Ollie Ander > Recent Status Updates

Well that escalated quickly...

Frostbite by Alfie Tobutt took me back to a simpler time.. of cold murder lol

Magic in the Hat by Donnie Goodman gave me some solid Goosebump vibes tehe

The Rescue by Janine Pipe had The Thing vibes with a different sort of horror.

Karakcolos by Cameron Chaney was a delightfully narrated peek into a twisted mother's mind.

Book marking my progress here as my library needs it back before I can finish. Taking a break from these horrible situations will do me some good.

The levels of not okay right now couldn't possibly get worse... could they? T.T

So not okay right now.

I'm just putting it out there now, I have a theory.

I never thought I could be this not okay after just this many pages.

Wtf you gonna do it like that? Lol
That aside I think the writing is skillful but I'm not getting invested in the characters at all.. it's strange.

I went into this not reading much of any of the meta text. Not even sure what genre I was getting into. Still not sure, could be waiting on some twists.

Honestly not sure how I'm less than half way through. Where can we go from here?

"Darkness Descends" Jason White
Cute creatures and relatable character. Did not prefer the after-telling of events. If it hurts so bad to write, your format wouldn't be so "writtey", you know?

"At the End of the Rope" Cameron Chaney
Really enjoyed this one. The narrator felt believable, the descriptions interesting. Satisfying outcome. Solid read!

"A Full Moon Over Black Star Canyon" Matt Wall
More along the lines of what I expected. A classic reiteration of getting spooked with nothing to show for it, but written entertaining enough not to matter.

"Long Buried" E.D Lewis
Character conflict was understandable but I would have liked it more fleshed out. Felt like too much "haunting" imagery being described rather than felt.

"Highway to Hell" Nicholas Gray
Light read. We've all read stories about places with a Hellish name.

"The Room Within: D.L.Tillery
Not enough time was spent editing this one. Average concept with below average presentation.

"Fading Applause in Quintland" Lydia Peever
Enjoyed the main plot/character of the story was a bit of a misdirect.

"The Night Watchman" by Marie McWilliams
Fairly good read that ramps up by the end. The imagery is cute and the topic chosen is widely relatable. Very small edits in repetitive phrasing I would have liked to change.

"The Blocked Cellar" by Mihalis Georgostathis
The first plainly 2/5 read in the anthology so far. It definitely hit the theme of local haunts which I appreciated but the writing itself kept me a bit out. The almost in-time narration and past-tense action felt quite strange. The characters' response also felt a bit too animated (YA) although I would have liked them to explore more.

"The Drifter" by James Flynn

The Drifter was a neat concept and I liked the introduction of other genre elements. The ending felt appropriate but the only thing that held it back from 5/5 was the exposition. I would have been more satisfied being left with the rhymes than the character explaining everything after the fact.

"The Mount of Death" by Kevin David Anderson

Absolutely loved the creature description in this story, it haunts my mind! A witty title to say the least, thoroughly enjoyed reading and it kept me engaged until the end.

"Drive Like Hell" by Ken Poirier.
Really enjoyed this read! I could feel the tension of the situation and especially enjoyed the battered body imagery that proceeded in the car. Fun twist on the ending, as a writer whose been recruited to write a horror myth.

Screen Eight by Micheal Taylor
I’m sure all these stories are personal to the writers in some respect, but this one was too commonplace an encounter to thrill me. Speaking of which, I also consider this a psychological thriller rather than a horror. Isn’t horror supposed to make ME scared or uncomfortable? There was no ending out of this stereotypical scenario that could happen to make me invested.