Book Spotlight: Funhouse by Michael Bray - Review

Funhouse
Short Story Anthology

Michael Bray

Horror

Available at Amazon



Blurb

Roll up to the funhouse, a brand new collection of tales from the author of Whisper, Dark Corners & Meat, Michael Bray.

A man who makes an unscheduled stop gets more than he bargained for in ‘CANDYLAND.’

A Group of teens discover a terrible secret on Samsonite farm in ‘SCARECROWS.’

A Schoolyard bully and his former victim reunite with horrifying results in ‘LONG TALL COFFIN.’

A High school party becomes an arachnid nightmare for one unfortunate guest in ‘THE BOY WHO SAW SPIDERS.’

These are just some of the horrors hidden within the darkest recesses of the funhouse. Look closer if you dare, and indulge in these 16 tales of madness, murder, terror and insanity.

My Review: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review

One of my favorite reads growing up was Night Shift by Stephen King. I've been a horror book junkie since I was ten years old. Funhouse contains a delightfully dark group of short stories that will make you shiver and perhaps even leave the light on. The first story sets the tone quite nicely for the entire anthology. Though, I must say, only a moron would get on a carnival ride if they had to sign a waiver first...

Mr. Bray has treated us to sixteen tales, some more macabre than others. One thing I enjoyed was the psychological aspect to many of the stories. Sometimes the thing we should fear the most is our very own brain. There were a couple stories that didn't do anything for me, but the others made up for that in spades. And for anyone out there with arachnophobia, do skip the story The Boy Who Saw Spiders.

I'm going to recommend Funhouse for ages 17+, but I'd let my thirteen-year-old read it if he was interested. I didn't find the book all that scary (macabre, eerie, poignant maybe), but I think I might be a bit jaded. The horror genre has been a bit thin on good titles as of late. I think this anthology is a great addition.

About the Author

Michael Bray is a Horror author based in Leeds, England. Influenced from an early age by the suspense horror of authors such as Stephen King, and the trashy pulp TV shows like Tales From The Crypt & The Twilight Zone, he started to work on his own fiction, and spent many years developing his style. In May 2012, he signed a deal with the highly reputable Dark Hall Press to print and distribute his collection of interlinked short stories titled Dark Corners, which was released in September 2012. His second release was a Novella titled MEAT which was initially self-published before being picked up by J. Ellington Ashton Press. His first full length novel, a supernatural horror titled Whisper was initially self-published, and following great critical acclaim, sold to Horrific Tales publishing where it went on to reach as high as #3 in the amazon paid best sellers list.