No Gods, Only Chaos, is a novella of horror stories that delve into human fear and dark imagery.

I loved reading this. The writing is beautiful. The imagery and the poetic tones are what made this book for me. I also loved the stories that made me confused and horrified at the same time.

I enjoyed most of the stories, some more than others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dark Lit Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fun horror short story collection. I'm going to break down by story:

1) Cemetary Joe: The weakest of the stories in my opinion and should not have been the opener. Although the depiction of dumb teenage boys was spot on, Joe's explanation of using life force to reanimate corpses felt half baked at best.

2) Hesitation Cuts: One of my favorites because it creeped me the hell out. It brilliantly built up the unreliable narrator and messed with the readers sense of reality. Going to recommend anyone who has a family member with dementia not read it......

3) The Bystander: I loved this one. I thought jumping back and forth between the present day and the narrator's childhood was absolutely brilliant. It showed how he was a monster that was via nature and nurture. I would love for this to be a full length novel.

4) From the Red Dirt: I liked the setting of Dust Bowl Era America as I felt it made the story more compelling than if it were set in present day. Hernandez did create a unique and sweet twist on the zombie genre with this story. Thank you for giving it a happy ending!

5) Under No Circumstances: The concept for this story is pretty cool but I think it would have worked better as a full length novella/novel . There was just too much going on that was packed into so few pages and it destroyed any tension.

6) Urbex: Utter nightmare fuel because I cannot stand bugs. This was another one that I wished was longer.

7) Offerings to the Old God: Cosmic horror for the win! This story was my favorite. I loved the set up, I loved the climax and I loved the resolution. Our main character was so brave and intelligent (and to be honest, a better main character than a lot of full length fantasy novels). And come on the line: ' There are no gods, only chaos' is such a banger!

8) The Final Gift: Turns out you can shatter a reader's heart with minimal page count.

9) The Last of Our Kind: This story was again another unique twist on an overused genre. I thought it was sweet that the vampire maintained a connection with our narrator throughout their lives. Hate to repeat myself but this is yet another story that would make a great full length novel.

10) Only Ever Night: Brilliantly written and again dabbling into cosmic horror in the best way. I love an apocalypse story and this one was incredibly well done considering how short it is. My heart hurt for the family.

11) The Return of the Champion: This was one of the other weakest stories. I immediately knew that when Miranda's husband came back that it wouldn't really be him. It just felt a little too cliche.

12) Family Annihilator: Based upon the title, this story did not go how I thought it would and I wasn't mad about it. It was darkly funny and I may have enjoyed myself a little too much.....

13) The Last Chance Diner: Very sweet and the perfect way to end the book.

Overall, a good mix of various horror sub genres and quality of stories. Definitely worth a read.

Reviews going live on 5/23

I loved this horror anthology!! I received this book as an ARC through netgalley. Thank you for choosing me to review your writing! I have never read anything by L.P. Hernandez before, and it’s safe to say that he will be an author I watch out for now. The style of writing is sophisticated, but still easy for the reader to grasp. I struggled to put this down and found myself often saying “one more story” before going to bed!

From page one, with good ol’ Joe, I was hooked. I will definitely be recommending this to those around me and am so excited for general release!!

No Gods, Only Chaos was a good short story collection and was very diverse. Some stories were kind of fucked up in a good way and some were more subtle, but I liked all of them. Thanks Netgalley and L.P. Hernandez for letting me read free copy in exchange for my review.

I had more fun with this than with most horror short story collections I've read in a while. The subjects were widely varies, from aliens to serial killers to zombies, and they all did a great job at building tension and keeping me interested. In my experience, horror stories that go too deep into the explanation behind phenomena usually fall flat and kill the tension, and I really appreciated that these didn't fall into that category and let the unknown stay unknown and remain creepy! My favorites were Hesitation Cuts, From the Red Dirt, Urbex, and Only Ever Night.

The title lives up to the state of the book. It's extremely chaotic, and I didn't mind it in the slightest. Most of the stories contained more of a shock factor and not horror in my opinion - though I'm sure the person beside me who was trying to read over my shoulder was a bit horrified about what I was reading in public.

The writing was decent enough that I was never bored, but I feel like it was missing a bit of oomph. In saying that, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of the book.

This was my first time reading something by L.P. Hernandez, and two things became apparent to me very quickly. Firsy, this is an author who is concerned with the darker side of human existence. The initial couple of stories make it clear that he isn't going to shy away from pushing your limits in places, and that his writing will be about sometimes challenging subject matter—about death, about things that make death seem like a sweet release, and about ideas and prospects beyond death.

Secondly, and the main reason I was eager to devour these sometimes nasty tales as quickly as I did, is that Hernandez is an excellent writer. There were odd passages throughout that I found myself re-reading just to enjoy the prose, and constant evocative descriptions that conjured such strong mental images. He has a real knack for creating a sense of place, and for bringing the environment to life even in the short form. I often felt like I was right there, in the room, in the location, voyeuristically watching on—no matter how much I may have wished I didn't, at times.

I'll be honest and say that after the first story, I was somewhat concerned that despite the obvious quality, that this collection was written with the intention of shocking, or using extreme or splatter elements to get a reaction rather than storytelling. I'm glad to say that I couldn't have been more wrong. The second, Hesitation Cuts, used a first person unreliable narrator clearly in the midst of losing their faculties, and I found it so compellingly written that I thought there was more to the collection than I first feared; by the time I reached the fourth, From The Red Dirt, I realised that Hernandez was writing in this gory, sometimes brutal, way with a real sense of heart running throughout. After this, I found nearly every story was a hit for me, and I couldn't wait to read more.

There are so many subjects touched on here—an urban explorer wanting to be first to explore an abandoned building and getting more than she bargained for, bike-riding teenage girls who make a startling discovery in the desert, a tale of a village that reads like a cosmic horror Lovecraft, and a final story that's equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking through the framing of an isolated diner—and the author has done an excellent job maintaining quality through the variety of the stories. Once I found my rhythm within his writing I couldn't put the book down, and I look forward to delving into his back catalogue in the near future.

DNF, the beginning had no hook. The stories that I read were not scary but had "shocking" situations. Simply for the shock factor.

This book is what it says it is… pure Chaos. This was my first time reading this author. I was surprised and taken aback that each section was a different story. I didn’t know that, so that surprised me. The stories are still good. I like the first one the best.

Thank you to NetGalley and DarkLit Press for providing me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This collection is brutal and beautiful! The stories run the gamut of creepy cemeteries, urban exploration, old west zombies, 90's girls on bikes, and so much more! A definite must read for horror fans!

These were truly unsettling tales of the macabre! It was a masterful compilation of stories and I highly recommend to all horror lovers- especially those who love to stock up on creepy tales for the Halloween season.

I would say out of the 13 tales, maybe 4 both unsettled and satisfied me, the others more intriguing, gruesome snapshots. Hernandez’s writing is visceral and absorbing, so I would be interested in more of their work.

Chapter 2: Hesitation Cuts was 5 stars

Loved this one! Full of tales of urban exploring, cemeteries, zombie grandpas, sacrifices, vampires and space travel.

My favorite was Urbex. I’ve always loved the idea of urban exploring. It’s terrifying and I’ll never do it…but I think more horror set in the wasteland of abandoned urban building would be wonderful!

The narrator, riddled with cancer, takes on an urban building that just feels off. It was her “hidden Everest”. She tells no one where she’s going and as she travels deeper she falls through the floor and into a whole new world.

Great compilation of stories. I loved this authors novella, Stargazers,

Thank you so much to DarkLit Press for providing this ARC ebook via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion.

This was such a great short horror story book! There are 13 chapters, each chapter a different short story. I especially loved the skull emblems at the beginning of each chapter. You'll find zombies, cosmic gods, and even aliens in these stories. The author's writing was intriguing and the stories were very unique. I highly recommend this book!

This horror anthology is truly masterful. How can so much be said in so few pages? The writing is phenomenal, I mean, painfully real - the imagery is insane. I’m not a huge slasher-type, lifelike horror fan, so some of the stories were a little off-putting (Family Annihilator, for example), but that’s just a me thing and it doesn’t make it any less fantastic as a horror piece (also, I think that’s the point). I don’t know, I can’t say much else besides the fact that I loved it and that I’ll be recommending it to every horror fan that I know.

My favorites:
Cemetery Joe
From the Red Dirt
Under No Circumstances
Offerings to an Old God
The Return of the Champion

Wow! I wasn't sure about requesting this ARC. The cover kind of through me off but I'm glad I did. A really interesting group of horror stories. The first one was the BEST but they were all great. The endings weren't obvious and didn't tie everything into a neat bow which I liked. They left you wondering and thinking. Great writing. Engaging and makes you want to keep reading. Some of these stories could be longer but I think that's what makes a short story good. Leaves you wanting more. Glad I read this! Thank you NetGalley and Dark Lit for the opportunity.

This is my first instruction to the work of L.P. Hernandez, and it was a brilliant read! This was a beautifully written collection of short horror stories that has something for everyone. Hernandez's writing is powerful and finds a way to build up a character in such a short amount of time.

Some of my favorite shorts are:
Hesitation Cuts (gave me serious nightmares)
The Bystander
From the Red Dirt
Urbex
Offerings to an Old God
The Last of Our Kind (great short of a classic tale)
Family Annihilator
The Last Chance Diner

There is fear, horror, new and old, humor; a mix of emotions fit for anyone.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Fantastic short horror story collection. Throughout this book there is a story for everyone! I do not always enjoy horror stories, but these were great. I also enjoyed the story notes at the end of the book that gave a little insight to each story.

Thank you to Netgally for providing this ARC.

What a surprisingly terrifying collection of absolute horror. I was confused at first as I didn’t realize it was short stories. That’s on me. Some of these gave me nightmares, and I still came back for more. How wonderfully horrific. I will be buying a paper copy as soon as I can and recommending it to all my horror fiend friends. I wish I could half stars.

I first encountered LP Hernandez in the Human Monsters anthology and was impressed by his ability to create such deep and unique characters in such a short space. This same story I joyfully came across in No Gods, Only Chaos. This anthology pulls you in with the speed of a bullet and doesn’t let up until the final story, Last Chance Diner, which hits right in the heart. Hernandez is able to hit on so many different and deep fears in this anthology that you are bound to fret and squirm along the way. I can’t wait to read more!!