Crowded Chasms: Tales of Weird Horror

by Ben Farthing

17 Tales of Terror Lost in an endless forest, a spelling-bee champ follows the powerlines far above. But where do they lead? In the steam tunnels under the school, a student finds a bone tied in a knot. He should have left it there. After their minivan swerves off a cliff, a family wakes up in an empty Heaven. A two-dimensional stalker harasses the Presidential family. Two spelunkers release an ancient evil. Their only hope is to find order in the demon’s chaos. In these 17 Weird Horror stories, Ben Farthing delivers his unique brand of cosmic horror and strange happenings. Crowded Chasms is a terrifying read from "one hell of a writer," (Daryl Gregory, Shirley Jackson Award Winner).

Genres: Horror

203 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 27, 2021

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, billed as tales of weird horror, did not really deliver for me. Weird it might have been but there was not much horror! I’m not going to describe individual stories as there were too many of them. Some were very short and others much longer.

The stories I particularly enjoyed were Building, Transcend, Desperation, Lacerare Suonare and Test Your Knowledge. The others were average to, well, less than average. Some of them left me scratching my head and wondering what it was all about. The book also suffered from a lack of editing. This doesn’t usually bother me but in a couple of the stories it made them harder to follow.

I’ve always thought horror lends itself particularly well to the short story format and this still holds although this book is far from the best example. I think if the author tightened up his writing and got a good editor he would get better results but I do applaud him for having a go. It’s not easy putting yourself on the line like that. Thanks to BookSirens and the author for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ABSOLUTELY loved this book. It had to be one of the best short story books I’ve ever read. This author is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

[Marceline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I *love* weird horror. I love cosmic horror, and lovecraftian stuff. So this I thought would be right up my alley.

The stories themselves are pretty decent and some stood out more than others did. However, the ebook is riddled with formatting errors, grammatical errors (like in the story of the perforated woman, the writer tells us that the main character's son "cannot" feel the thing under his skin as it moves a couple times, then at the end, when it transfers to the main character, she remarks how her son said he *could* feel it, and she can feel it. So, did her son feel the thing or not?), and spelling errors (fat instead of far, strait instead of straight as in the direction, amongst other ones). I received a free copy via BookSirens, and went out to buy the kindle version on Amazon and had the same errors (of everything).

The stories that stood out for me and enjoyed the most were: Test Your Knowledge, Cleansing, and Empty Mansions in Heaven.

Ultimately, the reason this is getting such a low rating is due to the errors in both the mobi and kindle versions of the ebook and trying to figure out if they weren't just proofread or if the mistakes were intentional.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Jay Kulpa · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I received an advance review copy for free, and I am happily leaving this voluntarily review.)
Crowded Chasms is a new collection of short stories with momentum and horrific edges. A mix of long and short pieces that are a treat to dip in and out of, these 17 stories explore quiet, creepy horrors lurking in the corners of familiar spaces, from skyscrapers and tunnels to the White House and your own back yard (along with the occasional spaceship). Farthing demonstrates an adeptness for the foreboding ending that doesn't implies what happened next while still satisfying every time. I appreciate that the author is confident enough to say of one story that it isn't traditional horror but it scares him the most, and delivering with an idea that only gets more unsettling the more it's thought about).
I've enjoyed Farthing's two recent novels (It Waits on the Top Floor and They Cling to the Hull) and I look forward to reading his previous and future works. There are weaknesses here in that some pieces are more accomplished than others (which illuminates development as an author but those (earlier?) works do stand out) and a couple are riddled with typographical errors (which I'm sure will be corrected).

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have recently gotten into weird horror and this fit perfectly. I thought the stories were interesting and I enjoyed that they were short tidbits of horror stories. The only reason I didn't give this a 5 star rating is that where is some spelling mistakes in some of the stories. But not so bad that they made the stories unreadable.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of shorts was really well done overall. Some of the stories were very short. Some had me thinking about the ending and drawing my own conclusions, which I really enjoyed. A lot of them had me unnerved, and on edge. My favorites were Building, The Easement Through Which We Pass, and Test Your Knowledge, but this is chock full o' gems!

[Vonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of good horror stories and I enjoyed all of them.