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Book Review: Welcome to the Splatter Club, Vol. 1, edited by K. Trap Jones

Welcome to the Splatter Club, Vol. 1, by various authors, edited by K. Trap Jones

Blood Bound Publishing, 2020

ISBN: 9781940250434

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition  ( Amazon.com )

 

The main thing Welcome to the Splatter Club has in common with its sequel (Welcome to the Splatter Club, Vol. 2, previously reviewed here) is the high level of originality.  The thirteen stories are quite loopy, and are all over the place for plotlines.  However, it is an uneven collection: as good as the ideas are, a number of the stories don’t have enough bang and pop to keep the reader interested and the pages flipping at a quick speed.  The first half of the book is clearly the better half. The best stories include:

 

“23 to 46”: the most original, the most entertaining, and also the funniest.  The sperm housed in Matt’s balls suddenly start talking to him, and make his life impossible for the rest of the story.  They are mad he isn’t reproducing, and Matt has no interest in kids.  This is a hilarious romp that gives new meaning to the term ‘body politics.’

 

“The Woman in the Ditch”: A rural area legend, the blond woman only appears swimming in the ditch alongside country roads when there is enough rain, and of course it only happens in certain years.  What does she want?  Go to her and find out…but it may not be what you desire.  This could almost be a dark version of a Disney fairy tale.  

 

“Code Black”: Tired of juveniles committing heinous crimes and getting away with them due to an overly liberal justice system?  So are the people of Trapper Valley, especially when a kid unleashes a monster from the Abyss.  However, this town has Code Black…which will do what the justice system won’t.  

 

“Dickey Dykstra”: Ever wanted to beat the tar out of your boss, just because he’s a total jackass?  So does a certain employee, but his boss, the aforementioned Dickey, has problems WAY bigger than being a dick at work.  Let’s just say they involve hobbyhorses, and prepare yourself for the unexpected.  When Dickey’s secret comes to light, he makes Leatherface seem like a normal, well-adjusted human being.

 

“The Big Bad Boy”: We all know that Twinkies, Snowballs, and Ho-Hos are never going to be found in the FDA’s food pyramid for a balanced diet, but what happens when they really will kill you?  One poor convenience store clerk is going to find out.

 

There are a few other good ones, but there’s also a chunk of stories that just don’t quite do it.  When it’s good, it’s quite good, but the lackluster ones are frustrating.  If you’re on the fence about buying this, just go for Vol. 2 in the series instead, which is a “can’t miss” collection of stories.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

 

Posted on March 21, 2023 by , Reply

Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga edited by Lindy Ryan with a foreword by Christina Henry

Cover art for Into the Forest; Tales of the Baba Yaga edited by Lindy Ryan

Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga with a foreword by Christina Henry, edited by Lindy Ryan

Black Spot Books, 2022

ISBN-13 ‎978-1645481232

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio CD  (  Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

 

This anthology collects stories inspired by the Slavic folk character Baba Yaga, a child-eating witch with iron teeth who lives deep in the woods in a house with chicken feet, rides in a mortar and pestle, and can either help or hurt visitors, especially women, for a price, and depending on her whim. All the stories are by women writers of horror.

 

Standout pieces include Stephanie M. Wytovich’s vivid poem “Dinner Plans with Baba Yaga”; Gwendolyn Kiste’s “Last Tour into the Hungering Moonlight”, a real estate pitch that draws neighborhood women into the woods; Sara Tantlinger’s “Of Moonlight and Moss”, a fairytale that isn’t; “Wormwood” by Lindz MacLeod, and “Flood Zone” by Donna Lynch, both with the witch as justice-bringer, in very different ways; “Sugar and Spice and the Old Witch’s Price” is a dread-inducing counterpart to Kiste’s earlier story; “Herald the Knight” by Mercedes M. Yardley is Baba Yaga’s love story; Jill Baguchinsky’s “All Bitterness Burned Away” is an interesting reversal of Hansel and Gretel; “A Trail of Feathers, A Trail of Blood” by Stephanie M. Wytovich is a heartbreaking story that explores the true meaning of sacrifice; “Baba Yaga Learns to Shave, Gets Her Period, and Comes Into Her Own” by Jess Hagemann reflects the teenage girl’s experience of being trained to conform;  EV Knight’s memorable and powerful “Stork Bites”, in which Roe vs Wade has been dismantled, leaving an unusual method of illegal abortion, with disturbing consequences, as the only resort for ending a pregnancy; “Where The Horizon Meets the Sky” by R.J. Joseph is a sort of “Monkey’s Paw” tale; the vivid and gruesome “Maw Maw Yaga and the Hunter” by Alexandrea Weis; and the descriptive, poetic stories “Baba Yaga in Repose” by Heather Miller and “Shadow and Branch, Ghost Fruit Among The Lullabies” by Saba Syed Razvi.

There is a lot of variety in approach and interpretation. If you have an interest in Baba Yaga, witches, folklore, or supporting women writers, this is a collection to enjoy. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on March 15, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror Vol. 3, edited by Paula Guran

The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror Volume 3 edited by Paula Guran

 

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Vol. 3, edited by Paula Guran

Pyr, 2022

ISBN: 978-1645060345 

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition  (pre-order) ( Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

 

Now that British editor Stephen Jones has discontinued his long-running annual series Best New Horror, the burden of choosing and collecting the previous year’s supposedly best short stories in the genre remains exclusively in the capable hands of two American ladies, Ellen Datlow and Paula Guran.

 

Guran’s  latest anthology includes twenty-three stories published in books and magazines during 2021. I haven’t seen Datlow’s forthcoming anthology yet, but, according to the provisional table of contents, this time there are no repeated titles featured in both volumes.

 

Among the authors collected in Guran’s book are some of today’s most celebrated and popular horror writers, but if these stories represent the best of their recent production, I must admit that 2021 was not a great year for horror, at least according to the editor’s choices.

 

But never fear, amidst various run-of-the-mill tales, there are some pieces standing out and providing engrossing reading and actual shivers.

 

“The God Bag”, by Christopher Golden, is an insightful, gentle story featuring a woman trying to get her wishes fulfilled by means of an unusual system. In  “Refinery Road”,  penned by Stephen Graham Jones, past family tragedies return to haunt the present.

 

Alison Littlewood contributes the subtly horrific “Jenny Greenteeth”, where an evil creature hunts its victims by a pool, and  Alix E. Harrow provides “Mr. Death”, a perceptive piece about a recalcitrant professional reaper trying to save a little boy from his lethal destiny.

 

My favorite pieces are the outstanding, atmospheric “For Sale by Owner” by Elizabeth Hand, taking place in a mysterious, abandoned house where three women decide to spend the night, and the superior post-apocalyptic novella “Across the Dark Water” by Richard Kadrey, where a guide and a thief take a long and perilous journey to get to a target which is actually not what they expect.

 

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

Posted on October 12, 2022 by , Reply
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