Garden of Fiends: Tales of Addiction Horror review, Mark Matthews, Jack Ketchum, John FD Taff, Kealan Patrick Burke…

Written by Paula Limbaugh

Anyone who has ever had an addiction knows you’re an addict for life. The horrors of addiction are all too real, it never leaves you. Addiction’s ugly claws pierce down deep and those claws are reluctant to release you fully. Just below the surface, they wait, ready to add another deep gouge to your oh so fragile surface. As any gardener knows… you reap what you sow! Like most gardens, you will find a variety offered here in this Garden of Fiends.

A WICKED THIRST, by Kealan Patrick Burke

THE ONE IN THE MIDDLE, by Jessica McHugh

EVERYWHERE YOU’VE BLED AND EVERYWHERE YOU WILL, by Max Booth III

FIRST, JUST BITE A FINGER, by Johann Thorsson

LAST CALL, by John FD Taff

TORMENT OF THE FALLEN, by Glen Krisch

GARDEN OF FIENDS, by Mark Matthews

RETURNS, by Jack Ketchum

The news today is filled with stories of heroin overdoses, but what about alcoholism? Its horrors have been swept behind closed doors, but just as damning as any drug. Any recovering alcoholic will tell you there is no such thing as “just one drink.”  Kealan Patrick Burke, John FD Taff, and Jack Ketchum all give us a look at the ravages wrought by drink.

With Jessica McHugh, Mark Matthews, Glen Krisch, and Max Booth III, we explore the demons that heroin addiction evokes. Altered states of reality blur the lines of our perceptions.

Johann Thorsson’s flash fiction piece probably best encompasses what addiction is all about. It’s a hunger that is never satisfied.

Mark Matthews, editor/author, and Wicked Run Press has done a great job in selecting the stories include within. You can’t make up the horrors an addict faces, it’s their reality and it seeps into the lives of those closest to them. Surreality takes the place of reality and nightmares are the only dreams left. With brutal honesty, the words of these contributors speak volumes, you really need to listen.

Don’t pass this one up, get your copy HERE!!

5/5