Castle of Horror Anthology Volume One: A Collection of Stories from the Minds behind the Castle of Horror Podcast

Castle of Horror Anthology

by Jason Henderson, Jessica Lee Anderson, David Bowles

We've reached out to the finest minds in horror, from best-selling authors to fresh new voices, to bring you a collection of stories to chill the blood. Join us as we explore Hawaiian myth and intrigue from Jessica Lee Anderson, sexy, contemporary vampire horror from Dark Shadows star and author Lara Parker, zombie mystery horror from New York Times Best Seller Kevin J Anderson, Mexican mythology horror from David Bowles, grim sci-fi horror from PJ Hoover, home invasion terror from Jason Henderson (that's me), Gothic horror from Leanna Renee Hieber, spooky American ghost horror from Michael Aronovitz, survivalist horror from Tom Waltz, demonic family horror from Tony Bloodworth, Central American folklore horror from Julia Guzman, hilariously dark genie horror from Mario Acevedo, strange, mind-blowing mythology horror from Guadalupe Garcia McCall, demonic desert family horror from Barry Barclay, and genre-bending science fiction horror from In Churl Yo.

Genres: Horror

424 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 2019

About the author

I've been writing for a long time-- comics, games (like Destiny 2), books-- there's always *something.* But lately I've gotten into modern-day YA novels with the Alex Van Helsing series and now middle grade with the new Young Captain Nemo series.

Reviews

[Richard Tolleson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Mixed Bag

I bought this book because it has a short story by Lara Parker of Dark Shadows fame. I think it’s interesting how many DS cast members are published authors. That was a group of very creative, intelligent folk. Parker’s writing is as fresh and vivid as that of an author half her age.

The rest of the stories are hit and miss. One has a cliffhanger that you requires one to read the next volume in this series to find out what happens. Two more are best appreciated by Spanish-speakers, as there is at least one untranslated Spanish word per paragraph.

None of the stories are terribly long, so if you don’t like one, at least you haven’t wasted a lot of time.

[Julia O'Connell · Rating 3 out of 5]

For many readers (even those who missed the heyday of this genre and know of these books mostly through reputation), the phrase “women running from houses” conjures a very specific image that represents an entire genre of books: an illustrated book cover with a woman in the foreground, usually in a flowing dress or nightgown, long hair loose, glancing nervously over her shoulder at a dark castle or manor in the background, with a single window glowing ominously. Dozens of covers following this formula adorned pulpy paperback novels that flooded bookstores in the midcentury. Novels of this type were often called “Gothics,” distant descendants of the traditional Gothic novel that tended to follow the Jane Eyre model of a young woman becoming romantically involved with a mysterious, brooding man and discovering his dark secrets. Jason Henderson, a horror author and podcaster, chose this image as the theme for his fourth volume in the Castle of Horror anthology series. Sixteen authors came at this prompt from very different angles, resulting in stories that range from traditional Gothic romances to post-apocalyptic science fiction. I found the stories to be a bit hit and miss; not all of the authors seem to have fully grasped the genre this anthology riffs on, and the quality of writing varied significantly. Plus, the anthology was overwhelmingly male—with a dozen men and only four women among the authors—for a genre that has long been dominated by and associated with women, which perhaps accounts for some of the disconnect. But several gems really shine out of this collection for both engaging with genre traditions and giving it a fresh new twist.

See my full review: https://www.thegothiclibrary.com/revi...

[Cowptain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I wanted or expected

First there were too many grammar, spelling and punctuation errors. Secondly, some of these stories seemed to have been written by junior high students. Hard to follow and unexplained endings. There was no flow or continuity. I did not like a single one of them.

[Chuck Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great anthology!

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not very scary (not really horror, either). Some of them read like they were written in junior high school. One boring story just started getting interesting and it was continued in the next book!