It Calls From The Forest: An Anthology of Terrifying Tales from the Woods Volume 1

Review\nGoodreads Five Star Review: "I am not someone who gets scared easily. There was a time when I would happily watch three horror movies a day (back when Netflix was primarily a DVD rental service), so I could plop them in the mail and await my next shipment of New French Extremity or Italian Gialli or whatever else was on my must-watch list back in the early 2000s. I want you to know this about me, so when I say that some of the stories in It Calls From the Forest scared me, well . . . I don't say that lightly.\nBefore I start babbling about how this is one of the best short story collections I've ever read, a quick disclaimer: there were one or two short stories where the writing wasn't quite up to par. One had a dialogue tag problem; every single line was followed by "[character name] said" and by the fourth page, it was driving me up the wall. But I enjoyed the story (a nasty little grindhouse fable) so much that I was never tempted to stop reading. There was another story that shuffled between verb tenses in a super confusing and distracting way. But again, the story was entertaining, and, based on some of the other writing choices, I couldn't tell for sure if the inconsistent verb tenses were intentional or not. So as long you go into the collection not expecting twenty-four masterpieces, you'll enjoy every second of It Calls From the Forest."\nGoodreads Five Star Review: "Whatever you are currently reading during this time of social distancing, put it down and pick up It Calls From The Forest: An Anthology of Dark Tales from the Woods. Embrace a whole new level of isolation as you wander through the wild woods and twisted forests within this collection of short stories, brought to life by authors from all around the globe. Each tale is unique, exploring a new dark corner of the mind with a variety of creatures, spectres, and antagonists lurking in the shadows. It is clear from the anthology's start, "A Wail of a Tail" by Emma K. Leadly, that the collection pulls no punches in terms of gore, and indeed, the stories are rife with horrifying moments that incorporate blood, dismemberment, sacrifice, and mutilation in ways that are brutally satisfying to lovers of the horror genre. The depth of characterization and creativity within these tales elevates them beyond superficial shock and gore to achieve a horror that lingers. I don't often swear aloud when reading books, so when I reached the end of D.R. Smith's "The Thing in The Woods" (the second story in the collection) and uttered, "holy shit," I knew that I had stumbled upon a truly exciting anthology of short stories. There are longer stories with a great deal of emotional depth, like "Forest Man" by Holley Cornetto, which explores the trauma and complicated relationships of adolescence with an unforgettable horror that pursues the characters into adulthood. Other stories--like "Dig" by Elizabeth Nettleton and "Getting Away from It All" by Greg Hunter--are brief and shocking, like a quick stab in the dark. There is something for everyone in this anthology, so seize the opportunity to stray from civilization and lose yourself within these pages."Goodreads Five Star Review:"It Calls from the Forest," is a finely seamed collection of well written horror at its best from a talented group of Authors in all levels of their careers. It is a unique collection of stories that will leave you afraid to go into the Forest forever and after having read it you will find yourself listening for what goes bump in the night!
From hunters who become the hunted to the story Carhaze, a creepy fairy tale, (my personal fave) The Twins of the Wassailing and Pumpkinface. The baby cries in the haunted Neumack Woods and a most frightening Forest Man... where nothing is as it seems and the only thing they all have in common is the forest...\nWhatever you do, do not listen. Ignore that pull, the need to escape from drudgeries of life and find peace and solitude within natu