Dead of Winter

October 5, 2020
Ryan (editor, A Midnight Clear) brings together eight winter-themed tales of terror in this uneven anthology. The saving graces are Alcy Leyva’s “Sad Little Lump of Flesh,” a captivating tale about a young boy who finds an unidentifiable dead creature in his backyard, and Cassondra Windwalker’s “The Tinker’s Son,” a multifaceted dark fantasy about a witch named Margritte and her husband, a dragon lord, whose family faces tragedy. With the mildly amusing “The Face Inside the Christmas Ball,” Daniel Buella adds welcome tonal variety to the mix in the form of a family legend about evil spirits trapped in Christmas ornaments. Wooden dialogue, thin plots, and excessive exposition plague the remaining stories, including Sam Hooker’s “The Watchful Crow,” about an ex-con named Orville who employs crows to commit robberies on his behalf, and Dalena Storm’s “Frostbite,” which dives deep into the narrator’s self-hatred. Readers looking for a wintry fright will appreciate the few gems, but will be disappointed by the whole.

December 1, 2020
Editor Ryan's selections perfectly fit the dark, gray, wintry mood that hits when cold weather has dragged on for too long. This anthology features eight short stories, each gripping, mind-bending, and truly creepy. The opening story, ""The Watchful Crow,"" by Sam Hooker, begins with a robber who's almost quirky and then slowly builds on the disquieting feeling that something isn't quite right with his chosen victim until the satisfying conclusion. Cassondra Windwalker's ""The Tinker's Son,"" flirts with light, romantic fantasy, and then flirts with horror when everything falls apart. ""The Face inside the Christmas Ball,"" by Daniel Buell, and ""Jolly Old Saint Ryan,"" by Laura Morrison, each play with old Christmas superstitions and the idea that Santa isn't who he seems. ""What Should Appear"" by N. J. Ember is a good old-fashioned horror show, featuring evil spirits and fraudulent psychics. Dead of Winter has something for every horror reader; each story is as engaging as the last and will leave readers wanting more from these authors.

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January 1, 2021

Winter has always been a time for creepy stories. Before electricity, winter meant unyielding darkness, bitter cold, questions of survival, and monsters in the shadows. This collection harkens back to the time when the season and terror were synonymous. "A Face Inside the Christmas Ball" by Daniel Buell reimages the final days of a young boy's belief in the magic of Santa as a terrifying nightmare with mortal consequences. "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. In addition to these standouts, the volume includes six more stories that range from the terrifying to the atmospheric. This collection by emerging voices is worth curling up by the fire with--if you keep the lights on. VERDICT While COVID-related publishing shifts delayed this collection by a few months, readers will enjoy being immersed in these winter-themed stories any time of year. Pair it with the excellent collections of Victorian winter solstice and Christmas ghost stories published by Biblioasis.

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