New Release Review ~ Unburied by Various Authors

Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction

Edited by Rebecca Rowland

Dark Ink Books (an imprint of AM Ink Publishing)

Available in print, Kindle eBook, and Audible audiobook

Release: June 1, 2021

ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-943201-50-1 ($26.99)

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943201-43-3 ($19.99)

Library of Congress 9781943201501

280 pages

An asteroid miner recovering from an accident learns that the cure might be scarier than the trauma. A man discovers a mirror in an antiques shop that allows its gazers to climb inside and visit paradise. A teenager is haunted by the memory of a strange boy who appeared in his bedroom when he was a child. A future pandemic survivor is forced to make a terrible sacrifice in order to save the world’s gay male population. A cult survivor sees a man who reminds him of someone from the past and begins to lose a bit of his hard-earned control. An entity that exhibits characteristics of both angel and vampire tells its peculiar story to an anonymous confessor and potential lover in the shadows of an LGBTQ club.

Silent film actresses who haunt a Hollywood Hills mansion, mysterious beings who lurk in the closet, and witches who may or may not live under the bed: these and many other dark fiction entities from this twisted box of curiosities come together to serve the reader a cornucopia of chilling horror, sci-fi terror, and dark fantasy. In a bloody twist on the antiquated trope of “burying the gays,” sixteen established and award-winning genre fiction scribes from around the globe, including Felice Picano (Lambda Award nominee and co-founder of The Violet Quill), Greg Herren (Lambda Award winner and co-founder of the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival), Daniel M. Jaffe (Rainbow Award and American Fiction Prize finalist), Robert P. Ottone (2020 Bram Stoker Award nominee), and Thomas Kearnes (2019 Lambda Award nominee), put forth a dazzling array of creature features, shadow fables, and dreadful delusions spotlighting LGBTQ+ characters.

Prepare to unearth your deepest nightmares.

For more information on authors and stories, visit the editor’s book page: https://rowlandbooks.com/unburied

Target audience/genre: adult, gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans, speculative fiction, short stories, horror, fantasy, science fiction

Buy Link: Amazon

Available on KU

 All proceeds from sales of the anthology during the month of June are going to Rainbow Railroad https://www.rainbowrailroad.org  if you’d like to include that detail to help the charity.

Sweet Dreams by M.C. St. John

4 Stars!

Was very entertaining and I enjoyed the ending, of course.

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Night Follows by Night by Greg Herren

3 Stars!

This one needed to be longer. I felt like it could have been a novella and given more information, backstory, and a good feel for the characters. However, as a short story, it was more of just a snippet and it made it tough for me to really appreciate.

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Flawed by Felice Picano

3 Stars!

I’ll be honest, I was kind of hoping for a Hansel and Gretel-type story when I saw a character named Hans and the mention of Gretel. It was much different of course.

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When the Dust Settles by Sarah Lyn Eaton

4.5 Stars!

Now, this is an interesting story, one I definitely wish was a full-length book. I could vividly picture it and while I may not be a huge fan of Sci-Fi it definitely gave off a cool RoboCop/Terminator kind of vibe for me.

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I Can’t Wait to Become a Man by Thomas Kearnes

I am not sure what happened here, only that I was completely lost, unable to really focus on the story. Whether it was the story, the writing, or simply just me, this one didn’t quite work for me.

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Open Up and Let Me In by Laura DeHaan

5 Stars!

A very intriguing story that I am not completely sure I actually got, “was any of it real, or was it all a delusion?” I definitely am thinking of this one long after I finished.

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The Red Candle by Louis Stephenson

4 Stars!

Wow. Very dark! But definitely entertaining.

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Razor, Knife by Elin Olausson

5 Stars!

Another dark and dare I say disturbing story but very entertaining. I would love to see this one expanded a bit, it drew me in quickly and I didn’t want it to end.

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The Procedure by Daniel M. Jaffe
Yeah, so no, I didn’t care for this one at all and I gotta say is I’m not liking the idea of COVID 35.

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Moi Aussi by Christina Delia
3 Stars!

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Cut Off Your Nose to Spite Your Race by J. Askew

4.5 Stars!

Another story I could use more of, sometimes short stories can be frustrating in their length, lol.

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For The Gods by Robert P. Ottone

4.5 Stars!

Who wouldn’t find a story about a young man a the creature that lives in his closet entertaining? Especially one that is as well done as this one.

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Some Kind of Monster by Azzurra Nox

3 Stars!

Okay read but too quick and short really.

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1,000 Tiny Cuts by Veronica Zora Kirin

4.5 Stars!

Again too short, argh!!! I really enjoyed 1,000 Tiny Cuts but the ending came too quickly and left me wanting more. I really need an epilogue at the very least.

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Blessed by George Daniel Lea
3 Stars!

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Overall, a very enjoyable anthology of short and dark stories. Personally, I don’t think of them as horror stories because I didn’t find them particularly scary. I generally think of horror as something that leaves me a bit tense and anxious and Unburied didn’t do that to me. However, as far as dark stories go, I really liked it and would totally recommend it.

*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn’t a requirement. ***

 

About the Editor: A member of Horror Writers Association, Rebecca Rowland is the author of the dark fiction collection The Horrors Hiding in Plain Sight, co-author of the crime thriller novel Pieces, and curator of the horror anthologies Ghosts, Goblins, Murder, and Madness: Twenty Tales of Halloween; Shadowy Natures: Stories of Psychological Horror, and The Half That You See. Links to her short essay and fiction work may be found at RowlandBooks.com.