Mr Jeffrey you have a sick and twisted mind. Love it!


The collection of chilling, thought provoking short tales will have you switching all the lights on while you read. I certainly couldn't read this at night lol

I loved all the stories but couldn't quite get my head around the title tale, The Mutilation Machination. I understand what you were trying to portray but it's didn't quite work for me and it seemed like a totally different writing style to what you normally use.

Saying that. This is one of the best collection of horror shorts I have read. Thanks for entertaining me. ( )

An excellent collection of eight short stories that have previously appeared in a number of small press titles such as Premonitions, Midnight Echo, MagusZine, Wicked Karnival and Cemetery Dance. The tales appear to be based around the theme of the darkness within the human soul and are all highly imaginative and well written. Only one of the tales (strangely enough the title story “The Mutilation Machination”) does not fully ignite, but even it is nicely written with a strange rhythm and an odd and slightly surreal setting. With that one exception this is an excellent little anthology – creepy, horrific and innovative by turns with each individual story having something to really savour within it. The stories are as follows: “The Algae” (a scientist discovers a strange algae that replicates human skin and uses it to develop a line of ultra-realistic sex dolls); “Sweet Music” (a “musician” has his audience in raptures as he teases a thrilling composition out of a his living instruments); “Not So Different” (a lorry driver gives a lift to a hitchhiker, but things go terrifyingly wrong when the hitcher demands, at knifepoint, to be taken to the drivers home for sex with the driver’s wife); “Phantasmagoria” (a young woman starts getting subliminal messages, which suggest she should burn down her neighbours house); “The Mutilation Machination” (an other-worldly gambling tale); “Clockwork” (a deaf boy discovers he has the power to resurrect dead creatures by inserting clockwork devices into their bodies); “The Neighbors from Hell” (exactly what the title says - an old war veteran man finds his life turned upside down when the Devil and his family move in next door) and finally “In Darkness” (a blind woman finds Braille messages hidden in everyday objects and these messages are warning her of danger around her new neighbour, who she has recently begun to date). An excellent, highly enjoyable and highly-recommended set of tales. ( )