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Deadman Creep Show: A collection of twist & gore for the hell of it
Indulge in gore and evil with this horror anthology by Jocelyn White. Deadman Creep Show captures the fear, blood-lust and creepiness of our world. From burning your paranoid neighbors alive to cannibalistic clowns and zombies, you'll want to read with your blinds drawn.
189 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 14, 2017
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April 14, 2018
Deadman Creep Show: A collection of twist & gore for the hell of it by Jocelyn White is a collection of 21 short horror stories, perfect for fans of disturbingly gruesome tales. This anthology has a great range of monsters, anywhere from deranged everyday people to killer clowns and zombies. While none of these tales truly scared me, I did find a few that really
creeped
me out.
I feel like I should put a warning in my review - these stories are not for the feint of heart. They're twisted, bloody and graphic. There are also a few trigger topics included (other than murder, death and other typical horror story themes) like thoughts of committing rape, suicide, and dead children - so be warned.
I enjoyed the author's writing style, and I really love how she included so many diverse characters in these stories! I did come across some typos, grammatical and punctuation errors and a repeated sentence - however, I read a review copy, so I'm sure those mistakes will be corrected in the final copy. All of these tales were kept short, but some were only just a few lines long and they seemed to be placed one after the other. I would have liked if the really short ones were spread out more, to make the collection flow better.
_____________________________
1) Appetite - It's Halloween night and Lana needs a ride to the bon-fire party near Dead Man park. When she manages to hitch one with her fellow classmate Kevin, she insists that he joins her and her friends in celebration of the spooky holiday. Although he isn't much of a party person, he relents - afterall, he's always liked Lana. At the very least, he could stay for a bite and then just maybe he'll even end up getting lucky by the end of the night... or maybe not.
2) Noah and Wolfy - They say a dog is a man's best friend, but for little Noah it's always been his stuffed wolf. Through thick and thin, Noah has always been able to depend on his toy to be there by his side. When he finds himself in a deadly situation with no escape, his Wolfy really comes through to save the boy's skin (literally) - it's just a boy and his dog in the zombie apocalypse.
3) Masterpiece - When newly made parents, Naomi and Mosses, hear strange noises coming from their neighbor's apartment they become concerned. Knowing that Dakota has been having a hard time between keeping her music career afloat and staying clean, Naomi decides to be a good friend and check in on her. What she finds in apartment 3E shocks her- it's her neighbor's greatest masterpiece yet, and Naomi is about to become the muse for her next chilling piece.
4) Hungry Carnival - The annual carnival has come to town and this is a very special time for six year old Evelyn, as this will be the first one she ever experiences. Easily distracted by all the attractions the carnival has to offer, she wanders off to play with a couple of older kids, but when they reject her for being too young, she's quickly befriended by a seemingly friendly clown. Mrs. Bubbles gives the girl a balloon to cheer her up, and then another one, and another... leading her away from from those bullying kids. The only problem is, Mrs. Bubbles was fired from the carnival years ago because of her less-than-fun clownish behavior and deeply disturbing diet.
5) Girlfriend from Hail - Drew is taking advantage of the fact that he has the house to himself - it's spring break and his mother and her husband are on vacation. With a nasty storm outside, he decides to stay in and vege out in front of the T.V. eating junk food. Until, that is, the girl he's been crushing on unexpectedly knocks on his door - soaking wet, hungry and acting a bit strangely. Drew isn't much of a cook, but luckily for him, Rosemary isn't much of a picky eater, either.
6) Satisfaction - After Lydia ends her late shift at the bar, she notices something strange near her car - long silvery feathers. Brushing it off as nothing, she goes home to find a note from her husband saying he'll be spending the night watching over his ill mother. Believing to be home alone, she freaks out when she hears sounds coming from upstairs and calls the police to report an intruder. But the police just can't seem to help her... or themselves. What will her husband David be coming home to?
7) 1331 Elm Ave - Betty Harris leaves work exhausted; so tired, in fact, she completely forgot it was Halloween night. When she finally gets home to dress her children in their costumes and take them trick or treating, she gets the biggest shock of her life. Upon opening her door she finds strangers in her house, unfirmiliar furniture, tacky decorations all over the place - this can't be the house she's lived in all her life, and yet it is. Either this is some cruel and elaborate Halloween prank or she just entered a twilight zone. - Told in multiple POV'S
8) Beast and Girl - Rose wakes up in the middle of the woods, with just her red cloak and basket and no recollection of why or how she got to be there. When she hears rustling in the bushes she gets up and runs, and when she hears that she's being chased, she runs faster. When the wolf finally catches up to her, memories of the night before flood her mind. What if the wolf isn't the villain of this story? And If he isn't, then who is?
9) The Scroll - The world is being torn apart by disastrous earthquakes and ravenous rat-like creatures are crawling through the cracks and attacking people. With just one bite these flesh-hungry creatures can put you in agonizing pain and in a state of extreme confusion - if they don't finish you off first, of course. Thankfully, Jacob has discovered the whereabouts of an acient scroll that may hold the key to exterminating these things and saving the world. It's hidden in the city museum of history, he just has to make sure his family is safe before he can go on a mission to retrieve it.
10) A Real Stiff - A couplet based on a married couple enjoying their sex life. The twist? One of them has been dead for months - not even death can separate these lovers.
11) Lonely - This is a story about a girl named Erin, who decides to do something drastic to put herself out of her misery. What happens when the one thing she's been wanting for the last sixteen years shows up on her doorstep, right as it becomes too late for her to change her mind?
12) Mama - Arlett may be a young mother, but she loves her baby. Some people may think she's crazy for it, but she'll never let her little one go. She isn't afraid to show it either, no matter how many strange looks they may get when they go out in public.
13) Mommy's Home - While little David is excited and happy to see his mother for the first time in months, his father is horrified. He stares at his wife like a man who's seen a ghost, and maybe he has... or maybe he's seeing something much, much worse.
14) Purgatory - Simon wakes up in a strange hospital with no memory of what brought him there. With him in the room are two other patients hidden behind curtains. Henry, one of the others, tries to open Simon's eyes to the truth of what really happened, but it isn't until he ends up missing that Simon heeds his words. Slowly but surely his memories come back to him, and when he meets the last patient, E. Lopez, he finally remembers everything - being with the man he loves, the motorcycle, the tunnle, the darkness. He isn't in a hospital, he's in purgatory and his nurse Wendy is about to diagnose his sentence.
15) Behind the Screen - Two students confide in eachother anonymously after meeting in an online college group chat. After months of texting and developing feelings for each other, they finally decide to meet up in person. What happens when they realize that they actually know each other outside of the chat? What's worse is one of them has been bullying and tormenting the other for a long time. The bully begs for forgiveness, but the only way the other one will accept their apology is if they get to dish out a punishment. A harsh one, at that.
16) Redhead - Seven year old Tegan is the victim of a life threatening accident, but as she's on the brink of death she meets a Bughuul with an affinity for redheads. Disoriented and young, she unwittingly asks him for help and agrees to his terms - he'll help her if she helps him. A life for a life. He saved her, so who's life will she have to give him in return? He promises to come back in eight years to collect his redheaded prize - whether it'll be hers or someone else's is up to Tegan. As the eight year mark comes nearer, she begins to fall in love with her boyfriend, Jack. Will she have to say goodbye to her boyfriend or her younger redheaded sister, Ro? She might find that she never even had a choice to begin with.
17) Childhood Friend - Jodi is an intern on an urban farm that has many fields of vegetables and is surrounded by a willow forest and wetlands. One day, when a group of students and their teacher visit during a field trip, she helps give them a tour of the place and chaperones them. When the teacher notices that one of her students are missing, Jodi immediately begins searching the wetlands - the most dangerous area of the farm. Who Jodi finds instead of Jack, is an old childhood friend ready to welcome her back with its long and twisted child-like limbs, jagged smile and mimicking voice.
18) About Daniel - Some people take advice from either the angel or devil sitting on their shoulders and lead balanced lives, but the thing about Daniel is: he has two alter egos shouting advice at him at all times. The problem being - Danny pressures him into to doing horrible things, but Dan suggests he do even worse. Will he side with Danny, Dan or will all three twisted and desperate sets of desires combine, resulting into something none of them want? All of this emotional conflict is over a girl Daniel likes, but can't seem to have.
19) The Institute - After experiencing a terrible tradgedy, Jovianna is placed in a mental hospital to help deal with her trauma. According to her, she doesn't belong with these other patients; she's not crazy, just traumatized. So what if she has nightmares and sees monsters in the shadows? That's normal after what she's been through, right? With a little help from an experimental psychological exercise and a strange, unfriendly patient, Jovianna learns the real root of her problem. Perhaps her shadow monster is real afterall.
20) Vampire Hotel - Jasmine wakes up in a hotel without her fiancé Jamal and with no memory of the night before. When she sees her reflection in the bathroom mirrior, she's shocked to find that she's almost unrecognizable. Soon she realizes what's going on and the danger they're in. When she finds Jamal she comes up with a risky plan to save him, unfortunately, not all plans work out they way we want them to. This is not how she pictured her honeymoon being.
21) Death of Goose Hollow - Ophelia is a princess with cursed royal blood running through her veins. As her 18th birthday nears, so does the day of her wedding to a man she doesn't even know. All her life she's been kept inside of her family's castle walls, waiting for the moment to be wed so that she may finally leave it. However, when her witchy governess shows her how the curse came to be, as well as how to break it, everything changes. She will fix the conflict between her great-great- grandfather and the powerful sorcerer that cursed her family line and earn her freedom - even if she has to get her hands bloody to do it.
____________________________
Overall, I enjoyed this collection. I didn't find any of them particularly frightening, but there are bunch that I thought were twisted and creepy. Due to the lengths of these stories, I didn't get attached to any of these characters, but I think a couple of these stories may stay with me. This book is perfect for someone who's searching for shocking macabre tales and isn't afraid of a little gore. I would also recommend reading this around Halloween time, it will definitely set the mood. This book is currently on KU, so grab a copy for free while you still can!
**** Thank you to Booktasters for introducing me to this author, and to Jocelyn White for providing me with a copy of her book to review. ****
I feel like I should put a warning in my review - these stories are not for the feint of heart. They're twisted, bloody and graphic. There are also a few trigger topics included (other than murder, death and other typical horror story themes) like thoughts of committing rape, suicide, and dead children - so be warned.
I enjoyed the author's writing style, and I really love how she included so many diverse characters in these stories! I did come across some typos, grammatical and punctuation errors and a repeated sentence - however, I read a review copy, so I'm sure those mistakes will be corrected in the final copy. All of these tales were kept short, but some were only just a few lines long and they seemed to be placed one after the other. I would have liked if the really short ones were spread out more, to make the collection flow better.
_____________________________
1) Appetite - It's Halloween night and Lana needs a ride to the bon-fire party near Dead Man park. When she manages to hitch one with her fellow classmate Kevin, she insists that he joins her and her friends in celebration of the spooky holiday. Although he isn't much of a party person, he relents - afterall, he's always liked Lana. At the very least, he could stay for a bite and then just maybe he'll even end up getting lucky by the end of the night... or maybe not.
2) Noah and Wolfy - They say a dog is a man's best friend, but for little Noah it's always been his stuffed wolf. Through thick and thin, Noah has always been able to depend on his toy to be there by his side. When he finds himself in a deadly situation with no escape, his Wolfy really comes through to save the boy's skin (literally) - it's just a boy and his dog in the zombie apocalypse.
3) Masterpiece - When newly made parents, Naomi and Mosses, hear strange noises coming from their neighbor's apartment they become concerned. Knowing that Dakota has been having a hard time between keeping her music career afloat and staying clean, Naomi decides to be a good friend and check in on her. What she finds in apartment 3E shocks her- it's her neighbor's greatest masterpiece yet, and Naomi is about to become the muse for her next chilling piece.
4) Hungry Carnival - The annual carnival has come to town and this is a very special time for six year old Evelyn, as this will be the first one she ever experiences. Easily distracted by all the attractions the carnival has to offer, she wanders off to play with a couple of older kids, but when they reject her for being too young, she's quickly befriended by a seemingly friendly clown. Mrs. Bubbles gives the girl a balloon to cheer her up, and then another one, and another... leading her away from from those bullying kids. The only problem is, Mrs. Bubbles was fired from the carnival years ago because of her less-than-fun clownish behavior and deeply disturbing diet.
5) Girlfriend from Hail - Drew is taking advantage of the fact that he has the house to himself - it's spring break and his mother and her husband are on vacation. With a nasty storm outside, he decides to stay in and vege out in front of the T.V. eating junk food. Until, that is, the girl he's been crushing on unexpectedly knocks on his door - soaking wet, hungry and acting a bit strangely. Drew isn't much of a cook, but luckily for him, Rosemary isn't much of a picky eater, either.
6) Satisfaction - After Lydia ends her late shift at the bar, she notices something strange near her car - long silvery feathers. Brushing it off as nothing, she goes home to find a note from her husband saying he'll be spending the night watching over his ill mother. Believing to be home alone, she freaks out when she hears sounds coming from upstairs and calls the police to report an intruder. But the police just can't seem to help her... or themselves. What will her husband David be coming home to?
7) 1331 Elm Ave - Betty Harris leaves work exhausted; so tired, in fact, she completely forgot it was Halloween night. When she finally gets home to dress her children in their costumes and take them trick or treating, she gets the biggest shock of her life. Upon opening her door she finds strangers in her house, unfirmiliar furniture, tacky decorations all over the place - this can't be the house she's lived in all her life, and yet it is. Either this is some cruel and elaborate Halloween prank or she just entered a twilight zone. - Told in multiple POV'S
8) Beast and Girl - Rose wakes up in the middle of the woods, with just her red cloak and basket and no recollection of why or how she got to be there. When she hears rustling in the bushes she gets up and runs, and when she hears that she's being chased, she runs faster. When the wolf finally catches up to her, memories of the night before flood her mind. What if the wolf isn't the villain of this story? And If he isn't, then who is?
9) The Scroll - The world is being torn apart by disastrous earthquakes and ravenous rat-like creatures are crawling through the cracks and attacking people. With just one bite these flesh-hungry creatures can put you in agonizing pain and in a state of extreme confusion - if they don't finish you off first, of course. Thankfully, Jacob has discovered the whereabouts of an acient scroll that may hold the key to exterminating these things and saving the world. It's hidden in the city museum of history, he just has to make sure his family is safe before he can go on a mission to retrieve it.
10) A Real Stiff - A couplet based on a married couple enjoying their sex life. The twist? One of them has been dead for months - not even death can separate these lovers.
11) Lonely - This is a story about a girl named Erin, who decides to do something drastic to put herself out of her misery. What happens when the one thing she's been wanting for the last sixteen years shows up on her doorstep, right as it becomes too late for her to change her mind?
12) Mama - Arlett may be a young mother, but she loves her baby. Some people may think she's crazy for it, but she'll never let her little one go. She isn't afraid to show it either, no matter how many strange looks they may get when they go out in public.
13) Mommy's Home - While little David is excited and happy to see his mother for the first time in months, his father is horrified. He stares at his wife like a man who's seen a ghost, and maybe he has... or maybe he's seeing something much, much worse.
14) Purgatory - Simon wakes up in a strange hospital with no memory of what brought him there. With him in the room are two other patients hidden behind curtains. Henry, one of the others, tries to open Simon's eyes to the truth of what really happened, but it isn't until he ends up missing that Simon heeds his words. Slowly but surely his memories come back to him, and when he meets the last patient, E. Lopez, he finally remembers everything - being with the man he loves, the motorcycle, the tunnle, the darkness. He isn't in a hospital, he's in purgatory and his nurse Wendy is about to diagnose his sentence.
15) Behind the Screen - Two students confide in eachother anonymously after meeting in an online college group chat. After months of texting and developing feelings for each other, they finally decide to meet up in person. What happens when they realize that they actually know each other outside of the chat? What's worse is one of them has been bullying and tormenting the other for a long time. The bully begs for forgiveness, but the only way the other one will accept their apology is if they get to dish out a punishment. A harsh one, at that.
16) Redhead - Seven year old Tegan is the victim of a life threatening accident, but as she's on the brink of death she meets a Bughuul with an affinity for redheads. Disoriented and young, she unwittingly asks him for help and agrees to his terms - he'll help her if she helps him. A life for a life. He saved her, so who's life will she have to give him in return? He promises to come back in eight years to collect his redheaded prize - whether it'll be hers or someone else's is up to Tegan. As the eight year mark comes nearer, she begins to fall in love with her boyfriend, Jack. Will she have to say goodbye to her boyfriend or her younger redheaded sister, Ro? She might find that she never even had a choice to begin with.
17) Childhood Friend - Jodi is an intern on an urban farm that has many fields of vegetables and is surrounded by a willow forest and wetlands. One day, when a group of students and their teacher visit during a field trip, she helps give them a tour of the place and chaperones them. When the teacher notices that one of her students are missing, Jodi immediately begins searching the wetlands - the most dangerous area of the farm. Who Jodi finds instead of Jack, is an old childhood friend ready to welcome her back with its long and twisted child-like limbs, jagged smile and mimicking voice.
18) About Daniel - Some people take advice from either the angel or devil sitting on their shoulders and lead balanced lives, but the thing about Daniel is: he has two alter egos shouting advice at him at all times. The problem being - Danny pressures him into to doing horrible things, but Dan suggests he do even worse. Will he side with Danny, Dan or will all three twisted and desperate sets of desires combine, resulting into something none of them want? All of this emotional conflict is over a girl Daniel likes, but can't seem to have.
19) The Institute - After experiencing a terrible tradgedy, Jovianna is placed in a mental hospital to help deal with her trauma. According to her, she doesn't belong with these other patients; she's not crazy, just traumatized. So what if she has nightmares and sees monsters in the shadows? That's normal after what she's been through, right? With a little help from an experimental psychological exercise and a strange, unfriendly patient, Jovianna learns the real root of her problem. Perhaps her shadow monster is real afterall.
20) Vampire Hotel - Jasmine wakes up in a hotel without her fiancé Jamal and with no memory of the night before. When she sees her reflection in the bathroom mirrior, she's shocked to find that she's almost unrecognizable. Soon she realizes what's going on and the danger they're in. When she finds Jamal she comes up with a risky plan to save him, unfortunately, not all plans work out they way we want them to. This is not how she pictured her honeymoon being.
21) Death of Goose Hollow - Ophelia is a princess with cursed royal blood running through her veins. As her 18th birthday nears, so does the day of her wedding to a man she doesn't even know. All her life she's been kept inside of her family's castle walls, waiting for the moment to be wed so that she may finally leave it. However, when her witchy governess shows her how the curse came to be, as well as how to break it, everything changes. She will fix the conflict between her great-great- grandfather and the powerful sorcerer that cursed her family line and earn her freedom - even if she has to get her hands bloody to do it.
____________________________
Overall, I enjoyed this collection. I didn't find any of them particularly frightening, but there are bunch that I thought were twisted and creepy. Due to the lengths of these stories, I didn't get attached to any of these characters, but I think a couple of these stories may stay with me. This book is perfect for someone who's searching for shocking macabre tales and isn't afraid of a little gore. I would also recommend reading this around Halloween time, it will definitely set the mood. This book is currently on KU, so grab a copy for free while you still can!
**** Thank you to Booktasters for introducing me to this author, and to Jocelyn White for providing me with a copy of her book to review. ****
September 15, 2018
Deadman Creep Show is a fairly quick read. It's a collection of short horror stories, and to be fair a few of them did manage to get me on edge, but mostly they were just fun to read, even the "gory" parts.
The writing was fine, although many times I found the character's reaction to be so completely ridiculous and unrealistic that I had to pause and re-read, while mentally shaking my head.
Example:
I mean, who says that when someone knocks on the door *eye roll*
Also, there were many grammatical and spelling mistakes, with guys being referred to as "she" and vice versa. I hope they will be corrected.
I also didn't like portraying attractive girls as "predators", with the poor guy falling for their irresistible charm and then getting eaten, which occurred in at least 2 stories -more, if we count the instances where good-looking girls were crazy homicidal bi*ches. Which reminds me: there weren't any original ideas floating around; vampires, zombies, monsters, cannibals, crazy murderers...It gets quite predictable very soon.
And the last two stories were so bad, I had to rush through them just to get it over with.
Having said that, it was still a bit fun to read, for the most part (it being short helped a lot). I really liked the 2-3 sentence stories, perhaps because I think it's really amazing to creep someone out with only a few lines. The stories I liked were: A Masterpiece, Satisfaction, A Real Stiff, Lonely, Mommy's Home, and Behind the Screen.
The writing was fine, although many times I found the character's reaction to be so completely ridiculous and unrealistic that I had to pause and re-read, while mentally shaking my head.
Example:
"Before I open this door," he began with false bravado, "I need to know who I am opening it to...and why."
I mean, who says that when someone knocks on the door *eye roll*
Also, there were many grammatical and spelling mistakes, with guys being referred to as "she" and vice versa. I hope they will be corrected.
I also didn't like portraying attractive girls as "predators", with the poor guy falling for their irresistible charm and then getting eaten, which occurred in at least 2 stories -more, if we count the instances where good-looking girls were crazy homicidal bi*ches. Which reminds me: there weren't any original ideas floating around; vampires, zombies, monsters, cannibals, crazy murderers...It gets quite predictable very soon.
And the last two stories were so bad, I had to rush through them just to get it over with.
Having said that, it was still a bit fun to read, for the most part (it being short helped a lot). I really liked the 2-3 sentence stories, perhaps because I think it's really amazing to creep someone out with only a few lines. The stories I liked were: A Masterpiece, Satisfaction, A Real Stiff, Lonely, Mommy's Home, and Behind the Screen.
March 12, 2018
Rating: 3/5 stars.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. This was my first time doing anything like that and I must say, it was really fun to pick up some original fiction for change. When I saw the giveaway on twitter I was pretty intrigued, and I was excited when I saw this book for the first time. I loved the cover picture, and the tags “horror” and “anthology” had me right in. It made for a quick and fun read, the title pun “stories for the hell of it” holds a special place in my heart. It wasn’t particularly scary, but it did a good job of surprising me in general. It promises what’s on the package: twisted stories and plenty of gore alright. Trigger warnings: there is a lot of graphic violence and gore, to be expected, slurs of a misogynist, sexist and homophobic nature, and at one point non-con BDSM. You’ve been warned.
What I appreciated most was the variety and open-mindedness of some stories. The anthology is comprised short stories and some flash fiction, with varying themes and casts. Though there are quite a few recurrences (particularly that of vampires and zombies) it’s all fresh and new. Some of the ideas are ones which I would never have imagined and which were frankly interesting. The inclusion of POCs and LGBT individuals was something I greatly appreciated, though I felt that some descriptions were a bit too much (I mean, “cocoa skin”?) There were some pretty classic tropes too: the recurrent presence of creatures like clowns, zombies and vampires didn’t bother me, but as many of these stories packed rather similar endings for their characters I felt that they might as well have been regrouped in a single one.
The ideas were interesting overall, but I felt that the treatment of each story was a bit unequal. The execution of some of them could have been better. Even though it is an anthology with many stories, I wish the author would have made some of the stories a little longer, described the events and shaped the character’s personality and past a little more. Most of the time you’re left to discover things about the people and context as you go on, and the information is pretty much thrown in with at times no direct relation to what’s been said before. It’s a shame, because if you separate events and character development both can be promising. In the same way, I’m not a big fan of the stories staring teenagers. It feels like the author insisted too much on the cliché of teens being edgy and sarcastic more than anything else.
The anthology was a fun read though, but it could have been better in some places. There were a few typos, punctuation and grammar mistakes, but nothing terrible. When it comes to format, I think that the few flash stories which were placed in the middle should have been short stories instead, or put in another anthology dedicated to horror flash fiction. However they were good and to the point, very effective in shocking the reader. Personal favourites among all the stories include “Masterpiece”, “Satisfaction”, “1331 Elm Av”, “Purgatory” and “The Institute”.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. This was my first time doing anything like that and I must say, it was really fun to pick up some original fiction for change. When I saw the giveaway on twitter I was pretty intrigued, and I was excited when I saw this book for the first time. I loved the cover picture, and the tags “horror” and “anthology” had me right in. It made for a quick and fun read, the title pun “stories for the hell of it” holds a special place in my heart. It wasn’t particularly scary, but it did a good job of surprising me in general. It promises what’s on the package: twisted stories and plenty of gore alright. Trigger warnings: there is a lot of graphic violence and gore, to be expected, slurs of a misogynist, sexist and homophobic nature, and at one point non-con BDSM. You’ve been warned.
What I appreciated most was the variety and open-mindedness of some stories. The anthology is comprised short stories and some flash fiction, with varying themes and casts. Though there are quite a few recurrences (particularly that of vampires and zombies) it’s all fresh and new. Some of the ideas are ones which I would never have imagined and which were frankly interesting. The inclusion of POCs and LGBT individuals was something I greatly appreciated, though I felt that some descriptions were a bit too much (I mean, “cocoa skin”?) There were some pretty classic tropes too: the recurrent presence of creatures like clowns, zombies and vampires didn’t bother me, but as many of these stories packed rather similar endings for their characters I felt that they might as well have been regrouped in a single one.
The ideas were interesting overall, but I felt that the treatment of each story was a bit unequal. The execution of some of them could have been better. Even though it is an anthology with many stories, I wish the author would have made some of the stories a little longer, described the events and shaped the character’s personality and past a little more. Most of the time you’re left to discover things about the people and context as you go on, and the information is pretty much thrown in with at times no direct relation to what’s been said before. It’s a shame, because if you separate events and character development both can be promising. In the same way, I’m not a big fan of the stories staring teenagers. It feels like the author insisted too much on the cliché of teens being edgy and sarcastic more than anything else.
The anthology was a fun read though, but it could have been better in some places. There were a few typos, punctuation and grammar mistakes, but nothing terrible. When it comes to format, I think that the few flash stories which were placed in the middle should have been short stories instead, or put in another anthology dedicated to horror flash fiction. However they were good and to the point, very effective in shocking the reader. Personal favourites among all the stories include “Masterpiece”, “Satisfaction”, “1331 Elm Av”, “Purgatory” and “The Institute”.
March 22, 2018
The quirkiness of this book held my attention from the on-set. We have scenarios, but they don’t play out in a way in which you’d imagine when you read it. For short stories the characters were extremely well conjured & relatable to straight away for a short story this to me is a difficult thing to achieve.
Herewith are the favourites of the anthology: -
Redhead-A tale of a girl promising the life of another redhead namely her sister to a Bughuul-a shapeshifter, a creature in exchange to keep her own life. The author could easily capitalise on this & make it a novella. This was my favourite, I love the life for a life promises, the not so happy endings, the pacts which can’t be broken. They’ll find you & they’ll get you.
Hungry Carnival-A child visiting the carnival unsuspectingly gracious in receiving the gift of a balloon. This would be her downfall. I liked the portrayal of the child’s personality in this story-for a story that is 6 pages long this character was captured perfectly.
1331 Elm Avenue-A very fresh take on a story told from 3 different characters viewpoints focusing on the events of a woman with dementia.
Noah & Wolfy-A child & his stuffed toy hiding for safety when a town is turned from mortal to immortal, at a price. I liked this as previous the child like mannerisms & character, the innocence is palatable.
Purgatory-A story of a fatal crash & round & round we go as in a merry go round before we realise we are conducting the same rituals, before we realise we are in fact dead.
There is some flash fiction in the book which is nice as it breaks it up a bit, Mommy’s Home is my favourite.
I really enjoyed this book, if you are a fan of short stories this is for you, original writing, nicely paced, I look forward to seeing how this authors’ work progresses.
Herewith are the favourites of the anthology: -
Redhead-A tale of a girl promising the life of another redhead namely her sister to a Bughuul-a shapeshifter, a creature in exchange to keep her own life. The author could easily capitalise on this & make it a novella. This was my favourite, I love the life for a life promises, the not so happy endings, the pacts which can’t be broken. They’ll find you & they’ll get you.
Hungry Carnival-A child visiting the carnival unsuspectingly gracious in receiving the gift of a balloon. This would be her downfall. I liked the portrayal of the child’s personality in this story-for a story that is 6 pages long this character was captured perfectly.
1331 Elm Avenue-A very fresh take on a story told from 3 different characters viewpoints focusing on the events of a woman with dementia.
Noah & Wolfy-A child & his stuffed toy hiding for safety when a town is turned from mortal to immortal, at a price. I liked this as previous the child like mannerisms & character, the innocence is palatable.
Purgatory-A story of a fatal crash & round & round we go as in a merry go round before we realise we are conducting the same rituals, before we realise we are in fact dead.
There is some flash fiction in the book which is nice as it breaks it up a bit, Mommy’s Home is my favourite.
I really enjoyed this book, if you are a fan of short stories this is for you, original writing, nicely paced, I look forward to seeing how this authors’ work progresses.
March 23, 2018
First of all, I must say that I liked the book. Many of the stories contained in the anthology do not immediately send chills down your spine; but they certainly do when you analyze a little below their surface.
After having read so much about the genre, it isn't easy for a book to truly surprise me for being new and different to the foundations. But definitely, I love seeing how anthologies of horror stories are evolving; and of course at this time, the originality of each writer lies in making unique combinations from pre-existing concepts, just like it is in these stories.
In my opinion books should reflect the time in which they were written, and this book fulfills quite well that purpose. It reflects quite well many aspects of society as it's today, whether they are adding classical elements of the genre, modern elements or both at the same time.
Although like any book, it also has not so favorable aspects.
******************* SPOILER WARNING ************************ ***
That is, although the classic monsters (Zombies, Vampires, Succubi, Hungry evil creatures that devours human flesh) and gore make an appearance in many of the stories contained in the book, in addition, of course to the protagonist own inability to perceive the danger, or to accept that perceives it, as in "Appetite", there are also elements of horror that are not so classic, that evoke feelings and phenomena not embodied in a monster itself.
Such as paranoia, madness, envy ("Masterpiece"); low self-esteem and personality disorders ("About Daniel"); the chaos that follows natural disasters (as in "The Scroll"); nuclear attacks ("Lonely"); death, the afterlife, guilt (as in" Purgatory "or" The Institute "); bloodlines that carry curses, which, when fulfilled, bring a fatal fate to their wearers (" Death of Goose Hollow " ) etc., things have always terrified us as a humans we are since days of yore. In addition to the classic elements, which we can find them in a modern environment. For example, in "Girlfriend for Hail" or in "Satisfaction", or also, vice versa: modern elements in a slightly more classic environment ("Vampire Hotel" or "Death of Goose Hollow").
And also, as horror comes in so many shapes, the new horrors of our current society jumps to the eye in this book. Horrors which are solely meant to reflect the harshness of life as it is, under certain circumstances. A pure example of this is "Mama" or "Beast and the Girl". These "new" horrors aren't always captured in detail within the everyday life, but I'm personally afraid of it and it makes me shiver just to think of myself as the protagonist of one of those stories.
But we also found mixed this modern aspect with a the classics, in stories like "Noah and Wolfy" and "Hungry Carnival". The terror you feel towards classic cannibal clown contrasts well with a couple of parents who are not very concerned about taking proper care of their 6-year-old daughter. Or the loneliness and hopelessness that is glimpsed when the baby Noah loses his parents and must survive with the help of nature(in the shape of a wolf) in a condemned world: populated by zombies. Or women, princesses or not, condemned to fulfill the designs of their family as if that were their only purpose in life, even if that means living a life that doesn't know freedom, and this is only achievable when it is decided to reach it by own -violent-hand ("Death of Goose Hollow").
As you may have noticed, in most of the stories contained in the anthology I have found that the elements of horror and gore are adequately mixed with social problems that we are currently facing. But there was a notable exception with "Behind the Screen". While bulliying is a serious problem that, although it has always existed, is until now when we begin to see it as something unnatural; the "detail" that I find in discordance with the structure of the rest of the stories, is that it's a story that wants to cover too much and ends up feeling false, to put it somehow. It includes two topics that could have been treated separately: bulliying + BDSM. I know that this is a work of fiction, and it is not unreasonable to write a story that covers both topics, but I think I would have enjoyed it much more separately, or if they had been executed in another way. Because adding the
fact, that the reason for the bulliying in the story is, the physical appearance and sexual preferences of their protagonists, is too much, it could even be misinterpreted as an attempt to stereotype people who aren't heterosexual to having some kind of preference for practicing BDSM Just saying. On the other hand, in "Purgatory", the homosexuality of both protagonists is perfectly approached, as it is a background topic but feels perfectly present through the story.
Also, in moments, in the stories I felt that the "baby", "doll", "dear", etc. they were too much, however, it doesn't really bother me because it seems that it is the personal touch of the author or so I think.
So, in general it's a entertaining book that also invites you to reflect about the society and the role or roles you (and people around you) can be playing in it, more than only scare you momentarily.
After having read so much about the genre, it isn't easy for a book to truly surprise me for being new and different to the foundations. But definitely, I love seeing how anthologies of horror stories are evolving; and of course at this time, the originality of each writer lies in making unique combinations from pre-existing concepts, just like it is in these stories.
In my opinion books should reflect the time in which they were written, and this book fulfills quite well that purpose. It reflects quite well many aspects of society as it's today, whether they are adding classical elements of the genre, modern elements or both at the same time.
Although like any book, it also has not so favorable aspects.
******************* SPOILER WARNING ************************ ***
That is, although the classic monsters (Zombies, Vampires, Succubi, Hungry evil creatures that devours human flesh) and gore make an appearance in many of the stories contained in the book, in addition, of course to the protagonist own inability to perceive the danger, or to accept that perceives it, as in "Appetite", there are also elements of horror that are not so classic, that evoke feelings and phenomena not embodied in a monster itself.
Such as paranoia, madness, envy ("Masterpiece"); low self-esteem and personality disorders ("About Daniel"); the chaos that follows natural disasters (as in "The Scroll"); nuclear attacks ("Lonely"); death, the afterlife, guilt (as in" Purgatory "or" The Institute "); bloodlines that carry curses, which, when fulfilled, bring a fatal fate to their wearers (" Death of Goose Hollow " ) etc., things have always terrified us as a humans we are since days of yore. In addition to the classic elements, which we can find them in a modern environment. For example, in "Girlfriend for Hail" or in "Satisfaction", or also, vice versa: modern elements in a slightly more classic environment ("Vampire Hotel" or "Death of Goose Hollow").
And also, as horror comes in so many shapes, the new horrors of our current society jumps to the eye in this book. Horrors which are solely meant to reflect the harshness of life as it is, under certain circumstances. A pure example of this is "Mama" or "Beast and the Girl". These "new" horrors aren't always captured in detail within the everyday life, but I'm personally afraid of it and it makes me shiver just to think of myself as the protagonist of one of those stories.
But we also found mixed this modern aspect with a the classics, in stories like "Noah and Wolfy" and "Hungry Carnival". The terror you feel towards classic cannibal clown contrasts well with a couple of parents who are not very concerned about taking proper care of their 6-year-old daughter. Or the loneliness and hopelessness that is glimpsed when the baby Noah loses his parents and must survive with the help of nature(in the shape of a wolf) in a condemned world: populated by zombies. Or women, princesses or not, condemned to fulfill the designs of their family as if that were their only purpose in life, even if that means living a life that doesn't know freedom, and this is only achievable when it is decided to reach it by own -violent-hand ("Death of Goose Hollow").
As you may have noticed, in most of the stories contained in the anthology I have found that the elements of horror and gore are adequately mixed with social problems that we are currently facing. But there was a notable exception with "Behind the Screen". While bulliying is a serious problem that, although it has always existed, is until now when we begin to see it as something unnatural; the "detail" that I find in discordance with the structure of the rest of the stories, is that it's a story that wants to cover too much and ends up feeling false, to put it somehow. It includes two topics that could have been treated separately: bulliying + BDSM. I know that this is a work of fiction, and it is not unreasonable to write a story that covers both topics, but I think I would have enjoyed it much more separately, or if they had been executed in another way. Because adding the
fact, that the reason for the bulliying in the story is, the physical appearance and sexual preferences of their protagonists, is too much, it could even be misinterpreted as an attempt to stereotype people who aren't heterosexual to having some kind of preference for practicing BDSM Just saying. On the other hand, in "Purgatory", the homosexuality of both protagonists is perfectly approached, as it is a background topic but feels perfectly present through the story.
Also, in moments, in the stories I felt that the "baby", "doll", "dear", etc. they were too much, however, it doesn't really bother me because it seems that it is the personal touch of the author or so I think.
So, in general it's a entertaining book that also invites you to reflect about the society and the role or roles you (and people around you) can be playing in it, more than only scare you momentarily.
March 29, 2018
From twisted tales just a couple of sentences long to short stories about all manner of creepy creatures, Jocelyn White's book is one you'll want to read during daylight hours. The characters she writes, human or otherwise, are well-crafted and many of the stories have unexpected turns. Sometimes I had to go back a few paragraphs and re-read them after asking myself, "What just happened here?!" I look forward to seeing more of her work.
May 31, 2018
**OBTAINED: Goodreads Giveaway**
Deadman Creep Show: A Collection of Twist and Gore for the Hell of it, by Jocelyn White, was a fairly cool collection of 21 spooky shorts stories, though many were predictable and somewhat unoriginal. Some of the stories were pretty interesting, however. For the most part they were an intriguing bunch. It was an decent anthology. But being a "horror anthology" I deeply wished it had been more horrific. I would better describe the collection as dark fiction or grim fiction rather than horror. This is not a scary bunch of stories. Here is how the blurb describes the anthology.
"Indulge in gore and evil with this horror anthology by Jocelyn White. Deadman Creep Show captures the fear, blood-lust and creepiness of our world. From burning your paranoid neighbors alive to cannibalistic clowns and zombies, you'll want to read with your blinds drawn." -Book Blurb
Wait? Why do I want to read these with my blinds drawn? Like, do I want to read these in private because of how scary and/or obscene? Should I be ashamed to read these in public??? Do I want my blinds drawn open or drawn closed? Weird... Anyways, here are my reviews for each short story. No spoilers.
APPETITE: Appetite was less than original, nor was it the least bit scary in my opinion. It is the story of a college guy, Kevin Nguyen, who picks up a fellow college girl, Lana Garcia, hitchhiking. I honestly feel the author should have picked a scarier story for the intro. The intro draws the reader in and is very important. After reading this one, all I felt was "meh." Predictable. The story goes exactly where you think it will go, sadly. No shock, no twist, no wow. Certainly not scary. [RATING: 0.5 STAR]
NOAH AND WOLFY: Noah and Wolfy was a good one. A little odd, but original. The post-apocalyptic story consists of a three year old boy, Noah and his toy husky named Wolfy, as they try to stay alive after a zombie virus outbreak. The ending was unique. I really enjoyed this one. Though not scary, it was entertaining. [RATING: 4.5 STARS]
MASTERPIECE: Masterpiece was pretty interesting. It concerned a new mother, Naomi who gets a short break from motherhood to go visit her looney neighbor and supposed friend, Dakota, a failing musician. It ends, well, interestingly enough. I liked the feel of it, especially the elevator scene, although it seemed irrelevant to the overall premise. It was an entertaining short. [RATING: 3 STARS]
HUNGRY CARNIVAL: Hungry Carnival was an interesting read, about a six year old girl, named Evelyn Gray, who meets a way-too-friendly clown named Miss Bubbles at a carnival, but honestly I love clowns far too much to read over hashed clown hate. Clowns rock, okay? I know, I’m probably the minority here, but they just aren’t scary to me. They are not evil. Just chill folks wearing makeup, wanting to give some laughs. They are just cool peeps. So villainizing the clown felt pretty overdone and predictable. Downright blatant clownism there. But there was a clown...So I liked it alright. I don’t get enough clownie reads in my life. So this one was alright by me. [RATING: 3 STARS]
GIRLFRIEND FROM HAIL: Girlfriend from Hail was interesting but not very original. I’m starting to see a pattern here. The story here was about a young man, Drew Mason, who receives an odd visit from his crush, Rosemary, while his parents are out of town. The events that follow are unsurprising. [RATING: 1 STAR]
SATISFACTION: Satisfaction was a weird one for me. I honestly don’t get it. Am I missing something? It concerns a lady, Lydia, who suffers an odd home invasions by a...thing. Not sure really what that was about. It was suspenseful but nothing was explained and the ending felt pointless. I liked the writing of this one but its execution felt off. [RATING: 2 STARS]
1331 ELM AVE: 1331 Elm Ave was....different to say the least. Huh. It was interesting but inconclusive. Betty Harris returns home from a busy day of work to find her place changed, not what it used to be. This story is told in different perspectives, and although I liked that style of writing, the added voices didn’t really add much to the story, overall. The ending was not really an ending. It felt incomplete to me. Interesting idea however. [RATING: 1 STAR]
BEAST AND GIRL: Beast and Girl was a cool story, a unique twist on the little red riding hood type of story. A girl, Rose, wakes up in the forest running from a creature, presumably a big bad wolf. The twist is pretty neat but not unforeseeable. I liked this one pretty well though. [RATING: 3 STARS]
THE SCROLL: The scroll was almost too short for me. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world after giant earthquakes have destroyed the earth and giant rat monsters have crawled out and begin attacking people. For some reason the guy, Jacob, believes an ancient scroll to be the answer. I felt like I was reading a premise to a book, rather than a short story. It could have been cool if drawn out a bit longer, if it had more point. I would read a full sized book about some of these stories but being so short they hardly have any real impact. [RATING: 1.5 STARS]
A REAL STIFF: A Real Stiff was just lame. Not even a story. Just a lame sentence, as if lobbed in there for mere for shock appeal. Wow. So edgy. Not. [RATING: 0 STARS]
LONELY: Lonely, another teeny story, more flash fiction than short story really, is about a nuclear holocaust survivor named Erin who commits suicide just as another survivor shows up. [RATING: 0 STARS]
MAMA: Mama was a another flash fiction piece, only a few sentences long and without any meaning. A teen mom, Arlette holds a stillborn baby on public bus. The end. Lame. [RATING: 0 STARS]
MOMMY’S HOME: Mommy’s Home was another silly short blurb. Can’t even call these stories. This one is apparently about a mom that comes out of the grave to hug her kid. No real story here to speak of. Blah. [RATING: 0 STARS]
PURGATORY: Purgatory was an interesting read for sure. After a nasty motorcycle accident Simon wakes up in the hospital, but things aren’t what they seem. Honestly the title gives it away so not much of a twist, but still pretty neat. Reminds me of The Twilight Zone. Loved that show. [RATING: 4.5 STARS]
BEHIND THE SCREEN: Behind the Screen was a really well written and compelling short story. I liked this one a lot, everything except the ending. The story is two college students meeting in an anonymous school chat room, and becoming friends over time. The twist is that they really know each other out of the chat. It could have had a better twist or something scary. The ending was so blah. It just felt so random, and unfitting. The writing was really well done though in this one. I really like the way it was written, part in chat text, part in the characters mind and life. This would make a great full length novel, if expanded. [RATING: 4.5 STARS]
REDHEAD: Redhead is a short story about a girl named Tegan who was saved from a gruesome accident by a mysterious entity called a Baghuul, in exchange for her, but begging for her life she agrees that he can have her baby sister. He is to return eight years later and claim either her or her sister. This story had a cool feel to it. It was one I liked. It was another shortie that could make a nice full length story. [RATING: 4 STARS]
CHILDHOOD FRIEND: Childhood Friend is a odd tale about a woman interning on a farm and goes looking for a missing child down in the wetlands only to find a creature from her childhood nightmares. It was a neat read but the ending was pretty vague. The story was pretty compelling though. [RATING: 3.5 STARS]
ABOUT DANIEL: About Daniel, is about Daniel, the lackluster son of a prominent town doctor who is shy and awkward and deals with a devious alter ego and bullying for his odd behavior. He has a huge crush on a girl named Sara Joon that escalates to dangerous places. This was very cool one, well written, conclusive, very vivd. I liked it a lot. [RATING: 4.5 STARS]
THE INSTITUTE: The Institute was a short story concerning Jovianna who is staying in a mental hospital after experiencing a terrible trauma, the murder of her parents, and then haunted by nightmares and a shadow monster. This was a neat read. Well written and vivid, though the ending felt a bit vague. It was a good story, however. [RATING: 4 STARS]
VAMPIRE HOTEL: Vampire Hotel is a short story about Jasmine and her new husband, Jamal’s, honeymoon, after waking up from a mysterious night, she finds that she is no longer human and tries to save her husband. Needless to say, things go awry. This was an alright story, though a bit predictable. Meh. [RATING: 2 STARS]
DEATH OF GOOSE HOLLOW: Death of Goose Hollow was a story a bit more in the vein of dark fantasy than horror but it was fascinating all the same. The story is about Ophelia, who is apart of a cursed family and because of the curse is bound to stay in the castle until she is to be married off to a stranger. One day, her governess sheds light on a family secret and Ophelia is compelled to act in order to free herself. [RATING: 4 STARS]
Overall, this was a mixed bag. A love/hate mixed bag of shortie shorts. Some stories were really cool, while some were...not so much. One thing I did not like, was that in a few of the stories, the author uses very unsubtle phrases hinting what will happen before it does, as if that helps with the suspense, but really it only spoils the ending, leaving no surprise. Show, don’t tell. We don’t need foreshadowing to spoil the ending, especially when the ending can be seen coming from a mile away. That usually only works in longer books, where the suspense needs to be really built up before the final twist. In short stories, well there isn’t a whole lot of building up time and the shock factor is really needed.
Here is a quote for example...
"Though somewhere in his mind he knew she was teasing for her entertainment, but deep down, to be honest, Kevin felt like he should have been scared. Maybe even terrified, because he was in the car with a vicious predator. He just didn’t know it yet."
Eesh. Spoiled the ending there. Thanks. Another thing I might want to add is that this book needs some better editing. There were a good deal of grammatical, and general punctuation errors. Also sentence structure was pretty wack. Not to be a grammar nazi here... but sentences need to start with a capitalized letter, commas used properly, etc. it makes a book more readable. There. I’m done nit-picking. It certainly wasn’t the worst edited book I’ve read, just a bit on the sloppy side.
On the bright side, these stories were short and fairly interesting. With more work they could be polished into nice little gems. Overall, it wasn’t a bad read. Just not the best. I was glad the author created diverse sets of characters. That made it refreshing. I also loved the child perspective stories for some reason, maybe it seems to be something rarely done in fiction, and it just worked in this collection. Not many stories center around three and six year olds, but it gave the story an interesting feeling of vulnerability and sympathy for the child’s naivety and innocence. Another note worthy aspect was the victimization of men rather than just women. Most genres of horror and suspense tend to victimize women primarily. That was a nice unique touch. Also, the cover is way cooler in person than what is shown on GR. I would recommend this anthology to readers of dark fiction, just don’t expect anything actually scary.
[CONTENT & TRIGGER WARNING BELOW...]
[OFFICIAL RATING: 3.5 STARS]
[CONTENT NOTE: Deadman Creep Show: A Collection of Twist and Gore for the Hell of it contains quite a bit of graphic content, as the title suggests, such as violence (typical gorey vampire, zombie, monster violence etc.) some child abuse, child cruelty and murder though not overly graphic (in one story a child is subjected to zombie violence, witnessing the death of both parents etc, in another a child is eaten by a cannibal clown, though the scene is not vividly described but vaguely mentioned...) graphic self defense (in one story a person is lit on fire after being attacked, in other stories people are bitten, wounded, eaten, harmed in general.) cannibalism (a clown eats a child, but it is not graphically described, only mentioned) necrophilia/zombie sex (a brief sentence describing sex between a married couple, but the husband has been dead for six months apparently. Brief and silly) subtle themes of suicide, bullying and a larger scene of non-consensual bdsm, misunderstanding or bad interpretations of serious mental illnesses such as multiple personality disorder and anorexia nervosa (a character with some kind of MPD becomes a killer, as typical of the horror genre, and another character "develops" anorexia after witnessing his crush kill someone.) patricide (killing of ones parents in at least two stories) some language, alcohol, etc...oh yeah and outright hateful clownism.]
Deadman Creep Show: A Collection of Twist and Gore for the Hell of it, by Jocelyn White, was a fairly cool collection of 21 spooky shorts stories, though many were predictable and somewhat unoriginal. Some of the stories were pretty interesting, however. For the most part they were an intriguing bunch. It was an decent anthology. But being a "horror anthology" I deeply wished it had been more horrific. I would better describe the collection as dark fiction or grim fiction rather than horror. This is not a scary bunch of stories. Here is how the blurb describes the anthology.
"Indulge in gore and evil with this horror anthology by Jocelyn White. Deadman Creep Show captures the fear, blood-lust and creepiness of our world. From burning your paranoid neighbors alive to cannibalistic clowns and zombies, you'll want to read with your blinds drawn." -Book Blurb
Wait? Why do I want to read these with my blinds drawn? Like, do I want to read these in private because of how scary and/or obscene? Should I be ashamed to read these in public??? Do I want my blinds drawn open or drawn closed? Weird... Anyways, here are my reviews for each short story. No spoilers.
APPETITE: Appetite was less than original, nor was it the least bit scary in my opinion. It is the story of a college guy, Kevin Nguyen, who picks up a fellow college girl, Lana Garcia, hitchhiking. I honestly feel the author should have picked a scarier story for the intro. The intro draws the reader in and is very important. After reading this one, all I felt was "meh." Predictable. The story goes exactly where you think it will go, sadly. No shock, no twist, no wow. Certainly not scary. [RATING: 0.5 STAR]
NOAH AND WOLFY: Noah and Wolfy was a good one. A little odd, but original. The post-apocalyptic story consists of a three year old boy, Noah and his toy husky named Wolfy, as they try to stay alive after a zombie virus outbreak. The ending was unique. I really enjoyed this one. Though not scary, it was entertaining. [RATING: 4.5 STARS]
MASTERPIECE: Masterpiece was pretty interesting. It concerned a new mother, Naomi who gets a short break from motherhood to go visit her looney neighbor and supposed friend, Dakota, a failing musician. It ends, well, interestingly enough. I liked the feel of it, especially the elevator scene, although it seemed irrelevant to the overall premise. It was an entertaining short. [RATING: 3 STARS]
HUNGRY CARNIVAL: Hungry Carnival was an interesting read, about a six year old girl, named Evelyn Gray, who meets a way-too-friendly clown named Miss Bubbles at a carnival, but honestly I love clowns far too much to read over hashed clown hate. Clowns rock, okay? I know, I’m probably the minority here, but they just aren’t scary to me. They are not evil. Just chill folks wearing makeup, wanting to give some laughs. They are just cool peeps. So villainizing the clown felt pretty overdone and predictable. Downright blatant clownism there. But there was a clown...So I liked it alright. I don’t get enough clownie reads in my life. So this one was alright by me. [RATING: 3 STARS]
GIRLFRIEND FROM HAIL: Girlfriend from Hail was interesting but not very original. I’m starting to see a pattern here. The story here was about a young man, Drew Mason, who receives an odd visit from his crush, Rosemary, while his parents are out of town. The events that follow are unsurprising. [RATING: 1 STAR]
SATISFACTION: Satisfaction was a weird one for me. I honestly don’t get it. Am I missing something? It concerns a lady, Lydia, who suffers an odd home invasions by a...thing. Not sure really what that was about. It was suspenseful but nothing was explained and the ending felt pointless. I liked the writing of this one but its execution felt off. [RATING: 2 STARS]
1331 ELM AVE: 1331 Elm Ave was....different to say the least. Huh. It was interesting but inconclusive. Betty Harris returns home from a busy day of work to find her place changed, not what it used to be. This story is told in different perspectives, and although I liked that style of writing, the added voices didn’t really add much to the story, overall. The ending was not really an ending. It felt incomplete to me. Interesting idea however. [RATING: 1 STAR]
BEAST AND GIRL: Beast and Girl was a cool story, a unique twist on the little red riding hood type of story. A girl, Rose, wakes up in the forest running from a creature, presumably a big bad wolf. The twist is pretty neat but not unforeseeable. I liked this one pretty well though. [RATING: 3 STARS]
THE SCROLL: The scroll was almost too short for me. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world after giant earthquakes have destroyed the earth and giant rat monsters have crawled out and begin attacking people. For some reason the guy, Jacob, believes an ancient scroll to be the answer. I felt like I was reading a premise to a book, rather than a short story. It could have been cool if drawn out a bit longer, if it had more point. I would read a full sized book about some of these stories but being so short they hardly have any real impact. [RATING: 1.5 STARS]
A REAL STIFF: A Real Stiff was just lame. Not even a story. Just a lame sentence, as if lobbed in there for mere for shock appeal. Wow. So edgy. Not. [RATING: 0 STARS]
LONELY: Lonely, another teeny story, more flash fiction than short story really, is about a nuclear holocaust survivor named Erin who commits suicide just as another survivor shows up. [RATING: 0 STARS]
MAMA: Mama was a another flash fiction piece, only a few sentences long and without any meaning. A teen mom, Arlette holds a stillborn baby on public bus. The end. Lame. [RATING: 0 STARS]
MOMMY’S HOME: Mommy’s Home was another silly short blurb. Can’t even call these stories. This one is apparently about a mom that comes out of the grave to hug her kid. No real story here to speak of. Blah. [RATING: 0 STARS]
PURGATORY: Purgatory was an interesting read for sure. After a nasty motorcycle accident Simon wakes up in the hospital, but things aren’t what they seem. Honestly the title gives it away so not much of a twist, but still pretty neat. Reminds me of The Twilight Zone. Loved that show. [RATING: 4.5 STARS]
BEHIND THE SCREEN: Behind the Screen was a really well written and compelling short story. I liked this one a lot, everything except the ending. The story is two college students meeting in an anonymous school chat room, and becoming friends over time. The twist is that they really know each other out of the chat. It could have had a better twist or something scary. The ending was so blah. It just felt so random, and unfitting. The writing was really well done though in this one. I really like the way it was written, part in chat text, part in the characters mind and life. This would make a great full length novel, if expanded. [RATING: 4.5 STARS]
REDHEAD: Redhead is a short story about a girl named Tegan who was saved from a gruesome accident by a mysterious entity called a Baghuul, in exchange for her, but begging for her life she agrees that he can have her baby sister. He is to return eight years later and claim either her or her sister. This story had a cool feel to it. It was one I liked. It was another shortie that could make a nice full length story. [RATING: 4 STARS]
CHILDHOOD FRIEND: Childhood Friend is a odd tale about a woman interning on a farm and goes looking for a missing child down in the wetlands only to find a creature from her childhood nightmares. It was a neat read but the ending was pretty vague. The story was pretty compelling though. [RATING: 3.5 STARS]
ABOUT DANIEL: About Daniel, is about Daniel, the lackluster son of a prominent town doctor who is shy and awkward and deals with a devious alter ego and bullying for his odd behavior. He has a huge crush on a girl named Sara Joon that escalates to dangerous places. This was very cool one, well written, conclusive, very vivd. I liked it a lot. [RATING: 4.5 STARS]
THE INSTITUTE: The Institute was a short story concerning Jovianna who is staying in a mental hospital after experiencing a terrible trauma, the murder of her parents, and then haunted by nightmares and a shadow monster. This was a neat read. Well written and vivid, though the ending felt a bit vague. It was a good story, however. [RATING: 4 STARS]
VAMPIRE HOTEL: Vampire Hotel is a short story about Jasmine and her new husband, Jamal’s, honeymoon, after waking up from a mysterious night, she finds that she is no longer human and tries to save her husband. Needless to say, things go awry. This was an alright story, though a bit predictable. Meh. [RATING: 2 STARS]
DEATH OF GOOSE HOLLOW: Death of Goose Hollow was a story a bit more in the vein of dark fantasy than horror but it was fascinating all the same. The story is about Ophelia, who is apart of a cursed family and because of the curse is bound to stay in the castle until she is to be married off to a stranger. One day, her governess sheds light on a family secret and Ophelia is compelled to act in order to free herself. [RATING: 4 STARS]
Overall, this was a mixed bag. A love/hate mixed bag of shortie shorts. Some stories were really cool, while some were...not so much. One thing I did not like, was that in a few of the stories, the author uses very unsubtle phrases hinting what will happen before it does, as if that helps with the suspense, but really it only spoils the ending, leaving no surprise. Show, don’t tell. We don’t need foreshadowing to spoil the ending, especially when the ending can be seen coming from a mile away. That usually only works in longer books, where the suspense needs to be really built up before the final twist. In short stories, well there isn’t a whole lot of building up time and the shock factor is really needed.
Here is a quote for example...
"Though somewhere in his mind he knew she was teasing for her entertainment, but deep down, to be honest, Kevin felt like he should have been scared. Maybe even terrified, because he was in the car with a vicious predator. He just didn’t know it yet."
Eesh. Spoiled the ending there. Thanks. Another thing I might want to add is that this book needs some better editing. There were a good deal of grammatical, and general punctuation errors. Also sentence structure was pretty wack. Not to be a grammar nazi here... but sentences need to start with a capitalized letter, commas used properly, etc. it makes a book more readable. There. I’m done nit-picking. It certainly wasn’t the worst edited book I’ve read, just a bit on the sloppy side.
On the bright side, these stories were short and fairly interesting. With more work they could be polished into nice little gems. Overall, it wasn’t a bad read. Just not the best. I was glad the author created diverse sets of characters. That made it refreshing. I also loved the child perspective stories for some reason, maybe it seems to be something rarely done in fiction, and it just worked in this collection. Not many stories center around three and six year olds, but it gave the story an interesting feeling of vulnerability and sympathy for the child’s naivety and innocence. Another note worthy aspect was the victimization of men rather than just women. Most genres of horror and suspense tend to victimize women primarily. That was a nice unique touch. Also, the cover is way cooler in person than what is shown on GR. I would recommend this anthology to readers of dark fiction, just don’t expect anything actually scary.
[CONTENT & TRIGGER WARNING BELOW...]
[OFFICIAL RATING: 3.5 STARS]
[CONTENT NOTE: Deadman Creep Show: A Collection of Twist and Gore for the Hell of it contains quite a bit of graphic content, as the title suggests, such as violence (typical gorey vampire, zombie, monster violence etc.) some child abuse, child cruelty and murder though not overly graphic (in one story a child is subjected to zombie violence, witnessing the death of both parents etc, in another a child is eaten by a cannibal clown, though the scene is not vividly described but vaguely mentioned...) graphic self defense (in one story a person is lit on fire after being attacked, in other stories people are bitten, wounded, eaten, harmed in general.) cannibalism (a clown eats a child, but it is not graphically described, only mentioned) necrophilia/zombie sex (a brief sentence describing sex between a married couple, but the husband has been dead for six months apparently. Brief and silly) subtle themes of suicide, bullying and a larger scene of non-consensual bdsm, misunderstanding or bad interpretations of serious mental illnesses such as multiple personality disorder and anorexia nervosa (a character with some kind of MPD becomes a killer, as typical of the horror genre, and another character "develops" anorexia after witnessing his crush kill someone.) patricide (killing of ones parents in at least two stories) some language, alcohol, etc...oh yeah and outright hateful clownism.]
March 24, 2018
I was given a free copy in exchange of a honest review.
Deadman Creep Show definitely had moments where it was twisted or creepy, sometimes I felt bothered by the Gore in a good way, but it does not live up to the hype of being scary. I liked the variety and diversity but could have lived with out reading some of the two sentence stories. Overall it was a fun read that left me wanting more from Purgatory, The Institute and Noah & Wolfy.
Deadman Creep Show definitely had moments where it was twisted or creepy, sometimes I felt bothered by the Gore in a good way, but it does not live up to the hype of being scary. I liked the variety and diversity but could have lived with out reading some of the two sentence stories. Overall it was a fun read that left me wanting more from Purgatory, The Institute and Noah & Wolfy.
April 8, 2018
I’m not a big fan of horror/gore/thriller but I am always open to reading all sorts of genres. My experience in this genre is limited to Goosebumps, the not-so-scary horror stories of my childhood. I felt Jocelyn White’s stories emulated the Goosebumps series in a way, but rather than being horror stories for children, they were more condensed versions for adults.
The stories themselves were not bone-chillingly terrifying but they were creepy enough that I felt a slight discomfort when reading them. Perhaps what is frightening about these pieces is that they are prone to having triggers in them such as graphic violence and gore, which is perhaps something to consider about before undertaking a reading of this series.
I must confess I didn’t quite connect with this anthology, firstly because I’m not a huge follower of the genre and secondly because I couldn’t quite sympathise with any of the characters in the piece. Even when they were in imminent danger, on the verge of being eaten alive or murdered, I felt nothing for them. I feel this may have been due to the shortness of the pieces, as well as how the execution for the stories was not consistent, some pieces were more well-done than others and I think that took away from the overall effect. The stories were cliché to a degree, for example, the dialogue felt a bit unnatural and sounded like material I had heard before. I found the few typos and grammatical errors jarring which dampened the polish of the piece.
After having researched the genre and with my own knowledge of horror/gore, I can say that these stories are well-written. This genre liaises entertainment and fear quite well because a reader for these types of stories isn’t going to be looking for flawless execution, they’re looking for something to scare them or at least creep them out. White does this perfectly, and her stories are weird and gripping, and she has a way of fascinating her audience with her plot twists and turns. I also think she has a good balance of happy and sad because some stories had happy endings while others were not so fortunate. Overall, an entertaining and compelling read.
Thank you to Booktasters and Jocelyn White who provided me with the opportunity to read this anthology.
The stories themselves were not bone-chillingly terrifying but they were creepy enough that I felt a slight discomfort when reading them. Perhaps what is frightening about these pieces is that they are prone to having triggers in them such as graphic violence and gore, which is perhaps something to consider about before undertaking a reading of this series.
I must confess I didn’t quite connect with this anthology, firstly because I’m not a huge follower of the genre and secondly because I couldn’t quite sympathise with any of the characters in the piece. Even when they were in imminent danger, on the verge of being eaten alive or murdered, I felt nothing for them. I feel this may have been due to the shortness of the pieces, as well as how the execution for the stories was not consistent, some pieces were more well-done than others and I think that took away from the overall effect. The stories were cliché to a degree, for example, the dialogue felt a bit unnatural and sounded like material I had heard before. I found the few typos and grammatical errors jarring which dampened the polish of the piece.
After having researched the genre and with my own knowledge of horror/gore, I can say that these stories are well-written. This genre liaises entertainment and fear quite well because a reader for these types of stories isn’t going to be looking for flawless execution, they’re looking for something to scare them or at least creep them out. White does this perfectly, and her stories are weird and gripping, and she has a way of fascinating her audience with her plot twists and turns. I also think she has a good balance of happy and sad because some stories had happy endings while others were not so fortunate. Overall, an entertaining and compelling read.
Thank you to Booktasters and Jocelyn White who provided me with the opportunity to read this anthology.
April 6, 2018
Deadman Creep Show has some really messed up stories, which is awesome. The best part is that they are short and in so very easy to read. They are remarkably disturbing and with so much gore. I found that you can relate to the stories since they involve everyday people mixed with supernatural situations and monsters we have all seen in our nightmares. My favorite stories are the following:
+Masterpiece: I loved the way the author turned the situation around, it was such a plot twist. A very violent plot twist, which I loved since I think it was for the best (yep, it sounds messed up from me but anyways)
+Purgatory: it was awesome and so twisted, I had never thought of that scenario as a possible purgatory. It was scary, since it involves topics that freak me out which are hospitals and madness and being in a limbo. Just loved it. I wanted more of it.
+About Daniel: Again the idea of madness is specially terrifying for me. It is just so not once's fault! and it was at the same time so sad and infuriating because all of the stupid, ignorant people surrounding the poor dude.
+The institute: wow, that plot twist. It never once occured to me that she could be the monster. like, how do you cheat yourself like that. It was simply genious.
I liked as well the very short, couple-of-lines stories that prove you do not need much to get scared.
As well, I think there were a couple of stories that were a little cliché, mostly the ones involving vampires and zombies. It has been done before, so those I did not care much.
Overall it was a great book and I'll read again any time.
+Masterpiece: I loved the way the author turned the situation around, it was such a plot twist. A very violent plot twist, which I loved since I think it was for the best (yep, it sounds messed up from me but anyways)
+Purgatory: it was awesome and so twisted, I had never thought of that scenario as a possible purgatory. It was scary, since it involves topics that freak me out which are hospitals and madness and being in a limbo. Just loved it. I wanted more of it.
+About Daniel: Again the idea of madness is specially terrifying for me. It is just so not once's fault! and it was at the same time so sad and infuriating because all of the stupid, ignorant people surrounding the poor dude.
+The institute: wow, that plot twist. It never once occured to me that she could be the monster. like, how do you cheat yourself like that. It was simply genious.
I liked as well the very short, couple-of-lines stories that prove you do not need much to get scared.
As well, I think there were a couple of stories that were a little cliché, mostly the ones involving vampires and zombies. It has been done before, so those I did not care much.
Overall it was a great book and I'll read again any time.
April 23, 2018
I really enjoyed reading Deadman Creep Show late at night. These collection of short stories are both fun and thrilling. What I liked about is that once you start to read, you can never truly guess the next flow of events. And that's what makes it exciting. You can observe this immediately on the first one, entitled "Appetite." Who would've thought the guy was being lured to a group of bloodsuckers? The very short ones, specifically "Mama" and "Mommy's Home", these honestly creeped me out and gave me goose bumps. (These 2 are also my favorites.) While the zombies in the anthology got me paranoid and made me think twice if I got all the doors locked.. then I realize I was just too hooked on reading. There are also cliff-hangers but I think that's the only manner it should probably go. There are others that could be turned into a novel. I'm expecting to read more from Jocelyn White, now that I know she's a half Filipino. I didn't realize it since the characters, the setting, theme, and the founding concepts are all adapted from American or European countries. Anyway, Deadman Creep Show is great. I'll be looking forward for more of Jocelyn White's works.
April 9, 2018
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Deadman Creep Show did not live up to its promise of horror in my opinion. It felt YA to me, with some scattered sexual references and cursing, and no real gore. Many of the more interesting ideas presented were just mentioned in a sentence and not fleshed out, as the entries varied from a few lines to sketches with only a handful of longer stories.
Entries such as Appetite and Vampire Hotel lifted storylines directly from other, older media I've seen, and some others also lacked originality. In addition, the text had some minor errors.
Deadman Creep Show did not live up to its promise of horror in my opinion. It felt YA to me, with some scattered sexual references and cursing, and no real gore. Many of the more interesting ideas presented were just mentioned in a sentence and not fleshed out, as the entries varied from a few lines to sketches with only a handful of longer stories.
Entries such as Appetite and Vampire Hotel lifted storylines directly from other, older media I've seen, and some others also lacked originality. In addition, the text had some minor errors.
July 13, 2018
I receive a free copy of this book for an exchange of an honest review.
As a big fan of horror, I am so thrilled while reading this book. The selection of story is a lot and even though most of of the story is revolve around vampire. But the other story is entertaining too. So satisfying for my horror adrenaline.
As a big fan of horror, I am so thrilled while reading this book. The selection of story is a lot and even though most of of the story is revolve around vampire. But the other story is entertaining too. So satisfying for my horror adrenaline.
April 5, 2018
Great book ,easy flowing vocabulary,don't have to always have a dictionary beside you,the stories will keep you on the edge of your seat ,Satisfaction was my favourite ,totally blown away ,looking forward to more of Jocelyn White's book
April 9, 2018
The stories were either really good or really terrible and silly.
May 18, 2018
Since the first tale of this “creepy” anthology, Jocelyn White appears master of the situation, especially in relation to the rhythms of the storytelling.
Dealing with one of the most difficult aspects regarding the short tales writing technics: the right moment to introduce the kick off action, the author demonstrates a certain control of the narrative trend and a stable knowledge of the further possible scenarios that the plots might show.
While in some tales, I’m thinking particularly about Hungry Carnival, Purgatory and the Death of Goose Hollow, the plot seems to extend its natural and expected development in favor of an increase of narrative tension and a consequent growth of pathos, in other cases, such as The Scroll or the Vampire Hotel, the story line feels like it’s crinkling on itself and reveals at the first steps all its features, although it doesn’t give the suspense up.
Speaking of suspense, some tales show moments of well-built schemes aim to a crescendo of tension, whereas some others exhibit a lack of straights in matter of pathos.
The most successful narrative moments lies where disgust and repugnance prevail, instead of horror.
Regarding the characters, it seems that the narrative boundaries, that the plot of short tales requires, sometimes cause issues in relation to the development of a deep personality, even though most of the times the characters show a well studied background.
However, what really surprises the reader is the accurate use of the pretend reticence in some occasions to delay the real conclusion of the events. When the outline creates the impression that there will be a monstrous unsaid, turning the last page leaves you unsatisfied, the assumed ending, suspended at the pending plot behind the frontline story, shows itself in all its creepiness.
Another relevant aspect is the wide variety of characters, situations and intrigues that the author created with a fluid writing style.
I suggest this anthology to all of them who are not interested in horror tales, but to them who are on the research of plots which could make some shivers run down their spine.
Dealing with one of the most difficult aspects regarding the short tales writing technics: the right moment to introduce the kick off action, the author demonstrates a certain control of the narrative trend and a stable knowledge of the further possible scenarios that the plots might show.
While in some tales, I’m thinking particularly about Hungry Carnival, Purgatory and the Death of Goose Hollow, the plot seems to extend its natural and expected development in favor of an increase of narrative tension and a consequent growth of pathos, in other cases, such as The Scroll or the Vampire Hotel, the story line feels like it’s crinkling on itself and reveals at the first steps all its features, although it doesn’t give the suspense up.
Speaking of suspense, some tales show moments of well-built schemes aim to a crescendo of tension, whereas some others exhibit a lack of straights in matter of pathos.
The most successful narrative moments lies where disgust and repugnance prevail, instead of horror.
Regarding the characters, it seems that the narrative boundaries, that the plot of short tales requires, sometimes cause issues in relation to the development of a deep personality, even though most of the times the characters show a well studied background.
However, what really surprises the reader is the accurate use of the pretend reticence in some occasions to delay the real conclusion of the events. When the outline creates the impression that there will be a monstrous unsaid, turning the last page leaves you unsatisfied, the assumed ending, suspended at the pending plot behind the frontline story, shows itself in all its creepiness.
Another relevant aspect is the wide variety of characters, situations and intrigues that the author created with a fluid writing style.
I suggest this anthology to all of them who are not interested in horror tales, but to them who are on the research of plots which could make some shivers run down their spine.
June 1, 2018
I think out of all the books that i've received for an honest review, this one is my favorite. The writing definitely needs to be worked on a little bit more. I think the biggest problem with the writing was that it didn't feel all that atmospheric, and just came off as undeveloped. Surprisingly, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book like it typically would. The stories were just fun to read, and that's really all that matters.
November 14, 2018
This Book of Terrifying Short Stories does not disappoint any fan of the Macabre. I love thrilles and the Horror Genre. This book is wildly entertaining while also reminding us that its all fictional. Count your blessings. I gave it 4 stars as some of the subjects may only be appropriate for Adults and the stories are definitely scary. The kind that should only be read by well adjusted Adults. With that said. I really like the Author and enjoyed this book immensely!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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