Ryan’s Reviews > Traps and Specters: Stories > Status Update

Red Leather is a ghost story about a anniversary dinner at a diner in a red leather booth. This story is great Fracassi takes a sweet story and flips it turning it into nightmare fuel. The imagery is very good and vivid. I like the setup and the twist was set up so well. This on wasn't the strongest but there is imagery that will stick with me for a while. 4.6

I Think My Treehouse is Haunted is a great story. It has coming of age vibes. The horror is very effected one of the best endings. The story is very tense. It develops the creeping dread very well. I love how the treehouse was described, it gave me all kinds of nostalgia. 4.8

Dream of Me is the scariest story. Very creepy dreams described very visually. It follows Jenna who gets a dream journal from her Nana who hates her mother and blames her for killing Jenna dad who took his own life. The story was a little too long and I don't know if everything made since on the story. It was just an okay story that had good scares but I wanted more from the narrative. 3.2

The Black Rider is a super short story about an unloving grandmother who takes guardianship over two kids. She uses a figure called the Black Rider to keep the kids in line. Saying, he will ride on a dragon a pluck your sould with a scythe. The story reminded me of a fairy tale that went bad. An okay story that you could easily read in to where it is going. 3

My Love, Do Not Wake is a bizarro horror, about a married woman who has an affair. The who is the interesting part. I enjoyed this story. It says a lot about insta love and relationships. The story has a couple of twists. I only saw the last one coming but Fracassi takes the twist and keeps going.further with it. I laughed out loud at the absurdity. 3.8

Betrothed is about an older couple who have been together for 30 years, and get a burial plot together so they can be side by side forever. But what if one dies first and it gets to be an issue. I loved this short story. Very atmospheric and deals with a real conversation, that can be a little morbid. The story is very short, but I was hooked at the begining. 4.4

Point Oh One is a story about Charlie who is a gambler down on his luck. He sees an opportunity to settle somethings and takes it. This story is messy in the best ways. The story relies on a trope you've read about or scene and saw it work out smoothly, this story makes things go messy. I liked all the character reveals and the ending. 4.1

The Hunter I fast paced super short story, with great descriptions. I loved the twist and did not predict it. It is about an abused son that finds help in the darkness. 4

King Mob is a story that has great descriptions, but I could not connect with the story. The story involved the poet William Blake, which I have a passing knowledge of. I guessed the twist which Fracassi has fun with the imagery. If you know Blake's poems you will get more out of the story than I did. I thought more could have been done to show his poetic mind. 2

The Servitor is about a the job of cleaning and maintaining booby traps for an ancient Inca treasure. This story was a Rapture Chapbook. The story is awesome, so many layers with a great ending. As I was reading the story, I would question something, then a page later Fracassi would answer it. I loved the lore and the ancestry of serving for the family. The traps were fun and well thought out. 5