Book Review: City of Hell Volume1
I was lucky enough to win an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of City of Hell from Anne Michaud. 127 pages later I have to say it is one of the better prizes I have won.
The book contains a total of eight short stories. I was impressed by all of them and will be looking for other works by the authors. It was a quick and enjoyable read focusing on a horrific apocalyptic event. I was very impressed with how well all of the stories play together. Since I received my copy as a PDF I have not actually seen the back cover. I went into this knowing only that the collection had a central theme and that it had been edited by Colin F. Barnes. The stories were all well written and wonderfully sinister. However, two of the stories stood out in my mind.
Genesis by Colin F. Barnes is the first story and in my opinion stands above the rest. Barnes manages to give a demented quality to his lead character that had me thinking of H.P. Lovecraft. None of the overall plot arc was given away and the ending was actually a surprise. I could see this story having appeared by itself in almost any publication and standing on its own. It was great.
The other one that stood out in my mind was The Nursery by Amy L. Overly. This story wasn’t nearly as much of a horror story as it was a gut wrenching story of loss. I felt that the transformation of the main character into something less than human was probably one of the deepest emotional points in the book. This isn’t a typical horror story which makes it that much more frightening.
Every story was good. I would be happy to recommend every one of the these authors based on the works in the collection. They should be proud.
For detailed reviews of the stories you can visit:
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L. E. White
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The Sirens Call
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An Opener's Closing by L. E. White 
Awesome writing style!