Not the author's finest work, but acceptable. All of the stories have beautiful prose, Campbell's signature style that I love. Some of the stories are just not exciting. A few of them end in a way that seems too abrupt. A couple of them read like a diary entry of a person who leads a very boring life and before you know it, the story is over, like a shopping list might end.

A final girl knows she's never safe, even when the mass murderer who tried to kill her is dead. This is why slasher movie franchises never end! Is a final girl just a self-centered coward who knows how to get away and be the last one to survive or does she have what it takes to save her friends? This parody is really well written, dripping with sharp satire.

It's a buy one get three: a mystery, an apocalypse, and a dystopia all in one. Somewhat, the ending reminded me of a TV formulaic crime show, where the detectives corner the criminal and tie together the evidence, forcing a confession. At the end I kept on thinking of the show Cold Case. Anyway, this didn't detract from the coolness of this novel. It reads like three separate stories that gradually merge into one,

A fun, spooky read that only takes a couple of hours. Fans of movies with mummies and ancient Egyptian history and legends will enjoy this a lot. I'd never read about Libya before, so I learned some things.

I feel bad because the book was originally published to raise money for a charitable cause. However, I just didn't care for the stories. Another thing that bothered me was that, although the preface says that the stories will be tied together under the theme of triumph over evil or “darkness,“ a lot of the stories didn't fit in with that theme. I felt like I was reading a student's paper that meandered, going off topic and back on again.

Very creepy, combining supernatural and natural elements that terrify. I think fans of It by Stephen King would like this. It has similar themes.

A quick short story (116 pages) to read. It's body horror, but also dramatizes the social and self image problems some trans people face. I would have liked to know more about the alchemy and traditions behind the horror. However, I understand why a lot of the morbid details have been left out: the creepy mystery of the how and why adds more to the shock and scare factor!

The characters are developed in detail so we understand their reactions to the nut jobs that terrorize them in their cabin. They do things that we can criticize, but we can justify the characters' occasional bad decisions in this case because we know them well. It's a novel for these times, when some Americans are consuming misinformation from the internet and share delusions that the rest of us find absurd. Shared delusions can be dangerous.

We face two problems: 1) Who is the shapeshifter? 2) Does the shapeshifter exist only because the characters believe it exists, or does it objectively exist? The narrative makes allusions to literature, children‘s songs, and other cultural material with the word Indian. There is foreshadowing, moments of second person narration, stream of consciousness, and carefully planted stories that elders tell. Amazing. Dark. Scary.

Well written. For me, the best about this book is how the narrative is constructed. It never bores because it constantly jumps around in time and space, changes perspectives, and at the same time logically evolves characters and themes. One quasi-critique: there is a dialog that rehashes what the reader already knows, but it's also the first time the characters confront the truth together. It's brief enough. Was it necessary? I don't know.

Whitney Houston, roller skates, stone washed jeans... except it's 2019. The 1980s and adolescence have been made immortal thanks to a pact with hell made at a carnival. Dark humor prevails in this novella. It's divided into 5 parts, each of which is named after a 1980s pop song. There's even a murder weapon named Whitney. You might like the villains more than the victims. Alternative title: Gen X vs. Gen Z.

It's a simple plot made complex by the construction of the narrative, like in the first book. We get the illusion of a deep study of the characters and descriptions of all of their perspectives. I found the splash of Dickensian narration style amusing. It dominates the beginning of the novel and then salts and peppers the rest. If you read the first book and just have to find out more about Jack-O, this is for you.

I spent the day reading this third installment in the VHS Trash series. Like the others, this novel is full of 1980s flavor. It just reads like the great pulp stories of old. It has that B movie feel I love and feel nostalgic for. I grew up in the 1980s so I can appreciate the author's attention to detail. Stories that are sold as “retro“ are hot now, but a lot of them fall short of capturing an era. This is the real deal. #pulp #horror

This book would have been better if the characters were a little older. The title should have been “Happy 15th Birthday“ or “Happy 16th Birthday.“ These boys were terribly mature for 13 (as mature as young teens can be, anyway). I think they spoke, acted, and thought more like 15-year-olds. Two years in a child's life makes a world of difference! However, Stephen King fans who like his novels about kids in trouble will enjoy it. #pulp #horror

After Snow Shark I decided to read the next book in the VHS Trash series-there are three books in the series, in all. Again, a fun, quick read for people who enjoy terrible low-budget horror movies. This one is pretty short. It only took up a couple hours of my time. #pulp #horror

This is a fun read for fans of 1980s B movies. #pulp #horror

I started reading this today because I needed something kind of silly and easy for riding on the bus. Yes, it's absurd, but it's very well written! I'm enjoying it so far, to my surprise.

So far, in 2023, according to my stats on The StoryGraph, I have chosen the dark side. Over here on the dark side, the sun shines brightly. It's quite mysterious how that happens. I make my own homemade brownies, also, in this dark place.

Well, so far into my reading, it appears that Jack Sawyer is used to being alone and doesn't notice. What a huge shock, right? What's keeping me glued to this book right now is how unconscious he is of who he actually is, which he doesn't seem to know. Intriguing character development.

I'm starting this tonight. The Talisman kept me up until the next morning, I just couldn't put it down or let myself sleep. Let's see if the sequel is as good.

I enjoyed this novel a lot. The classic theme of how human beings are the creators of monsters and demons has come to mind now as I've finished the book. In this case, there is no mad scientist. Materialistic behavior, attaching oneself too much to material things, creates demons and monsters. I think this is a great social critique of how people - big and small - get too attached to material objects.

Chapters 15 to 20 were quite the read. Of all the things to find disturbing, there is also a whole thing about pizza Chinese. I mean, look at them together. I just wouldn't be able to keep it together at a pizza Chinese party.

I'm starting this one now. It's my first time reading this author's work. I'm in about 20 pages and I already know I want to read more novels by Grady Hendrix.