Grimoire

by Mitchell Lüthi, C.L. Werner, Madison Kilian

Like the tanning of a leathered corpse, the inaugural release of Grimoire seeks to stretch the fleshy bounds of dark fiction and horror. Included within these unhallowed pages are tales of medieval horror and cacophony, Lovecraftian delights and wretched Kaiju, accursed djinn and pestilential priests, all brought together for the very first time in one horrific collection.

Engaging and provocative, these tales of the damned stalk the graveyards at night, crawl up from the empty and wet places of this world, and haunt the dreams of all who read them. Combining both ancient and modern horrors, this anthology takes the reader beyond the comfort of the hearth, and into the gaping mouth of hell.

Grimoire features tales by C. L. Werner, Madison Kilian, Erica Schaef, Mitchell Lűthi and H. P. Lovecraft.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, Medieval, Fiction, Audiobook, Anthologies

436 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 6, 2022

About the author

The Pilgrim Illustrated Limited Edition Kickstarter is launching in September 2024! Check it out here: https://t.ly/xsNeh

The limited edition includes 12 full-page illustrations by artist Tyrone Le Roux, 9 character illustrations by Filipe Pagliuso, full-colour book ends by Alicja Tereszczenko, an illustrated slipcase by Anthony Ventura, custom interior design, medieval chapter drop caps, metallic rose gold on the front, spine, and rear, gold-edged pages, and a ribbon bookmark.

Mitchell Lüthi is a writer and producer based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has written a number of scripts, short stories, and radio plays. "Pilgrim" is his first full-length novel.

In addition to his writing, Lüthi produces and scores the Sentinel Creatives Podcast. With a passion for storytelling, Lüthi has established himself as a versatile writer who can create compelling narratives across various genres.

His short story, "The Bone Fields", received an honorable mention in the 2020 L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Competition. The story is available in the Write Like Hell: Kaiju anthology.

Reviews

[Margaret Hamnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing really puts across the eerie, isolated and desolate feel of all these stories. Especially the medieval era stories it’s like you smell and feel the filth and disease.
The lovecraftian stories are extremely lovecraftian and maintain his otherworldly weirdness well.
All the other stories are the same you feel like you’re thrust into that world no matter how strange or creepy you feel like you are right in the middle of the action.

[Balthazarinblue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology is a written record of the audiobooks (audio short stories?) produced by Sentinel Creatives, all of which are available for free on their podcast on Spotify and YouTube. This has an eldritch horror theme running through it, although that manifests in many different ways, and the stories themselves are surprisingly diverse in setting. The inclusion of three H.P. Lovecraft tales makes sense with the overall tone of the collection. I read them while listening to the audio productions on Spotify. My favourite was The Cats of Ulthar (I loved the narrator!) but they were all well done.

Some of my favourites:

THE BONE FIELDS by Mitchell Luthi was a reread for me but I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. A Viking longship is washed up on a mysterious unknown isle in a storm. The warriors are unprepared for what they find. The original music in the audiobook is phenomenal for amping up a sense of dread as the story progresses. - 5 stars

THE KING IN BINARY by Madison Kilian is such an unexpected gem. Between the cover art and what I knew from the stories I'd previously read, I went into Grimoire thinking the whole collection would have a historical setting. I was pleasantly surprised to find this tale of a nursing android caring for an elderly man, who asks pointed questions about what it means to be alive. - 5 stars

CHERIMOYA PROMISES by Miranda Dahlin has the air of a dark, melancholy fable. We follow an imbunche who must fend for himself when the brujos disappear. - 4.5 stars

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical horror is one of my favorite genres in this book is full of it from doom Vikings to possess rabbi and much more it seems the author has given us his best short stories to make for one great Anthology. If you love horror and short stories then you’ll love this book I certainly did and highly recommend it this is an absolutely great anthology with no filler stories just all great yarns told by a stellar storyteller. I want to thank the author and story origin for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

[Omar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read. This is definitely Grimoire, during the Dark Ages, where it's at its best.

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating compendium to delight aficionados of Horror and Dark Fantasy, GRIMOIRE ranges from subtle to outright frightening , investing readers in the lives of the (often feckless) characters . Delve in, but keep all the lights shining brightly!

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a solid collection of dark fiction; I really liked the varied locations and places in history that each story was set in. Each tale was very different from the next, one was a dark medieval horror, one a futuristic take on the King in Yellow, one was a tale of Vikings and there was even a story featuring Kaiju. Despite the differences, all were well written and very enjoyable, I liked some more than others but none of the stories were anywhere near bad. Most of the stories also feature on the Sentinel Creatives podcast on YouTube/Spotify, which has some high-quality readings which I also appreciated.

[Christopher Pate · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of horror tales with a couple really excellent stories so different in tone and setting than the norm. Read it just for these if nothing else.

[Paperwitches ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lost myself in this anthology, I loved all the stories in this and the settings and tone were so well incorporated and set! No other anthology can really match the way you feel reading this, whether it's the great immersive originality.

Thank you to Storyorigin for the ARC, I am willingly leaving this review.

[mossreads · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 50%. I admit defeat even though I got this far but life is too short. Maybe only enjoyed the first story, His Black Tongue. The rest were just a weird mess of wanting to be sci-fi and gothic horror without really working as a cohesive story.

Most stories were formulaic too. Boring start followed by a vague horror that is never properly described then cliffhanger ending.

[Dave Kirschner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Collection

I was hesitant picking up a short story book that had some stories I’d already read, but it does a good job of letting me know the tone to expect. A pretty quick, creepy, collection

[Kevin Cannon (Monty's Book Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining collection of dark tales guaranteed to chill your soul

[Lance Petta · Rating 3 out of 5]

50/50

Some of the stories are fantastic (namely the ones by Mitchell Luthi) and some are pretty lackluster. I’d say it’s worth the read simply to read what Luthi created.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of short stories and frankly, after the second one I was bored. But if you like stories about history, ghosts, Vikings, monsters, robots and ninjas; you’ll like this.

[ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4☆'s) a man got sisyphused, a samurai fought a giant ancient monster, cain killed abel as he always will, a new tale in the legend of the king in yellow. . .  this collection was so much fun!

[Lorenzo Benatti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great effort by Sentinel Creatives, that has been consistently putting out high-quality novels and short stories. Looking forward to reading more!

[Erik Pegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

While three of the stories appeared in another work I’d read previously titled ‘His Black Tongue’ which is a similar compilation it was overall a decent read. One story wasn’t even so much horror story as a supernatural legend. There was another story that seemed to be taking place in the afterlife as interpreted by Asian mythology. In fact I’m still not entirely sure what it was about? Several of the stories were entertaining enough, as always with any book of short stories there are some that appeal to the reader while others fall flat.