Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Short Story Anthology
Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words
Availability
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on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
Smashwords store
Author:
Twelve
different authors, many we’ve reviewed here before, many we haven’t.
Description:
“A dozen
dark tales (and one rather sweet) make up this sugar-free Halloween treat.”
Revenge of
the Remora – Lynne Cantwell
Crayfish –
JD Mader
Accidents
Will Happen – Erin McGowan
The
Greengrass Legacy – Jen Daniele
Rites of
the Heart – Ann Cathey
Toynbee's
Folly – Rich Meyer
Under the
Moon – LB Clark
Houdini
Night – Laurie Boris
Beauty is
Only Skin Deep – Asher Cathey
Greenlight
– David Antrobus
When Ghosts
Want to Play – Kristina Jackson
The
Procedure – Christopher O’Banion
Blood of
Christ – Rich Meyer
Appraisal:
The thing
that struck me about Boo: Volume Two
is that, while aiming to frighten, spook, and creep-out the reader, they aren’t
all stories I’d classify as horror. Genre-wise they read like fantasy, science
fiction, and others (usually whatever genre the author specializes in) with a
horror-like element. For example, Lynne Cantwell’s Revenge of the Remora is a Contemporary or Urban Fantasy about two
girls who are friends, but both after the same guy, a high school friend who is
now a big time musician. The fantasy element of the story turns out to be where
the spooky or frightening part of the story comes from. I enjoyed most of the
stories with Cantwell’s, Rich Meyer’s Toynbee’s
Folly, LB Clark’s Under the Moon,
and The Procedure by Christopher
O’Banion as those that stood out for me. But, with a wide variety of stories, none
of them bad, your list will surely be different.
FYI:
From the
book’s description:
“Attention—the
stories in this collection may contain one or more of the following: violence,
dark or disturbing themes, profanity, humor, wit, sappiness, and flashes of
genius. The stories may induce nausea, creepy-crawly sensations, random bursts
of laughter, or twisted dreams. Do not attempt to drive or operate machinery
while consuming Boo! Volume Two. For external use only. Use only as directed.”
Format/Typo Issues:
A small
number of typos and other proofing misses.
Rating: **** Four stars
2 comments:
Loved the FYI notes, Al!
I wish I could take credit for them, Pete. Very clever, but as I said, they're stolen from the book's description.
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