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Dark Words: Stories of Urban Legends and Folklore
Horror hides everywhere! That abandoned house down your street, the woods nearby, even your own home. They all have old stories and legends of ghouls, demons and monsters. Throughout time, their stories were handed down around campfires and during sleepovers. Today, those stories will have a fresh take, but with the same Dark Words.
243 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 28, 2021
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32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 1, 2021
OK, let me start by saying that I have a story on this collection, and I’m mighty proud of that!
In all honesty, this is a superb collection of horrors from a lot of new voices you’re gonna want to keep an eye on!
In all honesty, this is a superb collection of horrors from a lot of new voices you’re gonna want to keep an eye on!
July 3, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyed this collection of chillers
June 6, 2021
Yes I have a piece in this anthology but I've read the other 11 and wanted to sing their praises. All aspects of horror are covered in this collection, with tremendous style and imagination. So much tension and terror, and less gore than I was expecting. I've never really gone for horror as a genre but my fellow authors have converted me, and I will definitely be reading more!
September 22, 2021
I enjoyed this a lot. I love Urban legends and Folklore, Cryptids, etc anyway so I was certain I'd like it to begin with. I wasn't disappointed. A couple of the stories did fall a little flat for me, but the writing was still great. On the whole, it was great. My favorite story was about Black-eyed children.
August 29, 2021
In two ways this is a stellar idea for an anthology. First, as Brian Keene pens in the foreword, a vehicle for newer writers to put their work in print, using it as a showcase. Second, as a way for writers from all over the country to give readers a taste of what goes bump in the night in their neck of the woods.
Like most anthologies, some stories were a hit for me, others not as much, and a few did fall into the trap of reading like a wikipedia entry for a cryptid, focusing on facts over story.
Leonie M. Smith's "Transepts in Time" is a phenomenal opener, guaranteed to suck readers in with promise. "Beyond the Triangle" by Richard Gerlach, lays out the creeps found in the Bridgewater Triangle, while placing the focus squarely on the characters involved, a smart and well-executed move. Cassie Daley's "Unwilling Offerings" brings the ghostly creeps. Patrick R McDonough's "Morel Malice" is a story had the opportunity to read in its infancy, and the seamless blending of a boogeyman origin story with historical events sets it apart in terms of local lore. Alex Norcross takes one of the better known (nationally) urban legends in "The Bunny Man Salvation" and competently turns it on its head. Matt Wildasin's "The Devil Comes This Night" takes something inherently creepy in the traveling preacher and really digs its heels into the urban legend vibe. The anthology ends with this story, really feeling as though it could have been told around a campfire.
Back to the first two points, check out this anthology to see some names that are bound to pop up again and again, but also to learn what you need to be weary of, should you decide to do some traveling.
Like most anthologies, some stories were a hit for me, others not as much, and a few did fall into the trap of reading like a wikipedia entry for a cryptid, focusing on facts over story.
Leonie M. Smith's "Transepts in Time" is a phenomenal opener, guaranteed to suck readers in with promise. "Beyond the Triangle" by Richard Gerlach, lays out the creeps found in the Bridgewater Triangle, while placing the focus squarely on the characters involved, a smart and well-executed move. Cassie Daley's "Unwilling Offerings" brings the ghostly creeps. Patrick R McDonough's "Morel Malice" is a story had the opportunity to read in its infancy, and the seamless blending of a boogeyman origin story with historical events sets it apart in terms of local lore. Alex Norcross takes one of the better known (nationally) urban legends in "The Bunny Man Salvation" and competently turns it on its head. Matt Wildasin's "The Devil Comes This Night" takes something inherently creepy in the traveling preacher and really digs its heels into the urban legend vibe. The anthology ends with this story, really feeling as though it could have been told around a campfire.
Back to the first two points, check out this anthology to see some names that are bound to pop up again and again, but also to learn what you need to be weary of, should you decide to do some traveling.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews