Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Midnight in the Pentagram

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 23, 2020

As a note, I end up giving most multiple-author anthologies a 4/5 largely as a result of the fact that most people’s personal tastes won’t wholly match up with those of the editor, but the stories have usually gone through an editor who has motivation for finding the good stuff. It balances out a bit. Midnight in the Pentagram, edited by Kenneth W. Cain, fits that pattern.

I have a handful of favorites in here. Brian Moreland’s “The Corn Maidens” involves a young woman with a disturbing power, and a village with equally disturbing traditions. I absolutely love how this one played out.

Top billing (in my mind) should go to Laurel Hightower’s “The Other.” It’s a fascinating look at a possessed man’s life. He’s losing time, his wife suddenly seems to hate him, and his things get moved around. This is an incredibly powerful story.

“Angel Dust,” by Shannon Felton, is a bizarre story of drugs, possession, and demons that’s oddly intriguing. James Newman’s “I Know He Loves Me (He Just Has a Funny Way of Showing It)” is another possession story that takes things in an unexpected and fascinating direction. There seems to be a bounty of excellent possession stories, like P.D. Cacek’s “Diminishing Returns,” in which a woman with Alzheimer’s seems to be possessed.

Todd Keisling’s “The Gods of Our Fathers,” set in the same universe as his “Devil’s Creek,” is absolutely beautiful, and very dark. A girl whose father turned away from the Old Gods to the Christian god tries to find a way out of her life of pain and terror.

“A Night Above,” by John Quick, is a hilarious (and oddly touching!) story of a demon summoned to a slumber party, and I loved it!

Charlotte Platt’s “Family Business” introduces us to Lisa, who has followed in her family’s business of restoring and repairing antiques. A mysterious visitor named Levi brings her an artifact to be repaired, and things get strange from there. Action, horror, and a nice shiver down your spine!

Many other stories are quite good–there are plenty of possessions, summonings, and other intriguing stories to read.

Things that made some of the other stories not as good for me included one in which an aging aunt is completely and utterly stereotypical, right down to magically taking a pie out of the oven just as her unexpected visitors arrive (there are a couple of other stories with very stereotypical characters, but not many). Some stories feel like they end just a tad bit too soon, not quite taking us to an adequate resolution. One story has an odd clumsy rhythm; I think it’s because typically high-stress parts of a story have at least some shorter sentences to help convey that choppy feeling, and this story just kept the same “normal” pace throughout (it takes away from the tension and drama). A few stories seem to hurry their way through, and could have used a bit more detail.

Content note for: self-harm, racial slurs, child molestation and abuse, animal harm, rape, abuse and murder of slaves, death of a baby, highly detailed torture, xenophobia, and of course, since this book contains a wide range of horror stories, gore. I definitely recommend reading this one. Many stories are just wonderful, and most of the rest are very good. The theme is covered very well, and all of the stories feel as though they fit.

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misspider

Another 'Best Of' anthology

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 23, 2020

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Finally, the second Midnight anthology has arrived and just like 'Midnight in the Graveyard',
it features a Best-Of of today's horror authors and also introduces some new authors I hope to read more of in the future. There is not one disappointing story to be found, only loads of well-written traditional, original and also unexpected ideas that lead you into the twisted land of demons, witches, possession and other horrors. The biggest strength of this volume is its widespread variety, though I especially enjoyed stories with a humorous streak.
Among my favorites are 'The Corn Maidens', 'Legion Cast Forth', 'What I Wouldn't Give', 'Dog Eat God', 'Discovering Mr. Jones', 'The Gods of Our Fathers', 'Diminishing Returns' and 'Witches' Night'. My personal number one story is the hilarious 'A Night Above' - the first and only story that made me pity the demon...

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Rachel Drenning

Great collection!!! Truly creepy

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 16, 2020

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In some collections, I will enjoy a few of the stories but rarely all of them. I don't buy the actual book unless it's one that I have enjoyed all of it. In this book, every story is great. Great authors, extremely creepy stories. So I read the ebook version and will now definitely buy the book.

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Ashley Burns

Everything i needed and more

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 10, 2020

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Had been counting down the days for this release and man, oh man! Did it deliver. I'm filled up to the brim. Now I can't wait for the next installment. Hurry up calender!

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Emily

Scary

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 2, 2020

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Loved it. Each story takes you on a unique scary ride. Thrilling reads. Great authors.

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Brennan LaFaro

Phenomenal mix of big-name, up-and-coming, and new authors

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 8, 2020

Publishers take note. This is how you set up the buzz for an anthology. Submission calls opened nearly a year before release, and once the author signings began rolling in, every one was more exciting than the last. From Brian Keene to Tim Meyer to Owl Goingback to Graham Masterton to established Silver Shamrock authors like Steph Ellis, Shannon Felton, and John Quick. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Weighing in at about 500 pages, Midnight in the Pentagram offers stories focused around demons, possessions, and all sorts of tangential areas; stemming from both Christianity, as well as religions and mythologies far older than that.
As we found with Midnight in the Graveyard, Silver Shamrock Midnight anthologies are a nice blend of new voices and established voices. As with most other anthologies, there were some stories that worked brilliantly for me, and some that didn’t resonate. It seems a silly complaint to moan about a loaded table of contents being too big, but there were certain instances during the back half of the book where stories, although well executed, felt like we’d been there before. As a silver lining, the authors who took the themed trope and pulled it off in a unique way really stood out. Let me share a few favorites:
The Other - Laurel Hightower: One of the stories I anticipated most in this collection, and it didn’t disappoint. Hightower managed to surround her main character with other people and still write in a sense of isolation, one of the most effective tools in horror. This story is more about losing your sense of self than demons popping out from behind corners.
Angel Dust - Shannon Felton: This one worked for me for the same reason that Felton’s The Prisoners of Stewartville did. It felt fresh, original, and unexpected. The use of second person narration gives it a bit of a Chuck Palahniuk vibe, but the story is all Felton.
My Body - Wesley Southard: Unapologetically Southard, My Body reminded me of King’s Needful Things, combining it with a monster only this author could have dreamed up.
Discovering Mr. Jones - Cameron Ulam: Another story I was anticipating. I keep seeing Cameron Ulam’s name pop since her acceptance to this book. For good reason too. Ulam makes great use of sensory description to paint a picture and bring the audience into the story.
A Night Above - John Quick: Great mix of humor, twists, and horror. I picked this book up to be entertained, and this one did the trick.
Brujeria - Michael Patrick Hicks: The idea Hicks uses to explore the book’s theme is underutilized, in my opinion. Hicks doesn’t leave much to the reader’s imagination, but manages to create a landscape you can’t look away from.
The Furious Pour - Amanda Hard: Hard’s story came late in the book, and the originality shone a spotlight on it. It’s mostly the setting that I found unexpected, leading to a moment of revelation I really enjoyed.
That’s a fair list of favorites, but it’s worth noting the hits resonate throughout. Brian Moreland’s opening number kicks things off exactly the way you hope it will. Kenneth McKinley follows up his entry in Graveyard with a lesson in how to keep the train running smooth for a time, then send it careening off the rails. Kenneth Cain’s entry guarantees you’re not reading another possession story quite like this. The humor lands and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Like Wesley Southard’s story, Todd Keisling writes one that could only have come from his pen, or laptop I guess. Brian Keene’s entry is the most brutal thing in the book, bringing the blood and guts.
As I mentioned before, most of the stories that didn’t work for me tiptoed into familiar territory without adding enough new material. One or two utilized humor in a way that just didn’t land. Others came from authors I’ve been lukewarm to in the past, and their entries didn’t do much to sway me. The one caveat I’ll add here is that with so many stories, there’s not a bland one in the bunch.
Silver Shamrock’s Midnight anthologies are going to continue to be highly anticipated. They’ve only just announced Midnight From Beyond the Stars, and readers are already clamoring about the possibilities. If you enjoyed the variety presented in Midnight in the Graveyard, you’re going to enjoy this one too. Space out the stories. Read one every few days. There are some real unmissables in here. The kind that’ll have you avoiding dusty old books full of strange symbols and people who sacrifice animals. Well, maybe you should be avoiding those anyway.

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Demons and Devilry!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 13, 2020

4.5/5 stars!

With this installment,(because it looks like it's going to be a series), Silver Shamrock Publishing has cemented their place near the top of current horror and dark fiction publishers. In this volume, all the stories are joined by a demonic thread and for horror lovers, it doesn't get much better than this!

In MIDNIGHT IN THE PENTAGRAM, we are presented with many new authors to discover and some professionals who have been at the top of the business for some time now. Clocking in at near 500 pages I can't go into every story, but I will briefly touch on a few that stood out to me:

THE CORN MAIDEN by Brian Moreland. Many times in this volume my heart has gone out to the young female lead, but it started with this story which is also the first in the book.

FATHER MACLEOD by Tony Tremblay. I'll just say the priest discovered his real name.

THE OTHER by Laurel Hightower. All I'm saying is that this author is one to watch!

LEGION CAST FORTH by Robert Ford put me off of bacon for a while. And church. (Just joking, I don't go to church.)

WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE by Chad Lutze. I've been a fan of Chad Lutzke for a few years now and up to this point, nothing that he has written made me laugh my butt off. This story cracked me up.

HELLSEED by Tim Curran makes me want to blow off all of my review obligations and make my way back to all the Curran books I have on my Kindle right now. I will get there eventually, this story guaranteed it.

BABY TEETH by Azzurra Nox. Who is this person? Because this story was AWESOME. It's hard not to be engaged when the first sentence is "I had to do it."

DOG EAT GOD by Kenneth W. Cain. I seem to remember another story about a dog in MIDNIGHT IN THE GRAVEYARD as well. It's working for him!

DISCOVERING MR. JONES by Cameron Ulam. This could be my favorite story of the collection. It was off the wall, gross and scary too. Bravo!

THE GODS OF OUR FATHERS by Todd Keisling. I felt so much empathy for this female character, I wanted to reach into the words that created her and hug them tight. This could be my favorite story too. I can't really decide.

I KNOW HE LOVES ME (HE JUST HAS A FUNNY WAY OF SHOWING IT) by James Newman. Like many other authors in this book, I've been following James Newman's work for awhile now. It never fails to move my heart and this story is no exception.

SECOND SIGHT by Allan Leverone. This one left me with such imagery and it comes back to me at the weirdest of times. This one shook me up, folks!

A NIGHT ABOVE by John Quick. This author is new to me and this story made me want to immediately go out and buy everything he's written. Don't people get that you can never make a deal with a demon or devil?

COMPLEX by Jason Parent helped to get my cult fix.

THE BLACK-JAR MAN by Mark Steensland. A fast story that punches you right in the stomach. Oof!

EXPRESS by Edward M. Erdelac. I currently have situations in my life that I feel powerless over and because of that, I really identified with the man is this story who had finally had enough. He took that express elevator right to the top so he would BE HEARD by those in charge.

There are many other stories within and many of them just as good as the ones I've highlighted above. As such I have to give kudos to the editors that chose to include these tales and chose to present them in the order they did. My only complaint is that this volume is a bit long. However, if I had had to choose which of these stories I would cut, I couldn't do it, so I understand how we got here.

I highly recommend this anthology to those horror and dark fiction lovers that prefer their stories to include demons, possessions, evil and other fun devilry!

Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3neTnJL

*Thank you to Silver Shamrock for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!

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Well Worth A Read

steeped in evil and simmered in fear

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 3, 2020

From the depths of hell Midnight in the Pentagram has risen to entertain you with stories steeped in evil and simmered in fear. Demons frolic among humans, sometimes with their own purpose, or perhaps inadvertently summoned by middle school girls who never expected their ritual to wield such results.
Demons are not the only beings looking to lead you astray, beware too the people who accept you into their twisted family when you are at your most vulnerable, such as occurs in one of my favorite stories in this book The Corn Maidens by Brian Moreland. I think I could best describe this as Midsommar meets Dark Secret of Harvest Home but scarier. Father Macleod by Tony Tremblay was another of my favorites about a priest who attempts to rid his nephew of the demon that has possessed him. Another story of possession of a stranger type was Legion Cast Forth by Robert Ford in which demons are driven from their human hosts and into the swine belonging to Cletus the pig farmer. But Cletus is tired of this low paying deal and wants to strike a new bargain. Speaking of demonic possession Diminishing Returns by P.D. Casek takes a look at what may happen if a demon possessed someone with Alzheimer's disease.
Witches' Night by Owl Goingback was another of my favorites. When kids meet up in the cemetery with a spell book one night what could possibly go wrong? The Other by Laurel Hightower was another possession story with a creepy twist. Hellseed by Tim Curran was like a folktale, what happens when you bargain with witches and don't pay up? Babyteeth by Azzura Nox begs the question, what could lead a mother to kill her baby? Was it only post partum depression? My Body by Wesley Southard features bloody good fun and delicious food with a dark side as one restaurant reviewer/critic discovers. Discovering Mr Jones by Cameron Ulam is the story of a junk hauling crew who discover an unexpected and unwelcome surprise in a hoarder's home . The Gods of our Fathers by Todd Keisling Is the story of poor Mary who has lost her mother and does not belong in Christian school.
In Second Sight by Allan Leverone a blind woman has a most successful ocular transplant surgery and sees more than she ever wanted to, and perhaps more than she can stand.
All of these and more await you in the pentagram, enter if you dare.

I received an advance copy

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Reading+Recommending

One of the best, if not best, horror anthologies of 2020

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 18, 2020

It took me more than a month to read this anthology, because it is MASSIVE. Just shy of 500 pages of fiction, this horror collection features many notable authors in the community/genre, including Brian Keene, Owl Goingback, Laurel Hightower, Catherine Cavendish, Stephanie Ellis, Chad Lutzke, Tim Meyer, Todd Kesling, Robert Ford, and more. At the end of this review, I will post a complete Table of Contents for your reference.

Considering its size, it’s easy to find a healthy amount of stories to love in here. Considering the amount you have to choose from, you could dislike half of these entries and still have a strong collection. That wasn’t the case for me, but it’s a point I wanted to make. In most collections, if you don’t like half the stories, you’re usually left with a hundred pages of good fiction, give or take. Here, it would be closer to 3x that, so you’d still come out a winner.

I have a lot of favorites in Midnight in the Pentagram, so I will try highlighting a few here with quick notes as to why they stuck out for me. “The Corn Maidens” by Brian Moreland has a frightening premise that would serve well as a novel. “The Other” by Laurel Hightower had me curious throughout. The writing was good and the ending was quite interesting. “Legion Cast Forth” by Robert Ford was a lot of fun. Even though the ending was not what I expected, it was still satisfying. “The Oubliette of Elie Loyd” by Catherine Cavendish had a cool concept and was well written, but my favorite part was the Oubliette’s backstory (which was terrifying!). “The Gods of Our Fathers” by Todd Keisling was one of the top stories for me; it was grim and unsettling, and left me wanting more. “Family Reunion” by Stephanie Ellis has a horrific ending! The writing is great and I was left, again, wanting more. “Brujeria” by Michael Patrick Hicks was very well written, fun, and creepy (even if the concept of a haunted lost film is familiar). I think Hicks took a trope and gave it a unique enough spin to leave a lasting impression. “Black Jar Man” by Mark Steensland - which I think is being made into a movie - was very well done, but also very horrific and triggering. Put it this way - I wouldn’t go see this movie because it would bother me too much! “Babylon Falling” by Brain Keene was straight badass. It was very well written and engaging and horrific. The idea was cool and the ending had a bit of positivity. I haven’t read much of Keene at all yet, but this story made me want to purchase some of his other work. “Witches’ Night” by Owl Goingback was a really enjoyable story involving a group of kids getting into evil that don’t understand. With the exception of the “walkaway” ending, I loved it.

Of course, with practically any anthology, there were disappointments along the way. But the good definitely outweighed the bad, and like I said before - with how many stories there are in this collection, even taking out what I didn’t like amounted to more than 300 pages of excellent content. I highly recommend this anthology for any horror fan. It’s probably the best one to arrive in 2020!

**

Highlights: So much content … a lot of great authors are featured … this is an anthology you could easily read and read again over the years

Shadows: Some stories had poor endings that ruined their ride … there are a couple of foul and dumb stories I really disliked

For fans of: Demonic horror, folk horror, haunted things … anthologies of terror … stories that leave you unsettled and scared of the shadows

Takeaway: Midnight in the Pentagram will likely be named the Best Anthology of 2020, if I were to guess. There is just so much to love (and fear) here!

Would I read this author again? Yes, in reference to anthologies from SIlver Shamrock specifically, seeing as this is a collection of authors. That being said, most authors within are authors I would gladly read again.

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Heather

500 Pages of Diabolical Goodness

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 24, 2021

I would never have imagined there were so many unique ways to write about possessions, exorcisms, and deals with the devil, but this book is chock full of them and they're all excellent; the ones from big recognizable names and the ones from writers I'd never heard from before all equally good. Nearly 500 pages of diabolical goodness? Yes, please!

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5 star		52%
4 star		32%
3 star		9%
2 star		2%
1 star		5%

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