The Horror Collection: Topaz Edition by Ann Keeran and Kevin Kennedy

Book Review

Sarah Deeming

In the latest collection from KJK Publishing: The Topaz Collection, KJK Publishing has gathered together stories about monsters in all their horrific glory. None of the monsters are particularly well-known, no vampires or zombies here, but variations on those themes, and sometimes it isn’t the supernatural that is the true monster.

If this was a normal collection of short stories, I would start this review by saying something like, ‘You can’t please everyone, so you may not enjoy every story in this collection’. However, this is a KJK Publishing collection, which is a sign of quality. Maybe it is because this is an independent publishing company; it is less bothered by big names and focuses on the quality of lesser-known authors, giving them a much-needed platform to showcase their work.

We start strongly with Culpa by Lex H Jones, a powerful story about guilt’s effect on a person. It is atmospheric, set in a coastal town with rolling mist and centres around children going missing at night. Jones builds a cold, damp scene of loneliness and hidden secrets, and it is definitely a story to read at night, wrapped up warm in blankets, to get the full effect.

While some stories contain monsters, like Damn Wrinklies by Hunter Shea and High Desert by Lisa Morton, these stories all contain a human monster who starts the actions. High Desert particularly stood out for me in this aspect as a cult is at the heart of this story. When all the cult’s followers are missing because of the leader, it sets you ready for a human monster, but there is plenty of misdirection before the end, which is chilling.

There are so many great stories it’s hard to pick just three to tell you about, The Hopper by Lee Mountford about a person who can move from body to body, In Name, Only by Steve Stred about a teenage gymnast and her overbearing father, Outpouring by Jeff Strand which is plain gross as well as horrific, but if I have to give my favourite, it would have to be Freaks by Christina Bergling.

Freaks is about an old-fashioned freak show and a woman trapped there because her children are part of the show. Although her children are ‘monstrous’ in appearance, the difference in how they are treated by other people is the real story. It stood out as being extremely sad that people were judged by their appearances. The children were sweet and without prejudices, while nearly everyone else was the monster in the way they passively allowed the children to be mistreated in the show. There is more to this story, a lot more, but that is a flavour of how poignant this story is.

I’ve only told you about a few of the stories to show you the quality of the collection, the others are of the same standard, making this novel exception value for money. Highly recommended.