STEVE CARROLL WRITES

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of Nick Robert’s newest book, a collection of short stories entitled, It Haunts the Mind and Other Stories , published by Crystal Lake Publishing . I also recently conducted an interview with Nick which can be found here . Having read his previous novel, The Exorcist’s House , which I enjoyed (review forthcoming), I was eager to sample his short stories. In my experience some authors excel at longer prose forms and some excel at short tales. I’m happy to report that Nick Roberts deftly handles both. It Haunts the Mind and Other Stories features a total of 15 stories that run the gamut from in-your-face grisly horror to genuine chill-inducing subtle innuendo; from weird fiction to hard-boiled noir; and even a touch of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, all culminating with a possession tale set in the world of The Exorcist’s House .  In truth, all of the stories in this collection connect to each other to a certain degree on two different fronts....

Nick Roberts exploded onto the literary horror scene in 2020 with the publication of his debut horror novel, Anathema , which went on to win the 2020-2021 Horror Authors Guild Award for Debut Novel of the Year .  His second novel, The Exorcist's House, was released in 2022 by Crystal Lake Publishing to great acclaim. His newest release, a collection of short stories titled It Haunts the Mind and Other Stories was just released (also by Crystal Lake). Look for a review of that collection and The Exorcist's House on this site very soon. Now, on to my conversation with Nick Roberts, English teacher by day, horror author by night... When did you first feel the writing bug? I’ve always had this creative drive. As early as kindergarten, I started drawing vicious monsters and then progressed by giving them dialogue bubbles. I eventually abandoned the artwork in favor of the stories, and by junior high/high school, I wrote short stories, screenplays, and even filmed my own shitty...