Other Terrors, Edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason (Review by Julie Ramhold)

“We were not witches before we came here, but how we sizzle when we step into the holy dim now, our skin under our slips burns.” -from The Asylum by Holly Lyn Walrath As this is an anthology, it’s a mixed bag of success in my opinion. It’s branded as an “inclusive” anthology and it seems some authors were a little broad with that term. I had hoped and expected several stories of queer fiction, but that isn’t the case. That said, they’re not all bad or disappointing either. I ended up rating each piece individually and averaging them to get my overall rating. Other Fears, by Christina Sng. This is the first work in the book and it’s a poem. It’s a decent poem, 3out of 5*, but can definitely be overshadowed by other stories within this compilation. Idiot Girls by Jennifer McMahon is the first short story and this gave me high hopes for the anthology as a whole. I gave it a 4rating simply because it was a teeny bit predictable but a very good story overall and I really liked it. I honestly would read an entire book based on this story. Waste Not by Alma Katsu. I really wanted to love this one, but it ended up being 3for me. I wasn’t really clear on the “other” for this one, except that the main character never felt like part of her late husband’s family. She’s also a detective. The story itself is about the main character trying to clean out her mother-in-law’s home and coming across some interesting information regarding a murder years back. The story certainly isn’t bad, but it felt disjointed from what I expected the anthology to be and even now I’m still trying to figure out how it fit the assignment, so to speak. Night Shopper by Michael H. Hanson. I gave this one 4as it was a very cool look at some eclectic night customers – Mr. Tepes makes an appearance, for example. The main character is a trans woman and also wears a hijab, and drives a car that she herself says others might think it looks like it’s right out of Mad Max. Skathi is a really likeable character and her night customers come to her rescue right when she needs it most. This is a good mix of real and unreal “other” and a great example to show that humans are often the real monsters in the world. Scrape by Denise Dumars. I’m not usually a fan of body horror, and I think this one definitely falls into that category, but it’s not too gory or anything. I think even if you’re squeamish you can enjoy this one, which I gave 4*. It does touch on partner death, so it’s one of the sadder reads, but it also is really intriguing and I honestly wanted more when it was done. It ends just fine, don’t get me wrong – I just think the story could potentially be turned into a full-blown horror novel successfully. Mud Flappers by Usman T. Malik. This one was definitely interesting and is dedicated to the fishermen and native residents of the Karachi coast, which gives it an extra dimension in my opinion. It’s more fantasy horror, I think, and another that I would like to see more from as far as world-building and lore goes. I gave it 4*. Churn the Unturning Tide by Annie Neugebauer. I wanted this one to freak me out, but in the end it was unnerving, if that. I honestly kind of found it forgettable, but it was an okay read. I gave it 3*. There’s Always Something in the Woods by Gabino Iglesias. This one was pretty creepy, a solid 4for sure. The characters were relatable, and Iglesias does a great job of making the reader feel trapped along with them and will make you think about what you’d do in the same situation. The Turning by Hailey Piper. This was another 4read for me. It was just so different in a good way, and our main character becoming an other from her parents still finds her people by the end. I really enjoyed this one even though it kind of threw me at first with what the turning is referring to. Help, I’m a Cop by Nathan Carson. This one feels disjointed and just tragic, really, a 3read for me. Said cop seems to have become a cop because his dad tried to make him “macho” and didn’t accept that he was gay. Going down that road leads to the cop making poor decisions in his job and some young ravers taking revenge on him at the start of the story. Present day is interlaced with flashbacks to get some kind of background. Miss Infection USA by Shanna Heath. This was honestly so different and original. It’s not really spooky, but it is memorable. Definitely a 4read from the book and one that I’ll probably go back and read again. All Not Ready by Tracy Cross. I rated this one 3simply because there’s a lot the reader doesn’t know. It seems to be set in a dystopian future, and the main character is trying to develop a project for a science fair type of event? There seems like some good promise there, but I was left wondering more about what was going on and honestly what had just happened so it was only an average read for me. Illusions of the De-Evolved by Linda D. Addison. This is another poem, and it was fine. I think I may just be bad at reading poetry, but it felt like a 3read to me. Black Screams, Yellow Stars. This was an incredibly effective horror read, 5for sure. It’s only a couple of pages, and it just filled me with dread and unease. There are references to the Holocaust and racial hate crimes and sadly for part of the story it seems like it could be one of those things that occurred 50 years ago or 5 years ago. And by the end, when you see the tipoff to when it’s happening, it just makes it that much more horrific. Kalkriese by Larissa Glasser. This one certainly started out promising, with a glimpse of what’s to come, but it was so long I quickly grew bored waiting for the big reveal. I finished it, but it was 26 pages and I felt like it could’ve gotten the message across just as effectively if it had been shorter. This was just a 3read for me. The Devil Don’t Come With Horns by Eugen Bacon. Trigger warnings, first and foremost: animal death, parental death, racial slurs. This wasn’t that