold the Void, Sacculina), and Renee Miller (Cats Like Cream, The One You Feed).
Book 1 in the Rewind-or-Die series: imagine your local movie rental store back in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, remember all those fantastic covers. Remember taking those movies home and watching in awe as the stories unfolded in nasty rainbows of gore, remember the atmosphere and textures. Remember the blood.
Book 1 in the Rewind-or-Die series: imagine your local movie rental store back in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, remember all those fantastic covers. Remember taking those movies home and watching in awe as the stories unfolded in nasty rainbows of gore, remember the atmosphere and textures. Remember the blood.
122 pages, Paperback
First published January 17, 2020
44 people are currently reading
522 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
March 16, 2021
//3.5
well, that was a fun ride. (pun intended)
well, that was a fun ride. (pun intended)
September 6, 2023
The Midnight Exhibit is a short anthology of three stories and one meta-narrative story that loosely links them all together. The stories are told by a strange tow truck driver to a wealthy drunk couple he picked up on the road. The anthology switches perspectives between three fictional stories and the scene of the driver telling the stories to his uncomfortable passengers.
Admittedly, I didn't understand the first story or the meta story at all, but the last two stories were pretty interesting. The first two stories were written like campy Goosebumps stories which I'm not a fan of, but the other two played around with peculiar psychological and social constructs.
The first story I liked was Another Pretty Face which was a sort of reverse Handmaid's Tale scenario where all men were labeled as disposable objects used for the benefit of women. It was disturbing and highlighted the issues that would arise from that sort of society. It's not the wonderful land of butterflies and rainbows free of oppression that I'm sure some folks on Twitter would believe it to be.
The last story My Love, Do Not Wake was my favorite as it was genuinely unnerving to read. It tells the story of a wife having an affair with a tumor-like growth that emerges from the back of her husband's head and develops its own unique personality. Yes, it's as bizarre as it sounds. It's a psychological rollercoaster of guilt, rationalization and sexual betrayal.
Admittedly, I didn't understand the first story or the meta story at all, but the last two stories were pretty interesting. The first two stories were written like campy Goosebumps stories which I'm not a fan of, but the other two played around with peculiar psychological and social constructs.
The first story I liked was Another Pretty Face which was a sort of reverse Handmaid's Tale scenario where all men were labeled as disposable objects used for the benefit of women. It was disturbing and highlighted the issues that would arise from that sort of society. It's not the wonderful land of butterflies and rainbows free of oppression that I'm sure some folks on Twitter would believe it to be.
The last story My Love, Do Not Wake was my favorite as it was genuinely unnerving to read. It tells the story of a wife having an affair with a tumor-like growth that emerges from the back of her husband's head and develops its own unique personality. Yes, it's as bizarre as it sounds. It's a psychological rollercoaster of guilt, rationalization and sexual betrayal.
January 25, 2020
Unnerving Magazine’s Rewind or Die series kicks off with THE MIDNIGHT EXHIBIT volume one which includes the following stories: “Too Little Too Late” Stephen Graham Jones, “Another Pretty Face” by Renee Miller, and “My Love, Do Not Wake” by Philip Fracassi. The stories are presented as tales from a creepy tow truck driver to his latest clients. THE MIDNIGHT EXHIBIT provides exactly what I hoped the Rewind or Die series would deliver—the delightfully scary vibe of videotape horror movies.
The tow truck driver serves as a great narrator to serve up the three shorts that hit a bit too close to home for his passengers. Stephen Graham Jones’s story involves missing high school students and a fortunetelling game that I loved as a kid. I adored the following line, which describes a cheerleader’s demeanor: “The perkiness level practically made the air hazy with glitter.” In Renee Miller’s piece, karma comes a calling for a sleazy executive. Philip Fracassi delivers a ghoulish love triangle.
Fracassi’s story was my favorite, amping up my visceral reactions the closer it got to the creepy climax. The conclusion of the story with the tow truck driver nicely pairs with the third tale.
Reading THE MIDNIGHT EXHIBIT made me happy that I purchased the whole series from Unnerving. I don’t want to miss a single story.
The tow truck driver serves as a great narrator to serve up the three shorts that hit a bit too close to home for his passengers. Stephen Graham Jones’s story involves missing high school students and a fortunetelling game that I loved as a kid. I adored the following line, which describes a cheerleader’s demeanor: “The perkiness level practically made the air hazy with glitter.” In Renee Miller’s piece, karma comes a calling for a sleazy executive. Philip Fracassi delivers a ghoulish love triangle.
Fracassi’s story was my favorite, amping up my visceral reactions the closer it got to the creepy climax. The conclusion of the story with the tow truck driver nicely pairs with the third tale.
Reading THE MIDNIGHT EXHIBIT made me happy that I purchased the whole series from Unnerving. I don’t want to miss a single story.
November 1, 2022
I liked how there was one meta-narrative story that linked different stories together and it was easy to switch from a story to another one.
The first one wasn't my thing, it was just strange and didn't make me feel something. But luckily stories went better and the second one was enjoyable. And the last one was awesome and definitely my favorite.
The first one wasn't my thing, it was just strange and didn't make me feel something. But luckily stories went better and the second one was enjoyable. And the last one was awesome and definitely my favorite.
February 10, 2020
My review of MIDNIGHT EXHIBIT VOL. 1 can be found at High Fever Books.
When small-press publisher Unnerving announced their series of Rewind or Die novellas, paying homage to the types of 80s and 90s late-night B-horror straight-to-video flicks you’d find on the shelves of your local video store and late night cable TV, with a particular focus on diversity (from the looks of their current publishing schedule more than half of the 20 titles slated for release are written by women!), I was among the first to pre-order the digital subscription. The Rewind or Die announcement excited the hell out of me, and knowing there were titles forthcoming from writers like V. Castro, Renee Miller, Lisa Quigley and Mackenzie Kiera (hosts of the award-winning Ladies of the Fright podcast), I absolutely had to get in on the ground floor.
Unnerving’s opening gambit in this series is the anthology, The Midnight Exhibit Volume 1, a novella collecting three short stories from Stephen Graham Jones, Renee Miller, and Philip Fracassi. Like Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt, there’s an overarching framing device involving a supernatural “host” of sorts who introduces each tale and provides an additional uncredited short story along the way. In it, we are introduced to a tow-truck driver and his two passengers, whose car has broken down on their way to a party. The couple think their rescuer is merely wearing a Halloween costume, and as they bicker back and forth the driver mentions to them how he once knew a similar guy, leading us into the book’s central stories. It’s a nifty device and provides a few nice cliffhangers of sorts as you wonder how the upcoming short story authors will spin-off from their brief introduction by, let’s call him, Frank, and what’s to come for the unhappily married drunks in the passenger seat.
Stephen Graham Jones kicks things off with the first story, “Too Little Too Late.” This one’s a quick trip down memory lane, involving some high school kids and the silly games they play, games that shouldn’t have life or death consequences but somehow do. After Lorelei disappears, her neighbor Ross finds the paper switchpicker toy she’d been playing with earlier, and it leads him to some hair-raising discoveries about her ultimate fate. It’s a fun read, and Jones uses the small origami toy and its series of unfolding clues to great effect, delivering a few creepy scenes.
For my money, though, it’s Renee Miller’s “Another Pretty Face,” that really stands out as the best of the bunch. I always look forward to Miller’s stories, and this one illustrates why. She’s not afraid to tackle alternate perspectives in her social commentaries, leading you into some truly dark corners, crafting the types of scenarios that demand you to be careful what you wish for. Here, a high-roller misogynistic rapist wakes up from a seven-year coma to find himself trapped in his worst nightmare, a world ruled by women! This is a really ballsy horror story with a really unique dystopian forecast thanks to Miller’s centering of the narrative around a truly deplorable man in the midst of the #MeToo era and plenty of pointed commentary about sex, harassment, justice, revenge, white male privilege, and the war of the sexes. It’s dark, brutal, and oh so damn good.
Philip Fracassi rounds out the anthology with “My Love, Do Not Wake,” which takes the concepts of multiple personalities and extramarital affairs and rolls it all up into one extremely weird-fiction package. It’s a domestic drama that finds Olivia’s marriage to Henry growing into one of discontent. Their relationship has gotten stale and is on the verge of souring completely when she meets Martin and falls in love. The kicker, though, is that Martin is growing out the back of Henry’s head. Fracassi does some pretty cool things with this story, and I really dug how Martin was the complete opposite of Henry in every way imaginable, his inverse, backwards existence making him everything Olivia wants in a man. Like Miller’s story, though, there’s definitely a fair share of “be careful what you ask for” here, and the payoff is a natural consequence of the story, even if it’s also something you can see coming a mile away.
Rewind or Die is off a solid start here, and The Midnight Exhibit manages to out-Creepshow Shudder’s own revival of Creepshow! This novella-sized anthology managed to satisfy in all the ways the first season of Greg Nicotero’s televised anthology didn’t, and it hits a nice sweet spot of presenting fresh scares in a format familiar to horror buffs. It’s also an excellent proof-of-concept introduction that showcases the kinds of stories to expect in subsequent Rewind or Die novellas, serving an as excellent teaser for what’s to come.
Stay tuned for more…
When small-press publisher Unnerving announced their series of Rewind or Die novellas, paying homage to the types of 80s and 90s late-night B-horror straight-to-video flicks you’d find on the shelves of your local video store and late night cable TV, with a particular focus on diversity (from the looks of their current publishing schedule more than half of the 20 titles slated for release are written by women!), I was among the first to pre-order the digital subscription. The Rewind or Die announcement excited the hell out of me, and knowing there were titles forthcoming from writers like V. Castro, Renee Miller, Lisa Quigley and Mackenzie Kiera (hosts of the award-winning Ladies of the Fright podcast), I absolutely had to get in on the ground floor.
Unnerving’s opening gambit in this series is the anthology, The Midnight Exhibit Volume 1, a novella collecting three short stories from Stephen Graham Jones, Renee Miller, and Philip Fracassi. Like Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt, there’s an overarching framing device involving a supernatural “host” of sorts who introduces each tale and provides an additional uncredited short story along the way. In it, we are introduced to a tow-truck driver and his two passengers, whose car has broken down on their way to a party. The couple think their rescuer is merely wearing a Halloween costume, and as they bicker back and forth the driver mentions to them how he once knew a similar guy, leading us into the book’s central stories. It’s a nifty device and provides a few nice cliffhangers of sorts as you wonder how the upcoming short story authors will spin-off from their brief introduction by, let’s call him, Frank, and what’s to come for the unhappily married drunks in the passenger seat.
Stephen Graham Jones kicks things off with the first story, “Too Little Too Late.” This one’s a quick trip down memory lane, involving some high school kids and the silly games they play, games that shouldn’t have life or death consequences but somehow do. After Lorelei disappears, her neighbor Ross finds the paper switchpicker toy she’d been playing with earlier, and it leads him to some hair-raising discoveries about her ultimate fate. It’s a fun read, and Jones uses the small origami toy and its series of unfolding clues to great effect, delivering a few creepy scenes.
For my money, though, it’s Renee Miller’s “Another Pretty Face,” that really stands out as the best of the bunch. I always look forward to Miller’s stories, and this one illustrates why. She’s not afraid to tackle alternate perspectives in her social commentaries, leading you into some truly dark corners, crafting the types of scenarios that demand you to be careful what you wish for. Here, a high-roller misogynistic rapist wakes up from a seven-year coma to find himself trapped in his worst nightmare, a world ruled by women! This is a really ballsy horror story with a really unique dystopian forecast thanks to Miller’s centering of the narrative around a truly deplorable man in the midst of the #MeToo era and plenty of pointed commentary about sex, harassment, justice, revenge, white male privilege, and the war of the sexes. It’s dark, brutal, and oh so damn good.
Philip Fracassi rounds out the anthology with “My Love, Do Not Wake,” which takes the concepts of multiple personalities and extramarital affairs and rolls it all up into one extremely weird-fiction package. It’s a domestic drama that finds Olivia’s marriage to Henry growing into one of discontent. Their relationship has gotten stale and is on the verge of souring completely when she meets Martin and falls in love. The kicker, though, is that Martin is growing out the back of Henry’s head. Fracassi does some pretty cool things with this story, and I really dug how Martin was the complete opposite of Henry in every way imaginable, his inverse, backwards existence making him everything Olivia wants in a man. Like Miller’s story, though, there’s definitely a fair share of “be careful what you ask for” here, and the payoff is a natural consequence of the story, even if it’s also something you can see coming a mile away.
Rewind or Die is off a solid start here, and The Midnight Exhibit manages to out-Creepshow Shudder’s own revival of Creepshow! This novella-sized anthology managed to satisfy in all the ways the first season of Greg Nicotero’s televised anthology didn’t, and it hits a nice sweet spot of presenting fresh scares in a format familiar to horror buffs. It’s also an excellent proof-of-concept introduction that showcases the kinds of stories to expect in subsequent Rewind or Die novellas, serving an as excellent teaser for what’s to come.
Stay tuned for more…
January 25, 2021
Summary
Too Little Too Late ⭐⭐⭐
An innocent childhood paper fortune telling game that ends badly for 4 teens.
This one had me feeling nostalgic while also being a bit creepy. It was my least favorite of the three stories though.
Another Pretty Face ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A man with little respect for women gets a life changing lesson.
Being a big believer in karma, this was a clever and entertaining story.
My Love Do Not Wake ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A woman stuck in a lustless marriage decides to have an unusual affair.
This was a weird and unusual one but worked well. Definitely an original story.
Personal Opinion
Fans of Tales From The Crypt, Creepshow and The Twilight Zone should really enjoy this one.
The main tale of a strange tow truck driver picking up a slightly drunk couple who crashed their car and his three tales of terror on their drive really came together nicely.
I'm super excited to get to reading the many other short stories in this series.
Too Little Too Late ⭐⭐⭐
An innocent childhood paper fortune telling game that ends badly for 4 teens.
This one had me feeling nostalgic while also being a bit creepy. It was my least favorite of the three stories though.
Another Pretty Face ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A man with little respect for women gets a life changing lesson.
Being a big believer in karma, this was a clever and entertaining story.
My Love Do Not Wake ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A woman stuck in a lustless marriage decides to have an unusual affair.
This was a weird and unusual one but worked well. Definitely an original story.
Personal Opinion
Fans of Tales From The Crypt, Creepshow and The Twilight Zone should really enjoy this one.
The main tale of a strange tow truck driver picking up a slightly drunk couple who crashed their car and his three tales of terror on their drive really came together nicely.
I'm super excited to get to reading the many other short stories in this series.
February 22, 2021
I absolutely LOVED these stories, they're so immensely bizarre!
January 26, 2020
This first book of the Rewind or Die series gets things started in the right way: with an anthology style framed narrative that ties the pieces together and gives you three excellent stories from some of the best in the business. Gripping and hard to put down, this is great stuff.
July 3, 2021
4🌟 First book of the Rewind or Die series. Totally enjoyable, you’re in for one heck of a ride!
February 6, 2021
Good little anthology story
This was a fun read. Although the ongoing narrative was simple, it was intriguing enough that you wanted to get back to it to learn what the heck is going on. The issue I had with it is that it tied in neatly with the first
story but not so much with the last two.
In terms of the stories:
1. Too Little, Too Late by Stephen Graham Jones.
Here’s the deal... I have a line up of Graham Jones books on my shelf. I’ve read ‘Night Of The Mannequin’ but his writing style puts me off a bit. I felt the same here with this story. He definitely has a one-of-kind style but I am not sure that I like it. If you like weird tales, you might really like this author. This was my least favorite story about kids disappearing and a cootie catcher. (Yeah, I know!)
2. Another Pretty Face by Renee Miller.
Awesome story! There might be some bias here as I am of the female race, but I loved it. I have never heard of Miller before but I would definitely read more from her. If only this world she created could become a reality.
3. My Love, Do Not Wake by Philip Fracassi.
I think I’ve read a short story by Fracassi before, but I can’t remember where or if I liked it. I did like this story. It is definitely in the weird realm, but it completely worked for me. The writing is very fluid and the story made an overall sense about love vs lust.
Overall, a decent collection of stories. It didn’t blow me away, but was a fun read with some new authors to discover.
This was a fun read. Although the ongoing narrative was simple, it was intriguing enough that you wanted to get back to it to learn what the heck is going on. The issue I had with it is that it tied in neatly with the first
story but not so much with the last two.
In terms of the stories:
1. Too Little, Too Late by Stephen Graham Jones.
Here’s the deal... I have a line up of Graham Jones books on my shelf. I’ve read ‘Night Of The Mannequin’ but his writing style puts me off a bit. I felt the same here with this story. He definitely has a one-of-kind style but I am not sure that I like it. If you like weird tales, you might really like this author. This was my least favorite story about kids disappearing and a cootie catcher. (Yeah, I know!)
2. Another Pretty Face by Renee Miller.
Awesome story! There might be some bias here as I am of the female race, but I loved it. I have never heard of Miller before but I would definitely read more from her. If only this world she created could become a reality.
3. My Love, Do Not Wake by Philip Fracassi.
I think I’ve read a short story by Fracassi before, but I can’t remember where or if I liked it. I did like this story. It is definitely in the weird realm, but it completely worked for me. The writing is very fluid and the story made an overall sense about love vs lust.
Overall, a decent collection of stories. It didn’t blow me away, but was a fun read with some new authors to discover.
February 4, 2020
The whole Rewind or Die project kicks off with a throwback anthology featuring three stories to set the tone for what you may be reading over the next 12 months. The authors included here are Stephen Graham Jones, Renee Miller, and Philip Fracassi.
There is an introduction as well as interludes separating the three otherwise unconnected stories, introducing is to a very sinister chauffeur. Of course the tag line "when the ride ends so does your life" doesn't help his case.
Stephen Graham Jones' entry, Too Little Too Late, revolves around what I always thought of as a cootie catcher, a paper contraption frequently engineered by younger children to predict careers and spouses. With great accuracy, of course. This piece of childhood nostalgia wouldn't have it's place in a horror anthology, if things didn't start going wrong though...
Another Pretty Face is the star of the show here. We're treated to a Twilight Zone-type mash-up of what if women ruled the world with just a dash of Groundhog Day. This story is brutal and a lot of fun. It also has me really looking forward to Miller's book, Blood Lake Monster, coming in July.
My Love, Do Not Wake is the first story I've read from Philip Fracassi. It's a strange story, no doubt, but very intriguing. You see the end coming before the main character does and it's phenomenal.
There is an introduction as well as interludes separating the three otherwise unconnected stories, introducing is to a very sinister chauffeur. Of course the tag line "when the ride ends so does your life" doesn't help his case.
Stephen Graham Jones' entry, Too Little Too Late, revolves around what I always thought of as a cootie catcher, a paper contraption frequently engineered by younger children to predict careers and spouses. With great accuracy, of course. This piece of childhood nostalgia wouldn't have it's place in a horror anthology, if things didn't start going wrong though...
Another Pretty Face is the star of the show here. We're treated to a Twilight Zone-type mash-up of what if women ruled the world with just a dash of Groundhog Day. This story is brutal and a lot of fun. It also has me really looking forward to Miller's book, Blood Lake Monster, coming in July.
My Love, Do Not Wake is the first story I've read from Philip Fracassi. It's a strange story, no doubt, but very intriguing. You see the end coming before the main character does and it's phenomenal.
February 23, 2020
(review request submitted by Eddie Generous, the editor, for an honest critique)
I've tried to think of some witty, ingenious way to describe the stories in Midnight Exhibit. Then, I realized I could best sum them up by saying two words... fuck'd up.
Yes, every contribution to the anthology was disturbing.
Stephen Graham Jones - Too Little Too Late: Decomposing, coherent bodies... just eww. Cue the puke bucket!
Renee Miller - Another Pretty Face: This story will have men grabbing their junk for sure!
Philip Fracassi - My Love, Do Not Wake: The story started off reminding me of a scene from Harry Potter. The one where Lord Voldemort's face is on the back of Professor Quirrell's head. Anyways, it might've started off like HP but then it took a weird-ass turn into the land of fuck'd the hell up.
I'm still shaking my head on this collection. So disturbing it'll stick in my mind for a long while. :)
Recommend? Of course!
(Find more reviews/ratings at www.superkambrook.com)
I've tried to think of some witty, ingenious way to describe the stories in Midnight Exhibit. Then, I realized I could best sum them up by saying two words... fuck'd up.
Yes, every contribution to the anthology was disturbing.
Stephen Graham Jones - Too Little Too Late: Decomposing, coherent bodies... just eww. Cue the puke bucket!
Renee Miller - Another Pretty Face: This story will have men grabbing their junk for sure!
Philip Fracassi - My Love, Do Not Wake: The story started off reminding me of a scene from Harry Potter. The one where Lord Voldemort's face is on the back of Professor Quirrell's head. Anyways, it might've started off like HP but then it took a weird-ass turn into the land of fuck'd the hell up.
I'm still shaking my head on this collection. So disturbing it'll stick in my mind for a long while. :)
Recommend? Of course!
(Find more reviews/ratings at www.superkambrook.com)
October 3, 2021
I’ve only read one book from the series so I wasn’t too sure what I was getting myself into. I knew it was a horror short story collection but that was it.
The overarching story involved a couple getting a ride from a strange man. The stories we read are the ones that the man tells the couple.
Up first we have a story of kids going missing and what happened to them. I wasn’t crazy about this one. To ke it felt very flat, but it wasn’t bad!
The next story follows an alpha man’s worst nightmare, which was fun to read. It reminded me a lot of Irving Cox’s “Love Story” but not written by the sexist.
Our last story is about a woman who starts falling in love with her husband’s new growth. This was by far the creepiest to me and my favorite of the three. I was genuinely disturbed at points.
This was a good collection that kept me entertained but it wasn’t anything remarkable
The overarching story involved a couple getting a ride from a strange man. The stories we read are the ones that the man tells the couple.
Up first we have a story of kids going missing and what happened to them. I wasn’t crazy about this one. To ke it felt very flat, but it wasn’t bad!
The next story follows an alpha man’s worst nightmare, which was fun to read. It reminded me a lot of Irving Cox’s “Love Story” but not written by the sexist.
Our last story is about a woman who starts falling in love with her husband’s new growth. This was by far the creepiest to me and my favorite of the three. I was genuinely disturbed at points.
This was a good collection that kept me entertained but it wasn’t anything remarkable
December 24, 2022
I’ve decided I want to start the rewind or die series so here we go…
There are three stories included in this book inside a main story.
A couple breaks down in the middle of nowhere and when the tow truck guy comes to get the car he offers the couple a ride too. He proceeds to tell the couple these three stories.
My favourite story was by Phillip Fracassi. A husband gets a haircut and his wife ends up seeing things on the back off his head. Are they tumours or something else?
Twists galore in this one.
There are three stories included in this book inside a main story.
A couple breaks down in the middle of nowhere and when the tow truck guy comes to get the car he offers the couple a ride too. He proceeds to tell the couple these three stories.
My favourite story was by Phillip Fracassi. A husband gets a haircut and his wife ends up seeing things on the back off his head. Are they tumours or something else?
Twists galore in this one.
April 23, 2021
The stories in this are well written and entertaining, and I can see this playing out like an old Amicus anthology movie or the stories individually as Tales From the Crypt episodes. I don’t know if they were personally my cup of tea story wise, but that’s more a me problem than it is a problem of the book’s or the writers, who are all talented.
May 25, 2021
3.5 stars
June 21, 2021
Hit-or-miss collection of three stories. The first two are let down by the overly-long and predictable third.
July 29, 2021
This ruled ass. This book read like a forgotten anthology film of the late 80’s/early 90’s. I loved all three stories and the wrap around. It ruled ass.
October 15, 2021
The final story was the best of the bunch.
August 27, 2022
I'm working my way through the rewind or die series. I love that they are throwbacks to b movie 80's horror. I really enjoyed this one, it was several stories with a connecting one. This is a great fast read for spooky season.
January 24, 2022
This lovely little short was a wonderful start to a new series for me.
March 10, 2023
This was okay not great not terrible
October 12, 2021
All three stories were great and were written by terrific authors. I’m sure this is just me, but I didn’t really understand the first story. I’d anyone would like to explain that to me, I’d greatly appreciate it!
April 5, 2020
3.75 stars.
The first 2 stories in this collection are aces with some solid horror and great writing.
Sadly the final story feels not unlike a slapdash Twilight Zone episode with uninspired writing and an ending you can see coming from far away.
The first 2 stories in this collection are aces with some solid horror and great writing.
Sadly the final story feels not unlike a slapdash Twilight Zone episode with uninspired writing and an ending you can see coming from far away.
August 3, 2021
What a ride! There's four stories in this, and they each get more disturbing and unnerving as the book goes on. I loved this premise with this tow truck driver just telling this couple horrific stories back to back. And then that ending! Oh boy, chef's kiss, perfection!
December 27, 2020
Look elsewhere
Did not like this one at all. Kept jumping back and forth between different stories or worlds. Idk. It was crazy and not in a good way.
Did not like this one at all. Kept jumping back and forth between different stories or worlds. Idk. It was crazy and not in a good way.
April 4, 2021
Weird, but fun.
June 27, 2021
A good start to the "Rewind or Die" series with three fun little short stories!
June 29, 2023
1.25 stars for overall collection
I didn't realize this one was a short story collection. Mainly because when I think of Rewind or Die books, I think of 80s slasher/horror novellas. This does have the vibes of 80s horror, but each of the three stories is written differently and focuses on completely different themes. There seems to be no actual correlation besides the random plot twist reveal at the very end about the characters who the story is being told to, but even that was insanely predictable.
"Too Little Too Late" by Stephen Graham Jones- I love SGJ. I'm a huge fan of his writing and his work, but this didn't feel like his work at all. It felt sloppy, rushed, and I have no clue what the ending was or what happened. Just a lot of ???????????? from me. 1 star
"Another Pretty Face" by Renee Miller- I've another one of her stories in Rewind or Die and I also felt that I was supposed to be sympathetic to an incel and the commentary on feminism just felt so icky and weird. It's also a resequenced retelling of the same event over and over and that gets boring real quick. 1 star
"My Love, Do Not Wake Up" by Philip Fracassi- This is the better and most creative story of the three, but this guy cannot write women. Talk about giving a misogynistic lens of what men think women think like. I did like the plot of this one and that's a plus for it. 2 stars
Overall, this is not the worst in Rewind or Die, but it's not a strong start for the series.
I didn't realize this one was a short story collection. Mainly because when I think of Rewind or Die books, I think of 80s slasher/horror novellas. This does have the vibes of 80s horror, but each of the three stories is written differently and focuses on completely different themes. There seems to be no actual correlation besides the random plot twist reveal at the very end about the characters who the story is being told to, but even that was insanely predictable.
"Too Little Too Late" by Stephen Graham Jones- I love SGJ. I'm a huge fan of his writing and his work, but this didn't feel like his work at all. It felt sloppy, rushed, and I have no clue what the ending was or what happened. Just a lot of ???????????? from me. 1 star
"Another Pretty Face" by Renee Miller- I've another one of her stories in Rewind or Die and I also felt that I was supposed to be sympathetic to an incel and the commentary on feminism just felt so icky and weird. It's also a resequenced retelling of the same event over and over and that gets boring real quick. 1 star
"My Love, Do Not Wake Up" by Philip Fracassi- This is the better and most creative story of the three, but this guy cannot write women. Talk about giving a misogynistic lens of what men think women think like. I did like the plot of this one and that's a plus for it. 2 stars
Overall, this is not the worst in Rewind or Die, but it's not a strong start for the series.
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