Horror Library, Volume 7 by Eric J. Guignard
As a reviewer, I get offers for books from time to time. I first started taking book reviews seriously around 2008 and one of the first books I had offered to me was an early volume of the Horror library. This series started by RJ Cavender at Chopping block press is a series I have always been fond of. As the series went on it passed through a few different hands one editor retired and another passed away. Sorry to hear about the loss of Patrick Beltran, but the Horror Library is now in some of the most capable hands in the indie horror publishing world.
Eric J. Guignard is one of the best eyes for short horror fiction outside of maybe Ellen Datlow, one of the things that makes him so good goes beyond taste. I mean he has good taste and knows the Genre but through Dark Moon books he has worked hard to build a respectable database of writers to work with that are diverse in culture, race, gender, and perspective. The international voices Eric brings to his anthologies are one of his amazing strengths.
If this book can be summed up, it would be this way. A blend of established names, but lots of new voices. The stories all have a classic feel, most are short, and there are almost 30 of them. The subjects and styles are diverse as the locations that the authors hail from. All the stories were well written there were known that I hated. But of course, I have favorites.
There are some big names, and familiar voices, among the best of those stories including the infamous Luddite Bentley Little, who often gets overlooked because he has zero internet presence. His story is one of my first favorites. ‘In the Valley’ was a fun story written in country dialect. It is a weird and interesting story, it will quickly remind you to have many established works this writer has. There is an undeniable skill. Some of the other established writers who wrote stand-out stories included a boxing tale by Gene O’Neil and a stand-out prison tale called Hand of Glory by Cody Goodfellow.
Of the authors that were new to me some of my favorites included ‘Just Keep Walking’ by Texas writer David Afshrirad. This zombie tale is written in an experimental style. It made me slow down to consider each sentence. Probably my absolute favorite was a creepy surreal stunner by Greek writer Natalia Theodoridou called ‘The Mouth.’ Samuel has a mouth to feed. Just a mouth. Better if you find out on your own but I loved this bizarro tale. Last I really enjoyed a weird one called 'The Test' by Zoe Kaplan.
Also really cool the book ends with a neat multi page artist galley the work of Allen Koszowski. All cool stuff. This is a fun book. Most importantly the Horror library tradition continues. Guignard is the right person for the job, and I expect to see many more editions.
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