{"id":6484,"date":"2019-05-05T17:19:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-05T21:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=6484"},"modified":"2019-05-05T17:19:18","modified_gmt":"2019-05-05T21:19:18","slug":"book-review-a-new-york-state-of-fright-horror-stories-from-the-empire-state-edited-by-james-chambers-april-grey-and-robert-masterson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-a-new-york-state-of-fright-horror-stories-from-the-empire-state-edited-by-james-chambers-april-grey-and-robert-masterson\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: A New York State of Fright: Horror Stories From the Empire State edited by James Chambers, April Grey, and Robert Masterson"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

A New York State Of Fright: Horror Stories From the Empire State\u00a0<\/em>edited by James Chambers, April Grey, and Robert Masterson<\/p>\n

Hippocampus Press, 2018<\/p>\n

ISBN-13: 978-1-61498-237-1<\/p>\n

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Horror writers, both established and new, live all over New York State, from the Big Apple to Upstate.\u00a0 Each has their own take on the macabre.\u00a0 \u00a0In this anthology of frightening tales set in their home state, they put their talents and imaginations to good use: the writers, editors, and publisher pledged to donate the proceeds to Girls Write Now, a New York City nonprofit that matches at-risk teen girls with mentor writers, to help create and benefit a new generation of New York writers.<\/p>\n

From the beginning, A New York State of Fright <\/em>promised to give a great variety of tales, and it did.\u00a0 There is something for everyone here.\u00a0A woman addicted to fashion gets her shoe fix with an unknown designer.\u00a0 The incredible heels demand to be worn, no matter the cost. A collection agent for a Latino mob runs the neighborhood handing out beatings to death at will… until the victims decide they’ve had enough.\u00a0 People trapped in the subway while a hurricane bears down on the city discover that when rain floods the tunnels, the water washes more than rats up out of its darkness.\u00a0 A visit to the old abandoned lighthouse in New York Sound is said to let you reach out to lost loved ones…\u00a0 but maybe they will reach back.\u00a0 A psychopath is recreating the past in murders: a crime reporter has a tip for the lead detective that will break the case wide open.\u00a0 A man buys an estate and recounts to his realtor how he met his wife, an incredible story filled with werewolves… or is it?\u00a0 During the dog days of summer three drinking buddies sit in their favorite bar and ogle the hottie outside.\u00a0 The game is simple: is she alive or dead?<\/p>\n

Some stories worked better than others for me.\u00a0 My favorites were:\u00a0“Eyes Left“<\/em> by Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee; “Everybody Wins” by Lisa Mannetti; “Blood Will Tell” by JG Faherty; “The Grim” by Allan Burd; and “Heels” by Alps Beck.\u00a0 Each of these used enough realistic elements to give an authentic feel to their stories, and also had a unique twist.\u00a0 The pacing and flow was good in them, the descriptions were descriptive without being overdone, and the characters were believable.\u00a0 The stories drew me in, and wouldn’t let go.\u00a0 The other tales were okay: some worked better than others for me.\u00a0 However, this entire collection suffered to one degree or another with a variety of grammar issues.\u00a0 Spelling, run-ons, telling vs. showing, garbled phrases, and punctuation issues all reared their ugly heads.\u00a0 Due to this, I had trouble following some works.\u00a0 The only work that I have read previously by an author with a story in this volume is Lucifer’s Lottery <\/em>by Edward Lee.<\/p>\n

Contains: Sexual situations, Sexism<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Aaron Fletcher<\/p>\n

Editor’s note:\u00a0A New York State of Fright: Horror Stories From the Empire State\u00a0<\/strong>is a nominee on the final ballot of the Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in an Anthology.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A New York State Of Fright: Horror Stories From the Empire State\u00a0edited by James Chambers, April Grey, and Robert Masterson Hippocampus Press, 2018 ISBN-13: 978-1-61498-237-1 Available: Paperback, Kindle edition   Horror writers, both established and new, live all over New York State, from the Big Apple to Upstate.\u00a0 Each has their own take on the<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3808,3810,679,750,3809,2911,3811,1526,3667,828],"class_list":["post-6484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-new-york-state-of-fright","tag-april-grey","tag-fundraisers","tag-horror-anthologies","tag-james-chambers","tag-new-york","tag-robert-masterson","tag-short-stories","tag-stoker-awards-2018","tag-women-writers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6484"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6537,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6484\/revisions\/6537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}