Fever Dreams is the sixth volume in the non-themed horror series of original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer, and edited by Mark Morris. This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in horror, and 4 selected from the hundreds of stories sent to Flame Tree during a short open submissions window. A delicious feast of the familiar and the new, the established and the emerging.
May I Borrow You for a Moment? by Tracy Fahey
A PhD student interested in “the fetch” is constantly warned about her creepy supervisor, who has a bad reputation amongst women. We’ve got mention of dopplegangers, and the catacombs in Paris, so I thought I might have an idea of where this was going. I was wrong. All of my expectations were subverted and I felt really freaked out at the end, which isn’t unusual for me when I read Tracy’s work. She’s rather fantastic, you know.
Enter, Kill, Exit by Tim Waggoner
Jackie is so agoraphobic that a knock at the door one night completely spins her out and sends her into a PTSD flashback that suddenly made me realise I perhaps should withdraw the empathy I felt for her. This one was a bit of a miss for me, despite the fantastic writing from Waggoner, but only because it fell into one of my pet peeves in terms of the ending. There are just certain things that rub me the wrong way (quite irrationally, most of the time, honestly), but Waggoner is an author I always enjoy reading even if his contribution to this anthology isn’t a favourite for me this time around.
At Black Rock Beach by Gary McMahon
Oh good grief, this one is eerie. A man has a somewhat tense relationship with his wife, as if the niceness has fizzled out a bit. After what should have been a head-clearing walk, he returns, only to have his mind shattered.
Piglet by Priya Sharma
I interrupt my mini story reviews just to say that Morris (editor) has nailed it with this author line-up. This is the fourth name in a row that I not only recognise, but have read and loved before.
Well, I think I just felt all the emotions. I can’t tell you which of my expectations was so swiftly and suddenly thrown off (without spoiling something) but as usual for Priya, this is a golden piece of writing and its themes will haunt me, much like I was haunted after reading Lord of the Flies.
The Mummified Corpse of Reese Witherspoon by Philip Fracassi
Oh my gosh, poor Reese, hahaha. A man is ecstatic to discover that he has been selected as part of Reese Witherspoon’s book club. He’s a winner! The novelty is short-lived, however, once she arrives at (is delivered to) his house. All I know about Reese Witherspoon’s book club in real life is that it exists, and I’ve decided I’ll take this story, unquestioningly, as fact to fill in the gaps.
The Wind Telephone by A. K. Benedict
A woman hopes to speak to her twin (who has passed) via a very particular phone, but thinks take a jarring and quite unexpected turn. There is a sense of finality and peace to this one, despite the scary start.
All in the Game by Craig DiLouie
Love love love this one. It’s my favourite type of apocalypse and a family of 4 are camping out in their basement, praying the army will turn up. The thing about young kids is they don’t always listen, do they?
Not All Stones Mean Murder by Kaaron Warren
This one is insanely unsettling and gave me Pet Sematary vibes. Death have never been so fun. Or horrifying. Or full of decay.
The Adjutant’s Dinner Guest by Jeffrey Ford
An…interesting group of people are gathered for dinner, and the leader of said group is very quickly established when they kill one of the others. This horrible foe gave me Darth Vader vibes. This kind of story swayed into territories that aren’t my cup of tea, but it’s a good read and I enjoyed it.
Sideways by Lucy A. Snyder
Good grief. I liked this story but it feels so plausible in today’s political climate that it did genuinely frighten me. The American far-right have gone full-fascist and started arming their crowd control officers with bullets that contain something fucky. It seems that crowd dispersal isn’t the object, rather interrogating those of opposing opinions.
Forty Below by Caolan Mac an Aircinn
A man, who has never been chosen for anything, is selected to guard a mysterious prisoner in the Antarctic. It seems like a weird but fine position. Until it isn’t. I very much enjoyed this one and wonder about the wider world of it, I’d love to read more!
By the Skin of His Teeth by Chad Lutzke
This isn’t so much a horror story but it’s pretty entertaining. A cop is friends with an “ethical” pimp, who calls in a favour from him to rid him of a rival, unethical pimp/drug dealer. The last couple of lines are excellent.
PS. Don’t eat immediately before reading this because ew.
The Shadow of His Vibrance by Kay Chronister
This might be my favourite story in the anthology. Folk horror crossed with scifi, with a lovely, anxiety-inducing undercurrent. A woman is summoned to clear out her dead father’s house, and she resents making the trip. Both she and her mother are not close with the man, barely seem to know him, and don’t like him. She finds that the village is an odd place full of people who seem to worship her dad, and they say weird things. It was so creepy and my mind was just screaming at her to get the f outta there.
At the Bottom, She Rots by Ryan Cole
This is a really interesting story that filled me with emotion. A new mother is struggling – her wife works away and her mother in law seems to quietly hate her. Her own home feels hostile, and she always feels judged, and layers of her are peeling away. Literally. I liked the metaphor and the handling of this visceral element.
Silent Wounds by Clay McLeod Chapman
This story choked me up. A group of marines are seeing the ghosts of those they’ve killed, only these ghosts are not the terrorists they believed they were ridding the world of, but regular people. It’s very much about guilt and consequences, but also about some of the worst kind of manipulation and the emotional fallout from that. Excellent story but a very hard read.
Agony Street by Rebecca Harrison
Another favourite because the idea is so unusual. This is set in a world where when people die, they either float off to heaven, or they go to Agony Street and become houses. Yes, it’s as bizarre as it sounds, but it’s fabulous. It’s written from the perspective of a little girl whose granny has just died. I love this story.
Watch the Skies by Alan Baxter
I really like this story and at the same time, felt so uncomfortable reading it towards the end. I do not know how to feel (but it’s good!). A woman goes to stay somewhere remote after learning of her partner’s affair, only to be dragged into something terrifying.
The Sitter by Rob Francis
This is another favourite, despite how disturbed I felt. Maybe because of how disturbed I felt, actually. A man is hired to paint someone, only when he gets to the house, he’s unsettled and unpleasantly surprised by many things. It’s a gloomy, freaky story.
It Has Eyes Now by Christopher Golden and Tanya Pell
My toes are still curled after reading this one. Just when I was wondering if any story this year was going to scare me as much as Sarah Langan’s ‘I Miss You Too Much’ from last year, this story rears its head. To the authors I say, with the greatest respect, how f***ing dare you do this to me right before I’m about to go to bed? The last couple of pages of this one are so terrifying that I’m now delaying bedtime. It has been a very long time since I read something that scared the shit out of me, but shitless I now am.
Excellent, 10 out of 5 stars, my very favourite in the anthology.
Midnight Disease by C.J. Leede
Jesus Christ, I am scarred for life. This is, by far, the most emotionally evocative story in the anthology for me, the darkest, the most upsetting, and honestly the most frightening. I was in tears by the end. This is about a woman who has just had a baby and lost herself in the process, and she is very depressed. This one hit me so hard. I’m not a parent myself, but I know a lot, and I’ve heard experiences similar to the way this woman feels, and it’s so heart breaking. I think this might be the most powerful depiction of this particular depression that I’ve ever read. This, though an insanely upsetting read, is also very effective horror, and a stand out in this anthology.
Alrighty, time for my overall opinion. I think this is a really strong anthology. There were a couple that didn’t hit as hard as others for me, but generally speaking, I really loved almost all of them.
It’s super hard to pick a top 3 because I thought of many of these stories as favourites, but gun to my head, the three I would crown are ‘The Shadow of His Vibrance’ by Kay Chronister, ‘It Has Eyes Now’ by Christopher Golden and Tanya Pell, and ‘Midnight Disease’ by C.J. Leede. I loved them all for totally different reasons.
If you’d like to check out the book, I’ve popped a link below for you:
Bleeeeat!
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