Cover Image: Horror Classics Volume 1

Horror Classics Volume 1

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Member Reviews

i really enjoyed that this was a collection of classic horror stories that I had never heard of before. I really enjoyed reading this.

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I love good old fashioned horror. Some of these stories brought back such memories of when I read them as a kid. I've definitely missed them! Many were also new to me and did not disappoint! And some new favorites now too! I may have to purchase this book just to have on my shelf :)

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Review for 'Horror Classics Volume 1' by Thomas Malafarina

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Sunbury press, Inc and Hellbender books publishers.

This is the first book that I have read by this author. I haven't read any books by the other authors in this collection either. I would be interested in reading more Thomas Malafarina's books.

This book consists of 24 short tales of horror mainly by Thomas Malafarina and some from H. P Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, W.W Jacobs and Mary Shelley.

I shall write a short review on each of the stories in this book and then give an overall rating for the whole book. I prefer to do this with short story collections as I see each story as an individual 'book' which deserves a rating of its own. It also gives my thoughts on each story. These individual reviews will be shorter than my normal length reviews as there's a few to do:

πŸ•·οΈ'The spider mine' by Thomas Malafarina. I wasnt really a fan of this one and found it quite mediocre. I went on a mine tour as a child so found it easy to picture. Struggled with Mattie's dialect. I wouldn't recommend this one to anyone with arachnophobia. Rated 2/5 (Did not enjoy).

πŸ‘¨ 'What is a Man?' by Thomas Malafarina. Found the descriptions quite funny as well as gory (I do have a sick sense of humour). It was actually quite thought provoking, especially considering the current pandemic . Did not expect the ending. Rated 4/5 ( I enjoyed it).

πŸ‘β€πŸ—¨' Beyond the mind's eye' by Thomas Malafarina. Very descriptive. Did drag on a bit. Very happy with the outcome, karma for the rat πŸ€ =) Thought provoking. Quite gory. Rated 3/5 (It was OK).

πŸ§Ÿβ€β™‚οΈ 'Herbert West Reanimator.' by H. P. Lovecraft. 6 stories presented as one. Written between 1921 and 1922 so some racism and use of the word 'retarded' . I didn't understand why they ran away in Part one as surely they expected some form of result. Recounts what has happened in each previous story at the beginning of the next. Very descriptive, filled with suspense, tension and horror. Very happy with the karma ending. A mix of Frankenstein type tales. Rated 5/5 ( I loved it).

πŸ’€ 'When they come for you' by Thomas Malafarina. Very gory and gruesome. Makes you consider what choices you take in life. Page turner. Rated 5/5 (I loved it).

☠️ 'I waited for you' by Thomas Malafarina. Another good page turner ending in karma. Rated 5/5 (I loved it).

πŸ§žβ€β™‚οΈ 'Be careful what you wish for' by Thomas Malafarina. Exactly what the title says, very sad though. Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it).

πŸ™Š 'The Monkey's paw' by W.W Jacobs. I was about half way through reading this when I remembered 'The Simpsons' episode based on the same story. A good short story which reminds you to be careful what you wish for. Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it).

⚰️'Memorial day' by Thomas Malafarina. Not a fan of this one, to me I didn't really see any story in it. Rated 2/5 (Did not enjoy).

πŸš‰ 'This Train' by Thomas Malafarina. Quick tale of how your past can come back to haunt you. Rated 3/5 (It was OK).

βš” Duelers Alley by Thomas Malafarina. A story of love, greed and loss. Rated 3/5 (It was OK).

πŸ’œ'The Tell-Tale heart' by Edgar Allen Poe. A dark tale into the descent of madness but I wasn't a fan and found it quite boring. Rated 2/5 (I Did not enjoy).

πŸ“± 'Ring-Ring' by Thomas Malafarina. Quite a creepy story with giry descriptions. Rated 3/5 (It was OK).

〽️ 'Double Yellow' by Thomas Malafarina. What a strange tale! Wouldn't class it as a horror but it was quite interesting. Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it).

πŸ‘΄'The age of man' by Thomas Malafarina. 100% agree with the quotes related to this story, especially in the current pandemic. Very thought provoking. Rated 5/5 (I loved it).

😴 'Beyond the wall of sleep' by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1919 and contains racism. Couldn't get into at all and didn't finish. Rated 1/5 (Did not finish).

❄ 'A love best served cold' by Thomas Malafarina. Contains scenes of necrophilia in more ways than one. A twisted horror! Rated 5/5 (I loved it - did say I had a sick sense of humour!)

🏑 'Homecoming' by Thomas Malafarina. Love the quotes with this story and found them very true. Sort of reminded me of a twisted 'A Christmas Carol' meets 'The Trueman show'. Rated 4/5 ( I loved it).

😀'Breathe' by Thomas Malafarina. Shortest story and my worse nightmare. Rated 3/5 (It was OK).

😱 'The Premature burial' by Edgar Allen Poe. This is a fear that the majority of people have and in this tale we are given many examples. However its ending makes you wonder how much you are controlled by your fear. Very interesting and thought provoking. Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it).

🐺 'Whence cometh the wolf?' by Thomas Malafarina. Very descriptive and gruesome. Rated 5/5 (I loved it)

πŸ‘Ή 'The beast unseen' by Thomas Malafarina. Very descriptive and very gruesome. Definitely the best story of the book!!! Looks can be deceiving!! Rated 5/5 (I loved it)

πŸ€·β€β™‚οΈ 'Remember when' by Thomas Malafarina. Very descriptive. Did seem to jump a bit on time line which confused. Me (in regards to what happened to Bartholomew). Quite gory. Rated 3/5 (It was OK).

πŸ‘Ί'The Mortal Immortal' by Mary Shelley. Lacked substance. Couldn't get a grip on it at all unfortunately. Rated 1/5 (Did not finish).

So you've made it to the end of my much longer than expected review without falling asleep, well done lol!!

Overall some very interesting stories, some not so much but a good mix with plenty of gore thrown in for fans of horror. Some stories were filled with tension and suspense whereas a couple I unfortunately completely lost interest. However, the ones I post interest were by different authors to the main one so he is not to blame really, plus everyone has different tastes!

I enjoyed the quotes throughout the book and thought they were a nice touch. I also think they related very well to the stories linked.

I would recommend this book to fans of horror, scifi, fantasy, supernatural and short stories.

Going by all the scores together the average rating works out at 3.5 and the median 4 so I believe this book deserves a 4/5.

239 pages

Β£15.45 to purchase on Amazon in paperback. I think this is quite a steep price for the amount of pages even though its a collection. I couldn't find a kindle version for sale to get the price but maybe if there is one it would be of a better price.

Rated 4/5 ( I enjoyed it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon.Com and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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I do love a good horror story, and this collection of classics, with a number of new stories by Thomas Malafarina, provided provided plenty of engrossing reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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A collection of original short stories by the author, with a few well-known classics sprinkled in.

As with most collections of stories this was a mixed bag - the classics were very good (although not new to me) and the author has definitely found his groove. Some hits, some misses, but overall a creepy and quick read.

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This short story collection has a bunch of great new stories by Thomas Malafarina plus some oldies-but-goodies that I've read before but are always worth a re-read. I look forward to reading Volume 2 whenever it comes out!

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I enjoyed all of the stories in this collection. There was one that I'd read previously. I would recommend this book.

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Great book to read. Can always be great to do short stories when you don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to the book. I could feel my heart racing and fear reading the book. Didn’t want it to end. The stories were well written. Good to read

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Horror Classics Volume 1 is a collection of short stories by the author, Thomas Malafarina, as well as some of his favorite stories from other horror authors. There are twenty-four stories in all and include authors Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.

What I loved most about this collection was just that- it was a collection. Sometimes readers are looking for an introduction to a genre and this fits the bill. Having a collection of current and classic horror stories really gives the reader a wide selection and a broader view of the genre without having to commit to a lengthy book. I also really loved the author's selection of stories. I'm new to the horror genre and had no idea many of these classic stories existed. It was really wonderful to have a curated selection available to me.

There really isn't much I didn't love about this selection. I think if you are looking for a well-rounded introduction to the horror genre or are looking for some shorter stories to fit in between your long reads then this is for you!

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to preview this book early.

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I didn’t particularly enjoy this book. I liked the format of the 3:1 original content to horror classics, but the originals left something to be desired. I found the writing clunky and a lot of the background information that the author went into at the beginning of the stories was not pertinent to the horror short itself. Cut back a little bit on the unnecessary information, and we’ll see.

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A great collection of short horror stories that are all clever and well written. A lot of the creepy tales are by Thomas Malafarina but there are also some classics by Poe, Shelley and Lovecraft. Great to pick up and read a story here and there, though you might not want to read them before bed time!

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