Rounding out the month with a solid indie horror short story collection!
NOCTURNAL BY NATURE & OTHER STORIES – Nick Roberts (Released March 28th, 2025)
This was one of the books Chandra picked up for me at AuthorCon this year!
Book Description:
Travel along a backcountry road as two bickering siblings encounter a sadistic masked menace. Watch from a couple’s window as a mysterious figure lurks through the darkness of the vacant house next door. Witness a malevolent presence threaten to unravel a man’s sanity decades after testing an urban legend.
From ventriloquist dummies to stuffed pandas, ancient vampires to human experimentation, this collection feeds on your fears of the supernatural and the horrors of real life. Abandon the light and become Nocturnal by Nature.
My Thoughts: 5/5 stars
There’s a little something for all the horror fans in this creepy little collection. The range in stories and the way the writing captivates you from start to finish made this such a pleasure to read! Horrifying, nightmare enducing, and gives you the chill down your spine with each story!
Whenever I read (or watch) horror that involves siblings, I always wonder, how would David and I do in this situation? Thankfully, we didn’t have to find out on our road trip to Arizona last year. Well, I’d like to think he and I could survive a situation like in Nocturnal by Nature (the title story).
In a shock to no one, I loved Knocks. An urban legend coming back decades later to torment?? Makes you stop and wonder, well shit is that game of Bloody Mary or Candyman finally going to get me? Every single little knock and creaking in the night gave that little heart rate spike after this one.
You Girls and Your Gore will be one that many readers will love, at least I think so. A parents worst nightmare when their kid starts taking an interest in horror. The nostalgia to those sleepovers watching slashers it perfection and dolls are bad enough, but a ventriloquist dummy? Nope. Clearly, Goosebumps left a last impression I wasn’t aware of.
Neighbor was a solid reminder as to why I never want visible neighbors ever again. Obviously, everyone gets curious about newcomers after old neighbors leave, but sometimes you aren’t meant to see what happens behind closed doors.
We got some Halloween and Christmas horror in Ode to October and Slinky. Some incredible monster horror in Devil in the Snow. The Panda focuses on a father struggling to parent his son with ODD and the real-life horror that can bring. On a Later Day will definitely have you combing over those Terms and Conditions that none of us actually read through. The Copper Thieves brings graverobbing to life and the consequences – because there are usually some.
Jessicamap Reviews 