Synopsis
First Landing State Park. Antarctica. Mongolia. France. Norway. Ireland. Somerset. Egypt. A giant glacier in an unnamed land.
What do all these places have in common?They’re the perfect place to set a horror story, is what. In this brand new collection of destination based tales of terror, Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award nominated author Gemma Amor (The Folly, Full Immersion, Six Rooms, Dear Laura) takes us on a series of adventures through the weird and the wonderful, the strange and the unexplainable, across the remotest, wildest parts of this world, and through lands yet to be discovered. Expect dark and deranged encounters, beautiful vistas, old gods, ghosts, peculiar creatures, vampires, and that most terrifying of all monsters: mankind.
Review
Many thanks to Cemetery Gates Media for the physical arc!
Not that this proclaims itself as a short story collection, as it does just say ‘stories’, but I would be willing to bet that most of these are actually around novelette length at the very least. There is not that many stories, only featuring ten, and yet this is actually rather long. Not that that is a bad thing!
This is a solid mix of horror, comedy, sexual deviance, the disturbing, and wit from the author. With things like aliens, gods, ghosts, and even more creepy crawlies to haunt your imagination. And of course, my all time favorite there is, Christmas (in Antarctica).
One I particularly enjoyed was ‘Let Sleeping Gods Lie’. It read kind of like a precursor, or even its own take on those old school monster movies…The Mummy in particular. It’s atmospheric, with just the right amount of building, written in just the perfect style, to make it slowly creep up your neck. Told entirely through journal entries and letters to a beloved, it features the lead of a dig site in Egypt as his team slowly loses their nerve to knocking deep within the tomb. And I’d honestly read an entire novel.
My favorite of the bunch though, was ‘The Ancient Ram Inn’. Featuring a group of friends taking a Halloween night tour through a very haunted Inn. Their guide, a real creepy lookalike, deadpans the history of the place as they get further and further inside…and things get weirder and weirder. For such a short story, this one packed on hell of a twist that I really enjoyed. I’ve found that since writing BestGhost, I just really love different takes on the paranormal and haunted places.
This just released, and regardless of what you’re looking for, there’s something here for everyone. Will you let me know your favorite??
Another with more than one story that read like reading Goosebumps for adults. I love to see it.
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