
Dead Awake: 12 Tales of Darkness
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Twelve tales of darkness from the new generation of horror authors that will seep into your mind as you lie Dead Awake at night.
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.
- Listening Length5 hours and 24 minutes
- Audible release dateJune 24, 2021
- LanguageEnglish
- ASINB097S3QSWG
- VersionUnabridged
- Program TypeAudiobook
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Product details
Listening Length | 5 hours and 24 minutes |
---|---|
Author | Stanley Wiater, Christy Aldridge, C.W. Blackwell, Jill Girardi, Mark Allan Gunnells, Sylvia Elven, A C Fraser, Sadie Hartmann, Michelle Renee Lane, Catherine McCarthy |
Narrator | Steve Quinn |
Whispersync for Voice | Ready |
Audible.com Release Date | June 24, 2021 |
Publisher | Brian Scutt |
Program Type | Audiobook |
Version | Unabridged |
Language | English |
ASIN | B097S3QSWG |
Best Sellers Rank | #396,331 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #879 in Horror Anthologies & Short Stories #3,179 in Literature Anthologies #4,234 in Horror Anthologies (Books) |
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Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2020
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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.
Sisters of Slaughter bring us “To Burn the Black Church.” It’s a brief exploration of an evil oddity, and touches on how a person’s faith (or lack thereof) might impact their interactions with a pinch of cosmic horror.
A.C. Fraser’s “High Tide” introduces us to a man who just wants to save himself and his kid when the Flood (some sort of high-speed infection) breaks through the wall. There’s an interesting question of what (or whom) people will be willing to leave behind in return for the hope of being saved. This story does end a bit abruptly.
Mark Allan Gunnells’ “Clown Craze” introduces us to Paul, a professional clown who’s lost a lot of work since mysterious scary clowns have started showing up here and there. Finally he’s been hired to work a Halloween party! Sometimes when you look too much like an evil thing, you can’t expect things to end well. This was another rather abrupt ending to a very short story. (My one beef with horror short stories is that many of them end very abruptly, or too early, or in the middle of what might make a great climax if there was more to it. There’s a handful of those stories in here.)
“The Dancer in the Pines,” by C.W. Blackwell, starts off when young Josephine finds a pair of ballet slippers next to a pond–and gets scary from there. It develops into more detail than I’m accustomed to seeing from this sort of setup, but squanders that by leaving off in what feels like the middle of the climax.
In Michelle Renee Lane’s “The Hag Stone,” a mother has brought her son Jack to meet her boyfriend, Richard. All seems to be fine and dandy until Jack goes missing while Richard is with him–then things turn deadly. I always enjoy a story in which creeps get their due!
Ethan Pollard’s “The Cellar” is a very cosmic horror-type story. A person seems to be caught in a house that has no exit, and something in the cellar beneath him keeps knocking on the floor, circling him. I wasn’t sure where this one was going, but the ending made it work. Be careful what promises you make…
Jill Girardi’s “Hunger” takes place in Malaysia. Miss Hai-Er has fled Hong Kong and her boss, Wu Jing. She’s hiding out in a boarding house that’s more than a little eccentric. And it seems like all of the older residents have a strange sort of skin disease. Still, she doesn’t want to be found by Wu Jing’s people, so she’s going to have to roll with it. Nice to see characters of all ages involved, and I love how this works out.
In “Matriphagy,” by Sadie Hartmann, a mother goes missing for a few hours. When she returns her face is blank, and she goes to her room and locks herself in. Her two children have no idea what to do with this. I love that I can really see kids reacting in reality the way these two do.
Catherine McCarthy’s “Immortelle” is definitely one of my favorite tales in here. There’s a young woman who makes immortelles, precise displays to be placed on graves that commemorate the deceased. Now she’s making one for a child whose ghost watches her work. I love the turns this story takes. It definitely gave me a shiver.
“The House on Dandy Lane,” by Christy Aldridge, introduces Joe Harrison, a traveling salesman for Mount Olive Cleaning supplies. Most people slam their doors in his face, but an odd old woman finally lets him in. He realizes she’s too far gone to realistically make a decision on buying products, but hey, a sale’s a sale, right? He’s certainly willing to try. This is a great story of the banality of small-time greed.
Justin Montgomery’s “Sometimes They Linger” is fantastic. It takes place several months after the death of Maddee, the beloved dog belonging to Beverly and John. Beverly is still grieving, and sometimes she thinks she hears Maddee in the night. But John is angry that she seems to be wasting away in her grief rather than moving on. Beverly thinks that if Maddee came back, it would be wonderful. John, who loves a good horror story, is convinced it would be terrible. Guess we’ll just have to find out, won’t we? I love the way this story explores the complex feelings involved when you lose a beloved pet.
Sylvia Elven’s “Fireflies” captures the story of Julie, who’s spiriting her sister Rose away from an abusive relationship. When a flat tire compels them to stop, more than one danger shows up to take advantage of their ill fortune. For some reason this just wasn’t as arresting as I felt it should be. Maybe because the supernatural aspect of it seems to have little personality to it.
Content note: mostly mild gore, but with one live skinning.
I definitely think this anthology is worth picking up if you enjoy horror short stories!
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