Even in the Grave - Edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander - ★★.½

EDITORS: James Chambers and Carol Gyzander

GENRE: Horror Anthology

RATING: 2.55 stars.

In a Nutshell: An anthology of horror stories, spanning multiple time periods, places, and creatures. Quite a mixed batch.

"In death - No! Even in the grave, all is not lost." - Edgar Allan Poe

This collection of twenty stories begins with the above quote and an editor’s note, the latter of which raised my expectations quite high. Why? Because it made clear that the authors had been given only one condition: no Scooby Doo endings. The ghosts had to be actual ghosts and not humans in white sheets. Other than this, anything was okay.

It is this free-spirited approach that results in the biggest plus point of the collection: the variety. The stories cover many time periods and locations, and include ghosts of various kinds, ranging from kind-hearted to funny to the more common spooky.

At the same time, the variety also proves to work against the anthology. Though the writing is good in most of the tales, they don’t deliver the creeps. I admit that this requirement will be highly dependent on the reader’s expectation from a horror anthology. When I pick up horror, I expect nail-biting situations, and underlying atmosphere of suspense, and a steady buildup to a spectacular finish. Most of the stories did not meet this expectation. And as all my friends here know, I have declared myself to be a scaredy-cat more than once. So if I can read a horror collection without getting a single nightmare, the collection definitely doesn't work. 

Of the twenty stories, the only ones that stood out to me were:

👻 'The Final Experiment of Eugene Appleton' by Allan Burd – A predictable ending but the buildup was still excellent. One of the few true horror stories in this book.

👻 'I Am Helen Anne Gunthe' by Caroline Flarity – Loved the concept. Wish there had been more clarity about the transition from woman to hag.

👻 'What's Your Secret?' by Trevor Firetog – Again, the secret is quite easy to guess once you reach the halfway mark, but the unique situation made this a good one for me.

👻 'In the Machine' by Meghan Arcuri – One of the most entertaining stories in the collection, but ironically, it isn’t scary at all. Contains the common ‘ghost in the machine’ trope, but the identity of the ghost made it fun.

👻 'Taps' by Patrick Freivald – Among the best stories in terms of overall impact. Wonderful buildup and a great climax.

Nothing else was that memorable to me. Either they didn’t feel like horror or they dragged too much. A couple were too gory for my liking.

Recommended only to those horror short fiction lovers who focus more on diverse ghostly tales than sinister chills.

2.55 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each of the stories.

My thanks to eSpec Books and NetGalley for the DRC of “Even in the Grave”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.