| Title | : | At the Cemetery Gates: Year One |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 168 |
| Publication | : | Published October 27, 2016 |
Cover art by Chad Wehrle
At the Cemetery Gates: Year One Reviews
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3.5 stars!
At The Cemetery Gates: Year One is a collection of 14 short stories. Most of them feature cemeteries-if not actually set there, they're at least mentioned.
My favorite story of the bunch was An Epistle From the Dead which was a macabre tidbit with a touch of poignancy to it that really brought the story home.
Pictures of a Perpetual Subject was also a poignant tale with a haunting outcome that I won't soon forget.
The remaining stories were all good, but not outstanding. These are the types of tales to be told around a campfire at night or at a sleepover. In fact, I think they're perfect for those types of scenarios. Seasoned horror fans used to hard-core scares might come away slightly disappointed, but I believe the average horror reader would find these tales satisfying.
Today this book is free!
At The Cemetery Gates: Year One
Recommended!
*Horror After Dark was provided a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is it!* -
Cemetery Gates Media is doing amazing work in the horror community. They have brought back the kinder-trauma of readers everywhere with
Corpse Cold: New American Folklore, they've stirred emotions with
Her Mourning Portrait and Other Paranormal Oddities, and they have embodied the spirit of Charles Dickens in
Carol for a Haunted Man. I enjoyed every one of these books and I've been excited to read everything else their growing catalog of work has to offer. Since their latest book,
At The Cemetery Gates: Volume 2, was recently sent to me in exchange for an honest review, I decided to go back and read Volume One.
This was one of their first
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark inspired anthologies, which is a recent trend I don't mind one bit. I mean, just look at that artwork! It really brings me back to a simpler (spookier) time. At The Cemetery Gates: Year One takes those scary stories from our youth and ages them up specially for adult readers. The stories are a bit longer than Alvin Schwartz's stories, but the spirit is still there. (Pun intended.)
As with all anthologies, some stories aren't as good as others, but there isn't a single tale here that isn't at least entertaining. Brhel and Sullivan offer so much to enthusiasts of the macabre, and it is my recommendation that all horror fans give this and their other books a shot.
Overall, 3.5 tombstones. -
Book 2 of the "get-them-known" challenge. Yes, I could have given this challenge a better name :P
Note: For the next couple of months, I am going to read books by unknown authors. Most of these books would have less than 300 reviews and would be chosen at random. The biggest perk is that most of these books I have received by the authors after contacting them. My main goal is to bring to light the huge number of books that go ignored but totally deserve the attention any bestseller out there is getting. I hope I read at least 50 overlooked novels this year and I will appreciate if other people tried to read more of these ignored books as well.
This year has made me a lazy fuck. I don't know why I can't review books on time.
Thank you to the authors for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
In place of talking animals and children's maxims, we've sought to reflect the animal found within the human psyche. Now that is pure genius.
As it turns out, horror is my genre. I never thought I'd enjoy books set on a horror theme so much but I guess I do. I wonder what's next. Maybe I'd start liking sci-fi books as well although I have shied away from that genre ever since I started reading.
At the cemetery gates is perfect for anyone who loves stories or movies based on a Halloween type theme. And I swear the gore in this book is good as well. I am one of those weird people who have a liking for movies like Saw and The Hostel so I knew I'd like this book when I started it.
There are a number of stories all set on the basic theme of people getting spooked out or killed (in a fun way, actually) with varying themes like corpses getting shots of botox and then waking up much younger or ghosts lovers reliving their story again and again. Oh and there's a generous amount of creepiness mixed in so you never get bored. And as though that wasn't enough, some stories even tend you make you a bit emotional since they involve ghosts. That's all I'm saying.
I can't review every book separately or I'll ruin the book for anyone willing to read it but I'd say that everyone should give the books by these authors a try. I swear they are suitable for every age group from teens to adults. My favorite stories were "A Casket for My Mother" and "A Dark and Desolate Recurrence". -
Liked this a lot, although it is kinda patchy. Some brilliant stories a couple of predictable ones.
Still worth a read. -
4.5 Stars
*I received a copy of this from the author for an honest review*
I have read both of this author's "Cemetery" books, and I had to admit I think I like this one slightly better of the two. In the first book the cemetery seemed a little contrived and it felt at times "forced", but this one didn't rely as much on the cemetery as a plot device (or was at least much more subtle in most cases) and came across better.
I have always loved horror short story anthologies and this one does a good job of keeping things spooky without getting TOO dark, although some stories are still dark. My favorite story was probably AN EPISTLE FOR THE DEAD just because it was so dark it was almost humorous, but not quite. It was original in way I hadn't seen before. There were several other good stories as well, some playing on new twists of well known urban legends, other stories more traditional. I give the authors much credit as they did avoid cliches most of the time, as what I thought I saw coming would end up differently than I'd guessed.
Overall a really good collection, and if you are fans of these type of collections it's well worth picking up. -
A Dark and Desolate Recurrence - This is a tale of husband and wife stuck in a snow ditch. They end up seeking shelter in a haunted cabin. It had that creepy camp site fire tale feel.
A Casket for My Mother - Creepy Go Fund Me story about a young man returning from teaching in China to learn his childhood friend's mother died. Not really scary, since huge clues were given, but it had an excellent creep factor.
Time's Harbinger - A young man and his estranged father head to their hometown for his mother's funeral and end up twenty-five years in the past. A creepy tale with supernatural characters, angels. The ending was a tad weird and left me with questions.
A Tale of Palpable Violence - A twist on a classic urban legend. A young woman and man are fearful when a car following them wants them to pull over.
The Burial Vault - Teenagers, ghost stories and a vault with a terrifying history made for a creepy tale. The twist at the end was clever.
Passion's Paroxysm - A young married couple begins to have trouble in their third year of marriage when the young man decides he will have no more regrets. This was a very predictable tale.
The Hermit of Russian Lake - Set in the Adirondacks, a young man brings his family to vacation and soon finds himself hiking alone where he encounters a hermit. A strange tale with perhaps a time loop. The twist left me guessing.
A Late Blight - A student sets out to locate the cause of a strange and deadly outbreak in his hometown. Not a bad tale but the twist fell flat.
Delaying Decay - Two brothers are bored as its a holiday and everything is closed. They pass the town funeral home and the back door is open. The temptation is too hard to resist. This was an enjoyable little tale and reminded me of stories from Tales from the Crypt.
The Girl with the Crooked Tooth - This homage to Edgar Allen Poe shared a killer's first. Weird and macabre.
New Year's Eve, What a Gas! - I had a hard time accepting the wife's stupidity when she prepared a German sauce found in an old journal belonging to her grandfather. I was not a fan of this tale at all.
The Call is Coming from Inside the House - In a word, weird. Ancient texts, rituals, and resurrection are usually my cup of tea, but this had twists at every turn and I had a hard time buying into the tale.
An Epistle from the Dead - A clever twist of a tale, and perhaps one of my favorites. Upon her husband's death, a woman finds a journal with the unthinkable.
Pictures of a Perpetual Subject - Another favorite, this had all the elements I enjoy in these type of short stories. A young girl photographs one subject all tear and when she downloads them makes a startling discovery.
AT THE CEMETERY GATES was an interesting collection and is available for KU and as an ebook. Some of the stories are perfect for a campfire. All were creepy but none were truly scary.
This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer -
the good news: you can get this book for free on Amazon!
the bad news: it’s really not worth it.
1.5 stars
14 horror stories, including ghosts, time travel, weird stuff with corpses, raising the dead, and a strange fungal infection.
The stories are all quite short (probably one the main reasons I made it even through this book), and there’s always some creepy twist at the ending - which often failed to impress me, and occasionally failed to make sense. Most of the stories are nothing special, and I couldn’t really take some of them seriously, for example the one with the evil fungus, or the one where Claire finds her grandmother’s cookbook. They were unbelievably far-fetched even for horror stories.
The writing was somewhere between bearable and annoying, and not really enough to distract me from the – mostly boring – stories. The author obviously wasn’t really into the whole ‘show don’t tell’ concept - there’s more adjectives than I would consider necessary, especially describing different people (‘the older woman’, ‘the inebriated clergyman’, …). Sometimes it sounded more like a movie script than a story.
I also enjoyed the part in the third story where the author loses track of which character is supposed to be the father and which is supposed to be the son.
Seriously, there’s no need to read this at all, but hell, it’s free, so you can check for yourself. Maybe you’ll get more out of it than me. -
After read the Marvelry’s Curiosity Shop, I’m curious with the next book from John Brhel At the Cemetery Gates. Thanks to the author for provide the copy in exchange for the honest review.
Some believes that dead people keep doing what the last thing they do all over again, some story tell about this and there are another kind of creepy story. The story related to the dead people which divides into 14 short stories. Each story gives the horror and dark atmosphere but not too scary. My favorite are Delaying Decay and Picture of a Perpetual Subject. I like the idea about capture the same image in the same place everyday and make it to video then there’s a blotch show up who advance toward to the house. Interesting read for those who have a fascination for such things. -
I really liked all the stories in this book. They were all so different and they were not real creepy. They were more like stories that you would tell sitting around the campfire. I liked the stories well enough that I bought the second book. I gave it a five star read as I enjoyed reading the stories.
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I’ve been reading this author duo this month and enjoying their work. Specifically, their thematic anthologies, which seems to be my referred kind of anthologies. The first two books of theirs I’ve read was location specific. With this book, the authors stay in the general geographic area, but branch out in other ways. Their writing quality remains consistent, but content wise these are more…well, as the authors themselves so aptly described it, something like creepy suburban fables. Or suburban legends if you prefer. Meaning eerie tales of supernatural or just not very natural goings, set in the ‘burbs or small towns and featuring a prominent moral each. I’m not sure what the original to apocryphal ratio was, but the stories seemed fresh and fun. Slightly uneven, but mostly very entertaining. This book (like authors’ previous ones) was predominantly PG rated and thus suitable for a varied audience, which is to say it’s fairly plain and somewhat simplistic, but not in an intelligence insulting way some YA geared writing can be. The twisted endings were an especially enjoyable aspect of these dark tales, my favorite being The Epistle from the Dead. Overall, an exceptionally quick read, maybe 75 minutes, and fun was definitely had. Genre fans with their macabre cravings set to mild should enjoy this one. Great for getting in the spirit of things, the 31st being just a few days away.
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A new anthology filled with shivery, delightfully spooky stories.
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I read a little over half of this and just felt very underwhelmed and disappointed. The opening story was a riff on a tale from Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (which would be the case for most stories in this collection). It was decent enough despite the lackluster characterization and the dialogue being an expository tool rather than anything else.
Unfortunately, that was about as good as things got. I eventually grew tired of the flat characters, weak dialogue, and predictable twists. I'll have to get my short horror fix elsewhere and I'd recommend others to do the same. -
It was good!
I liked most of the stories, the one I just didn’t like was the “It’s coming from inside the house!” Story. Maybe I just didn’t understand the weird literary angle, but it really didn’t sit well with the time period. Other than that the other tales were pretty fun! -
Originally published at
Risingshadow.
Because I enjoyed reading Brhel and Sullivan's Marvelry's Curiosity Shop and found it entertaining, I was eager to read At the Cemetery Gates: Year One. I was very pleased with this short story collection and found it enjoyable, because it was exactly the kind of well written dark fantasy and horror entertainment that I expected it to be. It was a pleasure to read it.
John Brhel and Joseph Sullivan are still a bit unknown authors to many readers, but hopefully not for long, because their stories deserve to be discovered and read by readers who love dark fantasy, occult fiction and horror stories. Their entertaining stories will fascinate everyone who loves good and well written stories with a strong focus on entertainment values.
At the Cemetery Gates: Year One is a welcome addition to horror fiction, because the authors have done their best to write fascinating stories that differ nicely from other new horror stories. There's something charmingly old-fashioned yet modern about this collection that I find intriguing. Just like Marvelry's Curiosity Shop, this short story collection has a cool 1980s feel to it and it hooks readers immediately.
This collection contains the following fourteen stories:
- A Dark and Desolate Recurrence
- A Casket for My Mother
- Time's Harbinger
- A Tale of Palpable Violence
- The Burial Vault
- Passion's Paroxysm
- The Hermit of Russian Lake
- A Late Blight
- Delaying Decay
- The Girl with the Crooked Tooth
- New Year's Eve, What a Gas!
- The Call is Coming from Inside the House
- An Epistle from the Dead
- Pictures of a Perpetual Subject
I was positively surprised by these supernatural and macabre stories, because they were just as good and versatile as the stories in Marvelry's Curiosity Shop, but unlike those stories, these stories are not connected to each other by a background story.
There are many different and interesting elements in these stories. The authors use such elements as death, decay, hauntings, time travel and strange occurrences etc as basis for their stories.
What makes these stories especially fascinating is that when you begin to read them, you don't know how they will end, because the authors have come up with intriguing surprise endings. I find the authors' way of ending their stories wholly satisfying, because you seldom have an opportunity to read such well written endings.
Here's a bit more information the stories:
A Dark and Desolate Recurrence:
- In this story, Teddy and his wife, Margo, are driving a car and get stuck in the snow. While searching for shelter they find a cabin, but it turns out to be haunted...
- The authors write fascinatingly about the haunted cabin and create a thrilling atmosphere by writing about how Teddy and Margo get to witness terrifying acts inside the cabin.
- The ending is perfect, because it reveals what's going on.
A Casket for My Mother:
- A story about Craig who has returned home after being an English teacher in China. While browsing the internet he finds a GoFundMe message from his old friend, Tim. His friend needs money to pay for the casket for his recently deceased mother. Soon he notices that something weird is going on with his friend...
- This is an entertaining story with a good ending.
Time's Harbinger:
- In this story, Ross and his father, Gary, are driving to a funeral home so that Gary can pay his final respects to Ross' mother. When they get to the funeral home, things gradually become weird...
- I like the authors' way of writing about the relationship between Ross and Gary, because Gary left his wife and son to fend for themselves when Ross was eight years old. Ross finds it difficult to forgive what happened to him and his mother.
- This story contains interesting time travel elements.
A Tale of Palpable Violence:
- A story about Sherry and Bram who find themselves in serious trouble... (I won't reveal anything more about this story, because I might end up revealing too much information about the happenings. Trust me when I say that this is an interesting story.)
- I liked this story, because it was something a bit different.
The Burial Vault:
- A fascinating and well written story about Tom and his friends who visit an old mausoleum, the existence of which has been long-forgotten by the local residents...
- This is an excellent and atmospheric story with a good ending.
Passion's Paroxysm:
- A well written story about Ben and his marriage to Judy. Ben has doubts about his wife's fidelity...
- The author explores Ben and Judy's marriage and how Judy explains her disappearances and various phone calls in an interesting way.
The Hermit of Russian Lake:
- A story about Keith who brings his wife, Becky, on vacation to Big Moose Lake in order to mend their difficult relationship. He wanders to a nearby lake called Russian Lake and meets a hermit who lives there...
- A well-told strange tale.
A Late Blight:
- An excellent story about Jesse who believes that a spreading illness may come from the Valleyview cemetery. He is concerned for his grandmother's safety...
- I found this story interesting, because the authors wrote well about what was happening in the town.
Delaying Decay:
- In this story, twin brothers Sean and Jack are on summer holiday. Their parents are working, so they're free to roam about the town. They decide to sneak into a funeral home and get to witness something strange...
- This is a fantastic story about new mortuary science and special treatments.
The Girl with the Crooked Tooth:
- This is a wonderful story that has been written in homage to Edgar Allan Poe.
- I think that this short, but atmospheric story will delight many readers.
New Year's Eve, What a Gas!:
- A story about James and Clare who are on their way to a New Year's party when Clare finds one of her grandmother's old cookbooks that has been written in German. Clare decides to make an authentic German dish to take a New Year's party...
- I enjoyed this story very much, because it had a cool surprise twist.
The Call is Coming from Inside the House:
- A well written story about a Colonel who is interested in the occult and has acquired an ancient spell book...
- The authors write excellently about the happenings.
An Epistle from the Dead:
- In this story, Regina goes through his dead husband's things and finds a loosely bound manuscript. She begins to read it and is surprised and shocked by what she finds in it...
- An excellent and effectively written story with a perfect ending.
Pictures of a Perpetual Subject:
- A story about Johanna who takes photographs of an elm in her backyard. When she tranfers the photographs to her computer and compiles a video clip of them, she notices something strange. She sees a person who is slowly approaching her...
- This is a fantastic final story with atmospheric storytelling.
I like John Brhel and Joseph Sullivan's writing style, because they write fluent prose. They clearly intend to entertain and mesmerise their readers with their prose and they fully succeed in it. As a big fan of dark fantasy and horror stories I can mention that these authors are something special, because not many can write this kind of fiction as fluently and entertainingly as they can.
The descriptive and vivid prose is one of the reasons why I enjoy this short story collection and want to recommend it to others. I like the way the authors describe the happenings and write about the characters, because everything seems to happen naturally.
The cover art by Chad Wehrle looks beautiful and atmospheric. The artist has perfectly captured the atmosphere of the stories in this image.
If you're familiar with the early works of Stephen King, you'll be thrilled to read this collection, because there's something about the stories that reminded me of early King stories. I also think that readers who have watched the TV series called Stranger Things will love this collection.
If you're looking for something new and macabre to read, you can't go wrong by reading At the Cemetery Gates: Year One. It's one of the most entertaining dark fantasy and horror short story collections of the year, so please make sure that you'll take a look at it (don't be afraid to try it, because it's wonderful entertainment).
Excellent entertainment! -
Read this review and more on my blog at
[Roxie Writes].
‘At The Cemetery Gates: Year One’ by John Brhel and Joseph Sullivan
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Finished on April 28, 2018
FREE on Kindle Unlimited | $2.99 on Kindle | $10.00 in Paperback
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A horror/paranormal short story collection inspired by urban legends, folk tales, and anthology TV shows like THE TWILIGHT ZONE and ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?
Twin brothers enter a funeral parlor as a gag and end up uncovering a sinister operation.
A mysterious illness plagues a small town and a college student seems to be the only one trying to stop it.
A girl's time-lapse photo project reveals an intruder from the cemetery that shares a fence with her backyard.
AT THE CEMETERY GATES: YEAR ONE is for fans of urban legends, manifestations of the macabre, and strange twists of fate.
MY REVIEW:
‘At The Cemetery Gates: Year One’ has some pretty unique takes on urban legends you probably already know. A couple of the stories I didn’t quite “get”, but I still enjoyed the collection on the whole. The writing style flows nicely, and the lengths of the stories are perfect for a quick gobble-up. Sometimes, those are just the sort of stories one needs -- ones we can enjoy on a lunch break or other periods of short downtime.
This collection includes the stories:
“A Dark and Desolate Recurrence”
-- Teddy and his wife Margo find themselves stranded in the middle of a blizzard when their car breaks down on the highway. They have no other choice but to leave and try to find a warmer place to wait out the storm. What they discover, though, will chill you to the bone.
This is a nice take on a familiar legend. I liked it very much.
“A Casket For My Mother”
-- When Craig returns from a year in rural China, he checks his long-neglected Facebook feed to discover one of his old friends has lost his mother and is asking for donations to buy her a casket. Grief-stricken, Craig hits up his friend to contribute a donation, but he should have spoken to his other friends, first.
This might be my favorite story in the collection. It’s delightfully twisted yet somehow compassionate.
“Time’s Harbinger”
-- Ross and his estranged father make a road trip to handle Ross’ dead mother’s affairs, but they soon find themselves at the mercy of a local monster.
This is another interesting and creative take on a familiar legend. This is a meaty little story. It’s a cool melding of the supernatural and science fiction.
“A Tale of Palpable Violence”
-- Sherry and Bram are making out in the back of his car when they hear of rampaging killers on the radio in their area.
What a fun and unexpected twist this story is!
“The Burial Vault”
-- Tom and his friends like to hang out and party inside of a decrepit mausoleum, but their hangout of choice comes with some frightening consequences.
I liked where this story went. It wasn’t what I expected at all, and it’s often quite hard to surprise me.
“Passion’s Paroxysm”
-- Ben Chapman has decided he’s not going to live his life with regrets any longer. As he makes his way home to his wife with a special bouquet of flowers, he reflects on the choices he’s made thus far. And when he gets home, it’s a new start altogether.
I don’t believe I’d ever heard of the legend this story was based on, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It’s a dark tale with a twisted end. What more could you possibly want?
“The Hermit of Russian Lake”
-- Keith meets the hermit of Russian Lake on an excursion that results in him needing guidance and a place to stay.
This was one of the stories I didn’t quite “get”. I’m not sure if it was because I had been reading for so very long at this point (I read this book during the Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon), so I simply didn’t grasp the nuance of this story, but either way, it wasn’t my favorite of the collection. Perhaps on a re-read, I’ll find it more to my liking.
“A Late Blight”
-- A small town comes down with a deadly illness that one scientist believes is linked to the local cemetery. The truth, though, is downright scary.
I was expecting this story to be more along the supernatural, but it was a cool surprise to see it’s actually a tale of human horrors.
“Delaying Decay”
-- Twin brothers sneak into a funeral home in hopes of seeing a real dead body. But what they discover is a lot more twisted.
In my opinion, this was another gem in the collection. It’s just messed enough to be the perfect mixture of spooky and decidedly fun.
“The Girl With The Crooked Tooth”
-- In this homage to Edgar Allan Poe, the main character contemplates his fascination with a girl, and her crooked tooth, in his anatomy and physiology class.
This tale definitely has a Poe feel to it, and it’s just as demented as one of his stories. I’d say Brhel and Sullivan knocked it out of the park with this one.
“New Year’s Eve, What A Gas!”
-- Before attending a New Year’s Eve party, a couple finds a box of old, German recipes. She decides to throw one of them together to bring to the get-together with disastrous consequences.
This one was too unbelievable to me, honestly. I’ve never heard of the legend it’s based on, so perhaps this story isn’t too far off from the mark (some urban legends are extremely far-fetched, after all), but it wasn’t for me.
“The Call Is Coming From Inside The House”
-- This is a unique take on the all-too-familiar legend. I don’t want to describe it anymore for fear of spoiling the premise.
I’ve definitely never heard/read a “caller is inside the house” tale like this one, so take that as you will.
“An Epistle From The Dead”
-- Regina, upon burying her husbands, finds a terrible letter of confession among his belongings. Devastated, she makes an irreversible choice, but the truth behind it all is the real scary story.
Ooh, this is one messed up story. In the very best way. I actually gasped when I came to the end. Brilliant.
“Pictures of a Perpetual Subject”
-- Joanna doesn’t fit in at school. She doesn’t understand “selfie culture”, but to make an effort to better get on with her peers, she starts a project in which she takes a photo every day of the tree in her backyard. She’s surprised and creeped-out when she discovers a figure in the images she can only see when the photos are put to video. Just like so many other stories in this collection, things aren’t what they seem.
This is a heartbreaking story. It’s extremely well done. This might be the story to pick up the entire collection for.
While some of the tales in this collection weren’t exactly for me, I still think it’s well-put-together and worth a read. So, if you’re into urban legends or just creepy stories in general, pick it up. -
First of all, I'd like to thank John Brhel (co-author with Joseph Sullivan of this anthology) for sending me an electronic copy for review purposes.
"At the Cemetery Gates" is a collection of short, punchy horror tales. A unifying thread is provided by the small-town setting common to most of the stories, with the cemetery of the title hovering in the background like a haunting presence. The featured stories have a modern feel to them, although "The Girl with the Crooked Tooth" is an homage to Poe, and there are a couple of other tales dealing with death and obsession of which the old master would surely approve. I felt however that the strongest influence behind these tales comes from contemporary popular culture and TV shows. In fact, the authors themselves state in the introduction that the stories reinterpret urban myths and folklore. And so, besides hauntings of a more traditional type, we also come across weird angels, time travelling, a haunted time-lapse photo, government conspiracies, poisonous plants, werewolf-like monsters and masked serial killers.
The stories are not pretentious at all and, rather than adopting a "literary" approach, the authors prefer to concentrate on providing a satisfying narrative, more often than not with a twist in the tail/tale. Some of the stories are more ambitious in that they manage to portray interesting characters despite their brevity (for instance, I liked the interaction between the two brothers in "Delaying Decay").
Rather different from the rest of the stories is is "The Call is Coming from Inside the House". This is a Gothic pastiche with recognizable tropes of the genre (rambling mansion, black magic, a vulnerable young woman and even a lascivious monk) - its brief sections could well be expanded into a sort of modern-day Gothic spoof.
If you want your horror entertaining, this collection is well worth a read. -
At The Cemetery Gates is a collection of 14 short stories. As the title suggests, the stories are all linked by the theme of death, dying, or being recently deceased. Cemetery Gates is also the name of the publisher (see what they did there?). A major strength of the book is the variety of the tales, including everything from ghosts to urban legends, and from time travel to murderous clowns.
Most of the stories are subtle in their dread, while others are a bit more visceral. Some involve the supernatural but mostly it is the human condition that brings about death. There’s a definite craft to writing these kinds of short stories – bringing the unexpected in and making it flow with the rest of the tale.
One of my favorite stories is actually the opener about a couple trapped on a snowy road. Another favorite involved two boys witnessing what really goes on in the depths of the local funeral home. The sheer variety of settings, characters, and plots keeps the book ticking along.
The stories are very short, so they are straight to the point. Consequently, there is not always a lot of chance for character development. For some of the longer ones that does come through, and those can have quite an emotional impact.
As with all anthologies there are some stories you’ll enjoy more than others, but they all offer something. In each of them, there is something off and something creepy going on. There is a Twilight Zone or Tales of the Unexpected feel to these stories. They all have a major twist that you won’t see coming, and the majority of these twists worked really well. It’s a quick read and worth checking out. -
*I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review*
At The Cemetery Gates: Year One is a collection of short stories. I love reading horror shorts and this collection did not disappoint. They are very well-written and each very different with their own twists and chills.
It was hard for me to pick favourites as I enjoyed reading them all so much but stand-out ones for me were:
A Dark and Desolate Reoccurrence – seeking shelter from a deadly snowstorm, husband and wife Teddy and Margo inadvertently stumble upon a haunted cabin. Trapped until the storm is over they soon realise that surviving the night is the least of their worries.
A Tale of Palpable Violence – a couple on an isolated road are disturbed by reports of killers on the loose, but their fears are not what you might expect!
An Epistle from the Dead – grieving wife Regina discovers a diary written by her late-husband. Giving into temptation she reads it and learns more about him than perhaps she wanted to know. I don’t want to say too much about this one and risk giving away the brilliant twist at the end!
At the Cemetery Gates: Year One is a dark, quick read that I recommend horror lovers checking out! -
I wanna start this review by stating I DNFed this book. With that being said, take my review with a grain of salt (if you must, lol). I digress. According to Kindle, I read 74% and there's only 3 stories left but my mind if 100% done lol. I honestly checked out after the "The Burial Vault" (horrible ending) then completely said "fuck this" after reading "New Year's Eve, What A Gas!" Sorry but I refuse to waste more time on lackluster writing. Granted some of the stories had an air of atmosphere via tense situations, the payoff was never interesting nor scary. There were a lot of old tropes used in the same boring and predictable ways. There was also a lack of horrific world-building and jumpscares plus "twists" that weren't effective.
Basically this book just left me wondering where have all the good scares gone? Because they certainly weren't here!
Additional notes: TWs for "casual" gore, domestic abuse, and body horror -
I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
This is an excellent collection of short stories, some of which were quite creepy. I loved the feel of the book as a whole, it reminded of when I used to read "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" as a kid. The entire collection is written very well and kept me trying to figure out how each story would end. I enjoyed all the stories but my favorites were "The Burial Vault" and "Pictures of a Perpetual Subject".
They were the creepiest in my opinion and the twists at the end were phenomenal.
This was good enough that I am planning to buy a print copy to add to my library. I recommend this to anyone that enjoys scary stories. -
I was given this as an ebook for a free and honest review and I'm so happy that I was because I loved it!
I really enjoyed this collection of horror stories. The first story about a husband and wife trapped in their car in a snow drift had a great twist that I did not see coming and let me know I was in for a real treat with this book! There are over 15 short stories in this collection and over half of them are some of my new favorites including the all-too-predictable but still fantastic "A Casket for My Mother" about a man whose mother has passed away and he has started a gofundme account to purchase a casket for her. There was only one story that I thought was too ridiculous to find even slightly believable as a typical horror story but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it anyway! The writing in each story was fantastic and I am definitely going to be reading any further short story collections that come from these authors.
Highly recommend. Video review to come soon. -
I thought the stories were pretty decent but I wish the writing had been a little better and a little more detailed. In some of the stories it felt very rushed and there were times when I just wished the writing was different. I was disappointed because the writing style sometimes made it hard for me to keep going. It is worth a read just for some of the story ideas if you like quick horror stories. I was also disappointed that most of the time I knew where the stories were going. I had high hopes but I guess no one will ever make another Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark....
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At The Cemetery Gate is a collection of 14 short horror stories. Each story has its own life and will leave you shivering, teared up, or laughing (that could just be me). You will follow along as couple find a secluded cabin, a son and father mourn the loss of the mother, an ancient spell book is discovered, and a man has questions about his wife’s fidelity.
I am a child of the 90’s and grew up with Tales from the Crypt. This collection reminds me of that show. There is a little bit of everything that will leave you guessing at the end of each story. It is easy to get into each story and I loved all the twists you discover.
If you like horror anthologies look no further. This is a great collection that will appeal to any horror lover. I will definitely be on the lookout for other books from these authors and Cemetary Gates Media.
I received At The Cemetery Gates Year One from the publisher for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book. -
An entertaining collection of stories
I really enjoyed this collection of spooky stories. Like most anthology books there will always be some stories that aren’t as enjoyable as others but for the most part I had only small quibbles with a few of the tales. I would recommend this to any fan of horror stories! -
I enjoyed reading this collection of stories, but not as much as the author's previous book. This book held stories that were light yet ended in creepy ends which reminds me of the Grimm Fairytale stories.
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Very decent collection of short stories
These were a fun collection of lightly creepy stories. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys episodic horror a la The Twilight Zone -
I typically enjoy these Brhel & Sullivan anthologies, but this one was more “meh” than the others I’ve read. It read more YA or even Childrens book to me, and the quality of the stories just wasn’t as good.
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Interesting
Kept my interest for the duration. The stories were written well. For the price, free, it was a good read.
