The One That Got Away: Various
Reviewed By Steve Stred
I’m so happy to see Jill and Kandisha Press continuing to roll out their anthologies focusing on Women Horror Authors. I loved the first two releases and was excited when she contacted me to see if I’d be keen to give the third release a read.
What I liked: These anthologies are exciting because you get a fantastic mix of familiar and unfamiliar names. The familiar names in here didn’t disappoint, with the highlight being Sonora Taylor’s ‘From Scratch.’ This was a superb story about making food that will have me questioning every single food post she shares on her social media pages from this day forward. Meg Hafdahl’s ‘Bramblewood‘ was great and Catherine McCarthy’s ‘Lure’ might well be the best thing I’ve ever read from her. Yolanda Sfetsos delivered with ‘The Lady of the House’ and Paula R.C Readman’s ‘The Last Thread’ was pitch-perfect. And once again we get a stunning story from R.A. Busby with ‘Kiss.’
New to me authors who I really enjoyed were Mocha Pennington’s ‘Liked’ and I loved ‘Heavy Metal Coffin’ by Amira Krista Calvo. Faith Pierce’s ‘Bodiless’ will most likely get readers talking as well as ‘Little Sally Ann’ by Shawnna Deresch. This was a superb haunting story.
The stories within this anthology covered such a wide scope of themes and plots, that it really did offer something for everyone.
What I didn’t like: Lately it appears that more stories in anthologies have become a common thing and frankly the 30 stories in here was a bit much. The last two, I believe’ each had 15 or 16 stories, which is very doable, but 30 becomes a massive undertaking and makes it difficult to keep the excitement going over the duration of the release, especially when you get two or three stories in a row that didn’t connect.
KR: I have to agree on this. 15 stories does seem to hit that sweet spot.
Why you should buy this: Kandisha Press are doing great things here and this third instalment was a great grouping of stories. As I mentioned, I love the mix of new to me and familiar, to me anyway, authors and there really is something for everyone. I’ve seen that a fourth and fifth volume are already under development which means more is coming and that is fantastic for women authors (and all readers) everywhere.
The One That Got Away
What doesn’t kill me, might make me kill you!
30 women authors from around the world were challenged to write about The One That Got Away. Here you’ll find tales of unrequited love, blind dates gone wrong, stalkers and their prey, cursed guitars, alien symbiotes, sinister letters, and bitter acts of revenge. Dive into murky depths and discover what hides inside the minds of women scorned..
Book 3 in the Kandisha Press Women of Horror Anthology Series
You can buy The One That Got Away from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Steve Stred
Steve Stred is the author of a number of novels, novellas and collections. He has appeared in anthologies with some of Horror’s heaviest hitters.
He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with his wife, son and their dog OJ.
You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred
You can follow Steve on Instagram @stevestred
You can visit Steve’s Official website here
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