When Fiction is a Reflection of Reality: The Maze is a chilling tale of vengeance gone wrong

 

The Maze

Chisto Healy

Independently Published, 2026

ISBN-13: ‎979-8166571922

Ebook, 138 ppg.

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Every year, horror writers jump at the chance to have a new book out for Halloween, and Halloween 2026 was no different. I always enjoy checking out and reading the new Halloween books every year, and there was ONE new Halloween book that especially caught my eye. Maybe it’s the cover. Maybe it’s the story’s blurb on its Amazon page. Either way, as soon as I saw this new release, I had to snap it up! (Side note: I did read another Halloween book this year, but it was not a new book and I left a review of it on Goodreads. And I PROMISE to read the many other Halloween books I have on my TBR! At some point.)

 

The blurb for The Maze by Chisto Healy really grabbed my interest! Here it is:

 

“Kyle and his friends are keeping a horrific Halloween tradition alive by drugging an underclassman and bringing them to the abandoned corn maze.
Years ago, an enraged father, Riley Hain, killed the boys who murdered and abused his daughter before he was gunned down by police.
Now, Quinn and their friends are going to call his angry spirit back to the corn maze to try to end this horrible tradition once and for all.”

 

Good stuff, right? So of course I HAD to read this book! And it’s so good that I am now writing a review of it!

 

BUT, be warned. While this may be a spooky story, it is also a product of our time. You will be scared as you read this story, but you will be angry too. There is teen rape and teen murder in this story. There is also transphobia and misogyny, so be prepared.

 

Even as I was terrified as I read this story, I was also enraged. I was fuming over the horrible ways the girls and women in this story were treated. I was also fuming over how little the lives of the teen girls murdered meant to the boys and men.

 

So excuse me if I didn’t feel any sadness when some of the assholes in this story get what they deserved.

 

But it’s not just them who are in danger. After the spirit of Riley Hain comes to life and goes on a killing spree on Halloween night, there is no decision over who gets to live and who must die. As a father still grieving the loss of his own teen daughter, Riley’s spirit cannot rest, fueled by rage and a quest for vengeance. That means any of the people in the corn maze on that night – young men, men, a nonbinary student – are a target by the pumpkin-headed killer wielding an ax.

 

As I read this novel, one question I kept asking of the women was this: “Why do you keep putting up with it?” There are two different women in this story who have the same kind of sexist and abusive husband. And for a while, they continue to live with those jerks. But, at some point, each of those two women in the story reach their breaking point, and there are two different ways they handle it. These ways in which they handle it are common in real life, and I was cheering for both of them.

 

And that is to say that not everyone in this story meets an unfortunate end. Yes, some people do survive the Halloween slaughter that takes place in the corn maze, and for some other characters, there is hope that maybe their lives will be better moving forward.

 

Additionally, there is one character, in particular, who walks away from this as an entirely different person. Hopefully, that changed perspective will follow them into adulthood.

 

The Maze is a terrifying horror story set on Halloween night when a group of teenagers fed up with a group of rapists lauded for their sports skills and constantly getting away with their crimes try to take matters into their own hands to seek justice. It is also a story that shines light on the horrible things men and teen boys are doing to women and teen girls. While it is a horror story of a killer brought back to life seeking vengeance for his raped and murdered teen daughter, it is also a horror story of what real men are doing to real women. There is no Riley Hain to exact vengeance against rapists in the real world, but there is this book that allows us to wish for a reality where our own heroes actually existed.

 

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I purchased a digital copy of this book and this review is entirely voluntary.

Fighting Fire with Fire: Their Fragile Male Egos is a collection of horror stories where women must find the power to fight back

 

Their Fragile Male Egos

Angel Van Atta

Independently Published. 2026

ISBN-13: 979-8190092097 

Ebook, 113 ppg.

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In a time where girls and women are still fighting for their rights, including reproductive rights, as well as struggling to have a voice in the judicial system, reading stories of girls and women getting their revenge and obtaining their own sense of freedom is encouraging. Sometimes we don't get the ending we want or feel we deserve, but it's the fight that matters. In the horror short story collection Their Fragile Male Egos by Angel Van Atta, there are many such stories. Stories of girls and women breaking free of oppression or getting revenge on their abuser that spark hope and allow female readers the sense of satisfaction that another woman in their shoes got the kind of justice the legal system failed to provide, even if it only happens in fiction. 

 

This collection of stories starts off with a heartbreaking story told from the point-of-view of a rape victim buried alive. While reading this story may make some people feel sad for this character, it angered this reader. Especially since I read it soon after I learned that a group of men at Cornell University got away with gang-raping a female student. That said, read this story if you wish, but know that all of the excuses rapists use to justify their crimes are in it: “I was asking for it.” “It wasn’t his fault, he told me as I begged for him to stop. He couldn’t control himself, and I was so beautiful.” “I should have never been on this trail, in these woods. Especially wearing what I was.” It’s all bullshit, of course, but that’s the kind of thinking that the misogynistic society we live in clings to when a rapist is never punished for their crime.

 

Well, there are many who are never punished for their crimes. Some of them are. And some of them are punished in ways that only the victim can ensure happens. That’s why I loved the story “Penny” so much. The rapists going on with their lives, laughing with their friends and acting like nothing happened, while their victims are forced to live with that nightmare and suffer with the pain of what was done to them. Until, one day, they decide that they just won’t accept that anymore. I loved the ending of the story especially.

 

The story “Abigail” is another really good one. It unfolds slowly. We kind of understand what happened to Abigail’s mother, but the author grants us the ability to see it for ourselves. The worst part about it is young Abigail witnessing part of it. This adds to the trauma she grows up with and, as an adult, she has to know what is in that one room her father forbade her to go into. And as she goes into it, she sees a mattress on the floor and a blanket. The same blanket her mother used to cuddle her up in and sing to her. Abbie begins to sing that song, but as she says each line, something that is on that mattress even still comes to life:

 

“You are my sunshine,” was that her mother’s voice? Calling through the years?

“My only sunshine,” or was it hers, slipping through her own lips?

“You make me happy,” and was there something moving there, in the corner behind where the mattress lay?

“When skies are gray,” and was the room getting colder? Could she see her breath beginning to puff up in the air around her? Swirling in her phone’s half bright light? (Page 55)

 

What happens after Abbie finishes the song is even more chilling. It’s the climax before the very satisfying ending.

 

The story “Sammie” was also another great read. It was dark and chilling. Part of the story is told from the POV of a 13-month-old girl named Samantha, and I imagine it must have been quite a challenge for the author to write those parts of the story. This story has child murder in it, which was hard to read, so readers be aware of this trigger warning in the book.

 

I LOVED the micro “Suzy” and, yay! There is a cake recipe after this story! I am definitely going to try it soon.

 

The story “Betty” was also chilling. Atta is an excellent writer, skilled at capturing emotions with just the right words. For example, you can really feel the terror that Betty is experiencing as she and her children hide from “bad men” who broke into her home:

 

“Time for Betty seemed to slow as a frozen fist of anxiety slid down her throat, catching her breath inside her lungs and slipping its icy grasp around her heart. Chilly whisps ran up inside her mind and down her spine and to the tips of each and every finger and toe.” (Page 92)

 

It’s such a gripping story and it left a very strong impression at the end.

 

All of the stories in this book are amazing. They were chilling, suspenseful, and, in many cases, had me on the edge of my seat and holding my breath as I continued reading to find out what happened next. I enjoyed reading every story in this book and I know it is certainly one that I will come back to reread on occasion.

 

There are stories of women breaking free of oppression in this book, but for some women in the story, they do not get a happy ending. In some cases, the only freedom they achieve is through death, and in a way, being able to make that choice is their one act of rebellion against their oppressor. Overall, the women and girls in these stories refuse to submit to a life of oppression, abuse and scarcity. They may tolerate it for a while, but they get to a point where they finally have the strength to fight back.

 

Their Fragile Male Egos is a collection of horror stories of both girls and women thrown into a horrific nightmare that seems to have no escape. Most of the female characters in these stories are strong and refuse to be silenced, refuse to continue to suffer, and refuse to allow men to have power over them. Though the men in the stories certainly try to have that power. But, no, these females take back their power, or find it in some way, to get the kind of freedom they know is waiting for them.

 

While there’s not always a happy ending in some of the stories and while there are many horrifying things that happen along the way, the women and girls in these stories know that if they only hold on and continue fighting, they will be free. It’s the getting there they have to survive, no matter what it takes.

 

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

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

The Kingdom of Hell in Our Minds: The Kingdom of Hell is Inside You is a collection of bizarre and chaotic poetry

 

The Kingdom of Hell is Inside You

James Machell

Space Cowboy Publications, 2026

ISBN: 978-1-968958-08-4

Ebook, 21 ppg.

Buy link

 

 

They say that we often create our own hell within our minds. But what happens if Hell is already within us without having to create it ourselves?

 

That’s the message I got from the micro-chapbook of poetry The Kingdom of Hell is Inside You by James Machell. This bizarre collection of hellish poetry, where there are only 10 poems to read, was a wild ride.

 

But you won’t start reading these poems as the same person. Machell sets it all up at the very beginning, on page 1:

 

“Landlord put strangers in the shower,

shoes on the stairs, knives in the sink –

need privacy? Just dilute code with neurons

and expand within a vacuum. It’s cheaper

renting headspace. The cerebral cortex

is your living room and the service provider

installs windows. No guests allowed!

 

Eyes recalibrated, receptors drunk, polyglot as single interpreter, nobody leaves and the rain falls lovingly.”

 

Now that you have been properly acclimated to the environment, the next poem gives you a vision of the future, where today’s murky landscape becomes tomorrow’s everyday existence where we try to survive for yet another day. The next poem is about living in a bizarre world of crumbling surfaces and out-of-body experiences.

 

But that’s not all. The other poems in this short collection range from one of space travel, the struggle for acceptance when you are neurodiverse, and the ravages of poverty.

 

In essence, a Hell which a lot of us have to live through every day.

 

The poems are a short read but they are profound and thought-provoking. If you have some time to kill, pick up The Kingdom of Hell is Inside You by James Machell for a quick and trippy read.

 

 

 

Five stars.

 

 

 

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