Tiny Nightmares by Lincoln Michel

Tiny Nightmares Reviews

• 
  Will Byrnes

  You expect a glove in a melting snow mound Three days later we realized it was a hand The Barrow Wight The human fang is uniue in that we use it to bite not only one another but ourselves Joy and Other Poisons There’s plenty of ways to manipulate the man you love and most of them you learn by watching Carbon FootprintSo really what are the sources of nightmares small or large? Well the big ones are fairly obvious war plague violence against one’s person violence against one’s loved ones death serious illness serious pain loss of functionality or body parts being cut off from those we love being cut off from everyone the loss of freedom the loss of hope being unable to communicate and plenty We do not really need immortal serial killers witches zombie apocalypses hungry great white sharks or dark hearted supernatural or alien creatures to give us the chills In stories they often stand in though for the horrors we face or assiduously avoid in real life Like Invasion of the Body Snatchers as a metaphor for the dread of Communism for example in the 1950s There is plenty of that here Editor Lincoln Michel image from his site Still there is a generic element that tends to frighten the unnatural We are used to a world that operates by certain rules that fulfills general expectations that usually sticks to certain norms Up is up Down is down The sun rises and sets You know normal The creepiness of the unnatural is a freuent element in horror stories as well as in the real world unnaturalness of our current political reality Editor Nadxieli Nieto image from House of SpeakeasyI always thought a sleeping nightmare only counted as such if one was startled to wakefulness by the dream Turns out not so much at least according to the definition below What level of fear is reuired for a dream to cross over to nightmare from simply scary? This from Lexicocom1 a frightening or unpleasant dream2 A terrifying or very unpleasant experience or prospect3 A person thing or situation that is very difficult to deal withIt is derived from Middle English denoting a female evil spirit thought to lie upon and suffocate sleepers from night Old English mære ‘incubus’ Turns out it is a fairly common experience A nightmare is simply something that sucks which puts many of us afloat in a sea of suckitude Which would be a really awful way to talk about this collection which most definitely does not suck The Nightmare by John Henry Fuseli – 1781 – image from WikipediaThere are some stories in which the protagonist has unpleasant or at least decidedly strange experiences while asleep But most are awake for their adventures “Terrifying or very unpleasant experience” definitely covers many of the stories here Some very definitely have to do with people who are difficult to deal with Tiny Nightmares with forty two stories of 1500 words or less offers a wide swath of tale types from which to choose They take place in a range of locales from bars to shops at sea from the oceanfront to the desert from a police station to a museum from other planets to other dimensions to horrible places where one might flee to escape the even greater horror of reality There are plenty of the monsters here that one might expect to unsettle our rest shape changers witches a demon a many mouthed reptilian a vampire werewolf and ghosts among others as well as situations or environments that are decidedly unnatural But most are of the very human sort Pogo famously said “We have met the enemy and he is us” It might as easily be said that we have seen the face of true horror staring back at us from a mirror There are many stories among the forty two that reflect real world reality based fears In what is perhaps the most chilling a trio of cops lead us to recall incredible deaths of prisoners in custody A potential rapist lets his potential victim know just how vulnerable she is A potential murderer lets his next victim a gay man know he is coming for him and knows his secrets A killer leaves parts to be found and leads us to wonder if one was enough Eco terrorists practice a dark and particularly inefficient form of population controlThere are many stories in here in which we are presented with a situation and offered no resolution If you are looking for beginning middle end narratives with wrapped up endings you might find a few here but there are many that present wonderful concepts scary concepts The short story is often just a delivery mechanism for an idea or an image In longer pieces we have a much greater opportunity to develop a feeling for a character or characters and it is that relationship the ability to see ourselves in a character’s situation that usually makes a dark outcome scary That is very tough to accomplish with stories that allow only up to 1500 words in which to create and connect readers with a made up person while also presenting the notion So ideas rule here There is O Henryian irony biting social criticism some really bad parenting less than wonderful marriages and of course there are a few stories for which you might do a Lewis Black jowl shake finishing with a “huh?”Overall though this is a fascinating collection Not for me all that frightening but if you have read my previous reviews of horror books you know that I have a particularly high bar for scary I even wonder sometimes if maybe I am missing one of the usual DNA bits that encourages one to keep the lights on overnight after a masterfully terrifying read Maybe Dunno But that said a few in here did give me chills the images having planted themselves into my dodgy memory If you are a fan of the genre Tiny Nightmares should do uite nicely And if you are a fan of flash fiction presuming the 1500 word count limit ualifies I know for some it is 1000 it is a double win So if you are a reader with the eeeeeeek genes I lack you can probably look forward to some large nightmares just in time for Halloween Review posted – October 23 2020Publication date – October 13 2020I received a copy of Tiny Nightmares from Catapult in return for a fear free review EXTRA STUFFLinks to editor Lincoln Michel’s personal Twitter Instagram and FB pagesLinks to Nadxieli Nieto’s’s Twitter and GR pagesIn the STORIES section below in Comment #1 there are links to almost all the authors and you will find a few of the stories linked as well so you can take in a small sample of the productI would not want to a miss this obvious opportunity for a bit of self promotion so offer the following horror stories by moi for your consideration The Hand definitely of flash length coming in under 500 words Page Turner is a wee bit longer coming in at around 9K In the summer of 2019 GR reduced the allowable review size by 25% from 20000 to 15000 characters In order to accommodate the text beyond that I have moved it to the comments section directly below
• 
  karen

  SO MANY PICTURESTINY TINY FOR SPOOKTOBERa couple years back i read Tiny Crimes Very Short Tales of Mystery and Murder and i've decided to review this companion book in the same foolishly time consuming way lifting the intro from my tiny crimes reviewpart of the reason i don’t read a ton of short story collections is because the prospect of reviewing short story collections makes my soul uake it’s like having to write 20 reviews instead of one or in the case of this anthology FORTY TWO and sure i could just write a review for the collection in toto or not review the book at all but that seems worse somehow so instead of shrinking from a challenge or rising to a challenge i am going to ricochet the challenge a little and write a FORTY TWO THOUSAND WORD REVIEW using that math where a picture is worth a thousand words picture reviews take much longer than word reviews but they’re much fun for me anyway i’m not sure who you are or what you find fun but feel free to tell me i’m just going to be over here finding the one perfect image that nutshells each individual story perfectly PART ONE HEADSGUESS MEG ELISON★★★★★REARVIEW SAMANTHA HUNT★★★☆☆GRIMALKIN ANDREW F SULLIVAN★★★★☆DOGGY DOG WORLD HILARY LEICHTER★★★☆☆TWENTY FIRST CENTURY VETALA AMRITA CHAKRABORTY★★★☆☆WE'VE BEEN IN ENOUGH PLACES TO KNOW COREYFARRENKOPF★★★☆☆LIFELINE JS BREUKELAAR★★★★☆JANE DEATH THEORY #13 RION AMILCAR SCOTT★★★★★THE BLUE ROOM LENA VALENCIA★★★☆☆UNBEKNOWNST MATTHEW VOLLMER★★★★★LONE JAC JEMC★★★★★ PART TWO HEARTSPIPEWORKS CHAVISA WOODS★★★★☆THE OWNER WHITNEY COLLINS★★★☆☆THE RESPLENDENCE OF DISAPPEARING IVAN PARRA GARCIA TRANSLATED BY ALLANA C NOYES★★★☆☆THE WHEAT WOMAN THERESA HOTTEL★★★☆☆HAROLD SELENA GAMBRELL ANDERSON★★★☆☆CANDY BOII SAM J MILLER★★★★★THE UNHAUNTING KEVIN NGUYEN★★★★★THE MARRIAGE VARIATIONS MONIUE LABAN★★★★☆THE FAMILY DINNER MICHELE ZIMMERMAN★★★★☆AFTERLIVES BENNETT SIMS★★★☆☆THE STORY AND THE SEED AMBER SPARKS★★★★☆PART THREE LIMBSFINGERS RACHEL HENG★★★★☆CARBON FOOTPRINT SHELLY ORIA★★★★☆WE CAME HERE FOR FUN ALANA MOHAMED★★★★☆THE BARROW WIGHT JOSH COOK★★★★★KATY BARS THE DOOR RICHIE NARVAEZ★★★★☆PINCER AND TONGUE STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES★★★★★THE MASK THE RIDE THE BAG CHASE BURKE★★★★☆CEDAR GROVE ROSE CANISIA LUBRIN★★★☆☆#MOTHERMAYHEM JEI D MARCADE★★★★☆LEG BRIAN EVENSON★★★★☆PART FOUR VISCERAVEINS LIKE A SYSTEM ESHANI SURYA★★★★☆CARAVAN PEDRO INIGUEZ★★★★☆DOWNPOUR JOSEPH SALVATORE★★★☆☆HUMAN MILK FOR HUMAN BABIES LINDSAY KING MILLER★★★★☆PICTURES OF HEAVEN BEN LOORY★★★★☆GABRIEL METSU MAN WRITING A LETTER C 1664 66 HELEN MCCLORY★★★☆☆INSTRUMENT OF THE ANCESTORS TROY L WIGGINS★★★★☆JOY AND OTHER POISONS VAJRA CHANDRASEKERA★★★★☆VISITING HOURS LILLIAM RIVERA★★★☆☆PARAKEETS KEVIN BROCKMEIER★★★★★at the end of my Tiny Crimes Very Short Tales of Mystery and Murder review i wrote good lord never again guess i never learn come to my blog
• 
  Maximilian Birner

  A uick fun October spooky read that is for anyone with a craving short horror talesLots of standouts in this collection my favorites probably being the mud pits story the bagged serial killer and the dog story I don't have a lot of issues with this because it's such a diverse range of stories and you'll get something crazy each time you turn the next page It just depends if that story fits your vibe or it's something conceptually you'll dislike But there's always a plus of being able to skip over ones you don't enjoy as muchI enjoyed Tiny Nightmares and while others may be easily forgotten a few stories will live in my head for weeks to come
• 
  Helen McClory

  Full disclosure I have a story in this collectionAside from that this reads like a morning fever dream tossing you about from nightmare to nightmare When at last you drag yourself up from it the world tastes a little metallic and everything is just lightly askew
• 
  Sarah

  Do tiny nightmares once introduced to us stay tiny? Or do they latch on and gain strength until we are the ones small and afraid unable to protect ourselves from what lies in the dark? Tiny Nightmares gives authors the chance to terrify in 1500 words or less over a variety of subjects; from the fantastically supernatural to the depressingly here and now and everything muddled between and around I found myself surrounded by these tiny nightmares; some whispering over my shoulder some digging under my skin some even calling to me from the darkened corners of my room or scratching at the mirrors and even after reading the last words found them with me stillThank you to Black Balloon Publishing for allowing me a chance to read the ARC to review
• 
  Kari

  What’s better than a book full of 40 fast moving horror stories that you can tell and read throughout the Halloween Season Written by literary horror and emerging writers there’s a little of something spooky for everyone I love reading a little bit everyday especially during spooky season It creates the perfect atmosphere to get me in the Halloween Spirit
• 
  Kristen Shaw

  This is a great anthology that introduced me to some new and upcoming writers and provided great content from established horror voices I don't think there was one story that I didn't enjoy or appreciate though I definitely have my favourites My one minor complaint with the collection is that while the short format worked for most of the stories there were others that I felt would have been effective as longer worksMy favourites include Guess by Meg Elison which is a bit of cli fi dystopian goodness about a woman who can accurately predict how people will die We've Been in Enough Places to Know by Corey Farrenkopf is a commentary on housing ineuality that involves a very creepy basement dwelling auatic creature Jane Death Theory #13 by Rion Amilcar Scott explores the horrors of police brutality Pincer and Tongue by Stephen Graham Jones explores the repercussions of two exes a vampire and a werewolf battling it out in a jungle Fingers by Rachel Heng is another bit of cli fi that begins with children getting pulled under the muddy ground by fingers that grip them from below but it goes in a really interesting and unexpected direction #MOTHERMAYHEM by Jei D Marcade has one of the best first lines I've ever read and is legitimately creepy as hell These are just some of the stories that gripped me the most but as I said each one is pretty greatThe anthology gets gruesome or reflective of traditional horror as it progresses There are some stories that are on the weird fiction spectrum and sometimes the horrors are about social ills than traditional monsters This is definitely up my alley and I appreciated that the anthology treated horror as a broad category focusing on experimental approaches to the genre rather than popular tropes However there is also a good amount of pulpy horror fun for those who like that kind of thing I do Content warnings for pretty much all the things violence murder abuse violent deaths sexism racismRecommended for literary horror fans weirdexperimental fiction fans those interested in how literature can address social issues in fresh and effective ways those interested in exposure to new and upcoming horrorspec fic writersI received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
• 
  Jaylen Lopez

  This is a collection of 42 spooky stories by various established and upcoming literary and horror writers Ever since I heard about this book a few months ago I have been dying to get my hands on a copy I binged this collection of horror nuggets and had a blast reading it This book reminded me of the reading pleasures of binging the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collections as a kid Each story in the collection is less than 1500 words making them consumable in minutes Subjects range from an Uber passenger serial killer vampires a zombie apocalypse etc Many of these stories get into even bizarre territory that is difficult to briefly describe I’ll give it a shot one story involves a sea captain with a prosthetic leg and the leg comes to life when it is detached from the captain and has sinister plans fun stuff However what I appreciated most about this collection is that the stories have depth despite their brief word count Many of the stories serve as social commentary based in a range of topics such as police brutality environmental crisesclimate change sexism etc I can’t think of a better book recommendation for spooky season
• 
  Lori

  Small stories that pack deceivingly large punches this flash length anthology pulls together some of the best names in contemporary horror and weird fiction I had high hopes for this one and it definitely did not disappoint All the usual tropes are here monsters known and unfamiliar the terror of technology horrors both physical and psychological yet they are dressed up and served to us in new and uniue ways Good old ghosts stories? Check Scary shit on space ships? Check Creepy fairy tale retellings and a pretty cool choose your own adventure? Check and check Whether you're a seasoned horror reader like me or a novice who scares easily i'm looking at you scaredy cats who hide horror books in the freezer do people seriously do that? there's something for everyone and just so darn much to love And what better time to dip into a book of spooky stories than right now?
• 
  Drew

  I feel like all anthologies are hit or miss but this one has a frankly ungodly number of hits Nearly every single story in here is terrific which may be due to the flash length or just the right pairing of subject matter and writer? Who knows; what I do know is that these stories are spooky scary eerie weird strange and terrific Specifically loved SGJ's Lena Valencia's Samantha Hunt's and a few others but everybody fright master or scaredy cat will find something to enjoy here