A Big Dose of Scares in Small Bites: A Terrible Place is a collection of terrifying flash fiction stories

 

 

A Terrible Place and Other Flashes of Darkness

D.L. Winchester

Undertaker Books, 2024

Ebook, 93 ppg.

ISBN-13: 979-8990617711  

Buy link 

 

Are you prepared to explore the darkest regions of horror? Then look no further than the flash fiction collection A Terrible Place and Other Flashes of Darkness by D.L. Winchester. While each of the stories are short, they pack a huge punch to the reader, especially at the end. The end of every story is chilling and sent shivers down my spine!

 

The stories in this book are not titled; they are all numbered. Even so, each new story I read was more powerful than the last! This collection of stories was so good that I devoured each story, wanting to read more!

 

I love a good ghost story, and some of the stories at the beginning have eerie ghostly tales that gave me goosebumps! There are more ghost stories later in the book, but we also encounter ghouls, monsters and werewolves.

 

There are also stories of revenge and settling old scores.

 

The 12^th story made me neurotic about tattoos.

 

The 13^th story was very chilling! I get it that flash fiction stories should have a surprise ending, but it was more than a surprise. That last line. It really haunted me! Yikes!

 

The last story, though, is brutal. A retort? I could only picture it being said by Samuel L. Jackson’s character in Pulp Fiction: “Well, allow me to retort.” Whoosh! Awesome!

 

A Terrible Place and Other Flashes of Darkness is a collection of stories that offers a chilling reading experience. Filled with nightmare-inducing terrors and haunting monsters, A Terrible Place and Other Flashes of Darkness is a flash fiction collection that one should read with the lights kept on!

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Vacation Goes Wrong: The Lake House Massacre is a teen horror novel of terror and dread

 

 

The Lake House Massacre

Chris Bedell

Baynam Books Press, 2025

Ebook, 177 ppg.

ISBN-13: 979-8307572177

Buy link

 

Picture this scenario: There’s a killer outside, so a group of teens decide to stay in the cabin they are vacationing at. Good plan, right? It should work, right? Except, everything goes wrong! And more people die!

 

That’s something that happens in the first part of The Lake House Massacre, a new YA horror novel by Chris Bedell. As I kept reading this story, I was lulled into a sense of security. Then it was like, “Wait. What?!” Because first, everything is going okay, but then things start going horribly wrong.

 

If 18-year-old Tate thinks that his ex, Nick, showing up uninvited at the lake house is the worst of his problems, he is soon in for a surprise once he witnesses a friend getting killed by a masked knife-wielding psycho they dub Scarecrow. The group of teens not only have a killer to deal with, but their phones are missing, and they quickly run out of options to get help.

 

While they try to get away from the clutches of a masked killer, the friends are also trying to find somewhere to go for help. Meanwhile, another friend is missing.

 

And while Tate is trying to escape from this killer with his life, he is also struggling with old feelings for his ex. Nick is constantly protective and supportive of Tate the entire time, and this causes Tate to wonder if he made the right choice in ending things with Nick.

 

And because the teens have no idea who the killer could be, everybody is suspicious of everybody else. They throw around accusations which are a product of their fear and cluelessness, and while it does cause some problems between the friends, they realize how ludicrous it sounds to be accusing each other of being the killer. They also try to understand the killer’s motive, and that’s a big deal here. So big that it took this reader by surprise and helped me to understand why everything had happened. And what else COULD happen because of a terrible secret that Tate learns about.

 

But that’s not the biggest surprise of all as we get to the end of the story! More shocks and surprises await, and it kept me turning the pages, eager to read more and find out what happens next.

 

The Lake House Massacre by Chris Bedell is a scary teen slasher story filled with surprises and suspenseful moments of horror. I really enjoyed reading this story. It left me on the edge of my seat, with the bigger surprise at the end leaving me wanting to read more!

 

 

Five stars

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Speculative Stories from the Bizarre to Surreal: Shaky Pictures of Vanished Faces is a collection of stories for readers hungering for something new and unexpected

 

Shaky Pictures of Vanished Faces

D. Matthew Urban

Cursed Morsels Press, 2025

Ebook, 166 ppg.

ISBN: 9798988413899

Pre-order link 

 

 NOTE: This review is based on an ARC I received from the publisher. The book will release April 15.

 

“That was a good story!”

 

Once I noticed that I was saying this after I finished reading almost every single story in this book, I knew I had a good collection of short stories on my hands. Well, short stories and a flash story.

 

D. Matthew Urban really delivers in his collection of speculative fiction, Shaky Pictures of Vanished Faces. From the bizarre to the unreal, these stories sent me into worlds of the unknown. So many stories in this book held my interest and kept me reading until the end!

 

The one story I didn’t really care for, though, was “Osculum,” which seemed to be something like the author challenging himself to write a story in one extremely long sentence. It just wasn’t my bag.

 

I also must confess that I did not read the first story, “The Consultant’s Hand,” because I don’t like reading stories written in second person point-of-view. And even though there’s another story written in second person in this book, I did read it, only because it was really short.

 

Yes, there is a mix of long and short stories in this book. Along with really short stories. The shorter tales offered a nice break in between the longer ones, but I felt the longer stories were the best ones.

 

There are a lot of stories in this book which I felt were really good. They were thought-provoking, surreal, surprising, and creative.

 

“Estrangements” was a chilling tale, just as “Bite-Apple” was.

 

“Exuviae” was surreal but captivating, pulling me in from the very beginning with the mystery of the sisterhood and what kind of species they were.

 

“A Goodnight Kiss from Aunt Spider” was both sad and spooky, with its dark undertone at the end. Another story that delivers a horrifying punch at the end is “The World of Iniquity Among Our Members Is the Tongue.” The character, Amelia, really stuck with me, and I could only imagine the trauma she was struggling with all on her own even without her father’s sympathy or compassion.

 

“Winter Savory” was another one of my favorite stories in this book. At first, I couldn’t understand why the grandfather so silently accepted all of the abuse inflicted on him, and at the end, I was like, “Oh! THAT’S why!” Yes, read this story until the end. Please. Then everything that happened up until then will make complete sense. (I love when stories do this for readers.)

 

“Duet for Breath and Flame” was both haunting and mournful, “Smoochfest” was so bizarre, and “Dreamland Coffee” was the kind of story that took me along for one wild, otherworldly ride. And made me want coffee.

 

I really enjoyed reading this book of stories. They were unlike any other stories I have read. They are stories told on a surreal landscape of fascination and surprise. They are the kind of stories that linger in the mind of the reader long after finishing the very last tale.

 

Five stars

 

 

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.