Monster Thoughts received an ARC from Sonora Taylor to review her short story collection, Someone to Share My Nightmares.
About Someone to Share My Nightmares:
A band of bloodthirsty sea creatures terrorize a scientist and a journalist trapped in a Carolina cove. The seduction of a plumber making a house call becomes a nightmarish haunting for both parties. A woman transformed for her lover has second thoughts about just how good “together forever” can be. And the one man a woman wants for Christmas is the holiday demon sent to punish the wicked.
Someone to Share My Nightmares is a tapestry of horrors interwoven with sensuality. Can our deepest fears be vanquished when they’re shared with someone else? Or is the danger doubled when two people come together?
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Review:
This collection features a varied collection of short stories and poems with varying levels of horror. From a killer ex-wife to mutant frog-leech hybrids called Sharps, there’s a story here to suit every reader’s need for the “not-quite-right” with a fair dose of sexual tension and sex scenes to whet any Romance (capital R) reader’s appetite.
There’s even a delightful short story I rather enjoyed that depicts what happens after one says “yes” to being turned into a vampire—and living with that ‘forever love’ forever–for better or for worse. (I loved the doubt and realistic depiction of long relationships this story tackled.) And another with a women’s desire for a demon to punish her tickled my fancy for its themes of desire, consensual punishment, and longing. Who doesn’t love a good pining session in a story!
It goes without saying Sonora’s penchant for artful stories, delicately told is a craft diligently perfected with great care. This is something I’m thankful for in the horror genre (especially when written by women): that thought and a greater exploration beyond mere blood and guts (not that there’s anything wrong with it in moderation) can be touched upon within horror stories and there can be humanity and sensuality and life amidst all the grim and dark often found in the genre.
I wanted to be more deliberate about creating a theme of love and sex interwoven with horror. I found it interesting to see how the terror changed when two people (and their libidos) were involved as opposed to one person. Having sex, and even being in love, is a willingness to place yourself into vulnerability. I think horror does well when it explores that idea further.
-Sonora Taylor; Acknowledgements of Someone To Share My Nightmares
Monster Thoughts Book Rating:
You can order Someone To Share My Nightmares today at the links above. The collection releases October 19, 2021.
About Sonora Taylor:
Sonora Taylor is the author of several short stories and novels, including Seeing Things, Little Paranoias: Stories, and Without Condition. In 2020, she won the Ladies of Horror Fiction awards for Best Collection (Little Paranoias) and Best Novel (Without Condition). Her short stories have been published by Camden Park Press, Burial Day Press, Kandisha Press, Cemetery Gates Media, Sirens Call Publications, Tales to Terrify, and others.
Along with V. Castro, Sonora co-manages Fright Girl Summer (frightgirlsummer.com), an online book festival promoting marginalized authors and voices. In 2022, Sonora and Nico Bell will edit an anthology of fat-positive horror called Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology.
Sonora’s latest collection, Someone to Share My Nightmares: Stories, will be out in October 2021. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and a rescue dog.
Visit Sonora online at sonorawrites.com.