Month: October 2025

Show Me Where It Hurts by Robert E. Stahl

Posted on October 23, 2025 by - Book Review

I’m a big fan of short fiction. Short horror, even better. I remember, as a child, devouring Stephen King’s Skeleton Crew, Night Shift and Nightmares & Dreamscapes. There is just something about an author’s ability to convey a sense of terror in just a handful of pages that is magical.

Mr. Stahl has this magical power. Show Me Where It Hurts is an eclectic collection of both prose and poetry with a definite dark slant. The first story, “The Weeds and the Wildness Yet” hooked me immediately. It had a very classic Creepshow feel that really fostered nostalgia in me.

“Ghosts on Drugs” was a fever dream of chaos that I actually had to read twice. It was such an amazing snippet of pure creativity that conveyed the quick plot perfectly.

I could go on and on, but part of the joy of short fiction is discovering how each piece makes you feel. I will say, however that “The Trouble with Goblins” was my absolute favorite. It’s not often that I laugh out loud at the office lunch table, but that one got me. I also closely aligned with “Death By Kittens,” a lovely tableau that builds an entire scene in a single delightful paragraph.

Do yourself a favor and pick up this collection.

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

Posted on October 16, 2025 by - Book Review

The year is 1942 and June “Hoss” Hudson is the general manager of the luxurious Avallon Hotel & Spa: playground of the most aristocratic of families in West Virginia. June, a very unlikely candidate for the role she holds runs the Avallon like a well oiled machine is suddenly met with the biggest of challenges: the owners of the Avallon have made an agreement with the State Department to use the hotel as an informal prison for captured Axis diplomats.

The thing is, however, the Avallon, and June as well, have a deep secret that seems to keep the gears of the hotel spinning smoothly: the mountain sweetwater that runs under and through the property.

I am a longtime fan of Ms. Stiefvater, so it was no surprise that I fell instantly in love with the world of the Avallon. The pacing and structure of this novel reminded me greatly of the world that Ms. Steifvater built in All the Crooked Saint, and I loved that one, too.

Character development and worldbuilding are Ms. Stiefvater’s forte, so it was such a delight to watch how Hoss and her merry band of department heads navigated the war that was brought to their doorstep. It was particularly interesting to watch the unfolding of the relationship that Hoss has with the Gilfoyle family, owners of the Avallon, and then, additionally with the government agents sent to watch over and spy on the diplomats.

Without giving too much away, what appears to be a very laconic environment has a very dark undercurrent, that, while previously in control, may, now, not be.

I burned through this one very quickly, and greatly appreciated the history of the United State’s early involvement in World War II, as well as some of the tactics of Hoover’s FBI.