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26 Brentwood Avenue and Other Tales
"26 Brentwood Avenue and Other Tales" is a comprised of twelve short stories. Within its pages lurk shape shifters, rebels, ghosts, and murderers. Thrills, heartbreak, and mystery await you.
Dear Cousin Felix disappears with a mysterious woman and a beast occupies his ancestral home.
A visitor in the night plaques Lauren Turner and reminds her of the curse her grandmother warned her of.
A magic mirror turns its viewers into victims.
A woman in a white dress soon learns her fate as she stands on the side of an old backroad.
Sweet Gabby tries to save her relationship with Rick, but even he can't compete with a ghost.
Adam and Mary are awoken in the night by an unseen force. Will they both survive until morning?
Mr. Wilson comes out to play on Brentwood Avenue, but soon finds the intriguing Mistine knows the rules to his game.
Lucy and Maybelle try to find their home in the new world, but one of them will need to be sacrificed. Will either sister survive?
When Mark runs away, his best friend needs to choose between the rebellion and the life she has comfortably led.
When Louis vanishes without a trace, Ms. Pratt finds herself immersed in a secret world that could get her killed.
From March's death a new way of life is born on Sweet Street.
A woman sits beside the pond at sunset trying to escape from her past and present as an old friend emerges from the woods.
A young couple works to deal with a shared trauma while holding secrets tight in their Forgiveness Jar.
Dear Cousin Felix disappears with a mysterious woman and a beast occupies his ancestral home.
A visitor in the night plaques Lauren Turner and reminds her of the curse her grandmother warned her of.
A magic mirror turns its viewers into victims.
A woman in a white dress soon learns her fate as she stands on the side of an old backroad.
Sweet Gabby tries to save her relationship with Rick, but even he can't compete with a ghost.
Adam and Mary are awoken in the night by an unseen force. Will they both survive until morning?
Mr. Wilson comes out to play on Brentwood Avenue, but soon finds the intriguing Mistine knows the rules to his game.
Lucy and Maybelle try to find their home in the new world, but one of them will need to be sacrificed. Will either sister survive?
When Mark runs away, his best friend needs to choose between the rebellion and the life she has comfortably led.
When Louis vanishes without a trace, Ms. Pratt finds herself immersed in a secret world that could get her killed.
From March's death a new way of life is born on Sweet Street.
A woman sits beside the pond at sunset trying to escape from her past and present as an old friend emerges from the woods.
A young couple works to deal with a shared trauma while holding secrets tight in their Forgiveness Jar.
141 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 23, 2021
Are you a fan of chilling short reads? If so, you might enjoy Thornley's '26 Brentwood Avenue and Other Tales.' Each story is extremely short, and yet, it has an underlining spooky tale that generally has an ambiguous ending that leaves further questions for the reader.
My favourite by far is the first story 'The Strange Case of Cousin Felix.' The title reminded me of H.P. Lovecraft's 'The Curious Case of Charles Dexter Ward,' which is a favourite horror story of mine and one that haunts me often. Thornley's story is immensely shorter and is told by a somewhat unknown narrative that is a cousin of Felix. In the story we learn about Felix's eccentric ways and his love of entertaining large audiences at his family's estate. One evening, Felix announces to a crowd of people that it should be his last and that very night he suddenly disappears without a trace... or does he? As you can tell I do love a good mystery with an thrilling twist, so this one was right on the button.
Most of the dark tales in this paperback book featured supernatural creatures or objects that verged on the unexplained. For instance, the short story 'Claire's Mirror' reminded me of something from the Twilight Zone or a dark episode of Doctor Who. Random objects or strange people suddenly take on a malicious air when it falls in the hands of this author. Suddenly mirrors become a grave danger, or dark shadows at night can bring the main characters of the story to a tragic end; abandoned houses hold tragic secrets or tarot cards take on a whole new meaning when it falls into the hands of a certain young woman. In short, I enjoyed the first segment of this book titled 'Tales inspired by darkness.' The other two segments belong to a different genre that is devoid of dark, foreboding tales, which resulted in me having less of an interest for the remainder of the book (although the stories were still enjoyable to read).
All in all, the highlight of my weekend was me reading Thornley's short stories, especially the first few spooky tales that were featured at the front of the book. Anything with vampires and werewolves are an easy sell for me. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is a fan of fantasy, mystery or dare I say it... Lovecraftian horror.
My favourite by far is the first story 'The Strange Case of Cousin Felix.' The title reminded me of H.P. Lovecraft's 'The Curious Case of Charles Dexter Ward,' which is a favourite horror story of mine and one that haunts me often. Thornley's story is immensely shorter and is told by a somewhat unknown narrative that is a cousin of Felix. In the story we learn about Felix's eccentric ways and his love of entertaining large audiences at his family's estate. One evening, Felix announces to a crowd of people that it should be his last and that very night he suddenly disappears without a trace... or does he? As you can tell I do love a good mystery with an thrilling twist, so this one was right on the button.
Most of the dark tales in this paperback book featured supernatural creatures or objects that verged on the unexplained. For instance, the short story 'Claire's Mirror' reminded me of something from the Twilight Zone or a dark episode of Doctor Who. Random objects or strange people suddenly take on a malicious air when it falls in the hands of this author. Suddenly mirrors become a grave danger, or dark shadows at night can bring the main characters of the story to a tragic end; abandoned houses hold tragic secrets or tarot cards take on a whole new meaning when it falls into the hands of a certain young woman. In short, I enjoyed the first segment of this book titled 'Tales inspired by darkness.' The other two segments belong to a different genre that is devoid of dark, foreboding tales, which resulted in me having less of an interest for the remainder of the book (although the stories were still enjoyable to read).
All in all, the highlight of my weekend was me reading Thornley's short stories, especially the first few spooky tales that were featured at the front of the book. Anything with vampires and werewolves are an easy sell for me. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is a fan of fantasy, mystery or dare I say it... Lovecraftian horror.
November 9, 2025
GREAT NEW HORROR SHORTS
26 Brentwood Avenue by Katrina Thornley (Such a great name for a horror author, btw.) is a book I randomly found on Kindle Unlimited. I noticed it was short, so I gave it a read, and immediately knew I was onto something special. The words get under your skin. These aren’t just ghost stories; they’re stories about what it means to be alone. And isn’t that what horror is really about: being alone, vulnerable, and realizing too late that you’re in over your head? Katrina writes about loneliness as if it’s a living thing, something that crawls into the corners of your mind and refuses to let go.
Nellie and the Girl in the White Dress is shrouded in mystery, depicting a supernatural fear of the unknown in a foreboding graveyard and leading to a startling realization. Saying more would spoil the ending.
Claire’s Mirror hit me hard. That feeling of gazing at your own reflection and realizing you don’t recognize the person looking back, as it tries to consume you.
And Empty Frames… that one just hurts. It appeared after the “About the Author” section at the end of the book, much like a Marvel post-credits scene. Instead, it was a deconstruction of a relationship set during a snowy romantic getaway where everything goes wrong. An outing meant to bring a longing couple closer together gradually tears them apart.
And finally, I can’t stop thinking about this passage from Our Ash: “The water continued to crash. It was angry. I didn’t blame it for feeling so; it had been polluted and then neglected, left to fix itself even though it was beyond repair.” Damn, that was deeply accusatory and sad. The whole volume is filled with subtly insightful gems like this.
Great job, Katrina! Keep up the outstanding work! - Jeff
26 Brentwood Avenue by Katrina Thornley (Such a great name for a horror author, btw.) is a book I randomly found on Kindle Unlimited. I noticed it was short, so I gave it a read, and immediately knew I was onto something special. The words get under your skin. These aren’t just ghost stories; they’re stories about what it means to be alone. And isn’t that what horror is really about: being alone, vulnerable, and realizing too late that you’re in over your head? Katrina writes about loneliness as if it’s a living thing, something that crawls into the corners of your mind and refuses to let go.
Nellie and the Girl in the White Dress is shrouded in mystery, depicting a supernatural fear of the unknown in a foreboding graveyard and leading to a startling realization. Saying more would spoil the ending.
Claire’s Mirror hit me hard. That feeling of gazing at your own reflection and realizing you don’t recognize the person looking back, as it tries to consume you.
And Empty Frames… that one just hurts. It appeared after the “About the Author” section at the end of the book, much like a Marvel post-credits scene. Instead, it was a deconstruction of a relationship set during a snowy romantic getaway where everything goes wrong. An outing meant to bring a longing couple closer together gradually tears them apart.
And finally, I can’t stop thinking about this passage from Our Ash: “The water continued to crash. It was angry. I didn’t blame it for feeling so; it had been polluted and then neglected, left to fix itself even though it was beyond repair.” Damn, that was deeply accusatory and sad. The whole volume is filled with subtly insightful gems like this.
Great job, Katrina! Keep up the outstanding work! - Jeff
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews