Bloodlines: Four Tales of Familial Fear by Alex Wolfgang

Bloodlines: Four Tales of Familial Fear Reviews

• 
  Richard Martin

  Four members of the HOWL (Horror Obsessed Writing and Literary) Society have joined forces to each give us a tale of family (and they do not mean the Hallmark variety). Each novella promises a dark dive into what being part of a family means, and none can resist showing the dark side of that familial bond. Boasting an introduction by HOWL Society founder, Solomon Forse (which is worth the price of admission alone) alongside four tales from some immensely talented horror writers, I’ve broken down some sneak peeks at what ‘Bloodlines’ has in store for you.
  
  Our Migraine by Christopher O’Halloran
  Angie, Liza and Penny are three sisters who share a terrible burden. They share a migraine. One that can be passed between each sister when the pain becomes too much to bear. Until it is passed on the migraine builds with each passing moment, becoming increasingly more debilitating and painful until the holder has no choice but to transfer it to the next sister in line. With Angie working on her PhD in the hopes of finding a cure, Liza finding success in her new career and Penny finding happiness in a new relationship, each has their own life to live, but can they find a way toward normalcy while their curse hangs over (or within) their head?
  
  Anyone who has suffered from migraines will find O’Halloran’s lengthy and vivid descriptions of his lead characters in the throes of the worst of their ‘turns’ absolutely stomach-churning. The early paragraphs really help set the scene for quite how awful their communal migraine is to live with and it comes as a huge relief when we learn it is at least something the sisters, who seem to share a genuinely loving bond with each other, can take away from each other, even if just for a short time.
  
  It's such a unique and interesting premise and one that is a great springboard into deeper themes (familial bonds, trust, loss). Not only does the story boast a unique concept, but it continues to be an unpredictable narrative right through to the end. The other big reason this story works so well is how well-drawn the three sisters are as characters. You feel very connected to them, almost from the outset, and each come across as complex individuals while sharing enough quirks and traits with each other to mark them out as a family without the need to expressly state it. It is an impressive feat, given the story is relatively short, but ‘Our Migraine’ packs a lot into its brief page count and gets ‘Bloodlines’ off to a darkly memorable start.
  
  Nos Da, Tad by Antony Frost
  “That’s what it means to be the son of a monster, you will always have him with you”.
  The above sentence, taken from the closing chapter of ‘Nos Da, Tad” (Good Night, Dad in Welsh) perfectly encapsulates what Antony Frost is writing about in this haunting tale of cosmic horror.
  When Fin receives word that his father has passed away, he immediately greets the news with indifference. His father had been absent for much of his childhood and his memories of the man are universally unpleasant, half recalled instances of violence and abuse. His hand is forced when he discovers his father has left him an inheritance and with partner Martin in tow, he sets off to visit the now-empty home of his estranged parent.
  
  Almost immediately upon arrival, Fin begins to have strange encounters with men he does not recognise and finds items in his father’s possession that defy explanation. He becomes to suspect that his father may have been involved with some occult fanatics and that he may unwittingly find himself embroiled in what his father left unfinished.
  
  This was a great mix of family drama and otherworldly terrors, managing an unusual balancing act of being both unsettling and heart-warming at the same time. Fin is a big part of why I liked the story so much, as the focus throughout the story is how events impact him, no matter how grand and the focus on character gives a lot of depth to someone we only get to spend a few dozen pages with. It also happens to feature one of my favourite endings to a story I have read in a very long time.
  
  I am Not To Be Replaced by Carson Winter
  I love stories where the reader gets dropped into a situation where all of the characters know what is going on, but we don’t have a clue, and so until we get caught up, you are poring over every word, analysing every word spoken by every character, trying to figure it out. It’s not often you see such a tactic pulled off entirely successfully because it’s a tough balancing act between keeping us engaged and holding just enough back. ‘I am Not To Be Replaced’ has a fantastic opening hook and keeps the reader on it until the last page.
  
  Jeannie is waiting at her family’s cabin for them all to arrive. She wasn’t invited, and they don’t know she is there and when they show up, there is another Jeannie with them. This other Jeannie looks the same, talks the same, and acts the same as she does. The family seem to adore her and treat her like one of their own. They are almost identical, but there is one big difference.
  One of them is dead.
  
  I absolutely raced through this story. The concept is so intriguing and the big reveal so satisfying, that you need to set aside enough time to read this one in its entirety in a single sitting because there is no way to put it down once you’ve started. I loved that it didn’t necessarily give you all the answers by the end either. There is enough hinted at for you to draw your own conclusions but not so little that the story becomes overly vague. It also boasts the most bombastic, over the top ending of the collection, giving just another reason why this is a story you’re going to remember long after you’ve read it.
  
  The Heads of Leviathan by Alex Wolfgang
  I’ve been a big fan of Alex Wolfgangs’ since reading his phenomenal short story collection ‘Splinter’ last year and I was looking forward to reading more when I picked up ‘Bloodlines’. If I thought I knew what to expect with ‘The Heads of Leviathan’ based on my past experience with the author, then these expectations were soon shattered.
  
  When a family living alone on a remote island lose their mother to a mysterious illness it is left to eldest son Adam to look after his four young siblings, with only his mother's cryptic last words to guide him.
  
  “Once it starts, you’ll know. See it through quickly. I’ll try my best to help. Please, try not to be scared”.
  
  So begins Adam’s journey of discovery, into his family’s history, of why they live alone on an island nobody visits, and why there is a basement door in his house that has been locked up tight as long as he can remember. Locked, until now.
  
  There is a beautiful, dream-like quality to ‘The Heads of Leviathan’ that gives the whole piece an ethereal, otherworldly feel that is wonderfully apt for the story being told. There is an innocence to the whole thing that is present in a lot of coming-of-age horror stories (of which this is an especially unusual example) that makes some of the body horror-centric elements take on a more graceful and transformative tone, and the story is all the more interesting and relatable for it.
  It mixes elements of fantasy with some familiar horror themes but uses them to tell an incredibly unique story, one, unlike anything I’ve personally read before. It’s a beautifully written, wholly unpredictable story and a strong, memorable note to end this collection on.
  
  
  There is a perfect mix of stories on offer in ‘Bloodlines’ from an undeniably talented group of writers. Some of the stories will horrify, some will disgust while others are genuinely touching, or create a feeling of wonder, but every single one will enthral you in its own way. It will also leave you excited to read whatever these authors come up with next.
  
• 
  Christi Nogle

  Four memorable stories about the cruelty, betrayal, pain--and yes, sometimes love and tenderness--of family life. The anthology has a nice variety of perspectives and tones but still feels cohesive.
  
  Christopher O'Halloran's "Our Migraine" was a great story to start the anthology because it draws out the emotional themes that will be explored in the book. Very imaginative and wrenching!
  
  Antony Frost's "Nos, Da, Tad" reads like a condensed novel and would make a great film. I found this the scariest story here because it was so easy to identify with the main character.
  
  Carson Winter's "I Am Not to Be Replaced" begins with a fear everyone has had and develops into quite a violent story with some Ira Levin vibes.
  
  Alex Wolfgang's "The Heads of Leviathan" was perhaps the most unusual story in the quartet. The setting and other imagery here will linger with me for a long time.
• 
  Shane Hawk

  These four writers carved out varying pathways through the darkling valley of family strife, leaving just enough wispy light for us to make it out alive.
• 
  T.J. Price

  First of all, this is a great idea for a collection/anthology - family can serve as a respite or solace, to some; but to others, it can often resemble a prison. In this quartet of novellas, Sartre's famous quote "Hell is other people" never rings so true when it comes to those to whom one is biologically bonded.
  
  Biology is also front-and-center in the first of these, Our Migraine by Christopher O'Halloran, my favorite in the collection. One of the things that is often divisive in the family unit is the sharing of work, and this story takes that concept to a new level, with three sisters that are characterized immaculately. The writing in this piece is taut, and not a word feels out of place. The events move rapidly, and the resolution - although gory to the extreme - is grimly satisfying. There's a few elements I might have edited out to make a slightly tighter narrative, but by and large, I was engrossed in this story right up to the last hideous scream.
  
  The second piece, Nos Da, Tad by Antony Frost, had a great confessional tone throughout. I enjoyed the leap from third-person in O'Halloran's story to the first-person perspective here, which lent a freshness and vigor to the collection, right off. Once more, we have a threaded underline of biology here, though instead of the brain, we're talking about the body in toto, as it were. This is a story that feels a bit more like it wants to be longer than it is, a novel-sized concept jammed into a novella-size story, but the relationship between the protagonist and his lover felt real, and I enjoyed the tenderness that they evinced for one another. The resolution of this story felt a little bit heavy-handed to me, but I think that's because, again, this story didn't have enough space to investigate the enormous themes it was dealing with. I did, however, really love a late scene that verged on cosmic horror in a similar fashion to Clive Barker's investigation of the collective unconscious/world beyond our ken. In fact, a great deal of this story reminded me of Clive Barker, from the intense physicality, the body horror, the lurid description, and the noir-style narration.
  
  The third story, I Am Not To Be Replaced, by Carson Winter, continues on with an interesting spin on the family dynamic, and the specter of perfection that every parent envisions for their child - except for here, the "specter" is made brutally, horrifically real, through a series of rituals and appeasement of a dark god. I admit that I was lost at first - Winter plays his narrative cards especially close to the vest, and the effect was disorienting. Hitchcock's old adage says that mystery is when the audience knows less than the characters: here, the tone was mystery, for sure. I was in the dark - all I knew was that there was a ghost for a protagonist, and then there was a family. Because I did not yet know who/what the protagonist was in relation to the other characters, for a long time the central conceit of this story escaped me entirely. That being said, once I finally got what was going on, I really liked what Winter was doing, and the voice of the narrator was engaging and propulsive. The piece then turns into a sort of chase scene, and a harrowing conclusion - but I was left kind of cold by the end, which didn't feel as earned as I would have liked. The concept, though, was really interesting, and though very little information was given regarding the more eldritch aspects, I was intrigued by the god that Winter has dreamed up, and would have loved to see more about that...er, fleshed-out, as it were.
  
  The fourth, and final piece, The Heads of Leviathan, by Alex Wolfgang, was my second favorite piece in the quartet. Wolfgang's prose was instantly descriptive, conjuring up a strange picture from the get-go: a sort of funeral. What better set-piece for a story to fit into a family anthology? Many, many things are superseded to put a family member to rest - jealousy, heartbreak, hatred - and the loss is a binding element which can often reknit strained ties. As in Winter's story, again we have a mystery. The matriarch's death comes with a prophecy, of sorts, and the setting is shrouded in mystery - all we know is that it is an island, and the mother's children are left for themselves, with no father. Things begin to get increasingly bizarre as Wolfgang gently shades in the tones and hues of this world with tantalizing shadows. Slowly, he unveils a pseudo-fantasy world in which the truly bizarre occurs, and it's so interesting to watch. There's deeper elements and themes running through this story than just the surface-level narrative, and it's what I think will make Wolfgang a writer to watch, for me, in the future. Once again, we have a first-person narrative (for a time), and it involves the narrator slowly trying to unravel a mystery. In the end, I'm not entirely sure what the mystery was, and it felt a little bit hurried at the conclusion, but I do know that I'll be thinking about this story for a while, and its bizarre themes of individuality vis-a-vis the family unit.
  
  It is also worth noting that these stories include LGBT+ relationships in ways that do not feel forced or shoehorned in. O'Halloran's protagonist, in the first story, is a lesbian, while her sister is not. Frost's male protagonist is furiously in love with a Black man, too. Never once do these relationships feel disingenuous, or stereotypical, to me, and I appreciated these inclusions.
  
  A list of content warnings is available at the rear of the book, which I also appreciated, as I am not a reader who looks for those things, and prefers not to be spoiled by their inclusion at the front of the book. I do, however, understand and empathize with those who do like such warnings, and their tasteful inclusion at the back was a nice touch from these four gentlemen.
  
  Overall, I was looking for some pulpy, fun horror to get me through a siege of rather dour reading, and I found it in spades here, as well as some new writers to keep an eye on for future endeavors. I'd recommend this book to those who enjoy the fast pace and plots of Stephen King; those who like the lurid swirls of description that Clive Barker brings to the table; or anyone who just wants to feel the old shudder of good horror.
  
  It's here, in these pages, alive and bristling. Just don't turn your back on it - and maybe don't attend any family reunions for a little while after.
  
  Full disclosure: I was given a copy of this ARC by the authors in exchange for a review. Thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks for letting me read this, fellas - I had a blast. I hope it does well upon release!
• 
  Philippa

  First off, I just want to say how happy I was to see content warnings at the back of the book. I'd love this to be the standard, and it really makes my day when authors/publishers make an effort to include this.
  
  "Our Migraine" by Christopher O'Halloran: O'Halloran presents his readers with a horrifying premise that I don't even want to think about (and then went on to devour the story). I loved the the sisters and the subtle ways in which an act of familial love opens the door to incredible cruelty. I thought that the interactions between the three sisters were so realistic and engaging - this story flew by, until it was too late and I'd reached the monstrous conclusion.
  
  "Nos Da, Tad" by Antony Frost: Frost has an incredible gift for evoking place. I loved his attention to detail, and the wry humour that threads through this dark story. Frost explores the more disturbing aspects of inheritance, weaving it into a tale of cosmic horror that's going to stay with me long after I shelve this book.
  
  "I Am Not To Be Replaced" by Carson Winter: This story will sucker punch you from the very first page. Winter doesn't overexplain the more fictional elements of his horror (clumsy wording on my part, but I don't want to give away the plot) and instead focuses on the very real fears we may have about never being enough for our loved ones.
  
  "The Heads of Leviathan" by Alex Wolfgang: This poignant story was the perfect piece with such to close the collection. Whereas the sense of horror was sharper in the previous stories, this tale of grief and responsibility was hauntingly dreamlike. Something I would absolutely recommend to lovers of weird fiction.
  
  Overall, I loved the variety in this collection; the range on experiences that can come out of a single theme. The quality of the writing in each novelette was polished and I can't wait to see what each of these authors writes next.
• 
  Chelsea

  “I used to think the universe was uncaring, oblivious. Now I wish it were.” - Antony Frost, Nos Da, Tad
  
  To keep things honest and transparent, I met these four talented authors through my online horror reading and writing club. I received an ARC of this brand new collection of theirs in exchange for an honest review, and boy do I feel honored to have laid eyes on this collection early.
  
  Each of these novelettes stands on its own as a haunting and honest vignette of family. But joined together, the amalgamation is powerful. There is a diverse cast of characters, family dynamics, and types of horror - from body horror to paranormal to cosmic. While reading, I wavered between wanting to give each story some time to breathe and being unable to put my Kindle down. I opted for the former, and I enjoyed reflecting on the novelettes one by one, but they are so memorable that I don’t think you can go wrong either way!
  
  First up is Our Migraine by Christopher O’Halloran. I had the distinct (dis)pleasure of reading this through my own (minor) migraine, and the way he puts the unique pain of a migraine into words is astounding. I can’t get the imagery of a burrowing tick out of my head. In this one, three sisters share the unbearable burden of their mother’s suffering. As is common with sharing a family hardship, the division of labor isn’t always fair nor equal, leading to jealousy, grudges, and backstabbing. I love how the author blended bodily and relational suffering here, making it impossible to decide which is worse.
  
  In Nos Da, Tad by Antony Frost a young man discovers the horrifying secrets of his estranged father when he inherits *ahem* things after his death. I always love a unique take on familial inheritance, and this debut novelette from Frost is no exception. I particularly admire the foil between the MC’s tender romantic partnership and the darkness of his biological ties.
  
  “I was the chill in the air they could never quite shake.” - Carson Winter, I Will Not Be Replaced. What lengths will a family go to to be perfect? Crack into this story to find out. This one starts hard and doesn’t let up. I really enjoyed the pacing and perspective of this piece that left me reflecting on family expectations, bitterness, and loneliness.
  
  The collection wraps with The Heads of Leviathan by Alex Wolfgang. The setting of this story on the ocean shore perfectly matches the lulling yet powerful prose. This story of shared grief, responsibility, and the unbreakable bonds of love is gorgeous and mysterious. Wolfgang perfectly crafts the helplessness and unknown of loss as something to be both feared and embraced, and shows that grief can be a beautiful force.
  
  The shifting of tone and POV between each novelette and the quietly overlapping themes help create an engaging and holistic collection. Bravo, dudes! I can’t wait to hear what the rest of the world has to say about this one.
• 
  Big Red

  Thank you to the authors for providing me of an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Wow! This collection has 4 incredible stories centered around the family. The good, the bad, the ugly - it's all here. The writing is top notch and each story moves at a breakneck speed. I was always invested, and at times disgusted. Here are some condensed thoughts on each:
  
  - Our Migraine by Christopher O'Halloran: From the first few sentences, this one is hard to put down, despite the uncomfortable headache I could feel lurking in my head. Great characters, great plot, and an oh-so satisfying ending. 5/5
  
  - Nos Da, Tad by Antony Frost: This story explores the complex themes of identity and who we really are, and how much our parents are a part of us. The narrator was easy to root for and care about. The story takes a weird and scary turn but leaves the reader feeling satisfied. 4/5
  
  - I Am Not To Be Replaced by Carson Winter: This one is written from a fairly unique perspective I personally haven't read recently, and the author simply nails it. Each sentence reveals just a little bit more about wtf is going on, and the reveal packs a punch. Well done. 5/5
  
  The Head of Leviathan by Alex Wolfgang: This is another one where I'm going "wtf is happening" the entire time. Probably the "weirdest" of the bunch, this story packs a lot into a little - complex relationships and a sense of dread throughout. I personally need to reach out to the author because this one left me with SO MANY questions (in a good way!) 4/5
• 
  Lindsey R

  What an intense way to start off 2022, bang on the heels of a holiday season often spent in the company of friends and family!
  
  This powerful collection of four stories deftly encapsulates the feeling of when the familiar and safe transforms into the macabre and alien. Varied in its flavors of horror and Weird, Bloodlines: Four Tales of Familial Fear has something for everyone who knows the inner workings of the family unit. Grief is an undercurrent through all four works, with each author interpreting the theme in a unique and memorable way.
  
  "Our Migraine," by Christopher O'Halloran, explores the idea of legacy as a painful affliction borne by three sisters. Shared loss and betrayal are on equal display in this tale. How far can we push ourselves to endure, especially in the name of love? O'Halloran writes believable, lively characters and engaging, clever dialogue that keeps the pages turning. This story luxurates in sensory details-- from the unyielding throb of the migraine to all its unpleasant side effects, it's absolutely riveting from the first paragraph.
  
  "Nos Da, Tad," by Antony Frost, is a stunningly crafted tale about one man coping with his estranged father's death, and how settling his estate leads to a shocking revelation about his dad's life. Frost so effortlessly transports his reader into the mind of his protagonist Owen, exploring his psychological turmoil and anguish in a powerfully raw, aching manner. Frost deftly weaves in details of Owen's surroundings to give the story a grim, devastating tone that will stay with me for a long time.
  
  "I Will Not Be Replaced," by Carson Winter, introduces us to an unconventional haunting where there's more than meets the eye. Winter pulls no punches-- he sucks us in with gritty dialogue, a delightful sense of wrongness, and kindles a burning desire to get to the bottom of the mystery he presents. Excellently paced and gripping from the start, this tale escalates the action and intensity to a thrilling, unforgettable climax that's worth the creeping build-up and careful breadcrumb trail of clues the reader can't help but follow.
  
  "The Heads of Leviathan," by Alex Wolfgang, rounds out the collection with an eerie story of five siblings alone on a remote island, who are dealing with a shared loss, and learning about themselves in the process. Wolfgang explores how unity in grief can lead to transformation and acceptance of the self, and paints a vivid, haunting picture of moving forward. The language and descriptive setting keenly evoke simultaneous feelings of loneliness and closeness, which is a unique experience for a reader, and extraordinarily well done in this tale.
  
  I loved how each story brought something different to the table, and I look forward to reading future stories by these authors. Well done!
  
  (I was provided with an ARC by the authors in exchange for an honest review.)
• 
  C.B. Jones

  “Family ties mean that no matter how much you might want to run from your family, you can’t.”
  
  —Unknown
  
  Nobody else can hurt you like your family. In Bloodlines, a collection of novellas from four up-and-coming authors, this sentiment is explored to its murkiest and bleakest depths. From sibling rivalries to absent fathers, familial obligations and asshole uncles, these are stories about the worst aspects of family life told under a gossamer of supernatural horror.
  
  Starting off the collection is “Our Migraine” by Chris O’Halloran, the story of a family curse shared in tag-team fashion between three sisters. At risk of spoiling the unique premise that is revealed in the opening pages, I will just say that the curse involves a dreadful migraine headache. As someone who's flirted with migraines and maybe only going to first or second base with them (thank God), a lot of the horror within this story lies with the descriptions of the migraine itself. Readers may gain a newfound empathy for those unfortunate souls that suffer with this affliction.
  
  However, O’Halloran doesn’t just stop there; he finds new ways to slather horror horror on top horror. With a deft hand, he quickly establishes the relationships between the three sisters, upping the stakes and revealing the human motivations between the three, that results in an act of stomach-churning cruelty and an ending that truly disturbed and unsettled me.
  
  Next up is “Nos Da, Tad” by Antony Frost. With a beginning reminiscent of The Stranger by Albert Camus (‘Your father is dead.’ ‘Okay,’ I say into the phone . . .’Was there something else?’), we are led on quite the journey in this tale of an absent father and a son who is tasked with searching through the deceased father’s meager estate. With that premise, questions begin to arise and a bit of dread takes hold. What revelations will be uncovered at his father’s flat? What family secrets will be told? Does his father’s ghost still haunt the grounds? In this story there’s a heartbeat of paranoia and strange occurrences at the margins, a question of what on Earth is going on, before the story shows its hand and embraces its cosmic traditions.
  
  For me, this story also drove home the point that I have flat out not read enough modern fiction set in the UK. The alternate spellings and localisms were interesting and enjoyable to a Yank such as myself.
  
  If you’ve ever read any Carson Winter, either his novella Reunion Special or one of his NoSleep Podcast episodes, then you know he traffics in the weird and indecipherable. “I Shall Not Be Replaced” returns us to that territory, dropping us into a scene narrated by a ghostly apparition. However, it doesn’t entirely make sense. Not at first. This young girl who was once alive witnesses her loved ones going on without her, socializing and making memories at the family getaway cabin. Yet it's never that simple with Winter. Rather than a simple ghost story told from the perspective of an angry spirit, there is a wrinkle to the proceedings: the ghost of the young girl has been replaced by somebody seemingly identical.
  
  Winter's prose propels this one. We get to spend some time in the other realm, on the other side of the one-way mirror with the ghost before he puts the pedal to the metal. It is more plot driven than some of his other works, everything building up to a brutal climax that would be right at home in an A24 film.
  
  We return to the realm of the strange and cosmic in the final story, “The Many Heads of Leviathan”, by Alex Wolfgang. This is a surreal tale, full of uncertainties. Through first-person narration, the narrator reveals his current reality, an existence that seems like it's from a dream or a hazy memory. He lives on a strange and isolated island with his mother and siblings, and a change is coming with the impending death of his mother. To tell too much would ruin the experience of this tale and it is best to let this one wash over you like the foamy tide, let it carry you out to sea in its currents. I will say that there is hallucinatory imagery, fantastical happenings, strange settings, bizarre lifeforms, and mucus.
  
  All in all, Bloodlines is a quick, fun read and highly recommended to all horror fans out there. Never boring, always creepy, and oftentimes disturbing, Bloodlines is a collection of tales that will stick with you like an annoying younger sibling and haunt you like a bad family gathering.
• 
  Erik McHatton

  What does family mean to you? That is the burning question explored in this fantastic collection of novelettes. Each story takes a unique, and terrifying look at family and the ties that bind them.
  
  "Our Migraine" by Chris O'Halloran is a tale of three sisters who share an incredibly burdensome responsibility. This one is for the siblings out there, good and bad. It is both vicious and heartwarming and will leave you shocked at just how far O'Halloran is willing to go to make his point. The ending of this one stuck with me for quite a while.
  
  "Nos Da, Tad" by Antony Frost tackles several difficult subjects, but mostly it concerns itself with parents and the legacy they leave behind them when they die. As someone with a somewhat complicated relationship with his own parents I can tell you that Mr. Frost has very deftly translated a troubled childhood into a pulpy story that will both thrill and disgust.
  
  "I Will Not Be Replaced" by Carson Winter is a ghost story unlike any I've ever read. This tale of identity tackles the subject of familial expectations versus personal will and is sure to keep you guessing all the way to the end. Winter's prose is strong, and his ability to capture the voice of his main character was impressive. I also really enjoyed the Bloch-like ending.
  
  "The Heads of Leviathan" By Alex Wolfgang is a cosmic horror take on family responsibility, and is possibly the most poignant of them all. As the oldest of my siblings I strongly related to the protagonist in this one. At once both a quiet, somber look at growing up, and deep, metaphysical study on how family duty can swallow you whole, this one evokes Langan's "The Fisherman" in many ways.
  
  This collection is a must read. It was a breeze to get through, but also challenged me as a reader. It made me cry, laugh, and cringe. It stayed with me after I read it, and I have no doubt I'll be returning to it in the future. Highly recommended.
• 
  Chandra Claypool (WhereTheReaderGrows)

  I saw the cover and HAD TO HAVE IT. What's scarier than your own family? 😉 Give me four novelettes of family fear and well, I'm SOLD.
  These four stories center around family (duh) and these very different and fun horror tellings that will definitely have you side eyeing everyone around the dinner table... and then some. My favorite was the first story, "Our Migraine". The concept and delivery was just *chef's kiss* and a fantastic start to this 4 story horror anthology. Bookended by "The Heads of Leviathan", which was so out there but a wonderful delivery for the final of the four. The two in the middle, "Nos Da, Tad" and "I Will Not Be Replaced" were a bit more intricate in the lessons within.
  
  I don't want to say too much as I felt even the descriptions were a bit "telling" .. however, even when you think you know what's happening, each story takes a sharp turn and are brilliant in their own right. Family horror is impactful in that each person can relate to some part and make you question just how far nurture can take you...
  
  I feel a bit stunted in writing this review as it's hard to not spoil it all but I found each and every story unique and wonderful.
• 
  Ashley Jacobs

  I had the opportunity to read this ARC provided by Booksprout. Bloodlines is a collection of 4 short novellas - Our Migraine, Nos Da, Tad, I Am Not Replaced, and The Heads of Leviathan.
  
  I could not put this book down! I read this book in less than 3 hours. This collection of novellas gave me goosebumps. It was sooo good. Each author had their own writing style that led to their story differentiating themselves from the others. The readers have no choice but get sucked in.
  
  Our Migraine is a story of three sisters who each share a curse. It is shared equally among the three but what happens when one of the sisters decides that her purpose is more important than her family? Can she save them all?
  
  Nos Da, Tad is a story about what happens when a son inherits something special from the father he never knew. But he is really his fathers son?
  
  I Am Not Replaced is a story about a family that has a unique way of creating the perfect family members. What extent would you go to to have the perfect family?
  
  The Heads of Leviathan is a story about what happens when a family’s matriarch dies and leaves behind her children with an unknown future.
• 
  Evelyn Freeling

  This was honestly a fantastic anthology. I loved that each story explored different aspects of the horror genre (without spoiling anything the horror ranged from body to supernatural to plain weird) as well as different aspects of family. Definitely a great addition to any horror aficionado's TBR.
  
  Our Migraine - Three sisters are tormented by a supernatural migraine that requires one of them to carry the migraine at all times. I loved the exploration of sibling dynamics in this piece and the ways family emotionally manipulate one another to achieve their aims. As things broke down among the sisters, I felt myself completely riveted by the characters. And the ending! The body horror! A fantastic start to the anthology.
  
  Nos Da, Tad," Antony Frost - Owen learns his estranged father has passed away and that he has inherited his father's home. During a visit with his partner, Owen discovers clues and has strange visions that lead him to discover the dark truths about his father and, possibly, him. I immediately connected with this piece as someone who grew up without a father. I loved the protagonist and the exploration of losing someone you’ve never truly had. I thought the thematic exploration of what we inherit, even from those who were never a part of our lives, was excellent. Which aspects of ourselves are ours? What role does nature play in determining whether we inherit our absent father's selfishness? The tension was well crafted and I was riveted throughout.
  
  I Am Not To Be Replaced by Carson Winter - A ghost lingers over her family's holiday, jealous of the replica who has replaced her. I enjoyed this exploration of familial expectations and the consequences of not living up to them. It was a fun twist on the means with which family tries to change or improve those who don't meet their standards. The way Carson set up the story, instilling it with a good dose of mystery, made it wonderfully engaging. Well paced and the ending was full of thrills.
  
  The Heads of Leviathan by Alex Wolfgang - After their mother’s death leaves five siblings stranded on the strange island they were born and raised on, the eldest uncovers clues about the secrets their mother kept from them. This is the story I’m still wrapping my head around. Beautifully rendered with lush and captivating prose, the portrayal of grief and the way it draws families into conflict was raw, and the story totally strange and surreal. Definitely a unique reading experience I suspect will unveil something new with each read.
  
• 
  Michelle Tang

  This collection was a pleasant surprise for me. When I saw that the central theme was about "familial fear", I expected predictable stories of family dynamics and old resentments. I couldn't have been more wrong.
  
  Part of what impressed me about this collection was the authors' skill: O'Halloran, Frost, Wolfgang and Winter have written stories that pulled me in and kept me captive, with well-rounded, believable characters and satisfying conclusions. I also found the originality of the stories impressive - I've read a lot of horror anthologies and most of the time I can predict where a story is headed, but the ideas here were so unique I couldn't guess (even Winter's story, "I Am Not to be Replaced", started off with a well-trod premise and then veered wildly off the beaten path).
  
  I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Also, I wanted to commend the decision to put content warnings at the back of the book, I appreciated that consideration.
  
  *I received an advanced copy of this anthology in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Valerie - Cats Luv Coffee Book Reviews

  Review featured at
  Ginger Nuts of Horror
  
  Family is a complex organism. No one else has the ability to make us feel emotions as deeply as family does. It can bring us solace, shoring us up against the world when it's done well. However, when it's not, only those who know us best can make us can feel ashamed, betrayed and so disconnected. All too often our interactions with family can be hurtful, filled with miscommunications and bitterness. Those who should be our closest allies, our greatest sources of support and love, often end up feeling like strangers or even worse our foes. These four stories carry us along through family dynamics of strife, pain, trauma, and yes, compassion and affection.
  
  In Christopher O'Halloran's "Our Migraine", a painful illness and the subsequent passing of their mother leads three sisters to carry the burden of pain in this novelette. A wish made out of love quickly twists their interactions which are at first caring, quickly degenerating to indifference, and finally to outright cruelty with the unequal division of hardship and hurt. Familiar obligation and the shared burden after a parent's passing rests heavily on the sisters as they quite literally take their mother's pain in the form of an eternal migraine. In true monkey's paw form, their wish to relive their mother of her deathbed suffering descends with a horrific consequence. What makes this story unique is that the sisters can carry the pain of the migraine individually—each of them taking a turn. It doesn't take long for this arrangement to wear unevenly, leading to resentment and eventually to almost an inhuman mercilessness. The tension accumulates, closing the curtain on an ending scene that is both shocking and heart-wrenching.
  
  "Nos Da, Tad" by Anthony Frost brings into play familial inheritance in another manner. Another parental death, although this time it's met with indifference. Our protagonist, Owen can't manage to drum up concern when told of his father's death after a lifetime devoid of his presence. When he discovers that his father bequeaths his house and its strange contents, he and his lover, Martin set off on a path of discovery. He gets flashes of atrocious happenings that aren't memories of his own but that of his birth father. The story unravels from there into a fast-paced plot of secret societies, occultism, and some terrific body and cosmic horror imagery.
  
  The first-person view of "Nos Da, Tad" made Owen's emotional plight very relatable. Also, the relationship between Owen and his lover, Martin was vulnerable and devoted and was a great demarcation from that of his wayward father. At the center of this is the concept of self-identity and that while we are made from our parents, we still get to forge our own paths. Their darkness does not have to be our darkness but we can choose to let their light shine through us.
  
  In Carson Winter's "I am Not to be Replaced", we have an entirely new type of narrator--a ghostly one. This tale is more of a mystery than the other two in the collection but that's what makes it so intriguing. It's difficult to know exactly where it's going or even honestly where it is, to begin with, but the author draws us in giving us little fragments at a time. All we know is that there is a family settling into a vacation cabin and there are two of the narrator: the one walking around and the apparition that used to be her. As the story progresses, the mystery asserts itself or should I say herself. It's a lesson surely, on attaining perfection and how not living up to the expectations of your family can be both lonely and liberating. I loved this one. It's clever and darkly humorous at times. I highly enjoyed the revenge of the black sheep in this horned eldritch tale.
  
  "The Heads of the Leviathan" by Alex Wolfgang brings us full circle again to the death of a parent and the responsibility of those left behind as five siblings are left with more questions than answers after their mother's death. It begins with a hospice procession to the sea where their mother simply fades away in the seawater and the children then attempt to process their complex emotions. As someone who lost her mother too early, this one reverberated in me a bit with the line "There was no one right way to feel." Everyone experiences loss in their own way and while the loss is shared, the experience can feel isolating. Grief and horror intermingle as the family left behind struggle to stay unified in the wake of death. This story was unconventional and otherworldly but it stayed with me long after the conclusion.
  
  While staying on the theme of family, each of the four novelettes brought a different perspective with it. These stories are raw, showing both the grotesque and the extraordinary. Each of the authors did an outstanding job at conveying both sides of the coin while remaining insightful and complex. Family is an intricate thing with experiences and emotions that can sometimes be either dreadful or wonderful, and occasionally both simultaneously. This collection embodies that with wit and wonder.
  
  
  
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• 
  Jessica

  What a wonderful collection of novellas/novellettes by four up-and-coming horror writers. I've read stories by all four of them before (which is why I was very happy to receive an ARC in exchange for my honest review), and these are among the strongest.
  
  With a over-arching theme of family, the four stories dip into different areas of horror.
  
  "Our Migraine" by Christopher O'Halloran - The description of the pain of the migraine is awful and so well done, and I love how it's a horror-fied story about how chronic pain can tear people down and rip apart relationships. The relationship between the three sisters is so believable too.
  
  "Nos Da, Tad" by Antony Frost - Likely my favourite of the collection, the rediscovery of the main character's birth father and the general spooky gothic sensibilities in a modern era were heartbreaking and so well-laden with creeping dread, even before we hit a more intense level of cosmic-ish horrors.
  
  "I Am Not To Be Replaced" by Carson Winter - I kept thinking the phrase "a ghost of my former self" and laughing to myself, but this is a story about fitting in with your family (or less so), perfection... and vengeance. It comps to a couple big name books/movies, but I won't say them as they'd spoil the story!
  
  "The Heads of Leviathan" by Alex Wolfgang - unmoored in time island-based horror (I kept trying to nail down the era and failing, due to the isolation of the characters), this has some really fantastical elements, ethereal and magical, that all end up swirling into truly horrific questions you can ask yourself by the end.
  
  Lovely collection overall!
• 
  Doug Weaver

  This is a brilliant anthology. Family can be the source of our greatest joys as well as our deepest hurts. Why not a collection of horror shorts rooted in the ties that bind.
  
  These stories do a fantastic job of exploring both the highs and lows of our bloodlines. The mixture of family trauma and bliss makes for quite the roller coaster ride of emotions. And the authors present the hard truths of complicated and violent reality within families along side the fantastic and horrific world of ‘what if’.
  
  This is an excellent collection of stories by four different authors and I highly recommend it.
• 
  Katherine

  Bloodlines manages that rare feat of the anthology: it offers four stories that each stand on their own as unique nightmares while simultaneously building a collection of stories that are made the richer for their being alongside one another. The authors, each talented in their own rights, seem to know that the true magic of horror is, like any good family, complicated, complex, and terrifying. Read separately, the stories let you explore everything from domestic horror to cosmic horror; together the stories, and by extension their smart authors, remind you that home is where the heart…that bleeding and broken heart…lies.
• 
  J.W. Donley

  **Note: I was provided a copy of this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.**
  
  You can also read my review here:
  https://horrortree.com/epeolatry-book...
  
  The horror writer community is one big family. Not as massive a community as science fiction or romance, so when big things happen–like an author’s passing or the shuttering of a beloved small press–the whole family feels it and reaches out to help and comfort. Also, established horror writers are generally generous in sharing their hard-earned knowledge through mentorships, quick chats over social media, or email. Reach out to your favorite horror authors, and you’ll probably get replies (unlikely if you tweet Stephen King; he’s inundated with more than he can handle). The horror family is smaller than the other genres. We’re a tight knit. We laugh, cry, and bleed. So, what better theme for a collection of horror than family?
  
  Bloodlines: Four Tales of Familial Fear is an awesome set of stories toying with different facets of family. Each has a completely different style. Where one is more visceral with knives and slashes, another is quieter yet weird and darkly fantastic.
  
  My favorite of the bunch is “Our Migraine” by Christopher O’Halloran. This is an absolute awesome opener. I went in knowing only the title and the authors. I loved diving in to such a wild concept, and watched it devolve into a worse and worse scenario until it all flew apart in horrifically glorious ways.
  
  “Nos Da, Tad” by Anthony Frost also led me down a winding path I never expected. Once it took off, it ran toward a looming end. The way the story progressed offered hints of Hereditary in wonderful ways.
  
  Carson Winter offers “I Am Not to be Replaced.” The hook is a one two punch; the protagonist is a ghost and has been replaced within the family by a more perfect copy of herself. Genius! I blazed through, engrossed in learning how it happened and why. This has a deviously voyeuristic feel as another work of Winter’s, Reunion Special.
  
  Everything closes with a flip in flavor. Alex Wolfgang’s “The Heads of Leviathan” is a dark fantasy brimming with beautiful imagery. Like many of the story’s siblings, I was filled with wonder throughout as Wolfgang revealed the story world tidbit-by-tidbit.
  
  Indie horror is thriving and filled with absolute gold. Bloodlines is a prime example of the best out there amongst the nuggets waiting for you.
• 
  Laurel

  Excellent anthology of novelettes - the subject of family in horror has so many places to go, and each of the four tales takes a very different tack. Really enjoyed this one - four very talented authors.
• 
  Amanda

  A fast, engaging read. Four different stories, all centering around what it means to be part of a family, and who we are in relation to our relatives. The first one, Our Migraine, is particularly harrowing. I look forward to reading more from all the authors
• 
  Matt

  Bloodlines by Alex Wolfgang, Antony Frost, Chris O’Halloran, and Carson Winter is an outstanding short anthology of family horror. Four authors each contribute a horror novelette exploring a different aspect of family. Each story is strong, thematically relevant, and distinct from the other three. Almost like different faces on a cut and polished gem stone, each story feels like a special window giving a different vantage point into the same topic. The unity and arc of this anthology is absolutely incredible. Though I had a couple of small quibbles with two of the stories (one contained some details which I thought were primarily used as shock value, and another was a bit confusing) overall all four stories are all well written and emotionally impactful. The forward by Solomon Forse is also a fantastic introduction to the volume. Each of the following stories was chilling, disturbing, and thought-provoking. I’m lucky to be internet friends with some of these folks and I’m incredibly impressed with both their writing and the initiative and creativity needed to create an anthology together. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
• 
  Dirk

  Good book by the four authors. I like the first two more.