Video Nasties (Violent Words: Short Horror Stories and Novellas)

Duncan Ralston describes Video Nasties as a “Horror Mixtape.” The descriptive writing in each story of this sixteen story collection will allow the reader to “see” or experience dread and horror for 426 (Kindle) pages. Readers can then close the book and go back to a cheerful, safe, and sane real world. If that were only so.HOW TO KILL A CELEBRITY ***** Annie Watkins wrote obituary “standbys” for Channel 5 news. If someone famous or noteworthy died, Channel 5 had to be ready with breaking news. The trick was to write the obituaries in advance. Many of Annie’s obituaries were spot on. She should advance quickly in her career.CHOMPERS ***** Everyone hates to go to the dentist. A large part of that feeling involves the high cost. When Ray heard from a friend about Dr. Barrera, a dentist who worked cheap because he wasn’t technically “legal,” Ray was happy. He could even pick out the teeth he wanted from a display full of available teeth. Ray didn’t wonder where they came from. Too bad for Ray.MENTAL ***** Marigold was an empath. True, her powers weren’t great when she was younger. Luckily, the government had discovered her before her teenage years. They were able to nurture her development and powers during her teenage years. Despite being under constant observation, Marigold had her doubts about the ultimate purpose of her training. Dr. Lex solved the problem for her by falling in lust with Mary. Now, she had to escape.DEAD MEN WALKING ****** Standardized procedures for execution by lethal injection insured a choreographed ceremony ending predictably. Jose Vasquez didn’t go quietly into that dark night. But there was a lot of justice meted out to more than Jose on the appointed date. Palomino might even get a promotion. Or he could win the lottery.THE EYE AT THE DOOR ***** Todd’s problem was that he never stood up for himself. He was a doormat, all his colleagues directed the most unpleasant projects to him, and he was too timid to do anything but accept the abuse. Until the unacceptable behavior of the guy in the next stall of the public restroom enraged Todd with its inappropriate crudeness. All it took was a little outrage to make a new Todd.CUTTINGS ***** Katie made acceptable earnings as a writer, it paid the bills. She knew that the situation was uncomfortable for Gavin, a husband who was trying to find himself. Although she was upset when Gavin spent their last $1200 on a decrepit “ex-hippie” van, she was willing to help him convert the van into the couple’s dream job of a mobile florist shop. The shop succeeded financially but Gavin’s behavior changed as he spent more “alone” time with the van. And who was Tony?BUS DRIVER MAN: A DARK PINES STORY ***** Mr. McAllister was scrupulous in his duties as a school bus driver. He was always on time or checked in if there were unavoidable delays, and kept his bus spotlessly clean. He also liked order and didn’t like bullies on the bus, like the insufferable Jessie Kinsmen, the mayor’s son. McAllister was politically aware enough to not push things too far until the day McAllister decided some sort of revenge was necessary. But he went too far. And that was when one of his student riders, Janey Freely, taught Mr. McAllister a lesson.IN THE SHADOW OF THE MASTERS ***** Tremaine was an art forger. Paint a forgery of a great master, break into a museum, switch the original for the fake, and sell the original to private collectors. Tremaine didn’t work alone; he was practically a slave to Ziminski, an employer he despised. Tremaine hadn’t been to Ziminski’s house more than a couple of times and had never been with Ziminski to see the vault. He had met Magda, Ziminski’s trophy wife and had enjoyed meeting her (several times). She could not compare with the art in the vault.MY PROTECTOR ***** Jenny was sometimes bullied at school but she never lost a confrontation. Aaron was there to help her. No one else could see him but the results were visible to all that Jenny did not lose. The school’s inability to believe Jenny led to her expulsion and sent to special camp. The rules there did not allow her to tell tall tales that would scare others. When she did so, she was to be punished. Jenny warned them not to punish her. They should have listened.SANCTUARY ***** This is a straightforward nature strikes backstory. In a meme from the past, “You shouldn’t mess with Mother Nature.”DO NOT SHAKE OR RATTLE ***** Donnie should have known better. The warning was printed clearly. The result was predictable. As his wife Grace said, “Merry Christmas.”STRAY ***** Max was a high school teacher of history to several groups of unappreciative students. Max was taking it more than a little bit seriously when he packed a duffel bag with guns and ammunition and proceeded to his high school earlier than usual. He would teach the students realistic history. But he had not counted on the dog.HE IS RISEN ***** Madison was Colin’s latest teacher assistant (TA). With a large disparity in age, she served Colin inside and outside the classroom. The two were on vacation and stopped in a town with an unpronounceable name. The people of the town were in the midst of unique and unfamiliar ceremonies and invited the couple to join. It was an invitation they couldn’t refuse. This story has some interesting language unique to Scotland.SQUIRM ***** Libby first noticed the problem with her husband, Bill. Humans should not have a nictitating membrane closing to protect the eyes. Then Libby noticed the same thing with sons Ryan and Dylan. Her family was becoming reptilian. What did this mean for her? What about her place in the family?SHARP ***** The truck with JERRY’S GRINDING SERVICE lettered on the side announced its arrival with a musical tune that was not reminiscent of an ice cream truck. It was more funereal than happy. True, Jerry was providing a service by sharpening knives. But he was also looking for “Sandras,” an objective that, if achieved, would bury childhood trauma. Jerry could never have anticipated the healing powers of Rose.VIDEO NASTIES ***** Think of this story as similar to Poltergeist. It is a “spirits trapped inside the machine” story. After reading this, many will examine their VHS tapes before discarding.This is a collection of stories with no “clunkers.” I encourage readers to read a story and then go do something else. This is a collection that should not be read in one session. There would be a sort of sensory overload. I put this in my “currently reading” collection of about six novels. I read one story here, another novel, then back to another story. It’s equivalent to not eating one food item at a time when there are several dishes in a meal. This is a five Amazon star read and a great example of its genre.

This is a great collection of original & sometimes quirky horror tales from someone who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite indie writers. I'm not adept at review writing but have been reading horror for over 40 years & a lot of these stories would hold their own against some of my favorites from back in "The Day".

I realized very quickly that Duncan was a Torontonian as I read “The Eye at the Door” as he mentions the TD Center, Canoe, and Hy’s Steakhouse. That endeared him to me just a little bit more.So, why the three star rating? Well... I found that this collection was a bit of a mixed bag. Some stories were terrifying like “The Eye At the Door” and “Chompers” (this story I had read before) but I struggled with the endings. I just felt that they left me unsatisfied.That being said....there are some real gems in this collection. Must read:CUTTINGSSQUIRMDO NOT SHAKE AND RATTLESHARPAlso CHOMPERS is worth a read.Duncan is obviously a very talented writer and if the collection had just been composed of five or six stories, I think he would be placed at the top of the list of horror writers.I am looking forward to explore his full-length novels next.

Video Nasties is a wildly inventive and varied collection of short fiction from Duncan Ralston. Short horror has great potential for brutal tales and he definitely pulls no punches. The cover for the book is amazing and if you can hang the expense, go for the paperback. If you are of a generation that remembers VHS tapes, this will feel very familiar for you.I liked all the stories but here are a few in particular.Choppers was a great, dark telling of a story type that has been done before but Ralston makes the concept shine. I love the idea of the evil that exists in a monster somehow able to reside dormant within their physical body itself. And what could happen when those body parts are separated from the monster. I love how there is a lot of effective suggestion here without going over the top with dry explanation. Adam might ruin everything but Duncan is the one who ruins the shopping mall Santa Claus. There are some quick and horrifying moments here, leading to a disturbing ending that ties the whole story together with a great line.Cuttings was a nice exploration of a descent into madness. I love the disorientation of the narrative and the feel that what the main character might be perceiving might not be entirely what's happening. It was also an effective use of shifting points of view as a way of building tension. There is a nice element of mystery here and it all builds up to a pretty brutal finish.Do Not Shake Or Rattle is a quick story but it's a great one and despite the dark nature of the outcome, it still managed to make me laugh. For sure, this one will make those of you who shake their presents think twice.Video Nasties, the title story has a great feel of gritty sci fi. The concept is wild and fun to follow along with. With the vibe created by the cover art, I thought it was a great note on which to end the book. Ralston manages to take a concept that is pretty fantastical and complex and still make it relatively easy to follow along with and enjoy. Somehow a gritty horror novella also somehow manages to carry some elements of a superhero origin story as well.Overall this was a great collection. I'd highly recommend checking it out.

Die einzelnen Geschichten sind in dieser Anthologie mit viel Gefühl umgesetzt worden. Herausragend ist "Video Nasties". Erinnert stark an einen John Carpenter Film.

My expectations were incredibly low for this anthology of short stories but I was taken aback at how good they are. Low budget, sick, shocking, and disturbing - right up my street! Takes me back to the early days of Stephen King. Give these stories a go, and as my friend says, if you live alone, read this book and you won't feel like your alone all night!

This was surprising read all stories cleverly written great balance totally recommend to true horror fans. Looking forward to reading more from this author in near future

This collection of short stories was as hit and miss as any collection of short stories is, but the hits certainly made up for the misses. I still think Gristle & Bone is Ralston’s best collection of shorts, but this one wasn’t bad either and the titular story was fantastic, if a little creepy. It was one of those unpredictable short stories where you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and that was one of the reasons why it was so haunting.I also liked the way that Ralston used the gimmick of video nasties to theme the whole book, and even the front cover ties directly back to one of the stories on top of the fact that it’s designed to look like a VHS tape. The only thing it was missing was a slip case, but I suppose that would be impractical to produce and ship it in.If you haven’t read Ralston before then I wouldn’t suggest starting here, even though I did enjoy reading it. Ralston just has so many books out that it’s hard for me to recommend this one over either Gristle & Bone or The Method, and Woom was fantastic as well if you’re into more hardcore horror. He’s one of the authors who was on the same horror imprint as me back in the Booktrope days and while I haven’t followed everyone from those days, I grabbed one of his books back in the day and just couldn’t stop reading. He has something, although I’m not quite sure what it is, and it’s always interesting to see what he’s up to even if I don’t enjoy the book.I did enjoy this one, I just didn’t enjoy it as much as some of his others. It was also a good choice for me to follow Night Shift by Stephen King, and I probably got a pretty similar level of enjoyment of the two of them. It’s difficult to beat Stephen King and I don’t think Ralston pulled it off here, but he did manage to match him, and that’s still pretty impressive.All in all, I would recommend this book, but only if you’re a fan of horror shorts. If novels are more your thing, I’d suggest grabbing one of Ralston’s novels instead, but I also think you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t manage to get to him at all. What are you waiting for?

This is the first time I've read anything by the author. Got the book just because of the cover design, love the old 80s horror movie covers. Now, this is a collection of short stories and the best is the titular NASTiES, everything in here is a loving tribute to John Carpenter, so if you are a fan of the Master of Horror, get this ASAP!