Not Your Usual Horror Tales

Bruce Von Stiers

Horror films have become all the rage in the last few years. But horror stories have been around for centuries. There have been complete horror novels and a multitude of short story collections.

A new horror short story collection is now out there. It is from Kandisha Press, a publishing house that touts itself as a “Women owned Independent Horror Press”.

The title of this new collection is We Are Not Ourselves Today. The subtitle for the collection is 13 Tales of Pulp Horror.

There are only two authors represented in the collection. They are Lydia Prime and Jill Girardi. In addition to writing horror stories, Lydia is also an editor for Kandisha Press and Silent Hill Press. Jill is the founder and publisher for Kandisha Press. Her past endeavors include being a music producer and metal store owner.

The collection is introduced by Aisha Kandisha, the head librarian at Kandisha Press. She has her own little horror story to tell (about herself) and then introduces both Lydia and Jill. Aisha is a fictional character but seems like she'd be sooo much fun.

The Letter is Lydia's first story in the collection. Emily is pregnant, coming close to having her baby. It's a boy, whose name will be Jacob. Emily is all a flutter with the thoughts and ideas of her baby boy. But, on this day, Emily receives a letter. It is no ordinary letter. This one seems to have supernatural powers. Who sent the letter and what do they want? As the story winds its way to a surprise conclusion, Linda describes a lot of gory horror elements that are cool and a bit nauseating at the same time. It is a fun, in horror fashion, way to begin this collection.

In the story, The Ecstasy of Gold, Rashid is a petty thief. He steals a backpack from a woman as she leaves a concert. He shares his ill-gotten goods with Dogong, another petty thief. The backpack yields very little, except there is a wallet. This seems to be a special wallet with a superstitious legend. It can dispense gold coins. But there is a price to be had for such gifts. That price is spelled out in graphic detail. This is Jill's first story for the collection and it is, should I say, a delicious tale of horror.

Lydia's next story is South Dakota. Dakota is a young girl from a small village. She happens to see a girl under the ice, the spitting image of herself. Despite her persistence, nobody in the village believes her. But Dakota, and the Dakota on the other side of the ice have a plan to be together. But the plan doesn't come close to what Dakota had imagined. Although different from Linda's first story, this one provides some gory descriptions.

The Garbage People is from Jill. It's about a family who maintain a garbage dump. But they are not nice people, seemingly worse than the worst trailer trash. They are holding a secret, a secret that is horrific and monstrous. A disturbance at the local school involved the youngest child in the family. Which causes her teacher to come out to their house to talk with the mother. This story has a mixture of evil people, sacrifices and a demon from the bowels of the earth. I thought Lydia put forth some pretty gruesome descriptions, but Jill edges past Lydia's earlier stories with vivid details of blood and gore.

Christoff is a former television chef. He is looking after his grandchildren, Ellie and Ancil. After a tussle between the two children, they all sit down to watch an episode of Christoff's show. But this is no ordinary cooking show. When Christoff tells of a cooking technique where the meat will just fall of the ribs, he isn't talking about beef or venison. This story is titled Monster Mashed, written by Lydia, that has a twist or turn in it that I found delightful.

The Wet Dream is a jet ski and also the title of a story. Hank is a blowhard and considers himself a ladies man. He is out on the lake with his wife, Ro, his niece Debbie and her friend, Susan. The reader soon learns that Hank is a cruel and abusive man. He is showing off on the jet ski to a boat filled will bikini clad young women. But in the end, things don't end like Hank would have wanted. This story from Jill is not so much a horror tale, it's more a story of karma and retribution that is reminiscent of Roald Dahl.

Sadie is a young woman who has nightmares of being chased by a little girl who giggles and has razor sharp teeth. The little girl also has a companion, a dangerous looking wolf. In this story, whose title is Sadie, the world between nightmares and reality becomes deliciously blurred.

The Roiling is a bit more of a sci-fi than horror story. In this story, humans are a lessor species. But instead of apes being in charge, it is amphibians, you know, frogs. The hero, so to speak, of this story is Sherman. He lost his girlfriend to an attack by the Phibs, as the frogs have been nicknamed. And the woman who's with him now is scared to go outside. But a series of events changes things and a cowardly Sherman turns the table in a French styled dish of revenge.

Lunation is a story about Lycans, a twelve-step program for them and a seemingly miraculous drug to ease the transition process from human to wolf. But all is not what it seems to be. It is an interesting story with a twist that wasn't apparent until it happened.

A young woman has run away to Penang Island from her abusive boyfriend back in Hong Kong. And she ends up living at a rooming house whose residents seem to be plagued with some sort of disease. A chance meeting with the son of one of the residents sets the young woman on a different path than she'd envisioned. This path eventually sends her to an unusual feast for ending of the story, aptly named Hunger.

Little Pig is about Diedre and the shapes and voices she hears in her apartment. Are they real or imagined? She keeps having these vivid nightmares and even has her friend Mallory over to help dispel her uneasiness. But she even has a disturbing dream involving Mallory. This cumulates into a whole set of circumstances that lead to a vey bizarre story ending with a lot of dead bodies inbetween.

Regina is a scientist working with rats in the story, Lab Rats. She is a bit of a loner and so concentrated on her work that she forgets to eat and take her of her personal hygiene. Regina has also recently been bit by one of the rats in her lab. This injury leads Regina in a whole different direction for her experiments. In a confrontation with her boss. This direction comes to a strange and horrific conclusion.

Group homes can be a good thing for people in recovery. They can also be places where evil awaits. In the final story of this collection, Hazel Hill, it is a group home where Oona is sent after a hospital stay. But right away Oona feels that something is not quite right there. And she is right but doesn't find out why until it's too late. It is a weird story that fits right in with the rest of the collection and a great way to end it.

We Are Not Ourselves Today is a terrific collection of horror stories that will at times possibly gross you out, that is if you're squeamish. But then again, why would you read horror stories if you're squeamish? For the rest of you out there, this should be a very fun and thoroughly entertaining horror story reading experience.

We Are Not Ourselves Today is available at major book retailers including amazon.

To learn more about the collection of any other title from Kandisha Press, visit https://kandishapress.com/

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© 2025 Bruce E Von Stiers