From a group of horror writers
with an impressive set of combined credentials, this is an inexpensive—and if
you’re an Amazon Prime member, free—ebook-only collection of ten original tales,
each about monsters, including vengeful children, the ghosts of influenza
victims, zombie hordes, a demon coughed up by a cat, a not-so-mythical mothman,
and some very black and very hairy things. They’re everywhere, both in places
you would expect (mountain caves, dark woods, post-apocalyptic landscapes where
the limbs of fallen trees are adorned with dogs and deer) and ones you almost
certainly would not (an aging aunt’s frail body, public transport). Guilt, fear,
insecurity and violence call them into being. One of my favorite monsters was
the one in Scott Nicholson’s “The Hounds of Love,” the story of a sociopathic
boy, Dexter, and his dead dog, Turd Factory. For fun, Dexter kills and buries
animals of every kind—with unexpected but not entirely unwelcome consequences. Other
favorites were the baby finger-eating, blood-belching passengers in Simon
Woods’ “Bus People”—whose disgusting descriptions of transmogrifying flesh
brought to mind Brian Yunza’s classic movie Society—and
the sinister seducer, Peter, in Lisa Tuttle’s “Bug House.” All in all a great
read, but let’s hope and pray these aberrations remain in our Kindles and out
of [reviewer pulled apart by baby chimps]
