Back Roads Literary Review Vol. 1, Issue 2
Fall edition of scary story anthology. Fifteen short stories by various authors. 174 pages.
Within these pages, you will find a next generation of emerging writers who embrace themes of the ongoing evolution of horror. In these tales, you will encounter the restless spirits of the past, the lurking horrors of the present, and the ominous shadows of the future. Stories that explore the darkness that resides within us all. Fear of the unknown and the shuddering echoes of our deepest nightmares.
Of course, there are stories of witches, monsters, and devils but also hauntings and resident ghosts. Stories of psychological aberrations; relationships off the rails; misguided hope; strangers and outsiders; cliques and covens and captivity; stormy weather – snow, water, air; the lashing out at so-called authority; revenge.
The authors of these stories each evoke a distinctive style, a unique tone. The ethereal darkness evoked by Paula Bryner’s A Traveler Comes By, and the weather disasters brought to life in Paul Benkendorfer’s A Wendigo of Huron, and in the breathlessness of Anthony Samuels’ Mayhem on the Mercedes. Dracovich Manor follows in that same vein. Others paint a normal, if perhaps ho-hum life, such as Stephen Brayton’s The Ritual, and Michael Roby’s The Decay Diary — it’s anything but. In Joann Schissel’s Night Dance, isn’t there a hint of that eroticism found within the pages of vampire stories?