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Book Review: Fettered and Other Tales of Terror by Greye La Spina, edited by Michael J. Phillips Jr.

Fettered and Other Tales of Terror by Greye La Spina, edited by Michael J. Phillips Jr.

From Beyond Press, 2023

ISBN-13: 979-8987574331

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

 

Greye La Spina (1880-1969) was a prolific American writer, who published in various genre magazines (e.g. Weird Tales) more than one hundred dark short stories and novelettes, most of which, sadly, have been lost.

 

During her lifetime she was extremely popular, more than HP Lovecraft (who, incidentally, had a low opinion of her fictional work).

 

Tracing her stories is indeed a hard task nowadays, so praise to From Beyond Press for making available again to the public some of her production.

 

The present volume collects four stories and a novella, providing to today’s readers a pleasant, small  taste of her body of work.

 

“Fettered” is a dark novella dealing with the theme of vampirism, certainly a bit outdated today, but addressed by La Spina with a vivid and disquieting approach, able to unsettle even the readers well-used to this particular topic.

 

“The Last Cigarette” is a very short but effective story featuring a suicidal man whose plans are ruined by an unexpected occurrence.

 

“The Remorse of Professor Panebianco”, despite its unlikely pseudoscientific basis, is a powerful, intriguing story able to fascinate and disturb.

 

In the tense, dramatic “The Scarf of the Beloved”, a grave robber has to face a terrible truth, while in the engrossing “Wolf of the Steppes” a dangerous werewolf is finally discovered and defeated.

 

The themes addressed in the included stories are traditional enough, but I have the feeling that this is the very reason why these specific tales have survived or have been saved throughout the years.

 

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

Posted on October 26, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: In the Porches of My Ears by Norman Prentiss

Cover art for In the Porches of my Ears by Norman Prentiss

In The Porches of My Ears by Norman Prentiss

Cemetery Dance, 2023

ISBN 978-1-58767-872-1

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com )

 

Norman Prentiss is a very talented storyteller (winner of the Bram Stoker Award), whose most accomplished tale, so far, is the outstanding “In the Porches of My Ears” which also provides the title for this collection.

 

It’s a totally unsettling piece of fiction, starting in the darkness of a movie theater where a woman whispers about what happens on the screen… ( winner of the Bram Stoker Award)

 

The present volume assembles sixteen Prentiss stories previously appeared in print elsewhere.

 

In addition to the title story, other remarkable tales are “Interval”, an insightful, disturbing description of human behavior after a plane crash, when relatives  are waiting in vain at the airport, and “The Everywhere Man”, revolving around a puzzling and disquieting video becoming “viral”.

 

Another special mention goes to “Invisible Fences”, a vivid novella addressing the way overprotective parents try to defend  their sons and daughters from life’s unavoidable dangers.

 

All very good stuff, probing the dark side of our apparently ordinary existence.

 

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

Posted on March 17, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: As The Night Devours Us by Villimey Mist

 

As the Night Devours Us by Villimey Mist

St. Rooster Books, 2022

ISBN:  9798834327097

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org |   Amazon.com )

 

Villimey Mist, an Icelandic writer with wide-ranging interests, presents creative, gory, horror-filled stories in As the Night Devours Us. These are short stories that pack a plot punch against a backdrop of contemporary life that is sometimes mixed with folklore and mythology. In addition to Icelandic monsters including an evil whale, a monstrous cat, and a Loch Ness type creature, there is a story that includes a Greek goddess and one that features a Native American skin-walker.

 

The book’s characters are usually rather one-dimensional in a way that allows Mist to focus on the horrors of the events, themes and situations she culls from real life, such as a volcanic eruption, crimes, serial killers, cults, bullying, and even the author’s personal fears. They are accompanied by practical, albeit dramatic, life lessons, that won’t soon be forgotten.

 

The variety in this collection is one of its strengths. A wife is forced to prove her culinary skills by preparing meals with parts of her husband’s dead body; life-like mannequins turn out to be dead bodies; rape victims are offered a chance to take their revenge in an unusual way.  There are zombies, vindictive powers of Nature, and imps that eat people’s fingernails. Scary plot twists, unreliable narrators, and vivid descriptions spark fear through strong emotions, weird revelations and unexpected thought processes as the characters are faced with tough choices and plenty of self-sacrifice.

 

Some of the stories are accessible to young adult readers, but there are also some themes that are more appropriate for mature readers. The author’s comments on each story are provided at the end of the book. Whether the action includes torture, human sacrifice or just mean girls run amok, these tales will surprise, shock and horrify you.

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Posted on November 26, 2022 by , Reply
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