Cover Image: Tiny Nightmares

Tiny Nightmares

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Member Reviews

This is a great anthology that introduced me to some new and upcoming writers and provided great content from established horror voices. I don't think there was one story that I didn't enjoy or appreciate, though I definitely have my favourites. My one minor complaint with the collection is that while the short format worked for most of the stories, there were others that I felt would have been more effective as longer works.
My favourites include "Guess" by Meg Elison, which is a bit of cli-fi dystopian goodness about a woman who can accurately predict how people will die. "We've Been in Enough Places to Know" by Corey Farrenkopf is a commentary on housing inequality that involves a very creepy basement dwelling aquatic creature. "Jane Death Theory #13" by Rion Amilcar Scott explores the horrors of police brutality. "Pincer and Tongue" by Stephen Graham Jones explores the repercussions of two exes - a vampire and a werewolf - battling it out in a jungle. "Fingers" by Rachel Heng is another bit of cli-fi that begins with children getting pulled under the muddy ground by fingers that grip them from below, but it goes in a really interesting and unexpected direction. "#MOTHERMAYHEM" by Jei D. Marcade has one of the best first lines I've ever read and is legitimately creepy as hell. These are just some of the stories that gripped me the most, but as I said, each one is pretty great.
The anthology gets more gruesome or more reflective of "traditional" horror as it progresses. There are some stories that are more on the "weird fiction" spectrum, and sometimes the horrors are more about social ills than traditional monsters. This is definitely up my alley, and I appreciated that the anthology treated horror as a broad category, focusing on experimental approaches to the genre rather than popular tropes. However, there is also a good amount of pulpy horror fun for those who like that kind of thing (I do).
Content warnings for pretty much all the things: violence, murder, abuse, violent deaths, sexism, racism.
Recommended for: literary horror fans, weird/experimental fiction fans, those interested in how literature can address social issues in fresh and effective ways, those interested in exposure to new and upcoming horror/spec fic writers.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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These tiny nightmares were really neat! A good mix of traditional horror, surreal dream logic, and creepy-pasta likes. And if something isn't to your taste, you'll be on to the next one pretty quick.

Worth picking up for Lindsay Miller's "Human Milk For Human Babies" alone. Plus it's interesting to see authors I'm used to reading longer, more serious stories by (Stephen Graham Jones, Brian Evenson, Jac Jemc) have fun with the format.

A good spooky Halloween pick!

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A quick, fun, October spooky read that is for anyone with a craving short horror tales.

Lots of standouts in this collection, my favorites probably being the mud pits story, the bagged serial killer, and the dog story. I don't have a lot of issues with this because it's such a diverse range of stories and you'll get something crazy each time you turn the next page. It just depends if that story fits your vibe or it's something conceptually you'll dislike. But there's always a plus of being able to skip over ones you don't enjoy as much!

I enjoyed Tiny Nightmares, and while others may be easily forgotten a few stories will live in my head for weeks to come!

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This is so hard to review when each story is less than 1500 words. Some were interesting, some were not. Most are ambiguous and leave you wondering. That is good when done well, horrible when done wrong.
Good for when you only have a little amount of time, such as waiting in a line, or in a doctors office. Ideally these should be read and contemplated one at a time

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This were micro horror stories written in a collection. A found a few brilliant stories in here but the majority were strange, and there was not enough time to develop them into the potential that they could be.

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This was a really anthology of creepy reads, I really enjoyed some of the stories and I love when I find new authors. I want to thank netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free e arc for my honest review of the book

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This is a collection of 42 spooky stories by various established and upcoming literary and horror writers. Ever since I heard about this book a few months ago I have been dying to get my hands on a copy. I binged this collection of horror nuggets and had a blast reading it. This book reminded me of the reading pleasures of binging the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collections as a kid. Each story in the collection is less than 1,500 words, making them consumable in minutes. Subjects range from an Uber-passenger serial killer, vampires, a zombie apocalypse, etc. Many of these stories get into even more bizarre territory that is difficult to briefly describe (I’ll give it a shot: one story involves a sea captain with a prosthetic leg, and the leg comes to life when it is detached from the captain and has sinister plans - fun stuff!). However, what I appreciated most about this collection is that the stories have depth despite their brief word count. Many of the stories serve as social commentary, based in a range of topics such as police brutality, environmental crises/climate change, sexism, etc. I can’t think of a better book recommendation for spooky season.

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Microfiction when done right is fiction at its sharpest. It doesn't only succeed bc it tells an immersive story in so few words but bc it plants the seed of an entire world and leaves you wanting more. Michel and Nieto have once again curated a diverse group of writers who have nailed it. This is a must have for any horror fan or anyone who wants to give flash fiction a shot.

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Some of these stories are GREAT. And I would argue that none are individually worth less a 3-star rating. For me personally, though, I missed the opportunity to find out more about these worlds and characters. Flash fiction just may not be my bag.

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I'm about 10 stories in and unfortunately I'm going to DNF this. I usually LOVE short horror story collections but this just has way too many stories so each one has only been about 2-4 pages. I've enjoyed a couple of them but most of them I'm just like "ok...and?" I've only given 3 stories higher than a 3 star so it just doesn't feel worth it for me to continue.

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Tiny Nightmares is a collection of horror "flash fiction", all clocking in at under 1500 words. With 40+ stories in here to digest, there's something for everyone looking for a scare without investing too much time. Similar to many collections, there are stories in here that either do not leave much of an impression or are just not up to par, but it's hard to complain too much when they're all so short. Personally I felt that many of these left me either bemused or bored by the end, but there were a few that were truly scary mixed in. Give it a shot this Halloween season if you find yourself on the go.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Black Balloon Publishing.**

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I loved the concept of this book, but ended up underwhelmed by the realization of it. The idea of short stories, 1500 words or less, conveying their authors’ worst nightmares sounds intriguing, but in reality this very much has the effect of people telling you their nightmares, which, honestly, just isn’t that interesting most of the time. I mean, unless you’re one of those weirdos who’s into that. Most of the time nightmares are best to be left well enough alone in the nightmare land where they belong and not dragged into the waking world and shared. Even in literary form, as it turns out. There were a few stand outs in this anthology, a story about mother’s milk and another one I’m already forgetting, the shining star was The Leg by Evenson, who seems to be hugely talented based on that story and his latest collection. Even the always excellent Amber Sparks wasn’t all that here. Overall, just wasn’t wowed. It read very quickly and the writing was usually pretty good, certainly on the literary side of things, but most of them had that very specific dreamlike quality which, while perfectly suitable on the literal level to the theme, wasn’t quite working for me. Tons of unknowns (with small college MFAs, small time awards, working on their first novel sort of authors) with a few recognizable names thrown in. A very diverse cast of authors, so much so, you know it has to be deliberate, so very woke in that respect. Interesting collection, but more so conceptually. Thanks Netgalley.

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Overall decent collection of "very" short horror stories. As in all collections, there were some I really like, some didn't care for and others just left me wondering what I just read. I'm all for mystery and open endings, but some I didn't understand a word at all. I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either. Mixed feelings on this one.

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***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
This was a fun read with stories that ranged from amusing to macabre to downright horrifying.

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I have a few favorites, a large amount of solid stories, and a couple of what did I just reads? But this anthology was nice introduction to some writers and their unique styles.

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I struggled with this one. None of the stories were entertaining to me. The stories all seemed like first attempts at fiction from high school or college students. Some were just adding quirky details to try to be edgy, and I'm not sure I was expected to laugh at the ridiculousness of them but I did.

Good idea, but no real entertaining content to back it up.

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Interesting mixed bags of stories, many were chilling or creepy enough to scare even horror aficionados. I haven't read a lot of micro fiction, I was impressed how well executed many of these stories were in such a short word count.

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The short stories in this collection are all decent. However, the problem is that none of them rise above this level. If you want to read some quick horror that will at least somewhat satisfy that itch, though, then turn to this collection.

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This is an interesting collection of short horror stories. A lot of the stories in this book were not exactly very scary, though they did have an eerie element to them.

Many stories in this collection start off really well, and are quite spooky and intriguing in the beginning, but most of the endings just left me scratching my head in confusion. I think a lot of people like ambiguous endings, but I’m not a big fan.

My favorite stories were Human milk for Human Babies, by Lindsay Miller, which is a creepy tale told through Facebook messages, and Marriage Variations by Monique Laban, which reads like a choose your own adventure story.
I would have liked more detailed endings for both of these though.

Perhaps I would have liked this book better if the endings didn’t confuse me or didn’t just leave me hanging and expecting something more.
However, it’s definitely recommended for readers who are into that sort of thing and like reading short horror stories.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of the book, in return for an honest review.

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This collection of short horror stories range from mild unease to bone-chilling terror. I found there were more mundane stories that I felt no connection than truly horrific tales, but when I did find one... oh, boy. They left an impact.

My favorites include:
1. "Jane Death Theory #13" by Rion Amilcar Scott - THE most horrific story in this collection. Super short, super timely, utterly blood curdling. I hated it, but I think that's the point.
2. "Lone" by Jac Jemc - The second story to give me goosebumps. A literal nightmare scenario.
3. "Candy Boii" by Sam J. Miller - Another brutal story with an ending line that will stay with me for a while.
4. "Katy Bars the Door" by Richie Narvaez - A fun and clever story!
5. "Leg" by Brian Evenson" - Another fun, eerie story with an ending both expected and unexpected.
6. "Caravan" by Pedro Iniguez - A very eerie tale made more so by current events.
7. "Gabriel Metsu, Man Writing a Letter, c. 1664-66" by Helen McClory - Another story with a great ending line that will stay with me.

Overall, a great, enjoyable read that I will definitely be recommending to horror fans.

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