Scary Stuff

by Jacob Jones-Goldstein (Editor), Nicholas Leamy (Editor), J. Patrick Conlon

You hold in your hands a tribute to the classic style of horror published in comics from the 60's and 70's. Stories of mayhem and the macabre. "Scary Stuff" is at heart a love letter to the kind of scary stories we grew up on. Twist endings, weird monsters, morality plays in microcosm. The kind of stories that keep you up at night and make you wonder just what that noise you heard in the basement really was.

Are you ready to be scared?

Genres: Horror

258 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2020

About the author

Jacob is an author of short fiction, mostly horror. He lives in Delaware with some cats, his wife, and maybe a couple of ghosts.

He loves basketball, comics, scary movies, and traveling to weird places.

Reviews

[Nicholas Leamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and curated everyone of these stories. I had an amazing time doing so and fully believe this is a 5 star book. I strongly suggest you check this out.

[Edward Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book upon the recommendation of a friend due to it being a local production with more than a few local authors and let's just say that I am glad I did. It is horror at its simplest: raw, evocative, and with just enough fantasy in the reality of it to keep you interested in the stories.

A mix of EC comics, early Stephen King, and HBO's Creepshow, Scary Stuff is well worth your time and hard-earned dollars.

[Patty Trush · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun to get swept away in horror!
Good read!💀☠👿

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Scary Stuff" a horror anthology edited by Leamy and Joones-Goldstein, sought to develop a book "in the tradition of EC Comics, Creepy, and Eerie, Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, inicluding homages to macabre writers such as King, Poe, and Dickens". I might quibble with the inclusion of Dickens, as although he would occasionally write a ghost story or two ("The Signalman", anyone? A story, I must confess that does nothing for me, despite having read it in almost every ghost story anthology I've ever read....).

"Scary" appears to have been crowdsourced/funded by Indiegogo - not sure if that's significant or not.

As usual with most anthologies, "Scary" is a mixed bag. "Quid Pro Quo" is the story of a kelpie under a community pool in a dying small town....Murphy's "Hangman" is the story of a deal with the devil..but with a twist....or should I say an amputation? "The Goodfellow House by Meyer is a ghost story with an unhappy ending...Newton's "Just Like in the Movies" concerns a young man who appears to be a shapeshifter.....

"Where Am I?" by Jamison concerns a man who haunts himself....Conion's "Killing Time" concerns a man at the end of his financial rope who steals the secret of time travel....

Overall, an interesting collection...but not sure if I'd read a second volume......

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I’m working through reading some short story collections, I tend to note some standouts in the bunch for people to recommend.

With that being said, every story in this collection borders the “decent” to the “eh” territory. I bought this collection because I wanted to get stories that feel like comic stories. I might be spoiled after Creepshow 13 New Tales of Terror in regards to this… but but but. If there is ONE story that stands among the rest as an absolute classic, it is Hangman by Mike Murphy.

You might have seen this story’s structure abundant in shows like Tales From The Darkside. But here it is different and unique compared to most deal with the Devil stories I have ever read. It’s a shame that a story this brutal, and this fun is tucked into a book most people won’t ever read in their lifetime. But I assure to you - if Greg Nicotero comes a calling for a great story to adapt into Creepshow — I’d give this one a whirl. 9.5/10⭐️

[Theresa Kulenkamp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but the small publisher's editor had his/her brain somewhere else when it was time to work on this book. The quality is uneven, the authors make very amateur errors and some stories make no sense. ". . . he turned back and limbered away". Really? Poor kid needs a dictionary.

[Phil Giunta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honored to be included among an august group of writers in this fantastic homage to the classic EC Comics titles Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, and The Haunt of Fear. There are enough ghouls, ghosts, creatures, and killers to satisfy any reader's appetite for the macabre!

[Amanda 🖤 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of these stories were a bit meh and didn’t go anywhere or tried to establish fantastical lore within a span of ten pages. However, these stories were absolute bangers:

Hangman
Grandma’s Dead Isn’t She
The Lush Woods

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag. Some of the stories are little more than flash fiction, while a couple were closer to novella length. As the title implies, these are generally pretty standard spooky fare. The only real standout was "Hangman" by Mike Murphy, an original twist on the "deal with the devil" trope with a truly horrifying ending.

The publisher and several of the authors are based in Delaware, but only "On the Viaduct" by Weldon Burge is set here.