Childhood Nightmares: Under The Bed

by Jessica Grafer:

The title of this anthology led me to believe that all twelve stories would revolve around monsters in a child’s room. Too many of these stories did just that. Some of them broke away from this pattern and that was a welcome relief. The stories may have their own twist but put together in one book inevitably leads to repetition.

The first story, “Forgotten” was bogged down with flowery descriptions. I found myself skipping over a lot of the words to get to the meat of the matter. Most of the stories were entertaining but a few gems did stand out.

“Madeline” by Julianne Snow was an intriguing story about a young girls’ bad dreams and eccentric great aunt. “Telling Tales” by Phil Hickes was a fantastic story about how children should perhaps be not seen or heard.

I loved the “Show and Tell” by Kate Monroe. It tells the all too familiar story about what can happen when an angry, unique child has the power of the supernatural behind him.

The collection includes a couple ghost stories and numerous monster stories. It is hard to get a concise story told in short form. I felt that some of these were finished abruptly. All in all it was an interesting collection. Most of the tales were easily forgotten but a few have stuck with me. Because of those, I will be keeping an eye out for up and coming authors in the suspense/horror genre.

Childhood Nightmares: Under The Bed can be found on Amazon.com.

Jessica Grafer has loved the “darker” things since she was old enough to pick her own books. She is a contributor for DarkMedia who will be covering Revenge and 666 Park Avenue. She loves to walk the book store shelves and pick up whatever catches her eye. She is a movie lover with a great range in her tastes, and appreciation for all genres. Jessica is a writer and has several things in the works. You can follow her quirky Twitter posts at @scarletbe and check out her blog.