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New anthology of Texas horror
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Publisher 12 to Midnight has just released an anthology of horror fiction entitled Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas. Each short story offers one disturbing little slice of this fictitious rural town in eastern Texas—the whole of which is reminiscent of the creepiest aspects of The Blair Witch Project and the X-Files, with a dash or two of good ol' small-town Lovecraftian horror thrown in.
Having read most of this book myself, and being no stranger to both writing and horror fiction, I recommend it. The stories themselves are perfectly varied, ranging from monster stories ("Off Radio"), ghost stories ("Stigmatized Property"), a “lost tapes” stories ("The Jennifer Ridge Transcripts"), to witch stories (“The Witch of Linda Lane”). And then some. The anthology is edited by Matt M. McElroy, the Editor-in-Chief of the horror and dark fantasy webzine Flames Rising, and includes the work of up-and-coming and well-established authors, such as Jess Hartley, Derek Gunn, Charles Rice, and Shane Hensley.
Ultimately, it's the town itself which plays both antagonist and host for these stories. It’s charming and mysterious, and suitably disturbing. Pinebox has about 18,000 residents, who go about their lives like normal and try not to talk or even think about the innumerable deaths, disappearances, monster sightings, and other unexplained phenomena that have plagued the town since it was settled in the early 1800s, back when Texas was newly annexed from Mexico. Pinebox—yes, think about that name for a moment—has all those freaky bits of folklore from various subgenres of horror, all packed into one place. There’s talk of UFOs, hauntings, conspiracies, the Chupacabra, and even…the Piney Devil! (That’s right, South Jersey. You’re not the only one with your own devil).
Pinebox is oozing with flavor. There’s a map in the book, and in general the town seems remarkably fleshed out for an anthology locale. But there’s a reason for that. Long before Buried Tales, Pinebox was created and released as a campaign setting for the d20 roleplaying game system. That means it was mapped out, detailed, and filled with all the minutia and roleplaying tools needed for players to create their own stories of the supernatural in the modern world.
So what does an eerie town in Texas have to do with metropolitan New York? Very little, it would seem, except that it's precisely the sort of small-town escapism that city-based horror fans need sometimes. The themes are universal. And anyway novelist and contributor David Wellington ("Off Radio"), author of the zombie and vampire books Monster Island and Thirteen Bullets, is a New Yorker. You needn't be from Texas to put monsters there.
If you ever enjoyed TV shows like Tales from the Crypt, the Creepshow movies, or one of Stephen King’s short stories, this anthology is worth checking out. No story is too long, nor too involved...just scary goodness with just enough restraint to keep the suspense. But there's more to the book itself that can be had. 12 to Midnight is also offering a promotional contest with a virtual treasure trove as a prize. There are tons of free samples of the book, audio excerpts and descriptions. Just click around and you'll end up with a hearty taste of what's inside.
For more info:
- The Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas website.
- For the print copy of Buried Tales, you can order through several websites, including Paizo.com, Midnight Cellar, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
- If you prefer electronic books, you can pick up a virtual copy at DriveThrue RPG, DriveThru Horror, or even Amazon for the Kindle.
- The Pinebox Campaign Setting site, which includes "The Jennifer Ridge Transcripts," one of the anthology’s stories.
- Watch a book trailer for the book:
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