When Dolls Talk: A Collection of Short Horror Stories

by Joel R. Dennstedt

A bad world infects our own with wicked ways. This dreadful dimension spawns stories from intruders in our midst. Creatures we call dolls tell awful tales to make us weep, to make us cringe, to make us suffer. The horror...when dolls begin to talk.

142 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2017

About the author

Joel R. Dennstedt is a man of unique experiences. He hiked the wilds of Alaska for 15 years. For 7 ½ years, he and his brother traveled the world with everything they owned in a backpack and a duffel. Now, he writes full-time, drawing from his rich life experiences. He regularly contributes to the writing platform Medium, where he has published over 800 stories, articles, and book reviews. He is also the official Final Editor for a popular series of metaphysical books about Existence—Consciousness—Bliss.

Reviews

[Chantelle Atkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The introductory story, which also gives the collection its name, is a fine example of what to expect should you dare to read this creepy short story collection. Like all the stories which follow, When Dolls Talk, sets up a tense and unsettling situation, provides an odd and disturbing character, and then leads you by the hand to the spine chilling conclusion. What I enjoyed most about these stories was the writing and the way they are written. This is not just an exploration of gore or ghosts, but something far more sophisticated and clever. These stories horrify, but they also make you think. I felt the need to go back over them to see what I had missed. The imagery is superb, the tension unbearable and the characters shocking and yet somehow believable. I felt like I had been on a very strange journey and needed to sit down. Well worth a read for anyone who enjoys creepy tales and twisted characters.

[Mikel Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

You gotta love an indie author who tackles more than one genre, and who has the skill set to entice readers to follow him as he expands his repertoire beyond novellas and romantic adventure and sci fi. That's what's happening with this latest book by Joel Dennstedt, as he ventures into the horror genre with a collection of short stories. Gruesome? Yeah, but with plots full of tension, and good character development. My favorite is the takeoff on Poe, but all are interesting. Horror isn't my favorite genre, but I can hardly wait to see what he tackles next.

[Eva Pasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superlative Sinister Storytelling!

To borrow one of the author’s memorable phrases, this reader found herself “incessantly succumbing” (The Hanged Man) while descending into the bowels of the macabre. The author succeeds in courting and cavorting the macabre in such a way that the hairs on the back of my neck bristled “ like an uninvited hand upon my shoulder, the kind that is sometimes meant to be consoling but more often is endured as if it were a personal intrusion.” (The Watchman).

It’s not as though he didn’t warn the reader either! In “By Demons Possessed,” he suggests that good and evil are joined at the hip, with evil searching for new worlds to corrupt and destroy, leaving abysmal darkness in its wake.

Chuckles! And, rightly so! I succumbed by the conclusion of “When Dolls Talk,” the first story in the collection, gloating when Becky got what she deserved!

Superlative sinister storytelling is also masterminded by the author’s writing style which raises the bar for crafting a story rich in elocution and introspection as he leads the reader along every dark, perverse passage illuminated by the flickers of our own morbid curiosity to peer around every bend.

[Tom Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, five big shiny gold stars. Second, a little advice. If you’re going to be wandering around in Joel Dennstedt’s horror stories, a little preparation is necessary. A reliable flashlight, a new pair of running shoes, and a stout shovel. The flashlight and the running shoes are clearly for dashing through the night woods trying to escape from… you know… that thing chasing you. What about the shovel? The shovel will prove to be even more valuable than the flashlight and running shoes. The shovel is for digging down beneath the surface of the stories to find their deeper meaning, the one hidden beneath those lovely flowing words. These are much more than scary stories, they are parables and metaphors for the human condition, the world we experience, the fears we experience. A word of warning, however. What you find hidden beneath the words may be far scarier than that gurgling thing chasing you through the dark woods.