First of all, I'd like to thank John Brhel (co-author with Joseph Sullivan of this anthology) for sending me an electronic copy for review purposes.

"At the Cemetery Gates" is a collection of short, punchy horror tales. A unifying thread is provided by the small-town setting common to most of the stories, with the cemetery of the title hovering in the background like a haunting presence. The featured stories have a modern feel to them, although "The Girl with the Crooked Tooth" is an homage to Poe, and there are a couple of other tales dealing with death and obsession of which the old master would surely approve. I felt however that the strongest influence behind these tales comes from contemporary popular culture and TV shows. In fact, the authors themselves state in the introduction that the stories reinterpret urban myths and folklore. And so, besides hauntings of a more traditional type, we also come across weird angels, time travelling, a haunted time-lapse photo, government conspiracies, poisonous plants, werewolf-like monsters and masked serial killers.

The stories are not pretentious at all and, rather than adopting a "literary" approach, the authors prefer to concentrate on providing a satisfying narrative, more often than not with a twist in the tail/tale. Some of the stories are more ambitious in that they manage to portray interesting characters despite their brevity (for instance, I liked the interaction between the two brothers in "Delaying Decay").

Rather different from the rest of the stories is is "The Call is Coming from Inside the House". This is a Gothic pastiche with recognizable tropes of the genre (rambling mansion, black magic, a vulnerable young woman and even a lascivious monk) - its brief sections could well be expanded into a sort of modern-day Gothic spoof.

If you want your horror entertaining, this collection is well worth a read. ( )

I really liked all the stories in this book. They were all so different and they were not real creepy. They were more like stories that you would tell sitting around the campfire. I liked the stories well enough that I bought the second book. I gave it a five star read as I enjoyed reading the stories. ( )

First of all, I'd like to thank John Brhel (co-author with Joseph Sullivan of this anthology) for sending me an electronic copy for review purposes.

"At the Cemetery Gates" is a collection of short, punchy horror tales. A unifying thread is provided by the small-town setting common to most of the stories, with the cemetery of the title hovering in the background like a haunting presence. The featured stories have a modern feel to them, although "The Girl with the Crooked Tooth" is an homage to Poe, and there are a couple of other tales dealing with death and obsession of which the old master would surely approve. I felt however that the strongest influence behind these tales comes from contemporary popular culture and TV shows. In fact, the authors themselves state in the introduction that the stories reinterpret urban myths and folklore. And so, besides hauntings of a more traditional type, we also come across weird angels, time travelling, a haunted time-lapse photo, government conspiracies, poisonous plants, werewolf-like monsters and masked serial killers.

The stories are not pretentious at all and, rather than adopting a "literary" approach, the authors prefer to concentrate on providing a satisfying narrative, more often than not with a twist in the tail/tale. Some of the stories are more ambitious in that they manage to portray interesting characters despite their brevity (for instance, I liked the interaction between the two brothers in "Delaying Decay").

Rather different from the rest of the stories is is "The Call is Coming from Inside the House". This is a Gothic pastiche with recognizable tropes of the genre (rambling mansion, black magic, a vulnerable young woman and even a lascivious monk) - its brief sections could well be expanded into a sort of modern-day Gothic spoof.

If you want your horror entertaining, this collection is well worth a read. ( )

3.5 stars!

At The Cemetery Gates: Year One is a collection of 14 short stories. Most of them feature cemeteries-if not actually set there, they're at least mentioned.

My favorite story of the bunch was An Epistle From the Dead which was a macabre tidbit with a touch of poignancy to it that really brought the story home.

Pictures of a Perpetual Subject was also a poignant tale with a haunting outcome that I won't soon forget.

The remaining stories were all good, but not outstanding. These are the types of tales to be told around a campfire at night or at a sleepover. In fact, I think they're perfect for those types of scenarios. Seasoned horror fans used to hard-core scares might come away slightly disappointed, but I believe the average horror reader would find these tales satisfying.

Today this book is free! At The Cemetery Gates: Year One

Recommended!

*Horror After Dark was provided a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is it!* ( )