This reviewer does not have access to predetermined cover art at the time of this post.
Image has been rendered artificially.
How to See Ghosts & Other Figments
Author: Orrin Grey
Genres: Collections, Horror
Publisher: Word Horde
Publication Year: October 25, 2022
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9781956252057
Sinister Minister of Monsters Orrin Grey returns with a career-spanning anthology, each tale a ticket granting entry to a deeper level inside his penny arcade of visions. With a kaleidoscope of perspectives, the individual aspects and setting of each story varies widely. Many of the yarns he has spun dance around reflections and fractures of obsession. I appreciate the notes left by Orrin behind each story, addressing personal and craft reasoning for their inclusion and approach in a certain way.
I enjoy the diversity of these selections, but oh how they ring with a familiarity. I admit, it is entertaining to read and recognize landmarks with which we are both acquainted, yet remain shrouded beneath that Anyplace trademark stamp.
Top choices for me remain “The Splitfoot Reel,” which summons forth fond memories of attempts to synthesize a Throbbing Gristle-like wall of sound to then destroy, and “The Drunkard’s Dream,” a meditation on loss – and victory.
Then we have “Doctor Pitt’s Menagerie,” which throws caution aside. Who needs to disguise any geographic recognition? Aficionados of fine horror flicks are surely familiar with Orrin by now, and trust that this physician delivers hefty doses of the Phibes vibes with his smorgasboard of concoctions.
With this vast array spread before me, 8.8/10 tentacles rise toward the heavens in pleading supplication.