Stuff I Read: Horror Book by Thom Carnell

It’s the perfect time of year for spooky stories, the stuff you can read in the Northwest’s trademark October gloom while drinking a cup of hot beverage by a fire. And even though this year the Northwest has yet to deliver its notorious October gray drizzle (thereby making hot beverages uncomfortable and fire dangerously impractical), I can still recommend a spooky read, like Thom Carnell’s 2021 short story anthology, Horror Book.

Horror Book by Thom Carnell

Horror Book contains fourteen short stories that play with the concept of what horror is. With tales ranging from familiar zombie stories (the opener is set in Thom’s post-apocalyptic zombie world of No Flesh Shall Be Spared­) to the supernatural (Father Thorpe, a favorite character of mine, returns in The Dagger of Golgotha), Carnell deftly adapts and subverts conventional horror tropes.

The collection shines when Carnell reaches for horror in unconventional places, eschewing jump scares and gore for the dread of typically safe spaces and situations gradually going wrong. The growing dread surrounding an impending marriage gives a new definition to cold feet in Happy Together. Esurience takes on what and how we eat by treating fasting as an almost infectious addiction. Hypoxia explores what happens in a lonely moment-to-moment account of a typical adult activity going wrong in a freak occurrence. And Sala Amputa shows the difference between hero and monster is only a matter of perspective. Each story is preceded by Carnell’s signature introduction, making him our Serling-esque host and guide through the worlds he’s created.

If I have one gripe, it’s that the short stories that feature recurring characters from previous collections make me want a full-length story featuring those characters. I want a Father Thorpe novel. I want a third No Flesh Shall Be Spared novel.

Thom Carnell’s Horror Book is a perfect October weekend read. Punchy short stories that help pass a rainy day (they’re coming, I promise), this collection of tales will make you realize there is so much more to fear than what goes bump in the night.

Pros: Great collection; lots of solid, well-told stories; finds the scary moments in happy and mundane life.

Cons: Father Thorpe is a solid enough character that warrants a full-length novel; where’s the third zombie book?

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.