Kingbeast's Lair

-== What is it? ==-

The Holler: Tales Of Horror From Appalachia is a collection of 24 “delicately short” horror stories written by Marge Fulton and published by BlackWyrm. Before I get into this review I wanted to acknowledge that I am not a horror literature buff or even a horror literature fan to any large degree. I was given an advance review copy to read by a friend of mine who is a publisher/editor/writer at BlackWyrm. Even though I was given a copy of the book I will try to not let that impact this review.

The book I received has a color cover and an entirely black and white interior. The book is 6? x 9? and is 87 pages in length.

-== What I Like ==-

I think the thing that I liked most about The Holler is the way that some of the stories stick with you days after reading them. I might be walking along and I’ll see something that reminds me of a story from the book…BAM…I am back in that story. In some cases I even felt like I needed to take a shower to try and get that “sticky horror feeling” off of my person. In my mind that is a sign that the book worked.

Here are some quick blurbs about some of the stories that I enjoyed:

• An obese traveler on a mission into space.
• A drug trip painting.
• A ghost tale at a drugstore greeting card rack…Hallmark would not approve. 😉
• A recycled killing.
• Husbands diced, served, and sold.
• A twisted unity candle.
• A splinter sharp tale in the vein of Pinocchio.

I liked the fact that the stories in The Holler are very short (aka “delicate”). Most of the stories are only 3 to 5 pages in length. This makes the book extremely easy to pick up and put down. Even with only a 5 minute break in your day and you can read a story. I like that in a book. The copy I got was soft cover and very easy to transport which works well when the stories are short. I also think this book would be great in PDF or ebook formats as it would be great to pickup quickly on an iPhone or similar reading device.

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

My biggest complaint with the book is that I did not get the ending of some of the stories at all. As I mentioned, I am not a horror literature buff so maybe that is why some of them left me confused.

The cover layout and background coloring is not great. In the version I have the cover uses red text that lapses over a sepia picture on a gray background. If the background color was changed to a slightly lighter sepia color to match the photo that might help. The photo is perfect for the book. It shows a young disheveled girl grasping a black rag doll. Excellent fit for the book.

-== Summary ==-

If you are looking for a collection of short horror stories that stick with you in a good way then I suggest checking this one out. I do not know what the final price of the book will be but I’m going to give my rating assuming that the price is on the low side. I think a low price fits a product like this where the focus is on “delicately short stories”.

I give it 7 out of 10 paws.