’Salem’s Lot When writer Ben Mears returns to the town of ‘Salem’s Lot, he hopes to rid himself of a bad experience from his childhood by writing a book about the old Marsten house. But these days things aren’t quite what they seem in the Lot, and Mears learns that the old house has been…
Category: Short Stories
‘Meat Bubbles and other stories’ by Tom Leins
Meat Bubbles and other stories Private investigator Joe Rey gets down and dirty in the not-so-picturesque seaside-town of Paignton. Tracking down a disturbed plastic surgeon, he encounters a variety of low-life scumbags, prostitutes, hitmen and bent coppers. If he’s lucky, he might wake up with all his body parts intact, but when almost everyone seems…
‘The Magic Vodka Wardrobe’ by Sheila Patel
The Magic Vodka Wardrobe Sisters Shaz and Trace work in the family corner shop by day but spend their nights glugging vodka and disco-dancing with Aunt Sheila in a magical wardrobe. With characters including Tattoo Tony and Dammit Janet, this is a surreal story that could rival any TV soap-opera, apart from the lack of…
‘Four American Tales’ by Jack Messenger
Four American Tales Jack Messenger’s first collection of stories throws up an eclectic mix of characters and situations, binding the tales together with themes of love and loss, struggle and ambition. The possibilities of starting again feature in the first two stories: ‘Wichega’ finds a classic automobile prodding a child into imagining what might be…
‘The Order of Actaeon’ by Tam May
The Order of Actaeon Heir to the fortune and name of the Alderdice family, Jake struggles with a passion for art that is despised by his mother. Along with sister Vivian, the young man is taken to the fashionable resort of Waxwood, where beady-eyed matriarch Larissa hopes to instil in him some of the values…
‘The Third Man’ and ‘The Fallen Idol’ by Graham Greene
The Third Man and The Fallen Idol In post-war Vienna, Graham Greene’s struggling novelist Rollo Martins, arrives to visit old friend Harry Lime. But something has happened to Harry, and Martins is soon drawn into a web of intrigue and drug-dealing as he tries to uncover the truth. The Fallen Idol is the tale of…
‘The Rats’ by James Herbert
The Rats A race of unusually large black rats creep out from their lair looking for food. But when the creatures get a taste for human flesh, the corpses quickly pile up. Discovering the rats also carry a fatal virus, it becomes apparent to the authorities that a new and very dangerous challenge faces humanity.…
‘A Passport to a Nation of Talking Slugs and Other Stories’ by Andrew Kozma
A Passport to a Nation of Talking Slugs and Other Stories This is a collection of speculative fiction exploring unfamiliar landscapes and strange characters. The title story (A Passport to a Nation of Talking Slugs), is, in my opinion, the best of these and shows off the author’s clever use of language as well as…
‘Ragged Souls’ by Ernesto San Giacomo
Ragged Souls A collection of quirky, supernatural tales that explore the dark side of the human psyche. In ‘A Purveyor of Odd Things’, we meet a plodding but hard-working detective who sets out to solve a puzzling phenomenon. Then there’s the two sisters in ‘Martha’s Kitchen’ who long for the old days when the members…
Books, Characters, Crime, Horror, Indie Authors, murder, mystery, Paranormal, Short Stories, Supernatural, Thriller
‘Nightfall’ by Stephen Leather
Nightfall Jack Nightingale is going to Hell, or at least that’s what he keeps hearing. Trouble is, are people actually saying it to him, or is it his imagination? When Nightingale’s career as a cop ends and he starts up as a private detective, his past, and that creepy expression, keep coming back to haunt…
