Review: Come Join Us by the Fire Season 2

Free creepy stories for your ears!


Come Join Us By The Fire Season 2

Published October 2021

 Dark Fiction  |  Goodreads  |  GooglePlay 

 Source: Freebie!

Come Join Us by the Fire Season 2 is the second installment of Nightfire's audio-only horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites.

The collection showcases the breadth of talent writing in the horror genre today, with contributions from a wide range of genre luminaries including Laird Barron, Indrapramit Das, Shaun Hamill, Daniel M. Lavery, Matthew Lyons, T. Kingfisher, Seanan McGuire, Nibedita Sen, and Nightfire’s own Cassandra Khaw and Silvia Moreno-Garcia. 


My 2 Cents For Free!

I don't know if I have it in me to review this collection in any proper way so I'm throwing a 3.5 at it (bumping up for GR) It is huge and there so many stories and though I'm thankful for all of them, these things are a bitch to review. Most of the stories are fantastic. There were a few that didn't personally thrill me but with so many stories that's always going to be the case. You may love them. You may hate the one's I love. That's okay. I highly recommend giving this audio a listen. It's free on GooglePlay and will likely be added to Spotify like the previous one was so you have nothing to lose but a little bit of your time.

I'll leave you with my mini reviews of my favorites which were mostly in the front half of the book:

Some Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw
A woman grieving the death of her father, who always demanded too much, finds no relief even after his death 👻. This story is filled with dad guilt, regret and family dysfunction. It will probably haunt you long after you finish. This one hurts 🖤 Khaw is such a great writer.

The Changeling by Sarah Langan
This tale is dastardly, dark and pure perfection. I loved it! Occasionally people do get exactly what they deserve 😆.

Origin Story T. Kingfisher
An arty fairy puts her talents to use creating creatures that torment the town to soothe her guilt over her horrendous day job. I could fall into this world forever. It holds such tempting dark beauty.

Tooth, Tongue and Claw by Damian Angelica Walters
Walters paints a disturbing vision of a world ruled by monsters where humans throw their second born daughter up as a sacrifice to keep the peace. One unlucky young woman must now find her own secret way to fight back when her life becomes intolerable. I loved this one so very much!!

Mama Tulu by Jessica Guess
A young woman visits Mama Tulu to take care of her abusive father and by take care of I don’t mean cooking the man dinner, haha! Unfortunately she doesn’t realize there's a price to pay. This was another fabulous story with an excellent narrator.

The Specialists Hat By Kelly Link
Two strange little girls spend the summer in a haunted manor as their dad writes a book and entertains a new lady love. Little girls with big imaginations get up to all kinds of no good when left to their own devices. . .

Pigeons by Nibedita Sen
Ooh I loved this sinister tale of smart little girls using their power to the fullest!

Things We Lost In The Fire by Mariana Enriquez
This one is powerful, and painful and filled with disturbing truths. Listen to it!

The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca
A good hearted teacher goes above and beyond to help out a talented student who has a big scary secret. This was full of on-coming dread. I saw parts of it coming but I enjoyed it so much I'm not even going to complain.

Go give this lovely gift a listen. I'm pretty certain you'll find something here to love.

⭐⭐⭐1/2



Comments

  1. sherry fundinThursday, March 18, 2021

    i agree, a book like this is a hard to review. you did a bang up job. thanks for sharing
    sherry @ fundinmental

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bark At The GhoulsThursday, March 18, 2021

      Thanks, Sherry! It's so hard to review these. I had notes on every story but if I included them all this review would be a novella. I've seen grumblings online about people who only review a few stories so it's a dilemma.

      Delete
  2. Joy Saturday, March 20, 2021

    I've rarely read short stories collections, so I can only imagine how tough reviewing them could be. I want to try my hand on it, though.

    You did splendidly well, regardless!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bark At The GhoulsThursday, March 25, 2021

      Thank you :) They truly are a pain to write though. I have to take notes on every single story and then figure out what's worth keeping in the review and what I should leave out and cutting each one hurts deep!

      Delete
  3. Erica RobynSaturday, April 10, 2021

    Ooh! I hadn't heard of this. I'm on vacation from work this coming week and planning to do some yard work. I'll have to give it a listen!

    ReplyDelete

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