The Hematophages: Splatterings (2026) by Stephen Kozeniewski - Horror Story Collection Review

The Hematophages: Splatterings is another collection of short stories from Stephen Kozeniewski (Yes, I am a Vampire). This one is a mini-collection comprised of four short stories over 120 pages. All of these are set within the author's Hematophages world. This is a sci-fi future where parasitic alien lamprey type creatures exist which have the ability to pilot the infected, able to take over their minds and essentially control them like cars. Like Kozeniewski's previous collection, each of these four stories includes a lengthy and entertaining forward and afterword shedding light on how he came up with the story ideas. The introduction to the collection states you don't need to have read The Hematophages to be able to enjoy this, and that turned out to be true.

It begins with 'The Blood-Red Lake' which as openers go is a horrific intro to the eel-type nightmare creatures. Set on an Earth in the past; a father and daughter learn all too late just why the lake near their remote home has turned blood red. There wasn't too much to this one, but was almost the most nightmarish. I liked that the afterword mentions classic sci-fi horror video game series - Dead Space, as I am a huge fan of those.
'Derelictus' is next and was the stand-out story. Firstly due it doing that ace framing thing of starting halfway through the story and then heading back to explain how events came to be. Secondly, because events transpired here in a way that reminded me of recurring nightmares I have of being unable to escape a terrible situation. In this one, a strange spaceship is discovered floating apparently abandoned. Someone is sent to investigate the wreck unaware of the pure Hell they are about to enter. I enjoyed the first person presentation of this tale.

At the halfway point and next is 'Blackfish' that tells the story of a woman locked in quarantine after a visit to an alien spacecraft. I liked the build-up to this, though the shock reveal didn't really resonate with me much. It was similar in tone to 'Derelictus' and while harrowing also, it wasn't quite as harrowing. It was interesting to read in the notes for this that it had been envisioned as a sci-fi take on the classic werewolf concept.
Finally is 'Gerstein', which was an original short written for the collection. This was a Gothic mad doctor story, albeit it, one set in space within a hollowed out asteroid. It shouldn't have worked, but strangely, it did. It features an unlikeable jobsworth who has travelled to a space station in order to repossess it for the company she works for. Instead, she discovers that maybe she shouldn't have been so flippant with agreeing to the terms of the quarantine orders the head scientist at the station made her sign before entering. I liked the idea of this hollowed out asteroid appearing like a Gothic castle, that was a neat touch.

With that, the brief collection was over. Despite not having read The Hematophages, I liked the short stories here, and once again found all the added details as to the inspiration for them extremely interesting. For those needing a small injection of sci-fi horror, look no further than The Hematophages: Splatterings, which released on 16th March.

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The Infestation at Ralls Hall (2013) by Thomas Tessier - Short Horror Story Review

Another really old review of something I should have simply read a long long time ago! Back in 2014, I received a press release about an anthology horror film titled Thomas Tessier's World of Hurt. This was to feature five stories from the author's short stories he had written. Two of those stories included were to be I Remember Me, and The Infestation at Ralls Hall, which I was sent eBook copies of to check out. To be fair, the email I was sent did say to read '...whenever you can...'. So I sat down yesterday (at time of typing but at the time of publishing a long time back) and spent a quarter of an hour reading the latter of the two.

Returning to England, Van Helsing has been asked to stop of at Ralls, where a girl's school is located. One of the students; Miss Emily, has had something strange happen to her. Some days previously, she alleges to have been attacked in her bedroom one night. In the time since she has grown heavily pregnant as if she had been with child for six months or so. Van Helsing suspects something unnatural has occurred.

Originally featured in the 2013 short story collection; Remorseless: Tales of Cruelty, this 24 page story was a period piece, being set in and around the time of Bram Stoker's Dracula (I would imagine). The story covers a lot of ground in a short time, throwing the protagonist into the story as if he were someone we were already familiar with. From the initial investigation, to the later more action packed scenes, this tells the story competently and without seeming like anything has been lost for pacing issues. Throughout, formal language is used, both with how characters speak and with the descriptions used.

A neat little story that deals with an unexpected antagonist threat, blended in with elements of demonic possession and some quite graphic moments. The writing style had me fooled that The Infestation at Ralls Hall was an older story than it actually was.

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Life After: The Phoenix (2014) by Bryan Way - Short Zombie Horror Story Review

Life After: The Phoenix is the third and final story in Bryan Way's short story trilogy that followed from his first novel in the Life After universe, Life After: The Arising. His second short story, Life After: The Basement went to some dark zombie free places, so I hoped this wouldn't go the same way. This one felt like the shortest of his stories, I managed to read the whole thing in under half an hour, it was perhaps also the best of the three.

Adam and Shar were in a relationship that came to an end several months previously. Now, Adam, who is still besotted with his ex, gets to see her for fleeting minutes during her break while she works nights at a supermarket. It is after one such meeting, one that resulted as usual in an argument, that Adam notices people behaving strangely in the carpark. He soon comes to realise that the strange riots that have occurred in a nearby town have spread, and so sets out to find his ex and protect her.

Way's male protagonists always appear to be quite flawed people and here is no different. With Adam you have someone who takes out his frustration by hitting things, not people, but things. This turns out badly here as he injures his hand even before he encounters the undead, making him in my eyes a bit of an idiot. Elsewhere however things hit a little closer to home, some of the dialogue that occurs between Adam and Shar were things I had heard before in real life, maybe slightly painful to read but it isn't often I resonate with dialogue in a book! As may be guessed, having an argument about a break-up while in the middle of an unfolding zombie apocalypse really isn't the best way you could be spending your time, leading to inevitable situations.

Seeming to not even be set in the same town as The Arising and the other two shorts, this felt the least connected. The connected threads however I did enjoy, we are provided with an alternate take on Anderson (my favourite character from the main novel), and even Grey is name dropped, the suggestion that he may be the best person to team up with during a zombie outbreak made me chuckle. I enjoyed Life After: The Phoenix, it has undead, it has action, and it has characters who at least in some small way felt real.

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Same Old, Same Old: A Short and Strange Story by B.Sides (2019) - Short Horror eBook Review

This is a two fold 'forgive me' introduction. Firstly I wrote my notes for this review while on a lunch break at my day job so they are kinda hard to decipher. Secondly, as always I'm not that great at writing book reviews. Now as far as I'm aware B.Sides novella, Same Old, Same Old: A Short and Strange Story is the first short story I have reviewed on my blog.

Terry works for a local children's centre and due to constant financial difficulties he is always out in his neighbourhood going door to door looking for handouts. One dark and rainy night, looking to get his donation collecting over with quickly he chooses the nearby poor Shady Oaks apartment complex rather than heading to a more affluent part of town. While there he discovers an apartment that has its door wide open. Curiosity getting the better of him he enters, and sees something most unexpected.

I went headfirst into this book and so managed to miss the fact it was only eighty pages long. It is a good thing then that this is a well rounded story that was well written, and so descriptive that even now some days after reading it I can picture in my mind the apartment complex Terry finds himself in. I love the rain and it usually adds to anything it appears in. Here is no different. The minor twist here is that it is basically Lovecraftian horror blended with comedy. I liked how there was a transition from a feeling of horror, with Terry ending up trapped inside a closet, hiding from the owner of the apartment, to a much more humorous piece that changed tracks with the arrival of a spatula.

The pacing of Same Old, Same Old was tight enough that I was kept involved from beginning to end. Even with the arrival of a more light hearted tone I was still a bit unsure how it would all turn out. The interactions between the various characters, and the inner monologue of Terry led to some funny, as well as tense moments. H.P Lovecraft is the writer of the most genuinely scary stories out there, so I will always have time for anything that incorporates his mythos of ancient Gods. From beginning to end this flowed along at an enjoyable pace with there being nothing that felt unneeded. I found myself really quite enjoying Same Old, Same Old, worth a read.

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