Rebecca Rowland, author

Likely my favorite Malfi of them all

Revisado: 02-04-24

Fantastic narration and a damn good storyline. Audible is making me lengthen my review so now I’m just rambling.

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Less gore, more literary horror

Revisado: 06-07-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

In his third collection of short horror, Gore experiments with cosmic, bizarro, psychological, and feminist horror… and it works

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Likely the best performance on Audible

Revisado: 04-03-23 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Mark Johannes is a veteran actor, and it shows in his delivery. Despite sharing a commons theme, each story in American Cannibal is vastly different from the others in voice, tone, sub-genre, and setting, and Mark takes those distinctions and runs with them, changing his accent, volume, and speed to align with the plot and characters. As a result, the writing in this horror anthology is A+ and so is the narration. If you are a horror fan, history buff, or both, don’t hesitate to grab it!

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One of the best narrations on Audible

Revisado: 01-20-23

Jenn Lee takes an already fantastic speculative novel and turns up the volume to full tilt. Even if you’ve read the book in its print form, grab a copy of this in audio: it’s simply terrific.

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Brilliant bizarro horror

Revisado: 08-21-22

Meat Photo is bizarro social criticism on sunshine acid while handcuffed to an Arby’s prep counter. Could not stop laughing at the Father Peters chapter, and the narrator’s portrayal was brilliant. I’d use Meat Photo as an example of satire in my senior English class if I wouldn’t be immediately arrested and likely permanently added to a registered offenders list.

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Review coming soon to GNoH

Revisado: 07-16-22

A fantastic creature-feature suspense thriller! Full review coming soon to Ginger Nuts of Horror.

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One of the best narrations on Audible

Revisado: 06-12-22

The story is fantastic and the narrator might be one of the best I’ve heard on Audible and Libby.

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Enhances the written version

Revisado: 06-07-22

I already had read Beasts in written format and really enjoyed it: the story is heavily rooted in reality but bit by bit, pockets of the supernatural open up. The characters are well-developed and quite frankly, INTERESTING: they are people you'd like to know or (at least, for the more unsavory ones) can imagine being morbidly transfixed by in real life. Jenn Lee's narration beautifully mirrors the mood of the tale: a bit scratchy to indicate the established history of speculative occurrences and dark magic in the area (very contemporary Southern Gothic), yet warm and empathetic to reflect the main character of Maggie. This is a great audiobook to listen to while sitting outside on a hot summer evening.

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Fantastic action crime drama

Revisado: 04-16-22

Cosby is a truly gifted storyteller with a knack for gorgeous prose as a bonus. The last lines of the book brought tears to my eyes. I recommend wholeheartedly.

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Come for the Oates, stay for the rest!

Revisado: 12-23-21

A friend of mine recommended this collection to me solely based on our share adoration of Joyce Carol Oates’ creepy fare, and therefore, the first story I read from it was the author’s addition, “Take Me, I’m Free.” It did not disappoint. A new mother suffering from what appears to be post-partum depression places her four-year-old in a pile of discarded items on her tree belt, leaving her there as passers-by remark with astonishment that a child is sitting among the broken, misfit trash. Oates communicates the psychological horror of this snapshot in time while simultaneously unboxing the child’s eggshell-walking encounters with the mother in the past and the ones that lurk portentously ahead in the future. There are so many social commentaries afoot in this, one of the shortest stories in the anthology, but more importantly, it’s creepy as hell.

Two of the longer entries I enjoyed are from Elizabeth Hand and Benjamin Percy. Hand’s “For Sale by Owner” is a slow-build, new-wave gothic about three neighbors who share a secret love for urban exploration only to discover terror on an overnight escapade. Percy’s “Hag” is a folk horror-crime mystery stew that will make readers look at sleepy seaside towns in a whole new light. Josh Malerman (BirdBox)’s entry of the bunch, “Special Meal,” didn’t catch my eye at first because of its dystopian slant, but as the story progressed, its growing mood of menace swallowed my imagination whole. By the end, I wanted to run into every middle school Mathematics classroom and force each child to read it out loud.

My favorites in the anthology—outside of JCO’s gem, of course—included the opening number, “Funeral Birds” by M. Rickert, which follows a widow from a memorial service to the memories (and madness) of her mind; I won’t look at a tuna casserole the same again. In “Money of the Dead” by Karen Heuler, residents of an apartment building are offered the opportunity to resurrect lost loved ones; when the main character chooses to bring back her son, readers will be reminded (in a delightfully creepy way) of King’s old adage, Sometimes dead is better. Finally, “Pear of Anguish” may have wriggled into my heart because I, too, was an awkward, dark-minded pre-teen who sometimes befriended those even darker than me, and Files captures adolescent angst and psychological growing pains better than I’ve seen any veteran YA scribe do it.

I’ve always adored Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” It illustrates the power of quiet horror and leaves the reader with a sense of unease not easily shaken. Curator Ellen Datlow presents an array of stories that wield that same power. I’ll be thinking of many of these characters months from now, and I’ll never pass a roadside display of rubbish with a sign pleading with strangers to take items away without leaning in for a closer look.

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