Two great short stories from John Grover and Jason Baldwin-Stephens

Taken from the author’s Creatures and Crypts collection, The Reaper’s Game by John Grover is a satisfyingly gruesome and scary tale of man vs. Death.

A murderer who considers himself the perfect killing machine, better even than death, is challenged by the ultimate foe in this tale. A mad battle ensues with computer graphic precision and scares through every doorway, but this enemy’s playing on his own turf, and how can death be vanquished?

The story builds to a satisfying (though grisly) denouement that might leave you wondering, just who is on whose side. A classic horror story, macabre, intriguing, and skillfully imaginative, the Reaper’s Game is an enjoyable introduction to this prolific writer’s short story collections.

Disclosure: I was lucky enough to find a free ecopy of this story

Empty Shells is a masterful short story with genuine story-arc and character-arc packed into a very quick read. The author quickly introduces his narrator, a regular guy, a little too full of himself, a little too concerned with his own comforts and promotion. The protagonist worries that his favorite parking spot might not be available. He’ll have to walk! Not that it’s far to walk to his office, but it’s the principal. He’s been ousted by nature.

Nature, of course, has a way of getting under our skins. One hot day the reader sees the protagonist beginning to change. But suddenly man is ousting nature’s detritus and everything turns on its head.

Nature, red in tooth and claw, meets man, red in bureaucracy, and the result sheds curious light on the shell-games we all play in our regular lives, a little too full of ourselves, a little too concerned with our own comforts and promotion.

A satisfying, masterful short story, I really enjoyed this one.

Disclosure: I was lucky enough to find a free ecopy of this story