Served Cold: A HorrorTube Anthology

by R. Saint Claire, Steve Donoghue, Cameron Chaney

Twenty-two teeth-chattering tales!
Wrap yourself in your favorite blanket, curl up by a fireside or in a warm bed, and enjoy these tales of sub-zero terror brought to you by some of the many voices of HorrorTube.

Foreword by Steve Donoghue
Karakoncolos by Cameron Chaney
The Rescue by Janine Pipe
Red Albums by Cam Wolfe
Magic in the Hat by Donnie Goodman
Isolation by N.M. Brown
Sweep in the Sidestreet by A.B. Frank
Frostbite by Alfie Tobutt
Black Wood by Marie McWilliams
The Cold Traps by Steve Donoghue
This Grey Winter by Mihalis Georgostathis
Orpheus Descends by Andrew Lyall
Thou by Mers Sumida
The Walk-in by Mike DeFrench
Ensnared by Aphrodite Lee
Cold Crossing by Jacob Peyton
Snow Boy by Ryan Stroud
The Woods and Mister Softee by R. Saint Claire
Revival by Madison Estes
Lake Alice by Michael Taylor
Fractals by D.L. Tillery
Water of Life by Gloria McNeely
Black Solstice by Dane Cobain

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

347 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 11, 2021

About the author

Regina writes adult and young adult fiction, but always with a dark flair. Writing honors include a Watty Award for best horror novel and multiple screenwriting awards, including a Webby Honoree. Regina is also the contributing editor of the bestselling Local Haunts: A HorrorTube Anthology. Find Regina, and her alter-ego Batilda, at her BookTube channel, Regina's Haunted Library, and on her blog RSaintClaire.com.

Reviews

[Jeremy Fee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of stories! Even if it wasn't for charity, I'd still be inclined to give it 4.5/5 stars. I'm impressed by the work here. I wasn't expecting the introduction to be so funny, so that was a delight. I really enjoyed seeing an Autumncrow tale from Cameron Chaney, as well as stories from other favorites of mine: Cam Wolfe, Dane Cobain, Regina St. Claire, Andrew Lyall, etc.

[Nakia's Hideaway · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 out of 5!

This is a great anthology collection for those looking for winter themed short horror stories.
You will get a mix of everything, gothic, paranormal, slasher, cannibalism, creature features, a little of everything.

So, did I enjoy every story in this collection? No.
Did I have some DNF'S? Of course I did.

But I do not enjoy every subgenre of horror so every story was not for me.

But for the ones that I did enjoy I really enjoyed them.

Standouts for me were...

The Rescue by Janine Pipe
Red Albums by Cam Wolfe (haunting & touching)
Magic in the Hat by Donnie Goodman
Cold Crossing by Jacob Peyton
Ensnared by Aphrodite Lee (so fun and probably one of my favorites of the whole collection)

And I also really liked...

Karakoncolos by Cameron Chaney
Sweep in the Sidestreet by A.B. Frank
Fractals by D.L. Tillery


So, for me going forward, I'll probably stick to horror short story collections by one author or ones written in subgenres that I know I like.
But for those of you who love horror and all types of horror then you'll love this collection. And again it's perfect for winter time.

[Patrick Kiernan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Won this fantastic anthology in a giveaway on Regina's haunted library youtube channel. It's well worth a read especially around this time of year

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Served Cold is the latest in a series of AuthorTube/HorrorTube anthologies that have come out, and I’m pleased to say that I yet again had a story in it. Mine actually comes at the end, and I think that works pretty well because it’s kind of comedic and so it’s almost like a palette cleanser after a bunch of hardcore horror.

I enjoyed the vast majority of stories in here, and even in the couple that I didn’t enjoy as much, I was able to appreciate what they were trying to do, even if it wasn’t for me. There were also maybe half a dozen errors that I spotted dotted throughout, and so it might have benefitted from a final round of proofreading.

But then, it’s an indie book, and they don’t have the huge budgets behind them that you get at a major publisher and so that’s forgivable. And to be honest, the quality of the stories themselves is what stands out here, and even though there are always going to be some that work better than the others, it’s a pretty strong collection overall.

I also thought that the theme worked particularly well here, to the point at which if you were reading this and you didn’t know what the theme was, you’d quickly be able to figure it out. In fact, my story was probably the one that tied in with it the least – sorry folks, my bad.

It’s not a perfect anthology, but then I’m not convinced the perfect anthology even exists and I know from my own experience how much work goes into making an anthology happen in the first place. Working with authors is like herding sheep and creating an anthology is a thankless task, doubly so when you’re not even getting paid for it.

Which brings me on to the final reason why you should read this book, and it’s a pretty good one. All of the proceeds go to charity, and so that leaves you reading horror for a good cause. What more could you ask for? Good stuff.

[Joshua Hair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not expecting this short story collection to be so good. I like shorter horror - but lots of stories wind up being sort of spooky or mildly creepy. There were so many good stories in this collection. I DNFed one, and a couple were so-so, but I really liked the majority. I’m def going to check out the other collections

[Elizabeth Sagewood · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology by some of your favourite horror tubers. What could be better than that?
I loved this collection from cover to cover. Of course there were some stories that were better than others and some were just good ‘ol horror fiction while some had deeper meaning. So I can safely say there’s something in here for everyone.
There’s something about the cold, desolation of winter or cold weather that goes part and parcel with horror and this anthology ticked all of the boxes for me.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't honestly say that I went into this anthology with the highest expectations, and that says more about me and my own pre-conceived notions about self-published books than anything else, but I was pleasantly surprised by how awesome and well written most of these short-stories were. Admittedly, I am predisposed to like a lot of these stories, as I am really big fan of cold wintery settings, polar non-fiction and the claustrophobia that the snow and the cold inherently creates. These authors did a great job of taking all of these things and really hammering home the creep factor and the scares. The only negative, besides some of the stories just not doing it for me the way others in the collection did (an issue with any anthology), was that there were grammar errors littered throughout quite a few of the stories. This could've been easily fixed with an additional edit, but wasn't a huge deterrent for me in the end.

MY FAVORITE STORIES:
- The Rescue by Janine Pipe (research team in the Himalayas...The Thing/Abominable snowman vibes for sure!)
- Isolation by N.M. Brown (Trapped in a car after an avalanche, this one is crazy unexpected)
- Frostbite by Alfie Tobutt (as a fan of polar non-fic this one was great!)
- The Grey Winter by Mihalis Georgostathis (Post-apocalyptic religious deceit, right up my alley)
- Orpheus Descends by Andrew Lyall (love underwater stories...the claustrophobia is real!)
- Lake Alice by Michael Taylor (This wasn't very scary, but it's the only one that made me cry.)
- Thou by Mers Sumida (this story didn't really fit the cold theme very well but it was interesting none the less)
- Revival by Madison Estes (the body horror and grossness combined with the exploration of grief really got to me)

[Austin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent and fun collection of cold, wintry, and Christmas-y type stories. By far and away my favorite story in here was Cameron Chaney's Karankcolos. (Probably my favorite story by Cameron that I've read)
There were some other great ones in here, such as Red Albums by Cam Wolfe, Orpheus Descends by Andrew Lyall (I love stories about submarines and the ocean, as the infinite expanse and depth of water both fascinates and terrifies me), Thou by Mers Sumida - a particularly dark and disturbing tale that was almost difficult to read, but compelling - and Ensnared by Ahprodite Lee, a fun little story with a twist ending I did NOT see coming.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but because it is a large collection of stories and an indie publication, it is a mixed bag and not all the stories in here will be for everybody and some of the writing is a bit amateur at times. Overall I would recommend this though for the winter season!

[Pete Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

good stories, had me yeeting from the intro by THE steve donaghue on with cam wolfe my fav with lines like 'snow so deep you could hide a body...'

[Sarah]

As is normally the case with anthologies, this one served up some hits and some misses. I love winter-themed horror and appreciated the chilling atmosphere that many of these stories did so well. Some of the writing wasn't particularly my style, but there were lots of great ideas explored, and I had a fun time reading this collection.

[Madison Estes · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars for me. Lots of fantastic stories in this collection, especially "Orpheus Descends" a chilling story about a submersible that malfunctions and leaves the main character on the bottom of the ocean floor without contact from above. There were several other horror stories I loved, a few I felt lukewarm about, and one that just didn't connect with me at all. Some of the horror stories in here are more along the lines of dark fiction (Lake Alice and Water of Life), but I still enjoyed them a lot. They are more emotional that scary, but there are several genuinely scary stories as well for the typical horror lover. I really appreciated N. M. Brown's story for the twist and Ryan Stroud's story for the great character arc of the main character. Also loved the opening from Cam Wolfe's story "Snow so deep you could hide a body or ten" and the twisted ending of Mer Sumida's story "Thou". I highly recommend checking this anthology out. It's the perfect book to read on a cold day!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of icy wintry stories to give you the shivers. I was familiar with two of the authors in the compilation before reading it: Dane Cobain, whose work I'd previously sampled in a collection of short stories (Scarlet Sins) and Steve Donoghue, who is the most prolific Booktuber I know with thousands of bookish videos on YouTube. The other writers were new to me. As with any anthology some stories will resonate with the reader more than others. For me the two standout stories are Frostbite by Alfie Tolbutt and Water of Life by Gloria McNeely. There are a wide variety of settings from the morgues to dark wintry forests to Antarctica and even to the Moon. Very entertaining and for me not a dud amongst them.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cool mix of pretty much everything horror.
Cosy hauntings, gory slasher, occult demon summonings, cryptids, folktale, and cosmic horror.
The black humour of the final story made me chuckle.
I may have added a few more horrortubers to my subscribe list too!
Another good anthology from editor R. Saint Claire.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely enjoying these short stories. I wouldn't mind reading full length books by some of these writers. Good quick tales of horror!

[Lisa]

Boring.

[Ericka annamarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This horror anthology was very enjoyable! I read one or two stories a day, usually in bed or the back seat of a car on road trips over the holidays. That being said I did only give this book three stars due to the fact that out of the twenty two stories in this book I really only loved seven. so lets talk about those seven!

The first story in this book is my first favorite is KARKONCOLOS by Cameron Chaney . Its a tale of a dysfunctional family in the fictional town of AutumnCrow. This family has gathered for Christmas only for a mothers mistreatment to chase one son away and back to his own home. When said mother follows her son back to his home with the intent to drag him back to the holiday party she gets more than she bargained for. Cameron Chaney as easily become an auto buy author for me.

The Rescue by Janine Pipe is a simple horror story about a very familiar winter predator and I was so happy to see one of these stories in this collection.

Magic In The Hat by Donnie Goodman is what I imagined evil frosty would have looked like.

Black Wood by Marie McWilliams was a grisly creature feature mixed with a gritty cop drama.

Cold Crossing by Jacob Peyton had a classic 90's friends gone wrong feel and I was living for it.

Snow Boy by Ryan Stroud is probably my second favorite story in this collection! It is one of those horror stories that first presents its self as something entirely different from what it turns out to be.

Black Solstice by Dane Cobain is one of the wilder stories in this collection but its weirdness is what landed it on my list of favorites. It reminded me of A Christmas Horror Story or Santa Slays and I'm a big fan of off the wall, B movie horror.

All in all I recommend this book to any horror fans!

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited about this collection...but this was a rough read for me. I just had a hard time getting into it...most individual stories were 2 or 3 stars for me...but there were a couple that I really loved.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fantastic anthology! It's rare to find an anthology which is so consistently strong, and I was really impressed by the stories on offer here. The general theme is coldness which can get a bit samey, but mostly the stories have been spaced sensibly so you don't get two straight after each other with the same plot or kind of horror. Not every story was a hit but the ones that didn't quite do it for me mostly felt a bit amateurish in terms of writing, which makes a lot of sense given the context. I should say that these were few and far between, and overall I was deeply impressed with the quality here.

Some of my favourites:

Frostbite by Alfie Tobutt: I think this was my absolute favourite of the whole bunch. Two explorers face the possibility of death in a tent in Antarctica. This was so well-written and had so much depth as a result. The horror is subtle and gripping, and I know I'll remember this story for years

Orpheus Descends by Andrew Lyall: This is another close contender for my favourite. A submarine pilot/marine biologist goes on a deep sea dive with an eccentric billionaire and gets more than he bargained for. This was another one with a fantastic sense of suspense and dread throughout. I didn't know where it was going to go which is also impressive with a short story, and I was completely hooked reading it. A clever execution of the cold idea as well

The Walk-in by Mike DeFrench: I live in fear of being stuck in a walk-in freezer after a YA horror book I read as a child, so this was a really great read for me. Appropriately gruesome and full of suspense

Overall this is definitely worth a read, especially since it's on Kindle Unlimited (at the time of me writing this at least). I look forward to enjoying the first anthology and I hope there are more!

[Vasil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much respect for this charity project and the enthusiasm of these non-mainstream authors.
This proved to be, however, not my cup of tea: I found only a handful of stories to be memorable and original, while the bulk of them - either sadly uninspired or overly gory and shocking just for the sake of it.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Ollie Ander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the variety of stories this collection brought to the theme! I definitely felt cold reading some of these... *Shiver* 4.5/5 Stars

[Alan Aspinall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good chilling read

I really liked this collection of short winter themed horror stories, there are few scares, as well a bit of dark humour lol