| Title | : | The Horror Collection: White Edition |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 115 |
| Publication | : | Published October 22, 2019 |
Bringing you festive treats and Yuletide chills:
Mark Tufo, Amy Cross, Mark Allan Gunnells, Mark Cassell, Lex H. Jones, Chris Miller, Steven Stacy, James Matthew Byers & Kevin J. Kennedy
We hope your Christmas is both wonderful and terrifying.
The Horror Collection: White Edition Reviews
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This was a very interesting read, which took basic Christmas concepts and molded them into unsettling and horror-ridden tales. My favorite was 'The Christmas Miracle' by Chris Miller. I thought all of the stories and poems were done well, but that one in particular stood out. You really felt genuinely uncomfortable reading it, but wanted to keep going, which is how I tend to gauge a good horror story.
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Wow! This was a great collection of Christmas horror stories and poems!
There are ten all together so I will just set them out with a once sentence cryptic taste without giving away spoilers.
'Twas the Night Before Yuletide by James Matthew Byers
Twisted poem about Santa along with some cannibalism - that is about all I can give on that one.
Christmas Eve by Mark Tufo
Death is just another journey
The Advent of Father Hirst by Lex H. Jones
Advent candle obsession becomes a possible possession
Santa's Claws by Mark Allan Gunnells
Naughty or Nice poem
Santa's Gift by Mark Allan Gunnells
Santa screwed up the year before and now a little girl wants revenge.
White Oleanders by Steven Stacy
A ghost truck that makes itself known on the highway and causes havoc.
Santa's Elite by Mark Cassell
Sometimes just one mistake can cause chaos even at Santa's workshop.
A Christmas Ghost Story, 1985 by Amy Cross
Ghost stories to some might be more than just stories.
The Christmas Miracle by Chris Miller
How far would you go to save the ones you love? Would you commit murder? This is an interesting story that is twisted but heartfelt too.
Down the Bizarro Watering Hole by Kevin J. Kennedy
Drinking shots at a bar turns out to be reflections of the past for one woman. Twisted tale but with a soft touch.
All in all this was a great bunch of stories and I was happy that I read it! New authors to pursue in here as well as that is what I always seem to find when reading these collection books by KJK Publishing a/k/a Kevin J. Kennedy. Five "Twisted Santa"Stars for this one! -
You Know It! 😎
Another winner! Another lovely anthology. Full of horror and suspenseful stories with a top-notch cast of writers who are just phenomenal!
This time I’m shouting about Chris Miller, Lex M. Jones, Mark
Tufo, Mark Alan Gunnells, Mark Cassell, Amy Cross and Kevin J. Kennedy, and others.
Marvelous! ✨ -
Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
One of the most fun things I do, during my reading year, is reading the Short Story Collections by Kevin J. Kennedy during the time of year they are set in. It was such a blast to read these Horror stories during Christmas.
A longer review can be found at BiteIntoBooks
'm glad that I have a lot more short story books by this author on my TBR, so you can expect more reviews to come for his books!
I feel like this is one of the collections, so far, that had the most variety in stories. I've read two other Christmas Collections and I remember writing in my review that some of the stories felt the same. I did not feel like that at all with this collection. -
Wow! This has got to be my favorite so far in Kennedy's collection series. All of these Christmas themed stories were fantastic! There are also two poems included that blew me away. Absolutely loved each story. Me favorites though were White Oleanders, The Christmas Miracle and Down the Bizarro Watering Hole.
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The Horror Collection: White Edition is a diverse collection of winter holiday horror stories ranging from dark humor to bizarre to poetry to straight-up gruesome.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
“Twas the Night Before Yuletide” by James Matthews Byers is a dark and shocking yuletide poem to educate you on the difference between Christmas and Yuletide and make you think twice about the holiday season.
“Christmas Eve” by Mark Tufo is a devilish tale of choices and consequences.
“The Advent of Father Hirst” by Lex H Jones is a creative dark story about past things coming back to haunt the present, but absolutely not in the vein of a Scrooge story.
“Santa’s Claws” by Mark Allan Gunnells is a frightful little Christmas poem that’s sure to give me nightmares.
“Santa’s Gift” by Mark Allen Gunnells is straight-up Christmas horror as only Mark can deliver it.
“White Oleanders” by Steven Stacy is a suspense horror thriller in the tradition of old school Stephen King, but with Steven’s distinct, impactful flair.
“Santa’s Elite” by Mark Cassell wins the FU to the Author Award for this collection. It is a dark and gruesome backstory about Santa’s helpers, unique and disturbing in the Mark Cassell way. Christmas is ruined forever in my head.
“A Christmas Ghost Story, 1985” by Amy Cross is actually a Christmas ghost story set in 1895. It is well executed and quite humorous, but not really horror.
“The Christmas Miracle” by Chris Miller is a gut-wrenching, horrifying tale of desperation, masterfully told as one expects of this rising master of the genre.
“Down the Bizarro Watering Hole” by Kevin J Kennedy is definitive bizarro horror with an old school Christmas theme.
No matter how you celebrate the holiday season, there is something here to make it twisted. -
The Horror Collection: White Edition
Presented by KJK Publishing
Multiple Authors
Genre - Fiction
Sub-Genre - Horror/Anthology/Short Story
Pages - 115
Publication Information - KJK Publishing, October 22, 2019
Reviewed by William C. Bitner, Jr. (
https://booksinmylibraryblog.wordpres...)
Rating - 📙📙📙📙📙
Found within the pages of “The Horror Collection: White Edition”, are a collection of Christmas Horror short stories, stanzas and poetry by some of your favorite independent horror authors...
Twas the Night Before Yuletide by James Matthew Byers
Christmas Eve by Mark Tufo
The Advent of FAther Hirst by Lex H. Jones
Santa’s Claws by Mark Allan Gunnells
Santa’s Gift by Mark Allan Gunnells
White Oleanders by Steven Stacy
Santa’s Elite by Mark Cassell
A Christmas Ghost Story, 1985 by Amy Cross
The Christmas Miracle by Chris Miller
Down The Bizarro Watering Hole by Kevin J. Kennedy
Deck the halls with bowels and entrails . . . get comfortable with a toasty mug of hot chocolate or one of your favorite holiday beverages and get ready to have the Christmas scared right the hell out of you. If you are a fan of Christmas Horrors like “Silent Night, Deadly Night”, “Red Christmas”, “Black Christmas”, “To All a Goodnight”, or “Krampus”, you will certainly be entertained with this collection of grizzly, dark and gruesome stories. Lessons will be taught, names will be taken and lists will be updated to see who’s been naughty, naughtier or naughtiest - (nice doesn't count for much in this collection). The definition of “Elf” will be redefined and you will never look at Santa’s helper quit the same. So, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of “The Horror Collection: White Edition” and have a very terrifying holiday season. If you’re familiar with ay of Kevin’s other productions you will not be disappointed.
Other Project by Kevin J. Kennedy: The Horror Collection: Gold Edition (THC Book 1); The Horror Collection: Black Edition (THC Book 2); The Horror Collection: Purple Edition (THC Book 3); Dark Thoughts: A Collection of Horror Stories; Dark Places, Evil Places Volume II; Carnival of Horrors: A Carnival Themed Horror Anthology; Collected Christmas Horror Short (Collected Horror Shorts, Book 1); Collected Christmas Horror Shorts 2 (Collected Horror Shorts, Book 4); Collected Halloween Horror Shorts: Trick r’ Treat (Collected Horror Shorts, Book 3); Collected Easter Horror Short (Collected Horror Shorts, Book 2); 100 Word Horrors: An Anthology of Horror Drabbles (100 Word Horror Collection, Book 1); 100 Word Horrors: An Anthology of Horror Drabbles (100 Word Horror Collection, Book 2); 100 Word Horrors: An Anthology of Horror Drabbles (100 Word Horror Collection, Book 3); Spooky Halloween Drabbles 2016; Hydrophobia: Charity Anthology for Victims of Hurricane Harvey; Spooky Halloween Drabbles 2015; You Only Get One Shot: A Horror Novella; The Queuing Dead: A Very British Zombie Anthology; Screechers: A Post-Apocalyptic Novella; VS: U.S. vs U.K. Horror; Made in Britain; Fifty Shades of Slay; Tales from the Braided Pony; Unleashed: Monsters vs Zombies Volume II; The Gatekeeper: A Kindle Short; No Place Like Home: Twisted Tales from the Yellow Brick Road; The Reverend Burdizzo’s Hymn Book; The Speculative Book; et. al. -
This is my first of Kevin J. Kennedy's series of horror collection named after colors. The White edition is a special Christmas collection, and I chose it to ring in the Christmas season this year. Overall it was a solid collection, with no real misfires. There were some particular standouts however:
"The Advent of Father Hirst" by Lex H. Jones is written as a series of diary entries by a priest, who is starting in a new town at the beginning of Advent. Upon discovering his predecessor's diary, he learns of an important and sacred tradition of his new church; he must keep the Advent candles lit all season. They must not go out, or the results would be too horrible to contemplate.
"White Oleanders" by Steven Stacy is basically Duel but Christmas themed. I wasn't sure I was going to like this one. "Road Rage" horror is not one of my favorite subgenres. However I decided to give this one a go, and it had me turning the pages so fast, I'd read the whole thing before I even realized it.
Finally, "A Christmas Ghost Story, 1895" by Amy Cross was a wonderfully vintage historical ghost story, centered around a group of men who gather each Christmas Eve to tell ghost stories. I'd been wanting to check out some of Cross's work, and this was the perfect intro.
Definitely check this collection out if you're looking for spooky good stories to get you into the Christmas spirit. -
The Horror Collection: White Edition by Kevin J. Kennedy is the perfect read for fans of horror and the Christmas holiday.
I mean... Christmas and Horror?! Come on. Sign me up!!
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.
From paranormal-themed-spooky to real world terror, and from eerily creepy to horrifyingly gruesome, this collection has quite the variety of tales!
Each tale in this collection was wonderfully written and perfectly horrific. I just couldn’t get enough!
Per usual, here are my quick reactions and rating breakdowns for each story:
‘Twas the Night Before Yuletide by James Matthew Byers – 4/5
What a way to kick off the collection! This poem was a trip with an intense ending!
Christmas Eve by Mark Tufo – 5/5
Oh my gosh, I loved this one so much! Poor Devan… What a crazy tale, but so wonderful. I also loved the idea of Karma being an individual! That could certainly be another story itself!
The Advent of Father Hirst by Lex H Jones – 4/5
Eek! How scary! This story really came alive! With how well this one was written, I could imagine it all happening very vividly. I actually found myself picturing the church in my hometown that I would go to for bible school. Phew, I haven’t thought of the inside of that place in ages.
Santa’s Claws by Mark Allan Gunnells – 5/5
Spooky!! This takes the creep factor up a notch!
Santa’s Gift by Mark Allan Gunnells – 5/5
YIKES! What a little terror Susie is. What an ending!
White Oleanders by Steven Stacy – 4/5
Oooh! Take a bit of Christine by Stephen King, mix it with a bit of No Exit by Taylor Adams, then add a dash of Final Destination and you’ve got this tale! This was so terrifying and so wonderfully done!
Santa’s Elite by Mark Cassell – 4/5
Woah! What an interesting and spooky idea! Using the bits of ribbon to cut down on the population is such a terrifying idea!
A Christmas Story, 1985 by Amy Cross – 4/5
What an awesome ghost story!! I loved that it was centered around story telling! I wonder what the mans story would be about next year…
The Christmas Miracle by Chris Miller – 5/5
Oofh. The most horrifying tales are the ones that hit you with a gut punch. So heartbreaking but so wonderfully done.
Down the Bizarro Watering Hole by Kevin J Kennedy – 5/5
Woah!! This one was nuts! I loved the theme and the overall message. I hope everything worked out!!
My Final Thoughts:
I’m SO excited that this book was my first holiday themed read of the year. It was so much fun to read. I ended up forcing myself to put it down simply so I could drag it out a bit. I easily could have read straight through…
This collection certainly set the bar high for the rest of my holiday reads this year!
I cannot recommend this one highly enough to fans of horror, especially fans of holiday themed horror. Enjoy! -
I mainly got this collection of short horror stories because I am a HUGE fan of Amy Cross books and I saw that she was one of the authors. And I’m so glad I did! This collection of short stories was so fun to read!
Each of the stories takes place around Christmas time, so it was a great book for December for those of us who like horror stories all year round. Each author had such a unique voice and storytelling technique! There were twists and surprises, “Oh my gosh” moments, and a range of character voices. Some ghosts, some devils, some people that were just plain bad. Fabulous! While not all stories could be winners, it was still fun to get introduced to authors I might never have read otherwise.
A fun collection of horror! I’ll be reading some more of these collections in the future! -
Great Read.!
I really enjoyed these holiday tales of horror. I recommend this book to fans of the horror genre and Christmas. -
This year’s Christmas Review is a collection of dark but festive tales to be remembered, featuring names such as Lex H Jones, Mark Cassell and Amy Cross plus some new ones I hadn’t previously heard of, I tucked in with appetite, and oh what a feast it was.
This collection tells of vengeance, rage, desperation and tradition and I loved every story. Generally speaking in an anthology I’ll like one story for each one that I don’t, but these all entertained and amused me so much that I was at the end of the book before I knew it.
The book starts out with a grisly poem by James Matthew Byers, which sets the tone for the journey we are about to embark on.
Next in line is Christmas Eve by Mark Tufo, a fateful tale of love, betrayal and consequence. I very much enjoyed this story, it’s written beautifully and the imagery flows as the story unfolds. The character is easily relatable and the feelings and emotions he is feeling take center stage. Something I like about this is it talks about men in a situation we generally don’t talk about and I feel strongly that such things should have more of a voice. This is a great way to raise awareness whilst not being a public service announcement.
Second comes The Advent Of Father Hirst by Lex H Jones, a favourite I must admit, this story is in diary format and speaks of Tradition. As the story is told we notice the Father become uneasy and more desperate in his quest to honour a promise, however, what consequence awaits if such a promise is broken? Beautifully crafted, this story is not one to be missed. The character development is on point and the imagery exemplary.
Breaking us out of the flow, we have a second poem this time by Mark Allan Gunnells, a short and sour ditty sure to keep us in the festive chill. Directly after this we have Santa’s Gift by the same author, a tale of vengeance if ever there was one, this story focusses on a Mall Santa trying to make an extra buck to buy a nice gift, but not everyone is pleased to see Santa this year..
White Oleanders by Steven Stacy is up next, starting out this is your average moralistic slasher story about obnoxious young adults being themselves, but with the holiday theme and the writing style Mr Stacy employs he had me hooked. He managed to weave just enough into his characters to keep his cliché but make me want to stick around and see what was in store. You’ll never look at the Coca Cola truck in the same way again after this ride.
Turning up the heat after our frosty adventure is Santa’s Elite by Mark Cassell, a more casual style to this story than what came before it I wasn’t sure exactly what I was expecting from this but in true Cassell style he brought it in. Reference to some fairly close to home stuff for many, this story manages to be respectful in it’s endeavour to entertain it’s audience. If you want a gritty festive tale of mutiny you’ve got it.
Amy Cross is up next with A Christmas Ghost Story 1985, a first person narration of another Tradition, this time a social gathering which might send a chill down your spine, easily relatable as someone who would personally employ such a tradition it’s a great story to unwind with after some ghastly happenings in the previous stories.
The Christmas Miracle by Chris Miller brings emotion to the forefront with a desperate father in an impossible situation. A sick child, a parent’s love and a misguided attempt to help. Once again imagery takes a spotlight in this story as we are plunged into a fly on the wall situation.
And finally bringing up the rear is Down the Bizarro Watering Hole by Kevin J Kennedy, a lift in tone to end the book but Bizarro is definitely the name for the events our character is placed into. The reaction entirely human and relatable.
This is a fantastic Christmas read for anybody and I’m glad I chose this for review this year. A comfortable pace on an otherwise uncomfortable subject matter, you can sit down and binge read this or you can grab a coffee and have a story each day. Every writer in this collection is talented and each deserves recognition. Usually I don’t write about every story, I would chose a few favourites but whilst I do have some that I favour more than others, this time around I couldn’t choose which ones to tell you about.
Get the book and put your feet up, you won’t be sorry! -
Good reading
Good short stories that are interesting and keep your attention. Had it read in no time, and I'm a slow reader. Or rather don't have much time to read. -
The story Santa's Gift was the only story I really dug. This collection left me a bit underwhelmed. Typically I really dig these collections from Kevin Kennedy.
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Not a favorite
One of the few books I didn't care for..I prefer short stories and these were very long...almost novellas....and looking winded -
3⭐️
I really liked this collection of short stories which featured lots of weird and wonderful things such as Christmas spirits, candles, Santa on the naughty list, Coca Cola Christmas truck revenge, Santa’s workers reducing the population, Christmas ghost stories, parental desperation, and strange Christmas apparitions.
Here are a few of my favourites:
❄️Christmas Eve ~ this short story contained an unexpected and clever twist that I did not see coming about a delivery man on his rounds before Christmas.
❄️The Advent of Father Hirst ~ the whole story based on keeping candles lit was intriguing and served as a good read.
❄️Santa’s Gift ~ this one was comical and I could really picture it in my head as Santa is in the little girl’s bad books for not bringing what she wanted.
❄️White Oleanders ~ this read was a little more gruesome and featured two couples who’s festive holiday was upturned by a Coca Cola Christmas Truck out for revenge.
❄️The Christmas Miracle ~ this was the most heartbreaking of them all and was based on parental desperation and the things you would do to save your child. This read was insanely clever!
❄️Down the Bizarro Watering Hole ~ this was another great read and reminded me of a modern Scrooge, with alcohol, apparitions and a great underlying message.
I enjoyed these reads, but definitely preferred the Pumpkin Edition more!
⚠️ Please check out the trigger warnings! ⚠️ -
Really bad, only 2 tales are good.
All the good reviews are from writers or friends, for sure.
