One Buck Horror Anthology: Vol. 4
Kindle
Edited by Christopher Hawkins, Kris M. Hawkins
Written By Erath Juarez, Mark Onspaugh, Nick A. Zaino III, M.R. Jordan, Kristine Ong Muslim
Coronis Publishing
Release date: December 2, 2011
Price: $0.99

The latest volume from One Buck Horror brings us another treasure trove of quick and dark treats from authors around the globe. The One Buck Anthologies are new to me, so I was kind of shocked that it was such a tiny tome (where the hell have I been?). While I enjoyed all five stories, I’d be willing to pay a whole five bucks to read longer, better developed short stories. Then again, I am the Book Slave and I live to read; you, dear readers, may appreciate the fact that you can finish a whole One Buck story before your laptop can finish booting, and the whole eBook in between ordering and receiving your tall mocha-latte-chino-thingy.

My descriptions for the stories in One Buck Horror Anthology: Volume 4 are intentionally brief and worth about two cents. Buy the book; it’s worth the meager investment of both time and money — only 99 cents — to discover promising new authors.

Hanal Pixan, by Erath Juarez, is a classic with a twist in that it’s a ghost story within a ghost story. Juarez does a great job setting the spooky scene for us. It’s perfect for reading out loud by candlelight when the lights go out.

Theridia, by Mark Onspaugh, serves as a painful reminder that a man seduced is a man damned, as a pit stop in a dusty desert town turns into a permanent stay for two brothers who should have just kept going.

Walter’s Friends, by Nick A. Zaino III, is about one man’s bizarre wish fulfillment as he guards an abandoned island off of New York City which isn’t quite abandoned. As the saying goes, with friends like these, who needs enemas?

Bayani’s Promise, by M.R. Jordan, is a quick stop in a poor town in the Phillipines where superstitions held by the natives do them in, whether the monsters are real or imagined. Note: they sure felt real.

In the Eye of the Beholder, by Kristine Ong Muslim, shows us how perception can get us all turned around, as they do for the one-eyed main character in this story. Even I didn’t catch on until the end.