Weekly Horror Short Story Review Project – Year 3 in Review

I began this project on February 16, 2017 and it’s been going strong ever since. Because I typically schedule these posts in advance, I have the luxury of taking a week or two off every now and then but no one ever notices. I’m still enjoying reading and reviewing the tremendous body of horror-themed short fiction in my library and have lots left to go. Perhaps the biggest announcement I have to make in this post is that there will be (at least!) a Year Four of Reviews! As I’ve noted previously, this project has given me the excuse to really sit down and read it all systematically, working my way through a number of single-author collections and anthologies featuring stories by a wide variety of authors I probably should have read before now. It’s been a lot of fun.

When you’re reviewing four stories a week, one from each of four books simultaneously, you end up working your way through a lot of books. I have now completed reading and reviewing 26 story collections and am partially finished with three more. Here’s the complete list (collections that we’re still working on are bolded below):

• Weeks 1-55: The Dark Descent, edited by David G. Hartwell (Tor, 1987)
• Weeks 40-56: Black Wings of Cthulhu 3, edited by S.T. Joshi (Titan Books, 2015)
• Weeks 48-78: The Yellow Sign and Other Stories, by Robert W. Chambers (Chaosium, 2004)
• Weeks 51-76: The Book of Cthulhu, edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Night Shade Books, 2011)
• Weeks 56-91: Alone With the Horrors by Ramsey Campbell (Tor, 2004)
• Weeks 57-74: Black Wings of Cthulhu 4, edited by S.T. Joshi (Titan Books, 2016)
• Weeks 75-99: Mammoth Book of Cthulhu, edited by Paula Guran (Running Press, 2016)
• Weeks 77-88: The Crawling Chaos and Others: The Annotated Revisions and Collaborations of H.P. Lovecraft, Vol. 1, edited by S.T. Joshi (Arcane Wisdom, 2012)
• Weeks 79-89: The Hastur Cycle, Second Edition, edited by Robert M. Price (Chaosium, 1997)
• Weeks 89-106: Medusa’s Coil and Others: The Annotated Revisions and Collaborations of H.P. Lovecraft, Vol. 2, edited by S.T. Joshi (Arcane Wisdom, 2012)
• Weeks 90-114: The King in Yellow Tales, Volume 1, by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Lovecraft eZine Press, 2015)
• Weeks 92-95: Dark Feasts, by Ramsey Campbell (Robinson Publishing, 1987)
• Weeks 96-106: Cold Print, by Ramsey Campbell (Tor Books, 1987)
• Weeks 100-115: Madness on the Orient Express, edited by James Lowder (Chaosium, 2014)
• Weeks 107-118: Demons by Daylight, by Ramsey Campbell (Carroll & Graf, 1990)
• Weeks 107-126: A Mountain Walked: Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, edited by S.T. Joshi (Dark Regions Press, 2015)
• Weeks 115-124: Legacy of the Reanimator, edited by Peter Rawlik and Brian M. Sammons (Chaosium, 2015)
• Weeks 116-123: The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, by Laird Barron (Night Shade Books, 2014)
• Weeks 119-136: Made in Goatswood: New Tales of Horror in the Severn Valley, edited by Scott David Aniolowski (Chaosium, 1995)
• Weeks 124-132: Behold the Void, by Philip Fracassi (Lovecraft eZine Press, 2018)
• Weeks 125-126: The Inhabitant of the Lake & Other Unwelcome Tenants, by Ramsey Campbell (PS Publishing, 2018)
• Weeks 127-153: A Mythos Grimmly, edited by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)
• Weeks 127-136: The Red Brain: Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, edited by S.T. Joshi (Dark Regions Press, 2017)
• Weeks 133-154: The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)
• Weeks 137-152: To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)
• Weeks 137-156: Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)
• Weeks 153-ongoing: The Mammoth Book of Nightmare Stories, edited by Stephen Jones (Skyhorse, 2019)
• Weeks 154-ongoing: Cthulhu’s Reign, edited by Darrell Schweitzer (DAW, 2010)
• Weeks 155-ongoing: Haggopian and Other Stories, by Brian Lumley (Solaris, 2009)

Some general thoughts and reflections on the reviews and collections from Year Three in no particular order:

• I finished a TON of great collections this year, in part my numbers were inflated because I was finishing up most if not all of my Ramsey Campbell collections and many of those reprint stories from earlier collections I had already read. In no particular order, my favorite collections from this year were: A Mountain Walked and The Red Brain, both edited by S.T. Joshi; The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron; Behold the Void by Philip Fracassi; and To Rouse Leviathan by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019). That is not to slight the others in any way, those were just collections that I found unusually wonderful. Of those, the collection that most profoundly affected me was Matt Cardin’s To Rouse Leviathan. This is a mix of existential horror and body horror, often in the same story, and many are permeated with religious themes and elements. To say that some of Cardin’s stories had a deeper impact on me than almost anything I’ve read in the last decade would not be an exaggeration. If you have not yet read it, do yourself a favor and pick it up. Cardin has now become one of those very few authors whose work I will now acquire as soon as I learn of their availability.
• As I noted last year, we very badly need an index of all the reviews done thus far, and that will be coming out this next year. I did a lot of work on it this year, indexing all the way through Week 130 or so; there will be an index organized by author and a second organized by collection. Expect an announcement when the first draft of those indices is available. My hope is that it will be finished, at least through now, in spring 2021.
• I also noted last year that I need to start posting some reviews of Thomas Ligotti’s work, and works inspired by Ligotti. While I didn’t get to post those this past year, I still plan to begin this next year in a separate series of posts. I have read several of Ligotti’s collections and related anthologies, so the content does exist, I just haven’t started posting them yet.
• As promised last year, I did a series of special Halloween story reviews this past year, all from the excellent collection The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories, edited by Stephen Jones. I hope to do something similar again in 2021. That’s a really strong collection, so check it out.

As I mentioned last year, the life of a blogger is a sometimes lonely one, so let me know what you think of the reviews, or hit me with any other questions or comments you might have. As always, thanks for reading!

Week 152 – Weekly Horror Short Story Reviews: Cardin, McLaughlin, Mills, Pratt, and Henderson

Welcome to Week 152 of my horror short fiction review project! This week we finish up Matt Cardin’s wonderful collection To Rouse Leviathan; next week, that one will be replaced by the eclectic but very good Mammoth Book of Nightmare Stories in our line-up. I had a very clear favorite this week: “Black Goat of the Hundred Acre Woods” by James Pratt. This is a mash-up of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh and the Cthulhu Mythos. If that doesn’t spark your curiosity, I don’t know what will. I’m surprised this story hasn’t received more attention and been anthologized in additional collections–it’s that good.

To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)

“A Cherished Place at the Center of His Plans” by Matt Cardin and Mark McLaughlin

Eric Thornton is an up and coming artist whose work becomes noticed by Tony Anthony, a wealthy and eccentric art collector. Anthony ends up commissioning Eric to create a new masterpiece to complete Anthony’s collection at his mountaintop estate. After struggling, Eric finally succeeds in completing the work, seemingly pouring out all of his talent onto the canvass. The effort to create the painting seems to have drained Eric’s artistic talent permanently. Anthony seems to serve a demonic entity, which Eric can also see in his nightmares, and Anthony’s art collection seems to serve the unnamed being as part of some larger malevolent plan. Effective.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)

“A Sleeping Life” by Daniel Mills

This is the story of Cesare’s birth and childhood, told from his perspective. He is born asleep and in a trance-like state. His is a tragic life: his mother and uncle die—his father is unknown and absent—and he is taken into an orphanage where he is bullied by the other boys and then used as an assassin by the orphan’s administrators. Eventually Cesare’s father locates him, but is murdered, then he is discovered by Dr. Caligari and purchased from the orphanage. Some interesting backstory for the character.

A Mythos Grimmly, edited  by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)

“Black Goat of the Hundred Acre Woods” by James Pratt

A melancholic masterpiece. Poignant and sad. I loved it. Without using any of the names of the characters, Pratt gives us a new, lengthy (final?) adventure of Winnie the Pooh and his friends. A black goat and a terrible storm comes to the Hundred Acre Woods, and this transforms everything, spelling doom for all. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands, with all their terrifying inhabitants, colonizes the Hundred Acre Woods, or is superimposed upon it, or otherwise merges with the Woods. Such a wonderfully evocative idea. Prose and characterization are simply superb. This story should have achieved much more notoriety than it has. Undoubtedly the best story in the collection. I will just say that if you have any emotional attachment to these classic characters at all, this one will be a trying read—one worth your time and emotional investment, but it will not be an easy read on you.

Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)

“The Soul’s Right Hand”

This was my first Teddy London story—I know that London is the protagonist of a long-running series of stories about a team of ghost hunters led by Teddy London. This one began in media res in such a way that it made me feel that I had missed a great deal but I don’t think that’s the case. London is hired by a client who has been accused of murdering his girlfriend, though no body was ever found. They return to the site where the client believes that a demon snatched the girlfriend. A mean-spirited, skeptical female reporter accompanies the team, and ends up being offered as a sacrifice to the demon by London’s client, who re-summons the demon who took his girlfriend. Interesting enough, but kind of a paint-by-the-numbers effort. This one did not make me want to seek out other Teddy London stories.

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Week 151 – Weekly Horror Short Story Reviews: Cardin, Tanzer, Moreno-Garcia, and Henderson

Welcome to Week 151 of my horror short fiction review project! Some decent stories this week. The best was probably C.J. Henderson’s “The Laughing Man” about the aftermath of a Viking raid, but I also really enjoyed the bizarre, Caligari-inspired “That Nature Which Peers Out in Sleep” by Molly Tanzer (I just wish that one had more conflict, more obstacles to be truly outstanding).

To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)

“The New Pauline Corpus” by Matt Cardin

An interesting experiment, but not a successful one I think. This was not a straight-forward narrative, so here’s my take on what we see here: A jumble of different narratives/written accounts are literally piled on top of each other and assessed by a monk or similar figures after a Cthulhu Mythos sort of apocalypse. These various accounts include a theologian writing his magnum opus on the fearful nature of God and a description of aspects of the apocalypse. Some interesting and evocative and even thought-provoking pieces strung together, but my feeble mind simply craved more coherency in this one.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)

“That Nature Which Peers Out in Sleep” by Molly Tanzer

Video store clerk Jordan obsessively watches The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and has incorporated his fantasy of being Cesare and ordered around by Dr. Caligari into his sex life. The problem is that he’s ashamed of this, and feels that he can’t share it with anybody, so he’s led a lonely life. Jordan then goes on a date with one of his regular customers, Dimetria, who understands and indulges his desires. This was an interesting one—I enjoyed it, but thought the story could use much more conflict.

A Mythos Grimmly, edited  by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)

“In the Details” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A very brief story that is kind of a Beauty and the Beast homage. A young girl is sold by her father to a beast who lives in a castle. The beast turns out to be a kind of Deep One from the abyssal depths, but rather than be horrified by the encounter, she finds this a welcome relief from her abusive home life. A year later when she returns home to visit her family, the girl is held captive by her father, who refuses to release her back to the beast. He doesn’t like this, naturally, and exacts revenge. Not bad, but there’s also not a lot here.

Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)

“The Laughing Man”

Olgenson is one of the few survivors of a Viking raid fleeing from the English with a king’s ransom in tow. The Vikings have gotten lost on the way back to their ship and are in desperate straits. Olgenson, already mortally wounded, volunteers to buy them some time to escape by holding a bridge as long as possible. A Valkyrie intervenes. Very good stuff.

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Week 150 – Weekly Horror Short Story Reviews: Cardin, Cisco, Talley, and Henderson

Welcome to Week 150 (!) of my horror short fiction review project! While I really liked Brett Talley’s story this week, my absolute favorite was “Prometheus Possessed” by Matt Cardin. A really nice blend of (religious/psychological) horror in a science fictional dystopian setting–all things I like individually and which Cardin makes work well together.

To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)

“Prometheus Possessed” by Matt Cardin

A very good story. A futuristic urban utopia is experiencing a kind of psychic or spiritual crisis. Almost everything in society is perfect and in harmony—though the state seems a bit technocratic and heavy-handed—but a growing number of citizens are experiencing a kind of madness. Brother Frank is a highly regarded psychiatrist assigned to treat some of the worst patients, but his treatments no longer seem effective. One night he encounters a new patient who, it seems, may be either a demon or a physical manifestation of an entity that is bent on destroying not just Frank’s mind but the society as a whole. A wonderful depiction of psychic rot and a truly terrifying demonic entity.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)

“The Righteousness of Conical Men” by Michael Cisco

Incoherent and chaotic prose. The narrator seems to be a kind of reporter cum secret policeman who works for some sort of agency that seems to maintain order via hypnosis and skullduggery in a dystopic society. I could be off on that (see note about incoherency above), but that premise has real promise. There are some genuinely evocative elements here, but they’re lost in or overshadowed by the muddled prose. This experience has confirmed for me that I just don’t like Cisco’s work much, so I may be unfair in this review; suffice it to say that this one wasn’t for me.

A Mythos Grimmly, edited  by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)

“The Piper in Yellow” by Brett J. Talley

A nice fable-esque mash-up of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and the King in Yellow, with (perhaps a bit oddly) Nyarlathotep cast as the King in Yellow. We have a mysterious disease that afflicts the children of a town, then a mysterious stranger arrives and offers to cure the disease for a price—a sacrifice. The townsfolk attempt to renege on the bargain that they have struck and pay a terrible price for their treachery. All classic elements, well-executed.

Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)

“Pragmatic”

Professor Piers Knight of the Brooklyn Museum is called to Munich to save the life of a baby about to be born. This child is the offspring of a singer with the gift of resonant pitch (the ability to make glass shatter), and the child will likely inherit this ability. Apparently this sound also wards off demons, who don’t like people with this ability, so they are planning to kill the baby before it can be born. Knight seems to be something of an occult investigator, and brings an Incan shield with him to be used in an occult ritual to stave off the demons. There is a fair amount of exposition surrounding how Knight and Strassen—the man who invites Night to come to Munich—know each other, to the point that I wondered if that section was summarizing another story with these two characters, but I don’t believe that was actually the case. Not a bad story, but a little hokey, and not all that exciting.

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Week 149 – Weekly Horror Short Story Reviews: Cardin, Tremblay, Andrew, and Henderson

Welcome to Week 149 of my weekly horror short fiction review project! Some really strong tales this week; to be honest, it was hard to pick a favorite because of this embarrassment of riches, but I will draw one out of a hat and say that my favorite was “The Questioning of the Azathothian Priest” by C.J. Henderson. How can an occult detective/sorcerer defeat a man who is almost omnipotent? But definitely check out Matt Cardin and Jason Andrew’s stories as well.

To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)

“Chimeras & Grotesqueries” by Matt Cardin

This one begins with an odd framing device: a Methodist minister has written an unpublished preface for a dead writer’s last collection of stories, and then the bulk of Cardin’s tale is one of those stories. Not sure he framing device adds much, but it is what it is. The story itself is good though. A deformed homeless man spends most of his days in an alley turning trash he finds into an army of humanoid dolls. He then witnesses the city he inhabits experience a growing number of utterly inexplicable events that are either widespread, violent hallucinations, or reality itself is breaking down in chaotic and horrific ways that lead to people dying or being driven mad. As is common to Cardin’s work, there is a brief intimation that perhaps God is insane and these are manifestations of that insanity. One night all of the homeless man’s dolls animate and head out into the city, presumably to kill the city’s residents while once again leaving the homeless man untouched, a silent witness to the reality-bending terror. Good stuff.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)

“Further Questions for the Somnambulist” by Paul Tremblay

Not impressed with this one. Just a series of questions for the “prophetic” somnambulist from the film from an unknown man, woman, and child. All three end by asking the same question—when will I die?—as in the film. Not at all profound, and mostly pointless. Certainly adds nothing to the film.

A Mythos Grimmly, edited  by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)

“The House of the Sleeping Beauties” by Jason Andrew

The narrator is a female college student who works at a very strange bordello: once per month she is drugged into unconsciousness and then her clients (the “Charmings”) are free to do whatever they like with her “sleeping” body. Eventually she is paid a truly exorbitant sum to have a completely unmonitored session with a mysterious client. She agrees, and awakens with some superficial wounds and the sure knowledge that she has been impregnated. She begins to have strange dreams of her as-yet-unborn twin children, eventually finding out that the client who has impregnated her is a lord of the Deep Ones, who was drawn to her because of her Innsmouth heritage. She becomes his queen and their twin children have a role to play in the coming apocalypse that will destroy human civilization and usher in the return of the Great Old Ones. Very nice, dark, and twisted. I liked this one a lot.

Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)

“The Questioning of the Azathothian Priest”

This is another Anton Zarnak story; while I didn’t care for his first appearance in Henderson’s “Admission of Weakness—Zarnak seemed wholly unlikable—I liked this story a lot. It’s framed as the mystic police consultant Zarnak and colleague police captain Thorner are trying to explain how and why a lunatic died in police custody. This wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill madman, but someone claiming to be a powerful sorcerer and priest of the deity Azathoth, with night omnipotent power. As it turns out, the priest is telling the absolute truth: he has actually absorbed a tremendous amount of power and is nearly omnipotent. How Zarnak defeats him is the interesting part of all of this. Very good stuff.

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Week 148 – Weekly Horror Short Story Reviews: Cardin, Griffin, Griffith, and Henderson

Welcome to Week 148 of my horror short fiction review project! There’s a clear best story this week: “The God of Foulness” by Matt Cardin. If you haven’t read this, do yourself a favor and check it out–it’s a great blend of cosmic and body horror, one of my favorite combinations.

To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)

“The God of Foulness” by Matt Cardin

A long novella—certainly the single longest story in the collection—but one well worth the time. A secretive, new religious movement/cult nicknamed the “Sick Seekers” has begun spreading around the world and is beginning to attract a great deal of attention. They seem to forsake all medical treatments and revel in their physical afflictions, but little else is known. A journalist named Lawrence Palmer begins to investigate the local chapter of the Sick Seekers. An elderly farmer named Mitch Billings—a throat cancer sufferer—fills in some of the details about the group’s beliefs and invites Palmer to attend their next worship service. In the interim, Palmer has a health scare—his face becomes disfigured with an irritating new growth—and a former professor and mentor from graduate school tries to warn him off from investigating the group further. Palmer does end up attending the service and has a profound experience. I hesitate to be more specific because it’s so well done. This story is a wonderful blend of cosmic and body horror, a combination that writers like Cardin and Clive Barker have truly mastered. A fascinating look at the inner workings and beliefs of a truly monstrous cult.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)

“The Insomniac Who Slept Forever” by Michael Griffin

Conrad Snow is an insomniac who is grieving the loss of his lover Hannah. He consults with an experimental psychologist, Dr. Zyz (highly appropriate name for a doctor specializing in sleep disorders). Conrad manages to fall asleep in the course of his treatment, but has disturbing dreams. First, he dreams of a murdered child, then later a child matching his description is found dead. He also recounts the two occasions in which he saved Hannah’s life. Curious, and kind of interesting story, but I’m unsure what to make of it all. I’m also uncertain if Conrad has ever actually awoken.

A Mythos Grimmly, edited  by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)

“Sticks and Stones, Skin and Bones” by Morgan Griffith

One day two brothers, Boone and Luke, are out hunting in the woods, where they encounter a hidden grimoire that has been buried in a forgotten churchyard. Boone immediately kills Luke, hides the body, and takes the grimoire for himself. He eventually sells it for a good deal of money and sets himself up in another town. The book passes through several hands before ending up with Nyarlathotep, who uses the ritual it contains to bring about the apocalypse. A bit too on the nose, but enjoyable nevertheless.

Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)

“Pop Goes the Weasel”

John takes a chance and invites a female co-worker named Cindy on a date to an underground club called Uproar that has been shocking the city with the outrageous entertainments presented there every night. John and Cindy attend the club and find that the entertainments are from the audience—there is a kind of open mic, and props available that create interesting displays. A common one is a weasel named Willie that pops up like a jack-in-the-box, holding interesting objects, like money or a gun. John volunteers once Willie shows up, and sure enough, he’s holding a gun. (This was probably telegraphed a bit too clearly earlier in the story.) I won’t reveal what happens next, as that’s the crux of the story, but suffice it so say that the story’s resolution is satisfying.

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Week 147 – Weekly Horror Short Story Reviews: Cardin, Goodfellow, Reddick, and Henderson

Welcome to Week 147 of my horror short fiction review project! I didn’t love the stories this week, with various imperfections noted below in the reviews, but I will highlight “The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot” by Desmond Reddick, which is about a high school kid who gets in WAY over his head when an element of local folklore turns out to be both real and far more monstrous than he imagined.

To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)

“The Devil and One Lump” by Matt Cardin

Okay story, but a little silly and, I think, too self-referential of Cardin’s other work. A writer of religiously-themed horror fiction is visited by the Devil, who tells the writer that his work is being too effective at creating existential horror in its readers. He must stop writing this kind of work; in exchange, the Devil will assign him a new muse who, as it turns out, inspires him to write wholesome religious work. Nothing all that profound here.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)

“Bellmer’s Bride or, The Game of the Doll” by Cody Goodfellow

Highly unsatisfying. A Nazi officer (named Anger) is searching for a missing general in the final days of the Third Reich, interrogating a number of eccentrics and perverts during the course of his investigation. Caligari seems to be masquerading as a psychoanalyst who is somehow involved. An incoherent mess, I’m afraid; I honestly don’t know what to think about this one. I usually like Goodfellow’s work a lot, but this one is too surreal and psychedelic for me.

A Mythos Grimmly, edited  by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)

“The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot” by Desmond Reddick

A Native American high schooler named Samuel George is a bit of a loner and misfit. He’s often truant and seems to spend more time avoiding school than going to class. One day he thinks he sees Bigfoot, and then has some creepy encounters where the monster returns to his home in the middle of the night. One night he witnesses his guidance counselor get into a car crash near his home and then be carried off into a cave by Bigfoot; she is handed over to a group of cultists who brutally sacrifice her. Samuel is then caught and sacrificed by the cult, which consists of his mother, his principal, and a number of other adults he knows. As it turns out this is to appease Shub-Niggurath, and the Bigfoot-like creature is her emissary. Some fun and evocative elements here, though it was a little hard to take completely seriously.

Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)

“Sacrifice”

A very brief story about three seemingly ordinary—but disturbed—people are bombarded by the tragedies brought to them every day by the media. They find themselves increasingly overwhelmed by it all. Interesting but short; I’m not sure this was fully developed.

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Week 146 – Weekly Horror Short Story Reviews: Cardin, McLaughlin, Oliver, Gavin, and Henderson

Welcome to Week 146 of my horror short fiction review project! Two stories especially stand out this week: “Nightmares, Imported and Domestic” by Matt Cardin and Mark McLaughlin, and “The Ballet of Dr. Caligari” by Reggie Oliver. Both contain some really interesting ruminations on the nature of identity and the horror that can result from the blurring of identity as a result of madness or obsession.

To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)

“Nightmares, Imported and Domestic” by Matt Cardin and Mark McLaughlin

Lafcadio is an avant-garde artist who has been dreaming—for years—that he is an ordinary accountant named Brian who lives a staid existence with his wife Susan, who happens to share some traits with Cornelia, Lafcadio’s best friend Cornelia, who is a model running an upscale fitness studio. In one of the most recent dreams, Brian loses an eye and receives brain damage when he is accidentally impaled on a plant hook that Susan has installed. The two men’s identities begin to blend, and the sharp line between real-world Lafcadio and dream-world Brian blurs. Are they one and the same? Lafcadio then recreates the accident with tragic results. Some really interesting things going on with the nature of identity and reality here.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)

“The Ballet of Dr. Caligari” by Reggie Oliver

Charles May is a young composer who has been hired to write the score for a ballet under the direction of the eccentric Sir Daniel Vernon. Vernon has an odd female servant (real name: Jane) he calls “Marta” after his most famous ballerina, who has been comatose for decades after a tragic car accident. Jane seems to be either a sleepwalker under Vernon’s control (a la Caligari) or is otherwise enthralled by him. When the ballet score is complete, the composer and Jane are brought to the sanatorium where the original Marta has been housed. The composer plays the score and Vernon uses the music to cause her to leave her bed, rise up, and start to dance. She then crumples and collapses, her body having failed her. The composer and Jane flee, and are involved in a horrible car accident as they depart. The final scene depicts the composer as an old man in the asylum, with Jane still comatose after many decades. Some pretty interesting stuff here.

A Mythos Grimmly, edited  by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)

“The Sovereign of Fear” by Richard Gavin

A story about the childhood and rise to power of Joseph Curwen, the quasi-immortal evil sorcerer H.P. Lovecraft writes about in “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.” Curwen was born in Salem, Massachusetts in the mid-1600s and encounters a demonic force that sets him on his dark path. I do have one quibble with this: Curwen encounters this being after becoming entranced by a mandala-like effect (not the Mandela effect) that is evoked by a lace doily he becomes obsessed with. Ugh. It’s an element that’s just so silly it jars the reader right out of the story. Almost any other method of encountering a demon making promises of forbidden lore would have been better than a demon that emerges from a magical lace doily. As a result of this being’s three visits, Curwen becomes terrified of the prospect of his own death, which then causes him to devote much of the rest of his existence with finding arcane means for extending his own lifespan. Pretty good stuff.

Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)

“A Forty Share in Innsmouth”

A Lovecraftian Great Old One is apparently summoned and then repulsed/returned to whence it came as part of a television show that investigates the occult. The premise certainly had potential but the narrative’s structure is a major impediment here because of its unusual and confusing format. The characters seem to be having a long rambling conversation about what has happened, rather than actually showing the reader what is happening. Just not especially engaging because of the story’s structure.

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Week 145 – Weekly Horror Short Story Reviews: Cardin, Grey, Lynch, Pulver, and Henderson

Welcome to Week 145 of my horror short fiction review project! Got some very interesting stories to discuss this week. I’ll have to designate two stories as my favorites this week: “Blackbrain Dwarf” by Matt Cardin and “When Light Returned to Karakossa” by Tom Lynch and Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. Two stories couldn’t be further apart: “Blackbrain” is a glimpse inside the mind of a madman and “Karakossa” is an Asian-themed fairy tale inspired by Chambers’ “King in Yellow” Mythos. But gosh they’re both good.

To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)

“Blackbrain Dwarf” by Matt Cardin

I suppose a very brief summary of this story would read something like: Derek is a lawyer going through a personal and psychological crisis who snaps one day. But that wouldn’t capture the magic of Cardin’s writing with such a bland statement. Derek has been imagining (visualizing?) himself as a malign black dwarfish thing, monstrous and violent. He comes to embody that when he first destroys his career in a highly amusing way with his main client, a crooked Texas oilman, and then (not so amusingly), goes home to find that his wife is having an affair with one of his friends. Things get pretty brutal from there. An absolutely fascinating look inside the mind of a madman.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)

“Blackstone: A Hollywood Gothic” by Orrin Grey

Takes place on the set of a 1946 Hollywood movie set during the production of a monster movie (which is a terrific setting for a story). Some of the extras and crew members start going missing, then are found partially devoured. The black female ghostwriter for the screenplay starts investigating, and comes to suspect that the murders are being done by a seven-foot-tall “method actor”/zombie who plays the monster in the film; this creature is being controlled by a Caligari-esque handler nicknamed “Dr. Garlic.” An interesting story as far as it goes, but it’s probably a bit too on the nose to just transplant Caligari to Hollywood and give him a zombie.

A Mythos Grimmly, edited by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)

“When Light Returned to Karakossa” by Tom Lynch and Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.

An Asian-themed fable that adds in the characters, or at least alternative versions of them, from Robert W. Chambers’ “The King in Yellow” (unsurprising, this is Joe Pulver, after all). The hero is a young man named Xiao Gu who rides a jade turtle. He encounters a princess (Cassilda) in need of rescue. He travels across half the world and faces a number of travails before reaching her father’s kingdom of Karakossa (Carcosa, of course) where her father—the titular king in yellow—subjects Xiao to additional tests. He passes them with flying colors and even frees the princess’ uncle, who is a powerful black dragon with a name that riffs off Nyarlathotep. Ultimately Cassilda is freed, they marry, and theoretically everyone lives happily ever after. A delightful and imaginative story.

Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)

“The Horror”

A brief vignette. John has a growing number of old-age spots, pimples, and other growths appearing on his body. His wife and doctor aren’t alarming, suggesting that these are just signs of impending old age, but John is horrified by it all. Really not much to this one.

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Week 144 – Weekly Horror Short Story Reviews: Cardin, Bulkin, Meikle, and Henderson

Welcome to Week 144 of my horror short fiction review project! All of this week’s stories were very solid and worth your time, though they’re all radically different from each other. I’d have to say that my favorite was “Et Spiritus Sancti” by Nadia Bulkin, which captures a fairy tale-esque feel extremely well.

To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)

“Desert Places” by Matt Cardin

Stephen is summoned to the bedside of his comatose former best friend, Paul, by Paul’s girlfriend Lisa. Lisa had been Stephen’s girlfriend before she and Paul betrayed him, triggering Stephen’s breakdown and flight to the Amazon rainforest to figure out where his life was going after he lost his best friend and love of his life. Lisa promises that she and Stephen can be together if he will perform a sex magic ritual to transfer some life force to Paul. Stephen agrees, and it seems to work. But in the process of performing the ritual, Stephen seems to be transformed in some way, into a being—perhaps an incorporeal or an invisible being—that can annihilate people and things with a thought. I’m not quite sure what happened here at the end of the story, but this is a fascinating character study nevertheless.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)

“Et Spiritus Sancti” by Nadia Bulkin

Princess Jane’s father, the old king, is dead, after being executed after a coup by General Caligari, Commander Cesare, and their forces. There has since been a counter-coup, and a parliamentary government set up. Jane is engaged to be married to a senator named Francis, who clearly seeks power for himself. Jane’s pet bird finds a hidden room in the palace where Caligari is in hiding; Caligari counsels her on how to obtain the power she seeks, and Jane carries this out to brutal effect, restoring her lineage and bringing her kingdom to the brink of war. Very nicely done.

A Mythos Grimmly, edited  by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)

“The Wonderful Musician” by William Meikle

Rickman has been struggling to create the kind of music he dreams of for many years; eventually technology catches up with his desires and he is able to acquire a machine that can not only capture ambient sounds (from the city and the cosmos itself) and translate them into music, but can also capture his dream music and translate that into not just sound but also physical objects. Eventually Ricvkman manages to summon humanoid rat-things and a Mi-Go, along with eggs that divide exponentially and will presumably fill the universe with cosmic, unholy music. Not bad.

Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)

“Body and Soul”

A story in which H.P. Lovecraft’s infamous mad scientist Dr. Herbert West finds himself at the Irish wake of a woman named Kathleen, the now-dead fiancée of police sergeant Malone (another Lovecraft character). Kathleen has been murdered by a Chinese Tong leader named Wu, who never appears directly in the story and seems to be a kind of Fu Manchu-like figure. West offers to revive Kathleen, but Malone refuses because if her soul is now in heaven he doesn’t want to pull it back to Earth. A wise decision, given that West’s reanimations of the dead usually don’t turn out well for anyone involved. Pretty decent story.

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