S. S. Michaels

Detritus means: waste or debris of any kind. This collection of story is not a waste at all. Out of 15 stories, I found 3 I didn't care for. I consider that a very good ratio.
So quick recap on each story.
1. Chewed Up - Marcus is estranged from his wife Aubrey. He can't figure out why she won't talk to him. Is it his strange compulsion to collect used bubble gum? Or something more? I enjoyed this story and was surprised by the end.
2. Shots and Cuts - A homicide detective recounts tales of gore/horror that he has collected over the years. From 2 girls, one cup on youtube, to the serial killings in Ukraine. Not one of my favorites.
3. Ride - Man takes last ride on motorbike while world is ending. Bombs have been deployed and falling everywhere. During his ride, he stops to kill and collect hearts. I was bored.
4. Mrs. Grainger's Animal Emporium - Young boy walks into a store and steals a stuffed rat. Old women who owns the store sends other exhibits to retrieve the rat and the boy. Basic story, seen or read this type before, knew the end before I was done reading first page.
5. The Tick Tock Heart - When Kate's sister Meredith returns home, Kate can't take it. Kate collects clocks and feels her sister is upsetting their rhythm. Once again seen the end immediately, reminiscent of The Tell Tale Heart by Poe.
6. Arkitekur - Mother is in the house. Is she collecting or is it the house? This one was a bit boring, but ok.
7.Candy Lady - A story about 2 men stalking a woman. But why are they both stalking and what do they each collect. Not a bad tale, but reminds me of a Showtime show (I'm not gonna ruin the story, you will know what I mean when you read this.).
8. Armoire - Ophelia collects Ultra dimensional creatures. One gets loose and plans revenge.
I liked this one.
9. Shrieking Gauze - James "hears" colors. Blood screams at him. Now he collects bandages to figure out what they are saying. I didn't care for this one.
10. The Highest and The Sweetest - A young woman gets a job babysitting for a woman who keeps having multiple children. Then becomes pregnant with multiple babies herself. I wasn't a fan of this one either, made me think of Octomom for years ago.
11. Heroes and Villains - Ben and Paulie plan to steal a comic book purchase from their employer, and go into business for themselves. Until Ben figures why does he even need Paul. Not a bad tale, but not a new one either.
12. Let Them Into Your Heart - Hampton collects candy wrappers for his art. But who or what is the reason behind the art? I could have passed on this one.
13. In His Own Graven Image - Dauphin is a collector of scars. He has let himself be attacked (in a controlled environment of course) by every animal conceivable, even ones believed to be just folklore or imagined. With one spot left untouched on his entire body, he reaches for the ultimate being to scar him. I like this story, but really couldn't understand this compulsion at all.
14. Crawling the Insect Life - Marvin collects bugs. He is divorced and has gone crazy. He has bugs, dead and alive, all over his apartment. I was a little confused by this one, but it was a fine tale.
15. The Room Beneath The Stairs - Andy goes to visit his grandma. He asks her about the room under the stairs that she keeps locked. She gives a scary tale and reveals her own collection. Not the best in the bunch but not the worst either.

So I do recommend reading this collection. All in all , it was a great read. My 3 favorite story were Chewed Up by Jeremy C. Shipp, Candy Lady by Neil Davies, and In His Own Graven Image by Pete Clark. My 3 Least Favorites were Ride by Brent Michael Kelley, Shots and Cuts by Mary Borsellino, and Let Them Into Your Heart by Lee Widener.… (mais)

DETRITUS is an anthology of short stories about collectors and collections. Because it’s a horror-themed anthology, I don’t think I’m ruining anything by telling you that these stories all focus on the obsessive, dark side of collecting, often exploring the ways that such obsessions can become destructive or terrifying.

I myself am a collector. I have a number of collections, though I primarily collect books. With nearly 6,000 books, not to mention thousands more comic books and magazines, my wife – and visitors to my home – would probably describe me as an obsessive collector. But I’m not a hoarder, and my house isn’t (yet) collapsing under the weight of all my books. I don’t just buy books and forget about them. I’ve electronically catalogued all of my books, and continue to spend time maintaining my collection, and the records of the collection. I am not happy when I’m on vacation if I can’t visit a bookstore (or two, or three….) I also care about books as physical objects, as artifacts. I’m interested in the physicality of books almost as much as I’m interested in what books have to say. I like to hold books, open them, examine them, smell them. I enjoy being surrounded by books, preferably my own, but I have spent a considerable chunk of my life in libraries. Books comfort me in a strange way that I find hard to articulate. And I am continually on the hunt for new books, despite the fact that I own several thousand books I have not yet read. Many of these, I must be honest with myself and with you, I will likely never read before I die. Even so, I continue to acquire new books. So that’s a very long way of saying that I have some understanding of the kinds of collectors and collections depicted in the fifteen horror-themed short stories in the collection DETRITUS. They each share the common theme of obsessive collectors and the sometimes unfortunate or even horrifying consequences of people getting too caught up in the act of collecting.

Mild plot spoilers for a few of the stories follow.

Not all the stories were extraordinarily memorable, but I will note a few of my favorites in the collection.

“Mrs. Grainger’s Animal Emporium” by Phil Hickes: A very naughty little boy (we all know the type) has a run-in with the eponymous Mrs. Grainger who owns the new taxidermy shop that has just come to town. Delightfully creepy, it reminds me of the classic EC comic storylines in “Tales from the Crypt” and “Vault of Horror.”

“Candy Lady” by Neil Davies: This begins as a story about a woman who collects creepy dolls in an old house infested by a strange kind of black mold and becomes a story about the end of the world, or at least human civilization. A very powerful tale, I’d actually have liked to see this one expanded. As is, it was almost too terse; I wanted to see it fleshed out even more.

“Heroes and Villains” by Michael Montoure: The unhappy tale of two comic book collectors who have the terrible fate of coming into possession of all the comic books they had ever dreamed of acquiring. A very dark piece about the lengths that the obsession with collecting and possession can take the collector.

The final story in the collection, “The Room Beneath the Stairs” by Kealan Patrick Burke, is also a fun one. Andy visits his Grandma after the death of her husband and discovers that Grandma is just a little creepier than he had imagined.

Collecting was a great theme for a collection of horror shorts. These stories make clear that the fetishization of the objects being collected, the collection as a whole, and the process of collecting can all take the collector down dark paths. A warning that should be heeded by all of us collectors, I suppose. I wish that the collection contained a few more stories I loved, but there are few real clunkers here, just some that are forgettable. I recommend the collection – despite the fact that, like most anthologies, not all the stories were winners – because it has an interesting theme and some stand-out stories. If you consider yourself a “collector” and enjoy horror, you’ll enjoy adding this anthology to your…collection.

Review copyright © 2013 J. Andrew Byers… (mais)

Graphic and violent. A horror novel with Gothic undertones. The disturbing imagery was like a car wreck - I couldn't help but watch. There were a couple scenes that upset the animal lover in me but that's what the horror genre is about.

Two of the characters -Caleb and Avery- annoyed me but, without giving any spoilers, all of the things I didn't like about them were clues as to what was happening. I did guess the ending as it related to those two characters but the sardonic narrative style kept me reading to see if my guess was correct.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for review.… (mais)

I was given this ebook by the author on a Library Thing giveaway in exchange for a review. Thank you!

This is the first book I've read by author, S. S. Michaels. Hopefully it won't be the last! It was not only humerous, but dark with gouls, horror, and many bizarre scenes.

The characters are memorable -- I've been thing about them since I finished the book. The setting is goulish, haunted Savannah, GA, where a funeral home is about to go under financially. The funeral director, Caleb, has problems trying to keep the business afloat. He is a tall, thin, unattractive loner who has no money to buy the medications he needs for his mental illness. He has a friend, Four, who works in the tourist industry by being a guide through Savannah's haunted tunnels. And Caleb is in love with a woman who wants only to be his friend. Enter Avery, a college friend who is a scientist and determined to help Caleb salvage his funeral home. Things start to get out-of-control when Avery, with Caleb's help, experiments with bringing dead dogs back to life. It then gets much more involved but I don't want to be a spoiler.

I highly recommend this novel if lyou want something different that's very entertaining.… (mais)