Dark Screams: Volume Seven Edited by Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar

Description

Robert McCammon, James Renner, Kaaron Warren, Brian Hodge, Bill Schweigart, and Mick Garris reveal sinister secrets and unsavory pasts in a haunting anthology of short stories collected by acclaimed horror editors Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar.

LIZARDMAN by Robert McCammon
The lizardman thinks he knows about all the mysterious dangers of the Florida swamps, but there are things lurking in the bayou that are older and deadlier than his wildest dreams.

A MONSTER COMES TO ASHDOWN FOREST (IN WHICH CHRISTOPHER ROBIN SAYS GOODBYE) by James Renner
Although every child dreams of visiting Hundred Acre Wood, only one has ever actually frolicked in that fabled forest—and survived.

FURTHEREST by Kaaron Warren
She’s been going to the beach since she was a child, daring the other kids to go out past the dunes where those boys died all those years ago. Now she realizes that the farther out you go, the harder it is to come back.

WEST OF MATAMOROS, NORTH OF HELL by Brian Hodge
After the success of their latest album, Sebastián, Sofia, and Enrique head to Mexico for a shoot under the statue of Santa Muerte. But they have fans south of the border who’d kill to know where they get their inspiration.

THE EXPEDITION by Bill Schweigart
On a quest to bring glory to the Führer, Lieutenant Dietrich Drexler leads his team into the ruins of the Carpathian Mountains. But the wolf that’s stalking them is no ordinary predator.

SNOW SHADOWS by Mick Garris
A schoolteacher’s impulsive tryst with a colleague becomes a haunting lesson in tragedy and terror when he’s targeted for revenge by an unlikely, unhinged rival.

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Screams has quickly become one of my favorite Horror Anthology series of all time. I was excited not only to see a volume 7, but the name Mick Garris who wrote one of my favorite stories back in Dark Screams volume 5. So it came as no surprise to me that Snow Shadows ended up making  my favorites in this volume. It opens on a cold winter's day at Ravensbrooke Youth Academy for the Arts. Miss Featherstone, the drama teacher is about to have a very dramatic moment indeed.

 

A Monster Comes To Ashdown Forest (IN WHICH CHRISTOPHER ROBIN SAYS GOODBYE) by James Renner brings  beloved childhood characters back to gruesome life. An excellent story.

 

Furtherest by Kaaron Warren is a spooky summer time tale of camp fires, cook outs, and corpses. I could almost smell the Coppertone it was so well written and descriptive.

 

As much as I love short horror stories it's always a bit difficult for me to review them without giving too much away. So that is why I have just touched briefly on my absolute favorites.

 

4 out of 5 stars from me.

 

I received an advance copy for review

 

 

Little One by Timothy G. Huguenin

Description

Death is cold.

Kelsea Stone can’t remember her childhood, and frankly, she doesn’t really care. She’s doing fine on her own in L.A. without any family to tie her down. But when she finds out her estranged birth parents have died and left her their house in Canaan Valley, West Virginia, she discovers more than just an inheritance waiting for her in the mountains. An angry presence lingers there, and it won’t rest until it has had its revenge.

 

 

I picked this book out of the horror section, but it's more a mystery/ghost story.

Kelsea Stone arrives to take possession of a house left to her by her birth parents after their death. She has not seen them in years and barely remembers them at all. She has few memories of her early childhood and none that start before she was given up for adoption. She doesn't even remember that as a small child she once lived in this very home.

She intends to clear it out and sell it off, or perhaps rent it out as a vacation property. However that proves difficult with the rumors surrounding the home. The story line was fairly predictable but I enjoyed the spooky atmosphere, as I am a sucker for howling winds, heavy snowfall, and buried secrets.

4 out of 5 stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review.

Just Add Water by Hunter Shea

Description

GROW AMAZING LIVE SEA SERPENTS!

It’s fun! It’s easy! They only cost a measly dollar. Just clip out the ad in your comic book. Then ask Mom to mail it in. A few weeks later, receive a packet of instant Sea Serpent dust. Then:

Just add water . . . and watch them grow!

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Just ask David and Patrick. Their “instant pets” are instant duds. They don’t hatch, they don’t grow, they don’t do anything. So they dump them into the sewer where Dad pours toxic chemicals . . .

WAIT UNTIL FEEDING TIME.

It’s been years since David and Patrick thought about those Sea Serpents. But now, small animals are disappearing in the neighborhood. Strange slimy creatures are rising from the sewers. And once the screaming starts, David and Patrick realize that their childhood pets really did come to life. With a vengeance. They’re enormous . . . and have a ravenous hunger for human flesh . . .

 

This was a quick, creepy read that once again takes my mind back to classic 80s horror, and I loved it.  Having previously read The Jersey Devil by the same author I was hopeful that Just Add Water would be a ridiculous amount of fun to read, and I was not disappointed.

I still remember all those ads in comics and magazines for "sea monkeys" (which were total duds by the way) that showed fantastic tiny sea families frolicking in their little cities. Apparently Hunter Shea remembers them too. Here we have not sea monkeys but sea serpents that will hatch with very little care.. just add water. Of course it doesn't work out that way at all and soon the neighborhood is over run with vicious hungry monsters that eat everything in sight. 

 

I received an advance copy for review.

The Party A Novel by Robyn Harding

Description

In this stunning and provocative domestic drama about a sweet sixteen birthday party that goes horribly awry, a wealthy family in San Francisco finds their picture-perfect life unraveling, their darkest secrets revealed, and their friends turned to enemies.

One invitation. A lifetime of regrets.

Sweet sixteen. It’s an exciting coming of age, a milestone, and a rite of passage. Jeff and Kim Sanders plan on throwing a party for their daughter, Hannah—a sweet girl with good grades and nice friends. Rather than an extravagant, indulgent affair, they invite four girls over for pizza, cake, movies, and a sleepover. What could possibly go wrong?

But things do go wrong, horrifically so. After a tragic accident occurs, Jeff and Kim’s flawless life in a wealthy San Francisco suburb suddenly begins to come apart. In the ugly aftermath, friends become enemies, dark secrets are revealed in the Sanders’ marriage, and the truth about their perfect daughter, Hannah, is exposed.

Harkening to Herman Koch’s The Dinner, Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap, and Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, The Party takes us behind the façade of the picture-perfect family, exposing the lies, betrayals, and moral lapses that neighbors don’t see—and the secrets that children and parents keep from themselves and each other.

 

"The police looked into it and cleared us"

Jeff and Kim Sanders are a not so happily married couple. Kim is more concerned with putting on the appearance of being a happy family than with actually bothering to make it so. Jeff avoids her when he can, with long work hours and working out afterwards, and making a series of poor decisions.

 The 13 year old son doesn't seem to have much to do with the story line other than bringing attention to Kim's lackadaisical parenting style when she can't be bothered to explain to him that it's time to start using deodorant because "That's a father's job" This is at odds with what seems to be her control freak style. Daughter Hannah is the good girl starting to go bad so she can be one of the popular kids.

As for the so called popular kids, they could have all used a swift kick in the behind.

This was a quick and compelling read, even though I could not really connect with any of the characters.

 

I received an advance copy for review.