The grisly, green-skinned Librarian from Kandisha Press returns, presenting thirteen pulp horror tales by the Mavens of the Macabre, Lydia Prime and Jill Girardi. Stories filled with razor-sharp teeth and buckets of blood and popcorn. Some old, some new, ALL terrifying! Continuing Kandisha’s mission to promote women horror authors worldwide!
Hurry now and order your copy… we wouldn’t want to charge you any LATE FEES!
Dark bleatings, my precious tribe! Let me tell you about this collection from Lydia Prime and Jill Girardi. It’s an absolute scream, honestly. I had no idea what to expect from this before I went in. I believe I’d read one of Lydia’s stories in an anthology before but nothing of Jill’s, so this was basically an introduction to both authors for me. Upon completion of their twisted and demented imaginings, I decided to track down their other works and add them to my wish list. This collection, in short, is a must for any horror fan (and oh my gosh, the cover art!).
I enjoyed every story, some more than others, but in summary I think that this is a truly solid collection of horror, with a lot of dark humour also sewn in. My two favourites from each author are:
The Letter – by Lydia
A pregnant woman is minding her business at home when she’s attacked by a murderous entity that wants to destroy her baby. It is an absolutely savage telling of a parent’s worst nightmare, contains some truly hideous and upsetting violence… and also manages somehow to be hilarious, just when you think that nothing could pull it back. I was dying with laughter at the end, dying I tell you.
The Ecstasy of Gold – by Jill
Dugong and Rashid are friends and fellow thieves. Rashid, though he steals in the hope of one day providing a better life for his family, has awfully low morals. He wreaks havoc with seemingly no remorse. They get hold of an extremely peculiar wallet one day and… well, I have to stop explaining here to avoid spoiling this wonderfully wicked tale. Let’s just say it reads like an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark written by Stephen King.
South Dakota – by Lydia
This one made me feel validated as a writer because the idea is strikingly similar to one of my own short stories, and as a new Lydia super fan, it pleased me greatly to find that we sometimes think alike. I think Lydia’s story is better than mine though – she took it somewhere that I didn’t think of and I’m jealous about it.
A girl called Dakota has a ghoulish doppelganger that lives under a frozen lake, and she’s been working to free her of her icy prison. It’s super dark and creepy!
The Wet Dream – by Jill
A horrible uncle takes his family out on his boat and then something unfortunate befalls him. And by “unfortunate” I mean, not really that much of a tragedy to those around him. This one doesn’t lean wildly into the supernatural and is just a great story of some dickhead and his comeuppance.
Overall, this is one of the strongest collections I’ve read so far this year, and definitely made me want to pick up more by both writers. Their styles and ideas and humour compliment each other so well, and I’d love to see them work together again. I’d recommend this to.. well, everyone.
If you’d like to check out the book or authors, there are links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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