This book contains stories by some of my favorite authors but they know who they are and so do you. For that reason I'm not going to talk about them (this time)
From the first story "Devil's Dip" by new (to me) author Shannon Felton I felt like this anthology was going to be something special. By the time I got to "The Glimmer Girls" by Kenneth McKinley I knew I was right. I loved that this story was based on the real life Radium Girls! A symphony of macabre tales are perfectly arranged in this delightfully dark anthology. I have now been introduced to several voices in horror that I may not have discovered if not for this book. If you are looking for something spooky to read this Halloween season I highly recommend you grab a copy now.

I received an advance copy for review.
( )

WOW! This was one of the best anthologies I have read in a long time! I had a feeling when I first started seeing all the authors that were going to be in this book slowly trickling in and signing up that this book was going to rock!

It is like the all-star team has come to reside within these pages! What an impressive first start for Silver Shamrock Publishing!

With all that being said, there is not one story that I didn't like and all the stories gave me chills and thrills!

Since all of the stories were excellent, I will just name a few here that I enjoyed without giving away spoilers of the stories:

Devil's Dip by Shannon Felton
Justin's Favorite by Jeremy Hepler
Drown by Hunter Shea
Those Who Are Terrified by Elizabeth Massie
Russian Dollhouse by Jason Parent
Sawmill Road by Ronald Kelly
The Graveyard by Lee Mountford
The Cemetery Man by John Everson
New Blood, Old Skin by Glenn Rolfe
Glimmer Girls by Kenneth McKinley
Ghost Blood by Kelli Owen
Swamp Vengeance by Brian Moreland



But all of the stories just swept me away and carted me off to a haunting world of horror, intrigue, suspense, mystery and a thrilling stay in the graveyard!

Giving this awesome anthology five "ghostly" stars! ( )

Great collection of creepy short stories. While every story in here was rather good the two that stood out to me were 'Bettor’s Edge' by Tim Meyer and 'The Graveyard' by Lee Mountford. ( )

Shannon Felton - Devil's Dip 2.5*
What's up with the wood chips in the garage? Fire wood, whittler, carpenter?

Chad Lutzke - Tug O' War 3.5*
haha I love "horror" stories with irony. I like the set up with the friends in the house of the dying friend. (Realistic and sweet) A "watch what you wish for" story.

Catherine Cavendish - Euphemia Christie 2*
A little too much tell vs. show/feel IMO. An example would be the demeanor of the townspeople at the mention of Euphemia. There was no supporting evidence to support the continuation of their behavior after so many generations.

Jeremy Hepler - Justin's Favorite 3*
A bit of a bait and switch on the ghost. I'm trying to accept that that particular ghost would present and behave that way. Nice job using the photo album for the info dump.

Hunter Shea - Drown 4*
A ghost hunting couple story. I enjoyed it. A short story in this "world": Jessica Backman's Death in the Afterlife

Elizabeth Massie - Those Who Are Terrified 2.5*
I don't understand the motivation for the murders. I guess I could back read but I'm not that motivated at this point. I enjoy this author and her ease of telling a story but I can't appreciate the ease of how all was revealed. That filing cabinet :/

William Meikle - Cool for Cats 2.5*

Ronald Kelly - Sawmill Road 2.5*
A couple grown men who haven't seen each other in decades reminisce about an event they were part of when the were children.

Lee Mountford - The Graveyard 4*
Nice creepy story and the author set up the images well in my mind.

Alan M. Clark - The Putpocket DNF

Kenneth McKinley - The Glimmer Girls DNF. I got pretty far. Got to about the point where the MC started showing signs of deterioration. (Tooth fell out and ppl were giving her a wide berth) Not motivated to read the end. Meh.

Robert R. McCammon - Haunted World REPRINT I had already attempted a read of this story in Post Mortem: New Tales of Ghostly Horror So here is that review: DNF - not dark enough to encourage me to give it a chance. Opens with William Shakespeare's ghost watching Jeopardy or some show on their couch. The characters can't hear him but they can see him mouthing answers. After they try to talk to him, he fades away. They look outside and they can see other ghosts.... I guess there are ghosts everywhere and they are a normal part of everyday living probably due to some event I didn't care to wait and find out about.

Kathryn Meyer Griffith - The Gravedigger's Story 2.5

Brian Moreland - Swamp Vengeance 1.5*
Not my reading preference.
--------------------

After I started getting into it, I decided to not read it cover to cover. They feel a little too PG-13. Maybe I've read too many short stories at this point. Nah that can't be it. Skipping these for now:


Todd Keisling - Holes in the Fabric
Kenneth W. Cain - Dog Days
Jason Parent - Russian Dollhouse
Tim Meyer - Bettor's Edge
Somer Canon - Join My Club
John Everson - The Cemetery Man
Glenn Rolfe - New Blood, Old Skin
Kelli Owen - Ghost Blood
Allan Leverone - Last Call at the Sudden Death Saloon
Thomas F. Monteleone - The Ring of Truth REPRINT
Kealan Patrick Burke - Portrait

( )

I just made notes on the stories as I went along and here there are.

Justin's Favorite--several of these stories have been what I would call "traditional" stories. Sort of like the ones you would read in Creepy or Eerie or older anthologies. For me that is a good thing. I find myself skipping some stories in current anthologies because they are more disturbing (eg child abuse, etc.) than scary. Justin's Favorite is one of several that I have read so far that are what I will call traditional and are the type of stories that attracted me to the genre in the first place.

Holes in the Fabric--very original story. I found the concept to be both realistic (somebody has to clean up after horrifica events like mass suicides) and horrifying. One of my favorites.

Dog Days--hmmm. Not good. My dog is a Great Dane and is taller than me. He is my reading companion (he is never more than a foot away from me at any time) and was hanging out with me when I read this.
Bettor’s Edge by Tim Meyer: Many ghost stories involve angry and vengeful ghosts. Ghosts stick around for a reason, and apparently being majorly pissed off is a common one. Setting this story in a Las Vegas suite and the whole gambling angle gave a new setting to a classic type of story.

The Graveyard by Lee Mountford: I am liking that old school vibe of this whole collection and this story is no exception. A traditional ghost story that serves as a cautionary tale.

Join My Club by Somer Canon: Such a sad story. I wish that the story line was less common in real life.

The Cemetery Man by John Everson: John Everson is certainly original, I will give him that. I have been enjoying him ever since Covenant. It was so dark and twisted. Then came the sequel, Sacrifice, which was even MORE dark and twisted. Loved them. This story was also delightfully sick but in a much more humorous way. At least to me. Don’t judge me….

New Blood, Old Skin by Glenn Rolfe: I am sure every horror writer gets asked “where do your ideas come from?” This gives an unsettling answer to that question.

The Glimmer Girls by Kenneth McKinley: Absolutely loved this story. The time period was so well created that I just fell down that rabbit hole. It also reminded me of the best stories from the old EC Comics or early Creepy/Eerie.

Haunted World by Robert McCammon: Robert McCammon is one of my favorite authors and I would have bought any collection with him in it. He doesn’t disappoint. I don’t want to give away anything but to tease it a bit you can say that even when you live in a haunted world filled with ghosts, it can still get worse. Very unsettling story.

Ghost Blood by Kelli Owen: I have been reading Kelli Owen since she made me afraid of flies… This was a ghost story without an actual ghost, which made it even more surprising. A very original concept.

Last Call at the Sudden Death Saloon by Allan Leverone – Seriously, when will people ever stop wandering into creepy small towns? If they don’t at least have a Walmart or McDonalds, don’t stop! Some people just go around buying trouble.

The Ring of Truth by Thomas F. Monteleone: An unsettling story where the living monsters are worse than the dead. War is certainly hell or can buy one a ticket to get there. I wish the background story wasn’t a recurring actual reality during wartime.

The Gravedigger’s Story by Kathryn Meyer Griffith: A very traditional ghost story with a huge emotional impact. The principal character was so well drawn that it was easy to feel the gravedigger’s pain and be moved.
The Putpocket by Alan M. Clark: Not all ghosts mean us harm. Some reach out from the other side to help us. I fell down the rabbit hole on this one--great creation of the time and place for a sort of Dickensian story.

Swamp Vengeance by Brian Moreland: The swamps are created so well you will be swatting it imaginary mosquitoes.

Portrait by Kealan Patrick Burke: I have bee reading KPB since The Turtle Boy and have read practically everything along the way. There are a few horror writers that are first and foremost great writers and they just happen to write horror. KPB is one of those--and I think he is especially good at short stories and novellas. He almost never follows the standard tropes so you have no idea where the story is going. The closing scene is so horrific and dark (and so KPBish) it is perfect.

LOVED this collection and like some people have said, I usually don't go for short stories that much. ( )