E Reyes

It’s no secret that I’m a pretty big E. Reyes fan, and this story, his latest offering, is another one to add to my list of really fun short stories. It’s a quick read, but it’s a good one, full of the horrors of working retail at Christmas and the desires of a parent to give his little girl the one gift she wants. Throw in a little dark magic, and you have a terrific, comedic, holiday horror romp, full of gore, perfectly and vividly described, just the thing to remind you that show more finding the perfect gift might not be all it’s cracked up to be. show less

I enjoyed this short story collection so much, and was thoroughly creeped out more than once. E. Reyes has great ideas, utterly dark and twisty, and it was fun to find little things connecting the stories in this collection to one another. I will absolutely read more by him in the future.

I gave this collection 3 stars, not because it isn’t good, but because it could really use some editing and tweaking. It’s obvious that Reyes spent a lot of time on these stories and I have no doubt show more whatsoever that he edited them, but I’m not sure if anyone else went over it for him. I think the book as a whole would benefit from another set (or two)!of eyes and perhaps some rewording here and there.

That being said, there is nothing so “wrong” that it makes the book unreadable, and I would recommend this to anyone looking for a new author to enjoy and some truly disturbing and creepy stories. show less

I was fortunate enough to be a beta reader for E. Reyes on Strange Tales of the Macabre, his second anthology. It’s a great read for any horror fans looking for a bit of fun (and some really well-written gore)! The stories in this collection are every bit as good as those in Reyes’ first offering, Devil’s Hill, but I personally liked the first collection more, simply because they were much more frightening in the traditional sense.

Strange Tales covers a wide range of horror types - show more from hauntings to supernatural beings to loss/grief and everything in between - and that is what makes it stand out from “generic” horror anthologies. You’re hit in every emotion as you read through the stories, and that makes them linger in your mind, long after the last lines are finished. show less