Here's another book I'm reviewing because I'm in it and, like 'Out of the Shadows', it's an anthology for charity, this time in aid of FAST UK, a British charity working in a few different countries to cure Angelman Syndrome, a neurogenetic disorder. The introduction is by MJ Dixon, a horror filmmaker who has a son with Angelman Syndrome, and it outlines capably why this is an important charity to support. All proceeds from this book will go to that charity and it's enough for me to recommend it.

Of course, as an anthology, especially one that trawls in contributions not only from horror authors but filmmakers and others who are active in the community, the quality is varied. Also, none of the stories are long, because the format this time is flash fiction, meaning stories of a thousand words, with a few shorter drabbles, stories of a hundred words, that I presume weren't submitted in time for the previous Red Cape Publishing charity anthology.

And that means that the quality runs the gamut from excellent stories from established authors to some pieces that are best skipped over. I'm not going to name and shame, but one story that oddly shows up very early in the book reads like a piece by an eight-year-old who understands grammar. I actually had to read that one aloud to the better half because it boggled my mind. Fortunately, it's over quickly and we can move on to better material. And there's plenty of that.

My notes suggest that I had a top ten, excluding my own contribution, 'A Better Place', which was a surprisingly uplifting ghost story, given what I'd actually planned to write. The theme this time out, which most writers surprisingly failed to follow, was about the news, hence the title. I had another story in mind, that was far more brutal and would absolutely dominate headlines, but it quickly let me know that it would never wrap up within a thousand words, so I switched track and found myself in a very different tone.

Many of the best stories did follow theme, but it would have been a better book if more writers had followed the theme. It's telling that those who did often chose a karmic approach, as if we all felt a collective failing of the news media to provide happy endings to their traditionally dark stories. The first highlights for me here came right next to each other and both followed this karmic approach, with a tasty relish in their gruesomeness. They're 'A Piece of You' by Nat Whiston, which has plenty of heart, a pun for which I don't apologise in the slightest, and then 'The Rise of the Scarecrows' by Callum Pearce.

The next strong pair came together too, as if following a precedent: 'Thoughts on Visiting the Man with the Hood' by Rollin Jewitt and 'It's What's Inside That Counts' by Lyndsey Ellis-Holloway. They aren't remotely alike, except for quality, with the former a thoughtful exercise in inevitability and the latter a gleeful take on fannish obsession. These two play to the thousand word limit with style, telling simple stories in a clever way that simply doesn't need any more verbiage.

After that pair of pairs, the best stories just showed up out of the blue, elevating themselves above their peers, whether by sheer quality or also by doing something completely different. 'Casey' is an excellent example of both, James Jobling approaching the ultimate news item—nuclear war—from an acutely personal standpoint, just a man going home after hearing the four minute warning. It's a particularly touching piece full of atmosphere and sentiment.

'Sweet Revenge' by Tori Danielle Romero returns to the world of brutal karma and it's a deliciously dark story. 'Inside Voice A.K.A. Research' by Adam Marcus follows an angry screenwriter as he fails to notice... well, you should read this one yourself. It's pretty transparent, so I shouldn't feel like I should avoid spoilers, but it's a good one anyway. 'The Rise of the Sanguinista' feels like it's a start rather than an end. Of all the stories in this book, this is the one that feels like it's more than just a story in a book. It's a religious horror piece, an angel vs. a demon, and it feels like the beginning of an urban fantasy series, never mind just a novel. Is that where Cortney Palm's writing tends to be?

And that leaves a couple of harder-to-categorise pieces. The first is the one piece by a bigger name that wouldn't leave me be and that name is Debbie Rochon, actress and noted scream queen. I'm a little wary of calling it a story because it reads like non-fiction and a quick glance at her Wikipedia page suggests that it's pretty close to true, only the dates seemingly slightly off (and I'm not going to trust Wikipedia that closely). It's about a homeless teenage girl who was viciously attacked on a Vancouver street in 1978 and it's harrowing.

And that just leaves 'The Checklist' by Matt Doyle, the most stylish writing here other than 'Casey', and it's also harrowing. I'm not sure what it's actually talking about, because it remains deliciously vague, but I know what I think it's talking about and, if so, it plays out very well indeed. There's no real rhyme or reason about the ordering of stories here, which come down to something as simple as when the editors received them, but this is a perfect way to end the book, a powerful piece that could be about a lot of things and so makes us think.

Other than Debbie Rochon, I don't know any of the other authors who contributed what I felt were highlights and that's a good thing. It's one more reminder that there's serious talent out there, a pool of writers that will grow and build the horror community further. If any of them are big names I merely haven't encountered yet, I look forward to reading their work. If they're starting out, I will even more eagerly look out for their names in the future. And that's what makes anthologies such as this so valuable. That and the charity that it was created to support. I hope you consider buying a copy just for that reason. Even if I'm in it. ~~ Hal C F Astell