{"id":8515,"date":"2021-04-22T20:45:32","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T00:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=8515"},"modified":"2021-04-22T20:45:32","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T00:45:32","slug":"book-review-worst-laid-plans-an-anthology-of-vacation-horror-edited-by-samantha-kolesnik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-worst-laid-plans-an-anthology-of-vacation-horror-edited-by-samantha-kolesnik\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror edited by Samantha Kolesnik"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror\u00a0<\/em>edited by Samantha Kolesnik<\/p>\n

Grindhouse Press, 2020<\/p>\n

ISBN: 9781941918708<\/p>\n

Availability: Paperback, Kindle edition\u00a0(\u00a0Bookshop.org<\/a> |\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a> )<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Worst Laid Plans <\/em>is a collection of “vacation gone wrong” stories. It’s a lot like an actual vacation, in terms of story quality. There are some serious high points, some decent times, and some mediocre, forgettable times. The stories vary in terms of reading enjoyment, but the stories that are outstanding help offset the others.<\/p>\n

The first three stories are undoubtedly the best in the book. S.E. Howard’s “You’ve Been Saved” is a frightening look at a road trip gone wrong, and a grim reminder that normal-looking psychopaths do occasionally haunt the American highways. Asher Ellis’s “Expertise” goes in somewhat of the same direction, using a tropical tour guide instead of highway ramblers. Both are excellent stories, with well-written, simple plots and a nice twist to surprise the reader. The true knockout is Greg Sisco’s “Summers With Annie”.\u00a0 Beautifully written, it’s what might have happened if the queen of summer beach reads, Elin Hilderbrand, decided to write from a darker and supernatural perspective. Set against the backdrop of young love and mysterious disappearances, this story alone is worth the price of the book.<\/p>\n

The other stories are generally satisfactory, although some are skippable. The writing is decent and there are some original ideas, the stories just don’t pack the same punch as the first three. Of these, Jeremy Herbert’s “Taylor Family Vacation 93”, Hailey Piper’s “Unkindly Girls”, and Patrick Lacey’s “Caught a Glimpse” are probably the best of the rest. The rest of the stories are somewhat interchangeable in terms of quality. While some good ideas are there, some of them lack of coherent finish, and others are too quick to finish after a long buildup.<\/p>\n

Worst Laid Plans <\/em>is truly a varied collection in terms of story quality, but the few outstanding ones compensate nicely for the others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contains: violence, profanity, mild gore<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Editor’s note:\u00a0Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror<\/strong> is a nominee on the final ballot for this year’s Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in an Anthology.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror\u00a0edited by Samantha Kolesnik Grindhouse Press, 2020 ISBN: 9781941918708 Availability: Paperback, Kindle edition\u00a0(\u00a0Bookshop.org |\u00a0Amazon.com )   Worst Laid Plans is a collection of “vacation gone wrong” stories. It’s a lot like an actual vacation, in terms of story quality. There are some serious high points, some decent times,<\/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":[357,750,4851,4853,1526,4850,2134,4852],"class_list":["post-8515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bram-stoker-awards","tag-horror-anthologies","tag-horror-book-review","tag-samantha-kolesnik","tag-short-stories","tag-stoker-review-project","tag-vacation","tag-worst-laid-plans-an-anthology-of-vacation-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8515","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=8515"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8534,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8515\/revisions\/8534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}