by Morgan K. Tanner

The Mind’s Plague and Other Bites of Brutalities is exactly what the title suggest, brutal. In a nutshell, this has been my favorite short story collection since I read Kealan Patrick Burke’s We Live Inside Your Eyes. But let’s dive a little deeper into the madness. 

We start off with the title story. It’s about three friends who want to get wasted on booze and watch a scary movie. When they can’t find said scary movie, they dive into the internet in search of a video that is believed to have made a child kill everyone around him and then himself. They don’t believe they have found it, but things begin happening and turning for the worse as the story progresses. 

This is a great beginning to this collection and sets up the tone what to expect in the coming stories. [5 Stars]

Next, we have ‘An Abhorrent Art’, which is a gory shoutout to Barker and other old school horror writers. This one is full of nasty, gory, creepies, but is all the better for it! A stellar follow up to the first story. [5 Stars] 

‘For David’ is the third story, and I believe this is where this collection really has my full attention. We all know someone who has their own celebrity crush, but this one takes it to an entirely new level. This story had me reading as fast as possible to see exactly what was going on. By the twist at the end of it, I believe, like me, you will be shaken and stirred. [5 Stars]

‘Conflagration Desecration’ is the next story. This one goes out to all of Tanner’s fellow metalheads! Rock on man! I loved this story. Being a huge metal fan and having my favorite instrument being drums, this story checked all my boxes. Steve is looking for a new gig as a drummer. So, when he finds a local ad to join a new band, he immediately jumps on the opportunity, only he has no idea in hell what he’s getting himself into. I’d rather let

you experience this one without knowing many details. [5 Stars]

The next two short stories are ‘The Price of Fame’ and ‘Reluctant Bloodlust’. I fairly enjoyed both of these stories. However, ‘The Price of Fame’ is too close to ‘For David’ in this collection (for me) and I think it hampered my experience with it, being around the same subject matter. ‘Reluctant Bloodlust’ was also well written (like all of these bites of brutalities) but I just couldn’t quite become entrapped in it. Zombies have become stale to me lately so this is more a personal deal than any issue with Tanners story. [3.5 Stars]  

We pick the pace back up with the last four stories. 

‘Thieves’ is an excellent read about two men breaking into a house, where they clearly didn’t know what waited them inside. This was a great read and was everything I wanted it to be. If you enjoyed the movie Don’t Breathe, this is similar but really brings the horrors that I wanted in that movie. [5 Stars]

‘Grieving’ [4 Stars] and ‘As Good As Dead’ [3.5 Stars] are also quick creepy reads. I enjoyed both titles, just not too the extent of some of the earlier ones. 

Lastly, we have ‘Room 405’. Ending this collection with a haunted house type story is the perfect ending for me, as that subgenre of horror is my favorite. This one is gripping from the beginning and plays on some great haunted tropes. A great way to wrap things up. [5 Stars] 

Overall, The Minds Plague and Other Bites of Brutalities is a great collection for any horror fan to have. All of the stories are written well and it’s clear Tanner is becoming one with his voice. I can’t wait to see what the author does next. I’ll be first in line with devil horns up and head banging to some metal. Until the next release, Morgan!

Review by: Garrett Witt 
Twitter: @GarrettWitt7 

I received this collection via Kindle Unlimited.