The Song of the Lady Rose

by Gabino Iglesias, Fajer Al-Kaisi (Narrator)

A strange final message from a ghost ship, comes alive with the voices of the past. Listen or die.

"The Song of The Lady Rose" by Gabino Iglesias one of 27 short horror stories in Nightfire's audio anthology.

Come Join Us by the Fire S2 is the second installment of Nightfire's audio-only horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites. The collection showcases the breadth of talent writing in the horror genre today, with contributions from a wide range of genre luminaries including Laird Barron, Indrapramit Das, Shaun Hamill, Daniel M. Lavery, Matthew Lyons, T. Kingfisher, Seanan McGuire, Nibedita Sen, and Nightfire’s own Cassandra Khaw and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

The full Table of Contents is as follows:
Cassandra Khaw- "Some Breakable Things"
Sarah Langan- "The Changeling"
Shaun Hamill- "Music of the Abyss"
Caitlín R. Kiernan- "Standing Water"
Tade Thompson- "Bone"
T. Kingfisher- "Origin Story"
Silvia Moreno-Garcia- "The Sound of Footsteps"
Laird Barron- "Jōren Falls"
Damien Angelica Walters- "Tooth, Tongue, and Claw"
Sunny Moraine- "If Living is Seeing I'm Holding My Breath"
Matthew Lyons- "Blood Daughter"
Jessica Guess- "Mama Tulu"
Daniel M. Lavery- "Prodigal Son"
Seanan McGuire- "Emergency Landing"
Indrapramit Das - "You Will Survive This Night"
‘Pemi Aguda- "Things Boys Do"
Kelly Link- "The Specialist's Hat"
Clay McLeod Chapman- "The Fireplace"
Nibedita Sen- "Pigeons"
Camilla Grudova- "Ghost Bread"
Catherynne M. Valente- "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles"
Brian Evenson- "The Cabin"
Maria Dahvana Headley- "The Krakatoan"
Craig Laurance Gidney- "Spyder Threads"
Mariana Enriquez- "Things We Lost in the Fire"
Gabino Iglesias- "The Song of the Lady Rose"
Nick Antosca- "The Quiet Boy"

Genres: Horror, Audiobook

Audiobook

First published October 15, 2020

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Season One of Come Join Us By the Fire offered some very good stories, and some that didn’t quite cohere. This is the first audiobook I’ve sampled from Season Two, and if Gabino Iglesias’s entry is anything to go by, we’re in for an even better run. A student project focuses on a ghost ship, with classmates subjected to presented horrors. This is an absolute winner.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this was a great novella. Spooky, haunting, and gruesome. I’m surprised by how much I loved it since it was only 23 minutes long, but it was great. The narration was fantastic as well.

[Bryan Stubbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Effective and gory little chiller. Enjoyed the use of audio in the story. Not many horror stories out there featuring an audio element. Also liked the location. Atmospheric. Grand work!

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well-read by Fajer Al-Kaisi, beneficial sound effects which enhanced the atmosphere of the story, and while Iglesias' story is solid, by the time we were getting close to the "original audio" in the story, it was easy to tell what was going to happen, so the vivid details didn't really seem necessary/seemed like too much.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sound effects where good. However by the time they showed up they weren't exactly needed. The story was obvious in where it was going by then.

This is definitely a story meant to tell when it is pitch dark, extremely quiet, and no noise - even of the air moving or animals outside. It would provide a good scare in that case.

[Tomasz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've had the strongest feeling that I've read this story somewhere before, only even less well done. As it is, this fails at internal logic, mostly because it's too short for the story itself. Also, the word choices can be dubious (whatever the heck are "rustic boats"?). Not impressed.

[Danni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wahnsinn! I love most that horror GOES THERE. This story exemplifies what I mean. It is so brutal and gory.

[Lu Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick gruesome short story about a group of college students doing a presentation of a class project that turned deadly!!!!

[Leland Pitts-Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great horror short about "spinnimg a yarn." Fun, smart, and terrifying .

[Cath · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the fuck, can we please stop framing Indigenous people as savages?

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of students studying a ghost ship and the final message sent from there. Very nicely done! I read as audiobook and the narration and sound effects added a lot.

[unstable.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another banger by Mr. Iglesias! This one is bite sized!

[Vicki Herbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Then the Chanting Began...

No spoilers. 3 1/2 stars. It was presentation day at the university and it was one of the few days the Professor enjoyed his job...

The second group of students to present their project to their peers had a recording of the massacre of the crew on The Lady Rose...

One of the students had a grandfather who was an audio engineer and had worked for the FBI where he helped clean up audio evidence. He helped them with their project...

The students played their tape for their audience:...

... On the night of August 2, 1981 The Lady Rose, a freighter out of New York, was crossing the Bay of Bengal. The captain had made this trip many times...

... Something went wrong this trip and the Lady Rose ran aground on a hidden coral reef. They saw a tiny island on their starboard side...

The island was an archipelago in the Bay of Bengal and home to its indigenous people who chose to live isolated from the rest of the world...

As the ship's crew prepared to go ashore and explore the island, the natives appeared on the beach carrying spears, bows and arrows...

Then the chanting began...

This story had good bones and could have been stellar but I felt that the ending was rushed without much drama. The ending was a little pedestrian.

[Omy Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spooky