by Terry M. West

 

Tonight for your reading pleasure I'll be reviewing a sweet little collection of eeriness, justice and good ol fashioned slapstick in the form of a short story collection by the ever so multi-talented Terry M. West called WHAT PRICE, GORY? A breakdown of the stories involved follows as so: "Car Nex" is an eerie downright spectacular monster tale that lingers. One of my favorites in the series, "Cecil and Bubba Meet Succubus" is about a pair of dimwitted hillbilly buddies who piss off an old drunken woman who curses them, thus setting up their affair with a "Suck -a bus". "Held Over" is a nice 'Tales From The Darkside-ish little tale involving different choices in life for one elderly man named Clint. Seems at this time and age death isn't the only option. Does he go all Walt Disney on us? Read to find out. "The Hairy Ones" was short and to the point. We all owe someone, or something, for our existence and every so often they come back and take what they want.

 

Now, onto "The Hermit’s Creepy Pet." This story pertains to a down on his luck writer searching for that next big story; but he has writers block. As he's approached by his neighbor about a hairy beast on his farm in the woods we get a nice little treat. This is the point of the book that I personally feel takes off and gets better!! The next story, "Put On a Happy Face", is purely sad and depressing. It revolves a little girl who is being taken care of by her disfigured brother. Her brother wears all these different masks to symbolize his emotions. When he puts on the mean face it means run and never look back. Superb!

 

As we begin to round out the anthology we’re rewarded with one hell of a cool story named "Midnight Snack." Midnight Snack is a story that I’m sure a lot of us have been through before. A nagging significant other that just never shuts up, something is always wrong, etc....just blagh! Driving home one night the husband encounters some odd events that land him at a 50ish diner in the middle of nowhere offering up the best damn apple pies in existence. Now sadly, lastly is the title story "What Price Gory?." A story of two semi friendly authors, one is exiting the industry and one is entering. They decide that whoever can scare the other the worst will obtain the reigns as the best horror writer in the world. Like a horror duel!!

All in all I enjoyed every page of this anthology and was very sad to see the final story end yet was overly ecstatic to see another short of our lovely dimwits "Cecil And Bubba Meet The Thang". It's good to know we'll be seeing more of them in the near future. To date whether watching one of West's films or reading one of his stories I have yet to be disappointed. It’s easy to say Terry M. West is one of my favorite authors ever. Please stop by his site and pick up some of his stories. You'll be happy that you did......

 

^v^ NECRoSTEIN ^v^