Short Stories 366:305 — “Skin,” by Christian Baines

The end of October! Hallowe'en itself! This novella is the perfect mix of dark psychological/paranormal for me. I feel like I've repeated all month long my squeamishness with horror and how it often leaves me struggling to find horror I enjoy that doesn't cross the line too far, but I'll trot it out one more …

Short Stories 366:297 — “No Sleep in Bethlehem,” by Matthew Bright

I've kind of hopped around a lot over this year with reviews from Stories to Sing in the Dark, and I'm going to discuss the last story today—the novella length "No Sleep in Bethlehem"—while leaving one more for December, but if nothing else, please by now understand my message throughout the journey in Stories to …

Short Stories 366:286 — “A Match Made for Thanksgiving,” by Jackie Lau

I realize this is the middle of horror month, but allow me a brief departure for Canadian Thanksgiving. And by "brief departure" I mean "fun and sexy novella from Jackie Lau." "A Match Made for Thanksgiving" kicks off Lau's holiday-themed quartet about the children in a single family, and the matchmaking parents and grandparents who …

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 366:275 — “Evil Eye,” by Madhuri Shekar

Okay, it's October. I'm going to try to bend my discussions for the month in the direction of the freaky or the disturbing (or, sometimes, but likely rarely since I don't often go there, to outright horror). I've mentioned this before, but I don't often go the route of the horrific or the disturbing in …

Short Stories 366:274 — “The Final Decree,” by Jeffrey Ricker

By now, it's likely you know I adore Jeffrey Ricker (see: Detours, The Unwanted, my never-ending-suggestion-that-I'd-like-a-sequel-to-The Unwanted) but it's maybe less known how much I like me a good pew-pew-pew sci-fi story (okay, maybe that isn't less known, it's just less often I get to read them). Jeffrey Ricker doing a queer sci-fi with cranky/grumpy …