The Distended Table: A Collection of Holiday Favorites

by Russell Holbrook

FOOD! FAMILY! MAYHEM! MURDER! Ah, it must be the holidays! From the splatter to the surreal, The Distended Table is a buffet for the horror fiction connoisseur! You'll feast on the delights of a murderous pilgrim, insane Black Friday violence, fast food terrors, a vengeful vegan, a dark seasonal secret in the depths of Belfast City Centre, and many more frightfully delicious dishes! With horror and humor, and plenty of heart, each serving has a taste all its own! If you love holiday horror or just a great, creepy - or gory or disturbing or outrageous- story, then this collection is sure to satisfy your appetite for trepidation!

Genres: Horror

230 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2020

About the author

Russell Holbrook is an author, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist. He was/is the guitarist and co-founder of former Tooth and Nail Records artists Joe Christmas and Chapel Hill, North Carolina's instrumental rockers, Choose Your Own Adventrue. He currently writes the column “The Logbook of Terror” for the horroraddicts.net podcast and blog and plays keyboard in Atlanta based dark ambient noise trio, Ibofanga. When not writing or practicing music or working his day job in a computer refurbishing warehouse, Russell enjoys spending time with his wife and animals at his lovely home in Mableton, Georgia.

Reviews

[Thomas Hobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent Thanksgiving compilation of short stories full of gore, violence, and much more even some black Friday mayhem.

[Jennifer Matchett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories for better as I got deeper into the book. How fun to read some splatterpunk Thanksgiving themed horrors the week of the holiday. Some of these were just ridiculous in the best way. My favorites were…actually, all the Main Dishes and Desserts. Standouts we’re Pre Thanksgiving Stress Disorder, Last Time At Thanksgiving, and Doorbusters (this one was just wacky and crazy and fun). If you’re into disgusting things, and enjoy this holiday, go ahead and give this a read.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hit or miss collection. Standouts included:

Pre-Thanksgiving Stress Disorder by Rowland Bercy Jr.
Last Time at Thanksgiving by Ryan Harding
Hastiin by Joe X. Young

[Diana | Indie Book Addict · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of short stories where each author brings their own slice of horror to the table. A couple of my favorites were Pre-Thanksgiving Stress Disorder and Hastiin.

[Dawn Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me preface this by saying that I did not read two stories in the book. Pre-Thanksgiving Stress Disorder, I have already read and The Pilgrim, I am reading the extended Godless release version. As for the other stories, I personally didn’t care for most of them. Not to say someone else wouldn’t, they were just not my taste and I love Splatterpunk.

[Samantha Hawkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

🤎🧡 Book #2 for #Thanksgiving2021 🤎🧡

"The Distended Table: A Collection Of Holiday Favorites" Prepared and served by the Splatterpunk Brigade; Compiled and edited by Russell Holbrook and Trevor Kennedy

💥These stories could be considered rather extreme for some. Please proceed with caution.💥

This book landed on my TBR a few months back when I asked for holiday horror recs, and let's be honest, that cover is fabulous 👌

This was a delicious collection, and it's worth mentioning that "Pre - Thanksgiving Stress Disorder" by Rowland Bercy Jr. is included inside! I really enjoyed "Celebrity Guest Chef I, II, and III" by Sarah Colby, "It's Not What It Looks Like" by John Rosselot, and "The Pilgrim" by Matthew Vaughn.

3.5 delectable 🌟 's from me

[Heather Chesna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Omg these stories sucked! The one 5⭐️ story is the one by Rowland Bercy Jr but the rest were terrible nonsense.