Tag: Creature Feature

Have you ever had a friend with a charmed life? Will’s best friend of twenty years, Barry, has had a recent string of good luck, resulting in all round prosperity. Meanwhile, Will’s luck appears to have run out.

Will knows where his luck has gone, though. He’s so sure, in fact, that he shows up at the architectural masterpiece Barry calls a home with a shotgun. It’s time to introduce Barry to Henry.

I wasn’t sure which of the friends was going to have the worst day but when someone brings a gun to a confrontation, you know it’s not going to end well. Although I had hoped for a specific outcome, the way the events unfolded made more sense.

“Sometimes you have good luck. Sometimes you have bad luck. Everything can ultimately be traced back to luck in some form, right?”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the opportunity to read this short story.

Once Upon a Blurb

Did you ever hear the one about the man with a string of bad luck? The worst is still to come in a chilling short story of an insatiable friendship by the New York Times bestselling author of Hell of a Book.

For best friends with vastly different fortunes, what’s left to hash out other than a forced confession at gunpoint? All that the destitute, sickly and grieving Will demands is that monstrously successful Barry admit to draining all the luck right out of him. Like blood. As the standoff escalates, the truth is not the only thing ready to come out.

Working on a story about Cape Cod Canal’s blue-green algae bloom, Heidi interviews Jimmy, who is apparently the person to talk to about the bloom in ‘83.

Jimmy tells Heidi a story that’s difficult to believe. Until it’s not.

Honestly, though, I don’t feel a burning need to prove to myself that what I saw was what I saw. I know it to be true, even if it was all a hallucination.

I was with Jimmy as he yearned to be the son his father wanted him to be. I couldn’t wait to see where his story was leading. The conclusion itself didn’t surprise me but I was expecting the story to wrap up a day later than it did, in a different location.

I probably enjoyed the descriptions of the body horror more than I should admit. It was a lot of fun imagining what unfolded after the final page.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the opportunity to read this short story.

Once Upon a Blurb

There’s something in the water in this hallucinatory short story by Paul Tremblay, bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World and The Beast You Are.

Journalist Heidi Cohen is in Cape Cod investigating the sources of recurring toxic algae blooms along the coast. A local named Jimmy has his own theory for her. Every year the fetid growth gets worse — but it’s been going on longer than anyone knows. Decades ago, something happened to Jimmy that he’s never forgotten. Is Heidi ready for the real story?

No matter how unbelievable they are, some stories ring true.

Legend says that the demon imp who owns the white and yellow bridge is searching for a replacement for its lost face.

Brenda was fifteen when her sister, Amanda, went missing. Three years later, Brenda decides it’s time to chase the myth. She grabs some supplies and heads into the forest. She doesn’t tell anyone where she’s going.

Along with her recording equipment, Brenda also brings Larry the mannequin, because apparently traipsing in the forest alone in search of a demon imp isn’t scary enough for her.

Myth and reality collide in this story of grief and guilt. I loved Brenda’s tenacity. I wanted to spend more time in the cave and need to know what happens next. I’d be keen to read about the events from Amanda’s point of view.

“Do you have my face?”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the opportunity to read this short story.

Once Upon a Blurb

Some chilling campfire tales ring too true to ignore. For one young woman, an urban legend calls her into the woods in a spine-tingling short story by the bestselling author of Bird Box.

The dense Michigan forest. Haunting wails. The clip-clop of demon hooves on a bridge to nowhere. It’s more than a tall tale to Brenda Jennings, whose sister disappeared in those woods one fateful night. Three years later, on a solo stakeout in the dark, Brenda goes in after her. She’s desperate for answers, and terrified to find what lies waiting on the other side of that bridge.

Marcus and Tess both volunteer at a crisis hotline. They may have only just started dating but already their banter is down pat. It feels like it’s meant to be.

They both have survived the dark days of the past.

“When I was six,” I said. “My dad killed my mom.”

Marcus has always followed the rules his father taught him. Then Tess breaks a very important rule.

There was an inevitability to the trajectory of this story, which had me hoping I’d encounter some insides are now your outsides squishiness. The need you had to check under your bed before you went to sleep as a kid may be reignited, and for good reason.

“You can’t hide from the boogeymen”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the opportunity to read this short story.

Once Upon a Blurb

Obey the rules. It’s the only way to survive the night in a short story about what hides in the dark by the New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

Marcus grew up believing his father killed his mother — then blamed it on the boogeyman under the bed. Always leave the lights on, his father warned, or the boogeyman will get you. Marcus still heeds the superstition, especially when he invites his new girlfriend over. Is Marcus haunted by a creature or has he just inherited his father’s murderous delusions? The night will tell.