The Twisted Book Of Shadows: Edited By Christopher Golden & James Moore
Reviewed by Steve Stred
First off – big thanks to Michael Patrick Hicks for making me aware of this release. Mr. Golden had posted about looking for some reviewers on Facebook and Hicks kindly tagged myself with a few other reviewers in a comment. I messaged Christopher and he nicely sent me a digital review copy. So thank you Michael and thank you Christopher!
From the get-go, ‘The Twisted Book of Shadows’ lets the reader know that the editors wanted to create a ‘new’ and ‘unique’ anthology. The idea behind this was that they got it funded and then had an open call. The stories submitted were read going in blind – no idea of author’s name, and from that the talented group of readers sent their suggestions to Moore and Golden, who then whittled it down to the 19 stories included here. Over 700 submissions were received, which is a very impressive number, considering that there would be no anchor author or “big name” author to push or market the book.
The stories within are varied, and the themes went all over the place.
With a collection this large, I won’t go through each piece individually, instead, I’ll discuss my top two.
My absolute favourite from this collection was ‘Mirror, Mirror’ from P.D. Cacek. This story opens up with a devastating premise and then Cacek brings home the emotional destruction soon after.
The opening half of this story was horrifically brutal in the best way possible and I had no idea where it would go from there. Then, when Cacek introduces the supernatural “turn,” it was amazing. Just knocked my socks off with where it went and I’m glad there was no holding back!
The other story that really stood out for me was Sara Tantlinger’s story ‘Smeared Star in Your Hands.’ This was a horrific story from start to finish and I absolutely loved just where this one went.
Overall, ‘The Twisted Book of Shadows’ delivers and the lengths that the editors went to ensure unbiased quality and diverseness was featured is astounding.
So far this year, we’ve been gifted with some phenomenal anthologies and ‘The Twisted Book of Shadows’ should sit prominently in the discussion of best anthologies of the year.
The Twisted Book Of Shadows
Presenting an all-new horror anthology that shatters the mold…
Mainstream publishers want all-star lineups. Small press publishers often can’t afford to pay pro rates…and even when they can, the names in the table of contents can be limited by the editor’s reach or effort. Bestselling horror, fantasy, and thriller authors Christopher Golden and James A. Moore knew there had to be a better way. Inspired by the efforts of legendary anthology Charles L. Grant, who helped move so many new writers in the horror community’s conversation, Golden and Moore teamed up with Haverhill House’s Twisted Publishing imprint to create…
THE TWISTED BOOK OF SHADOWS
Determined to pay pro rates, the editors crowdfunded the project, and then put the word out as far and wide as possible, loudly and repeatedly encouraging submissions by diverse voices, and recruiting a stellar editorial committee to read along with them, including Linda A. Addison, Nadia Bulkin, Rachel Autumn Deering, Lamar Giles, KL Pereira, and Lee Thomas.
Out of seven hundred stories received through a blind submission process—none of the editors had any idea who the authors were—nineteen made the final cut. Within these pages you will find the beautifully weird side-by-side with terrifying nightmares, horrifying folklore, and hellish futures. Nineteen unique and haunting tales that truly earned their place in a book entitled…
THE TWISTED BOOK OF SHADOWS
Discover your new favorite horror stories by:
Melissa Swensen — M.M. De Voe — Andrew Bourelle — Sara Tantlinger — Jeffrey B. Burton
Eóin Murphy — Sarah L. Johnson — Jason A. Wyckoff — Amanda Helms — Trisha J. Wooldridge
Liam Hogan — KT Wagner — Rohit Sawant — P.D. Cacek — John Linwood Grant
George Edwards Murray — Cindy O’Quinn — David Surface — Kristi DeMeester
THE TWISTED BOOK OF SHADOWS
You can buy The Twisted Book Of Shadows from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Steve Stred
Steve Stred writes dark, bleak horror fiction.
Steve is the author of the novels Invisible & The Stranger, the novellas The Girl Who Hid in the Trees, Wagon Buddy, Yuri and Jane: the 816 Chronicles and two collections of short stories; Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery and Left Hand Path: 13 More Tales of Black Magick, and the dark poetry collection Dim the Sun.
On September 1st, 2019 his second collection of dark poetry and drabbles called The Night Crawls In will arrive. This release was specifically created to help fund the 1st Annual LOHF Writers Grant.
Steve is also a voracious reader, reviewing everything he reads and submitting the majority of his reviews to be featured on Kendall Reviews.
Steve Stred is based in Edmonton, AB, Canada and lives with his wife, his son and their dog OJ.
You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred
You can visit Steve’s Official website here
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