fellumhistane's review
2.0
There's something addictive about delving into a flash fiction anthology. You start with one, and then you think, "oh what the heck, it's only 1-3 pages per story, one more couldn't hurt", and next thing you know it's 2am. I loved the premise of this collection, dark horror flash fiction with the theme of Halloween is right up my alley. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed by this anthology in particular, though many of the stories were fantastic, it could have been much better!
Firstly, many of the authors didn't seem to really get flash fiction as a medium, and were trying to cram concepts and ideas better suited for full short stories, or even novellas, into a prescribed word count. My favorite pieces were the ones who kept their scope narrow.
I realize most of these were written individually without collaboration, but many of the flashes had repetitive content. I read many a version of some sort of mad person turning human heads into jack-o-lanterns, of trick-or-treater sheet wearing ghosts being actually monsters, and of school bullies getting supernaturally punished. I really praise the authors who went for originality, they were few.
The multi-part flashes were weirdly placed, difficult to follow, and presented so many convoluted characters that I started to skip them entirely.
Lastly, the lack or poor editing for most of the pieces, there are many typos and grammatical errors which distract from the overall experience. I realize that for anthologies, editing is often left in the hands of authors, at the detriment of the whole. With horror especially, immersion is everything, and any reminder that what I am reading is just a book breaks the effect.
I bit of rework on many of these pieces would have counted for much; many authors seemed to use a tell don't show approach, a bit lazy in my opinion, to make up for short word count. This made many of the stories feel a bit empty, matter-a-fact, and cheesy.
I still recommend you skim through for these, which I did personally enjoy:
Pumpkin by David Green
Sonwin by M. Ennenbach
Divine Feast by Chisto Healy Cameron
Late to the Party by John Cady
Knives by Mark Cowling
The Stone House by Melody E. McIntyre
Home is Where the Heart Is by Todd Love
Heart of Darkness by Randee Dawn
Wandering Eyes by G.G. Flavell
Samhain Moon by J. A. Skelton
Halloween Forever by N. M. Brown
A Halloween of Old by Rachael Boucker
The Last Halloween by Lamont A. Turner
Last Night of October by P.S. Traum
Krampus Finds Halloween by Joshua E. Borgmann
Firstly, many of the authors didn't seem to really get flash fiction as a medium, and were trying to cram concepts and ideas better suited for full short stories, or even novellas, into a prescribed word count. My favorite pieces were the ones who kept their scope narrow.
I realize most of these were written individually without collaboration, but many of the flashes had repetitive content. I read many a version of some sort of mad person turning human heads into jack-o-lanterns, of trick-or-treater sheet wearing ghosts being actually monsters, and of school bullies getting supernaturally punished. I really praise the authors who went for originality, they were few.
The multi-part flashes were weirdly placed, difficult to follow, and presented so many convoluted characters that I started to skip them entirely.
Lastly, the lack or poor editing for most of the pieces, there are many typos and grammatical errors which distract from the overall experience. I realize that for anthologies, editing is often left in the hands of authors, at the detriment of the whole. With horror especially, immersion is everything, and any reminder that what I am reading is just a book breaks the effect.
I bit of rework on many of these pieces would have counted for much; many authors seemed to use a tell don't show approach, a bit lazy in my opinion, to make up for short word count. This made many of the stories feel a bit empty, matter-a-fact, and cheesy.
I still recommend you skim through for these, which I did personally enjoy:
Pumpkin by David Green
Sonwin by M. Ennenbach
Divine Feast by Chisto Healy Cameron
Late to the Party by John Cady
Knives by Mark Cowling
The Stone House by Melody E. McIntyre
Home is Where the Heart Is by Todd Love
Heart of Darkness by Randee Dawn
Wandering Eyes by G.G. Flavell
Samhain Moon by J. A. Skelton
Halloween Forever by N. M. Brown
A Halloween of Old by Rachael Boucker
The Last Halloween by Lamont A. Turner
Last Night of October by P.S. Traum
Krampus Finds Halloween by Joshua E. Borgmann
More...