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....

I have been on a bit of a folk horror kick recently . I have found it   to be a rich and fertile subgenre worthy of a deep dive. For anyone curious as   to what   this genre entails, I found the Wikipedia description to be   surprisingly on point (slightly edited by me): Folk horror  is a subgenre of horror ... that   uses elements of folklore to invoke fear in its audience. Typical elements   include a rural setting and   themes of isolation, religion, the power of nature,   and the potential darkness of rural landscapes. Many derive their horror from   the actions and   beliefs of people rather than explicitly supernatural elements;   the primary focus of the stories is often upon naïve outsiders coming up   against   these forces. I found out about  Revelator   through some online research into modern folk horror where it was near the top   of many lists. I was unfamiliar with Daryl Gregory, but ...

Nick   Cutter first came to my attention when researching the sub-genres of  body   horror and survival horror within the context of modern horror literature   at   large. His book The Troop was my introduction to his work and I was blown away.   Its plot hurtles forward and embraces both body horror and survival   horror   while achieving an escalating sense of dread and terror that becomes uncomfortably   difficult to endure. I count it among the top 5 best horror   reads I’ve encountered. I recently was researching recommendations for folk horror (do others do this?) and found a list of the best examples that listed Little Heaven near the top. So, it was with both excitement and not a small amount of trepidation that I waded into this one. In simple terms, the book is seemingly a mash-up of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, mixed with a fanatical religious cult clearly inspired by Jim Jones and his People...