(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.) "Laugh with Jolly Jack" by Stephanie Ellis is a tale of machines and madness inside a dilapidated penny arcade inherited by a henpecked husband. The machines may be cursed, so play at your own risk. Released April …
Category: short story review
SHORT SHOTS: ‘Women of the Mere’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.) "Women of the Mere" by Jessi Ann York illuminates the quiet (and often hidden) strength of tough women as it seamlessly transforms a familial slice-of-life tale into a beautifully creepy work of magical realism. It's Bradbury-esque. I …
SHORT SHOTS: ‘Close Encounters of the ER Kind’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.) SPOILER ALERT! "Close Encounters of the ER Kind" by N.J. Gallegos begins as a typical night in the emergency room for Dr. Seline; however, it quickly transforms into an intense life-altering confrontation with one of the most …
Continue reading SHORT SHOTS: ‘Close Encounters of the ER Kind’
SHORT SHOTS | ‘My Body’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.) “Meat cleaver in hand and her belly full of blood, Cynthia hid beneath the carving table, trembling with fear.” This killer first sentence jump-starts the culinary horror short story “My Body” by two-time Splatterpunk Award-winning author Wesley Southard. …
SHORT SHOTS | ‘Long Distance Call’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.) Illinois author John Everson’s horror novels and short stories often use the disturbing combination of the occult and taboo sex to explore infidelity and obsession. While he won a Bram Stoker Award for First Novel with Covenant …
SHORT SHOTS | ‘They Say the Sky Is Full of Snakewolves’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.) I almost cut myself on the satirical edge of Lucy Leitner's standout short story "They Say the Sky Is Full of Snakewolves." The author wastes no time in dropping the reader into the action as we follow …
Continue reading SHORT SHOTS | ‘They Say the Sky Is Full of Snakewolves’
SHORT SHOTS | ‘Vampire of the Midnight Sun’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.) I like my horror fiction with a darker tone, but I'm always impressed when an author effectively adds the right amount of dark humor to the mix. I'm also surprised by how much I enjoy it. "Vampire …
Continue reading SHORT SHOTS | ‘Vampire of the Midnight Sun’
SHORT SHOTS | ‘Wreckers’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.) In her short story “Wreckers,” Florida author Kenzie Jennings delivers one of the most chilling horror moments of 2022. The standout opener in her 12-story collection titled Always Listen To Her Hurt, "Wreckers" is the dispiriting tale of …
SHORT SHOTS: ‘The Painting My Husband Keeps’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies.) "The Painting My Husband Keeps" is the quietly menacing opener to the horror collection titled Under Your Bed by Blair Daniels. The well-paced short story is narrated by a recently married woman named Tara who's unnerved by a painting owned …
Continue reading SHORT SHOTS: ‘The Painting My Husband Keeps’
SHORT SHOTS: ‘A Traveler Between Eternities’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies.) “A Traveler Between Eternities” by Atlanta-based author Amanda DeWees is a tragic but hopeful tale of a woman named Ruth Whitlock who’s in the midst of a pregnancy where the unborn child “had suddenly gone still.” Set in 1864, the story …
Continue reading SHORT SHOTS: ‘A Traveler Between Eternities’
The Official Website of Horror and Fantasy Writer Lionel Ray Green 