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This Isn't the Place: A Collection of Utah Horror
The restless dead linger where you least expect them.
These 24 stories and poems will take you outside of the house to new locations full of unsettling spirits and weirdness that will crawl under your skin. You’ll find abandoned theme parks, sinister assisted living facilities, dark woods, terrible toys, and even pollution that creeps in ways most unnatural. Find out why it’s not safe to stray too far from home and rethink your travel plans, because This Isn’t the Place.
Featuring stories and poems by Daniel Gene Barlekamp, Charles R. Bernard, Steve Capone Jr., John Daly, S. M. Harmon, Michelle Hartman, Alicia Hilton, Chase Hughes, MJ Huntsgood, Derek Hutchkins, Caryn Larrinaga, Kelley J. P. Lindberg, C. H. Lindsay, Caroline Moreton, Lehua Parker, Cygnus Perry, Jonathan Reddoch, Miranda Renae, Jo Schneider, Bryan Stubbles, Johnny Worthen, and Bryan Young. Foreword by T.J. Tranchell.
These 24 stories and poems will take you outside of the house to new locations full of unsettling spirits and weirdness that will crawl under your skin. You’ll find abandoned theme parks, sinister assisted living facilities, dark woods, terrible toys, and even pollution that creeps in ways most unnatural. Find out why it’s not safe to stray too far from home and rethink your travel plans, because This Isn’t the Place.
Featuring stories and poems by Daniel Gene Barlekamp, Charles R. Bernard, Steve Capone Jr., John Daly, S. M. Harmon, Michelle Hartman, Alicia Hilton, Chase Hughes, MJ Huntsgood, Derek Hutchkins, Caryn Larrinaga, Kelley J. P. Lindberg, C. H. Lindsay, Caroline Moreton, Lehua Parker, Cygnus Perry, Jonathan Reddoch, Miranda Renae, Jo Schneider, Bryan Stubbles, Johnny Worthen, and Bryan Young. Foreword by T.J. Tranchell.
211 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2024
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2025
For most people in Utah the statement of “This is the Place” has an immediate meaning. Using the flip on the title, this collection of places of horror is to take people to new locations. There is a strong subgenre of haunted houses, and now these writers and poets are building on the concept of additional places where the strange stories of the beyond, the fantastic, and the weird take place.
I was given a copy of This Isn’t the Place: A Collection of Utah Horror by the publisher Timber Ghost Press, for review purposes.
I am willing to bet there are people who see this title and think this is probably a lower class of collection because of the theme. I am also willing to bet that if they were to read this collection they would be surprised at the quality of the work.
The overall collection is a variety of horror styles and subgenres. They each give a reader something to think about and raise the sense of wonder of what is happening around us. Is it in our imagination or is it something real that we should be turning on the lights in the hope of chasing them away. And again, not all monsters are creatures from another place. There are monsters living in plain sight.
Many children have imaginary friends. In the opening story, My Best Friend, Steve Capone Jr. takes us on a journey of an adult whose imaginary friend has returned. The friend who used to spend time with him when he was lonely wants to renew the relationship. A gripping twist with the results of how this man acts.
Later in the poem Past Future Imperfectly Tense, poet Michelle Hartman takes us on a look into a quiet looking hotel on the side of the highway. It is an exploration of what is still there and why.
Lehua Parker takes us to work with a medical technician working the night shift at an elderly care facility in A Good Night. The technician is doing their best to help others get a good night’s sleep.
There are twenty-four stories in this collection and that was just a sampling of three of them. Each provides a different take on the overarching theme and gives a reader a ride through the places like the abandoned amusement park we are taken to in Bryan Young’s Kiddieland.
I enjoyed the ride provided by the stories that made it into this collection. Each is worthy to be a part. I have mentioned this before and that a good anthology reads like a good novel. They may not be the same characters or setting, yet when an anthology is put together well it provides the lifts and drops like we experience in a good novel. That is the mark of a good editor. This Isn’t the Place was put together by such an editor. I know one of the editors who worked on this anthology was C.R. Langille, who also runs the publishing house, Timber Ghost Press.
Overall
I enjoyed This Isn’t the Place. I see a lot of horror in the work I do. I found this collection was one of unique storytelling. Yes, they played on familiar themes. But within the framework of expectations each author provided individuality to the story, their characters, and their settings. You may go in thinking you know what to expect, and they give a twist. Even when they didn’t, they leaned into the expectations and delivered a punchy climatic event that created a satisfying ending.
I recommend This Isn’t the Place for readers who enjoy horror. This is a great introduction to the authors included in the work and you may find a new writer to follow.
You can read the complete review at
https://guildmastergaming.blogspot.co...
I was given a copy of This Isn’t the Place: A Collection of Utah Horror by the publisher Timber Ghost Press, for review purposes.
I am willing to bet there are people who see this title and think this is probably a lower class of collection because of the theme. I am also willing to bet that if they were to read this collection they would be surprised at the quality of the work.
The overall collection is a variety of horror styles and subgenres. They each give a reader something to think about and raise the sense of wonder of what is happening around us. Is it in our imagination or is it something real that we should be turning on the lights in the hope of chasing them away. And again, not all monsters are creatures from another place. There are monsters living in plain sight.
Many children have imaginary friends. In the opening story, My Best Friend, Steve Capone Jr. takes us on a journey of an adult whose imaginary friend has returned. The friend who used to spend time with him when he was lonely wants to renew the relationship. A gripping twist with the results of how this man acts.
Later in the poem Past Future Imperfectly Tense, poet Michelle Hartman takes us on a look into a quiet looking hotel on the side of the highway. It is an exploration of what is still there and why.
Lehua Parker takes us to work with a medical technician working the night shift at an elderly care facility in A Good Night. The technician is doing their best to help others get a good night’s sleep.
There are twenty-four stories in this collection and that was just a sampling of three of them. Each provides a different take on the overarching theme and gives a reader a ride through the places like the abandoned amusement park we are taken to in Bryan Young’s Kiddieland.
I enjoyed the ride provided by the stories that made it into this collection. Each is worthy to be a part. I have mentioned this before and that a good anthology reads like a good novel. They may not be the same characters or setting, yet when an anthology is put together well it provides the lifts and drops like we experience in a good novel. That is the mark of a good editor. This Isn’t the Place was put together by such an editor. I know one of the editors who worked on this anthology was C.R. Langille, who also runs the publishing house, Timber Ghost Press.
Overall
I enjoyed This Isn’t the Place. I see a lot of horror in the work I do. I found this collection was one of unique storytelling. Yes, they played on familiar themes. But within the framework of expectations each author provided individuality to the story, their characters, and their settings. You may go in thinking you know what to expect, and they give a twist. Even when they didn’t, they leaned into the expectations and delivered a punchy climatic event that created a satisfying ending.
I recommend This Isn’t the Place for readers who enjoy horror. This is a great introduction to the authors included in the work and you may find a new writer to follow.
You can read the complete review at
https://guildmastergaming.blogspot.co...
December 28, 2024
The theme of this anthology is hauntings that are not in homes and they're all in Utah. I had a great time reading this anthology. All these stories are so creepy and unsettling. Some of the hauntings take place at a rest stop, an abandoned amusement park, a Wal Mart, a ship at the bottom of the ocean, an assisted living facility, and there's also a story in which a person rather than a place is haunted. I highly recommend this anthology to anyone who is into horror.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews