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A review by stiricide
The Uncanny Valley: Tales from a Lost Town by Gregory Miller
5.0
Things that usually suck:
Flash fiction.
Flash fiction horror stories.
Free books from the Kindle store.
Things that did not suck at all:
Uncanny Valley.
Uncanny Valley is a collection of short flash fiction (some previously published, some written for the collection) of day-to-day stories that have taken place in the town of Uncanny Valley. (Maybe I've lived in PA for too long, but I had my fingers crossed that the town name was a riff on Happy Valley. Turns out Miller is from State College. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.)
The premise gives us a story-within-a-story: a radio station ran a contest asking for short stories about a day in the life in your town. When all the entires were submitted, the radio station that all the stories from one place, Uncanny Valley, were a bit... peculiar. And, even stranger, they couldn't find a town on a map. Presented in their entirety, as received (grammar and spelling errors and all), the station has published Tales from a Lost Town because, well, how could you not.
Y'see, something seriously creepy is up in Uncanny Valley. Not enough. Not everywhere. But tiny things, small moments of weirdness. A few gruesome deaths here and there. Wishes granted, a garden that never dies. Butterflies in the winter. A vampire. Dolls.
Each story is written by one of the townspeople, so you hear tales from the 50 year old janitor and childhood recollections from a then 11 year old piano student. College kids, parents, teachers. The weirdness isn't isolated, or concentrated, it's just... there.
Uncanny Valley is sweet and meandering and creepily terrifying, in all the best ways. It's pull the covers close and hold your breath horror, not run for your life and scream at the tortureporn.
And, like any good horror collection, it's offset by some seriously creepy illustrations (go ahead, tell me the pictures didn't make Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark what it is).
I plunked the rest of Miller's work on to my wishlist for immediately. Definitely give this one a shot.
Flash fiction.
Flash fiction horror stories.
Free books from the Kindle store.
Things that did not suck at all:
Uncanny Valley.
Uncanny Valley is a collection of short flash fiction (some previously published, some written for the collection) of day-to-day stories that have taken place in the town of Uncanny Valley. (Maybe I've lived in PA for too long, but I had my fingers crossed that the town name was a riff on Happy Valley. Turns out Miller is from State College. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.)
The premise gives us a story-within-a-story: a radio station ran a contest asking for short stories about a day in the life in your town. When all the entires were submitted, the radio station that all the stories from one place, Uncanny Valley, were a bit... peculiar. And, even stranger, they couldn't find a town on a map. Presented in their entirety, as received (grammar and spelling errors and all), the station has published Tales from a Lost Town because, well, how could you not.
Y'see, something seriously creepy is up in Uncanny Valley. Not enough. Not everywhere. But tiny things, small moments of weirdness. A few gruesome deaths here and there. Wishes granted, a garden that never dies. Butterflies in the winter. A vampire. Dolls.
Each story is written by one of the townspeople, so you hear tales from the 50 year old janitor and childhood recollections from a then 11 year old piano student. College kids, parents, teachers. The weirdness isn't isolated, or concentrated, it's just... there.
Uncanny Valley is sweet and meandering and creepily terrifying, in all the best ways. It's pull the covers close and hold your breath horror, not run for your life and scream at the tortureporn.
And, like any good horror collection, it's offset by some seriously creepy illustrations (go ahead, tell me the pictures didn't make Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark what it is).
I plunked the rest of Miller's work on to my wishlist for immediately. Definitely give this one a shot.