Published: Satan's Toybox - Toy Soldiers AND Skeletal Remains

It's funny, isn't it? You wait ages for a good anthology to come along, and then two arrive at once! Much like buses, really. And, much like buses, these two are blooming scary! The good thing about them is that when you're reading them you won't have to sit next to any smelly weirdos who are trying to look over your shoulder... Unless that's your thing, of course.

First we have the second anthology from Angelic Knight Press' Satan's Toybox series. This is Satan's Toybox: Toy Soldiers (available through Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com - print to follow).

I love this series because it taps into something we're all afraid of. Or something we all used to be afraid. Or something that we're still afraid of but don't want to admit to! Toys. Toys can be terribly scary. Think of them, watching you at night, never sleeping, never resting, they're always plotting and thinking and... Well, you get the idea. And with Toy Soldiers there's something more - these toys are meant to be violent, they are meant to kill, at least in a child's imagination. So once they're let loose to show their true colours, bad things will happen.

My story, 'The Nutcracker's Game', deals with a perfect Victorian Christmas (or three), all of which go horribly, fatally, wrong because of a little Christmas decoration. Who would have thought?

The second anthology is Rymfire Books' Skeletal Remains. This is available in print and Kindle (Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk) editions.

Skeletons... they shouldn't be scary, really, should they? After all, they can't do anything. They're just bones, there's not even any connective tissue... They are the deadest thing imaginable, with no soul, no consciousness.

And perhaps that is the thing which makes them scary. They are mindless, focused things, grinning away as though they know more than they're letting on, and in this terrifying anthology they are most definitely alive...

My story, 'Anatomy', details the afterlife of a classroom skeleton at the dawn of medicine. But how many skeletons is it really? And just how many students have disappeared over the years? The numbers add up to something chilling...

Enjoy! These anthologies are both wonderful additions to any horror buff's library, and I am proud to be part of them.

©Lisamarie Lamb 2012