Dead of Winter by Lindy Ryan

Dead of Winter Reviews

• 
  Becky Spratford

  Review in January 2021 Horror Review column for Library Journal:
  https://www.libraryjournal.com/?revie...
  
  Three Words That Describe This Book: creepy, long dark nights, immersive
  
  Draft Review:
  
  Winter has always been a time for creepy stories. Before electricity, winter meant unyielding darkness, bitter cold, fear or survival, and monsters in the shadows, and this collection of eight new stories harken back to that time, when winter and terror were synonymous. Two standouts, “A Face Inside the Christmas Ball” by Daniel Buell reimages the final days of a young boys belief in the magic of Santa as a terrifying nightmare with mortal consequences, while “The Tinker’s Son” by Cassondra Windwalker, a native Alaskan who knows about long dark nights firsthand, is a witch story framed as a menacing fairy tale featuring an engaging narration that begs the reader to enter its world from the first lines. A wide range of stories from terrifying to atmospheric are represented here; a collection by emerging voices that is worth curling up by the fire with, as long as you keep the lights blaring. Verdict: While Covid delayed this collection by a few months, readers will enjoy being immersed in these winter themed stories both anytime of year. Pair with the excellent collection of Victorian winter solstice and Christmas Ghost stories by publisher Biblioasis.
  
• 
  Jypsy

  I received a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
  
  Dead Of Winter
  By: Lindy Ryan, et. al.
  
  REVIEW ☆☆☆☆
  
  Eight chilling tales to read under the Cold Moon.
  
  A tinker’s son acquires a cursed soul.
  
  A dying woman is haunted by her own reflection.
  
  An uninvited presence haunts a Christmas seance.
  
  A festive holiday turns macabre.
  
  Despite the twinkling lights and steaming cocoa, the end of the year is the darkest time of the year—a season of short days, long nights, and cold skies. In this special anniversary anthology, the authors of Black Spot Books mix Ye Olde Yuletide hauntings with modern-day holiday horrors to weave a chilling new collection of dark winter tales. From frozen forests stalked by eerie Christmas ghosts to rotting gifts of winter malice, the spirits of Christmas come home for the holidays in the Dead of Winter.
  
  ***
  Winter nights are eerie. Even holiday festivities can't shake the stillness. In literature, there is something fascinating about the juxtaposition of holiday cheer and horror. You want to look away but can't. The Dead Of Winter anthology offers eight short stories of sinister seasonal greetings with a cold cup of dread instead of eggnog.
  
  That's not to say these stories are horrible, well, at least, not in a bad way, because each one is entertaining and quirky in its own right. Even if you are not a fan of short stories, do consider reading this unique ensemble. I like to view the anthology as a whole, and I look for commonalities. Collectively, these stories shine-illuminating the not so cheerful things waiting for you (possibly?) around the corner!
  With plenty of variety to offer, it's not difficult to find an appealing tale or two in this collection. Just don't scare yourself too much!
• 
  Michelle

  Dead of Winter is an anthology that mixes horror stories with the holiday spirit of Christmas. I loved seeing these quick and creepy dark tales. Dead of Winter features "eight chilling tales to read under the cold moon." I really enjoyed this anthology. It is the length of a short novel when all the stories are combined so you can easily read it in one sitting or you can spread it out and read story whenever you are looking for a quick creepy tale fix. I love anthologies because they give me a way to discover new to me authors, which was my favorite part of Death of Winter. I can't wait to check out other books by some of these contributing authors now. Dead of winter is perfect to pick up right now with all this chilly weather we are having!  I enjoyed all of the stories, though naturally I liked some more than the others. My favorite story in the collection was “The Tinker’s Son” by Cassondra Windwalker, which is an awesome witch story!
• 
  Zoe L.

  I feel like I was robbed of my winter this year with how hot it has been, so I’m taking it back with some spooky stories. I mean, if I’m not feeling chilled from the weather I might as well feel some chills from what I’m reading. And it has been far too long since I read an anthology of stories, so honestly this book was just long overdue.
  
  This collection of stories was just so good. I wanted to say it was better than expected, but I nearly always fall in love with anthologies, so I went into this with high expectations that were most definitely met and then some. So it was a complete success in blowing me away! Plus I’ve just been in the mood for horror and spooky and all around creepy, so this was the perfect read to fill some of those cravings. And I loved how all of the stories had a similar premise but they all delivered something new and different.
  
  Dead of Winter is an amazing collection of stories that all come together to make something unique and special. And because it is an anthology it is an extremely quick read for all of my binge readers out there as well as one you could take your time with and never lose track of what you’ve read. So, I mean this one is an all around win!
  
  You can view my full review & giveaway on
  my blog! I also post about a lot of different types of books!
  
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• 
  RaChelle Holmberg

  Received as a gift from an ARC group that I belong to, this was an interesting read, as always in an anthology, some better than others. If course that's personal opinion. Interesting premise that each story was written with a pandemic / isolation / aloneness concept in mind.
• 
  Jennifer Coffey

  Out of my comfort zone but a lot of fun!
• 
  Jo Anne

  A little housekeeping first. I blame the program that converts typed words into ebooks. The first few stories in this anthology all had typos and missing words, and I don't know if that is a bad program or lazy final edits on the parts of the authors. If you can, go back over your work and fix them. Also, the word is taut, which is tight. Taught is what you should have learned in school, same as peek and peak, tea and tee and it's WHOA, not woah, which I am seeing a lot more of, even in subtitles on TV and movies. You are keepers of the words; as writers it's up to you to respect the words and spell them right.
  As for the 8 stories; all were deliciously horrific! Some of the stories took place in winter's bitter period and some used Christmas as the theme to cold weather. Both themes were right on spot. If you dislike winter and all the things that take place in that time period AND horror, this book of short stories is for you.
• 
  Mary

  This was a good 'in-between' read when you want to take a break from the longer novels and want a quick read.
  
  I enjoyed the stories in this, a good mix of tales, but nothing too creepy or scary. Not sure if I'd go and specifically look for any of the authors' other books, however having said that these stories were a nice way to fill in those bits of time when you want to just read something quickly.
  
  I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
• 
  Syntha Green

  Like most anthologies some stories were better than others, but there were definitely some hems like Laura Morrison’s Jolly Old Saint Ryan
• 
  Lallen

  Average
  
  Was quite pleased with the first few stories. They were different; somewhat scary and well written. Then came the one about the gal with cancer and her parallel universe ( I don’t like having to reread paragraphs to finger out the character). Not as stupid as the story about the curse of being Santa though.