Genre: Horror
Length: 59 Pages
Release date: March 17, 2018
Synopsis:
Explore the intersection of love, loss and horror in these 14 bittersweet tales from author Dan Hilliard.
In “My Dark Box,” a girl waits in a haunted house prop for her yearly vampiric visitor. A father prepares his daughter for life alone in the wasteland in “Make the First Swing Count.” A boy and his dog find happiness – if not cleanliness – forever in “Rex.”
Featuring “The Sands,” a Lovecraftian body horror trip to the shore; “Live Action,” a neo-noir look at never letting go; and “Human Mercy,” a machine’s misguided attempt to care for her hapless human.
Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review
14 macabre tales, I can’t think of a better subtitle for a book. You all know I’m a horror fan who lives in a world that’s off its axis. That means I’m right where I should be when diving into this book. There were some highly entertaining shorts and bite sized stories to made me laugh and shake my head.
Human mercy was on my list of favorites. It was crafty and I loved the creative nature of the AI and human relationship. An AI who feels in charge of a human is a cool juxtaposition. Next, Burlap Agave was enough to send chills up my back. Dolls, why did it have to be about dolls? Didn’t anyone tell him they are seriously creepy? Double hell! Six Minutes was my kind of story. It was shocking with a completly excellent twist and cool as crap. All of this packed into three pages! That was my favorite story without a doubt, but it’s too short to summarize, and believe me, it rocked.
The first half of the tales in Bittersweet were fun and inventive. The second half left me wondering what happened. The stories all had strange themes, some about slime or goo, and others about water. It felt like a completely different writer had taken over this half of the book. Whatever the case I was left disappointed as the last half came and went.
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