Friday 11 November 2016

REVIEW: 13: An Anthology of Horror and Dark Fiction

Genre: Horror Anthology
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Publication Date: 4th Oct 2016
Pages: 435

REVIEWED BY NEV

A copy of 13: An Anthology of Horror and Dark Fiction, was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by one of the contributors in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Limitless Press.

Anthologies. Love em or hate em, there have been a tonne of them out this year. To be honest I have probably already read my fill of anthologies and collections for the year so 13 is sort of up against it from the outset. It will need to be a good one to keep me reading.

On the other hand, I have read a few books from Limitless and they normally produce some really good stuff so I am hoping this is the same.

I won’t say which contributor sent the copy to me. If you know me though it shouldn’t be too hard to guess.

Anyway, this is what I thought of 13.


MECHANTE REINE BY SAVANNAH BLEVINS

The year is 1802. Lake and Abram are on a mission to try and defeat The Mechante Reine, a witch that has terrorised their village for years. Both Lake and Abram are keeping secrets from each other. Secrets that could mean the difference between life and death.

This started with so much promise but slowly turned into a story that, to be honest, I don’t think fits in an anthology of horror and dark fiction.

Yes, there is a witch involved and yes she is evil but the story is more of a love story about the lives of Lake and Abram.

They do confront the witch and evil things do happen but I didn’t find much of it to be horror or dark.

It gets scored for the general writing but nothing scary about it for me.

General Rating: ★★.5

Horror Rating: 0


ROOM 313 BY THOMAS S FLOWERS

Will Fenning is washed up. His marriage is failed. His business is lost. Now his car has packed up.

Stopping at a hotel for the night, he has one thing on his mind. If he has the guts to follow through.

This is a tale of a man with a troubled mind. A guilty mind. A mind full of demons just screaming to get out. It's a tale of regret. One man facing up to all of his problems.

You can guess what is going to happen quite early in the story but there is a twist coming that you will never have seen in a million years. A twist that turns it from a story of regret to a story of unbridled fear.

Creepy stuff.

General Rating: ★★★★★

Horror Rating: ★★★★★


THE DEVILS DAUGHTER BY MARISSA FARRAR

Erika is a journalist. She is on her way to Peru to meet with an old photographer colleague to team up and investigate a strange series of disappearances of members of one particular tribe.

When she arrives, she discovers a little girl being shunned by the rest of the tribe. They call her the devils daughter. Erika cannot understand why. Maybe she should not interfere with things she does not understand.

This is great. A tale of adventure in a foreign land where modern world feelings clash with ancient world cultures and traditions.

There is something very creepy about this one. The atmosphere is set up perfectly to give you that skin crawling feeling when you are in an unfamiliar setting.

I love stories like this. Crosses a few genres but is still scary.

General Rating: ★★★★★

Horror Rating: ★★★★★


HAVERLY INSANE ASYLUM BY TAYLOR HENDERSON

Lacey and her boyfriend Jace, along with their friends Corey, Debra and Quincy, are on a mission in the Haverly Insane Asylum.

They are determined to see as much of the building as they can to brag to their school friends and make themselves even more popular. When they get split up, the fear factor starts creeping in and things start to go incredibly wrong.

Yeah it's a rehashed scenario of teenagers breaking into an asylum and things start to go wrong and danger is around every corner.

This one though has a couple of very clever twists in it that make that rehashed story sort of fresh.

You will think you know how this is going to go. You will be wrong.

General Rating: ★★★★

Horror Rating: ★★★★


ANESTHESIA BY D.A. ROACH

Mary works as a bartender in a respectable club while she gets through college. The tips are good and her boss looks after her well. When it is time for her to move on her boss doesn’t want her to leave. He doesn’t want her to have some surgery she has planned either.

He seems to be rather over protective.

This story had so much promise until about half way through. It was building the tension perfectly and then just sort of fell flat for me.

Disappointing.

General Rating: ★★★

Horror Rating: ★★


THIS ONE’S BROKEN BY BRADON NAVE

Savannah is a quiet shy girl. She spends her days selling lemonade to try and make pennies to get her broken bike fixed. Billy watches her all the time. She has seen trauma after trauma. Billy intends to keep showing her the trauma.

This, this is just brilliant. I wish I could tell you more about it but it would just give it away. This is brutal, but sort of satisfying at the same time due to what’s happening.

As well as being horrific, in an ironic sort of way, it shows the different side of people with obvious mental imbalances and what they see as good and what they perceive as evil.

Brilliant stuff. I will definitely be picking up more of Mr Nave’s work.

General Rating: ★★★★★

Horror Rating: ★★★★★


RICOCHET BY CARISSA ANN LYNCH

Regan, and her brother Toby, live with their alcoholic Dad. Things haven’t been the same since their mother disappeared after the incident at Adventure Town theme park many years earlier.

The stories still go around town how Regan’s mum was responsible for the deaths.

When Adventure Town re-opens. Regan gets a job there. Just like her mom.
A theme park and mysterious deaths. An old plot line, done many times before. There is something rather haunting about it though. Especially when it is written like this. This is suspenseful and tense with flashes of horror the whole way through.

I did think at one point it was going a bit stale until the twists kicked in and it totally turned on its head again.

Really good stuff.

General Rating: ★★★★

Horror Rating: ★★★★


REST IN PIECE? BY ERIN LEE

Lisa and Jeff are in a motel room. The end is in sight for Jeff. Everyone knows this. The room they are in is supposedly haunted. Maybe the ghost might have other plans for Lisa and Jeff.

A bit hard to tell you about this one without giving anything away about the story. It is creepy but to be honest a bit weird as well. The idea behind the initial storyline is excellent. A man and woman who are married but always keeping massive secrets from each other and seeing it through their eyes is very effective.

It just loses itself as the story progresses and becomes a bit confusing.

General Rating: ★★★

Horror Rating: ★★★


THE VIRUS: PREQUEL TO AM13 OUTBREAK SERIES BY SAMIE SANDS

It starts in a school. It spreads so quickly no one stands a chance of getting out of its way. Until the town is completely closed off. And the dead begin to rise.

You know what? Zombie stories have been through the ringer a bit for a while now and just don’t seem to be getting any fresh ideas.

Until this.

Each chapter in this one is told through the eyes of a different person running from the threat. It is punchy and fresh and has definitely put me in the mood to go and pick up the rest of the books in this series!

This is excellent stuff.

General Rating: ★★★★★

Horror Rating: ★★★★★


THE SIX-FOOT LADDER BY LUKE SWANSON

Ramona Price is running away. She has her worldly possessions in her car with her. She is running from the spectres she sees everywhere. Forced to stop in the small town of Crawford after her car breaks down, she soon discovers all is not as it may seem.

Hmmm. Not sure about this one. This is set in the 50’s and it definitely gives off a feeling of that era. It is creepy and is very well written but the problem I had with it was the fact I figured it out very early in the story and it sort of dragged from there on in.

Good but predictable for me.

General Rating: ★★★

Horror Rating: ★★★★


THE FIRST OF THIRTEEN BY SARA SCHOEN

Kelly is days away from graduation when her friend, Steve kidnaps her. She thinks she can get away in a matter of days. She better think again because she is in for the long haul.

This is another that had so much promise but just didn’t get there. The idea was good; in that it did not pan out like a normal kidnapping would. However, it just dragged on too long without anything to grab me and keep me seriously interested.

General Rating: ★★.5

Horror Rating: ★★.5


THE CHALLENGE BY SOPHIA VALENTINE

Carla is looking forward to taking her little brother Cody to the circus. It hasn’t been to their town for years after the rumours of the people going missing. They should have paid attention to the rumours.

This, I’m sorry to say, did nothing for me. It’s a story full of so many clichés I wouldn’t know where to start. I mean a circus that has something to do with people going missing that hasn’t been around for years and you still go to it? Knowingly?

General Rating: 

Horror Rating: 


MIRROR MAN BY JACKIE SONNENBERG

Jean and August are a married couple with a young daughter, Avery. Their life is pretty normal until Avery starts to talk with her imaginary friend. He is called CJ and he lives in their mirrors.

This one again had huge potential. The writing style just didn’t do it for me at all. It was quite stop, start during the narrative and read more like someone reading a statement than telling a story.

Another disappointment for me because it certainly had some creeps.

General Rating: ★★.5

Horror Rating: ★★★


So, there are my thoughts on 13: An Anthology of Horror and Dark Fiction. All in all, this one didn’t float my boat as much as I had hoped. There are some fantastically strong stories between the covers such as Room 313, The Devils Daughter, The Virus and, my personal favourite This One’s Broken. I just think as an anthology, there were more weak stories than strong ones for me.

I have, however, discovered some more new authors that I will be checking out with great interest.

Also, if I can give you one piece of good advice, buy the paperback version of the book. It is beautifully presented inside and would look beautiful on your shelf.

As usual, the overall rating is done the scientific way of adding the average scores and dividing by 13.

It comes out like this:

General Rating: ★★★.5

Horror Rating: ★★★


If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy 13 or any other books from Limitless. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.

Thanks.




Book Synopsis:

13 has always been unlucky. But now it’s turned deadly…

Darkness has fallen. Real and unseen, evil is out there. Waiting. Watching. Biding its time. It might be your neighbor, your best friend—or something much, much worse. It might be the shadow itself. It will hunt you down when you least expect it. It will talk to you in the quiet hours of the morning and follow your footsteps when you’re alone. It’s chosen you…and it always gets what it wants.

13 dark tales await you. Ready to bring your worst childhood nightmares to life, to push you to the brink, and make you question your every decision…

The circus. Your beloved carnival rides. That mom and pop motel you pass every day on your way to work. They’ll never look innocent again. Because they’re not. No one and nothing can be trusted. Not even yourself.

Are you ready to take the ultimate dare? To spin the devil’s wheel?

Be careful…

13 will get you every time.


The Authors


Savannah Blevins

Savannah Blevins is an author of Fantasy and Contemporary Romance from Corbin, Kentucky. The Méchante Reine is a legend told in her Witches of Sanctuary Series. She was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains that inspired her series and still lives there with her husband John and her two wonderful daughters, Delilah and Gracie.





Thomas S. Flowers

Thomas S. Flowers is the author of several character driven stories of terror, including The Subdue Series, and Reinheit, among others. He grew up in the small town of Vinton, Virginia, but in 2001 left home to enlist in the U.S. Army. Following his third tour in Iraq, Thomas moved to Houston, Texas, where he now lives with his beautiful bride and amazing daughter. Thomas attended night school, with a focus on creative writing and history. In 2014, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History from UHCL. Thomas blogs at machinemean.org, where he reviews movies, books, and other horror-related topics.





Marissa Farrar

Marissa Farrar is a British author who has penned more than twenty novels. She predominantly writes paranormal romance and horror but has branched into contemporary fiction as well. When she’s not writing, she’s fighting off the sticky fingers of her three young daughters and looking forward to a glass of wine.
If you want to know more about Marissa, please visit her blog at www.marissa-farrar.blogspot.com

You can also find her at her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/marissa.farrar.author

To stay updated on all new releases and sales, sign up for her newsletter! http://forms.aweber.com/form/61/19822861.htm


Taylor Henderson

Taylor Henderson is a psychology major at the University of Mary Washington who was born and raised in Northern Virginia. She has been an avid reader and writer since she was young and has always found solace in the worlds and characters other authors have brought to life in their works. Taylor plans to continue writing and hopes to expand to different genres in the future.



Goodreads:


D.A. Roach

D.A. Roach has been telling stories since she was a young girl in the suburbs of Chicago. In college she met the man of her dreams, her happily ever after, and married him two weeks after graduating. They have three children together and two pet cockatiels named Gimli & Poppy. D.A. discovered her love of reading and writing after college. Her preferred genres are YA/NA drama, romance, or paranormal. D.A. has a treasured collection of fiction that includes works by Rebecca Donovan, Larissa Ione, Jojo Moyes, Sylvia Day, Nicole Williams, Stephanie Meyer, Richelle Mead, and E.L. James.






Bradon Nave

Bradon Nave was born and raised in rural Oklahoma. He attended a small country school during junior high and high school and graduated with only three people in his class. After graduate school, he decided to devote his spare time to his passion of writing. Bradon currently lives in Piedmont, Oklahoma, with his wife and two young children.






Carissa Ann Lynch

Besides her family, Carissa’s greatest love in life is books. She’s always loved to read and never considered herself a “writer” until a few years ago when she couldn't find a book to read and decided to try writing her own story. With a background in psychology, she’s always been a little obsessed with the darker areas of the human mind and social problems, so she tried to channel all of that into her writing. She is the author of The Flocksdale Files, Grayson’s Ridge, This Is Not About Love, and the upcoming Horror High series. She resides in Floyds Knobs, Indiana.






Erin Lee

Erin Lee is a freelance writer and therapist living with her family in southern New Hampshire. She is the author of Crazy Like Me, a novel published in 2015 by Savant Books and Publications, Wave to Papa, 2015, Nine Lives, and Alters, 2016 with Limitless Publishing LLC. She holds a master’s degree in psychology and works with at-risk families and as a court appointed special children’s advocate. When she’s not busy writing about the human mind, she’s obsessively taking pictures of her rescue dog and muse, Milo.

Her work can be found at www.authorerinlee.com



Samie Sands

Samie Sands is the author of the AM13 Outbreak series–Lockdown, Forgotten and Extinct. She’s also had a number of short stories published in very successful anthologies.

To find out more about her and her work, check out her website at http://samiesands.com





Luke Swanson

Luke Swanson was born and raised in Yukon, Oklahoma. He loves nothing more than a good story. He currently attends Oklahoma Christian University, studying English writing, history, and international studies. The Ten, his debut novel, combines elements of mystery, thriller, and comedy.


Sara Schoen

Sara Schoen is a college student studying Biology, who writes in her free time. She has published numerous titles and hopes to continue writing throughout her life.





S. Valentine

S. Valentine grew up in England. Studying English language and literature as well as law, she worked in a law firm for many years before moving to Spain. She does, however, still visit the UK which, in a way, will always be home. She writes contemporary fiction, including erotica, thrillers and romance.

For more information, please visit: www.svalentine.wix.com/books





Jackie Sonnenberg

Jackie Sonnenberg is the author of the YRESRUN SEMYHR book series, telling the dark side of Nursery Rhymes. The first novel, My Soul to Keep, is the story of a boarding school cult with paranormal activity…and deathly secrets. Jackie lives in Orlando as a writer and actor for Zombie Outbreak, a year-round haunted attraction.





The Publisher




Limitless Publishing started in 2012 and has sky rocketed to one of the most highly talked about publishing companies around. If you have enjoyed this anthology and would like to see more from our wonderful team of authors, please visit our website, or would like to submit submissions of your own and join our team of authors:


Submissions Department submissions@limitlesspublishing.com

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