J. L. Aldis

This is a terrific anthology of short stories about monsters. I am here to rave about it. Full disclaimer--Story Spring Publishing is my new publisher and this is their first publication, so yes, I was particularly vested in checking this one out. So if you think I'm going to hype it for those reasons, well, I understand that suspicion, but seriously, I am expert at hyping without raving.

This is a rave. I don't read horror. I don't read short stories except on rare occasions like this one, where I have a 'reason' beyond just pleasure.

Reading these short stories was pure pleasure. And I am not sure they all count as horror, or maybe I don't know what horror is?

They all have monsters, real monsters, and yet some are funny and some are romantic love stories and some are truly chilling. A few take swipes at modern pop culture expectations. My favorites will not be your favorites. I know this from talking to other people who have different faves than mine.

What isn't subjective is the quality of the writing, the world-building and the diversity in subject matter, voice and setting. Such diversity isn't surprising as some of the stories are written by UK/European authors and are edited a la Oxford [according to a note at the back of the book] and some are written by American authors and are edited a la Chicago Manual of Style.

But, in case you think I'm really just hyping? I read an excerpt from one of the stories to my class Monday night as an example of 'the villain is the hero of his own story' and yes, we all shared the chills. Just saying. The story is "Provender," by Wendy Worthington, who should definitely know about the inside of a villain's mind since she's also an actress, the infamous lunch lady [http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Lunch_Lady] of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

You really need to read these stories and let me know what you think!… (plus d'informations)