Member Reviews
There were some ups and some downs in this anthology. Some I skipped after a few pages and others I really loved. Thank you to Netgalley, publisher and author for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I love anthologies. I believe that most readers would love them if they read a few. I keep an anthology qued up on one of my kindles so I have something to read when I'm short of time or looking for a new author. I also find many stories written by some of my favorite authors who are stretching their talents in a different genre. I had not read any stories by this set of authors so I've been reviewing their back libraries as I read this impressive set of short stories. A less than full size story is a true test of an author's skills. They must quickly build the plot and capture the reader's attention, then just as quickly, tell the "rest of the story" while never leaving the readers feel cheated. Each story in this book was written so well, they could have stood on their own. Placing them into one collection means I now have alot more books on my TBR list. Read for yourself and you'll soon be a fan of anthologies too.
I hadn't read a horror anthology book before but I was really intrigued by this book and cover so I decided to give it a go. This book is the third in the Wily Writers Presents series, which I only found out now. The book has 11 short stories, and each is very different from each other, with unique story, characters and horror aspects. Of course, that means that even though the reader will definitely find one they like, there's a big chance they won't enjoy all of them. Unfortunately this happened to me, as I found the first story the most engaging and disturbing and there were a few that I did not enjoy reading at all as I found them very cliche or cheesy (I couldn't bring myself to finish one). On the bright side, there are many well written stories in this anthology and I still enjoyed my time with the book. I just wish there was more cohesion between the stories.
This is the first I have heard of the Wily Writers series. I love horror anthologies! I don't know how I missed out on this one. So here I am with book 3 and as soon as I finished I looked for the first two books because this one was full of creepy fun and satire that left me wanting more.
One of my favorite stories was Baby Crazy by E.S. Magill. I laughed, I cringed, I nodded my head in agreement at the implications of living in a world where the rights of the unborn matter more than the lives of women. This was a gross-out horror and a statement on current affairs rolled into one.
Another excellent tale was How Father Bryant Saw The Light by Alan Baxter in which we meet a real life nightmare known as The Gangle Man.
In Lisa Morton's Black Mill Cove A man has had a disagreement with his wife over his intention to hunt down some shellfish. She fears it is too dangerous due to shark attacks but there are other reasons he should not have gone out at low tide.
Cookies For Gio by Angel Leigh McCoy takes place in a war-torn world that sadly is not too hard to imagine.
A woman going through her deceased aunt's belongings learns the real reason her mother avoided her all of her life in Rabbit by Alison J. McKenzie.
Those were my favorites, yours may be different. I would recommend this book to all lovers of dark and weird fiction.
“I've met Evil. I bet you have too. It likes to get up-close and personal, and before you realize it, the damage is done.”
With this, the collection already hooks you up and possibly prepares you that the evil written in those story may not always come from ghosts and other spirits but that “Evil can disguise itself as love, righteousness, and compassion.”
I cannot exactly say which short story has very convinced me of its more wickedness and which not. However, all stories in this collection are good and had me entertained or thinking.
I want to thank Willy Writers LLC, Angel Leigh McCoy and Netgalley for letting me be an ARC reader.
A good anthology. Interesting shorts, good authors. A few authors i had not read but will now. Sometimes it's good to have an anthology laying around
The "Wily Writers" under Mrs. McCoy have created a very interesting collection of horror tales. This is an introduction to me to almost all of these authors. I have enjoyed Mrs. McCoy's work in tabletop games such as "White Wolf" and Pre-Wizards of the Coast Dungeons and Dragons so she had credit in the bank of Casper and I was glad I did. You will be as well.
I must say, overall I was disappointed in this anthology. Keep in mind everyone's version of what is scary to them is different. This just wasn't scary/horror enough for me . This was definitely finding the horror in seemingly normal day-to-day things. I found some stories were better than others, particularly "HowFather Bryant Saw the Light", "Black Mill Cove" and "Rabbit" . These three stories I wish were longer and better explored as I believe they have potential to be very captivating horrors. Overall, I gave the anthology 2 stars as I felt the writing in each story could have been elevated and more nuanced. Some stories just fell short for me but I have no doubt that others will find them truly horrifying.
We’ve all experienced evil in some form. It’s in this world and in worlds we may not know. This collection of short stories focus on the malevolent actions of others and the victims in evil’s crosshairs. Some evil doers are human, other have never been human at all.
In Yvonne Navarro's "Craving" introduces we meet a man whose fascination with human tragedy leads him to a dangerous place..
"A Message from Mommy," by Jennifer Brozek demonstrates Evil disguised as love.
Alan Baxter tells us about a priest fighting his own demons while attempting an exorcism. "How Father Bryant Saw the Light."
In Lisa Morton's "Black Mill Cove," an abalone forager finds a deep tide pool stocked with terror.
Baby Crazy," by E.S. Magill introduces us to a want-to-be mother with a realistic baby doll who goes too far to experience motherhood.
Bill Bodden's, "In the Shadow of His Glory"—a squire whose only purpose is to serve his master, no matter what.
Bob Lock's "The Charnel House" A ‘collector” (and “keeper” of sorts) and a detective meet up in the aftermath of a gruesome murder.
Weston Ochse introduces us to a shadowy evil made more dangerous by it’s benign appearance in "Hollywood Villainy."
In Alison J. McKenzie's "Rabbit," a woman inherits the home of her unknown Aunt, a woman who collected rabbit memorabilia and had an unhealthy obsession over her niece.
Angel Leigh McCoy offers "Cookies for Gio," we see that the power some humans crave can become a mob of human Evil grown out of control.
And finally, Loren Rhoads answers the question, "In 1966 what made the Beatles stop touring?" in her "Devil in her Heart." You’ll want to know what Ringo Star’s birth name was for this one.
This is a great collection and much of it is a prime display of the capacity for evil that humans have. I don’t know if it’s more terrifying to think of the possibilities of humans who have inhuman abilities, or humans who who can become deadly evil and spread their evil with simple power and persuasion….such as what we witnessed during the holocaust.
Thank you #netgalley for allowing me to read and review #WiletWritersPresentsTalesOfEvil #WileyWriters
Thank you so much to Wily Writers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.
This is definitely an elclectic collection of stories. They all have their own takes on horror and evil, so you can get some whiplash with how different these stories are from each other. Due to this there will be something for everyone, but that also means that you will probably come across things you don't enjoy as well; as is the way of short story collections.
The following is a list of each story, a one line summary, my individual rating, and any additional thoughts I had in the moment.
Craving by Yvonne Navarro
A man who attends traffic accidents with a morbid fascination is surprised to find a woman with similar tastes to his own. 3.5 Stars
A Message from Mommy by Jennifer Brozek
A mother takes “I will always watch over you” too literally. 3 Stars
I thought there would be more substance to this story. It was fine, but felt more like mental illness than evil.
How Father Bryant Saw the Light by Alan Baxter
A young Priest is compelled to help a little girl who suffers from nightmares that might be real. 4 Stars
I am always such a sucker for religious horror.
Black Mill Cove by Lisa Morton
A man assures his wife that he will be perfectly safe hunting alone. 4 Stars
Baby Crazy by E.S. Magill
A woman’s baby fever goes too far when she orders a realistic baby doll. 1 Star
I could have done completely without the first half of this story. There was some weird anatomy stuff going on here that was not making any sense. The second half is definitely a commentary on recent events in the US. It’s truly terrifying that that’s where the country is heading. However, this was not my type of horror at all.
In the Shadow of His Glory by Bill Bodden
In a world of heroes and monsters a young squire does what he can to survive. 4 Stars
I really enjoyed the setting of this one; it was unexpected
The Charnel House by Bob lock
A man keeps his victims as “guests” while amputating parts of their body to admire. 2 Stars
I was turned off immediately to this story by the following line in the first paragraph, “...and soaked into the t-shirt which fought to contain her breasts”. Give me a break.
Hollywood Villainy by Weston Ochse
An immortal teenager embraces his powers in wicked ways. 4.5 Stars
Rabbit by Alison McKenzie
A young woman receives an inheritance from an Aunt that she didn’t know existed, but she’s about to find out why. 4 Stars
Cookies for Gio by Angel Leigh McCoy
A mother uses her programming skills to fight against the US government. 5 Stars
This shows a future that very easily could have happened if the January 6th insurrection had gone differently. I read as an escape from reality, so when I first started reading this one I was rolling my eyes, as I am so tired of hearing about Trump. Then the story ended and I was borderline crying.
Devil in Her Heart by Loren Rhoads
A theory as to how The Beatles obtained their fame. 3 Stars
Some of these definitely met the prompt better than others for me. I really wanted to feel that sinister vibe, but it didn't always land. There were a few here where it didn't feel like horror was the first genre in mind.
Averaging all my ratings gives this collection a final score of 3.45 stars. That feels accurate to my experience with short story collections in general. I will continue to pick up the Wily Writers series as I really enjoy discovering new (to me) authors, and reading their other works. I love that there are so many authors involved in putting this series together, and it makes my little horror heart happy.
I really liked this anthology. There are stories in here that range from the psychological to the more extreme side of the horror genre and that means there's something in here for everyone to enjoy.
I, personally, love horror in all it's many forms. So I appreciated a very creepy story about an overbearing mother as much as a story about a woman giving birth to a doll (after a very delightfully disturbing prologue as to how this came to be).
There are stories in here that also fictionalise real world events (with a horror twist) including the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the Beatles!
All of these stories certainly brought the scares in one way or another and there are many that you'll be thinking about for a long time after you've read them.
I definitely recommend this amazing anthology.
This is a book full of different types of horror stories from the intellectually horrific to the down right gritty and horrible to a funny space exploration that I wasn’t expecting but totally enjoyed. With so many Great horror anthologys to choose from the really needs to be a standout reason to buy one and with this one I think it’s best attribute is that it’s all types of horror an unless you strictly or a fan of one time the chances of finding many stories you enjoy in this book great. I totally enjoyed it and I am a big consumer of anthologies in short stories in town this one hard to put down. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
I’ve read Wily Writers’ Tales of Nightmares. And liked it. Considerably. So it was an easy choice to grab two more of their books from Netgalley. Sure enough, this wily band doesn’t disappoint. And their meditations on the very nature of evil, ranging from unsettling to straight-out terrifying, are diverse, original, and timely. The latter is especially highlighted in Baby Crazy.
The story with all the bones didn’t quite sing to me (it seemed tonally out of sync with the rest though there is a really fun music-related story in here as a closer), but mostly this collection was really enjoyable. In so much as one can enjoy nightmares that is. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This anthology features tales centered on the theme of "Evil" and the authors manage to use that theme all over the spectrum. Several of the stories manage to have subtle or unexpected evils in them. Going into the book I was only familiar with three or four of the contributing authors. Of the first eight, seven of them really packed a wallop. The last three stories were OK but not great. There was really only one story I really didn't like out of the whole bunch. Overall, it was an enjoyable book and the contributions all solidly met the theme.
Craving by Yvonne Navarro
Craving for death? Curious about death? What man do so her girlfriend not get bored.. Love end of the story. Feel so real.
A Message from Mommy by Jennifer Brozek
Stalker Mom? Stalker with mommy issue? Maybe she was his babysitter?
How Father Bryant Saw the Light by Alan Baxter
The gangle man, it is real devil or something else?
Black Mill Cove by Lisa Morton
A Hunter being Hunt, It is not very lovely feeling right? Become a prey.
Baby Crazy by E.S. Magill
It is disturbing. But the story was good, still disturbing tho. So real.
In the Shadow of His Glory by Bill Bodden
What a loyal servant Gimble is. He even sacrifice his family to the creature.
The Charnel House by Bob Lock
Wow, Lizzie was lucky. Seriously plot twist at the end.. im curious now.
Hollywood Villainy by Weston Ochse
Once he want to be hero but cant get acknowledged, become laughing stock so he pivot become The Shadow who like plays his game.
Rabbit by Alison McKenzie
Woaa i want to know what happend! What kind of creature chasing her!
Cookies for Gio by Angel Leigh McCoy
Another side of horror in real life.
Devil in Her Heart by Loren Rhoads
When get what you are genious, multitalented, eager to learn but not sure will reach the dreams. Sell your souls and everything still not enough. *human*
Thank you to NetGalley for provide this book, it is pleasure to review this book.
#WilyWritersPresentsTalesofEvil #WilyWritersLLC #ScienceFictionandFantasy #WritersofAmerica #NetGalley #ARC #YvonneNavarro #JenniferBrozek #AlanBaxter #LisaMorton #ESMagill #BillBodden #BobLock #WestonOchse #AlisonMcKenzie #AngelLeighMcCoy #LorenRhoads