Selected Stories: Horror and Dark Fantasy

By: Kevin J. Anderson

Narrated by: Bryan Anderson, Sonya Anderson

Though best-known for his science fiction novels, #1 bestseller Kevin J. Anderson has also written dozens of darker stories, ranging from eerie suspense, to surprise shockers, to monster encounters, to atmospheric Bradbury-esque tales, ranging in length from flash fiction to novellas.

In these 29 stories, you will listen about a nightmarish Wisconsin small town, rock stars raised from the dead, vampires, werewolves, zombies, murderers and sorcerers…and the heroes who battle them.

©2018 WordFire, Inc. (P)2019 WordFire, Inc.

A dark and humorous collection

I’ve read quite a bit of Kevin Anderson’s work – some Star Wars, some Dune, some of the other sci-fi and his Terra Incognita series. While I wouldn’t say I’ve loved everything I have read, I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s a damn fine writer. With that in mind, I was not prepared for how much I enjoyed this audio recording of various horror and dark fantasy short stories he has churned out of the years. There are 29 tales in all, and while I couldn’t imagine anyone (other than KA) loving every story, for the most part this was a great collection. We had a mixed bag of creepy, weird, thought-provoking and funny (sometimes hilarious) stories that kept me engaged throughout. Many of them revolve around the town of Tucker’s Grove, but he covers some of the old school vampires and werewolves, and even a couple on Frankenstein and his monster. My favourite was definitely the one about vampire hunter, but I liked most of them.

The narrator (Bryan Anderson (related?)) was terrific throughout, and captured the vein of each story masterfully. In addition, Sonya Anderson (also related?) voiced the female characters, which was a nice touch. At the start of each story, there was a little snippet from KA explaining the origin of the piece. Some of the stories were co-written by some of musician friends such as Neil Pert, and worked well too.

Probably worth 4.5 out of 5 stars

Short horror stories from a fantasy writer?

Here we have a collection of short horror stories from a writer who normally specializes in sci fi/fantasy novels.

All of the stories are loosely centered around a fictional town of Tuckers Grove, although they can stand alone without being part of the greater context.

Highlights for me include:
- Glimpse of the Onku(sp?) - has a nice Twilight Zone vibe to it.
- Cupid's Arrow & Royal Wedding - quick "flash fiction" with twists.
- The Fate Worse Than Death - contains an accurate portrayal of a nerd.

Now, regarding the narration. The main narrator has a deep voice naturally suited for reading audiobooks. Most of the time, he's fine, except for some recurring mispronounciations. Across becomes "acrost," escape is "excape," "upsurp" was said once instead of usurp, and the W in sword is pronounced many times in the story that contains a katana. It was a real problem for me in that story, and just made me frown at the other times it happened. Also, he kind of had a strange intonation in regards to making commas sound like periods. on occasion. (like that)

Additionally, a female narrator pops in for the female voices, but women are speaking so infrequently that it would have made more sense to just have the one doing all voices. But, don't get me wrong; overall, the narration is ok, and was recorded clearly.

Definitely, give this book a shot. There's some gems in here...

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Worth a credit

This was pretty good as far as short stories go, I would say worth a credit. It has lots of different stories tho the ones I liked best were about the wolves. I would love to see him write one long story following their story line about the town and history maybe starting with back when the town was settled as in this book through to modern times. The other stories were ok as well.i would definitely recommend it to a friend. With that being said I did receive this book for free in exchange for honest review. Which I must say I have. That did not change my opinion whatsoever and I look forward to reading more from this author in future.

Some really great stories

There were some really great stories in the volume. There were a few I did not like, but very few. Narration was good, struggles sometimes with female voices, but good nonetheless.

“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”

Solid Collection

This is not the first introduction I've had to Kevin J. Anderson's writing, but it definitely is the longest. What I've come to realize is everything he writes is good or solid. These horror tales are no different as he goes from straight forward horror to horror comedy to quieter horror. But as someone whose a fan of more horrific horror it does feel like he pulls his punches a little. There are some terrible things that happened in these stories but I didn't get super visceral responses which for some people is a boon, and that's why I don't see it as a negative, rather a stylistic difference.

The narration is ok and while it doesn't add a whole lot to the experience it doesn't distract from the stories so no problems there.

I received the review code for this audiobook at my request and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

Zombies, Vampires, and Creepy Towns, OH MY!

“Selected Stories: Horror and Dark Fantasy”
Author: Kevin J. Anderson
Publisher: WordFire Press, August 23, 2018

Narrator: Bryan Anderson and Sonya Anderson
Audio Book Release: May 2, 2019
Length: 12 hours and 55 minutes (Unabridged)

Anderson’s book containing 29 short stories and clocking a whopping 13 hours is downright awesome and will appeal to anyone looking for eerie, scary, and odd short stories; there is something for everyone. Do not mistake quantity for quality because this author can weave a tale bar-none. I also enjoy the commentary at the start of each story because Anderson has some serious co-author friends ranging from rock-stars and A-List authors. A hack, he is not.

The narration is great with professional production values, which the narrator deftly crafts each story with the same care and life-giving qualities as the creator has done with his stories and characters. The main narrator is Bryan Anderson with Sonya Anderson peppering the stories with female voices when the story calls for it. I really enjoy Bryan’s approach and style making the story and characters his own. His dry delivery is perfect for Anderson’s more sarcastic and morbidly humorous stories.

I strongly suggest that this Audio Book come with a printed table of contents with story length because stories range from 7 to 60+ minutes. However, this is only a minor annoyance that does not detract from the overall listening experience, nor warrants a score deficiency.

For your convenience is a brief description for each story with a short opinion. Please note that my observations are not cumulative to the final score and the times are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Key- * great, ** amazing, *** essential.

1. Bringing the Family: * A novella taken place in Tucker’s Grove, WI regarding the living dead and those who pursue them. (35 minutes).

2. Church Services- ** A psychotic Elmer Gantry-type who invites demons to visit Tucker’s Grove. (26 minutes).

3. Dark Carbuncle- *** A sardonic look at a real life living dead Rockstar whose heaven could be hell. Note: This story pairs well with King’s “You Know They Got a Hell of a Band”. (25 minutes)

4. Solitude- *** A personal favorite of mine focusing on a former soldier living life Post-War Afghanistan fighting creatures that go bump in the night. This character and setting have strong TV series potential (27 minutes).

5. Bad Water- * A drink that brings horrific visions of the future Pre-Industrial Revolution (15 minutes).

6. A Glimpse of the Ankou- ** An ancient artifact that requires a life for eternal life and weeding out the population of Tucker’s Grove (39 minutes).

7. Age Rings- *** A short/flash story, which my 12-year-old son replied, “Dad, this is horrific. I love it.” (2 minutes).

8. Cupid’s Arrow- * A short/flash story that reveals the underbelly of love. Note: This story pairs well with “Every Breath You Take” by The Police. (5 minutes)

9. Royal Wedding- *** A servant and her friends exacts revenge during a wedding (7 minutes).

10. We Get What We Deserve: The Pickpocket’s Tale- ** A dark-fantasy focusing on a father and son stick-up team that meet their demise with a grim reality (30 minutes).

11. Family Portrait- ** A camera that takes more than what it gives. The story is well written, however probably a better experience in print form and not narrated due to the ambitious story-telling and multiple flashbacks. (45 minutes).

12. Baggage Check- * A suitcase containing a dark secret with an even weirder owner (15 minutes).

13. Hunter’s Moon- ** Another Tucker’s Grove based story revealing some of the back history. In this story, lycanthropes are haunting and hunting a relative within the charter family of the Grove (36 minutes).

14. Rude Awakening- *** Life as a vampire from his perspective! (15 minutes).

15. 1. The Fate Worse Than Death- ** A fun vampire story that addresses the increase of hacks within the vampire hunting community because of social media. The author pokes fun at a famous, but despised vampire trilogy, and briefly mentions the use of a smart watch in a fresh and unique way. This story reveals the author’s clever writing style and thought process (20 minutes).

16. The Circus- ** The circus comes to Tucker’s Grove and horror ensues (6 minutes).

17. Last Stand- *** A revenge story where one simple but violent act changes the lives of many Union Soldiers, but this story has a twist ending that will surprise even the more experienced reader (40 minutes).

18. Leatherworks- ** A Tarantinesque interaction between a shoe-maker and a possible Nazi (9 minutes).

19. New Recruits- * Historical Horror Fiction regarding an obscure Russian Work Camp whose populace will meet more than just personal demons (50 minutes).

20. Role Model- *** A fun “who-dunit?” romp focusing on Dan Shamble, a zombie PI, and his friend who will need to find the person, or thing, who killed a vampire at a cos-play (68 minutes).

21. Notches- *** A titillating and sexy revenge story that reminds us that lust kills when unchecked (5 minutes).

22. Redmonďs Private Screening- *** The creation of a snuff-film for the more discriminate “nickelodeon” viewer with a penchant for violence. The author does a detailed analysis of East and West culture, which makes this story more understandable and relatable (28 minutes).

23. Special Makeup- *** A funny story about a C Rate actor in “Creature Features” who suddenly grows into his role in more ways than one (27 minutes).

24. Much at Stake- *** A great retelling of Vlad “The Impaler” Dracul and Bela Lugosi, which reveals the author’s ingenuity for making the classics feel fresh again (37 minutes).

25. Santa Claus Is Coming to Get You- *** A short story of the repercussions when parents go too far with the Santa “naughty and nice” mythos. In this case, scared children are afraid of Santa and concoct a plan. Hilarity ensues. Another story where my 12 year old son responds, “Oh…..no. That is awesome” (10 minutes)

26. Scarecrow Season- ** Scarecrows. I will never look at scarecrows again the same. (25 minutes).

27. The Sum of His Parts- * The back stories of all the various parts of Frankenstein. I think this is a story better read than listened because of the various shifts in time periods. Again, reveals the creativity and cleverness of the author (49 minutes).

28. Torn Stitches, Shattered Glass- * A Frankenstein-like story that takes place right before and during the Night of Broken Glass (27 minutes).

29. Drumbeats- *** A favorite of mine that focuses on a professional drummer in Africa that purchases a drum with a perfect sound that comes with a grave side-effect (42 minutes).

Note: I was provided a free audiobook copy at my request and voluntarily left this review.

3.5* - wide mix of horror/dark fantasy stories

This is a mixed bag of short stories, in two ways. First, the stories vary based on sub-genre: some are humorous, some are dark, some are about supernatural creatures such as vampires, some are about psychopaths, some are based on characters/settings that the author has written about in other published works, some are collaborations with other people, and so on. So, it's a mixed bag that way. Which means that if you're only in the mood for dark humour-style horror, for example, some of these stories will be more satisfying than others. If you're in the mood for vampires and werewolves and Frankenstein, then (again) you'll be more happy with some stories over others. The other way that these stories vary are by length. Some of these stories are very ,very brief (less than five minutes) while others are much lengthier (over an hour in duration). As we know, the longer the story, the more opportunity we have to learn about characters, motives, settings, and so on. Perhaps less charitable reviewers might consider all of this to mean 'inconsistent', more charitable reviewers might consider all of this to mean 'diverse and eclectic'. I would simply suggest that readers be ready for the stories to bounce around a bit, in terms of tone, theme, and duration.

I enjoyed how the author introduced each story, because it gave some insights about how each story originated. He included a few 'flash fiction' stories that were very, very brief and written for course assignments. These were the stories that I enjoyed the least, because they were a wee bit too brief for my preferences; each of them ended before I had the chance to get into the groove of the story. Having said that, there were several stories that I particularly enjoyed. My favourite five or six stories included: Solitude, Last Stand, New Recruits, Redmond's Private Screening, Sum of His Parts, and Drumbeats.

I'm not quite sure how I felt about the narration. I agree with other reviewers here, who felt that having a second (female) narrator didn't add to the listening experience. The other observation I would make, and this might sound weird, is that the narrators were good readers but I don't think I'd characterize them as good storytellers. For me, the narrators didn't enhance the stories; I enjoyed certain stories in this collection (as mentioned above) because I liked the way the author wrote the story. In comparison, some of my all-time favourite audiobooks are ones where the narrator and author together create a synergy, where the narrator elevates the story and makes it immensely more compelling to me as a listener. (For example, on Youtube, someone uploaded an audiobook of 'The Day of the Triffids', narrated by Samuel West. It's well worth listening to. *That* is what I'm talking about when I talk about synergy...). So, the narration for this collection of short stories is good, it's not bad at all...but I didn't feel the synergy between the story and the narration. I suspect that I'd give this narrator a higher rating if he were reading non-fiction instead of horror.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

great and kind of spooky

those stories were very very spooky and kind of creepy in the best way that you could have expected of horror stories it was a very good collection to listen to I enjoyed every single story very very good listen

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Shorts that will astound amaze and entertain

I must say that collections of stories can be a bit daunting sometimes. One always worries if the lemons out weigh the gems. I can confidently say that everything here sparkles as much as a Twilight Vampire at noon in the Bahamas on the beach. There’s something for everyone of the horror bones that you have. Looking for vampire? Werewolf? Zombie? Sexy? Christmas? And it’s all able to get the blood racing and the other machination hitting overdrive. Some of my favorites were the zombie PI, the kids who feared Santa, the legion variant of Frankenstein. above all you will also be able to enjoy an introduction to each story and how it came into being. Really awesome. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher

Great variety of stories!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This has a great variety of stories included! There is something included I think for all tastes. I enjoyed this collection alot. Some stories more than others, but the variety was terrific!

The back stories on where and how some of the ideas came from was interesting. Narration was very good. overall 5 stars. Great job!