Praise for the book:“A collection of terse, eerie, and delightful little creepers, each one like a swift uppercut to the solar plexus, proving that dynamite truly does come in small packages!”–Ronald Malfi, author of Bone White“Wow! With the amazing talent involved in this anthology, it’s no wonder 100 Word Horrors is such a powerful gut-punch of horror!” –Joe Mynhardt, Crystal Lake Publishing… Mynhardt, Crystal Lake Publishing
“A delicious collection of tiny tales of horror.”
–Kelley Armstrong, author of Bitten
“Each and every story will get you there, with a scare, in seconds. A terrific read for those who like their horror fast, sharp and brutal… like a good stabbing. Highly recommended!”
–Steve Gerlach, author of Rage
“Horror often is best served by the short form, and with 100 Word Horrors, you get the shortest of the short! This is a bag of Horror Candy that will make you cringe, reread, smile and savor, one twisted wrapper at a time.”
–John Everson, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Sacrificing Virgins
Synopsis:
A drabble is a short form of fiction that is exactly 100 words long (not including the title).
Kevin J. Kennedy, has once again brought together the best of the horror world to bring you an anthology that is packed with creepy tales.
Between these pages you will find over one hundred drabbles, written by a wealth of talented authors. From the best indie horror authors to Bram Stoker award winners and Amazon top sellers. We have monsters, mayhem and madness. Come join us.
Edited by Brandy Yassa
Full author line up:
A.J. Brown
Adriaan Brae
Alex Laybourne
Amy Cross
Antonio Simon, Jr
Becky Narron
Billy Chizmar
Billy San Juan
Brandy Yassa
Briana Robertson
C.M. Saunders
C.S. Anderson
Chad Lutzke
Christina Bergling
Christopher Motz
Christopher Motz
Craig Saunders
David Owain Hughes
Derek Shupert
Donelle Pardee Whiting
Duncan P. Bradshaw
Elizabeth Cash
Ellen A. Easton
Eric J. Guignard
Georgia Lennon
Gord Rollo
Howard Carlyle
Ike Hamill
James H. Longmore
James Matthew Buyers
James McCulloch
Jason M. Light
Jeff Strand
Jessica Gomez
John Dover
Kevin J. Kennedy
Lee McGeorge
Lee Mountford
Lisa Morton
Lisa Vasquez
Mark Cassell
Mark Fleming
Mark Lukens
Mark Lumby
Matt Hickman
Megan Ince
Michael A. Arnzen
Michael Bray
Michael Paul Gonzalez
Mike Duke
Nicholas Diak
Norbert Gora
P. Mattern
P.J. Blakey-Novis
Peter Oliver Wonder
Pippa Bailey
Rebecca Brae
Rhys Hughes
Richard Chizmar
Billy Chizmar
Rick Gualtieri
Robert W. Easton
Sara Tantlinger
Stefan Lear
Suzanne Fox
Theresa Jacobs
Valerie Lioudis
Valerie Lioudis
Weston Kincade
William F. Nolan
more
In 2018, Kevin J. Kennedy issued a challenge to some writer friends – write horror stories for an anthology, but only use 100 words to create your story. His friends came through with a creepy collection best savored in little bites. Anyone who knows me must be familiar with my enthusiasm for short and super-short stories, so this anthology is up my literary alley.
By necessity with drabble writing, the authors weighed each word. Although the collection offers many wonderful writers, there are too many stories to go into individually here. However, I must mention some of my favorites. Ellen Easton’s description in ‘It’s Just a Dream’ is breathtaking. ‘Running from Him’ by Michael A. Arnzen made me say, “Ew, bro!” Eric J. Guignard created an eerie new legend with ‘Foreverman.’ My absolute favorites, though, were Chad Lutz’s ‘Sugar and Spice’ and Kevin J. Kennedy’s ‘Children of the Carnival.’ Both of these excellent drabbles explored the innocence of children.
Some others that grabbed me included ‘Shadows’ by Antonio Simon, Jr., ‘Lightbulb’ by Matthew Brockmeyer, ‘No More’ by Mike Duke, and Suzanne Fox’s story. Many in this collection of scares possess a holiday theme. There are two Thanksgiving and several Christmas explorations.
The ‘100 Word Horrors’ anthology was such a success that there is a second and a third. (And guess what? There was an open call, and as a result, I have a story in the third in the series of 100 Word Horrors!)
A drabble is a piece of writing that is about 100 words in length.
What people often do not realise is that writing something short and making it as effective as something longer is actually really hard to do. The same opportunities to develop plot, characters and ideas in a novel or longer story do not exist in flash, micro fiction, or drabbles.
This book is a collection of drabbles by different authors, all in the genre of horror. The majority of these pieces of short fiction are brilliant; some are less effective, but that is largely a matter of personal preference. The chills, crawling of skin and unexpected twists are delivered with all the skill and craft that these writers use in their other, longer works, but their talent is highlighted in the fact that they can achieve this in so few words.
This book is great for anyone who loves horror, especially for a quick snatched moment of escape during a break or quiet moment. It’s also ideal for anyone new to the genre who wants to “dip their toes in the water” for the first time without committing to a longer read.
Some really good stories. Read through the book quickly but enjoyed what I read! Did not know what dribbles were until this book. I look forward to the next anthology.
Before hearing about this book, I had never heard of a drabble but I was intrigued. This was such a fun collection! I really loved the majority of the stories. I will definitely be going back to this collection from time to time to revisit them.
My favorite stories were the ones that either spooked me, or took a turn at the very end that I wasn’t expecting!
I definitely need to read more flash fiction! These drabbles were so fun! I highly recommend checking this one out if you’re a fan of horror, paranormal, and/or sci-fi and don’t mind a little darkness.
I opened the book with no expectations, I’ve read very few ‘drabbles’ but what I read were fine. There were many names I recognised on the TOC, yet started as anyone should, at the beginning. A mixture of stories flooded at me, some calm, some comical and others aggressive in their horror yet I continued reading, steadily picking my way through the short stories at such a rate I began to wonder if I had somehow been hypnotised. They gripped me, held fast, destroying my time as I consumed each and every delicate little morsel, leaving me hungry for more.
What I have written above is exactly 100 words, the same length as each of the stories in this collection. Prior to reading it I had perhaps read a dozen or so drabbles over the years and I’m aware that a vast amount of people love to do them. I didn’t really go in for the whole flash fiction scene, even though very good friends of mine were into it. I think I missed out.
The 100 Word Horrors book has brought together what I would consider to be a vast amount of stories, at a quick count I made it 110, from a variety of established and up-and-coming authors with the likes of Lisa Morton, Mark Cassell, Richard Chizmar, Pippa Bailey, David Owain Hughes, Michael Bray, Amy Cross, Becky Narron, Chris Kelso, Chad Lutzke and Christina Bergling to name but a few.
Each of the stories is of course bite sized, and yet I was constantly surprised by what each author had managed to do with the hundred words. With so many stories in the book and so many different authors one can expect a degree of overlap with similar themes, yet there is surprisingly little of that here and their dedication to craft has created a wealth of small but perfectly formed chillers. To me this book has many functions, it is a light read and as such could easily be the sort of thing you can get into on a tea break or the bus to work, but if you’re like me your drink will go cold or you will miss your stop and continue reading until the final tale is over. It is also a very useful guide to what is happening in contemporary horror as it is quite clear that there are many significant talents at work here with a wealth of different voices and there are several whom I’ve never read who have now enticed me to seek out more of their work.
I’m not going to single out any specific stories, as there are none which I would consider bad or confusing, they are all straightforward great little horrors, all of which are worthy of consideration. The beauty of such brevity is also that if you don’t like the story it has only been a hundred words.
Before I go, I must give a special mention about the cover as it is one of the most inspired works of art I’ve seen on a book cover since I don’t know when. Made to look like an old gaming cassette case it has a ‘Rampage’ theme, with a King Kong like gorilla, A Werewolf and A Giant Lizard smashing burning buildings with destruction in their wake and Apache gunships et cetera firing on them. It’s all rather dramatic and I believe parallels the scale of the contents. Whether you want something to while away the afternoon, or to dip into when you have 10 minutes, this is the ideal book.
This was a different type of book as all the authors featured had stories that were 100 words or less. All the stories were good and very creative! I was familiar with some of the authors in this book and some I didn’t know. Now that I have gotten a taste of their stories I am going to look up the authors I am not familiar with and check out the rest of their books. It is hard to write a review for stories as short as these were, so all I can say is you will have to check it out on your own, but it was one of the most interesting books I have read. Three stars for this one.