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Peel Back and See
In spaces both familiar and strange, unknowable horrors lurk.
From the recesses of the Internet, where cosmic terror shows its face on an endless live feed, to a museum celebrating the sordid legacy of an occultist painter, this chilling collection of sixteen short stories will plunge you into the eerie, pessimistic imagination of Mike Thorn.
Peel Back and See urges its readers to look closer, to push past surface-level appearances and face the things that stir below.
From the recesses of the Internet, where cosmic terror shows its face on an endless live feed, to a museum celebrating the sordid legacy of an occultist painter, this chilling collection of sixteen short stories will plunge you into the eerie, pessimistic imagination of Mike Thorn.
Peel Back and See urges its readers to look closer, to push past surface-level appearances and face the things that stir below.
213 pages, Paperback
First published October 29, 2021
3 people are currently reading
256 people want to read
About the author
Mike Thorn
28 books278 followersMike Thorn is the author of Shelter for the Damned, Darkest Hours, and Peel Back and See. His stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies, and podcasts, including Augur, Vastarien, NoSleep, and Tales to Terrify. His essays and articles have been published in American Gothic Studies, American Twilight: The Cinema of Tobe Hooper, The Weird: A Companion, and elsewhere. He is an instructor in the Department of English at the University of New Brunswick, where he completed his PhD, and he co-hosts the Craftwork podcast with his fiancée, Miriam Richer.
Connect with him on Bluesky, Twitter, and Letterboxd.
Connect with him on Bluesky, Twitter, and Letterboxd.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
September 17, 2021
Mike Thorn's new collection of horror stories is phenomenal. His straightforward and intelligent style draws the reader straight into the heart of darkness. He has the ability to make one feel unsettled while trepidaciously anticipating the worst of all possible outcomes. Existential dread and the cosmic fear of remaining sentient within the void loom ominously within in reach. These stories made my stomach crawl with an anxiety that is both primitive and cognitive. Mike Thorn knows what scares you, and his words will take you to that space in your head that drives you to hide under the covers.
Many thanks to the author for an ARC of this very affecting collection.
Many thanks to the author for an ARC of this very affecting collection.
May 5, 2022
Mike Thorn is an author whose work I've enjoyed tremendously in the past, so I was very eager to check out this new collection of his, and it did not disappoint! Mike has a way of paying homage to his influences while creating something incredibly fresh and new, and combining very modern struggles with elements of fear that have plagued humanity for ages.
Peel Back & See is a fascinating collection because so many of the stories share a core theme, yet it never felt repetitive in any way. There's a commonality in the exploitative nature of capitalism and high society, as well as a reoccurring consideration of how truly ugly so many people are deep inside themselves, and I enjoyed both of these aspects so much.
Most of these stories were brand new to me, while a few were familiar from an earlier collection of Mike's, as well as one that I didn't realize until the end was a NoSleep Podcast piece I loved years ago. New or old, I can honestly say I enjoyed every single story, but I had a few stand-out favorites:
• The Furnace Room Mutant — This coming-of-age piece follows a lonely young boy who thinks he's been accepted into a group of punks at his school, but quickly realizes their motives were less than friendly. I absolutely loved the twist in this story.
• Mr. Mucata's Final Requests — Our main character is employed by a terrible and bizarre old man, and when she's required to seek out a few very specific items in his dying days, she learns there's more to his history than anyone realizes. This piece was incredibly fun and had a delightful ending.
• Deprimer — Have you ever wished you could pay a pretty penny to be rid of your mental illnesses forever? If you have, be careful what you wish for, because such a luxury might come with unexpected costs. This is a heavy piece that was hard to read at times, but something about it was so captivating — I couldn't turn away.
While those three installments were my favorites, truly, Peel Back & See is a wonderful collection from start to finish that shows off not only Mike's talent as a wordsmith, but also the wide range of fears he's capable of conjuring off, both realistic and otherworldly. I can't wait for his next collection of short stories, and if you haven't taken the time for a Mike Thorn title yet, I highly encourage you to do so.
✨ Representation: A few casual/brief mentions and implications of queerness
✨ Content warnings for: (no spoilers, but still hidden)
I read a final copy I purchased myself, but for the sake of disclosure, I was also sent an early review copy by the author. Thank you to the author!
———
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Peel Back & See is a fascinating collection because so many of the stories share a core theme, yet it never felt repetitive in any way. There's a commonality in the exploitative nature of capitalism and high society, as well as a reoccurring consideration of how truly ugly so many people are deep inside themselves, and I enjoyed both of these aspects so much.
Most of these stories were brand new to me, while a few were familiar from an earlier collection of Mike's, as well as one that I didn't realize until the end was a NoSleep Podcast piece I loved years ago. New or old, I can honestly say I enjoyed every single story, but I had a few stand-out favorites:
• The Furnace Room Mutant — This coming-of-age piece follows a lonely young boy who thinks he's been accepted into a group of punks at his school, but quickly realizes their motives were less than friendly. I absolutely loved the twist in this story.
• Mr. Mucata's Final Requests — Our main character is employed by a terrible and bizarre old man, and when she's required to seek out a few very specific items in his dying days, she learns there's more to his history than anyone realizes. This piece was incredibly fun and had a delightful ending.
• Deprimer — Have you ever wished you could pay a pretty penny to be rid of your mental illnesses forever? If you have, be careful what you wish for, because such a luxury might come with unexpected costs. This is a heavy piece that was hard to read at times, but something about it was so captivating — I couldn't turn away.
While those three installments were my favorites, truly, Peel Back & See is a wonderful collection from start to finish that shows off not only Mike's talent as a wordsmith, but also the wide range of fears he's capable of conjuring off, both realistic and otherworldly. I can't wait for his next collection of short stories, and if you haven't taken the time for a Mike Thorn title yet, I highly encourage you to do so.
✨ Representation: A few casual/brief mentions and implications of queerness
✨ Content warnings for: (no spoilers, but still hidden)
I read a final copy I purchased myself, but for the sake of disclosure, I was also sent an early review copy by the author. Thank you to the author!
———
twitter | booktok | bookstagram | blog
December 26, 2021
Being a huge fan of Mike Thorn's last collection DARKEST HOURS, when I was offered an ARC of his latest collection, I hopped on the chance. I'm so glad I did, because reading this was like being reassured that my initial thoughts on Thorn's writing were correct. He is a true talent!
There were a lot of tales included within, and they were rather short, which I enjoyed. I'm not going to get into all of them here. They vary widely, from dark, intense psychological observations to grief-based narratives, to trauma to the utterly fantastical. ALL of them well written and thought provoking. Even though they were very dark indeed, I think I like Thorn's grief or trauma based stories the most. In fact this quote really spoke to me:
"Trauma does not accept invitations or obey orders. It shows up, loud and vulgar and unannounced, has its way and then retreats, back into the shadows. But it never goes away, never really."
One of the most imaginative stories here, VOMITUS BACCHANALIUS, impressed the hell out of me. Somehow Mike turned a story of an alien group of creatures enslaved here on earth, into a tale of an engrossing, disgusting ritual, and then into a revenge tale. I don't know how he did it! I was laughing, I was repulsed and I was amazed...all in one short story. Bravo!
THE VOIDING was another narrative that amazed me. Its originality and attempt to explain how muses might work was eye-opening and startling.
Lastly, DREAMS OF LAKE DRUKKA was an ugly little tale about how sometimes, your dreams are trying to tell you something. Maybe you should listen? Then again, maybe not.
I am pressed for time, so this review is short out of necessity. Do not let that make you think that I don't have anything else good to say about this collection, because that's not true. I could probably sit here and write an essay on why I think Mike Thorn is an author to watch, why I think he takes a great deal of time and effort to make his tales accessible and relatable, and why I think his creative imagination is going to take the world by storm at some point. I could do all of that, but I won't.
Instead, I'd love you to take a shot at one of Mike's collections and then we can talk about them together. I bet that, when the time comes around, you'll be thinking as I do: that Mike Thorn has the chops to be the next big thing in dark fiction and that he's worth your time and attention.
Highly recommended!
*Thank you to the author for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*
There were a lot of tales included within, and they were rather short, which I enjoyed. I'm not going to get into all of them here. They vary widely, from dark, intense psychological observations to grief-based narratives, to trauma to the utterly fantastical. ALL of them well written and thought provoking. Even though they were very dark indeed, I think I like Thorn's grief or trauma based stories the most. In fact this quote really spoke to me:
"Trauma does not accept invitations or obey orders. It shows up, loud and vulgar and unannounced, has its way and then retreats, back into the shadows. But it never goes away, never really."
One of the most imaginative stories here, VOMITUS BACCHANALIUS, impressed the hell out of me. Somehow Mike turned a story of an alien group of creatures enslaved here on earth, into a tale of an engrossing, disgusting ritual, and then into a revenge tale. I don't know how he did it! I was laughing, I was repulsed and I was amazed...all in one short story. Bravo!
THE VOIDING was another narrative that amazed me. Its originality and attempt to explain how muses might work was eye-opening and startling.
Lastly, DREAMS OF LAKE DRUKKA was an ugly little tale about how sometimes, your dreams are trying to tell you something. Maybe you should listen? Then again, maybe not.
I am pressed for time, so this review is short out of necessity. Do not let that make you think that I don't have anything else good to say about this collection, because that's not true. I could probably sit here and write an essay on why I think Mike Thorn is an author to watch, why I think he takes a great deal of time and effort to make his tales accessible and relatable, and why I think his creative imagination is going to take the world by storm at some point. I could do all of that, but I won't.
Instead, I'd love you to take a shot at one of Mike's collections and then we can talk about them together. I bet that, when the time comes around, you'll be thinking as I do: that Mike Thorn has the chops to be the next big thing in dark fiction and that he's worth your time and attention.
Highly recommended!
*Thank you to the author for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*
November 3, 2021
Mike Thorn’s Peel Back and See was an excellent short story collection. It really hit those crucial points of cohesion and bountiful surprises that I look for in every collection, along with a captivating backdrop of emotional depth that shrouded everything in a bleak texture of grief and ennui. This definitely feels more mean-spirited and darker than Darkest Hours (I guess these are the darkest, darkest hours), and I really enjoyed the confessional tones to some of the stories, paired with horrid pessimism. The theme of emotional heft becoming a physical calamity was prevalent, and one which explored totally unique depictions of viscerae and body horror that were ravishing and arresting. I am really, really excited to see what else Mr. Thorn will bring us in the future.
March 10, 2022
Many thanks to the author for an ARC of this collection—and I hate I’m late to the party. One of the finest and most compelling short story collections I’ve ever had the privilege of reading, Mike Thorn shows in Peel Back and See he’s a master of the language and getting under the skin of his readers. Picking a favorite here is almost impossible, but I guess I’d pick closer “Fade to White”: a poetic and desperately sad little number. My highest recommendation.
October 19, 2021
** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **
By now you probably have seen I’m a fan of Mike Thorn’s writing. Be it his debut novel ‘Shelter for the Damned’, his short stories or his previous collection ‘Darkest Hours,’ Mike crafts fantastic, dark stories that have great characters and plots that are riveting and engaging.
Mike seems to be hitting his stride here, and with his next release coming through JournalStone, it’s an exciting time to see his fiction shared wide and far. ‘Peel Back and See’ features some new stories written specifically for this collection, as well as some previously released fiction.
What I liked: The stories within all focus around dark and terrible moments in people’s lives, but Mike does such an amazing job of having us readers remain engaged and wanting to know what happens, even when we know for a fact that there’s not going to be rainbows and sunshine by the time we read ‘The End.’
Highlights for me were numerous.
‘Havoc’ the opening story was a splendid piece of dark fiction that brought to mind Trevor Henderson’s creatures and the CreepyPasta world.
‘Mini McDonagh Manor’ was a favorite of mine from the ‘Prairie Gothic Anthology’ and still felt fresh and vital when rereading. A creepy story and Mike essentially created an entire haunted house novel within a short story.
His Demain duology is also in here. It was great revisiting ‘Dreams of Lake Drukka’ and ‘Exhumation.’ Both stories were dread and tension-filled and I loved seeing the sisters once again from ‘Drukka.’
‘The Finger Collectors’ was absolutely my favorite story within this collection. Following a young man who takes on a job he’s not too sure about, it spiralled into a debaucherous tale that had me smiling.
‘The Furnace Room Mutant’ had a very ‘on-the-nose’ title and it felt like a glorious B-movie come to life.
And ‘Virus’ was a fantastic story that brought up themes of if we’re living in a simulation and how creepy our webcams really are.
Mike writes with joy and gusto, you know he has a blast crafting these dark pieces and that leaps off of each and every page.
What I didn’t like: In a collection like this, not every piece will be a home run. Personally, I loved each one, some a bit more than others, but as always this will be a case of readers’ own tastes dictating which stories work for them.
Why you should buy this: Mike Thorn has delivered another fantastic collection, one made up of fresh, vibrant pieces and ones showcasing just how great of a writer he has been since arriving some years ago. I’m always excited to see what he has created and with the story notes at the end, we get to see how he came up with each story. Loved this one.
By now you probably have seen I’m a fan of Mike Thorn’s writing. Be it his debut novel ‘Shelter for the Damned’, his short stories or his previous collection ‘Darkest Hours,’ Mike crafts fantastic, dark stories that have great characters and plots that are riveting and engaging.
Mike seems to be hitting his stride here, and with his next release coming through JournalStone, it’s an exciting time to see his fiction shared wide and far. ‘Peel Back and See’ features some new stories written specifically for this collection, as well as some previously released fiction.
What I liked: The stories within all focus around dark and terrible moments in people’s lives, but Mike does such an amazing job of having us readers remain engaged and wanting to know what happens, even when we know for a fact that there’s not going to be rainbows and sunshine by the time we read ‘The End.’
Highlights for me were numerous.
‘Havoc’ the opening story was a splendid piece of dark fiction that brought to mind Trevor Henderson’s creatures and the CreepyPasta world.
‘Mini McDonagh Manor’ was a favorite of mine from the ‘Prairie Gothic Anthology’ and still felt fresh and vital when rereading. A creepy story and Mike essentially created an entire haunted house novel within a short story.
His Demain duology is also in here. It was great revisiting ‘Dreams of Lake Drukka’ and ‘Exhumation.’ Both stories were dread and tension-filled and I loved seeing the sisters once again from ‘Drukka.’
‘The Finger Collectors’ was absolutely my favorite story within this collection. Following a young man who takes on a job he’s not too sure about, it spiralled into a debaucherous tale that had me smiling.
‘The Furnace Room Mutant’ had a very ‘on-the-nose’ title and it felt like a glorious B-movie come to life.
And ‘Virus’ was a fantastic story that brought up themes of if we’re living in a simulation and how creepy our webcams really are.
Mike writes with joy and gusto, you know he has a blast crafting these dark pieces and that leaps off of each and every page.
What I didn’t like: In a collection like this, not every piece will be a home run. Personally, I loved each one, some a bit more than others, but as always this will be a case of readers’ own tastes dictating which stories work for them.
Why you should buy this: Mike Thorn has delivered another fantastic collection, one made up of fresh, vibrant pieces and ones showcasing just how great of a writer he has been since arriving some years ago. I’m always excited to see what he has created and with the story notes at the end, we get to see how he came up with each story. Loved this one.
September 30, 2021
Peel Back And See is the newest collection of thought provoking dark tales by Mike Thorn. In addition to making you think - they might also instill a bit of fear. "Mini McDonagh Manor" is the first horror tale in MONTHS that scared the pewp out of me so that I was seeing things and having trouble sleeping.
Full disclosure, I did receive the eARC in exchange for a review. I look at that statement and it honestly doesn't convey what *really* happened there. Mike emailed me and asked if I would be interested and I was ALL over it. If you've read any of his previous works, then you already understand and likely nodding your head in agreement here. Mike Thorn has what I call a conversational writing style - which means I love it because it just flows so naturally and it's my favorite way of storytelling.
Peel Back and See in my opinion, isn't just the title - it's the theme of all the stories. Peel back and see what's underneath - just below the surface of the calm exterior. Is it thoughts of depression? Suicide? Murder? Lust? Greed? Love? Revenge? Just plain freaking evil?? What desires drive us? Have you examined your innermost wants?
I really enjoyed each of these stories as we delve into a lot of the above mentioned topics. Mike Thorn used so many different ways to illustrate them: cosmic horror, hauntings, murder, science fiction aspects - I just never knew what to expect. I also appreciate how these stories were up to date with our real world technology and how the author really brought forth fear in things we take for granted...web cams, the internet, toys....
This collection is for true fans of horror - definitely not for the weak of heart. Dark, bloody and full of gore - sure to bring delight to the blackest of hearts.
Full disclosure, I did receive the eARC in exchange for a review. I look at that statement and it honestly doesn't convey what *really* happened there. Mike emailed me and asked if I would be interested and I was ALL over it. If you've read any of his previous works, then you already understand and likely nodding your head in agreement here. Mike Thorn has what I call a conversational writing style - which means I love it because it just flows so naturally and it's my favorite way of storytelling.
Peel Back and See in my opinion, isn't just the title - it's the theme of all the stories. Peel back and see what's underneath - just below the surface of the calm exterior. Is it thoughts of depression? Suicide? Murder? Lust? Greed? Love? Revenge? Just plain freaking evil?? What desires drive us? Have you examined your innermost wants?
I really enjoyed each of these stories as we delve into a lot of the above mentioned topics. Mike Thorn used so many different ways to illustrate them: cosmic horror, hauntings, murder, science fiction aspects - I just never knew what to expect. I also appreciate how these stories were up to date with our real world technology and how the author really brought forth fear in things we take for granted...web cams, the internet, toys....
This collection is for true fans of horror - definitely not for the weak of heart. Dark, bloody and full of gore - sure to bring delight to the blackest of hearts.
September 30, 2021
Are you looking for short horror fiction with not only a heart and soul but a big brain as well? Look no further than Mike Thorn's "Peel Back and See". Stories of cosmic, supernatural and even psychological horror can be found within its pages. Ghost stories, revenge tales, tales of depression and addiction are just some of the stories you'll encounter. Thorn wears his love for horror and its influences (Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Kathe Koja, Daphne DuMaurier) proudly on his sleeve with these tales. Check it out; you will not be disappointed.
September 22, 2021
Mike Thorn is very talented and his short stories are handing out candy and kicking butt, but they ran out of candy.
Good Ole Mike has a talent for grossing me out. If you haven't read his other book Darkest Hours go read the story "Hair" and then pick up this bad boy and get ready for "Vomitus Bacchanalius." I read it and just had to sit and stare at the wall for a minute.
The rest of the book is not as gross but still so delightful. I want to tell you my favorite story in the book but I can't pick just one. There are 16 short stories and there is just something for everyone.
Set your reminders for October 29th and pick this up!
Good Ole Mike has a talent for grossing me out. If you haven't read his other book Darkest Hours go read the story "Hair" and then pick up this bad boy and get ready for "Vomitus Bacchanalius." I read it and just had to sit and stare at the wall for a minute.
The rest of the book is not as gross but still so delightful. I want to tell you my favorite story in the book but I can't pick just one. There are 16 short stories and there is just something for everyone.
Set your reminders for October 29th and pick this up!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 10, 2021
On Peel Back and See, Mike Thorn pursues horror fiction’s ultimate ambition: the expression of dread and terror that accompany the ownership of human consciousness.
After reading Darkest Hours (2017), I had high expectations of quality for Mike Thorn’s subsequent releases. I thought Thorn was able to structure narratives in creative ways. He’d include classic horror aesthetic choices and nods to horror iconography, yet his approach to literary form felt fresh. I anticipated an even greater accomplishment with Peel Back and See, and I think Mike Thorn has managed that with ease. The unifying themes of Peel Back and See make for a cohesive reading experience. To put this review in the simplest terms, I loved this collection and think you should read it. What follows is a deeper dive into the themes and ideas present in the collection.
The Will
The epigraph to this collection features a quote by Arthur Schopenhauer regarding his notion of a blind malevolent will. This quote is significant in that it previews, for the reader, the underlying horror which lurks behind each of these stories. Throughout this collection, there’s a variety of terrors, yet below each one is an uncaring force.
The collection’s opener Havoc sees this malevolent force take the form of a cosmic creature. I refer to this creature as the ideological antithesis to King’s Pennywise (see: later section). Thorn goes as far as to label this force as a will in the story Vomitus Bacchanalias. Though Schopenhauer’s concept is abstract, Thorn finds creative outlets to draw out this horror in concrete form. Though these forms can vary, ranging from demonic computer programs, to spider monsters, to Satan himself, they all represent a deep cosmic apathy towards human plight. Thorn creates bridges between these horror entities and real forces of suffering. Snaking its way through many of the stories, capitalism appears as a driving malevolent force. Animal agriculture and environmental degradation appear as well. Thorn establishes thematic parallels between these systems and the notion of a malevolent will without letting the stories veer into didacticism. On a more atomistic level, Thorn examines the effects of these systems on individual psychology. Stories like Deprimer zoom in on the individual, drawing out the agony of consciousness. It’s during these moment, that I think the collection shines brightest. Thorn has a unique ability to capture internet era anomie, alienation, and disenchantment. Perhaps my favorite two pieces were the first and last entry. Fade to White is the moving final chorus to the overture that is Havoc. In contemplating a malevolent will, Thorn invites us to Peel Back and See behind the veil to where true horror resides.
Dissolving the Self and Faustian Bargains
In horror fiction, catharsis takes on unusual forms. Throughout this collection, characters get closest to finding relief from their suffering only when they sacrifice and cast their selves aside. In Havoc, true horror in an essential form serves as an escape from the insidious ways that horror works through our corporeal existence. In GorgoYama2013 our protagonist sacrifices his worldly existence in pursuit of art. In Thorn’s stories, a representative of a higher power serves as an intermediary. They arrive and lay out a classic Faustian bargain. Many of Thorn’s characters must accept bargains, casting aside their former lives in exchange for relief from human consciousness. The acceptance of horror serves as a sort of “happy ending.”
In some tales, opposite to relief, this self sacrifice appears to parody the ways the self is lost in capital exploitation (The Finger Collector, This is the World, The Voiding). This brush with dark, otherworldly powers mirrors addiction in tales like This is the World, Vomitus Bacchanalius, The Furnace Room Mutant, Virus. This consistent theme gave the collection a greater sense of cohesion, and it became fun to spot the common threads.
Thorn incorporates a variety of aesthetic choices in his stories. Mr. Muchata’s Final Requests felt like the literary equivalent of a Mercyful Fate Song. Vomitus Bacchanalias and Offer to the Adversary had the stylish charm and psychosexual drama of early Clive Barker stories. The aforementioned internet era stories like GorgoYama2013, Fade to White, Havoc, and Virus cast the internet as a cold uncaring thing like the malevolent will itself. Though Thorn offers a variety of aesthetics —even throwing in the science fiction Entropy Major— the thematic consistency allowed each story to sit side by side with each other without clashing.
The Puppet Self
The last significant horror theme Thorn includes is what Ligotti refers to as “the puppet self.” This conception of personhood, denies the ontological assumption that a person has agency of any kind. As the title of the collection suggests, forces beyond our control are lurking behind a veil that grows ever thinner. The persons in these stories reach a point of revelation in which they discover their lives were never under their control to begin with. In conjunction with the other themes, this solidifies Thorn’s bleak vision of horror. Yet, as mentioned in the section on dissolving the self, there’s an opportunity to accept this horrific revelation and become one with the terror. Throughout the collection, I thought of one of Ligotti’s quotes that I feel applies to Thorn’s themes. “The human phenomenon is but the sum of densely coiled layers of illusion, each of which winds itself upon the supreme insanity that there are persons of any kind when all there can be is mindless mirrors, laughing and screaming as they parade about in an endless dream.” (I Have a Special Plan for This World).
The Havoc as the Antithesis to Pennywise
While reading the opening story, I was reminded of another inter-dimensional spider monster, our friend Pennywise. What Thorn offers here is perhaps Pennywise’s antithesis. Not in the sense that they aren’t both spider-monters. First, we’ll look at Pennywise. Though Pennywise has the ability to cast a person into the multi-verse, he still respects the concept of the “self.” The losers succeed through the innate value of their identities as humans. Their selves contain in-born magic. Their thoughts, values, and beliefs are important in this final battle. The main conflict is that Pennywise is “morally evil” not that he disregards the existence of the self. However, the self has no value against Thorn’s Pavouk. Thus to do battle with the Pavouk is perhaps meaningless to the Pavouk itself. There is no magic, no “Silver” to save our protagonist, and this makes it far scarier. This tale encapsulates the aforementioned themes. First, the protagonist is met with an uncaring force that seeks only to continue on, unconcerned with humans. Second, the character is given an opportunity to unify with this force. Third, the character loses their self and feels relief. While the losers must garner their magic to defeat Pennywise, there is no defeating the Havoc. One can only become one with the horror.
Conclusions
As with Dark Hours Mike Thorn is able to craft stories that are so bleak that one finds catharsis in their aphotic depths. Thorn proves that he has a strong sense of identity as an author, giving the reader a unique and creative take on horror. Lastly, he is able to take abstract philosophical ideas and use classic genre staples to bring them to life.
After reading Darkest Hours (2017), I had high expectations of quality for Mike Thorn’s subsequent releases. I thought Thorn was able to structure narratives in creative ways. He’d include classic horror aesthetic choices and nods to horror iconography, yet his approach to literary form felt fresh. I anticipated an even greater accomplishment with Peel Back and See, and I think Mike Thorn has managed that with ease. The unifying themes of Peel Back and See make for a cohesive reading experience. To put this review in the simplest terms, I loved this collection and think you should read it. What follows is a deeper dive into the themes and ideas present in the collection.
The Will
The epigraph to this collection features a quote by Arthur Schopenhauer regarding his notion of a blind malevolent will. This quote is significant in that it previews, for the reader, the underlying horror which lurks behind each of these stories. Throughout this collection, there’s a variety of terrors, yet below each one is an uncaring force.
The collection’s opener Havoc sees this malevolent force take the form of a cosmic creature. I refer to this creature as the ideological antithesis to King’s Pennywise (see: later section). Thorn goes as far as to label this force as a will in the story Vomitus Bacchanalias. Though Schopenhauer’s concept is abstract, Thorn finds creative outlets to draw out this horror in concrete form. Though these forms can vary, ranging from demonic computer programs, to spider monsters, to Satan himself, they all represent a deep cosmic apathy towards human plight. Thorn creates bridges between these horror entities and real forces of suffering. Snaking its way through many of the stories, capitalism appears as a driving malevolent force. Animal agriculture and environmental degradation appear as well. Thorn establishes thematic parallels between these systems and the notion of a malevolent will without letting the stories veer into didacticism. On a more atomistic level, Thorn examines the effects of these systems on individual psychology. Stories like Deprimer zoom in on the individual, drawing out the agony of consciousness. It’s during these moment, that I think the collection shines brightest. Thorn has a unique ability to capture internet era anomie, alienation, and disenchantment. Perhaps my favorite two pieces were the first and last entry. Fade to White is the moving final chorus to the overture that is Havoc. In contemplating a malevolent will, Thorn invites us to Peel Back and See behind the veil to where true horror resides.
Dissolving the Self and Faustian Bargains
In horror fiction, catharsis takes on unusual forms. Throughout this collection, characters get closest to finding relief from their suffering only when they sacrifice and cast their selves aside. In Havoc, true horror in an essential form serves as an escape from the insidious ways that horror works through our corporeal existence. In GorgoYama2013 our protagonist sacrifices his worldly existence in pursuit of art. In Thorn’s stories, a representative of a higher power serves as an intermediary. They arrive and lay out a classic Faustian bargain. Many of Thorn’s characters must accept bargains, casting aside their former lives in exchange for relief from human consciousness. The acceptance of horror serves as a sort of “happy ending.”
In some tales, opposite to relief, this self sacrifice appears to parody the ways the self is lost in capital exploitation (The Finger Collector, This is the World, The Voiding). This brush with dark, otherworldly powers mirrors addiction in tales like This is the World, Vomitus Bacchanalius, The Furnace Room Mutant, Virus. This consistent theme gave the collection a greater sense of cohesion, and it became fun to spot the common threads.
Thorn incorporates a variety of aesthetic choices in his stories. Mr. Muchata’s Final Requests felt like the literary equivalent of a Mercyful Fate Song. Vomitus Bacchanalias and Offer to the Adversary had the stylish charm and psychosexual drama of early Clive Barker stories. The aforementioned internet era stories like GorgoYama2013, Fade to White, Havoc, and Virus cast the internet as a cold uncaring thing like the malevolent will itself. Though Thorn offers a variety of aesthetics —even throwing in the science fiction Entropy Major— the thematic consistency allowed each story to sit side by side with each other without clashing.
The Puppet Self
The last significant horror theme Thorn includes is what Ligotti refers to as “the puppet self.” This conception of personhood, denies the ontological assumption that a person has agency of any kind. As the title of the collection suggests, forces beyond our control are lurking behind a veil that grows ever thinner. The persons in these stories reach a point of revelation in which they discover their lives were never under their control to begin with. In conjunction with the other themes, this solidifies Thorn’s bleak vision of horror. Yet, as mentioned in the section on dissolving the self, there’s an opportunity to accept this horrific revelation and become one with the terror. Throughout the collection, I thought of one of Ligotti’s quotes that I feel applies to Thorn’s themes. “The human phenomenon is but the sum of densely coiled layers of illusion, each of which winds itself upon the supreme insanity that there are persons of any kind when all there can be is mindless mirrors, laughing and screaming as they parade about in an endless dream.” (I Have a Special Plan for This World).
The Havoc as the Antithesis to Pennywise
While reading the opening story, I was reminded of another inter-dimensional spider monster, our friend Pennywise. What Thorn offers here is perhaps Pennywise’s antithesis. Not in the sense that they aren’t both spider-monters. First, we’ll look at Pennywise. Though Pennywise has the ability to cast a person into the multi-verse, he still respects the concept of the “self.” The losers succeed through the innate value of their identities as humans. Their selves contain in-born magic. Their thoughts, values, and beliefs are important in this final battle. The main conflict is that Pennywise is “morally evil” not that he disregards the existence of the self. However, the self has no value against Thorn’s Pavouk. Thus to do battle with the Pavouk is perhaps meaningless to the Pavouk itself. There is no magic, no “Silver” to save our protagonist, and this makes it far scarier. This tale encapsulates the aforementioned themes. First, the protagonist is met with an uncaring force that seeks only to continue on, unconcerned with humans. Second, the character is given an opportunity to unify with this force. Third, the character loses their self and feels relief. While the losers must garner their magic to defeat Pennywise, there is no defeating the Havoc. One can only become one with the horror.
Conclusions
As with Dark Hours Mike Thorn is able to craft stories that are so bleak that one finds catharsis in their aphotic depths. Thorn proves that he has a strong sense of identity as an author, giving the reader a unique and creative take on horror. Lastly, he is able to take abstract philosophical ideas and use classic genre staples to bring them to life.
May 28, 2024
My first foray into Thorns work will not be my last, which I think says a lot without having to get into the particulars of what made these stories and this collection exceptional. There are admittedly a few "duds", but only really by comparison to other stories here that truly hit the horror home.
My only real criticism is that some of these stories would have been far more satisfying if they'd taken extra time to stew on and further explore not only the ideas, but the characters within them, as on a few occasions either or felt half formed. Sort of a backwards compliment on my part since I think I mostly wanted more from what Thorn was throwing down at times.
Standout stories for me were Mini McDonagh Manor, Dreams of Lake Drukka, Vomitus Bacchanalius, This is the World, The Voiding and Entropy Major.
3.5
My only real criticism is that some of these stories would have been far more satisfying if they'd taken extra time to stew on and further explore not only the ideas, but the characters within them, as on a few occasions either or felt half formed. Sort of a backwards compliment on my part since I think I mostly wanted more from what Thorn was throwing down at times.
Standout stories for me were Mini McDonagh Manor, Dreams of Lake Drukka, Vomitus Bacchanalius, This is the World, The Voiding and Entropy Major.
3.5
September 20, 2021
"Peel Back and See" - a title that is reminiscent of the Biblical quote in Revelations, "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."
Peeling back each page and devouring the contents of every story, I felt that a world of Hell, death, and mental illness was revealed to me. This collection is dark and often bleak, with nods to H.P. Lovecraft, Clive Barker, and Bret Easton Ellis. Many of these stories would be visually terrifying and perfectly at home in a "Masters of Horror" or "Creepshow" episode, especially "Havoc," "Mr. Mucata's Final Requests," and "Vomitus Bacchanalius."
Stories like "Deprimer" and "The Voiding" were telling of Mike Thorn's ability to expel insecurities and any sense of imposter syndrome through twisted writing. I liked these ones the best because I felt like they may have been cathartic for Thorn, and they were also cathartic for me as a reader. I loved the idea of being able to remove the little scared and ever-doubting voice in my head that works to keep me down ("Deprimer"). I loved "The Voiding," about an institution claiming to be elite and always able to turn out best-selling authors, and Thorn's take on the price one might pay for such exacting results.
I appreciated the Author's Notes on each story at the end. Every collection should have one of these, as it provides insight into the author's creative process and connections that enhance the reader's experience.
Mike Thorn knows what is scary, disturbing, and emotionally scarring. He brings it all to the table in a way that is uniquely his. I found a few stories in this book to be a bit less memorable than others, but this author is an exceptional and thoughtful writer who should not be missed if you revel in horror.
A big thank you to Mike Thorn for providing Horrorbound.net with an ARC for review. Be sure to pick up your copy on October 29th, 2021!
Peeling back each page and devouring the contents of every story, I felt that a world of Hell, death, and mental illness was revealed to me. This collection is dark and often bleak, with nods to H.P. Lovecraft, Clive Barker, and Bret Easton Ellis. Many of these stories would be visually terrifying and perfectly at home in a "Masters of Horror" or "Creepshow" episode, especially "Havoc," "Mr. Mucata's Final Requests," and "Vomitus Bacchanalius."
Stories like "Deprimer" and "The Voiding" were telling of Mike Thorn's ability to expel insecurities and any sense of imposter syndrome through twisted writing. I liked these ones the best because I felt like they may have been cathartic for Thorn, and they were also cathartic for me as a reader. I loved the idea of being able to remove the little scared and ever-doubting voice in my head that works to keep me down ("Deprimer"). I loved "The Voiding," about an institution claiming to be elite and always able to turn out best-selling authors, and Thorn's take on the price one might pay for such exacting results.
I appreciated the Author's Notes on each story at the end. Every collection should have one of these, as it provides insight into the author's creative process and connections that enhance the reader's experience.
Mike Thorn knows what is scary, disturbing, and emotionally scarring. He brings it all to the table in a way that is uniquely his. I found a few stories in this book to be a bit less memorable than others, but this author is an exceptional and thoughtful writer who should not be missed if you revel in horror.
A big thank you to Mike Thorn for providing Horrorbound.net with an ARC for review. Be sure to pick up your copy on October 29th, 2021!
April 4, 2024
Really excellent short story collection. Some of these weird tales burn a little brighter and weirder than others but on the whole, it offers a very intriguing glimpse into Thorn’s obsessions and influences. Not only are Edgar Allan Poe, Jim Thompson, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft all over this thing but so is the out-there philosophizing of Georges Bataille. Feels like a great primer for anyone looking to get into contemporary genre fiction that’s still willing to challenge and confront, rather than pander.
October 29, 2021
Havoc - At first I wasn't sure how to feel about this story. Then, in a way, I felt attacked, having seen some of the more disturbing human acts as a way to minimize the darkness in my own head. Searching for a way to make things make sense while knowing that they probably never will. This one will have me thinking for a while. 🤳🤳🤳🤳. 5/5 doom scrolling hands
Mini McDonagh Manor - Two stories in and this collection keeps me guessing. This one felt like it could very easily be adapted into a Twilight Zone episode. Things are definitely getting weird and in a good way. 🏠🏠🏠🏠/5 childhood homes
Mr. Mucata's Final Requests - I liked how this story took something as mundane as a caretaker fulfilling the wishes of a dying man and turned it into something far more sinister with a supernatural twist. 👹👹👹👹/5 faces of the devil
@GorgoYama2013 - Stranger danger is a tough field to navigate in the world of the internet. You can be anybody you want to online, quite literally. This story took yet another unexpected turn that I should have at least anticipated. 🧠🧠🧠🧠.5/5 sentient brains
Dreams of Lake Drukka - I'm always a sucker for a lake setting because I grew up around a lake and have lived within minutes of it for a vast majority of my life. I really liked the grief aspect of this story and the attempting to heal strained family bonds. The ending lost me a little but still a solid 🔗🔗🔗.5/5 strong family bonds for this one
Exhumation - I've finally anticipated the unexpected with this one. It seemed pretty straightforward but I knew there would be some weirdness and it delivered. That weirdness took this story to a whole other, much more disturbing level. 🦴🦴🦴🦴.5/5 smoked bones
Vomitus Bacchanalius - I knew immediately that this one was going to be wild just by the title. It did not disappoint. Gross, gruesome, completely wild. I am without words and not at all hungry right now! 🍲🍲🍲🍲🍲/5 steaming bowls of lagno
The Finger Collectors - This story had me enthralled the entire time. I needed to know the purpose behind the finger collecting and now that I'm finished I need to know more about the mysterious Winter family. 🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕/5 pristine middle fingers (in the best possible way)
This is the World - Fast paced and brutal, this story hit on multiple levels for me. I loved the gruesome picture created of Uncle Joey and I felt for Jess who never really stood a chance. ✝️✝️✝️✝️/5 glowing crosses
Deprimer - Fuck depression and anxiety. That's one way to beat them, fuck them into oblivion. This was a new take about deep topic and the lengths that we are willing to go in order to escape our demons 👿👿👿.5/5 inner demons
Offer to the Adversary - The art world is cutthroat, sometimes quite literally. I enjoyed the visuals that we got with this story along with a descent into madness. 🖼🖼🖼🖼/5 masterpieces
The Furnace Room Mutant - I could totally see this story adapted for the screen by Troma. From the older punk gang to the shady teacher and the trapped mutant that lives in the school. A fun read. 🗝🗝🗝.5/5 stolen keys
Virus - This story took me back to college and my music/movie downloading days. We're talking the time of Napster and Limewire. Sometimes you downloaded a file and got something that you were not prepared for. This one had me hooked from beginning to end. 💾💾💾💾.5/5 floppy disks
The Voiding - Now I'm not as much of a writer as a lot of other people on here. That being said, I felt the pressure of the consequences in this story. Write or be punished, every procrastinator's nightmare. ✒✒✒✒✒/5 torturous writing implements
Entropy Major - A future where the worst of the worst criminals are taken into space and jettisoned to live out their days in limbo. This sounds pretty brutal but also brings up the debate, did they deserve that fate? In space nobody can hear you scream 👨🚀👨🚀👨🚀👨🚀.5/ unwilling astronauts
Fade to White - This story felt fitting for the end of this collection. It is one of quiet despair and finality. In a way I can identify with the main character. This felt like horror of the human spirit which many times is most haunting. 🚬🚬🚬🚬🚬/5 chainsmoked cigarettes
Overall this was a very fun, wild collection. Each story I didn't know what to expect and for the most part they went directions that I never anticipated. I will definitely be reading more by Mike Thorn in the future. My overall rating is 🪦🪦🪦🪦.3/5 headstones. Why headstones? Because my brain can't think of something better
Mini McDonagh Manor - Two stories in and this collection keeps me guessing. This one felt like it could very easily be adapted into a Twilight Zone episode. Things are definitely getting weird and in a good way. 🏠🏠🏠🏠/5 childhood homes
Mr. Mucata's Final Requests - I liked how this story took something as mundane as a caretaker fulfilling the wishes of a dying man and turned it into something far more sinister with a supernatural twist. 👹👹👹👹/5 faces of the devil
@GorgoYama2013 - Stranger danger is a tough field to navigate in the world of the internet. You can be anybody you want to online, quite literally. This story took yet another unexpected turn that I should have at least anticipated. 🧠🧠🧠🧠.5/5 sentient brains
Dreams of Lake Drukka - I'm always a sucker for a lake setting because I grew up around a lake and have lived within minutes of it for a vast majority of my life. I really liked the grief aspect of this story and the attempting to heal strained family bonds. The ending lost me a little but still a solid 🔗🔗🔗.5/5 strong family bonds for this one
Exhumation - I've finally anticipated the unexpected with this one. It seemed pretty straightforward but I knew there would be some weirdness and it delivered. That weirdness took this story to a whole other, much more disturbing level. 🦴🦴🦴🦴.5/5 smoked bones
Vomitus Bacchanalius - I knew immediately that this one was going to be wild just by the title. It did not disappoint. Gross, gruesome, completely wild. I am without words and not at all hungry right now! 🍲🍲🍲🍲🍲/5 steaming bowls of lagno
The Finger Collectors - This story had me enthralled the entire time. I needed to know the purpose behind the finger collecting and now that I'm finished I need to know more about the mysterious Winter family. 🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕/5 pristine middle fingers (in the best possible way)
This is the World - Fast paced and brutal, this story hit on multiple levels for me. I loved the gruesome picture created of Uncle Joey and I felt for Jess who never really stood a chance. ✝️✝️✝️✝️/5 glowing crosses
Deprimer - Fuck depression and anxiety. That's one way to beat them, fuck them into oblivion. This was a new take about deep topic and the lengths that we are willing to go in order to escape our demons 👿👿👿.5/5 inner demons
Offer to the Adversary - The art world is cutthroat, sometimes quite literally. I enjoyed the visuals that we got with this story along with a descent into madness. 🖼🖼🖼🖼/5 masterpieces
The Furnace Room Mutant - I could totally see this story adapted for the screen by Troma. From the older punk gang to the shady teacher and the trapped mutant that lives in the school. A fun read. 🗝🗝🗝.5/5 stolen keys
Virus - This story took me back to college and my music/movie downloading days. We're talking the time of Napster and Limewire. Sometimes you downloaded a file and got something that you were not prepared for. This one had me hooked from beginning to end. 💾💾💾💾.5/5 floppy disks
The Voiding - Now I'm not as much of a writer as a lot of other people on here. That being said, I felt the pressure of the consequences in this story. Write or be punished, every procrastinator's nightmare. ✒✒✒✒✒/5 torturous writing implements
Entropy Major - A future where the worst of the worst criminals are taken into space and jettisoned to live out their days in limbo. This sounds pretty brutal but also brings up the debate, did they deserve that fate? In space nobody can hear you scream 👨🚀👨🚀👨🚀👨🚀.5/ unwilling astronauts
Fade to White - This story felt fitting for the end of this collection. It is one of quiet despair and finality. In a way I can identify with the main character. This felt like horror of the human spirit which many times is most haunting. 🚬🚬🚬🚬🚬/5 chainsmoked cigarettes
Overall this was a very fun, wild collection. Each story I didn't know what to expect and for the most part they went directions that I never anticipated. I will definitely be reading more by Mike Thorn in the future. My overall rating is 🪦🪦🪦🪦.3/5 headstones. Why headstones? Because my brain can't think of something better
October 26, 2021
Be warned: unlike most traditional horror, this latest collection from rising horror star Mike Thorn will make you feel less at home with yourself and your world. And the feeling may be permanent. That’s not some blurbic exaggeration or nifty hook. It’s the truth.
As the title of this amazing collection winkingly implies, horror has traditionally had a psychoanalytic element, in that horror tropes and narrative forms generally provoke a kind of catharsis: peel back and see what’s underneath—the hidden, the unrevealed, the unconscious, the repressed, the Shadow—and be the wiser, or at least the more functional, for it. Even the casual reader of Stephen King will see this element in operation. You encounter the Underworld, then return home the sadder and wiser for it, temporarily purged of your pent-up and neurotic resistance to the world’s darker elements. A novel like IT is a more visceral version of the classic hero’s journey.
But almost every tale in PEEL BACK AND SEE partakes less of that mythic tradition, and more of the profoundly dire traditions of Lovecraft and—as the epigrams serve notice—the pessimistic legacy of thinkers like Schopenhauer and Baudelaire.
The results are deeply and genuinely unsettling. The trip that Thorn offers into the unconscious—the “Black Lagoon”—yields not catharsis or knowledge, but their opposites. The sly and bleak paradox of this collection is that it serves up not insight, but the disintegration of insight: it shows you that no particular rewards will come of encountering its fresh hells, unless permanent doubts and terrors can be considered rewards, unless an abiding suspicion that there was nothing to peel back in the first place counts as knowledge.
If there is any noetic insight at all that awaits the reader in PEEL BACK AND SEE, it is the knowledge that the home you have departed for these underworlds was itself already an underworld. There is no return from these night journeys, because there was no foreign landscape to begin with, only the delusion of some veil between worlds. When that delusion crumbles, the result is not some new map to help you navigate. The result is a plunge into a dread you didn’t know existed. You ready for that, Dear Reader?
This is all meant as profound congratulation. Not much horror can really get under your skin any more. But this collection bites deep, in that it truly distresses your everyday assumptions, including your assumptions about what stories can do.
None of this is to say that PEEL BACK AND SEE is exclusively about terrifying noumena infecting all experience. These stories also engage real, phenomenal issues. Here you'll find unflinching glimpses of trauma, addiction, abuse, depression, and every French disease of the soul. Here you’ll encounter the collapse of joy, wonder, and awe. Here you’ll be exposed to “unfeeling biological forces” that control us from beyond our horizons of perception, and “laughable masks” that cover our dread. “This is the World”—the title of the collection’s centrepiece and thematic centre of gravity—spells it out: this is the world. Get used to it.
These stories all follow the same trajectory—down—but range across an astonishing range of topics beyond the usual repertoire. There is certainly enough familiarity here to please traditional horror fans, including the supernatural, the suicidal, the funereal, the satanic. Every story punches out the cinematic body horror Thorn is known for. But there is also public masturbation, pornography, cam girls, social media, hallucinations, psychologists, and—frequently—the hellscapes of rural and urban Alberta. Alberta has always deserved its own horror maestro. PEEL BACK AND SEE also contains, here and there, a kind of grim and absurdist humour (the title of “The Finger Collectors” is a great example).
Thorn’s singular range and expansive repertoire are also demonstrated by the sheer variety of generic tropes that are invoked, twisted, mashed up, and otherwise crushed and blended in PEEL BACK AND SEE. There’s a bit of everything here, sometimes within the same story, to almost every taste: science fiction, young adult, fantasy, the doppleganger story, the Faustian bargain, even the high school drama (the mashup of horror and high school is turning out to be a Thorn specialty, as readers of his novel Shelter for the Damned know). “The Finger Collectors,” already mentioned, is an unholy combination of Stephen King, Charles Dickens, and John Cheever. Don’t take my word for it.
By the time you reach “Fade to White,” perhaps the most disenchanting tale of all, you might have imbibed more horror than you bargained for. The Author’s Notes at the end might ground you a bit, like the clown who calms the kids at the exit to the haunted mansion. That clown might peel back the curtain, do a little Wizard of Oz. But the clown may also be too late. As King showed us in IT, the clown may be worse than the monsters.
At any rate, the horror of PEEL BACK AND SEE may seep into your waking world, your everyday life beyond the pages. The warning is genuine. But if you choose to ignore all warnings, welcome to the universe of Mike Thorn. Once you’ve been here, it’s doubtful you can ever leave.
As the title of this amazing collection winkingly implies, horror has traditionally had a psychoanalytic element, in that horror tropes and narrative forms generally provoke a kind of catharsis: peel back and see what’s underneath—the hidden, the unrevealed, the unconscious, the repressed, the Shadow—and be the wiser, or at least the more functional, for it. Even the casual reader of Stephen King will see this element in operation. You encounter the Underworld, then return home the sadder and wiser for it, temporarily purged of your pent-up and neurotic resistance to the world’s darker elements. A novel like IT is a more visceral version of the classic hero’s journey.
But almost every tale in PEEL BACK AND SEE partakes less of that mythic tradition, and more of the profoundly dire traditions of Lovecraft and—as the epigrams serve notice—the pessimistic legacy of thinkers like Schopenhauer and Baudelaire.
The results are deeply and genuinely unsettling. The trip that Thorn offers into the unconscious—the “Black Lagoon”—yields not catharsis or knowledge, but their opposites. The sly and bleak paradox of this collection is that it serves up not insight, but the disintegration of insight: it shows you that no particular rewards will come of encountering its fresh hells, unless permanent doubts and terrors can be considered rewards, unless an abiding suspicion that there was nothing to peel back in the first place counts as knowledge.
If there is any noetic insight at all that awaits the reader in PEEL BACK AND SEE, it is the knowledge that the home you have departed for these underworlds was itself already an underworld. There is no return from these night journeys, because there was no foreign landscape to begin with, only the delusion of some veil between worlds. When that delusion crumbles, the result is not some new map to help you navigate. The result is a plunge into a dread you didn’t know existed. You ready for that, Dear Reader?
This is all meant as profound congratulation. Not much horror can really get under your skin any more. But this collection bites deep, in that it truly distresses your everyday assumptions, including your assumptions about what stories can do.
None of this is to say that PEEL BACK AND SEE is exclusively about terrifying noumena infecting all experience. These stories also engage real, phenomenal issues. Here you'll find unflinching glimpses of trauma, addiction, abuse, depression, and every French disease of the soul. Here you’ll encounter the collapse of joy, wonder, and awe. Here you’ll be exposed to “unfeeling biological forces” that control us from beyond our horizons of perception, and “laughable masks” that cover our dread. “This is the World”—the title of the collection’s centrepiece and thematic centre of gravity—spells it out: this is the world. Get used to it.
These stories all follow the same trajectory—down—but range across an astonishing range of topics beyond the usual repertoire. There is certainly enough familiarity here to please traditional horror fans, including the supernatural, the suicidal, the funereal, the satanic. Every story punches out the cinematic body horror Thorn is known for. But there is also public masturbation, pornography, cam girls, social media, hallucinations, psychologists, and—frequently—the hellscapes of rural and urban Alberta. Alberta has always deserved its own horror maestro. PEEL BACK AND SEE also contains, here and there, a kind of grim and absurdist humour (the title of “The Finger Collectors” is a great example).
Thorn’s singular range and expansive repertoire are also demonstrated by the sheer variety of generic tropes that are invoked, twisted, mashed up, and otherwise crushed and blended in PEEL BACK AND SEE. There’s a bit of everything here, sometimes within the same story, to almost every taste: science fiction, young adult, fantasy, the doppleganger story, the Faustian bargain, even the high school drama (the mashup of horror and high school is turning out to be a Thorn specialty, as readers of his novel Shelter for the Damned know). “The Finger Collectors,” already mentioned, is an unholy combination of Stephen King, Charles Dickens, and John Cheever. Don’t take my word for it.
By the time you reach “Fade to White,” perhaps the most disenchanting tale of all, you might have imbibed more horror than you bargained for. The Author’s Notes at the end might ground you a bit, like the clown who calms the kids at the exit to the haunted mansion. That clown might peel back the curtain, do a little Wizard of Oz. But the clown may also be too late. As King showed us in IT, the clown may be worse than the monsters.
At any rate, the horror of PEEL BACK AND SEE may seep into your waking world, your everyday life beyond the pages. The warning is genuine. But if you choose to ignore all warnings, welcome to the universe of Mike Thorn. Once you’ve been here, it’s doubtful you can ever leave.
July 20, 2022
I read Darkest Hours about a year ago and was seriously impressed by it.. Peel Back and See might be even better. There are some truly great stories in this collection, and while not every story will work for every person (and you might not want to eat before reading some of these), I found myself enjoying most of them even more than I expected.
My favorites include "Mini McDonagh Manor." In this story, after her mother's death, Julie builds a replica of her childhood home, before ultimately deciding to go home and visit the real thing for the first time in years. She believes something sinister lurks there and wants to find out once and for all what it is. This is the most legitimately creepy story in the whole collection and gave me actual chills. If you like this one, make sure you also don't miss out on "Dreams of Lake Drukka," which could easily be a companion piece to "Manor."
Another standout is "Deprimer," which along with the book's closer, "Fade to White," features some of the most spot on descriptions of depression I've ever read. Take this quote for example,
That was the thing with depression...for Vincent it was not some brutal, fiery affect that left him sobbing and pulling out his hair. Most days, it was a kind of deadly nothingness. A boredom so complete that it crushed out the surrounding world. These days even getting up for work had become a seismic effort, so excruciating you might as well have asked him to bungee-jump out his bedroom window at seven in the morning.
As someone who has faced constant battles with depression, that passage speaks right to my experiences with the disease.
"Offer to the Adversary," a tale of art powerful enough to alter the fabric of one woman's reality, was originally published in 2021's Beyond the Book of Eibon, a book of stories inspired by the work of Lucio Fulci, who is one of my all time favorite directors. "Adversary" was one of my favorites in that collection, just as it is in this one.
My final favorite is "The Furnace Room Mutant," a fun, escapist tale that ends up on a surprisingly upbeat note and warmed my heart. As Thorn acknowledges in his Author's Notes, many of the stories in this collection are on the pessimistic side, and "Mutant" is a bright spot amidst that darkness.
Fans of Thorn's first collection should absolutely check out Peel Back and See. While his first collection was great fun, this one shows his growth as a writer, and I feel like a lot of these stories are going to stick with me for a long time. If you haven't read Thorn's work this is the perfect place to jump on. I can't wait to read what he writes next.
My favorites include "Mini McDonagh Manor." In this story, after her mother's death, Julie builds a replica of her childhood home, before ultimately deciding to go home and visit the real thing for the first time in years. She believes something sinister lurks there and wants to find out once and for all what it is. This is the most legitimately creepy story in the whole collection and gave me actual chills. If you like this one, make sure you also don't miss out on "Dreams of Lake Drukka," which could easily be a companion piece to "Manor."
Another standout is "Deprimer," which along with the book's closer, "Fade to White," features some of the most spot on descriptions of depression I've ever read. Take this quote for example,
That was the thing with depression...for Vincent it was not some brutal, fiery affect that left him sobbing and pulling out his hair. Most days, it was a kind of deadly nothingness. A boredom so complete that it crushed out the surrounding world. These days even getting up for work had become a seismic effort, so excruciating you might as well have asked him to bungee-jump out his bedroom window at seven in the morning.
As someone who has faced constant battles with depression, that passage speaks right to my experiences with the disease.
"Offer to the Adversary," a tale of art powerful enough to alter the fabric of one woman's reality, was originally published in 2021's Beyond the Book of Eibon, a book of stories inspired by the work of Lucio Fulci, who is one of my all time favorite directors. "Adversary" was one of my favorites in that collection, just as it is in this one.
My final favorite is "The Furnace Room Mutant," a fun, escapist tale that ends up on a surprisingly upbeat note and warmed my heart. As Thorn acknowledges in his Author's Notes, many of the stories in this collection are on the pessimistic side, and "Mutant" is a bright spot amidst that darkness.
Fans of Thorn's first collection should absolutely check out Peel Back and See. While his first collection was great fun, this one shows his growth as a writer, and I feel like a lot of these stories are going to stick with me for a long time. If you haven't read Thorn's work this is the perfect place to jump on. I can't wait to read what he writes next.
October 27, 2021
(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique)
Peel Back and See is a collection of sixteen (16) short stories that are heavy on unforgettable encounters with hungry creatures, blood and gore, fear, Satan, and (weirdly enough) sexual arousal.
Some stories stuck with me more than others. Below are my top five (5).
1.) Mr. Mucata’s Final Requests: Everyone knows you don’t try to double-cross Satan. I mean, come on, don’t even try. Deals with him are also a bad idea. Seriously, the worst possible choice a person can make. If you believe in the devil, demons, and hell, say NO to anything offered. Period!
2.) @GorgoYama2013: We’re raised to know you NEVER go into a stranger’s car. Horror movies have ingrained in us to NEVER go into a strange basement, especially alone. Victor broke all the rules. What he met could best be described as a horrific version of Krang (the brain) from TMNT. If you don’t know who I am talking about, look him up!
3.) Vomitus Bacchanalius: Okay, people are vomiting. Aliens are eating the regurgitated food. There are goo-faced men. Ugh, this story was gross, BUT good! I loved the nod to Gordon Ramsay too. 🙂
4.) The Furnace Room Mutant: This story stood out more because you’d think an unnatural being would be the monster in the story. I like it when authors step out from the paranormal norm. 🙂
5.) Havoc: This was the first story in the collection, and it made me close my laptop and take one giant step back from it. Read the story, and you’ll understand why. There was only one part I wasn’t too keen on — a flashback scene between student and teacher. I don’t want to divulge too much, but it made my score drop from a five to a four. (for this story only, not the overall score of the anthology)
In Peel Back and See, thirteen of the sixteen stories scored three and above. That’s impressive! I encourage others to read the collection and see which story has you cowering under the covers.
(Find more reviews/ratings at www.superkambrook.com)
November 1, 2021
I'm on a roll with short stories lately, and he's another collection with several I enjoyed.
If you like your fiction dark and disturbing this is for you.
My favorites were Mini McDonagh Manor that shows us you can't go home again, or maybe it's just safer if you stay away!
Mr. Murcata's Final Requests, is about the assistant of a dying man who does her best to fulfill his strange demands... until she makes an interesting discovery. @GorgoYama will make you think twice about those lovely friends you've connected with online. Wouldn't it be nice to meet them in person? Take this story as a warning before you do. In Dreams of Lake Drukka, a daughter is alienated from her father after her mother's death. She and her reluctant sister take a road trip and discover a dangerous truth. In Exhumation, a man arrives at his cousin's funeral to find something otherworldly waiting to welcome him home. The Finger Collectors is a job title, it pays well as long as you don't ask questions. This was such a bizarre story it's hard to describe but I loved it.
The Furnace Room Mutant is something some high schoolers are just dying to see, but they should not have tricked their school mate into getting that key.
Virus is more than something that can mess up your computer and could be viewed as a cautionary tale before you click on any untrusted download links.
These were my favorites, yours may be different, you'll never know unless you peel back and see.
4 out of 5 stars
I received a digital copy from the author under no obligation to write a review.
All of my reviews are posted at https://wellwortharead.blogspot.com/
If you like your fiction dark and disturbing this is for you.
My favorites were Mini McDonagh Manor that shows us you can't go home again, or maybe it's just safer if you stay away!
Mr. Murcata's Final Requests, is about the assistant of a dying man who does her best to fulfill his strange demands... until she makes an interesting discovery. @GorgoYama will make you think twice about those lovely friends you've connected with online. Wouldn't it be nice to meet them in person? Take this story as a warning before you do. In Dreams of Lake Drukka, a daughter is alienated from her father after her mother's death. She and her reluctant sister take a road trip and discover a dangerous truth. In Exhumation, a man arrives at his cousin's funeral to find something otherworldly waiting to welcome him home. The Finger Collectors is a job title, it pays well as long as you don't ask questions. This was such a bizarre story it's hard to describe but I loved it.
The Furnace Room Mutant is something some high schoolers are just dying to see, but they should not have tricked their school mate into getting that key.
Virus is more than something that can mess up your computer and could be viewed as a cautionary tale before you click on any untrusted download links.
These were my favorites, yours may be different, you'll never know unless you peel back and see.
4 out of 5 stars
I received a digital copy from the author under no obligation to write a review.
All of my reviews are posted at https://wellwortharead.blogspot.com/
November 28, 2021
Like his spectacular collection 'Darkest Hours' this collection offers a bunch of horror short stories from many different subgenres.
Although not every story in 'Peel Back and See' was a hit for me (but to be honest, is there any collection or anthology out there with only perfect stories?), most of the stories were great, some of them so uniquely disturbing ('Havoc', 'Virus') that their imagery hadn't left me long after reading. Not to mention 'Vomitus Bacchanalius' - which hit as hard as 'A New Kind of Drug' had hit me in the earlier collection.
All in all, although I'd not give every single story a full rating, the collection as a whole is so good that it deserves five stars.
Highly recommended!
p.s.: Is there a Mike Thorn fanclub? I'm all in. Where can i sign?
Although not every story in 'Peel Back and See' was a hit for me (but to be honest, is there any collection or anthology out there with only perfect stories?), most of the stories were great, some of them so uniquely disturbing ('Havoc', 'Virus') that their imagery hadn't left me long after reading. Not to mention 'Vomitus Bacchanalius' - which hit as hard as 'A New Kind of Drug' had hit me in the earlier collection.
All in all, although I'd not give every single story a full rating, the collection as a whole is so good that it deserves five stars.
Highly recommended!
p.s.: Is there a Mike Thorn fanclub? I'm all in. Where can i sign?
September 21, 2021
Mike Thorn is a talented author who can weave words together beautifully into chilling prose.
Each story in this collection, Peel Back and See, is a creative gem. The author has a brilliant imagination, and an amazing ability to pull from his own experiences and emotion. The stories he has written are infused with the scariest of horror - raw human fear.
This collection is a must read for any horror lover who appreciates bloody good writing.
Each story in this collection, Peel Back and See, is a creative gem. The author has a brilliant imagination, and an amazing ability to pull from his own experiences and emotion. The stories he has written are infused with the scariest of horror - raw human fear.
This collection is a must read for any horror lover who appreciates bloody good writing.
October 15, 2021
Intensely personal and expertly crafted, Mike Thorn's second collection showcases everything from thought-provoking literary malaise to gleeful pulp - sometimes within the same story. It's an exercise in despair told with reckless, loving abandon, refusing all labels and never failing to entertain. In Thorn we're witnessing the machinery of an uncontainable imagination, one with the talent and gravity to back it up. Don't miss out.
October 24, 2021
Thank you to the author for providing a copy for review.
Overall
Mike Thorn's new collection of short stories is dark, melancholy, and downright depraved at times. Every story was excellent and varied. Some stories had gothic elements, and others had science fiction elements and technologies. Some of these stories will leave you wondering what is real, and what is imagined. These stories tackle anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, loss, and treatment of different classes.
Individual Stories
Havok- 4 stars- Unknown world with nightmarish creatures live feed on the internet. A great use of technology to create a obsessive dread that is very effective.
Mini McDonagh Manor- 5 stars- A grief stricken woman becomes obsessed with her childhood home. Gothic elements add a certain ambiance to this story.
Mr. Mucata's Final Requests- 5 stars- An overbearing boss leaves the strangest list of final requests for his employee in his final days. I loved the use of white and dark magic in this one.
@GORGOYAMA2013-5 stars- A musician meets his biggest online fan. This one tackles the trepidation and dangers of meeting online friends IRL.
Dreams of Lake Drukka-5 stars- Sisters go to a lake after a dream of their mother's death. Loss and familial strain are heavy themes in this one.
Exhumation- 3 stars- This story built a good sense of grief and dread, but I was left wondering what exactly was going on.
Vomitus Bacchanalus- 4 stars- The ultimate excess and debauchery story that takes a look at treatment of classes. This one has science fiction elements and it is really disgusting. In a good way!
The Finger Collectors-5 stars- A couple offers shelter to the desperate for a high price.
This is the World-5 stars- Nightmare educing metaphor for the nature of the world.
Deprimer-5 stars- Dark journey to beat your demons. Deals with anxiety and depression.
Offer to the Adversary-5 stars- An art scholar becomes obsessed with a horrifying picture.
The Furnace Room Mutant-5 stars- Coming of age tale involving high school boys and a local legend.
Virus- 5 stars- Teenage girls torrent a very trippy video.
The Voiding-5 stars- What does it cost to make it big in writing?
Entropy Major-5 stars- Another great story with science fiction elements about a prisoner in space.
Fade to White-4 stars- A man is suicidal after his marriage ends.
I highly recommend this collection for those that like the dark side of literature. The stories were all very well written and entertaining.
My average rating for the stories is 4.68 stars out of 5
Overall
Mike Thorn's new collection of short stories is dark, melancholy, and downright depraved at times. Every story was excellent and varied. Some stories had gothic elements, and others had science fiction elements and technologies. Some of these stories will leave you wondering what is real, and what is imagined. These stories tackle anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, loss, and treatment of different classes.
Individual Stories
Havok- 4 stars- Unknown world with nightmarish creatures live feed on the internet. A great use of technology to create a obsessive dread that is very effective.
Mini McDonagh Manor- 5 stars- A grief stricken woman becomes obsessed with her childhood home. Gothic elements add a certain ambiance to this story.
Mr. Mucata's Final Requests- 5 stars- An overbearing boss leaves the strangest list of final requests for his employee in his final days. I loved the use of white and dark magic in this one.
@GORGOYAMA2013-5 stars- A musician meets his biggest online fan. This one tackles the trepidation and dangers of meeting online friends IRL.
Dreams of Lake Drukka-5 stars- Sisters go to a lake after a dream of their mother's death. Loss and familial strain are heavy themes in this one.
Exhumation- 3 stars- This story built a good sense of grief and dread, but I was left wondering what exactly was going on.
Vomitus Bacchanalus- 4 stars- The ultimate excess and debauchery story that takes a look at treatment of classes. This one has science fiction elements and it is really disgusting. In a good way!
The Finger Collectors-5 stars- A couple offers shelter to the desperate for a high price.
This is the World-5 stars- Nightmare educing metaphor for the nature of the world.
Deprimer-5 stars- Dark journey to beat your demons. Deals with anxiety and depression.
Offer to the Adversary-5 stars- An art scholar becomes obsessed with a horrifying picture.
The Furnace Room Mutant-5 stars- Coming of age tale involving high school boys and a local legend.
Virus- 5 stars- Teenage girls torrent a very trippy video.
The Voiding-5 stars- What does it cost to make it big in writing?
Entropy Major-5 stars- Another great story with science fiction elements about a prisoner in space.
Fade to White-4 stars- A man is suicidal after his marriage ends.
I highly recommend this collection for those that like the dark side of literature. The stories were all very well written and entertaining.
My average rating for the stories is 4.68 stars out of 5
March 13, 2022
Mike Thorn’s short story collection Peel Back and See was at times a difficult read. I don’t mean this in terms of style or content. In fact, the stories showcase the author developing his willingness to take risks playing with genre and tone which I really enjoyed seeing. Yet, the stories are all steeped in a dystopian uneasiness which, despite Canada being a different cultural context, feel current, resonant, and universal. Many of the themes deal with loss, estrangement, abuse, depression, and an existential numbness I feel even the most optimistic of us can relate to with everything that’s happened over the past few years.
Thorn’s work always has a profound understanding of the tenuous nature of relationships, whether romantic, platonic, or simply convenient but the ones I find the most personally resonant deal with family relationships strained by the characters essentially having experienced separate childhoods—despite growing up in the same house. While I was reading this collection, I was forced to think a lot about how the differing perspective of my brother would have played out after the deterioration and death of my parents if he had lived, so I related to how inheritance of both assets and familial legacies of abuse were dealt with in the stories 'Mini McDonagh Manor' and 'Dreams of Lake Drukka.'
Other favorites were the cosmically unhinged treatment of elitist class abuse and hedonism: 'Vomitus Bacchanalius,' the Dark Academia, Gothic tale of occult obsession: 'Offer to the Adversary,'and the sci fi tale dealing with the horror of absolutist attitudes and unyieldingly rigid moralism: 'Entropy Major.' Oh, and 'Virus' is a fun jolt of cosmic horror mixed with the nostalgia of perusing unfamiliar (yet oddly autumnal adjacent) horror VHS box art and those niche sci fi stories dealing with VR gaming born from the 90s tech boom.
However, my favorite story would have to be 'Havoc.' I was even going to review the book as though submitting a dissatisfied review for a weighted blanket I bought a few years back, complaining the item was nothing like ‘being dragged into an infinite abyss of nothing by an eldritch spider creature.’ This would have included a false product number which would have been a string of ominous and oversized 0s.
Yet, I decided that would be a disservice, as Havoc is only the first in an entire volume of stories which are terrifying, darkly humored, empathetic, often grim, yet ultimately optimistic that in applying different sympathetic lenses to the human condition, we can come to an understanding of others and ourselves we can at least live with.
Sometimes, that’s all you can really hope for.
Thorn’s work always has a profound understanding of the tenuous nature of relationships, whether romantic, platonic, or simply convenient but the ones I find the most personally resonant deal with family relationships strained by the characters essentially having experienced separate childhoods—despite growing up in the same house. While I was reading this collection, I was forced to think a lot about how the differing perspective of my brother would have played out after the deterioration and death of my parents if he had lived, so I related to how inheritance of both assets and familial legacies of abuse were dealt with in the stories 'Mini McDonagh Manor' and 'Dreams of Lake Drukka.'
Other favorites were the cosmically unhinged treatment of elitist class abuse and hedonism: 'Vomitus Bacchanalius,' the Dark Academia, Gothic tale of occult obsession: 'Offer to the Adversary,'and the sci fi tale dealing with the horror of absolutist attitudes and unyieldingly rigid moralism: 'Entropy Major.' Oh, and 'Virus' is a fun jolt of cosmic horror mixed with the nostalgia of perusing unfamiliar (yet oddly autumnal adjacent) horror VHS box art and those niche sci fi stories dealing with VR gaming born from the 90s tech boom.
However, my favorite story would have to be 'Havoc.' I was even going to review the book as though submitting a dissatisfied review for a weighted blanket I bought a few years back, complaining the item was nothing like ‘being dragged into an infinite abyss of nothing by an eldritch spider creature.’ This would have included a false product number which would have been a string of ominous and oversized 0s.
Yet, I decided that would be a disservice, as Havoc is only the first in an entire volume of stories which are terrifying, darkly humored, empathetic, often grim, yet ultimately optimistic that in applying different sympathetic lenses to the human condition, we can come to an understanding of others and ourselves we can at least live with.
Sometimes, that’s all you can really hope for.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2021
I cannot say enough about this book. I can’t pick a favorite story from this collection. I can’t wait for more from this author. He and these stories are just that good.
“Peel Back and See” is a perfect title to encapsulate these 16 stories. In each one, the characters go deeper and deeper into whatever they’ve discovered, uncovered, or searched for. The complex horror of each takes time to come to light. The reader is taken further and further into the inner world of each character’s particular depression, self-destruction, or struggle for answers. The sheer weirdness grows and grows as you read – I’m looking at you, “Vomitus Bacchanalius.”
I also realized as I read that, for each story’s main character, the horror comes only because they went looking. This isn’t a monster-and-slasher kind of horror collection. Nobody’s car breaks down and they’re randomly attacked by some terror from the woods. No masked figure attacks strangers with a chainsaw. These characters go looking for trouble, in one way or another, and find their own doom. Some regret it immediately. Others embrace the darkness.
The horror is also, like the author’s “Shelter for the Damned,” very psychologically driven. While there are indeed gruesome monsters, they are often so terrifying because of how they relate to whatever the characters are personally afraid of. And in the era of COVID, when so many of us have been trapped in our own heads more than usual with only the internet as an escape, stories like “Havoc” and “@GorgoYama2013” as well as “Fade to White” feel a bit closer to home than they might have in the world before. These characters feel isolated from society in a way we might not have understood so well pre-pandemic.
In fact, that was a main thought which I, Lit nerd that I am, kept coming back to – these stories are like a collection Poe might have written if he lived today, like Poe in the era of COVID. The terrors are often spawned by the characters’ own doings. The monster is inside the house, so to speak. Everything happens because of whatever demons these people are already fighting, whether poverty, academic pressure, depression, grief, greed, etc. Because of their internal struggles, they “Peel Back and See” something horrible.
The author’s unique and seemingly effortless mastery of language is a joy to read. Many of the stories will leave you thinking. Many may give you the creeps. One left me forever unable to look at my daughter’s dollhouse the same again. Overall, I’m just in awe of this collection and can’t wait to be horrified by more.
“Peel Back and See” is a perfect title to encapsulate these 16 stories. In each one, the characters go deeper and deeper into whatever they’ve discovered, uncovered, or searched for. The complex horror of each takes time to come to light. The reader is taken further and further into the inner world of each character’s particular depression, self-destruction, or struggle for answers. The sheer weirdness grows and grows as you read – I’m looking at you, “Vomitus Bacchanalius.”
I also realized as I read that, for each story’s main character, the horror comes only because they went looking. This isn’t a monster-and-slasher kind of horror collection. Nobody’s car breaks down and they’re randomly attacked by some terror from the woods. No masked figure attacks strangers with a chainsaw. These characters go looking for trouble, in one way or another, and find their own doom. Some regret it immediately. Others embrace the darkness.
The horror is also, like the author’s “Shelter for the Damned,” very psychologically driven. While there are indeed gruesome monsters, they are often so terrifying because of how they relate to whatever the characters are personally afraid of. And in the era of COVID, when so many of us have been trapped in our own heads more than usual with only the internet as an escape, stories like “Havoc” and “@GorgoYama2013” as well as “Fade to White” feel a bit closer to home than they might have in the world before. These characters feel isolated from society in a way we might not have understood so well pre-pandemic.
In fact, that was a main thought which I, Lit nerd that I am, kept coming back to – these stories are like a collection Poe might have written if he lived today, like Poe in the era of COVID. The terrors are often spawned by the characters’ own doings. The monster is inside the house, so to speak. Everything happens because of whatever demons these people are already fighting, whether poverty, academic pressure, depression, grief, greed, etc. Because of their internal struggles, they “Peel Back and See” something horrible.
The author’s unique and seemingly effortless mastery of language is a joy to read. Many of the stories will leave you thinking. Many may give you the creeps. One left me forever unable to look at my daughter’s dollhouse the same again. Overall, I’m just in awe of this collection and can’t wait to be horrified by more.
October 4, 2021
I am a huge fan of Mike Thorn, I have made it no secret since I read his last collection, Darkest Hours. I love the way he writes: atmospheric, dark and gritty, sinister, and with many notes of hard truth.
Peel Back and See
was exactly that for me, and the author's growth is evident in this later work, too. Pretty wide range of stories in here, many leaning Lovecraftian, some feeling a bit more realistic, and some feeling more like a nightmare-ish fever dream.
It should be noted that the short stories "Exhumation" and "Dreams of Lake Drukka" are also in this, so if you were thinking of reading those two in a Sharp Short Shocks book (like I was!), there's absolutely no need to before reading this!
My favourites were "Mr. Mucata's Final Requests," "The Finger Collectors," and "Entropy Major." But all stories are different enough to stand on their own.
I read this book in only a couple of sittings, I was so enthralled. If you like gruesome and twisted horror but with a "serious" tone & style, or even any fiction with a fancy writing style, you have to read Peel Back and See. Or anything by this author. Anyone who has ever said that horror and literary fiction can't go together, have never read horror like Mike Thorn's.
Thank you to the author himself for an e-ARC of this book. It was given in exchange for an honest review.
It should be noted that the short stories "Exhumation" and "Dreams of Lake Drukka" are also in this, so if you were thinking of reading those two in a Sharp Short Shocks book (like I was!), there's absolutely no need to before reading this!
My favourites were "Mr. Mucata's Final Requests," "The Finger Collectors," and "Entropy Major." But all stories are different enough to stand on their own.
I read this book in only a couple of sittings, I was so enthralled. If you like gruesome and twisted horror but with a "serious" tone & style, or even any fiction with a fancy writing style, you have to read Peel Back and See. Or anything by this author. Anyone who has ever said that horror and literary fiction can't go together, have never read horror like Mike Thorn's.
Thank you to the author himself for an e-ARC of this book. It was given in exchange for an honest review.
December 26, 2021
The author provided me with a free e-book advanced reading copy of this collection of short stories, but this is an honest review.
This was the second short story collection by Mike Thorn that I read, after having finished Darkest Hours Expanded Edition this summer. I really enjoyed Peel Back and See, which is full of strange situations and creatures. Mike Thorn once again used vivid descriptions with great imagery that make me feel like I was right there in the scenes of the stories. I refer to his writing as being cinematic in scope.
My only nitpicking complaint is that the previous book I read by him had author notes at the end of each story, which really enhanced the reading experience by knowing his inspirations and thoughts behind writing them. This collection included notes, but the publisher put them all at the back of the book so you would have to flip back there to see them each time (and I was reading this on my e-reader without easily linked jumps back and forth). It's not a big issue. I just liked it more the way it was done in Darkest Hours.
I recommend this collection for fans of horror, especially the gross and weird stuff.
This was the second short story collection by Mike Thorn that I read, after having finished Darkest Hours Expanded Edition this summer. I really enjoyed Peel Back and See, which is full of strange situations and creatures. Mike Thorn once again used vivid descriptions with great imagery that make me feel like I was right there in the scenes of the stories. I refer to his writing as being cinematic in scope.
My only nitpicking complaint is that the previous book I read by him had author notes at the end of each story, which really enhanced the reading experience by knowing his inspirations and thoughts behind writing them. This collection included notes, but the publisher put them all at the back of the book so you would have to flip back there to see them each time (and I was reading this on my e-reader without easily linked jumps back and forth). It's not a big issue. I just liked it more the way it was done in Darkest Hours.
I recommend this collection for fans of horror, especially the gross and weird stuff.
March 15, 2022
I rated this 3.5 stars. Yet another great, scary and imaginative book by Mike Thorn. Ever since being introduced to him and reading his first novel, Shelter For The Damned, I have become a massive fan of his work. He mostly writes cosmic horror, with other stuff sprinkled throughout.
This is a short story collection and features some of the most dark and creative stories, from basically a every day guy, who happens to be a writer. All of his novels constantly surprise, intrigue and shock me. Because this is a short story collection, unfortunately not all the stories are of the same quality. But the ones I wasn't too bothered about, I still appreciated them.
If your a horror fan, you owe yourself to read Mike's books. His stuff may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I have become a fan of his work and will buy anything he writes. Even romance (please don't Mike lol).
This is a short story collection and features some of the most dark and creative stories, from basically a every day guy, who happens to be a writer. All of his novels constantly surprise, intrigue and shock me. Because this is a short story collection, unfortunately not all the stories are of the same quality. But the ones I wasn't too bothered about, I still appreciated them.
If your a horror fan, you owe yourself to read Mike's books. His stuff may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I have become a fan of his work and will buy anything he writes. Even romance (please don't Mike lol).
September 29, 2021
If you are looking for an eclectic collection of short stories that will creep you out and disgust you, this is for you. On the surface these short stories are a mix of gore, cosmic horror, and suspense, but below that they are discussing real-life dark topics that people struggle with everyday. With a combination of horror elements and Thorn’s dark writing, each of these stories are unsettling in their own way. Of course with a collection of stories I preferred some more than others. Some favorites: The Furnace Room Mutant, Offer to the Adversary, and Entropy Major. (Vomitus Bacchanalius made me physically ill, ha!). Thorn includes author notes for each story at the end of the book which I really appreciated, be sure to check them out!
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January 24, 2022A collection of 16 stories of horror. I really enjoyed this book, but I had to read it in chunks, instead of a couple sittings, which is what I normally do. I like short stories, and I like horror, and these stories gave me an illumination of what you can do with horror. There were some body horror, some cosmic horror, and horror that used technology. (I particularly loved the stories that used social media or the Internet).
(I felt that there were some styles of horror in this book that I had never encountered before, and I don't know how to classify them).
I also liked that some characters were actively depressed. These are visceral stories, and some of them were disturbing. That said, I did enjoy the reading experience and look forward to reading more of Mike's work.
(I felt that there were some styles of horror in this book that I had never encountered before, and I don't know how to classify them).
I also liked that some characters were actively depressed. These are visceral stories, and some of them were disturbing. That said, I did enjoy the reading experience and look forward to reading more of Mike's work.
November 8, 2021
These stories speak so truthfully to the experience of isolation and fear that everyone in the world has been feeling. They're not "about the pandemic" but you can tell that they were written during it. I feel seen and scared at the same time.
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