source: copy via Amazon Prime Reads
title: Big Bad
author: Chandler Baker/Twitter/X
genre: horror/short story
published: September 26, 2023
pages: 59
about:
For a family trying to make an isolated farmhouse into a home, fear and rage are getting harder to control in a primal short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Whisper Network and Cutting Teeth.
The Strauss family is on knife’s edge. Sam is a resentful stay-at-home dad. Rachel feels the restlessness in her blood returning. Their children are getting out of hand. And a recent mudslide has forced the wolves out of the woods to look for food. As dusk falls and tensions rise, the family must come together to survive the night—from the threats outside and those within.
Chandler Baker’s “Big Bad” is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.
my thoughts: Big Bad by Chandler Baker is the 6th and final short story in Amazon Prime’s Creature Feature collection and I really enjoyed this one. As the story starts off Rachel Strauss is a professor while her husband Sam is a stay-at-home dad to their two young daughters. Sam is prepping their Oregon farmhouse for the family to stay at when a man appears at his front door claiming he’s rented the house for the week. The stranger is insistent but Sam seems to get rid of him before Rachel arrives at the house from work. I can’t go into too much detail in order to avoid spoilers. The author does a great job at setting the mood just right, writing the tension between Sam and Rachel and keeping the reader guessing as to what is going on. The story goes from the POV’s of Sam, Rachel and their two young daughters which I thought carried the story along perfectly and added to the tension. There’s mystery from the start here and I liked that. The remote farmhouse setting was perfect.
“Then she sees it through the window: the pointed ears and coarse scruff of a full-grown wolf, just three or four yards away. The fading sun catches the cinnamon flecks in its otherwise silver coat. The wolf blinks amber eyes, unnervingly still.”-26% Kindle version Big Bad by Chandler Baker
I read this as part of Fraterfest.
Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this story. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Big Bad by Chandler Baker came via Amazon Prime reads.
source: copy via Amazon Prime Reads
title: In Bloom
author: Paul Tremblay
genre: horror/short story
published: September 26, 2023
pages: 35
first line: From the apex of the Bourne Bridge, almost 150 feet above the Cape Cod Canal, the undulating, fluorescent-green water bullying the shores looks alive.
about:
There’s something in the water in this hallucinatory short story by Paul Tremblay, bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World and The Beast You Are.
Journalist Heidi Cohen is in Cape Cod investigating the sources of recurring toxic algae blooms along the coast. A local named Jimmy has his own theory for her. Every year the fetid growth gets worse—but it’s been going on longer than anyone knows. Decades ago, something happened to Jimmy that he’s never forgotten. Is Heidi ready for the real story?
Paul Tremblay’s “In Bloom” is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.
my thoughts: In Bloom by Paul Tremblay is the 4th short story in Amazon Prime’s Creature Feature collection of 6 Kindle stories you can read or listen to. I’ve read and enjoyed this author before so I was expecting this one to be good. In this short story Heidi is a journalist investigating the toxic algae in Cape Cod. She interviews a local man named Jimmy who as a child in the 1980’s was at a baseball game when he witnessed his dad die. Jimmy’s father’s body was never found but Jimmy says he knows what happened and goes onto tell Heidi about it.
While this one was good, it wasn’t my favorite in this collection. Something about it didn’t hold my attention too much but I did appreciate it reminded me a little of the old movie The Blob. Overall, it was a solid scary short story but not my favorite in this collection.
source: copy via Amazon Prime Reads
title: Best of Luck
author: Jason Mott
genre: horror/short story
published: September 26, 2023
pages: 29
first line: “You ever hear the one about the man with the bad luck?”
about:
Did you ever hear the one about the man with a string of bad luck? The worst is still to come in a chilling short story of an insatiable friendship by the New York Times bestselling author of Hell of a Book.
For best friends with vastly different fortunes, what’s left to hash out other than a forced confession at gunpoint? All that the destitute, sickly, and grieving Will demands is that monstrously successful Barry admit to draining all the luck right out of him. Like blood. As the standoff escalates, the truth is not the only thing ready to come out.
Jason Mott’s “Best of Luck” is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.
my thoughts:
When I looked up this author, I realized I read one of his books before, The Returned. I remember that one being very good. As Best of Luck begins, Will is in his best friend Barry’s home with a gun pointed at his head talking about the string of bad luck he’s had and how he blames Will for it. I can’t say too much more without giving too much away, but this was a great short story because it has a plot twist I didn’t see coming. This one was pretty heavy on the gore.
Last but not least…the sixth and final book in the Creature Feature Collection is Big Bad by Chandler Baker. I’ll post my thoughts soon.
Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. In Bloom by Paul Tremblay and Best of Luck by Jason Mott came via Amazon Prime reads.
source: copy via Amazon Prime Reads
title: Ankle Snatcher
author: Grady Hendrix
genre: horror/short story
published: September 26, 2023
pages: 28
first line: I told her on the second date.
about:
Obey the rules. It’s the only way to survive the night in a short story about what hides in the dark by the New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.
Marcus grew up believing his father killed his mother—then blamed it on the boogeyman under the bed. Always leave the lights on, his father warned, or the boogeyman will get you. Marcus still heeds the superstition, especially when he invites his new girlfriend over. Is Marcus haunted by a creature or has he just inherited his father’s murderous delusions? The night will tell.
Grady Hendrix’s Ankle Snatcher is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.
my thoughts: Ankle Snatcher by Grady Hendrix is the second short story in Amazon Prime’s Creature Feature collection of 6 Kindle stories you can read or listen to.
This was my first time reading this author and I enjoyed it. At just 28 pages, I wish this one was longer. As the story starts off, Marcus is on a first date with Tess and when they end up at his apartment something goes terribly wrong. I can’t say too much without spoiling it, but this story was both scary and sad due to Marcus’s backstory. This one made me scared to step out of bed without the lights on. This would make a great full-length novel. Grady Hendrix drew me right in and made me feel bad for Marcus in just 28 short pages.
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source: copy via Amazon Prime Reads
title: It Waits in the Woods
author: Josh Malerman
genre: horror/short story
published: September 26, 2023
pages: 52
first line: Unsettling stories started coming out of Central Michigan’s Ucatanani National Forest in the late 1970’s.
about:
Some chilling campfire tales ring too true to ignore. For one young woman, an urban legend calls her into the woods in a spine-tingling short story by the bestselling author of Bird Box.
The dense Michigan forest. Haunting wails. The clip-clop of demon hooves on a bridge to nowhere. It’s more than a tall tale to Brenda Jennings, whose sister disappeared in those woods one fateful night. Three years later, on a solo stakeout in the dark, Brenda goes in after her. She’s desperate for answers, and terrified to find what lies waiting on the other side of that bridge.
Josh Malerman’s It Waits in the Woods is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.
my thoughts:
Oh my gosh, these spooky short stories have really pulled me right out of my reading slump this past week. I can’t turn these pages fast enough. It Waits in the Woods by Josh Malerman was so good. And again, I wish this short story was a full-length novel. The writing here just drew me right on into the creepy woods alongside 18-year-old Brenda Jennings who decides to camp alone in the woods for a few days. Brenda is trying to find her older sister who went missing without a trace a few years ago. The woods are a creepy place and I just loved the setting for this short story. I definitely will be on the lookout for Josh Malerman’s books like this one here.
“Most myths have one foot in a reality so distressing mythic decorations are necessary to hide a greater terror, even as they keep the story alive.”
-It Waits in the Woods by Josh Malerman, 7% Kindle version
Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I received Ankle Snatcher by Grady Hendrix and It Waits in the Woods by Josh Malerman via Amazon Prime reads.
source: free via Amazon Prime Reads
title: The Pram
author: Joe Hill
published: September 26, 2023
pages: 58
genre: short story/horror
first line: Willy rode up front, next to the real estate agent.
trigger warning: miscarriage
about:
A husband’s obsessive desire for a child leads to an unexpected manifestation of his yearning in a nightmarish short story about fatherhood dreams by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.
Willy and Marianne’s farmhouse in Maine has acres of meadow and fresh air, and a lonesome bridle path in the forest along which Willy daydreams and ambles. When he’s loaned a decrepit old baby stroller to cart his groceries home, the rickety squeak of the wheels comforts him. So do the sweet coos of a baby Willy knows can’t be real. Can it? In this twisted thicket, wishes come true—with a price.
Joe Hill’s The Pram is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.
my thoughts:
The Pram by Joe Hill is the first short story in Amazon Prime’s Creature Feature collection of 6 Kindle stories you can read or listen to. I am so happy I found this collection of short stories because I’ve been in a reading slump for several weeks and short stories are a great way to jump back into reading without too much commitment.
In The Pram married couple Willy and Marianne move to an old farmhouse in Maine. Marianne suffered a miscarriage and the couple has been living with their grief over this. One day when Willy takes a walk through the woods to the country store the shop owner offers him an antique baby pram to wheel his groceries back home in. He eventually tells Willy that there used to be witchcraft practiced in the thicket Willy comes and goes to the store from.
This was a sad and creepy short story and I loved that Willy is an unreliable narrator so I didn’t know whether what he was seeing and hearing was real or if his grief had taken over. This short story was reminiscent of the film Rosemary’s Baby. I enjoyed it, it was way too short at just 58 pages but it definitely packed a punch. Author Joe Hill does a great job at taking you into the county farmhouse with Willy and his wife with the creepy pram just outside nearby. Funny enough, as I was almost done reading this one my daughter came into the room to talk to me and I jumped when she spoke lol. I told her I’m reading a very creepy story right now.
I’m reading the next short story in this collection, Ankle Snatcher by Grady Hendrix.
Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I received my copy of The Pram by Joe Hill via Amazon Prime reads.
source: purchased
title: If It Bleeds
author: Stephen King
genre: short story/mystery/suspense
pages: 436
published: April 2020
rated: 4 out of 5 stars
blurb:
If it Bleeds is a collection of four new novellas —Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat, and the title story If It Bleeds— each pulling readers into intriguing and frightening places.
A collection of four uniquely wonderful long stories, including a stand-alone sequel to The Outsider.
News people have a saying: ‘If it bleeds, it leads’. And a bomb at Albert Macready Middle School is guaranteed to lead any bulletin.
Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency is working on the case of a missing dog – and on her own need to be more assertive – when she sees the footage on TV. But when she tunes in again, to the late-night report, she realizes there is something not quite right about the correspondent who was first on the scene. So begins ‘If It Bleeds’ , a stand-alone sequel to The Outsider featuring the incomparable Holly on her first solo case.
Dancing alongside are three more long stories – ‘Mr Harrigan’s Phone’, ‘The Life of Chuck’ and ‘Rat’.
The novella is a form King has returned to over and over again in the course of his amazing career, and many have been made into iconic films, If It Bleeds is a uniquely satisfying collection of longer short fiction by an incomparably gifted writer.
My thoughts:
If It Bleeds is a collection of four short stories that I read last year but have just gotten around to reviewing now. The theme of living in a digital era is common in all four stories.
In the first story Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, 12-year-old Craig is hired by wealthy Mr. Harrigan to read to him daily. The two form a friendship and when Mr. Harrigan passes away Craig is one of the few people who was close to him. A cell phone ties the two together even after death. I enjoyed this one and found it creepy, imagine if we could connect to people who’ve passed on via cellphone? This story has been made into a movie on NetFlix and I watched it after reading this book. The film version was pretty good and stood true to the story.
The first half of The Life of Chuck takes place in a not-too-distant future pending apocalypse due to what humans have done to the planet. Bees don’t exist anymore except a few hives in South America so no more honey, the Southern half of Florida is uninhabitable, all major food producing regions in the country are gone and power outages happen more often and for longer periods. The story then switches over to Chuck’s life. I found myself confused with the way this was written and on reading King’s afterword, I realized this story was written backwards. Interesting.
At nearly 200 pages, If It Bleeds was the third and longest story in this collection and actually takes place after book The Outsider so you should read that book before diving into this one. I read and enjoyed The Outsider at the start of the pandemic and I also watched the mini-series, which was great, so it was nice seeing the main character Holly again in this story. She’s on a case to find a school bomber and thinks something paranormal may be going on as she realizes who the bomber may be. While I enjoyed this novella, it nearly put me into a reading slump. I’m not sure why, because it was a really good story but it took me a while to get through this one for some strange reason. I may have just not been in the mood for it. It was nice to see Holly again though.
My favorite short story in this collection is the last one titled The Rat. Drew Larson is a creative writing teacher who suddenly gets inspiration again for a full-length novel after a failed attempt a few years prior. Against his wife’s wishes Drew insists on spending 3 weeks alone at his late father’s abandoned cabin in the woods to write the book. The cabin is located several hours drive from home. There’s no cell service out there just a landline so Drew will be pretty isolated. I loved this story, with the isolated cabin in the woods setting and the unreliable narrator, and the last line made me sarcastically laugh out loud. This short story made this whole collection worth it.
So overall, If It Bleeds was a nice collection. I enjoyed the nods to King’s other works throughout like Everything’s Eventual and Storm of the Century. This was a good dose of weird, creepy stories although I do prefer his full-length horror novels. I want to sleep with the lights on after reading his books. These stories were more suspenseful than anything else but still a solid collection. Also, check out Serena’s great review of If It Bleeds by clicking here. She listened to the audio version.
“Love is a gift; love is also a chain with a manacle at each end.” – p.274, If It Bleeds by Stephen King
About the author:
Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His first crime thriller featuring Bill Hodges, MR MERCEDES, won the Edgar Award for best novel and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Both MR MERCEDES and END OF WATCH received the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best Mystery and Thriller of 2014 and 2016 respectively.
King co-wrote the bestselling novel Sleeping Beauties with his son Owen King, and many of King’s books have been turned into celebrated films and television series including The Shawshank Redemption, Gerald’s Game and It.
King was the recipient of America’s prestigious 2014 National Medal of Arts and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American Letters. In 2007 he also won the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his wife Tabitha King in Maine.- quoted from Amazon.com
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Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I purchased my copy of If It Bleeds by Stephen King.
the bookworm 