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Book Review: Attack From the ’80s edited by Eugene Johnson

cover art for Attack from the '80s edited by Eugene Johnson

Attack From the ’80s edited by Eugene Johnson

Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2021

ISBN-13: 978-1735664446

Available: Hardcover  ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

 

Eugene Johnson brings together 22 incredible short stories and poems as a fitting tribute to the horror of the 1980s. There is something for everyone in this collection. “Top Guns of the Frontier” by Weston Ochse, a strong open to this anthology, tells the story of friends coming face to face with an ancient evil. In “Snapshot” by Joe R. Lansdale and Kasey Lansdale, Gracie and Trevor, the famous Snapshot Burglars, rob the wrong house. Jess Landry’s “Catastrophe Queens” takes place on the movie set of an ’80s SS werewolf horror film. Pink fake blood starts to take over people…and anything it touches. In “Your Picture Here” by John Skipp, a couple decides to take in a double feature of horror movies only to discover one of the films is closer to the truth. Lee Murray’s “Permanent Damage” invites us to a bridal party at a salon that turns into a bloodbath. “Munchies” by Lucy A. Snyder is a great story about a group of drag queens and the terror that was Nancy Reagan who has come to deliver a check to the local high school’s antidrug drive.

 

No ’80s horror anthology would be complete without the topic of D&D. In “Demonic Denizens” by Cullen Bunn, friends at summer camp discover a new game to play after the counselors forbid them to play any more of that “satanic” Dungeons & Dragons. “Ghetto Blaster”, by Jeff Strand, presents Clyde, who is cursed to carry a rather heavy ghetto blaster until he learns his lesson about loud music in public spaces. Everyone, check your candy before reading “Stranger Danger” by Grady Hendrix. A group of boys, hell-bent on taking revenge on the Judge, discover an army of Yoda-costumed children who have their own havoc to create, with apples containing razor blades the treat of the night. In Lisa Morton’s “The Garden of Dr. Moreau”, a biology experiment on corn plants is a success, but it could be at a deadly cost for life on Earth.

 

Other authors in the anthology include Ben Monroe, Linda Addison, Thomas F. Monteleone, Tim Waggoner, Stephen Graham Jones, Vince A. Liaguno, Rena Mason, Cindy O’Quinn, F. Paul Wilson, Christina Sng, Mort Castle, and Stephanie M. Wytovich. Pick this up if you need a good dose of 80s horror reading. Highly recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on November 28, 2021 by , Reply

Book Links: Stoker Awards 2018 Final Ballot for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Well, we didn’t get all reviews for every category in before the Stoker Awards were actually announced, but I finally can provide you with links to reviews to all the books nominated for the category of Superior Achievment in a Fiction Collection. The award went to Eric J. Guignard for That Which Grows Wild on Saturday, and you can check out our review of his book, as well as those of the other nominees, by clicking on the links below.  Congratulations to all the nominees, and well done, Eric!

 

That Which Grows Wild  by Eric J. Guignard

Garden of Eldritch Delights  by Lucy A. Snyder

Coyote Songs  by Gabino Iglesias

Spectral Evidence  by Gemma Files

Dark and Distant Voices  by Tim Waggoner

 

 

We still have one more review of a Stoker nominee (in the Long Fiction category) to publish, so keep your eyes peeled for that and for the links to all the reviews for the nominated titles in the category of Superior Achievement in Long Fiction.

Enjoy!

Posted on May 13, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Garden of Eldritch Delights by Lucy Snyder

Garden of Eldritch Delights by Lucy A. Snyder

Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2018

ISBN:  9781947879089
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition
Once again Lucy Snyder offers up a delightfully dark, fantastic collection of fiction morsels. Garden of Eldritch Delights has a Lovecraftian slant, pitting a number of interpretations of human against nameless, Otherland invaders. However, readers don’t need to be Lovecraft fans to find much to enjoy here. Snyder takes the themes through many interpretations, from classic horror, to science fiction and historical magical fantasy. There’s a lot to enjoy. If anything, the biggest downside is the fact that the tales within this collection are interesting and engaging enough to have spawned longer stories.
Standouts include “Fraeternal”, “Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars”, “A Hero of Grunjord”, and “The Warlady’s Daughter”. It’s not surprising that this collection is up for a Stoker. It engages the imagination, and language, in fascinating ways. Highly recommended, particularly for readers looking for stories outside of well-loved tropes, that will hold their fascination.
Contains: Language, violence, gore, sexual talk and situations
Reviewed by Michele Lee
Editor’s note: Garden of Eldritch Delights is a nominee on the final ballot for the 2018 Stoker Awards in the category Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection. 
Posted on May 13, 2019 by , Reply