Inanimate Objects: Volume 1 – Burial Books Publishing

4/5 stars

‘Inanimate Things: Volume One’ is an interesting collection of ordinary objects going rogue. It’s a great lesson in being careful how you treat the things around you (living or “dead”) because something might just take exception.

Let’s talk the standout: “The Detective” by Jason Fischer. This gave me the skin shivers….it hit so many notes for me and is exactly what I look for in a collection! The scene with the toenails…beautifully horrifying. I don’t even want to know what my face looked like the whole time I was reading it! I’d love to see this expanded! I have so many fun questions about the cobbler, the people that he’s “helped” and what happens to them. I could very happily read a whole book about this!

Another one that blew me away was “To Kill a Clown” by Victor Aldritch. I hate clowns, plain and simple, and these ones were right on par with everything that gives me the creeps about them. They were very “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” but terrifying, and I hated everything about it (in the best way)!

I could easily see the statues in M.J. McClymont’s “Wire and Flesh” being an SCP, so that was a really fun nod to something I loved growing up. They reminded me a little of SCP-173, but with some added features. I’m going to give any statue I come across a wide berth now, there’s no telling what will happen otherwise….

And, of course, I would be remiss without mentioning Stephen Rhoades’ “The Ocean at Night.” The ending was almost nostalgic in a way I wasn’t expecting, and I’ve not read a more perfect ending to a collection that this. This is another one that I’d love to see expanded and made into a full novel with a quirky cast of characters, a “found/made” family, and that watercolour, nostalgic ending!

All in all, I really enjoyed this collection. I did feel that a few of the stories weren’t as successful at integrating the theme as others, but they were still great stories on their own! Burial Books Publishing is relatively new on the scene, but if this is what I have to look forward to from them, then they’ve gained themselves an instant fan!