3 Stars!

Sometimes you just take a chance on a book for no other reason than that it catches your eye at the time. That is what happened with Cirque des Freaks and Other Tales of Horror by Julian Lopez. I really did not know what to expect and so I dove into this short anthology to see what it may hold in store.



Cirque des Freaks is a collection of short stories that are meant to be haunting as well as seductive while focusing on same-sex relationships and attraction. While some of the stories are horror, there is a lot of non-horror in this collection as well. This may make the collection less appealing to fans of horror but it brings different perspectives to the stories while keeping them all dark. Readers are sure to find a range of stories in this collection so some are sure to appeal more than others. This is not a criticism but rather an observation on what to expect from the book.



The book starts with “A Masked Camaraderie” that does a good job of summing up what to expect in the book. This story, which is about a masked ball in Venice at the beginning of the 20th century, tells the story of a group of friends who discover that their masks open a new world for them. they can see a world of the unseen when they have their masks on. It is a tale of what lies behind the world that we see and the shadows that lie beneath the veneer of the seen world. It is an intriguing tale and I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it may be the best of the collection, but there was also something that was lacking as well. In a story that tells of things hidden deep in the shadows, it seemed to be a bit shallow. It aspired to greatness, and I wanted it to reach that level, but it fell a bit short.



A couple other stories stand out, “Scarecrow” and “Wax Entrapment” come to mind, but much of the book seemed to be a bit formulaic. Many of the stories followed the same theme of doomed and dark love that seemed to play over and over throughout in different disguises. Most of the stories were at least interesting but had a feeling of something that had been done before. Lopez has a very visual and almost poetic writing style and this was hampered by the brevity of the stories (10 stories in a little less than 140 pages). I finished with a feeling that many of them would have been better if they were longer and really allowed the reader to sink into the dark worlds Lopez was creating.



While I would give Lopez another try in the future, Cirque des Freaks fell a bit flat for me with the good evened out by the not-so-good. Even the stories that I enjoyed the most still had an incomplete feeling to them as they seemed to miss their true potential. The collection is perfect for someone looking for dark romance stories but most horror fans should probably skip this one as it is light on true horror. Expectation can play a big role in enjoyment of a book and this one was not what I was expecting at all.



I would like to thank Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley for this review copy. Cirque des Freaks is available now.

This is a collection of short horror stories but unfortunately I didn't really enjoy it. The stories were interesting and a little bit creepy and some grotesque but they weren't scary. The stories were original but became predictable after the first few with the same writing style. My favourites were Cirque des Freaks and Scarecrow which both made me feel uneasy and I didn't like Razor Cut as it was too weird. Overall this collection is a bit different with interesting short stories but I wanted them to be scarier.

I enjoyed a handful of the stories in this collection, but it wasn't an overall winner to me. Like most short stories collections, it had its good ones and bad ones. Unfortunately, I felt that there were a few more bad ones than good ones. I didn't regret reading it, as I always love reading horror, even when it's not scary. A bit of a take it or leave it title.

This book wasn't exactly what I expected. I didn't find most of the stories to be scary, exactly, but some were really good. Perhaps it just wasn't my style of writing, but this isn't something I would reach for again.

Very quick read and highly entertaining. It was interesting enough to keep me at the edge of my seat and fairly bizarre.

This book was provided free of charge for the purposes of this review,the following is my review and is not in any way influenced by the fact it was provided free of charge,.

A collection of dark fantasy horror stories which seem to revolve around unobtainable love, The stories are seemingly influenced by the works of Hemmingway and Fitzgerald , and are scary, some better than others but in my opinion all are basically equal and deliver to frighten the reader, all in all a very good book, would I recommend ….YES

Review for 'Cirque Des Freaks and other tales of horror' by Julian Lopez

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Bold Strokes Books Inc.

This is the first book that I have read by this author.

This book contains 10 short stories. I will give each of these short stories a small individual review each before giving the book itself an overall rating.

🎭 'A masked Camaraderie': Quite interesting, shame there wasn't any background to the masks. Rated 3/5 (It was OK).

🎶'The Mariachi’s Serenade': A creepy tale of love lost. Rated 3/5

👑 'Queen of hearts': A story about gambling. Rated 3/5

❤️ 'Loving death' : Bit of an unexpected plot. Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it).

🇪🇬 'The Mastaba of Niankhkhnum' : Stories starting to get a bit predictable now. This one being based in Egypt. 3/5

🎨 'The Archangel’s Canvas' : Unfortunately another predictable story. 3/5

👖 'Scarecrow' : This story was much better!! First one I would describe as horror so far. 5/5 (I loved it).

🤹‍♂️ 'Cirque Des freaks' : Another one I enjoyed and would class as horror, with good descriptions. Rated 4/5

🧔 'Razor cut' : Wouldn't really class this one as a horror more a moral. Bit cringey. 2/5

🕯 'Wax entrapment': I was hoping for a bit more horror with this one but I still enjoyed it and thought it was very well written. 4/5

Overall this book is quite well written with some good descriptions. Unfortunately, I did feel it lacked the horror aspect I was hoping for. My top 3 of the 10 are:
♥ Scarecrow
♥ Wax entrapment
♥ Cirque Des freaks

I was originally drawn to this book by the fact that they were advertised as horror stories, the book cover and the blurb. However, I felt the majority of the stories were more dark romance than horror.

I would recommend this book to fans of short stories and horrors.

The average of the individual ratings works out as 3.4, as Goodreads and Amazon only allow full numbers I will be giving this book 3/5.

139 pages

£8.99 to purchase on kindle. I think this is overpriced for any kindle book regardless of how good it is.

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A series of tales. Some mystifying, others scary and the rest provoked thoughts of lust, luck, and one's worst fear. There is a story for everyone. These tales would make an awesome short films. One can only hope but in the interim, your imagination will have you over the moon.

This was an enjoyable collection of short stories that had clever ideas and all were unique in their monsters. My favourite story was A Masked Camaraderie.

I didn’t like how in some of the stories it didn’t seem genuine how the characters talked. For example in Cirque des Freaks the character says something along the lines of “I forget how you get when your best friend from New York visits us in Paris”. I realise the author included so we, the reader, are aware that they’re in Paris and the friend is visiting from New York but the dialogue didn’t feel authentic to me. However, given that they are short stories it’s difficult to get that information across any other way

Julian Lopez’s collection of short stories is an odd collection that although there is gentler approach to the horror genre that we have become quite accustomed to so this maybe a bit of turn around for those audiences. There is very little to tie the books together except that all the main characters are gay men and they all seem to yearn for love or getting over a bad relationship.

The stories have a ghostly common thread which works well but they are quite rooted in love lost and seem to be more the lovelorn than to the revenge type of ghosts. They are well written and have a strong emotive device that keeps the stories reaching their rightful conclusion. There is a lack of surprise with each of conclusion that could have used a little more punch.

The characters are well drawn and even though we are mostly privy to stories with one main character and their supporting characters. There is a lack of connect between the various characters within the pages but they do give a nod more to Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected than to a Stephen King’s Night Shift collection. This is not a bad thing but for someone who is expecting a more skilful collection of horror would be disappointed but if you are expecting a collection of dark fiction based in reality than you will be rewarded.

Overall, this is a strong collection and I really liked the collection as it was pretty easy to dip in and out from one story to the next. There are some strong stories within such as Scarecrow, Mariachi’s Serenade, Razor’s Cut but there really isn’t a bad story. The anthology does hang together very well and even though it may not fit within the dark horror that modern audiences have come to expect, if given a chance, this is well constructed and should enjoy the most g rated collection. This is around a 3.5 but due to the writing style of the author and his different approach, I will round this up to a four.

Loved every story in this collection. Nicely put together. Would definitely add this to any book collection and highly recommend to other readers.

I received this copy from Netgally for an honest review thank you.

This story presents itself as a novella of short horror stories set to frighten you. This didn't really frighten to me. All the stories were similar in their story telling which made it predictable. It is also under the LGBTQ genre, but I found these stories made it too obvious to the readers, that yes, the characters are gay.

The stories are very short, so it was easy and quick to read. Most of the stories I didn't like, they just didn't draw me in or fill me with any kind of chills. There were a few I did like, which were:

A masked camaraderie
The mariachi's serenade
Scarecrow

They didn't really scare me, but these 3 stood out to me as being the creepiest tales out of them all. I have heard good things about this author, I haven't read any of his other books, but I would give them a go in the future. This one just didn't deliver all the promises I thought it would.

A good blend of horror, love, and eroticism. There were several good ideas and others that didn't resonate with me, but it was a great reading nonetheless. Favorite stories: Scarecrow and Razor Cut; perfect just as they are. I also liked The Mariachi, but I enjoy darker readings. Fans of queer horror will fall in love with this anthology!

Cirque des Freaks and Other Tales of Horror is a short and enjoyable short story compilation whose aim is to make you feel creeped out yet titillated. Each story features queer characters and features an element of "doomed love." Each story is unique in itself and I found that even in a few pages Lopez was able to create a fully fleshed world with his descriptive writing. Among my favorites, and perhaps the one that stood out to me the most was "The Mariachi's Serenade." There were some that were not as good as others. but for the most part each was memorable and all were well written.

*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my review.

'Cirque des Freaks and Other Tales of Horror' is a collection of short stories by Julian Lopez that all delve in and around the dark and mysterious for certain, though I didn't find all of them to read like horror. Perhaps that's just my perspective.

The anthology is fun though, the topics are fairly wide-ranging and there are some gems inside. It felt like a bit of a throwback to classic anthologies like the 'Hot Blood Series,' macabre.. but with plenty of allure.

It definitely starts with a bang. The first story, 'A Masked Camaraderie,' is an intriguing experience set at a masked ball in early 20th century Venice, where a group comes across a set of masks they don for the party that opens them up to unseen things. It's a rich mixture of sensuality and darkness, right out of the gate.. and I feel it really sets the tone for the collection.

'The Mariachi's Serenade,' is a bittersweet tale of love across generations. It has traditional ghost story elements with tragic longing intertwined throughout. What I love about this story and many in the book, is how visual they are. Lopez does a fantastic job of putting you right in the moment, letting you witness the scenes with such clarity.. I was left feeling I could easily commit them to illustrations.

Likewise, as with the imagery.. he does a superb job of translating and conveying the emotions within his stories. He can write the pretty words like you see above, but he isn't so focused on them.. on trying to sound 'artistic'.. that he forgets the impact of simplicity. When he uses those terms, he uses them to his benefit and they stand out because they're infrequent.

There are a ton of really well done tales of irony and comeuppance. 'Queen of Hearts,' about someone rather spiteful and the deal they make that isn't quite what they expected. 'Loving Death,' a rather sweet story about the ferryman. The questions put to him and the result of his truthful answers, reminding me a bit of the fated glance backward in Persephone's story.

I loved 'The Mastaba of Niankhkhnum,' as well. I don't see a lot of stories set in the mythos of ancient Egypt and never one done with such a slow, seductive build. It's darkly rich and beautiful in its way.

My absolute favorite though.. was 'The Archangel's Canvas.' And I can sort of see, abstractly.. how one might interpret it as horror. It just didn't read that way at all to me. It read like a love story, preceded by a fall. There are these ominous warnings, but then.. perhaps because of the influence the main character is under, it just feels like bliss.

There are a couple that are a bit disappointing of course. A freakshow that has been done before, most fantastically in a 1932 black and white film, but again since, a number of times. A museum, that's a more graphic scene oriented version of 1953 cult classic film staring a master of horror. But all in all, it was a wonderful selection of stories and I truly enjoyed reading them.

Cirque des Freaks and Other Tales of Horror is described as a collection of horror stories, ‘sure to frighten’. A few reviewers commented that they felt underwhelmed, perhaps a little let down by the book’s contents. Unfortunately, I have to agree with them. The book is marketed as LGBTQ+ Horror, but would have perhaps been better as Fantasy. It’s specifically dark fantasy, with the focus in the stories on M/M pairings, with some supernatural elements. To me, a lot of the main, POV characters read as too similar to one another, with little to distinguish between them or, in some cases, the actual plots.

Many revolve around ‘doomed love’, whether it’s falling for a supernatural monster, or a lover being whisked away by a ghost. Some stories are honestly entertaining, but these are let down by those around it. The first story in the collection, “A Masked Camaraderie” is set in the early 30s, and feels very strongly influenced by Hemmingway and Fitzgerald, with a starkness to the prose and the kind of setting and gatherings both men wrote about.

“Razor Cut” is a story that stands out for its unique feeling and gory imagery, when a man’s obsession and lust get the better of him. But other tales in this collection feel too much like what’s come before in the genre. The title story, “Cirque des Freaks”, reads like a strange homage to Freaks and American Horror Story: Freakshow, which sounds weird in that Freakshow itself plays homage in ways to the 1932 film. This story in particular also veers into territory that can be deemed offensive, with a slur used often in the story, aimed at people with dwarfism. “Wax Entrapment” isn’t even a homage, but plucks the plot right from the 1988 film Waxwork.

Lopez is clearly a talented writer, but I think these stories could have done with slightly more focus on the actual characters, rather than just the events. When there are moments of decent characterisation, they work really well, and when we get a slightly deeper glimpse into relationships, it’s effective. But the stories are too fast paced with too much crammed in, too many of the same ideas, and often read as a list of events rather than actual tales.

This compilation of short horror stories' aim is to frighten, and perhaps even seduce. From the handsome stranger disguising his true identity to the ancient Egyptian Manicurist (yes I said Manicurist) returning after centuries of speculation over their relationship and supposed love story to cause mayhem, and tales of vampires, werewolves, and other lurking creatures.

I really, really wanted to love this compilation, I would have settled for just really liking it. But unfortunately, neither happened.

Now first let me say, Julian Lopez, is a talented writer. His prose is like poetry, the words are beautiful, the descriptions take you to the cafe’s of Paris just by the Eiffel Tower, you hear the haunting music of the ghostly mariachi player looking for his lost lover.

It’s the stories themselves that let me down. I did not find any of them disturbing, scary, or spine-tingling as promised. Now to be fair, I am hard to scare having read horror since I learned to read. But these were unimaginative tales of so-called horror. There was no sense of dread, no sense of fear, or even a feeling of discomfort. They are delivered, while with lovely words, flat as the page they are printed on.

Perhaps if I had not been expecting short stories of horror, I may have felt differently but I don’t think so. As I finished each tale I would frown and say, “What the hell was that supposed to be?” Perhaps the author was reaching for the style of Lovecraft or Jackson, but he fell very short of the classic tales of horror. So I can’t in good conscience give this more than a 2-star rating.

Also, and this may have been an oversight on my part, I have always seen BoldStroke Books as a publisher of Lesbian books. Either about, for, or by, Lesbians. I expected to find my sisters in the pages of this book. The author being male is not a clue in my opinion. But instead, each and every story centered around gay men. Not a bad thing, just not what I had expected.

I received this book free from Boldstrokes Books and Netgalley for my honest, unbiased review.
#Gayhorror,#Netgalley,#Boldstrokebooks,#LGBTQ

This sounded so very promising: horror, queer representation, and lots of promising premises. Sadly, I found it very underwhelming.

I've seen some reviewers mentioning that this feels as if it's been marketed as the "wrong" genre; that instead of horror, it might've been better suited as dark fantasy, and I can only add my voice to theirs.
Maybe that's my main issue with this book, that I picked it up with the wrong expectations at hand.

Disclaimer: I have been sent a copy of this book for review purposes. This has not influenced or affected my opinions in this review.

Cirque des Freaks and Other Tales of Horror is a collection of tales about the supernatural and the macabre. Each short story in this collection has an element of the occult and the unnatural entwined within them and there are a lot of descriptions which lend themselves to the gothic genre. There is a lot of queer representation in this collection. However, I felt as though it was not overtly scary. Quite a few of the stories in this collection did not stand out for me.

*3 stars*

A short and enjoyable horror collection by a relative unknown in the genre. My particular favouties are A masked Camaraderie set in Venice with a very original concept, and Cirque des Freaks a rather chilling circus tale. Interestingly the stories all concern same sex relationships, this is an observation and in some ways adds a little spice to the storytelling.