Night Terrors and Other Tales by Lisa Morton

Omnium Gatherum, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-1949054286

Available: Paperback, Kindle ( Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

Night Terrors and Other Tales collects twenty of Lisa Morton’s short stories selected by the author. There are so many great stories in this anthology. Morton has separated the sections titled “Monsters,” “The Psych Ward,” “Mad Science,” “Bad Magic,” “and “The Unnamable”.

Several tales stand out in each section. From the “Monsters” section, “Joe and Abel in the Field of Rest” presents a unique take on the zombie story. Joe knows loss all too well. He has spent his last few years killing zombies and burying them in a large pit he calls the Field of Rest. One day while he is out near the field, he finds a walker still alive in the pit. The creature doesn’t move to attack Joe, so they become friends of sorts, with Joe feeding him and spending time out at the pit. Another human, Hansen, comes onto Joe’s property, and it is only a matter of time before the human and walker meet. Will Joe and Abel’s friendship survive? Another story, “Sparks Fly Upward” tells of a woman who has to confront the fact that in the Colony, there are limited resources and her second child cannot be born. Doc Freeman has deemed it so. The dead return to spots that meant something to them in their lives. Unfortunately, as she and her escorts arrive at the family planning facility, they find a group of undead pro-life protestors in their way.

“The Psych Ward” is the next section of the book. In “The New War,” Mike hates the caretaker Maria in the nursing home. He insists she brings something dark in with her whenever she’s around. Mike’s daughter, Angela, doesn’t believe him. No one believes him. Then, the black thing and where it’s from becomes clear.

“Mad Science” contains some deeply disturbing tales. In “The Resurrection Policy,” a wealthy man defaults on his payments to his insurance company. He discovers this after he dies, and his essence is saved in a folder on a server somewhere. After talking with the insurance agent handling his claim, he is finally resurrected into a body that does not meet quality control. He finds that navigating in this new form is more difficult than he ever could have imagined. “Feel the Noise” reveals a new weapon that has the capability to scramble the body’s senses, mixing them up, driving the victim crazy. Jackson Howard was a private in the military when he was hit by this weapon. It takes an outside party and a point in the right direction to get his vengeance on the person responsible for his condition.

One of the best stories in “Bad Magic” is “Erasure.” Linda visits her husband’s grave every day, despite the fact he was a terrible person. She meets a young woman in the cemetery who offers Linda a chance to forget.

“The Unnamable” is the final section in Night Terrors. In “The Secret Engravings”, set in 1523, Death comes to Hans Holbein with a commission. The entity is so pleased with Holbein’s work that he is commissioned for a second time, which proves to be all too real. “Night Terrors” involved a worldwide pandemic that begins with someone screaming in their sleep. Soon, the night terrors take over the world, one by one.

Morton, a well-deserved six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, selected some incredibly effective stories in this volume. I recognized a few of the stories I have read elsewhere in other anthologies, and was ecstatic to revisit them. Morton is a polished storyteller. I would recommend this collection to anyone looking for a good short story anthology. I would caution those sensitive to child sexual abuse that “Poppi’s Monster” deals with this topic.

Contains: blood, child sexual abuse, gore, murder, sexual assault, sexual content

Recommended

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker