Unnatural Disasters

by Daniel Pyle (Editor, Contributor), Danielle Bourdon (Contributor), Robert J. Duperre (Contributor)

Floods. Earthquakes. Tornados. Asteroids. Nature can be vicious. But when you combine natural disasters with the very unnatural imaginations of the authors in this collection, you get terrors worse than anything Mother Nature has ever thrown at us, forays into nightmarish worlds that make a hurricane look like a light summer breeze.

Join Scott Nicholson, William Meikle, Daniel Pyle, Robert J. Duperre, Danielle Bourdon, Keith Gouveia, Ruth Francisco, J.A. Titus, and Robin Morris for nine horrific tales that will leave you cringing, gasping, and so scared of the outdoors you'll never want to leave your house again.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Short Stories, Amazon

ebook

First published October 29, 2011

About the author

Daniel Pyle is the author of Advent, Breakdown, Dismember, and many novellas and short stories. He lives in Springfield, Missouri, with his wife and three children. Visit him online at danielpyle.com.

Reviews

[Sheri White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read with very creative end-of-the-world scenarios. I highly recommend it.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories that just were not long enough. Although I enjoyed some of them there really was not any particular story that stayed with me to remember. I do like to read books from this author. "Dismember" is one of my favorite. Unfortunitly Pyle's talent do not shine through in this collection. I do recommend this read dispite being too short as a good collection of end of the world as we know it.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short anthology has almost perfectly lived up to its name. There is indeed nothing natural about the situations on these pages, which lets imaginations roam free producing some pretty wild scenarios. Nothing particularly amazing, but very solid entertainment here from a variety of recognizable and not so much so authors. For fans of creative apocalypses this is a quick fun read.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of a few authors in this collection so I was really looking forward to reading it. When one of them contacted me with a copy of the book to ask if I would give it a read and review, I, of course, said "Yes!".

Short stories are always a hard read for me. I either love them and they are able to come together to be a good, strong cohesive story... or they miss the mark. Unfortunately, many of these stories missed the mark for me. They were either too short to really give a good grasp of the author's style and ability and short-changed the plot or the story just never seemed to get a foothold.

That's not to say there's not a few really good standout stories in here. There were a couple that I really did enjoy, but overall, I must admit that I was a little disappointed. It is actually painful to admit that because I do really enjoy their other work so much.

I look forward to other work by these authors because their writing is phenomenal but I just didn't enjoy the collection.

I would still recommend this for horror fans. Just because it wasn't fully my cup of tea doesn't mean others won't enjoy it.

[D.S. Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

These short stories were well-written and entertaining, using a great amount of imagination to weave tales about a range of not-so-natural disasters. All were interesting and concise, although I found too many of them used the age-old taboo of cannibalism as their ultimate horror.

[Stan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A page turner

I've always liked science fiction, especially from the 50s and 60s. These stories have that feel. Each one could've been a Twilight Zone or an Outer Limits episode. I couldn't stop reading, and when I finished the last one I was hungry for more.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bunch of short fun crazy stories.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories in a very Outer Limits or Twilight Zone style. All creepy, all very well written, all imaginatively and impressively twisted and dark.

[LeviSamJuno · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I began to read the first story I didn't really pay attention that I was going into an anthology of nine very creative short stories by various authors. with a connecting theme. This first one began with people stranded among water. I thought: simple lost on an island story. How wrong I was.

As each story unfolded, the central theme of a natural disaster (or for some stories, what seemed to be natural disasters) in some fashion linked every story together. Snowstorms, tornadoes, floods, and the like became backdrops to tales with more of a horror/sci-fi feel than disaster-survival epics. As a result, the book title is very appropriate for the contents within.

At points within a couple of the tales I was a bit lost, and I think that could have been because the authors may have been shooting for a smaller page count to fit in the compilation; that also may be because I am not an avid follower of horror stories, so I may have missed some things that are fairly common in the genre. Some of the stories were a bit more graphic than I was ready for, but nothing I probably haven't seen on television. I'm not a big fan of anthropophagy (even if fictional), and it happens a bit more than I would like throughout the anthology. Speaking of television: SyFy channel needs to grab the filming rights to a few of these stories, because they would be a delight to watch.

I would certainly recommend this short story anthology to any horror fans or frequent watchers of sci-fi. I had nothing invested since at the time this version was free, but given the enjoyment I had reading, the current price for the ebook is still a bargain.

[Rechan · Rating 2 out of 5]

While most of the stories of this anthology are not poorly written, I was still quite disappointed. It felt as though many of the stories did not utilize the disasters in a satisfying manner. Going in, I thought all of the disasters would be of a supernatural or otherworldly nature, but some were merely a normal disaster with say, a monster in the midst, or others were just Odd, like a ball of sourdough bread that grows too large or a disease that wiped out all women.

The two stories that stick out the most are Daniel Pyle's "Twist", and Robin Morris's "Narobian Afternoon". The former is unique as well as having a heartbreaking and poignant ending, the story I'll always associate with this anthology. The other is action packed - the pacing is excellent, and the characters move from one perilous situation to the next - it kept me reading.

Honorable mention goes to Robert J. Duperee's "39 Days" which had an interesting premise/ending, but I still felt disappointed because we didn't see much of what was going on or what the entities were, or learned much of anything, and ultimately it dragged on a bit.

Two good and one middling stories are not worth the other six and a half thta did not do anything for me; I wouldn't recommend.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories about tornadoes, floods and other Acts of God that have an ungodly component. The carnivorous bread starter one was a bit odd, but most were pretty good; "Twist" by Daniel Pyle was heartbreaking; and "Whiteout" by Danielle Bourdon was a bit hard to read, considering the recent weather!

I got it as a Kindle freebie - it's currently $2.99 and worth it if you're into quirky horror stories.

[Aura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some disasters quite refreshing, compared to the stuff that's usually written about these days.

[Lucynda Ackley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disasters indeed

this book has various stories about all different kinds of disasters. some of the stories I think could be expanded into complete novels.

[Ruth Pohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories in a very Outer Limits or Twilight Zone style. All creepy, all very well written, all imaginatively and impressively twisted and dark.

[Orange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather short anthology of a dozen or so sci-fi/horror shorts.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting. None of the stories really had explanations as to why the disaster was happening though.