"Hunger for Death": Solid scares and dark themes
A solid collection of short fiction exploring the darkest parts of humanity and some new takes on horror tropes
In this collection, Marsella takes us on a journey through a nice variety of horror stories through the vehicle of short stories. From some disturbing Christmas horror to classic ghost stories, dark tales about depression to classic horror in a morgue, there is something here for everyone to discover.
This collection had been on my radar(and my Kindle) since it was released last November. Highly recommended by so many respected voices in the horror community, I had to pick it up and check it out. As happens when your TBR pile is always growing, it took me 11 months to finally get to it, but reading a horror collection in October SHOULD be ideal, right?
As always, when attempting to review a collection or anthology, I struggle with how to tackle the task. Do I keep it short and sweet, only giving my thoughts on the collection as a whole? Do I break down and review EACH AND EVERY STORY in the collection?
Yes. I do both.
I want to give you a very brief overview of each story, not a FULL review by any means, just an idea of what each story is about(spoiler free of course), before I give you my favorite stories and overall thoughts on the collection. Let’s do it.
The Stories
Daphne
A man steps into the middle of an alien abduction of a prized family pig on his farm and finds himself rejected by the aliens.
To Feast With Orphans
Three drunk friends make a terrible decision to assault a bell ringing Santa on the street and find themselves guests at a special dinner as one long drunken night turns to horror.
Coma Toast
A truly unsettling story centered around a morgue and crematorium.
A Room Full Of Toys
As kids, a brother and sister are left to play in a creepy second floor toy room that appears to have been forgotten while their Mom attempts to make friends at a party. They find something much darker and sadder than the long forgotten toys, however.
Polybus
As a nasty winter storm looms, a man obsessed with puzzles finds himself trying to solve the most disturbing puzzle yet.
The Blue Cliffs
At its heart it’s a ghost story with a heart of gold. Dealing with themes of depression and helplessness it’s not a “scary” story per se, but a powerful one none the less.
The Cauldron
When a horror fan is told about a creepy cauldron found out in the woods he can’t resist heading out to take photos for his growing horror social media account. Once there, he doesn’t find what he had hoped. A predictable but still satisfying “trap” tale.
Mean Old Mr. Amesbury
A heartbreaking version of the classic “Creepy/Grouchy Old Man in town” story premise. Don’t judge a book by its cover is the primary focus of this one.
A Trailer Park Christmas
A man struggling with alcoholism, his life crumbling around him, until he is visited on Christmas Eve by someone other than Santa and his elves.
Man Of My Dreams
A woman struggling through a lifetime of lucid dreaming after a traumatic childhood only to find that sometimes not everything is safe when it’s “just a dream”.
Desecrated
An unsettling and touching story about a boy and his Grandfather and the dark secrets of the Veteran’s Nursing Home facility he finds himself in.
Unholy Communion
When a boy discovers an evil secret in the basement of his church, nothing will ever be the same. What he sees can’t be unseen and he may not get out alive.
Sacrifice
A young woman, pregnant and alone, has to find her way to some sort of civilization or safety after a nuclear war ravages the US. It’s a story of survival and hope with an absolute gut punch at the end.
There’s a lot to love about this collection, a nice variety of themes that kept the collection from feeling stale the deeper into it you read. Marsella’s voice and tone is consistent yet varied based on what is needed for each story. While not every story was a hit for me, there were a handful of favorites I really loved.
Feast with Orphans and A Trailer Park Christmas are both fun “Christmas” horror stories that, while enjoyable, will ultimately ring of familiarity for many. Coma Toast, which has a terribly dark bit of humor in the title, is classic horror in the sense that it feels like an exploration of “what would happen if…” and it’s a scenario that is truly chilling. The Blue Cliffs and Mean Old Mr. Amesbury both bring more somber tones that have power in their emotional aspects versus any actual horror.
But if I had to pick my favorites from this collection I would have to go with the long game darkness of A Room Full of Toys, the eldritch weirdness of Polybus, the bond between Grandson and Grandfather in Desecrated, and the post-apocalyptic gut punch of a finale in Sacrifice. These stories are the stand-out tales that feel largely representative of the rest of the collection.
Initially upon finishing this, I was in the midst of a bit of a self induced “horror burn out” and as such I didn’t have more than “it was ok” feelings about this collection. With a little time and thought, however, my thoughts have changed. Though only slightly.
With solid writing, variety of themes, and a “set list” that is laid out wonderfully, Marsella delivers a solid short story collection of horror. Because the themes are varied, there will be at least a couple stories here for just about any horror fan to enjoy, no matter what TYPE of horror you prefer.
While there are certainly a few stand-out stories here, there are also a few that just didn’t hit the mark for me. Some felt a bit too predictable or too similar to other horror I’ve read recently, which made it hard for these to carry the impact they hoped to carry. Overall though, it’s a solid collection that is much more good than less than good, and none of the stories were bad at all.
Even though the hype around this book had me hoping it would be a five star collection, and even though my feelings on it MIGHT have been slightly clouded by overdosing on too much horror in too short of time, this one was enjoyable but not top tier for me. I’ll read more from Marsella for sure, as his writing is solid and when he hits on a story, I really enjoyed it.
This one is well worth checking out for any fan of short horror fiction.
Hunger for Death by Joshua Marsella gets 3.75 stars.