This collection of short stories offers a wide variety of characters and plots. Each story twists the
theme of the ocean into a unique vision, some capture the attention more than others.
It starts off with "Diving the Coolidge"; a horror adventure that dives into the bottom of the
ocean to check out a shipwreck. It continues with "North"; a story about a blind boy who meets a
wise man, and then there is "The Promised Hour"; which is a story about an ex-whaler who is
hired to find a narwhal. Following this is "Crocodile Gods" which was my favorite, a story of a
man and woman who find themselves going head-to-head with crocodile. The fifth story
"Wisteria" was an except from a full length novel and involves a mysterious woman and a pirate.
If you're interested in a story from the point-of-view of dolphins, there's a story about that
entitled "Flotsam". The seventh story "The Baited Night" was also entertaining as a mysterious
woman lures men to the sea. "Sand King" revolves around the myth of Poseidon.
The last two stories feel a bit out of place with the collection. They're tone and subject matter are
much more serious, especially the final story "Gramps Goes Fishing" which is very dark.
While the stories were well written, some didn't hold the tension as well as others. The story
where with the dolphin POV, while unique, didn't have the same attention grabbing qualities as
others, such as the opening story, which was intriguing and action packed. However, readers who
like a wide variety of stories revolving around a single theme should not be discouraged from
giving this collection a try. Just because it wasn't the right fit for me doesn't mean it won't be the
right fit for someone else.

Salt Water Tears.

[Blurb goes here]

This is not your usual anthology. All the stories in this one, are good. More often than not, anthologies have 20 percent good stories, 20 percent 'meh' stories, and the rest is just bad writing. I'm glad to say this was not the case. I really enjoyed the mystery, the horror and the sci-fi adventures comprised in the book. It was hard for me to put it down, even when I had to wake up early to go to work.

I'd never hear of this author before. But I will surely read more from him in the future. That's my two cents.

Thank you for the advanced copy!

From publisher's blurb; Salt Water Tears delivers 11 stories from Bram Stoker Award winning author Brian A. Hopkins. These stories share a common theme, the oceans that cover seven-tenths of our world, but each is as unique and emotionally.

Each story has one common thread, the sea. The sea can be beautiful and scary, filled with wonder and horror from a popular horror genre writer that, until now I had never heard of.
The 11 stories here range from a feeling of Sci-fi to mystery to horror. Each written with the feeling of poetry. Not to say these are poems, but the words, the feelings, the experiences you will find in this book are indeed sheer poetry.

This book was almost impossible to put down. Each story of the sea made you feel like you could feel the wet spray on your face, the tightness in your chest as you begin to run out of air under the waves, the sheer terror of seeing your future swallowed down into the gullet of a huge alligator,
I know I'll be searching out more of this amazing author's work.

I received this book from Crossroad Press and @Netgalley for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I received a free review copy of Salt Water Tears from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review - my sincerest thanks to both the author and the publisher. :)

What an interesting concept for a collection of short stories written by the author. Every single horror story involves the ocean in some capacity.

I really enjoyed this entire collection and would not put any story under 3 stars and truthfully most are 4 star material. The stories run the gamut of the horror being in the characters own heads, monsters, other worldly beings, fellow humans and the like. Mr. Hopkins has that knack Stephen King has for making you instantly sympathize with the main character in each short story.

Really glad I had the chance to read this and will be seeking out more of Mr. Hopkins work.

This is a multi-genre collection of short stories of generally high quality. It's unusual and impressive that one author writes in so many genres, but that may be a sign of innate talent. Regardless, fans of short tales will probably enjoy this.

I really appreciate receiving the review copy!!

Another great collection of stories from Brian A Hopkins. It is nice that some of his older books are getting back in print now. All of these stories are great, and my favorite two are Crocodile Gods and Wrinkles at Twilight. All the stories are related somehow to water, which is interesting. All the stories have great characters and pacing. Will definitely want to read more from Brian. #SaltWaterTears #NetGalley