{"id":6963,"date":"2019-10-23T12:43:54","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T16:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=6963"},"modified":"2019-10-23T12:43:54","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T16:43:54","slug":"book-review-the-third-corona-book-of-horror-stories-edited-by-lewis-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-the-third-corona-book-of-horror-stories-edited-by-lewis-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Third Corona Book of Horror Stories edited by Lewis Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Third Corona Book of Horror Stories\u00a0<\/em>edited by Lewis Williams<\/p>\n

Corona Books, 2019<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-1-9996579-4-9<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

It seems that every horror collection published always has an introduction detailing how the publisher worked very hard to put only the greatest stories into print.\u00a0 Sometimes it’s true, and sometimes it’s just lip service.\u00a0 Corona Books boasts that they selected only the \u201cbest of the best\u201d from over 800 submissions.\u00a0\u00a0 Thankfully, in this case it’s not an idle boast.\u00a0 The stories tend towards the short side, but the quality is extremely high.\u00a0 All the stories are good: there isn’t a bad, or even just fair, story in the lot.\u00a0 If this collection isn’t nominated for a Stoker award in the \u201cAnthologies\u201d category this year, then the whole nominating process should be called into question.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many of these stories clock in at only fifteen pages, and some at ten or less.\u00a0 However, there’s a lot of good, concise writing packed in to that short space.\u00a0 There are a few with some blood and gore, but it’s minimal.\u00a0 The publishers realized that mental torture and anguish is just as effective, if not more so, then the standard hack and splatter model that is in vogue right now.\u00a0 Physical pain is only temporary, but mental agony can go on for a long, long time.\u00a0 In some of these stories, it lasts forever.\u00a0 Seeing the fate that some of the characters in these stories are condemned to makes for a truly unsettling read.\u00a0 Sue Bentley’s \u201cOld Gods\u201d \u00a0is a prime example.\u00a0 Treasure hunter\/thief Edward Cranby gets way more then he bargained for when hunting for riches in the jungles, and the true torture is that his punishment will NEVER be lightened, or end\u2026 ever.\u00a0 John Haas’s \u201cThe Debt\u201d has a less prolonged fate, and a bit more physical punishment, but it’s just as effective.\u00a0 Drawing on Shylock’s\u00a0 \u201ca pound of flesh\u201d\u00a0 in Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cThe Merchant of Venice\u201d, the interactions between a mad doctor and the man who caused his family untold misery are truly horrifying: this \u00a0may be the best story in the book.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The two above stories are the best in the anthology, but the others are also extremely effective. There is no one unifying thread in this collection, other than the high quality.\u00a0 The lack of a common theme makes the book that much stronger, as the ideas are quite diverse.\u00a0 Molly Thynes’s\u00a0 \u201cWorse Things\u201d takes aim at a favorite target\u2014politicians– and shows the wretched lengths that some will go to in order to remain in power. It’s a lot more frightening than anything a real politician has been responsible for.\u00a0 \u201cThe Barber\u201d, by A.P. Sessler, is the only story written in the rarely used second person point of view.\u00a0 It’s difficult to write in the second person, but Sessler uses it well in this cross between Sweeney Todd and Face\/Off.<\/em>\u00a0 Viktoria Faust’s \u201cRoxy\u201d and Richard A. Shury’s \u201cGamer\u201d both take a look at the warped future that may await humankind when it comes to organ donations and virtual reality, respectively. Jeremy Megargee’s \u201cScythe\u201d details the fear of being old and waiting to die\u2026when you can literally see the end coming for you.\u00a0 The story ideas come from everywhere, and every one is extremely well written and effective.\u00a0 This review only covers a few of the stories: there are plenty more in the book for the reader to devour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the finest short story collection to come out in a long time, and it’s worth the price ten times over.\u00a0 If short horror stories that make you squirm and keep you awake at night are your thing, you need this book on your shelf.\u00a0 Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contains: mild violence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Third Corona Book of Horror Stories\u00a0edited by Lewis Williams Corona Books, 2019 ISBN: 978-1-9996579-4-9 Available: Paperback, Kindle edition   It seems that every horror collection published always has an introduction detailing how the publisher worked very hard to put only the greatest stories into print.\u00a0 Sometimes it’s true, and sometimes it’s just lip service.\u00a0<\/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":[590,83,1526],"class_list":["post-6963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anthologies","tag-horror-fiction","tag-short-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6963","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=6963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6964,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6963\/revisions\/6964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}