Also by this author: You Only Get One Shot, Collected Christmas Horror Shorts 2, Stitches, Pandemonium, Stitches: A Neo-Noir ThrillerFrom the darkest recesses of some of the horror world’s most chilling minds, Kevin J. Kennedy brings back together some of the authors that brought you Collected Christmas Horror Shorts, alongside several new authors, from upcoming indie stars to Amazon top sellers.
Whether you like Easter or not, you’ll certainly have a different view of it after you read the stories contained within these pages.
Grab an Easter egg, dim the lights, get cosy and get ready for some chilling tales by some of the horror world’s finest.
C.S.Anderson – He Has Risen Christopher Motz - Magic Awaits Veronica Smith - It’s Not All About Bunnies and Chocolates Peter Oliver Wonder - Easter Gunny Mark Cassell - The Rebirth Andrew Lennon - Trying To Write A Horror Story Mark Lukens - Mia's Easter Basket Lex Jones - SonnesHill JC Michael - Lord of The Dance Steven Stacy - Echoes of The Bunny-Man Weston Kincade & David Chrisley - An Easter Prayer Christina Bergling - Hatch James Matthew Byers - Killer Jelly Beans from Outer Space (poem) Jeff Menapace - Paying It Forward Jeff Strand - Rotten Eggs Lisa Vasquez - Bunny and Clyde Mark Fleming - Sulphur Suzanne Fox - Last Supper Briana Robertson - Baby Blues Latashia Figueroa - Easter Eggs Amy Cross - Lamb to Slaughter Kevin J. Kennedy - A Town Called Easter
I received this book for free from Author Gifted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
So Kevin Kennedy decided that Halloween just gets too much press and it was about time other holidays had their own horror stories. He cobbled together some great authors and made two Holiday inspired anthologies. Of the two, Collected Christmas and Collected Easter Horror Shorts, this one isn’t as good as the other. In fact I will be reviewing the other one later this year or early next year.
One of the reasons why I don’t particularly like this collection is that is really deals with families. Easter is a time for rebirth and in two of the stories, a mother losing her children. As a mother, usually it doesn’t bother me, but for some reason both of these stories resonated with me. Actually I think three of them now that I remember, two were actually about someone dying. Another one was about a ghost, a poor little ghostie.
With that said there are a couple of stories I completely and utterly adored. Well as much as you can adore horror stories. The one about the 2000-year-old assassin was especially good. I think that with any collections such as these there are going to be stories that you love, ones you hate, and ones that are okay. This one is just like that. The ones with the kids dying were hard for me, the one about the bunnies and eggs were really interesting and didn’t bother me the same way.
The story about the beta testing of an egg hooked me and didn’t let me go, like never let me go. I knew it was up to no good, I just knew it, but stories have a way of twisting and so I didn’t want to assume anything. Most of these stories are like that. No one can assume anything because when you do, something jumps up and will eat you. Literally, it will likely eat you.
I want to thank Kevin Kennedy for reaching out to us with these stories. Between this one and the other two he sent us, I had many an hour of good stories to read and creep me out.
About Amy Cross
About Andrew Lennon
Andrew Lennon is the bestselling author of Every Twisted Thought and several other horror/thriller books. He has featured in various bestselling anthologies, and is successfully becoming a recognised name in horror and thriller writing. Andrew is a happily married man living in the North West of England with his wife Hazel & their children.
Having always been a big horror fan, Andrew spent a lot of his time watching scary movies or playing scary games, but it wasn’t until his mid-twenties that he developed a taste for reading. His wife, also being a big horror fan, had a very large Stephen King collection which Andrew began to consume. Once hooked into reading horror, he started to discover new authors like Thomas Ligotti & Ryan C Thomas. It was while reading work from these authors that he decided to try writing something himself and there came the idea for “A Life to Waste”
He enjoys spending his time with his family and watching or reading new horror.
About Christina Bergling
Colorado-bred writer, Christina Bergling knew she wanted to be an author in fourth grade. In college, she pursued a professional writing degree and started publishing small scale. With the realities of paying bills, she started working as a technical writer and document manager, traveling to Iraq as a contractor and eventually becoming a trainer and software developer. She avidly hosted multiple blogs on Iraq, bipolar, pregnancy, running. In 2015, she published two novellas. She is also featured in the horror collection Collected Christmas. Bergling is a mother of two young children and lives with her family in Colorado Springs. She spends her non-writing time running, doing yoga and barre, belly dancing, taking pictures, traveling, and sucking all the marrow out of life.
About J.C. Michael
About Jeff Menapace
A native of the Philadelphia area, Jeff has published multiple works in both fiction and non-fiction. In 2011 he was the recipient of the Red Adept Reviews Indie Award for Horror.
In March of 2014, his novel BAD GAMES was a #1 Kindle bestseller and is now being optioned as a feature film.
Free time for Jeff is spent watching horror movies, The Three Stooges, and mixed martial arts. He loves steak and more steak, thinks the original 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the greatest movie ever, wants to pet a lion some day, and hates spiders.
About Jeff Strand
Author of a bunch of demented books, including PRESSURE, DWELLER, A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO, WOLF HUNT, SINGLE WHITE PSYCHOPATH SEEKS SAME, BENJAMIN'S PARASITE, FANGBOY, THE SINISTER MR. CORPSE, and lots of others. Three-time Bram Stoker Award finalist. Three-time Bram Stoker Award loser. Four-time Bram Stoker Award Master of Ceremonies.
About Kevin J. Kennedy
Kevin J Kennedy is the co-author of You Only Get One Shot, and the man behind the best-selling Collected Christmas Horror Shorts & Collected Easter Horror Shorts anthologies. His short stories have featured in many other notable anthologies in the horror genre.
Kevin lives in a small town in Scotland with his wife, step daughter and two strange little cats.
About Latashia Figueroa
Latashia gives two good reasons for her love of horror: her childhood home was believed to be haunted and Stephen King often told her bedtime stories. Pet Sematary was the first.
Latashia embraces her fascination of the dark and macabre through her writing. Her stories have been described as psychological thrillers with a dash of horror.
She is the author of IVY’S ENVY, the first book in the Want & Decay Trilogy, and THIS WAY DARKNESS: Three Tales of Terror. Her short story, OUT FOR A HUNT, is featured in Dark Futures Annual 1 Anthology.
Latashia attends writing classes as often as she can. She adores the arts, is a self-proclaimed wine snob, and is addicted to riding roller coasters. She lives on the east coast with her very supportive husband.
About Lex H. Jones
Lex Jones was born and raised in Sheffield, north England, in 1985. A keen writer from a young age, he was always fascinated with the supernatural and is obsessed with stories. He loves films, books, theatre, videogames, graphic novels, anything with a good story that captures the imagination. His books tend to have a supernatural (or at least 'unusual') undercurrent, as this moves them away from the more boring aspects of real life. Lex still lives in Sheffield, and shares a house with his three black cats, Salem, Nero and Faith.
About Lisa Vasquez
Lisa Vasquez designs horror with vivid, twisted dark stories that drag the reader into the pages. When she releases her grasp on them, her readers are left alone with those images. Some have even been reported having nightmares from the imprinted visuals inspired by her words. She takes this passion for writing horror to heart and spreads the love by mentoring, and volunteering as the Publisher's Liaison for the Horror Writers Association. In January (2016), she took that commitment to the next level by opening her own independent publishing house, Stitched Smile Publications.
Her debut novel "The Unsaintly" will be re-released this year followed by her second full-length novel, "The Unfleshed". You can find her several anthologies, and if you look hard enough, you might even find her poetry.
Lisa is a city girl, having been born and raised in Chicago, IL. She currently resides in Houston, Tx. and volunteers for Crisis Text Line.
About Mark Cassell
Mark Cassell lives in a rural part of the UK where he often dreams of dystopian futures, peculiar creatures, and flitting shadows. Primarily a horror writer, his steampunk, dark fantasy, and SF stories have featured in several anthologies and ezines. His best-selling debut novel, The Shadow Fabric, is closely followed by the popular short story collection, Sinister Stitches, and are both only a fraction of an expanding mythos of demons, devices, and deceit.
The dystopian sci-fi short story collection, Chaos Halo 1.0: Alpha Beta Gamma Kill, is in association with Future Chronicles Photography where he works closely with their models and cosplayers.
His work has been compared with British horror authors such as James Herbert, Clive Barker, Dennis Wheatley, and Brian Lumley. Also, his influences spread over to the US where he admits to having been first inspired by Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Dan Simmons, and H P Lovecraft.
About Mark Fleming
Born and bred in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, my most recent book is entitled The Wolf Warriors. It is written as M J Fleming.
This is a novel, its blend of fantastical adventure and gritty, gory historic action placing it firmly in the genre of dark fantasy/horror. If I were to sum the storyline in three words it would be 'druids versus werewolves'.
The Wolf Warriors is Book 1 of the Wolfslayer series. Set during the Dark Ages (circa 600 A.D.) I will be sending my central protagonist, a young druid named Kady, on ever more perilous adventures as she desperately strives to protect her tribe from the werewolves who are set on ethnically cleansing England of its native Celtic population.
Inspired by the blend of strong violence and powerful female characters introduced by the Underworld series or Game of Thrones, the Wolfslayer stories are all about the struggle of the underdog to surmount incredible odds. Writing them allows me to completely unleash my imagination in a way that my earlier writing - which was straightforward contemporary fiction - never could!
About Peter Oliver Wonder
Hidden in a remote location in California lives a man that responds to the name Peter Oliver Wonder. Though little is known about him, several written works that may or may not be fictional have been found featuring a character of the same name.
Devilishly handsome, quick witted, and as charming as an asshole can be, Peter has come a long way since his time in the United States Marine Corps. Making friends wherever he goes, there is never a shortage of adventure when he is around.
The works that have been penned under this name are full of horror, romance, adventure, and comedy just as every life should be. It is assumed that these works are an attempt at a drug fueled autobiography of sorts. Through these texts, we can learn much about this incredible man.
About Steven Stacy
Steven Stacy is a thriller, horror writer, who believes in strong female characters and sexy, strong, twisting plots. He is co author of the new thriller "Stitches" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... with friend & fellow Kevin J. Kennedy
Steven achieved a BA in Creative Writing & Creative Literature from Bath University, graduating magna cum laude.
Steven loves short stories and is featured in several anthologies, including the best selling, themed 'Collected Horror Shorts' series
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... (under Murray) &
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Steven has worked in a comic book shop (loved it!) As a model (Liked it.) In a grocery store (despised it!)
You can now find him writing or reading in his apartment with his Bengal cat, Isis, beside him; listening to Madonna or George Michael.
After writing over 200 articles on horror for https://www.bellaonline.com/about/Hor... (which is the largest women's online magazine in the U.S) he considers he knows a good scare and women's tastes in horror.
P.S - There's someone behind you! Just kidding, they're watching you through the window! Close the curtains, haven't you ever read a scary book?
About Weston Kincade
Weston Kincade writes fantasy, paranormal, and horror novels that stretch the boundaries of imagination, and often genres. His current series include the A Life of Death trilogy and the Priors. Weston's short stories have been published in Alucard Press' "50 Shades of Slay," Kevin J. Kennedy's bestselling "Christmas Horror" and "Easter Horror," and other anthologies. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and helps invest in future writers while teaching English. In his spare time Weston enjoys spending time with his wife and Maine Coon cat, Hermes, who talks so much he must speak for the Gods.
