Published By: The Borough Press
Pages: 384
Released On: 10/10/2024
These stories from eighteen master storytellers will curdle your blood, haunt your dreams and redefine terror.
An exploited child worker in the silver mines of Bolivia finds an ally – but at what cost? A young woman’s workplace affair has terrifying repercussions when her lover’s wife dies. A sailor’s wife takes her communion with Nature a little too far…
From a hungry young woman who is not what she seems, to a boy who has taken his mother’s advice a little too seriously; from disfigured girls willing to pay any price to fit in, to an immigrant who cannot escape his tormentor; from a new home with a sinister secret, to the discovery that a long-dead parent’s corpse is perfectly preserved decades later; this collection plumbs the depths of the psyche and dredges up some very modern horrors.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and The Borough Press for the advanced copy of this title.
Authors include: Susan Barker, J K Chukwu, Bridget Collins, Mariana Enriquez, Michel Faber, Lewis Hancox, Emilia Hart, Ainslie Hogarth, Robert Lautner, Adorah Nworah, Irenosen Okojie, Lucy Rose, Lionel Shriver, James Smythe, Lavie Tidhar, Francine Toon, Evie Wyld and Louisa Young.
There are some authors I have heard of, some I have read, and some I haven’t heard of, but that’s what I like about books like this as you get to experience some new writers.
I’m going to start this review by saying I am 100% a complete wuss. I hate horror, horror films, horror stories, horror books – anything scary is not for me! So why am I reading this book? Well firstly, the cover grabbed my attention. Then I couldn’t stop reading about it online. And then I realised it’s got some of my favourite authors in it. And it’s made up of short stories, so I only really need to read one before having a break. So I’m hoping it won’t be as scary as if I was immersing myself in a 400-page horror movie.
I dipped in and out between work, reading one story and then working, then reading a chapter of something else, and then pop back in, which worked for me.
Some stories are more creepy, some eerie, some gruesome, some a bit more genteel, some thrillers, psychological, some horror and terror, some disgusting, some macabre. Something for everyone, even a horror-wuss like me.
Ideally I’d like to have reviewed each story but we’d be here till Christmas and so I’ve picked out some of my favourites – well, not favourites, because I don’t think I can have a favourite horror story…the most interesting, then.
Fight, Flight, Freeze by Susan Barker: I didn’t think this would be horror to begin with, more of a psychological what-if kind of thing, but nope, I was wrong. Definitely creepy and frightening and scary.
The Fruiting Body by Bridget Collins: This is more of a horror inside us, horror of people, of not being in control, of losing control, of emotions. It’s that capability we have to become monsters ourselves, and the main male character was absolutely vile.
Apples by Emilia Hart: Not a horror in my view, but suitably thrilling. I love Emilia’s writing and so I knew I’d probably find this one interesting. I actually would have liked this one to be longer, maybe made into a novella.
Waffle Thomas by Ainslie Hogarth: Okay so this was the first real horror story for me, and it definitely felt that way. I’m not sure I could have read a longer one to be honest as it really had the hair on the back of my neck standing up.
Carcinisation by Lucy Rose: Oh this one. It made me feel sick. That’s not an insult. It is really quite icky, but not in a violent way. It’s this feeling that your body isn’t all yours anymore, and about the merging of two species. It made me very uncomfortable. This is probably my favourite in the sense that it’s the one that gave me the heebie-jeebies the most.
Going Large by Lionel Shriver: This was interesting. Nothing horror about it. I was angry to begin with because it’s very…fat-ist, shall we say, and as a bigger woman I instantly get my defences up. But actually it turned out to be quite a nice story in the end. Does that make me weird? Not scary, but thought provoking, exactly what I’m used to with Lionel’s work.
BobAJob by James Smythe: This was creepiness in a different way. It’s like an amalgamation of the old – work camps – and the new – online dating. It’s very unnerving. I mean there is more to it than just work camps and dating. It’s very eery and creepy but overall this felt more like the horror of human nature, of debts, catfishing, distrust, too much trust, power, more than anything else.
Books By Your Bedside 