This is a great collection of horror stories. They are gruesome and disturbing but very entertaining. My favorites were 'Afterbirth' due to its unique premise, 'The Gods Of Our Fathers' due to how creepy and disturbing it is and how it will stick with me for awhile, and 'Solve For X' due to how unique it is and how it has some genuinely creepy moments. I would recommend this to those who enjoy horror. Special Thank You to Todd Keisling, Kevin Lucia (Cemetery Dance Productions) and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy prior to publication in exchange for an honest review.

Middle of the road collection, nothing really stood out and nothing was bad to the point of making it terrible to the point of stopping reading the whole thing entirely.

This collection of horror stories leans towards actual horror rather than the creepy or strange: the occult, body horror, child-eating and child death, graphic descriptions of zombies eating people, and the like. Also themes like rape and suicide. It’s really for those who have a taste for that kind of thing, so steer clear if you don’t.

However, as with most short story collections, there were good stories, and ones I didn’t enjoy. The spooky story We’ve All Gone to the Magic Show was really interesting, although bewildering (which is fine, as it’s part of a larger story). 2.45 To New Xebico was very cool: who hasn’t had that feeling of weirdness and out-of-time-ness in a bus station or airport in the wee hours of the morning? Anything could happen. Solve For X has a wonderfully creepy child, although the ending was terrible (spoiler: mauling of a toddler). I liked the structure of The Smile Factory, about the everyday horror of corporate life. My favourite, though, is the delightful Midnight in The Southland, about dead-of-the-night talk radio, and a ghost ferry.

The main reason for my rating of ⅗ is that the writing isn’t always tight, and there’s a dependence on gore to carry the story forward. As this is not my favourite genre, you may find you get more mileage from this collection than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Cemetery Dance Publications for access.

Short stories seem to be a hit or miss for me. I am usually left feeling unsatisfied or wanting more but these were pretty good. Some good enough that the horrors will stick with me for a bit.

“What brings you out tonight, Lonely Traveler?”

“This year Santa had brought a plague, and we were all on the naughty list.”
Todd Keisling is known for giving life to true horrors, and for not shying away from unpleasant topics. Cold, Black, & Infinite is the perfect example of this, and it’s one of those books I couldn’t take in all at once, having to take a break from the darkest regions of our mind and humanity. I’m not surprised this author was not only an Indie Book Award finalist in Horror & Suspense (2013) for The Liminal Man, but also a 2020 Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Superior Achievement in a Novel, thanks to his work Devil’s Creek. If you pick up this book, you’ll know why.

On a personal level, some stories worked better than others, which is absolutely common with a collection. What all of them had in common, though, is the fact that they managed not only to give me goosebumps, but as I mentioned earlier, they forced me to resurface and take a break – no matter how strong my curiosity was. A sign that a horror author got the assignment right.

“Reality is a bitch. It doesn’t take prisoners. All it leaves is a body count.”
I’m relieved that this book comes with a section about trigger warnings for every single story – it could spoil the fun of being suprised while reading, but it’s so important that Todd Keisling thought of sparing some readers further trauma. It’s not a courtesy so widespread amongst authors.

Another point of appreciation goes towards the section containing the ideas for the stories – I always find it interesting to see what prompts authors’ creation, and there are not many collections (or books in general) that do that. Off the top of my mind, I can think of The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales by Angela Slatter. Unfortunately, not as good as book.

Final Thoughts
Cold, Black, & Infinite is the perfect book for those whom love the horror genre, but also gore and dark stories. Todd Keisling does a great job, assuring him to stand out of the crowd, and giving some good nightmares to readers.

"It’s like I told you, as Mr. Drake once told me: We’re all slaves to entropy, everything rots, and even reality runs threadbare in places. I think I agree with the last part."

One of the best short story collections I've ever read. On par with my favorites of King. Some stories are fun Black Friday romps with zombies, while others will rip your heart out and feed it to said zombies. This is a masterclass in short fiction and I can't wait to begin sharing it with fellow horror readers. This is Keisling at his absolute best. Highly recommend.

Todd Keisling’s last novel, Devil’s Creek was an unsurprising hit. The plot is good, the characters are interesting, and the writing is superb. I did not connect with the novel like some other readers, but it was more my taste than the book itself. This is why I am thrilled to give Keisling another deserved shot. His short story collection Cold, Black, & Infinite: Stories of the Horrific & Strange is a much more appealing representation of his work. The sixteen stories are broken into three different, distinct sections, each with a different markedly different themes. 

The first section “Cold” has five stories, all but one of them taking place on a holiday (if you include Black Friday as a holiday). Each of these stories also have an element of the paranormal and otherworldly. My favorite of these stories, and possibly my favorite story in the collection is “The Happytown Yuletide Massacre”, a story about Angela returning to her hometown on Christmas Eve, possibly to be swept off of her feet by a hometown suitor. This is perfectly setup to echo Hallmark Christmas movies, but of course this one goes very wrong. The ending is very much turns the entire story into a cosmic horror. 

The second section, "Black", contains five stories that are motivated by revenge. My favorite of this group is “Tommy The Destructo-Bot Vs. The Bullies from Future Street.” The story stars Tommy Slone, a handicap kid that is being picked on by the neighborhood bullies. When he meets Old Lady Future, part witch, part mad scientist, she promises him revenge if she can turn him into his favorite comic book superhero. 

The final section, “Infinite” contains six stories. All of them have a darkness or infinite void that the characters are either facing or jumping into. My favorite of these, “The Smile Factory,” is about the promotion of Marty Godot from cubicle worker to management. In this apocalyptic world, everyone is falling apart, and the higher you climb in the corporate structure, the less human you become. It reminds me of the Zach Galifianakis movie, Visioneers (2008), a little frightening with very dark humor.

Of all three sections, I love every single story in the first two. The third section was a problem for me because I but did not really connect with the stories. The themes of darkness and facing the void are not as interest to me as the overarching themes in the other two sections. Of course this section could be another reader's favorite because it's a theme they love. The last section falls into the same problem that I had with Devil’s Creek: the stories are good but they are not my favorite type of stories.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great anthology. Short story collections can be hit or miss, and hard to review as a whole, but I really enjoyed almost every story in this collection. There's a great variety of different kinds of horror stories that keep things interesting. I'm a true Keisling fan now, and I'm looking forward to whatever he releases next.

"Okay, so let me tell you about 'Cold, Black, & Infinite' – it's like a bunch of super creepy, totally captivating mini nightmares, and seriously, not a single one falls flat.

Now, I'm a bit of a horror short story fan, gotta admit. I've delved into quite a few of these collections, but this one? It's got that extra sprinkle of special. I kept getting blown away by how darn good these stories were. The ideas? Crazy smart. The way they're brought to life? Expertly done. And the writing style? Talk about painting a vivid, spine-tingling picture. You know how usually in these short story bunches, there's like a story or two that don't really jive with you? Well, guess what? Not here.

So, if you're into horror stuff or dig short stories – seriously, check this out. It's like the ultimate example of both. Just a heads up, though, some pretty weighty stuff comes up, but don't sweat it – the author's got your back. They put a list of content warnings at the back of the book for anyone who wants a heads-up. Cool, right?"

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC and this opportunity!

It's an interesting collection of 17 wild, creepy stories. The book is divided into three parts: Cold, Black and Infinite.

The writing is good and imaginative. There were some stories that I didn't really enjoy but this book was overall an engrossing and intriguing read.

Stories I really liked are: Midnight in the Southland, 2:45 To New Xebico, The Happytown Yuletide Massacre, Y2K, Tommy the Destructo Bot…, Annie's Heart is a Haunted House, Solve for X.

Read it if you enjoy reading dark, mysterious stories and if blood and gore don't trigger you.

This is a collection of some of the creepiest short stories I have read to date.

I find it can be hard to rate collections like this, because most of the time I will like a few of the stories but not enjoy the rest. This collection, however, blew me away. Though there were possibly one or two I skimmed over as they did not interest me, the majority will leave your skin crawling.

Divided into three sections: Cold, Black & Infinite; these short stories are fast-paced and progress from eerie to outright gruesome. Many times I found myself pulling the words away from my eyes so I could take a deep breath before continuing.

If you are a fan of the macabre, this is most definitely the collection for you!

Also a big thank you to NetGalley and Cemetery Dance Publications for this eARC, which I have reviewed honestly and for free.

So many great stories! Long lost radio waves transmit tales of people traveling dark roads, zombies during Black Friday, a little boy gets new enhancements and revenge on his bullies and a town is terrorized by creepy mannequins.

Some of my favorites:

Midnight in the Southland. Creepy world building and isolation. A man on a night time drive here’s a radio show from his youth and follows the voice of the dead radio host.

We’ve All Gone to the Magic Show. Small towns can be creepy. An old building (the magic show) is in the process of being repurposed. But then citizens start disappearing and showing back up as mannequins. They all have eerie notes attached “You’re Invited to the Magic Show”

My first experience reading Todd Keisling came via his 2021 novella ‘Scanlines’, which notably shares many of the same strengths and weaknesses found here in ‘Cold, Black, & Infinite’ — which overall can best be summarised, in my view, as “okay”.

Keisling has some great ideas, and particularly shines as a writer when he is willing to lean more into existential horror and a wielding of the horror genre as more of a question mark than an exclamation point. There are some solid examples here of this, with ‘Y2K’ being one which comes to mind with moments that demonstrate the best that Keisling has to offer. But these efforts are then let down by nauseatingly superficial turns such as ‘Happytown’ and ‘Black Friday’, which read as more amateurish or sloppily put together, and are hard to finish as a result despite their shorter length.

Ultimately, ‘Cold, Black, & Infinite’ never feels like the sort of story collection that horror fans are likely to feel regret for having read if they do decide to take the plunge, but it just also never feels like the kind of collection those same fans are likely to regret not reading either.

This collection was my first by Keisling and from the first page I knew I had found a literary voice I would enjoy. I loved the way the author wrote the stories.

Some of the stories sounded so familiar that I wondered where I might have read them before.

The variety of themes made for a consistently engaging read, and while some stories felt like they were part of a larger narrative, each story felt like a complete work.

Thank you so much Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

#cold,blackinfinite, #ToddKeisling, #netgalley

Midnight in the Southland - weird radio stations 5/5 ⭐️

2:45 to New Xebico - weird trains to nowhere 3/5 ⭐️

The Happytown Yuletide Massacre - Battle Royale as a Hallmark Christmas movie
3/5 ⭐️

Y2K - late 90s conspiracies 3/5 ⭐️

Black Friday - Dawn of the Dead but this time it’s about capitalism 3/5 ⭐️

Tommy The Destructo-Bot vs. The Bullies From Future Street - this one wasn’t really my cup of tea

Afterbirth - Edgy necromancy 2/5 ⭐️

Annie’s Heart Is A Haunted House - a haunted house love story I hated more than House of Leaves 2/5 ⭐️

The Gods of Our Fathers - a little bleak. Would have loved this to be a fully fleshed out novella or novel 4/5 ⭐️

Solve for X - short. Sweet. Excellent 5/5 ⭐️

We’ve All Gone to Crooked Town - didn’t vibe with this one. More experimental.

The Smile Factory - didn’t vibe with the dystopian vibe

Holes in the Fabric - waiting to read this till I read the connected novel

Happy Pills - eh

Gethsemane - whoa 5/5 ⭐️

We’ve All Gone to the Magic Show - like if a Junji Ito story had no pictures 4/5 ⭐️

Unfortunately some of the most boring, punchless short stories I've ever read. Honestly, the stories each need some meat added to the bones, some lyrcism, some more loving care. They seem like they come from some good ideas, but are rushed through with basic storytelling. It's unfortunate as I'm always on the lookout for great horror short stories, but it seems they are as rare as unicorns these days.

I’m really hit or miss with short stories, but this one hit the mail on the head. I spent the entirety of this book uneasy, weirded out, or feeling something creeping up on me.

I enjoyed all of them, but I’d highly recommend Annie’s Heart is a Haunted House, Midnight in the Southland(this one might be my favorite short story of the year), and Gethsemane.

Usually I read a short story collection once and I’m done with it, this one I’ll have to have when it comes available, bc I need to go back and read them again. It was that good.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book.

Cold, Black & Infinite is a collection of short stories that truly embody the title, Horrific and Strange, and I love the dedication that says…

To the heathens,
The outcasts,
The introverts,
The weirdos and goths,
The godless and gracious
The queers and queens,
And all who dare to be…

This one’s for you.

This book gave me the vibes of Twin Peaks, part Outer Limits, part Twilight Zone, with a bit of 80s horror sprinkled in and wrapped in a Zombie apocalypse. It’s divided into three parts, Cold, Black, and Infinite, and my favorites are “The Happytown Yuletide Massacre,” “Black Friday,” “Solve for X,” and “Smile Factory.”

There were a few stories that fell a little short for me, meaning I didn’t get them (i.e., 2:45 To New Xebico, The Gods of Our Father, and We’ve All Gone to a Crooked Town), but I’d like to keep in mind that there’s a weird story for every reader. One story that really rubbed me wrong was Gethsemane which, for the life of me, I didn’t understand. (I guess you really have to free your mind for that one)

Everyone has different tastes for what type of horror they like, and with that, there will be stories you enjoy and others you hate. Are the stories graphic? Yes. Will they have you putting your hand over your mouth and going, WTF? Yes. Do they border on the macabre and horrific? Absolutely, it is in the title but isn’t that the very thing we love about horror novels?

That ability to put us right there in the moment of what’s happening and make us cringe while still trying to finish that last chapter or read one more page to see the fate of the characters.

I will say that most novellas don’t have as many likable stories as Cold, Black & Infinite. To only find 3 that I didn’t care for is an excellent thing. I found it interesting, entertaining, and disturbing, with a grab bag of great horror stories.

Good Reads Review posted 7/12/2023
Blog Post Review available 7/21/2023
Podcast Review available 7/23/2023

4.8 Stars - Excellent horror short stories, some content hit uncomfortably hard.
16 stories, varying sub-genres, with an underlying theme which slowly evolves into a conceptual monstrosity. I want to commend this author as a new favourite in the realm of horror.
Great for testing out different flavours of horror to see which suits!

(Netgalley advanced readers copy review)

The chapters are broken into 3 sections (i.e. "Cold"/ "Black"/ "Infinite") and you can infer the content from these headings as somewhere on the spectrum of Bad, F***ed up, and all the way into you'll want to hold yourself so tightly so your hyper-awareness of self and existence doesn't disintegrate into one unbearable hellscape.

I highly recommend looking at the content warning at the back to dissect any relevant trigger warnings first, as it gets heavy. And I am super appreciative of authors providing this thoughtful section. I would suggest the publishers put the content warnings at the start!

However! I was blown away by the broad reach of each horror story. 16 stories, and each packs a punch of a unique kind. This will tickle horror fans of any kind, and perhaps introduce new and curious readers to the genre. Also, the intensity of the horror builds slowly, allowing you to acclimatise to each new and gruesome concept.

I personally loved some of the earlier chapters, as they were more on the side of eerie/ liminal space horror & philosophical contemplation. Where things weren't quite right, but reality was blending, and characters seemed ever so slightly off, and my imagination was able to desperately chase these unknowns. I even thrust the most impactful short story into my partners face ("2:45 to New Mexico") as it reminded me of the movie Lost Highway.

My other favourites were: Midnight in the Southland, The Happytown Yuletide Massacre, Y2K, Annie's heart is a haunted house, Afterbirth, We've all gone to crooked town, Solve for X.

Downright disturbing: The smile factory (think existential/alien body horror/ capitalism's prison. I had to skip parts of the text because it was like staring into an abyss of inverted flesh and moral decay - I'm sure that was entirely the point but yeah I reached my limit! This helped me identify the horrors I like and which I don't like.)

Nope: The gods of our fathers (tw: child abuse & rape- these themes were not handled as tactfully IMO, or perhaps I was unsatisfied with the ridiculous ending, and didn't feel the other character got what they deserved. This kid went through hell and she still felt helpless to me, but maybe that was the point. I know I'm a sucker for revenge stories).


I am so excited to see more from this author!

Thank you to Netgalley, Todd Kiesling, and Cemetery Dance Publications for this advanced readers copy.

I typically don’t read short story collections, but after reading Scanlines and loving it, I gave this a shot.

I love Keisling’s writing—it’s poetic but direct. Some of my favorite stories, and I highly recommend, are:

- Tommy the Desctructo-Bot vs. the Bullies
- Afterbirth
- Happy Pills

While I enjoyed the collection, there were some stories that felt . . . written just to be written—by that, I mean, I didn’t see a deeper purpose. Additionally, and this is a “me” thing, many stories erred on the side of cosmic/supernatural which I am not a fan of.

I think many people will enjoy this collection if they’re interested in unique, dark, and sometimes humorous horror stories.

I received this as an ARC via NetGalley.