Book Review: Dread Coast: So-Cal Horror Tales edited by Dennis K. Crosby and KC Grifant (review pending)

Dread Coast: So-Cal Horror Tales edited by Dennis K. Crosby and KC Grifant

366 pages, Paperback
Published August 2025 by No Bad Books Press

FULL REVIEW ON THE WAY (except my story of course...yeah I have a story in this one. My story is a cosmic horror story called "To Speak in Silver Linings.")

A few years back, it was announced that StokerCon was coming to San Diego. At the time, I had been mulling over the idea of joining the local Horror Writers Association, having had experience putting on cons and similar large events, and I thought that I could be useful. One of the things we often talked about in meetings was this project that would eventually become Dread Coast. A Southern California or San Diego-based anthology, and the majority of the authors in this book are from San Diego.

The idea was a charity anthology, so the headache of paying two dozen authors would be taken out of the equation. Early on, talk was that it should be a California cause. When the Wildfires happened in LA, it seemed a no-brainer to support relief efforts. Dennis K. Crosby and KC Grifant, who led much of the efforts on Stokercon, continued to lead by editing this book. Publishing duties have been well handled by local author Theresa Halvorsen and her publishing arm No Bad Books Press.

Edited by Dennis K. Crosby and KC Grifant

Participating authors

David Agranoff, Kevin David Anderson, Brian Asman, Peter Clines, Jon Cohn, Ronald Coleman, Dennis K. Crosby, Luke Dumas,S. Faxon, KC Grifant, Indigo Halverson, Theresa Halvorsen, Henry Herz, Elle Jauffret, James Jensen, TJ Kang, Lisa Kastner, Jonathan Maberry, Greg Mollin, C.D. Oakes, Scott Sigler, Benjamin Spada, Chad Stroup, Rose Winter

There are, of course, stories that are stand-outs, and I will highlight those, but there are no duds. I enjoyed reading this one cover to cover. I often skip around, but I was curious how the stories were placed. The book opens with a squirmer from bestselling author Luke Dumas. A great kick-off for the collection, and having a story set on the beach is perfect. This one gets inside you and wiggles around. The Suitcase from newcomer C.D. Oakes is a powerful one. Probably the best most powerful prose of the collection comes from bookseller Greg Mollin (shout-out Artifact Books) whose story Growing Darkness packs a punch. Brian Asman and Jon Cohn have funny stories that make use of real settings. Chad Stroup’s story takes place in the universe of his criminally underrated Secrets of the Weird.  Closing out the collection is Jonathan Maberry’s powerful vampire story.

Dread Coast is a must-read for So-Cal horror fans, but I think horror fans in all regions will enjoy this one.