Reviews

Glad I gave this a shot. Ultimately, this isn't a collection I'm going to be keeping, as most of the stories were middle of the road for me, but there were some I really enjoyed:

- "Two Months Too Long" by Holly Rae Garcia
- "Junk Pickup" by Fred Fischer IV
- "The Veiled Lady" by Angela Sylvaine
- "Spew of News" by Clay McLeod Chapman
- "A Grave Issue" by Bev Vincent
- "This Video is Unavailable" by Robert Levy
- "Dear Penny" by Jeremy Hepler

mx_manda's review

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dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

4.0

owlsreads's review

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4.0

A pretty good read overall. Some stories got me waaaaay more than others (This Video is Unavailable and A Small Hand-Built House), though.

hekate24's review

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4.0

Short story anthologies are pretty hit or miss... thankfully, this one was overall a hit. Granted, most of these stories aren't any more elevated than whatever's been upvoted to the top on any given day on /r/NoSleep but... I have read some genuinely good stories on NoSleep. I feel like it's hard for written horror to hit, and short stories tend to work best for the genre. All the stories in here are lean, with good pacing. Even the ones I ultimately disliked still had the benefit of making me turn the page to see what would happen next.

Least successful:
-The Spew of News. This is basically "what if radicalization machines like Fox News were actually cosmic horror entities?" Not a bad concept, but fell super flat in the execution. I'm really not a "both sides!!!!!" #EnlightenedCentrist, but it did make me wonder about the worldbuilding in this universe. Like... are there cosmic horrors behind the algorithms that get us leftists angrily or fearfully doomscrolling? It sure feels that way at times.
-The Veiled Lady. This wasn't... found footage? There was a found diary but I don't think it was an audio recording or anything. I don't know, it just bugged me.

Most successful:
-11/7/19. Okay this one really got me haha. It had me googling the "case" in it to see if it had actually happened. I was like "are we still in the introduction? does this book have essays as well as short stories?" Probably one of the ones that best nails what people are like online. Kind of wish this one had been moved towards the back half of the anthology because not many stories in this are like this one.
-Green Magnetic Tape. Basically

Spoiler

The Girl with the Green Ribbon

retold as found footage horror. Clever idea, executed well.
-Accidents, of a Sort. Weirdly made me think about how [b:We Had to Remove This Post|58146427|We Had to Remove This Post|Hanna Bervoets|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1647523772l/58146427._SY75_.jpg|96292451] moved me and felt resonant with my own life. Very similar concept, using compassion fatigue in a secondary trauma-riffic job as a jumping off point. In this case for cosmic horror here, though. Really nails that feeling you get where you're like "this isn't even as bad as some of the things I've seen but now that I know about it the world feels different."
-This Video is Unavailable. Bolding because it was my favorite haha. Basically an incredible exploration of the dark side of parasocial relationships.

cthulnado's review

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

spookyash's review

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated

5.0

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