This was such an interesting collection of horror! I very much enjoyed the first few stories, especially about (SPOILER) a gathering of dead women that a man collected in the basement!

Thank you Netgalley and L P Hermandez for the eArc of No Gods, Only Chaos.

No Gods, Only Chaos, truly holds to the title as each story within this book brings forth a multitude of different elements from the horror genre. Anything from tapping into unknown ( or known) fears, gore, suspense and spookiness, It has a little bit of everything. Each story is fast paced and visceral. I found myself flying through the whole book very quickly as I usually pick up a collection of short stories, read one to two and put it down. No Gods, Only Chaos was a page turner for me. Even though these stories are short, you still get a good idea of the characters and the surroundings. Some of these definitely made my hairs raise and my skin tingle in places. A well worth read!

4 stars

Wow, these stories are fun and crazy and did I say fun?

Hernandez weilded his words like an expert swordsman. The way a situation would go from tense in one sentence to terrifying in the next, put rocks in my stomach. It has been a long time since I have had to place a book down to take a breath. I didn't do that because it was gory or gross, but because the image in my head was too real and too scary for me to take in more.

I am so thrilled and thankful to Neil at Talking Scared Podcast for suggesting this book to me.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read it early.

NO GODS ONLY CHAOS is a collection filled with the shocking, unsettling, weird, strange, absurd, with stories of quiet violence and filled terror that rings louder after the fact when the reality of it all seeps like cold water thrown, drenched, settled. There are stories that bend genre, that feature the body as a setting, as a liminal space in and of itself; stories that explore the way traditions are created, the way they evolve, and the way they can collapse, fall, disappear forever. Perfect for fans of Eric LaRocca.

4⭐️ My first read by this author and I was very impressed. L.P. Hernandez has written a gruesome collection of short stories that grabbed
me from the first to the last. Each was unique and creepy quickly escorting me into feelings of angst unapologetically. While all of the stories were terrific; my absolute favorites were Cemetery Joe, Hesitation Cuts, The Final Gift, and The Last of Our Kind. I appreciated the Story Notes as they gave insight into L.P.’s thoughts on each story.

Love a collection of short stories, especially when they’re all as brilliant as these! Immersive, brilliant and some of them I’d love to read more from.

I love books of short stories, especially horror ones. It's the story that matters, not the page count. Short horror stories remind me of summer camp and sharing "scary" stories around the campfire. This book evokes that feeling, but with a little more fear. All the stories were wonderful but my favorite was #7, Offerings to the Old God. I feel like this was the story that gave the book its title. This story really could have been a book on its own and I would happily read it.

I don’t tend to read a lot of short story collections, as I prefer the character development in full-length novels. This one, however, is a fantastic compilation of short stories! I honestly couldn’t say there was a story I disliked, which is usually the case when I read these collections. Every story was a solid 4 or 5 star read. I have a hard time picking a favourite - I would have to say it’s between The Bystander, From the Red Dirt, Offerings to the Old God, and Family Annihilator. (Yeah, I know that’s like half the book 😆)

I’ll definitely read more by L.P. Hernandez!

4/5 ✨

This collection had so many eerie adult ghost stories written so beautifully. I love how each of these was so different and kept you wanting to read the next to see if it was better than the last!

Thank you to L. P. Hernandez, DarkLit Press, and Net Galley for a free, ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

I really enjoyed the first couple of Corrie’s. Creeped me out but in the best of ways. The last couple I did not live but still good.

Just as the title states, you find chaos inside the pages.
I enjoyed all the stories, the imagery was amazing in all of them.
Scenes and characters came to life, the feeling of uneasiness was present,
In my personal opinion, another story should have been the start of this magnificent work.
Don't let the first one turn you away from the rest of the stories, all are done so well, you will be enjoy the chaos.

There were some great stories but I felt the collection as a whole, wasn't super strong. My favorites were The Last Chance Diner and The Return of the Champion. I would love to read a full sized book based on Return of the Champion!

Thank you NetGalley and DarkLit Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The first couple of short stories were really great. They were creepy and thrilling, however as I continued through the collection, it seemed to loose it's steam.

Maybe a 2.5?

It was an unhinged read, and I found it most interesting when the stories went beyond the ordinary. It’s a collection of short horror stories, so at times my reading slowed down. I even found myself skipping a few pages and putting down the ARC between stories. There were a few stories I liked, but the others didn’t leave a lasting impression.

I some how missed the fact that this was a collection of short stories, but overall I have to say I quite enjoyed them... Even if "enjoyed" feels like a bad choice. Some of these stories were gruesome and horrifying, some were hopeful, yet sad, some were creepy and thrilling and had me on the edge of my seat! But overall I did really enjoy reading each of these.

I couldn’t finish this book, but if you’re a horror lover you’d probably really enjoy it. I’m more of an atmospheric horror kind of person, and this collection of stories had that but a lot of what I read I had to skim over because it was just too much for me personally. Based on the cover I was hoping for more occult vibes, but the stories ended up being impressively diverse AND unique. I will also say that the author is very skilled. The choice of words and flow will pull you in and keep you there, which may or may not be a good thing!

Read from May 26th, 2024 to June 3rd, 2024. Written on June 5th, 2024.

~1.5~

DNF @ 43%.

At first, I was really excited for this book. The first short story was chaotic, intense, creepy. The rest, some of them, followed but not close to the emotion I felt. I'm not saying I compared all the stories to the first, but none of them gave me the excitement the first one did, which is what eventually drove me to quit this book, unfortunately.

I don't know what it was, because I usually love gore and horror, maybe this was too much for me? I don't know. Hopefully in a couple years I'll reread it and like it more.

Plus, I love the title.

Signing off,
B.

(Free ARC from NetGalley and DarkLit Press that I chose to review after reading)

No Gods Only Chaos by LP Hernandez is a short story collection that I think any horror fan can find a story to love. From an urban explorer who gets her wish in the worst way, a girl who doesn’t want to sacrifice her baby brother, a family annihilator, a missing friend the stories and their differences are mini but the entertainment is plentiful. Some of the stories made me cringe in a good way and others had me wanting to hide my eyes despite having to read the story I really really enjoyed the stories I usually pick a favorite but I’m being honest when I say in this book I cannot do it, I really cannot. All the stories were so so good! It seems like every story is better than the last. This author really has a grasp on the creepy and macabre and he threads it throughout his stories with a talent not seen every day I truly loved the stories and wish he would write a novel because I would be so down to read that. I want to thank dark lit press for my free arc copy via NetGalley. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

First of all, No Gods, Only Chaos is a great title and probably my overriding outlook at our place in the universe. Like, I want this title as a tattoo.

Secondly, and more importantly, No Gods, Only Chaos is a superb collection of short stories from L.P. Hernandez. Every story is dark and terrifying, yet there are glimmers of hope and love. As I worked my way through the collection, my favorite story kept changing as Hernandez took me from the dust bowl to the cosmos to forgotten cemeteries to ancient caves to dank basements.

Looking back now, I have two favorites that have stuck with me. Permanently. Red Dirt, a zombie story where a grandfather’s love won’t let him rest. And Offerings to an Old God, that questions generational fear and blind acceptance of the status quo.

This could be the best horror short story collection I have ever read.

I consider L. P. Hernandez one of the most talented writers of horror short stories and novellas, so a new collection of his was a book I had to read instantly. And I was not disappointed! Hernandez is not only an incredible writer, he's also an ideas man, namely he comes up with great nifty story ideas: in his collections, I've found brilliant spins on familiar tropes of creepy terror, large-scale horrific vistas of the inner, psychological landscapes of messed-up people - and, quite often, some hugely original idea that sticks to memory for a long time. The same holds here: the new collection, 'No Gods, Only Chaos' (the title taken from a line uttered by a godly, non-human entity in one of the stories), entertains with its detailed, impactful imagery, unsettles with several terrifying implications, and satisfies with its thoughful and well-rounded endings. The collection's thirteen stories prove their worth themselves, so I'll just say a few words about each.

"Cemetary Joe," the opening story (whose name changed from the original, otherwise I'd have some trouble mentioning it without people cringing lol), feels like a perverted Creepshow episode, hovering between dark school humor and raw horror. It employs the familiar trope of the dare, and places a teenager in a cemetery who's been assigned to discover if the rumors about the depraved sexual leanigs of the infamous "Cemetery Joe" are true. The ending is rather funny, if you like your horror with a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun.

"Hesitation Cuts" goes for the throat, by inserting the readers right into the narrator's mind - tasting his mental confusion and allowing them to appreciate, very slowly, the implied significance of his actions; I was shocked once I realized the motive is love.

"The Bystander" was one of my absolute favorites, blending seriously dark humor with a brutal portrayal of the human monster, ending up messing with my sense of decency, by opening up to view the workings of a very sick mind. This needs to be expanded into a full novel.

"From the Red Dirt," another favorite, puts the zombie trope to good use, by placing it in the middle of a western horror story. The way this horrific tale ends up strengthening the sense of family was simply astonishing!

"Under No Circumstances" takes a very simple and straightforward approach to the familiar idea of 'not letting the monster out,' grounding the story in extremely well-done dialogue and very relatable characters, it's crammed with many promising twists and subtle hints on the monster's nature and background - I wish it were longer!

"Urbex" is the second story about roaches I was fortunate enough to read this week without actually gagging, since I hate them. The other story replaced roaches, at the last minute, with rats; in this one, Hernandez decided to hold back and not go full throttle on the roach thing - thank God for small favors! That said, the story has some very disturbing imagery and people who hate bugs will be triggered.

"Offerings to the Old God" is the only cosmic horror story in the collection, though Henrandez has put a bizarre spin on the trope, essentially cancelling its sting. I was taken aback by how the ending reflected more the sickness of the human soul and less the sinister eeriness of the godly.

"The Final Gift" managed to hurt me without actually explaining anything. A father-daughter love is portrayed with precise, sober wording, as their world collapses.

"The Last of Our Kind," the collection's single vampire story, was too rich for its own good; though enjoyable, I would have appreciated it more if it were longer and far more detailed. It ends up cramming a timespan of decades in its last two pages, and this undid, for me, most of the tension and the immediacy of what went before.

"Only Ever Night" was too metaphysical for me, bordering on fantasy, but it has an interesting premise and keeps the reader's interest till the end. It's the emotionally heaviest of the bunch, taking a family's existential predicament and showing how it affects them from the inside. The name of another story, "Family Annihilator," might better fit this story.

"The Return of the Champion" is a tale of sci-fi horror, developing along very familiar lines: a space crew disappears while on the way to the edges of the Solar System, they come back, and people closest to them realize that something is not right. I enjoyed the story, but the sense of mystery and the riddling out of what had happened to the original crew needed far more development; it was too short, I'd love to read a full novel with this premise.

"Family Annihilator," another favorite, taking the serial killer trope and employing it just to upset the reader. What makes this tale unique in my eyes is the incredible writing. The worst things in this story are happening in great literary style!

"The Last Chance Diner," the closing story of the collection, turns the volume down and goes for a cozy and gentle finish to the book; it felt like a heartfelt love letter to the people in our lives who have left things unsaid before passing on.

Overall, this collection is the perfect introduction to both Hernandez and contemporary horror shorts; it's fresh, very often marvellous, containing pieces of quality prose and triggering visuals, pieces that both entertain and horrify.