That Which Grows Wild
Eric J. Guignard

Published by Dark Moon Books

I used to have trouble with short stories. I used to hate the idea of starting over or meeting new characters every 20 pages or so. That is no longer the case. The short story collections I have read this year have been amazing, and the shorter bits of fiction are starting to become my favorite. 

This is a crazy good collection of 16 stories. The themes are all over the place and really, minus a quick brush with werewolves, kind of keep away from those standard horror tropes. For me the book dripped originality and style, which is kind of funny to say because there are definitely some familiar places here. You will go back to places you have already visited, you will get those buzzy deja vu-ish feelings. Some of these stories will scream familiarity. But it's different. You heard wrong. That's not how it happened. This is how it happened.

Whether it's the classic Animals song "The House Of The Rising Sun", blurry big foot footage, Belle and Beast in the castle, or the yellow brick road. You have been to these places. They are familiar. They are part of our literary or mythological canon. However, these stories are not blurry, they are not urban legend. These stories are real and freshly frightening.

There are climate change survivor's camps, apocalyptic wild west gunslingers, desert plane crash survivors, houses of ill repute, morticians to the mob, werewolves, wartime drone operators, classic stories retold, mudslides and sinkholes, sushi that isn't from the sea, tsunamis, sasquatch (yeah, I know, who doesn’t need a good sasquatch story). Just an outstanding theme park of a collection.

I will briefly touch all the stories in my video review, but my top 4 were:

#4 A Serving Of Nomu Sushimi - A bit absurd, a bit funny. Something exotic, served sushi style. It can provide vigor, power or it can kill you. Think pufferfish on steroids.

#3 A Case Study in Natural Selection and How It Applies to Love - The first story in the book. Climate Change has wrecked this world. We are living in a survivor's camp. The average temperature gets a bit higher every day. People are starting to spontaneously combust. Dystopian, apocalyptic goodness.

#2 Dreams Of A Little Suicide - We have all heard the legend of the Munchkin who hung himself on the set of Wizard of Oz. This goes deep into that building a beautiful piece of fiction around it. Intriguing and gut wrenching. Loved it.

#1 Those Who Watch From On High - Wartime Drone Operators. Sitting in a trailer like structure on American soil monitoring the comings and goings of a possible terrorist’s house on the other side of the globe. Watching a little boy play outside day after day after day after day... Dark and painful. 

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Link to purchase:    https://bookshop.org/books/that-which-grows-wild-16-tales-of-dark-fiction/9781949491005 

Review by Well Read Beard

Twitter: @WellReadBeard

I received this book from the author for review consideration.

YouTube:             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CzTKTLoBT4&t=36s