Carmilla Reads

I had very high hopes for this collection of horror stories by comedians. Sadly, my high expectations were largely unfulfilled. For example, Sara Pascoe's book "Animal" was enjoyable and I love her comic timing on screen. Stewart Lee has produced some of my favourite comedy sketches (after Rob Newman). With both of them listed as contributors, I was thrilled to find this book.

There are decent stories, but as a collection it doesn't tick either the great horror or comedy boxes for me.

My favourite story was "Filthy Night" by Charlie Higson, and it was also the most humorous. While it's a stretch to define it as horror, Stewart Lee's "A View from a Hill" was familiarly irreverent and entertaining. "A Spider Remember" by Sara Pascoe was weird and clever; she didn't let me down. "Dog" by Reece Shearmith was the most sinister of the lot. "For Everyone's Good", by Al Murray, held my interest. "Most out of Character" by Robert Ince was a self-aware and rather disgusting first person narrative about someone infected by a rage virus, however many of the images were repeated later in "All Warm Inside" by Neil Edmond, which marred the impact of both. Another satisfying read that wasn't horror was Katy Brands's "For Roger". I liked the circular form and enjoyed the style. I loved Tim Key's 56 word story "Halloween", definitely a highlight of the collection and hilarious horror.

I summary, if I had gone into the collection with lower expectations I might have enjoyed it more, but even so there were good stories in this anthology.