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I Held My Breath as Long as I Could
by
Kristopher Kelly (Goodreads Author)
A detective's search for his missing partner ends in a terrifying discovery; A man is harassed by monsters in his radiator, who threaten dire consequences if he doesn't convince his roommate to move out; Two college kids go on a road-trip, which turns into an odyssey through their nightmares; A man takes self-improvement advice from a creature living in a jug of milk; An a...more
Paperback, 210 pages
Published
October 6th 2011
by Createspace
(first published October 1st 2011)
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Community Reviews
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I am not a big one for multi-author anthologies because, dependent on the editor, the quality can be so hit or miss. Single author anthologies tend to be a better bet because it's one person's vision, but still you get the hit or miss quality in most of them - like they were just trying to look for a label that would fit all their diverse short stories. This one is completely different! The quality of the stories runs through the book like a stream - touching every story in the entire book. Not...more
What can I say...my brother wrote this book so I am perhaps a bit unfairly biased in thinking that it is wholly wonderful. The monsters in this book stick with you in a manner I have not experienced since watching Human Centipede. Perhaps the best analogy I can muster is to Chuck Palahniuk's Haunted- particularly the story where the boy loses his entrails in the pool filter. Poignant, visceral, meaty, and delightfully grotesque! I highly recommend this book to any horror aficionado. Several of t...more
Some of these stories fall into the horror genre, some are fiction, others are comedic, and still others are based on the author's real life. Kelly succeeds in all of these categories. Of the 24 stories, I love about 18 of them. If I had to choose my favorites, they would be (in the order they appear as I read them off the TOC): Frosty Out There, The Man With No Hands, The Night Light, Please Don't, The Side Effect, King to E1, Knife In Hand... and I can't narrow it down any further.
It is unusua...more
It is unusua...more
Such a disturbing read! And that is high praise :) 4.5 stars!
There are scary stories, then there are stories that are listed as horror because something supposedly scary happens, but never really is and then... There are those stories that are disturbing and horrifying even without being gory or necessarily scary.
Kelly manages to take an (almost) all-round look at what "horror" means - from the blood and gore, to the frightening things our minds can do all on their own and all the way around to...more
There are scary stories, then there are stories that are listed as horror because something supposedly scary happens, but never really is and then... There are those stories that are disturbing and horrifying even without being gory or necessarily scary.
Kelly manages to take an (almost) all-round look at what "horror" means - from the blood and gore, to the frightening things our minds can do all on their own and all the way around to...more
This is an anthology of stories, and like most anthologies, the stories could be hit or miss. Some seemed too brief; the story was incomplete and just abruptly ended. Others were absolute gems, so good that it made reading the weaker stories worth it. The horror stood out (with “Grim Remains” being the best of the bunch IMO), but a few of the personal stories were actually pretty stellar too.
Kelly's first collection of short stories focuses on horror, but also includes coming of age stories and touching ones from the author's own life.
The horror stories stopped me in my tracks and I was forced to abandon some in the vain hope that they wouldn't provoke nightmares. So if you like to get the bejesus scared out of you, by all means dig in.
On the other hand, if you enjoy personal stories about relationships gone well, and gone bad, you'll find some juicy bits toward the end of this vo...more
The horror stories stopped me in my tracks and I was forced to abandon some in the vain hope that they wouldn't provoke nightmares. So if you like to get the bejesus scared out of you, by all means dig in.
On the other hand, if you enjoy personal stories about relationships gone well, and gone bad, you'll find some juicy bits toward the end of this vo...more
I received this book as a part of the Goodreads Giveaways promotion.
A short story collection, some amusing, some entertaining, most not quite long enough. The writing is decent, but at time I felt less like I was reading a short story and more like I was reading the synopsis for a book. One of the things I have always loved about The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock is the complete lack of explanation of why things happen, and I can see that that is what the author was going for here. But in m...more
A short story collection, some amusing, some entertaining, most not quite long enough. The writing is decent, but at time I felt less like I was reading a short story and more like I was reading the synopsis for a book. One of the things I have always loved about The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock is the complete lack of explanation of why things happen, and I can see that that is what the author was going for here. But in m...more
Dec 02, 2011
Robin Smith
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of The Twilight Zone
Shelves:
first-reads
This book is full of well written and engaging stories. Full of strange and sometimes bizarre situations, this book is perfect for fans of "The Twilight Zone".
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
some of the stories I really enjoyed, but most of them were just ok & pretty forgettable.
This collection of short stories had a few good ones such as Grim's Remains & Doggie Style.
May 06, 2013
Legato Darksummers
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
daddy-dark-s-baby-warrior-list
Feb 20, 2013
Barbara
marked it as to-read
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Kristopher Albert Kelly grew up in a small mill town forty miles north of Bangor, Maine. When he started reading seriously in fourth grade, he started with the works of Stephen King. His writing has appeared in The Harvard Advocate and on McSweeney's Internet Tendency.
He lives in New York City, where he works as a librarian.
More about Kristopher Kelly...
He lives in New York City, where he works as a librarian.
