Adam Light

I am not the greatest lover of short stories, possibly because most authors somehow fail to get the balance of the "hit" just right. A short story has certain advantages for the reader; you are straight into the action; there are few if any wasted words; if you don't like the author's style then thankfully the torture will not last long.

Adam Light succeeds where so many others fail and tells a "Faustian" tale (abandoning spiritual or moral principles in order to obtain wealth or other show more benefits) with great confidence and panache! Rob Arnold's wife of many many years is dying of cancer and there appears no hope of recovery until one night, whilst watching his favourite baseball team The Atlanta Braves,he is confronted by a commercial for a miracle drug "Panacea".."Tonight only, I am offering my revolutionary cure-all, Panacea, to the general public. The elixir that beat the pants of cancer can now be yours. Don't hesitate, friend. Pick up that telephone and dial the toll-free number on your screen, now, and you can say you were the one that saved them. Panacea is the answer. Call now and get back those years together you deserve."

Needless to say Rob is intrigued by such bold statements, what has he to lose his beloved Molly has only months to remain alive. The results of the drug are instant and what follows is intriguing, funny, and sad in equal measures with a conclusion that is totally unexpected, original and very satisfying. So if you need a quick shot of horror before the midnight hour have a taste of Panacea but be prepared for the consequences! show less

Halloween is fast approaching, don't believe me, just stop by your local big box store or visit any super drug store. Candy and costumes and decorations are popping up everywhere.

Good news is, it's also time for Halloween anthologies and scary stories to appear on bookshelves and in your news-feeds.

One such collection is from Evans and Adam Light, co-creators of the Bad Apples anthology series.

Bad Apples 3:Seven Slices of Halloween Horror is a delicious concoction of tales that are much more show more fun than bobbing for apples. Plus, you're much less likely to suffer accidental drowning reading this book, unless you like to read in the tub, then you're on your own.

Belle Souffrance byAdam & Evans Light - The authors combine their talents to produce one of the most visceral stories of betrayal and revenge I've ever read. "now as he stood on the dark hillside, Halloween's arrival imminent, he imagined all that he could create with flesh as his canvas and fresh blood as his paint." Set against the backdrop of an old amusement park (one of my favorite tropes), the story was horrifyingly original.

Chocolate Covered Eyeball by John McNee - One of the wildest, most imaginative short stories I've read this year. Old man Koolter doesn't take kindly to those who shoplift from his candy store. The scene where the lead character vomits his ill-gotten candy into a toilet is disturbingly brilliant.

October's End by Craig Saunders - A suitably creepy tale about the house at October's End. "There might be a reason the house was called October's End, but Harvey knew October never ended. It never had, and never would, and names and houses and old ladies all lied."

The Uncle Taffy's Girl by Gregor Xane - This is the first time I've read anything by Gregor Xane and it's a doozy. A Halloween party for the ages. Proof once again that if something is too good to be true, it is. Gregory's story had me cringing more than once, each time with something even more terrifying than before.

Last Stop by Edward Lorn - A very disturbing bus ride with a Brit who plans to kill three people on Halloween night. First time reading Edward Lorn,too, and it won't be the last. By far the darkest story in the book, but it's also one of the best.

Body of Christ by Mark Matthews - Another dark tale of a Christian mother's resistance to Halloween. Admittedly the oddest story in the anthology and gruesome at times, yet I found it completely satisfying.

Pulp by Jason Parent - An inventive tale of another Halloween party gone awry. Most of the party-goers were members of a high school film club and "had drawn from a fishbowl a folded piece of paper with the name of an iconic horror-movie villain on it." These were their costumes. Sounds like a fun party, right. Wrong. Probably my favorite story in an anthology loaded with great tales.

Bad Apples 3:Seven Slices of Halloween Horror is a remarkably diverse collection of stories. If Halloween is your thing and you like good horror, what are you waiting for?

Bad Apples 3:Seven Slices of Halloween Horror is available now as a paperback from Corpus Press. show less

The Halloween season would not be complete without the Bad Apples short story collection. I usually save it to read on Halloween night but this year there are a few new contributors so my curiosity got the better of me.

I can honestly say that I enjoyed every story in the collection. Each story was unique and every horror fan can be guaranteed to find something they will enjoy. I restrained from reading them all in one sitting and instead made a point to read one a night, saving them for show more bedtime so I could read them in the dark and enjoy each individually.

I do have a couple of favourites from the collection but John McNee's Chocolate Covered Eyeball really stood out the most for me. Mostly because the story was very good but also because it brought back fond memories of an old Scottish song that everyone here in Scotland has had sung to them many times as a child. My parents sang it to me and I to my own children. It's been stuck in my head since I first read his story 2 weeks ago and has even wormed it's way into my daughters head. I'm not going to name the song or give away the reference, I'm going to leave that for other readers to discover for themselves. I do find myself cursing John McNee every time it pops into my head now. Once it's in there there's no escape, so readers beware!

Definitely one I would recommend. I've read individual books published by all the authors in this collection so having them all together in this collection makes it a must read for me. show less

3.5 stars!

I enjoyed this short tale because it was fast paced and well written. However, it felt to me as if I've read this story before. I can think of two other authors off the top of my head that have plots along this same vein. I guess in the end, it's up to the author to make the story his own and I think Adam Light did a good job of that. (As a music lover, I love what he did with a certain popular song.)
Recommended for fans of horror shorts.