sophiaroesler's review
dark
"Jane Death Theory #13" by Rion Amilcar Scott was the clear standout.
My other favorites: "Guess," "Lifeline," "The Blue Room," "Candy Boii," "Carbon Footprint," "The Mask, The Ride, The Bag," and "Human Milk for Human Babies."
My other favorites: "Guess," "Lifeline," "The Blue Room," "Candy Boii," "Carbon Footprint," "The Mask, The Ride, The Bag," and "Human Milk for Human Babies."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child abuse, Gun violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, and Police brutality
tofuroll's review
3.0
In my opinion, the book was okay. Though it did get better as I kept reading, I was expecting more considering the number of authors who took part in writing it.
Part 4 had some really impressive stories, but there were also quite a few that didn't quite meet my expectations. The story on race and the culture of hookup apps left me gagged and gooped. Nevertheless, there were a handful of standout stories that left me craving more from those authors just not enough to warrant more than a 2.5-star review rounded up to 3 because the book cover is sexy.
Part 4 had some really impressive stories, but there were also quite a few that didn't quite meet my expectations. The story on race and the culture of hookup apps left me gagged and gooped. Nevertheless, there were a handful of standout stories that left me craving more from those authors just not enough to warrant more than a 2.5-star review rounded up to 3 because the book cover is sexy.
aminodumpster's review
2.0
This was terrible or meh for about 80% of the time. The other 20% were okay.
I began reading this in the hopes that it would be kind of like the printed version of the r/nosleep subreddit. I wanted to read the stories and feel them in my stomach or in the hairs on the back of my neck. Instead, so many of the stories here weren't even unsettling. Most of them blur in my mind into an amorphous mass of pure, distilled disappointment.
Leg was, hands down, the best story in this collection. Other stories that didn't completely suck are: We've Been in Enough Places to Know; Lifeline; The Blue Room; Lone; Fingers; We Came Here for Fun; The Mask, the Ride, the Bag; and Caravan.
The rest was just not very good or not very scary or both. Downpour comes to mind as an example of a story that has left me mumbling, "That's so fucking stupid..." to myself after I had finished reading.
Next time I want a short trill, I'll just sort by top of past month and let hundreds of redditors vet the stories for me instead of the two editors that put this slop together.
I began reading this in the hopes that it would be kind of like the printed version of the r/nosleep subreddit. I wanted to read the stories and feel them in my stomach or in the hairs on the back of my neck. Instead, so many of the stories here weren't even unsettling. Most of them blur in my mind into an amorphous mass of pure, distilled disappointment.
Leg was, hands down, the best story in this collection. Other stories that didn't completely suck are: We've Been in Enough Places to Know; Lifeline; The Blue Room; Lone; Fingers; We Came Here for Fun; The Mask, the Ride, the Bag; and Caravan.
The rest was just not very good or not very scary or both. Downpour comes to mind as an example of a story that has left me mumbling, "That's so fucking stupid..." to myself after I had finished reading.
Next time I want a short trill, I'll just sort by top of past month and let hundreds of redditors vet the stories for me instead of the two editors that put this slop together.
janus's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
hannahm88's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Solid set of stories. I think this is such a fun format.
toastgrl's review
3.0
This was a cute and quick read, a fun book of short 'horror stories' that are perfect to read just before bed or with your coffee in the morning. I put apostrophes around 'horror stories' only because a good handful of them fall short of that. Most of these stories had more of an eerie, creepy effect than they did downright scary. I know that you can only do so much with a few pages but even still, some of the scariest stories I've read were very short, and quite a few of these missed that mark. I will admit there were some I even questioned why they were in the book? As they felt nothing close to being a horror story, and there were others that just didn't give the reader enough information or context clues, so the outcome failed at being creepy and just left me confused instead. I don't know if this is a book I would recommend per se, but it would be a fun coffee table conversation. It was also an awesome introduction to a lot of horror authors that probably have some great works out there that I'm going to check out! Of the many stories in this book, here were some I marked as my favorites:
Grimalkin (Andrew F. Sullivan)
Lifeline (J.S. Breukelaar) - loved this one!
Unbeknownst (Matthew Vollmer)
Candy Boii (Sam J. Miller)
The Story and the Seed (Amber Sparks)
Fingers (Rachel Heng)
Carbon Footprint (Shelly Oria)
The Mask, the Ride, the Bag (Chase Burke)
Leg (Brian Evenson)
Caravan (Pedro Iniguez) - loved this one too!
Human Milk for Human Babies (Lindsay King-Miller)
Instrument of the Ancestors (Troy L. Wiggins)
Grimalkin (Andrew F. Sullivan)
Lifeline (J.S. Breukelaar) - loved this one!
Unbeknownst (Matthew Vollmer)
Candy Boii (Sam J. Miller)
The Story and the Seed (Amber Sparks)
Fingers (Rachel Heng)
Carbon Footprint (Shelly Oria)
The Mask, the Ride, the Bag (Chase Burke)
Leg (Brian Evenson)
Caravan (Pedro Iniguez) - loved this one too!
Human Milk for Human Babies (Lindsay King-Miller)
Instrument of the Ancestors (Troy L. Wiggins)
awxblue's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? Yes
3.5
paulataua's review
2.0
For some reason, I have totally convinced myself that flash fiction is something both valuable and exciting. And yet, endlessly I am disappointed. Lots of stories here, all very short, a few, and really only a few, were very good , but I get the feeling that reading anthologies of flash fiction is a little like panning for gold. How many pans return so little before we get our reward. Two or three quality stories in what felt like a hundred not so good.