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Head Cases
A man whose psychiatrist gives him a special pair of glasses...
A past-life regression helps a man face his racism...
A woman senses the city is literally coming to life around her...
HEAD CASES is a collection of psychological thrillers and mind-bending horror stories from bestselling author Scott Nicholson. Features the previously unpublished tale "Fear Goggles," as well as stories from the pages of Blue Murder, Apex Magazine, Brainbox, Asylum: The Psycho Ward, and more. Also includes the Writers of the Future Honorable Mention story "Metabolism," as well as bonus stories by bestselling thriller authors William Meikle and John Everson and an article on "The Writing Life."
A past-life regression helps a man face his racism...
A woman senses the city is literally coming to life around her...
HEAD CASES is a collection of psychological thrillers and mind-bending horror stories from bestselling author Scott Nicholson. Features the previously unpublished tale "Fear Goggles," as well as stories from the pages of Blue Murder, Apex Magazine, Brainbox, Asylum: The Psycho Ward, and more. Also includes the Writers of the Future Honorable Mention story "Metabolism," as well as bonus stories by bestselling thriller authors William Meikle and John Everson and an article on "The Writing Life."
113 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 12, 2010
16 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
About the author
Scott Nicholson
211 books767 followersWith more than 800,000 books sold worldwide, Scott Nicholson is an international bestselling thriller writer. He won the Writers of the Future Award in 1999 and was a Stoker Award finalist in 2003. His Fear series was published by Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint and 47North released the supernatural thriller McFALL.
He's also published a number of supernatural, paranormal, and fantasy books and stories, including the AFTER, NEXT, and ARIZE post-apocalyptic series, as well as children's books, comics, and screenplays. His 2006 novel The Home is in development as a feature film.
He's also published a number of supernatural, paranormal, and fantasy books and stories, including the AFTER, NEXT, and ARIZE post-apocalyptic series, as well as children's books, comics, and screenplays. His 2006 novel The Home is in development as a feature film.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 28, 2015
"HEAD CASES is a collection of psychological thrillers and mind-bending horror stories from bestselling author Scott Nicholson," says the product description on amazon.com. And in a blurb/review, Bentley Little (one of my personal favorites) says, "Like Stephen King, he knows how to summon serious scares." I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. These stories are unsettling in exactly the same way Stephen King's are.
There are nine stories in all, seven written by Scott Nicholson and one each by William Meikle and John Everson. The Meikle one ("Wee Robbie") left me with a "wtf?" feeling -- it didn't fit with the mood/spirit of the rest of the collection to me -- and I didn't care for one of Nicholson's ("Heal Thyself") and thought it was significantly weaker than the others. But the other seven stories were all scary and unsettling in my favorite way -- only ambiguously supernatural. It relies heavily on psychological horror. The first story ("Fear Goggles") in particular made me feel some Lovecraftian vibes and as I pictured it in my head like a movie, there were lots of odd camera shifts and the angles and architecture brought to mind German Expressionism (which I love).
There are nine stories in all, seven written by Scott Nicholson and one each by William Meikle and John Everson. The Meikle one ("Wee Robbie") left me with a "wtf?" feeling -- it didn't fit with the mood/spirit of the rest of the collection to me -- and I didn't care for one of Nicholson's ("Heal Thyself") and thought it was significantly weaker than the others. But the other seven stories were all scary and unsettling in my favorite way -- only ambiguously supernatural. It relies heavily on psychological horror. The first story ("Fear Goggles") in particular made me feel some Lovecraftian vibes and as I pictured it in my head like a movie, there were lots of odd camera shifts and the angles and architecture brought to mind German Expressionism (which I love).
March 26, 2011
This is a collection of short stories by Scott plus two stories by other authors.
1. Fear Goggles (the scary thing is there are people out there that probably see this stuff)
2. Beggar's Velvet (did you ever jump onto your bed because of what might be under there?)
3. The White House by John Everson (made me think of a twisted Hansel and Gretel story)
4. Heal Thyself (this one was funny and clever)
5. Metabolism (nope, still don't get it)
6. Letters and Lies (giving "going postal" a whole new meaning)
7. The Weight of Silence (sad, creepy)
8. Wee Robbie by William Meikle (look out for the little people)
9. Do you know me yet? (about the author) (charming!)
I enjoyed all but one of these stories. My favorites were Letters and Lies, The White House, The Weight of Silence and Heal Thyself. I didn't like Metabolism because...I just didn't understand it . What took me by surprise was the bonus article about the author. Scott tells about his self and you know what? I like the guy! :)
1. Fear Goggles (the scary thing is there are people out there that probably see this stuff)
2. Beggar's Velvet (did you ever jump onto your bed because of what might be under there?)
3. The White House by John Everson (made me think of a twisted Hansel and Gretel story)
4. Heal Thyself (this one was funny and clever)
5. Metabolism (nope, still don't get it)
6. Letters and Lies (giving "going postal" a whole new meaning)
7. The Weight of Silence (sad, creepy)
8. Wee Robbie by William Meikle (look out for the little people)
9. Do you know me yet? (about the author) (charming!)
I enjoyed all but one of these stories. My favorites were Letters and Lies, The White House, The Weight of Silence and Heal Thyself. I didn't like Metabolism because...I just didn't understand it . What took me by surprise was the bonus article about the author. Scott tells about his self and you know what? I like the guy! :)
January 6, 2011
Crossposted from my blog http://yllektra.blogspot.com
I was offered a copy of this book by the author and having to read this on my computer took longer than I thought due to me not being at home much (plus being sick..meh)!
It is a collection of short stories, so it was really easy and fast to read. I finished it in the span of a couple of hours and I have to say that the stories had a lasting impact on me.
Even though I have watched a lot of horror movies and even read Chthulu-related horror stories by Lovecraft etc (granted maybe younger than I would be able to fully understand them because my older brother dared me to), I didn't think I could be scared by them, but I found these stories to be chilling and creepy.
The book starts with the story "Fear Goggles" in which Elvin Meister finally decides to visit "The Eye Doctor" disturbed by the hideous images he sees in the mirror and all around him instead of the "real" images. Confusing reality with imagination of the nightmarish kind, he needs help and he believes the Doctor can give it to him. But not everything is what it seems.
I liked the whole "conspiracy" feel to this story. From the minute Elvin visits the doctor's office, he encounters bizzare persons - especially a man- that seem to have somehow agreed to "chose" to see what is normal...
I liked the idea, it was quite original and it vaguely reminded me of "The Matrix", with the red and blue pill. Not that it was similar, just a feeling I got!
Then, the story "Beggar's Velvet" was immensely creepy. A woman afraid of dust might be something common,but you should think again, because it wasn't about the germs. She literally believed that dust could assume an actual physical body that meant to cause her harm.
If you think you can categorize it as silly, I dare you to read the story and not get the chills!
The description was flawless and evocative and the sense of dread permeating it, really took a hold of me.
I also, thought it was brilliant how the author associated it with a "real-life" trauma, giving us a sense of how the whole thing was set in motion.
The third story, "The White House", was written by John Everson and it made me shiver at how scary it was. given the start I was expecting something along the lines of "Hansel and Gretel", but this was so much darker. The old lady recounting the story of the infamousm, creepy White House to a little girl - a friend of her nieces- was a brilliant start and even though it seemed harmless, the level of unease associated with what she said and what you were expecting, made this a great read.
What can I say? It gives the term "White", a whole new meaning I certainly wasn't expecting!
The fourth story, entitled "Heal Thyself" , follows Jackson, a young man in therapy because he feels lost, fragmented and broken. Mr Edelhart, his therapist, uses a radical form of therapy in the form of deep retrograde hypnosis -if that is the correct term.
That is, he hypnotizes Jackson and gets him back to his previous lives, focusing mostly on his life as Dell Bedford, a plantation owner. It is the era of the abolition of slavery, though not on his side yet. He is a wealthy racist who totally abuses and maltreats his slaves not only for profit pressuring them to work past exhaustion, but also for his own enjoyment, as he is a masochist...
However, this is not all that he is and the story did a marvelous job at exploring this.
The fifth story, "Metabolism", was not what I expected. It wasn't about your typical anoprexic and phobic girl. She had taken her phobia one step further, believing that the "City" was a living entity looming over her, manipulating and controling people and pnly if she was paper-thin could she escape and become almost invisible. The descriptions of the city through her eyes as snakes and hideous creatures was marvelous and really added a chilling factor to the story.
I think this was a story that felt the less paranormal to me and more like the extent of fear a disturbed person can achieve.
The Sixth story, "Letters and Lies" , was a surprise. It's about a mailman who isn't getting the appreciation and respect he deserves (or thinks he doesn't) and has started to resent life, his wife and colleagues for the routine that his life has fallen into. The power he develops was a fantastic one. He could hear the text of the letters he was delivering by the voices of the people sending them.
How cool is that? I thought, but when he kept hearing about death, loss, misery and heartache in his head, I thought twice about it.
It literally drove him mad... It was a pretty original and riveting story!
The seventh story, "The Weight of Silence" , was pretty straightforward, or so I thought. At first, I was expecting it to have some sort of supernatural element but there wasn't and ther was need for there to be.
A young couple lost their infant girl from SIDS and the woman is still plagued with sorrow and guilt. She keeps entering the nursery hoping for the baby to be there and she keeps the "intercom"? device open so that she may hear the coos and all the sounds her baby used to make. Her husband tries to make her get over it, unsuccessfully...
Towards the end I figured out what had happened but I was wrong about the who! It was a brilliant story.
The eigth story entitled "Wee Robbie" by William Meikle, was the one reminding me the most of the "Chthulu- related stories I had read as a child. The description of creatures whose names cannot be uttered and whose faces/forms cannot be described. The unspeakable terror and the horror wrapping around your heart forcing your lungs to stop working... it was all there. The unexplained yet undeniable pull towards a place although it is dark enough to forewarn you of its malevolence...
It was also difficult to discern whether what the main protagonist was seeing was the figment of his imagination or an invasion attempt from some sinister otherwordly creature and I liked it that way!
The last story, "Do You Know Me Yet?" , was the most fun for me. It wasn't exactly scary, at least not to me, and I kept chuckling while reading it. The protagonist of this story, addressing the reader directly starts explaining how he is the one having the initial idea for several popular books, which are not named by author or title but are pretty easy to guess, and all the authors who became popular through actually writing them down and getting published stole them from him.
Although he never actually writes down any of his ideas, he claims to have whole stories and plots in his head and when "uninteresting, dull" things started getting published, it was because he had stopped "having thoughts" so that no one could steal them.
Verdict: Very enjoyable collection of stories. Creepy, intelligent and gripping. Any horror fan will literally devour them. I haven't read reall "horror" in a while and this made me realize I miss it! XD
They are an intelligent set of stories, not what one could describe as "mindless fun".
They are not sloppy, fragmented or taking the easy way out (like leaving things unexplained). On the contrary, they made you think and appreciate (for the ones lacking a supernatural, paranormal element) what a person must go through in order to develop these phobias and hallucinations. Or were they not hallucinations? :P
I was offered a copy of this book by the author and having to read this on my computer took longer than I thought due to me not being at home much (plus being sick..meh)!
It is a collection of short stories, so it was really easy and fast to read. I finished it in the span of a couple of hours and I have to say that the stories had a lasting impact on me.
Even though I have watched a lot of horror movies and even read Chthulu-related horror stories by Lovecraft etc (granted maybe younger than I would be able to fully understand them because my older brother dared me to), I didn't think I could be scared by them, but I found these stories to be chilling and creepy.
The book starts with the story "Fear Goggles" in which Elvin Meister finally decides to visit "The Eye Doctor" disturbed by the hideous images he sees in the mirror and all around him instead of the "real" images. Confusing reality with imagination of the nightmarish kind, he needs help and he believes the Doctor can give it to him. But not everything is what it seems.
I liked the whole "conspiracy" feel to this story. From the minute Elvin visits the doctor's office, he encounters bizzare persons - especially a man- that seem to have somehow agreed to "chose" to see what is normal...
I liked the idea, it was quite original and it vaguely reminded me of "The Matrix", with the red and blue pill. Not that it was similar, just a feeling I got!
Then, the story "Beggar's Velvet" was immensely creepy. A woman afraid of dust might be something common,but you should think again, because it wasn't about the germs. She literally believed that dust could assume an actual physical body that meant to cause her harm.
If you think you can categorize it as silly, I dare you to read the story and not get the chills!
The description was flawless and evocative and the sense of dread permeating it, really took a hold of me.
I also, thought it was brilliant how the author associated it with a "real-life" trauma, giving us a sense of how the whole thing was set in motion.
The third story, "The White House", was written by John Everson and it made me shiver at how scary it was. given the start I was expecting something along the lines of "Hansel and Gretel", but this was so much darker. The old lady recounting the story of the infamousm, creepy White House to a little girl - a friend of her nieces- was a brilliant start and even though it seemed harmless, the level of unease associated with what she said and what you were expecting, made this a great read.
What can I say? It gives the term "White", a whole new meaning I certainly wasn't expecting!
The fourth story, entitled "Heal Thyself" , follows Jackson, a young man in therapy because he feels lost, fragmented and broken. Mr Edelhart, his therapist, uses a radical form of therapy in the form of deep retrograde hypnosis -if that is the correct term.
That is, he hypnotizes Jackson and gets him back to his previous lives, focusing mostly on his life as Dell Bedford, a plantation owner. It is the era of the abolition of slavery, though not on his side yet. He is a wealthy racist who totally abuses and maltreats his slaves not only for profit pressuring them to work past exhaustion, but also for his own enjoyment, as he is a masochist...
However, this is not all that he is and the story did a marvelous job at exploring this.
The fifth story, "Metabolism", was not what I expected. It wasn't about your typical anoprexic and phobic girl. She had taken her phobia one step further, believing that the "City" was a living entity looming over her, manipulating and controling people and pnly if she was paper-thin could she escape and become almost invisible. The descriptions of the city through her eyes as snakes and hideous creatures was marvelous and really added a chilling factor to the story.
I think this was a story that felt the less paranormal to me and more like the extent of fear a disturbed person can achieve.
The Sixth story, "Letters and Lies" , was a surprise. It's about a mailman who isn't getting the appreciation and respect he deserves (or thinks he doesn't) and has started to resent life, his wife and colleagues for the routine that his life has fallen into. The power he develops was a fantastic one. He could hear the text of the letters he was delivering by the voices of the people sending them.
How cool is that? I thought, but when he kept hearing about death, loss, misery and heartache in his head, I thought twice about it.
It literally drove him mad... It was a pretty original and riveting story!
The seventh story, "The Weight of Silence" , was pretty straightforward, or so I thought. At first, I was expecting it to have some sort of supernatural element but there wasn't and ther was need for there to be.
A young couple lost their infant girl from SIDS and the woman is still plagued with sorrow and guilt. She keeps entering the nursery hoping for the baby to be there and she keeps the "intercom"? device open so that she may hear the coos and all the sounds her baby used to make. Her husband tries to make her get over it, unsuccessfully...
Towards the end I figured out what had happened but I was wrong about the who! It was a brilliant story.
The eigth story entitled "Wee Robbie" by William Meikle, was the one reminding me the most of the "Chthulu- related stories I had read as a child. The description of creatures whose names cannot be uttered and whose faces/forms cannot be described. The unspeakable terror and the horror wrapping around your heart forcing your lungs to stop working... it was all there. The unexplained yet undeniable pull towards a place although it is dark enough to forewarn you of its malevolence...
It was also difficult to discern whether what the main protagonist was seeing was the figment of his imagination or an invasion attempt from some sinister otherwordly creature and I liked it that way!
The last story, "Do You Know Me Yet?" , was the most fun for me. It wasn't exactly scary, at least not to me, and I kept chuckling while reading it. The protagonist of this story, addressing the reader directly starts explaining how he is the one having the initial idea for several popular books, which are not named by author or title but are pretty easy to guess, and all the authors who became popular through actually writing them down and getting published stole them from him.
Although he never actually writes down any of his ideas, he claims to have whole stories and plots in his head and when "uninteresting, dull" things started getting published, it was because he had stopped "having thoughts" so that no one could steal them.
Verdict: Very enjoyable collection of stories. Creepy, intelligent and gripping. Any horror fan will literally devour them. I haven't read reall "horror" in a while and this made me realize I miss it! XD
They are an intelligent set of stories, not what one could describe as "mindless fun".
They are not sloppy, fragmented or taking the easy way out (like leaving things unexplained). On the contrary, they made you think and appreciate (for the ones lacking a supernatural, paranormal element) what a person must go through in order to develop these phobias and hallucinations. Or were they not hallucinations? :P
December 29, 2019
I actually just read one short story from this book - Do You Know Me Yet? - It was a freebie.
March 20, 2011
HEAD CASES
I got a real kick out of this collection of short stories by Scott Nicholson. Although I normally enjoy paranormal stuff, this was real-life WHACKOS…. Crazies…. Whether they were paranoid, delusional, vengeful, schitzo or just plain NUTS, these characters were great…. And truly frightening.
Nicholson also included a couple of stories from 2 authors that I was not familiar with. They were good reads, as well.
I can honestly say that Nicholson has become my favorite author. I highly recommend his works. He has yet to disappoint this fan of his for the past 10+ years.
I got a real kick out of this collection of short stories by Scott Nicholson. Although I normally enjoy paranormal stuff, this was real-life WHACKOS…. Crazies…. Whether they were paranoid, delusional, vengeful, schitzo or just plain NUTS, these characters were great…. And truly frightening.
Nicholson also included a couple of stories from 2 authors that I was not familiar with. They were good reads, as well.
I can honestly say that Nicholson has become my favorite author. I highly recommend his works. He has yet to disappoint this fan of his for the past 10+ years.
April 6, 2012
I really enjoyed Scott's scary and terrifying tales. I love short shorties, especially horror ones. I'm honestly surprised more people don't read him or know his name, but then again, I'm also surprised more people don't enjoy the genre like I do. Seriously folks, pick up one of his titles. If you don't wanna spent a few bucks for a kindle addition, just wait a little bit, he's been known to give them away for free.
October 25, 2012
An interesting mix of short stories, mainly by Scott Nicholson, but a couple by other authors, which was a nice touch as I had never heard of them.
I liked the variety of stories, and my only disappointment was that it finished at 81%, with the rest details of the authors and other books.
I am looking forward to reading one of his novels.
I liked the variety of stories, and my only disappointment was that it finished at 81%, with the rest details of the authors and other books.
I am looking forward to reading one of his novels.
February 15, 2014
Head Cases is a collection of short stories -- a genre interest I haven't indulged since teaching high school American literature. Some of these stories were disturbing, some were gruesome, one was funny -- but all were thought provoking and well constructed. I liked them, but I still prefer novels.
October 29, 2011
I enjoyed the book of horror short stories. Each one was well written and fun to read. The author has a great imagination, so these stories are not rehashed ghost stories that I've read countless times. Each one is unique. Enjoyable mind candy! Good Read!
September 1, 2011
review coming to I Smell Sheep
April 28, 2011
Much, mush better read.
May 2, 2013
Some trippy stores...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews