Mindy's Book Journey

  Title: If I Die Before I Wake: Tales of Nightmare Creatures (The Better Off Dead Series Volume 4) Published: February 8, 2021 by Sinister Smile Press Thank you to The Team at Sinister Smile Press for providing a copy for review. This anthology was published February 8, 2021. Overall Thoughts This was a fantastic short story anthology. The best anthology I have read so far in my life. Each story was very well written. I was impressed with how the authors could pull me in with only about 20 pages to do so. Different interesting creatures throughout made this a great reading experience. This is creature horror at its best. I would recommend checking out this anthology and all the others in the Better Off Dead Series. Thoughts on Individual Stories (Note: All these stories were very high quality. I designated the stories that resonated the most with me 5 stars.) Forward by Jeff Strand managed to be hilarious and creepy. It had me cackling out loud. 5...

Title: Fanged Dandelion Author: Eric LaRocca Published: December 31, 2020 by DEMAIN Publishing  Genre: Horror Poetry This is a wonderful short book of poetry that was written during the anxiety filled time of the pandemic lock down. This collection includes an amazing introduction by Sara Tantlinger who is also a writer of horror poetry as well as an introduction by the author himself. These 20 poems are emotional and visceral. Full of metaphors that are often organic in nature having to do with flowers. They explore the mind and harmful thoughts that can arise. I am not a seasoned poetry reader, and the meaning of the metaphors or the exact thoughts they represent wasn't always clear. What was clear was the emotions. I loved the lovely yet disturbing imagery these poems evoked. It was a beautiful and unnerving collection.     Thank you to the author and publisher for a copy for review.    Rating: 5 out of 5 stars