Whispers From The Abyss
Kindle Edition
Written by Various Authors
Edited by Kat Rocha
Cover by Josh Finney
01Publishing
Release Date: October 11, 2013

Whispers From The Abyss is a short story horror anthology inspired by the master of horror and weird himself, H.P. Lovecraft. This is a massive collection at 33 stories and 200 pages.

While some are surely scarier than others, the majority of this book is worth the money, time, and sanity you’ll invest. Due to the quantity of stories found in Whispers From The Abyss, I’ll only be sharing a few of my favorites based on overall quality — tales that truly had my heart racing and will be forcing me to sleep with one eye open.

“Iden-Inshi” is a uniquely fashioned short story written by Greg Stolze. Told from the perspective of a female biologist who — among others — has been kidnapped by the North Korean government. Writing her accounts daily on toilet paper over a period of months, we learn the reason for her kidnapping: to successfully create human clones. There happens to be, however, a couple of dangerous variables. The first being that if her captors don’t like her work, she’ll most likely be axed — literally. The second is that she might not actually be cloning humans at all.

“When We Change” by Mason Ian Bundschuh is short (only one page) but jaw-dropping frightful nonetheless. Having moved back to a home in which many sinister events once took place, a family is forced back in to their cycle of damnation.

140 characters is not enough to finish a thought in “The Last Tweet,” by Charles Black.

It always comes back to Innsmouth. In “My Friend Fishfinger By Daisy, Age 7,” David Tallerman captures the voice and naiveté of a child masterfully. As Daisy describes her friend Fishfinger and Fishfinger’s family, a god called Dagon and how close she is getting to Fishfinger, it’s difficult not to want to shake the girl and just say, “No. No, Daisy. Stop it. Not a good idea!”

In “Other People’s Houses,” by Sarena Ulibarri, the narrator of the story finds the perfect opportunity to make a dream literally come true by sneaking into a mysterious neighbor’s house; however, the curious storyteller cannot be too sure of what will be found upon entering, or in what capacity they’ll leave.

“The Well,” by Tim Jeffreys is a haunting tale of a man trapped in a well. Thankfully for the him, the vile creatures surrounding him are asleep. Unfortunately for him, those above don’t know his plight and his rescue is getting a bit too noisy.

Just in time for Halloween, Whispers From The Abyss is filled with enough creepy treats to keep you hiding under your covers for weeks. If you like H.P. Lovecraft, odd and impending doom-like horror and the smell of fish, this is the collection for you.