Volume 1 of Steve Hudgins’ Blood-tingling Tales offers 16 tales in the already established first-person, true-story format.
Taking inspiration from classic horror influences and themes while adding a unique, often violent and ironic twist, these tales introduce everyday heroes and heroines who encounter ghosts, aliens, monsters, crazed killers, the strange and unknown.
A tried and true story format makes a reappearance – the story told from multiple perspectives that complement each other (My Haunted House, Serial Killer). Another familiar approach is the exploration of a well-known true incident, building a theory as to what might have happened into a story. After stories like the Bermuda Triangle and Jack the Ripper, the real-life event explored in this volume is the Roswell incident. This story follows another established format – having multiple narrators tell a story that gradually escalates in intensity with each encounter.
Once again, eagle-eyed fans will be rewarded with Easter eggs and the appearance of familiar places and characters in the story Snuff Film.
As always, the very best stories are the ones where horror and humor intersect in an exploration of human nature. Two such standouts in this volume are The Fisherman and Grave Robbers. In the former, an avid fisherman’s luck abruptly changes on an otherwise unexciting day. In the latter, a husband and wife hatch a plan to push the boundaries of science and human endurance.
One of the most unnerving tales that deserves a special mention is Serpent Woman, an unusual take on holiday horror, after which the beach will never be the same.