Horror Stories: Twenty-Six Scary Tales

Kilborn/Konrath (they are actually the same person) delivers 26 stories that provide a good mixture of the macabre and horrific humor that listeners will find reliably enjoying. Some stories are truly suspenseful, such as “Symbios” and “Forgiveness,” while others (“Trailer Sucks” and “Well Balanced Meal”) are clearly designed to disgust. But Kilborn/Konrath is at his best when he balances the humor and the grotesque in such stories as “The Agreement.” Given a mix of short fiction, a range of characters, and numerous genres (supernatural noir, sci-fi horror, etc.), MacLeod Andrews performs an admirable balancing act, managing to capture the stories’ tension and humor as well as the many characters’ accents and the distinct personalities. Most remarkable, perhaps, is his smooth delivery of gibberish words, such as indiscernible grunts, gargled screams, and the sounds of squishing body parts. A CreateSpace paperback. (Aug.)