We are back! I can't believe we are almost to the end of January of 2025. I hope everyone had a good holiday and is looking forward to a new year of endless possibilities. For me, winter is a time for hibernation and introspection and I wonder if many of you feel the same way? As the cold weather settles itself outside, I like to curl up and read. I wonder if many of you feel the same way about that, too :)
Which brings me to my first review of 2025! This week's review is of The Horror Collection by KJK Publishing. It is the 21st anthology in the series. Wow! If you enjoy short stories and like discovering new to you authors, anthologies are a great way to cover both bases.
This was my first THC anthology, and I was excited to see some familiar names along with some new to me authors on the TOC. Each story has its own style and flow and that's one of my favourite parts about reading an anthology. I love short stories in general and will often buy collections by the same author, and that is fun too because I am immersed in a new story but written in the familiar style of the author. The difference with an anthology is that each new story is written by someone else, so as you are drawn in to the tale, you are also experiencing new style and prose. As a baby editor and writer, I love seeing individual styles and appreciate each author's approach and technique as I read their work, even when it's for my personal enjoyment.
A few of the stories in this one were not entirely my cup of tea, and some styles were harder for me to immerse myself in, but each one tells a haunting story with characters that want to take you on their journey with them. Some of the stand outs for me were Bachelorette Party Bloodbath by Jason Nickey, Survival by Veronica Smith, The Double Date by D.W. Hits, My Neighbour Tom by Elizabeth J. Brown, The Corn Keeps Pace by Leigh Kenny and Come Outside by James Kaine. Each one of these stories gripped me from start to finish. I was invested in the characters and the plot, wanting to know what kind of twist (if any) would transpire and how they would end.
I am claustrophobic myself and I always find stories with that theme really hit me hard. The Corn Keeps Pace is a prime example of one such story, where the boys find a barn full of hay bales stacked in a way that forms tunnels throughout the pile. They go in to explore, and no spoilers but, it...gets claustrophobic. In Bachelorette Party Bloodbath, the characters find themselves held hostage at one point and being tied up and detained against my will is in the same category as claustrophobia for me. In My Neighbour Tom, the feeling of being watched and having your home violated also creates that sense of being out of control and stifled by external forces.
There are other themes throughout these stories that play into the horror genre nicely, fear, confusion, feeling unsafe, dying...
I recommend this anthology to anyone who wants to explore horror in short spurts from the perspective and style of a variety of authors!
A solid 3.75/5 from me :)
GET IT HERE:
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