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![Dead Awake: 12 Tales of Darkness by [Stanley Wiater, Christy Aldridge, C.W. Blackwell, Jill Girardi, Mark Allan Gunnells, Sylvia Elven, A C Fraser, Sadie Hartmann, Michelle Renee Lane, Catherine McCarthy]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51QNV6IVOgL._SY346_.jpg)
Dead Awake: 12 Tales of Darkness Kindle Edition
Christy Aldridge (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
C.W. Blackwell (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Jill Girardi (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Mark Allan Gunnells (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
A C Fraser (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Sadie Hartmann (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Michelle Renee Lane (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Including tales from new horror standouts: Christy Aldridge, C.W. Blackwell, Jill Girardi, Mark Allan Gunnells, Sylvia Elven, A C Fraser, Sadie Hartmann (Mother Horror), Michelle Renee Lane, Catherine McCarthy, Justin Montgomery, Ethan Pollard, and the Sisters of Slaughter.
As horror legend Stanley Wiater stated, "Go revel in their waking nightmares."
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateSeptember 30, 2020
- File size3018 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B08K3QM8LB
- Publisher : LOM Media LLC (September 30, 2020)
- Publication date : September 30, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 3018 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 169 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : B08K4SZ13V
- Lending : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: #568,324 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #575 in Horror Anthologies (Kindle Store)
- #1,146 in Horror Anthologies (Books)
- #1,157 in Horror Short Stories
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
C.W. Blackwell is an award-winning author and poet from the Central Coast of California. He has been a gas station attendant, a rock musician, and a crime analyst. He is a 2021 Derringer Award winner.
Sadie Hartmann aka Mother Horror reviews horror for Cemetery Dance and
SCREAM Magazine. She is the co-owner of the horror fiction subscription
company, Night Worms. She lives in Tacoma, WA with her husband of 20+ years
where they enjoy perfect weather, street tacos and hanging out with their 3
kids. They have a Frenchie named Owen.
Customer reviews
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Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2020
Top reviews from the United States
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🔥”to burn the black church”- sisters of slaughter. Mansplaining about how they didn’t burn down the church correctly has dire consequences.
🧟♂️”high tide”- a c fraser. There are things even more frightening than a literal tsunami.
🤡”clown craze”- mark allan gunnells. A man trying to restore the honest reputation of clowns everywhere runs into a bit of a problem.
🌲”dancer in the pines”- c w blackwell. Proof positive that kids are dumb and will pick up ANYTHING, no matter how creepy, weird or out of place!
🌝”the hag stone”- michelle renee lane. If you give a beth a hag stone, she will see through your bullshit sooner or later.
🚪”the cellar”- ethan pollard. Is the cellar haunted or is the man insane? Either way, creepy as hell!
🔑”hunger”- jill girardi. Let’s just say if you get a cheap room in a creepy hotel with residents who keep disappearing, then you get what you pay for....
👩👧👦”matriphagy”- sadie hartmann. Nothing tastes quite like momma’s..... innards.
👻”immortelle”- catherine mccarthy. Just desserts are best paired with red wine.
☠️”the house on dandy lane”- christy aldridge. Maybe i should take down my ‘no soliciting’ sign.
🐶”sometimes they linger”- justin montgomery. Unique grief horror/creature feature mash-up!
✨”fireflies”- sylvia elven. I wonder if a huge can of off would have helped them...
💁🏽♀️there you have it! Come for the clowns and stay for the creepy ginger kids💕

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2020
🔥”to burn the black church”- sisters of slaughter. Mansplaining about how they didn’t burn down the church correctly has dire consequences.
🧟♂️”high tide”- a c fraser. There are things even more frightening than a literal tsunami.
🤡”clown craze”- mark allan gunnells. A man trying to restore the honest reputation of clowns everywhere runs into a bit of a problem.
🌲”dancer in the pines”- c w blackwell. Proof positive that kids are dumb and will pick up ANYTHING, no matter how creepy, weird or out of place!
🌝”the hag stone”- michelle renee lane. If you give a beth a hag stone, she will see through your bullshit sooner or later.
🚪”the cellar”- ethan pollard. Is the cellar haunted or is the man insane? Either way, creepy as hell!
🔑”hunger”- jill girardi. Let’s just say if you get a cheap room in a creepy hotel with residents who keep disappearing, then you get what you pay for....
👩👧👦”matriphagy”- sadie hartmann. Nothing tastes quite like momma’s..... innards.
👻”immortelle”- catherine mccarthy. Just desserts are best paired with red wine.
☠️”the house on dandy lane”- christy aldridge. Maybe i should take down my ‘no soliciting’ sign.
🐶”sometimes they linger”- justin montgomery. Unique grief horror/creature feature mash-up!
✨”fireflies”- sylvia elven. I wonder if a huge can of off would have helped them...
💁🏽♀️there you have it! Come for the clowns and stay for the creepy ginger kids💕

Anthologies are like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get. Some of these tales, most notably The House on Dandy Lane by Christy Aldridge, Matriphagy by Sadie Hartmann (Bookstagram's own Mother Horror) and To Burn the Black Church by The Sisters of Slaughter, were just the right size, with enough suspense to keep you intrigued and with a satisfying ending.
Some of the other stories, unfortunately, did not live up to the standards set by those three. Some were lackluster at best, with a bit of a drag to the storyline and no firm grasp of the tale they wanted to tell. Others were overly verbose, as if the author tried making a tight short story into a novella. The excessive unnecessary wording added nothing to the story, and merely caused the reader to lose interest in the original plot.
With some great short stories, some decent attempts and a few that could really use some tightening up, I would average this collection as a whole as a 3.25/5 star read.
The twelve stories collected in Dead Awake managed to subvert my expectations more than I’d anticipated. A number of these tales took turns I honestly didn’t see coming, with one in particular – “Matriphagy” , by Sadie Hartmann (in her fiction debut)– offering a particularly nasty surprise that so blindsided me it actually gave me the creeps.
I can’t honestly say every one of these stories landed with me, but they are all skillfully written. Any issues I have are a matter of my personal preference, not the degree of craftsmanship, and in that spirit I can honestly say each and every one of them has merit. All of these are imaginative and show a mastery of the craft.
That being addressed, I did have my favorites. The aforementioned “Matriphagy” was one of the best of the bunch, an unsettling tale of a brother and sister in farm country who find themselves facing something unspeakable. The story is written with an attentive ear for how the specific characters would speak and think given their upbringing, adding a degree of character and plausibility to the story a lot of first time fiction authors might have neglected. This read like the work of a seasoned author of fiction, not a debut effort.
Likewise, “To Burn the Black Church” by the Sisters of Slaughter opens the book on a gripping, powerhouse note with the chronicle of a group of men determined to destroy an evil edifice that may be indestructible. I’ve been a fan of these ladies since I read their superb novel Mayan Blue a while back and the full breadth of their storytelling prowess is on display here. This was a chilling, absorbing read.
“Clown Craze” by Mark Allen Gunnels is a terrific, twisted riff on fanaticism as experienced by a professional clown. This nasty little chiller is seasoned with an old school, “Tales from the Crypt “ vibe that really worked for me.
Finally, “Fireflies” by Sylvia Elven is a wonderfully bizarre, fascinating bit of horror involving a pair of sisters on the run who discover something even more terrifying than the abusive man from whom they’re fleeing. I loved every sentence of this story, which closes out the book on a high note.
Packed with imagination and chills, Dead Awake is one of the better anthologies to come along in a while. There’s something here for horror fans of all stripes, I think, making this a must read for anyone who enjoys fiction combining the fantastic with a dark edge.
Highly recommended.
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