31 Days of Horror: It Calls From The Sky

Twenty three horror short stories depicting death from above make up this excellent anthology from Eerie River Publishing.

Ascension by R L Meza: Homeless man, Grease, wakes to the extraordinary sight of a pajama parade on the streets of San Francisco, and an internal voice urging him to climb, in this Lovecraftian horror.

Heads in the Clouds by Matthew Brady: Cody wants to win the kite fighting competition so he can get treatment for his sick sister, Edith, in this delightfully chilling and imaginative tale.

Tenure by V A Vazquez: Milo wants to submit his application for tenure, but colleagues and friends keep calling him for advice on how to deal with obscure monsters from folklore in this comedy horror tale.

Thlush-a-Lum by Rebecca Gomez Farrell: A lovely, haunting tale about sounds, and a child who doesn’t belong.

Follow You into the Dark by Christopher Bond: A newly engaged couple discover a something nasty in the woods in this science fiction horror.

The Forgotten Prince by Elizabeth Nettleton: Pin regrets her moment of kindness to a boy caught in a thorn bush in this dark fantasy brimming with mythic undertones.

Flying Home by Joel R Hunt: Emma experiences a truly nightmarish plane journey in this gruesome, chilling horror story.

Hate Sky by Jay Sandlin: A loathsome man meets a sorry end.

Thorn in My Side by Chris Hewitt: It’s raining sky urchins! (As in sea urchins rather than street urchins). A stellar story that reads like the beginning of a novel.

Storm Clouds by Sarah Jane Justice: You’ll be afraid to go out in the rain. A thoughtful storm with a silver lining.

Flash by C.A McDonald: A policeman driving home at the end of his shift stops to help the people in a vehicle which has mysteriously run off the road.

The Day the Angels Fell by McKenzie Richardson: Tad flees the winged demons attacking his town.

On a Wing and a Prayer by Tim Mendees: A fighter pilot in World War II makes a deal he may live to regret.

The Traveler by G Allen Wilbanks: A stranger comes traveling in this interesting alien horror.

Flickering by G A Alexander: A levitation video leads a woman down an eerie path as she seeks to authenticate it.

Raindance by Kimberly Rei: Great imagery in this tale of a woman and her abusive husband.

Godspore by Marc Sorondo: A well written story about a hunt and a battle.

Faithless by M A Hayler: Wonderful story about a frontier family battling to survive and the hardships they must face.

Three Balloons by Chris Lilienthal: A nightmarish story about roaches and super moons.

Beloved of the Storm by Elizabeth Davis: A traveler gets unexpectedly detained in tornado alley.

Keep One in the Chamber by T M Brown: A harrowing and suspenseful story set in an original post apocalyptic land.

The Winged Plague by Eric Labrie Giles: A father and son battle inclement weather and beasties.

Rainfall by Marie McWilliams: Don’t go out in the rain is the message of this post apocalyptic story.

I enjoyed this anthology immensely. As with all anthologies, there were some stories that appealed to me more than others, but overall the quality was consistently good.

My favorite takes were Faithless and Heads in the Clouds.

Faithless depicted a frontier family that I really cared about, as well as introducing a foe that was as interesting as it was terrifying.

Heads in the Clouds was a fairy tale begging to be made into a movie by Guillermo del Toro.

Honorable mentions go to Keep One in the Chamber and Thorn in My Side. Both stories showed great world building that I wouldn’t mind reading more about.

I award It Calls From The Sky…