Fireside Stories: Halloween Special

De: Essel Pratt, Amanda M. Lyons, Jim Goforth, Toneye Eyenot, Mark Woods, Michael Noe, catt dahman, Kitty Kane, Roma Gray, Michael Fisher

Narrado por: Terry F. Self

The Halloween Horror Lives On….

For the month of October 2017, J. Ellington Ashton Press, on their Wicked Little Things blog-talk radio, broadcasted a series of Halloween stories. These “Fireside Stories” (as they were called) were a big hit with the listeners, and the decision was quickly made to publish these tales of terror in an anthology.

Written by some of JEA’s most terrifying authors - Catt Dahman, Jim Goforth, Mark Woods, Michael Noe, Essel Pratt, Amanda M. Lyons, Michael Fisher, Toneye Eyenot, Kitty Kane, and Roma Gray - these stories will send a shiver up your spine and remind you what Halloween is all about.

©2017 J. Ellington Ashton Press Authors (P)2017 J. Ellington Ashton Press

chillingworth

Boo! i really enjoyed this Halloween thrill. The stories are surprising and the narrator entertaining. good read.

Good Scary Stories

These stories are good for Halloween or camping. Usually short, usually scary or creepy. Some are better than others. Roma Gray’s are the best. The narrator was a perfect choice.

Overall fun and creepy stories

Like when any anthology, there are stories that are better than others. But overall I liked the tone of these and most were fun. There are a few that just seemingly end, with no resolution, which in my opinion is lazy writing. If you can't finish the story, don't write the story. Most are good though, and definitely get you in the Halloween spirit!

Great read

I really had fun listening to the stories!
They all showed a different perspective, a talented group of authors.

Some bite sized morsels to suck on!

Fireside Stories: Halloween Special is a fantastic collection of some short bits of terror from some great authors. I must admit, I am ignorant of most ofthem, but I have recently become a huge fan of Roma Gray (Check Out Jurassic Jackaroo or Blue Bell), and Essel Scott (of the amazing Sharkrantula). That alone makes it worth everything, but the other authors carry their own weight and really bring the Halloween spirit to life. The book is a collection of tales, some old, some new, but they were all new to me.

It starts of with a nice little hunerous poetic piece about a were-vampire, and then transitions to a man chased by the? Shadow of death. Then we get the Pumpkin Man!! Each story is worthy of standing on its own, but being tied to these others makes you feel as if you just sat through a monster movie marathon (sorry that's my childhood coming back to haunt me, horror movies were "Monster Movies"). Each one carries a punch like Mike Tyson and Mohammed Ali were pummeling you, but its a good kind of beating. I really enjoyed this, and Terry Self is great yet again. He conveys the growing horror and suspense with only his voice, and makes you ready to jump out of your seat. My line of work makesit practically impossible to creep me out or put me on edge, but Fireside Stories comes freaking close to doing so!

Happy Halloween!!!

Nice collection of short stories.

Whenever I see Roma Gray posting an audiobook, I'm there! Big fan here! Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed with this collection. The authors did a nice job describing the overall creepiness taking place in their specific story.

As for Terri F. Self (Narrator), well he's grown on me. The first time I listened to him (narrating the first Roma Gray audiobook I listened to), I was on the fence regarding his skills. I felt he would have made a great newscaster, but after listening to him more, I've come to realize that he does a great job narrating, specifically with the variety of accents/voices he uses for the characters.

Kitty Kane "The Vampire Vera" 4/5
Although I'm not the biggest fan of poetry, this was a cute story.

Mark Woods "Fear of the Dark" 4/5
This was a nice creepy story.

Michael Noe "The Pumpkin Man" 5/5
I loved this story! It was creepy, entertaining, and I wish it would have been longer.

Catt Dahman "Hope Springs Infernal Eternal" 4/5
This was an interesting story and left me with questions. One such question: was everyone is the hotel a ghost? This could easily have been much longer.

Amanda M. Lyons "October Night" 1/4
I feel bad leaving a poor rating for this series of short stories, but these just didn't call to me.

Roma Gray "Halloween" 4/5
This was a great story; I'd actually listened to this one a while back. Big fan of Mrs. Gray!

Essel Pratt "Quarantine Query" 1/4
While I love anything zombie related (usually), this story didn't call to me.

Amanda M. Lyons "Nightscapes" 1/4
Sorry, but again, I wasn't a fan of this story. Even though these are all short stories, I feel like there was really nothing to this one, similarly to the others by this author.

Michael Fisher "From the Murky Depths" 5/5
This was an interesting, engaging, different kind of story. It held my attention the entire time I listened to it, and I'd be curious to listen/read other stories by this author.

Jim Goforth "Roadkill Run" 4/5
Another good creepy story. What did I learn? Never drive on the roads that are rarely used (those country back roads) or surrounded by a forested area because something bad is going to happen.

Toneye Eyenot "Quad" 3/5
This was interesting, but I felt had it been a smidge longer it could have been something more. Obviously, any of these stories could have been more if they were longer.

The profanity was a turn-off

I bought this because I was looking for some original spooky stories. These are original but hard to listen to if you don’t like profanity. I tried to work past it in the first few stories, but it became too much so I opted to delete it.

Tough book to rate - good or great

Definitely good. Several of these stories are great. It was a good buy and gives you a chance to find some new authors.

Great stories

This was difficult to assign a ratings. Some of the stories met my criteria of five-stars; good flow, good plot, interesting characters, and a story that grabs me so much I couldn't wait to get back to reading it. Most of them deserved a 5 star-rating. A few lacked the urgency to get to the end to find out what happened. I believe it was because they were too short to really get into. Overall though it was a great book. Thank you, Roma Gray for offering a review copy.

Good for Halloween!!

Narration bothered me a little but I’m kinda picky about that. For example, in the first story, the narrator used a different voice for a character’s thoughts than what they used for when they talked .
The stories are really good and engaging!!