Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "afraid-of-the-light"

Afraid of the Shadows: An Anthology of Crime Stories by Victoria Selman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A charity anthology of spooky short stories from multiple crime writers.

‘Afraid of the Shadows’ in the third anthology in the ‘Afraid of the Light’ series, featuring nineteen stories from the group of creators plus some contributions from guest authors. Profits from each anthology are donated to frontline domestic abuse charities ESDAS and Rights for Women, with this third also sponsoring mental health charity Samaritans.

M.W. Craven opens the collection with ‘Strange Ink’, featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw, probably the most traditionally crime fiction story with its police procedural elements. An eclectic mix of the fiendish, creepy, humorous and bizarre follows throughout the collection, with twists and psychological melodrama galore, culminating in T.M. Logan’s chilling ‘With the Others’.

My personal favourites were:
“Mirror Mirror” by Trevor Wood, for its tragic romance;
“When I Grow Up” by Robert Scragg, when trick-or-treating takes an unexpected turn;
“Hidden” by Victoria Selman, a revenge plot with a twist;
“The Jumper” by S.R. Masters, exploring the power of superstition;
“Indelible” by Elle Croft, a touch of dystopian sci-fi;
“With the Others” by T.M. Logan, a dark and emotive psychological thriller.

Overall, this is an enjoyable collection that captures the chills, magic and fun of the season and is a showcase of the work and talent of all its featured writers. As Peter James himself states in his foreword, short stories are the perfect medium for capturing a moment in time and accessible to many people in our modern world of a dizzying amount of choices of entertainment. I shall certainly be looking out for more from these authors, whose contributions here have helped support those in need through sales of this book.

Delectable slices of the horrifying and the criminal, ‘Afraid of the Shadows’ is a great collection to whet your appetite during the Hallowe’en season.



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Afraid of The Christmas Lights by Miranda Jewess

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A charity anthology of festive short stories from a variety of crime writers.

'Afraid of the Christmas Lights' is the second collection in 'Afraid of the Light', a series of charity anthologies that began in the lockdown of the 2020 pandemic. This seasonal selection from later the same year, edited by Victoria Selman and Miranda Jewess, with a foreword by Val McDermid, features eighteen stories; Mark Billingham opens the collection with DI Tom Thorne investigating the murder of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, the list of contributors also including Sophie Hannah and Harriet Tyce as special guests for this second volume.

My personal favourites were:
"Bad Guy" by Kate Simants, for its keen characterisation and devastating twist;
"Heavenly Peace" by Heather Critchlow, for its psychological and gothic undertones;
"The Switch" by James Delargy, for its moral dilemma and emotional turmoil;
"Driving Home for Christmas" by Rachael Blok, for its twisty thriller plot;
"Bloody Christmas" by Harriet Tyce, a seasonal splash of the author’s domestic/legal blend.

Overall, 'Afraid of the Christmas Lights' is an enjoyable compendium of festive morsels to partake of during Advent evenings; entertaining slices of murder and malice with plenty of splashes of blood and dashes of snowfall. As Val McDermid notes, perfectly capturing the essence of everything this book was about, “the comfort of reading is constant. It’s a salve for isolation and a haven when we need to escape into someone else’s imagination.”

Crucially, all profits from sales of this second volume go towards supporting two charities - East Surrey Domestic Abuse Services; and Rights of Women. Both organisations do incredible work to support people suffering domestic violence, which alarmingly became a shadow pandemic at the time when we all remained in our homes to fight the COVID pandemic, victims stranded with their abusers and little avenue for escape. Even as the world returned to normality, the work of both these charities remains vitally important and a truly worthy cause for a seasonal anthology of crime fiction.



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