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Tales of the Gross and Gruesome
If you like your stories sick and scary. . .
You'll love Tales of the Gross and Gruesome! These revolting horror stories are guaranteed to make your teeth chatter and your flesh crawl. . .
*When Nathan goes hiking with his uncle, he ends up trapped alone on Mount "Abracadaver"--with a rotting corpse!
*Tori's annoying brother, Ben, lives for disgusting video games. But when she decides to teach Ben a lesson, can he stomach "Planet Gross"?
*Eric and Jeremy have always been enemies, but their stinging words turn deadly once Jeremy gets "The Killer Bees" on his side. . .
*Michael has "The Itch" for a perfect summer, until something starts crawling under his skin. . .
Read all eight terrifying tales. They'll scare you stiff--and gross you out!
You'll love Tales of the Gross and Gruesome! These revolting horror stories are guaranteed to make your teeth chatter and your flesh crawl. . .
*When Nathan goes hiking with his uncle, he ends up trapped alone on Mount "Abracadaver"--with a rotting corpse!
*Tori's annoying brother, Ben, lives for disgusting video games. But when she decides to teach Ben a lesson, can he stomach "Planet Gross"?
*Eric and Jeremy have always been enemies, but their stinging words turn deadly once Jeremy gets "The Killer Bees" on his side. . .
*Michael has "The Itch" for a perfect summer, until something starts crawling under his skin. . .
Read all eight terrifying tales. They'll scare you stiff--and gross you out!
128 pages, Paperback
Published March 14, 1995
About the author
Ellen Steiber
45 books15 followersELLEN STEIBER is a horror and fantasy writer for both adults and children. Her books for young readers include SQUEEZE, SHADOW OF THE FOX, and TALES OF THE GROSS AND GRUESOME. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 15, 2024
This is another 90's middle-grade horror anthology I learned about while checking out Cameron Chaney aka Library Macabre's Patreon and it didn't disappoint. Like other anthologies from this era, the stories presented here are mostly re-tellings of urban legends. However, similar to Scariest Stories You've Ever Heard Pt. 3, these stories typically end in tragedy. I thought a few of the stories would be lame when they started out (the La Llarona story and the computer story come to mind) but they all had endings that were at the very least satisfactory if not totally awesome. Check this out if you're a fan of stuff like this.
July 9, 2023
I thought it was finally time for a random read outside of the camp stuff. I won’t have much room next week due to “work” so now is a good time. I wasn’t sure what to do, as I was saving backburner items for later., Then I went for a short story collection from 1995 that had a cool cover, by Broeck Steadman of Ghosts of Fear Street fame. It’s by Ellen Steiber who did some YA stuff at the time like some Zodiac Chillers. She’s still around and has a website so that’s cool.
I didn’t know too much going in but with only 8 stories, I figured it could be fun so let’s go.
The Itch: A boy starts to get a really bad itch. There’s a bit more to it, as he goes crazy trying to calm it down as scratching it only makes it worse. It’s simple and basic but in a good way as it flows well. Nothing too crazy but there’s some gruesome stuff with body horror here. The ending is a bit odd, they explain what was going on but not how it happened, it’s weird but not a deal breaker. A good one to start us off.
Shelter: A girl gets lost while on a tour in England and she and her friend Alec take shelter in an old house. This one is basic too but has a solid atmosphere going for it. Nothing revolutionary but that vibe does carry it despite not having tons of action. The payoff is decent with a nice urban legend vibe. I kind of wanted a punchier ending but it contrasts fine with the last one. Just has a nice vibe to it that makes it work alright.
The Ghastly Coachman: A girl sees a strange coachman while visiting her great aunt. This had some solid build up to it, and I was interested to see where it went. But the ending was a bit confusing, I’m not quite sure what it means. Dark stuff is implied but it doesn’t fully explain stuff per say. I have ideas but despite some strong stuff, it doesn’t fully come together. It’s alright but could be better.
Abracadaver: A boy tries to go through a famous climbing route that is the focus of an urban legend. This one is good, it’s helped by the unique situation what has some fun survival stuff. It drags somewhat but I like the ending with what happens with this ghost guy. It’s a cleaner ending than you’d think and I liked that. So yeah, solid.
The Witch Cat: In 1848, a girl moves to a small town where odd things start happening on the land, involving this woman that dad is falling for. This one is unique due to the setting and being told through letters she is sending. That aspect doesn't quite pay off as some big twist but it’s still neat. It starts in a standard way we’ve seen in this but picks up when we get into this conflict of her being suspicious of this woman. There’s some dark stuff and a solid ending that is rather sad. It doesn’t all totally make sense when you think about the witch’s plan but the style is enough to make me like this one.
Planet Gross: A girl is annoyed by her brother’s gross new video game. We get glorious 90’s computer stuff here. Some fun stuff is there about this tech obsessed brother. It’s mostly just build up to a punchline but it is a good one, even if I saw it coming on. Magic is involved in an amusing way. A cute little story with a fun ending…that’s about it.
The Woman in White: A girl moves to the southwest and ends up summoning the spirit of La Llorona. Yeah we got one of those and it works. It’s a slow burn but the ending makes for a good payoff. It’s a bittersweet ending with a dark part to it, and doesn’t mess around with the dark aspects of it. Not super eventful but there’s enough to like in it.
Killer Bees: A boy who is into bugs and such deals with his annoying “friend”. The scary part involves bees. We end on a fine one. It felt like a Weenies story, with the humor, the way its written and of course the dark ending that has a bit of that humor. It’s not the most eventful or scary but it builds to a fun ending. I also like how this in-universe movie is used. Not a grand finale but a good one.
Overall, this was good. It’s one of those collections that is mostly solid and consistent. There’s one sort of weak story with Ghostly Coachman but it’s not too bad. There isn’t anything too amazing here and I couldn’t pick a huge favorite. But of these my favorites were The Witch Cat, The Itch and Abracavder, with Planet Gross and Killer Bees having solid endings, as well as Woman In White.
I dig the urban legend element to most, as well as how all get dark in some ways. The title is accurate at least. As I said, there aren’t tons of great ones so there are some better ones out there but this is solid consistency here. There were tons of these kind of collections in the 90’[ and while I’m a bunch of just whatever, some of the ones I’ve read are fairly solid.
I’d recommend it, and would give it like a light 3.5 if Goodreads allowed that. Don’t expect anything crazy great and you’ll have fun with it. That’s about it. Next read should be the final SlappyWorld, should hopefully be in the next few days .BTW, this week’s camp book will be done on a Wednesday as I got stuff on Thursday, just so ya know. See ya then.
I didn’t know too much going in but with only 8 stories, I figured it could be fun so let’s go.
The Itch: A boy starts to get a really bad itch. There’s a bit more to it, as he goes crazy trying to calm it down as scratching it only makes it worse. It’s simple and basic but in a good way as it flows well. Nothing too crazy but there’s some gruesome stuff with body horror here. The ending is a bit odd, they explain what was going on but not how it happened, it’s weird but not a deal breaker. A good one to start us off.
Shelter: A girl gets lost while on a tour in England and she and her friend Alec take shelter in an old house. This one is basic too but has a solid atmosphere going for it. Nothing revolutionary but that vibe does carry it despite not having tons of action. The payoff is decent with a nice urban legend vibe. I kind of wanted a punchier ending but it contrasts fine with the last one. Just has a nice vibe to it that makes it work alright.
The Ghastly Coachman: A girl sees a strange coachman while visiting her great aunt. This had some solid build up to it, and I was interested to see where it went. But the ending was a bit confusing, I’m not quite sure what it means. Dark stuff is implied but it doesn’t fully explain stuff per say. I have ideas but despite some strong stuff, it doesn’t fully come together. It’s alright but could be better.
Abracadaver: A boy tries to go through a famous climbing route that is the focus of an urban legend. This one is good, it’s helped by the unique situation what has some fun survival stuff. It drags somewhat but I like the ending with what happens with this ghost guy. It’s a cleaner ending than you’d think and I liked that. So yeah, solid.
The Witch Cat: In 1848, a girl moves to a small town where odd things start happening on the land, involving this woman that dad is falling for. This one is unique due to the setting and being told through letters she is sending. That aspect doesn't quite pay off as some big twist but it’s still neat. It starts in a standard way we’ve seen in this but picks up when we get into this conflict of her being suspicious of this woman. There’s some dark stuff and a solid ending that is rather sad. It doesn’t all totally make sense when you think about the witch’s plan but the style is enough to make me like this one.
Planet Gross: A girl is annoyed by her brother’s gross new video game. We get glorious 90’s computer stuff here. Some fun stuff is there about this tech obsessed brother. It’s mostly just build up to a punchline but it is a good one, even if I saw it coming on. Magic is involved in an amusing way. A cute little story with a fun ending…that’s about it.
The Woman in White: A girl moves to the southwest and ends up summoning the spirit of La Llorona. Yeah we got one of those and it works. It’s a slow burn but the ending makes for a good payoff. It’s a bittersweet ending with a dark part to it, and doesn’t mess around with the dark aspects of it. Not super eventful but there’s enough to like in it.
Killer Bees: A boy who is into bugs and such deals with his annoying “friend”. The scary part involves bees. We end on a fine one. It felt like a Weenies story, with the humor, the way its written and of course the dark ending that has a bit of that humor. It’s not the most eventful or scary but it builds to a fun ending. I also like how this in-universe movie is used. Not a grand finale but a good one.
Overall, this was good. It’s one of those collections that is mostly solid and consistent. There’s one sort of weak story with Ghostly Coachman but it’s not too bad. There isn’t anything too amazing here and I couldn’t pick a huge favorite. But of these my favorites were The Witch Cat, The Itch and Abracavder, with Planet Gross and Killer Bees having solid endings, as well as Woman In White.
I dig the urban legend element to most, as well as how all get dark in some ways. The title is accurate at least. As I said, there aren’t tons of great ones so there are some better ones out there but this is solid consistency here. There were tons of these kind of collections in the 90’[ and while I’m a bunch of just whatever, some of the ones I’ve read are fairly solid.
I’d recommend it, and would give it like a light 3.5 if Goodreads allowed that. Don’t expect anything crazy great and you’ll have fun with it. That’s about it. Next read should be the final SlappyWorld, should hopefully be in the next few days .BTW, this week’s camp book will be done on a Wednesday as I got stuff on Thursday, just so ya know. See ya then.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews