Short Stories 366:298 — “A View from a Hill,” in the style of M.R. James

The last of the quartet of The Conception of Terror, in which audio dramatizations were created in the style of M.R. James, "A View from the Hill" is probably the one with the most traditional horror story vibe of the bunch, in the sense of what I expect from the genre (especially in short fiction). …

Short Stories 366:293 — “The Box,” by Stephen Gallagher

Hammer Chillers, an audio collection from Bafflegab, of six short audio horror performances, was recommended to me by a friend who knows my scaredy-cat level of enjoyment of horror, and it's off to a really strong start with "The Box." We meet a former military man who teaches safety courses to future workers on offshore …

Short Stories 366:291 — “The Treasure of Abbot-Thomas,” in the style of M.R. James

Having listened to the first two stories in this quartet of horror story productions, I found the first to be the kind of horror story I enjoy the most: the sort where the protagonist(s) may be damaged, but they're not completely defeated, and as such, there's a sense of survival or hope—or an outright turning …

Short Stories 366:284 — “Lost Hearts,” in the style of M.R. James

In what I can only call an amusing "gotcha" from last week's "Casting the Runes" from the same audio performances, The Conception of Terror, "Lost Hearts" was a complete reversal of everything I described about loving in the previous story in the collection. That isn't to say it's not a solid, well-performed, dark and creepy …

Short Stories 366:278 — “Carmilla,” by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

First off, before I begin, I should point out I read this years and years ago, and barely remembered it, and so when I saw Audible had done a performance version, I nabbed it. Performed by Rose Leslie, Phoebe Fox, and David Tennant and many others, it was delightfully done and dramatized in a way …

Short Stories 366:277 — “Casting the Runes,” in the style of M.R. James

In a refrain I'm sure I'll often repeat this month, I don't often do horror as a reader (and even less often as a writer). There are two sides to this: the first is the simple reality of horror getting stuck in my subconscious and leading to terrible dreams, and given I don't sleep well …