Welcome Despair: A Collection of Short Stories

by Maquel A. Jacob, Rachel E. Robinson (Illustrator)

So, your stomach isn’t strong enough to handle deep horror and gore? Then Welcome Despair is right up your alley. A collection of shorts that lets you dip one foot into the shallow end of horror. Just the slightest touch to create a tiny shiver. A young corporate office worker with nothing left to lose finds himself with a group of hunters who don’t discriminate when it comes to prey. Children on a ravaged planet are abducted by the enemy and learn just how strong they can be. A jaded reporter interviews the leader of a prominent neighborhood. One soul is chased into a plane of existence with no signs of escape. Each story opens a doorway into fear, pain, sorrow and blood. Looking for happy endings? Not here. Come, settle in and Welcome Despair.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Horror

126 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 20, 2015

About the author

Maquel A. Jacob has had a passion for the written word since the age of seven, reading everything she could get her hands on which included encyclopedias and the thesaurus. At twelve, she had her first encounter with a Stephen King novel and was hooked. She became inspired to write her own brand of fiction. Combining multiple genres is her way of keeping things interesting.
Always ready to learn new things, her search for knowledge never ceases. So far she has an Accounting degree, a Business Administration degree, became a certified Nail Technician via Cosmetology school and studied Digital Film and Video at the Art Institute of Portland.
She is a huge Anime fan, loves a great bottle of wine and rocks out to heavy metal music. Green and lush Oregon is where she currently resides spinning imaginary worlds in her head while daydreaming.

Reviews

[Frances]

An honest love-letter to the D-grade horror/SF mashups of the mid-late last century. I appreciated the verve, although I do wish the stories had been better edited to let the ideas come through a little more clearly.

(As a final note: I think the author may be underestimating the amount of horror and gore in these stories by a bit.)

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The blurb says, "this collection of shorts that lets you dip one foot into the shallow end of horror."

I would agree with that assessment. These stories are suspenseful, but only a few delve deeply into horror. Think Tales of the Crypt or Creepshow on the level of horror. However, in one topic, I would say Jacob definitely is fully into horror side of things. She pulls no punches is she explores rape and sexual sadism in 4 out of the 5 stories. There are no happy endings.

FYI: This is not a spoiler, it literally says this on the back of the book.

Her use of language is quite straightforward. There was a few minor typos, but nothing that pulled me out of the story.

I would recommend this book for fans of Tales of the Crypt or Creepshow who aren't upset by reading sexual horror.