The dead spot: a corner drenched in shadow; an earthquake’s epicenter; the part of a roller coaster ride where the car rounds the final curve and all force dissipates, leaving those trapped beneath the safety bar feeling sick and hollow.
From the beloved author of Frost Bite and Chopping Spree comes this heartbreaking horror collection about girls and women trapped by circumstance, manipulation, and obsession. The book includes a moving introduction by J. A. W. McCarthy (Shirley Jackson Award finalist for Sometimes We’re Cruel) and seventeen stories by Sylvaine.
The stories include: Astronaut Dreams, The Bride, New Hue, Playing Tricks, Sorry, We’re Open, Antifreeze and Sweet Peas, If Heard, Please Call, Starved, Return of The Wilderness Girls, Night Maere, The Dead Spot, Burnt Embers and Bluebirds, Mr. Chew, Crimson Clover, Unrestful Dogs, Clutching Air, Edge of Decay.
Dark bleatings, my wonderful tribe. Today I’m reviewing a short story collection from Angela Sylvaine (author of the simply ingenious Frost Bite, of which I’m a huge fan). It’s themed, in that all the stories are about women and girls in some sort of predicament – as themes go, I really enjoyed this one.
My 3 favourite stories were:
A) Edge of Decay: A girl gets revenge on her parents, following the death of her younger brother. I don’t normally relish in the suffering of others, and I wasn’t sure how to feel reading this one…
B) Night Maere: All of the women in one family are afflicted with a curse of sorts, and it is absolute nightmare fuel (literally). This one is so chilling. Destiny, as a concept, is usually used in stories like The Matrix – uplifting tales of an ordinary person realising that they’re capable of extraordinary things. Or it’s used in romance, when people meet and are the absolute loves of each other’s lives. In this story, destiny is utterly horrifying, awful, the kind of anxiety-inducing scenario that would drive anyone mad. It’s a real belter of a horror story.
C) Astronaut Dreams: OH GOD NOT THE BEES!
A little girl called Ellie is living through the apocalypse. That’s the first thumbs up from me, because ya’ll know how much I love the apocalypse. Think creature horror, but it’s bees, which is awesome because normally we’re all about protecting the bees, but in this case, fuck the bees. Also, though I’ve never had to run from bees, I did once get swarmed by wasps and let me tell you, that is no joke. Much to my own surprise, I did escape fairly unscathed, and I’m not allergic, but holy crap, it is SO scary to be swarmed but small, flying, stinging insects. So yeah, think creature horror crossed with 28 Days Later, and that’s this story. I loved it.
Overall, I really liked Sylvaine’s writing style, and though this collection has a theme, none of the stories are alike and I really enjoyed the variation. Some of the ideas slot nicely into what you’d expect from your standard horror story, and others are so out of the box that I admire the mind they came from.
I’d recommend this to general horror fans, particularly people who are looking for female-centric stories. If you’d like to check out the book or the author, there are some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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