First published back in March of 2025, Jack Bantry’s anthology ‘Splatterpunk’s She Dotted Her Eyes’ collected together another host of short stories reprinted from a variety of ‘Splatterpunk Zine’ back issues, all of which are now long out of print.
As with the previous Splatterpunk Zine anthology ‘Past Indiscretions: The Very Best Of Splatterpunk Zine’ (2019), all of the short stories contained within this collection previously appeared in issues of the zine.
She Dotted Her i’s With Little Hearts – Chandler Morrison – 11 Pages
About a year ago the planet had devolved into a hellscape of zombie-apocalypse proportions. Ever since the dead became undead, the lives of the man and his small family unit had been pretty uneventful. When things started to go bad, they’d relocated to his summer house in Northern California. Just him, his wife and their daughter, living in relative seclusion and thankful safety. Mere survival had kept his mind occupied the majority of the time. But when his daughter got her stupid millennial-ass killed, he saw an opportunity he just couldn’t pass up on. Seeing her reanimated corpse in just her bra and panties got him thinking. Oh yes, he was finally gonna do what he’d been wanting to do for so, so long…
Hoooolllly shit!!! This one’s an insane read alright. Absolutely time to separate the weak from the chaff, I guess. You’ve probably read that synopsis and gone “is he talking about…you know…?”. Well, yes, my deviant little friends, that’s exactly what the plot of this delightful little romantic romp is all about. And just to put to bed any further thoughts of surely not?!...I give you the opening line to the short story: “I’ve always wanted to fuck my daughter.” Happy?! So, what of the story though?! Well, it’s quite simply an incredibly compelling short. The first-person narration from the father is hilarious. The self-admissions. The brutal redneck honesty. Man, it’s insane!
Unsurprisingly, the whole thing has a Richard Laymon vibe to the unpretentious, unpadded, tell-it-as-it-is delivery. The language is colourful but hilariously rich with banter throughout. Honestly, despite the draw-dropping plot (yep, that one about banging yer undead daughter), and despite the outrageously grisly scenes (if oculophilia’s your thing, then strap yourself in because this one’s about to get your rocks off), the rest of the short might otherwise have been classed as a black comedy. Although it would be the blackest of black. Even though the short had me instantly squirming in my seat, and constantly looking over my shoulder, damn is it an engaging and hilarious read. In fact, probably one of the best shorts I’ve read all year!
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 11’ (2021).
Big Girls Help Their Mommy – James Newman – 5 Pages
These days her Mommy was always sad. Whenever her Mommy spoke to her Daddy on the phone, she’d start getting angry and then she’d end up crying. She cried a lot these days. Cried about money. Cried that no one helped. Cried that she was alone. Daddy had gone off with some skank with a lazy eye, leaving her, her Mommy, and her baby brother. But she was a Big Girl now. She was four-and-a-half. She’d help her Mommy. She’d make it all better again…
Grim, dark, grim and fucking dark. Yeah, I said grim and dark twice there. James Newman’s story deserves that. You see, it’s only very short at just five pages. But in those five pages, Newman delivers one bastard of a gut-punch, with his all-too-real vision of a modern day broken family. It’s simple, but fuck me is it effective with its stark brutality. Here you’re not dunked into a vat of blood and guts, but rather shown how cruel and uncaring real life horror can be. It’ll leave you cold. Bastard cold.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 6’ (2014).
A Subservient Breed – Tom Over – 16 Pages
It all happened so fast. The baboon population had been a feature of this mountainous region of Cape Town for as long as the locals could remember, although they’d never experienced a problem with them. Then all of a sudden, the baboon’s turned on the people of Tokai. A savage onslaught unleashed upon everyone in the vicinity. As the security guard for the Flora-Nova Foundation, Jared reacted fast to the explosive situation, dragging everyone into the foyer of the nearby laboratories. There the seven survivors from the nearby vicinity cowered from the ferocious baboons. But what had turned the primates upon them? After all these years, why would they suddenly attack the people of Tokai?...
Every good horror reader loves a ‘Creatures vs Mankind’ story. Here we have a brutal sci-fi horror, somewhere between Iain Rob Wright’s ‘Animal Kingdom’ (2011) and Pierre Boulle’s ‘Planet Of The Apes’ (1963). There’s a lot that happens within the short story, in a fast and furious motion of frenzied action. A ‘Jurassic Park’ (1990) style setting, replacing velociraptors with baboons, stalking the hapless survivors. The ending is about as far removed from what I was expecting as they come. A wildly over-the-top sci-fi finale, that brings it all to a head-scratchingly sudden conclusion. A damn entertaining story though!
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 11’ (2021).
Squash – Nathan Robinson & Jack Bantry – 12 Pages
Whilst his best bud, Jesse, went to pick up their girlfriends ahead of the party, Clark had to drive out into the boonies to do a quick drug run. It was a long way to go for some weed, but he didn’t know any dealers in town. And the drive wasn’t too bad. Although the sheer volume of toads along the quiet country road was freaking him out a bit. Their bodies popping under his tyres as he drove out to Gravy’s rundown farmhouse. However, upon arriving he found that it wasn’t just weed that Gravy had to offer Clark. When the transaction was complete, the dealer offered Clark a free trip. All he had to do was lick the back of a toad and then sit back and let the hallucinations take effect. How could he say no to that? Free drugs! What’s the worst that could happen?...
Knowing that Bantry was on board with the writing of this story, I have to confess that I was somewhat surprised by the lack of ‘splatter’ it had to offer. That’s not to say it’s not entertaining. The colourful characterisation and jovial momentum keeps the reader sucked into the short tale. Laced with black comedy from head to toe, it’s an entertaining read, even before anything much has happened. However, it’s one of the tale’s that’s all about the ending. That inevitable last second thump in the chest that it’s been building up to. You know it’s coming – and the anticipation, along with that cheeky grin you have on your face as you draw closer and closer to the end, is as good (if not better) than the final blow that the story eventually delivers.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 3’ (2013) and then later reprinted within the ‘Atrocious Madness’ (2015) chapbook.
Things Remembered – Brian Keene – 21 Pages
The four of them had been the closest of friends as well as fellow horror authors. When Fernando died of cancer, it hit them hard. Now with the cancer having taken Dean as well, the once tight group of friends was down to just the two of them. Wayne and himself. However, before either of them could try to move on, Dean’s vast collection of books and comics had to be sold off so his widowed wife, Donna, could have enough to live off. A task which meant going down into Dean’s musty old basement where he used to write. It’d been his private space. Somewhere Donna never ventured into. A year ago, there’d been a flood in the basement. However, with Dean’s health deteriorating, no one had been down there since. No one had viewed the damage caused to Dean’s books by the flooding. There were other pieces from Dean’s past down there too. A past which he’d kept secret. A side to the author which painted a very different picture to the much-loved and trusted friend they thought they knew…
This is one of those plots which has been done a few times over the years, although it’s always interesting to see where the author goes with it. For Keene’s tale, he spends a good chunk of the story setting-the-scene and establishing-the-characters – both those alive and recently deceased. This is purposefully done to lull us into a false sense of security about the characters. How they’re perceived versus their hidden side. When the shit starts to get fucked up, Keene handles the dark revelations well, keeping the story character-driven after shovelling a page full of horrific torture down are throats. Honestly, the whole tale is incredibly well written. I could understand that some might think it’s perhaps too padded with bibliophile geekery (although as an avid horror book collector, I loved this aspect), the story is nevertheless an absolute triumph at depicting emotional carnage. The sort of tale that has you pondering what you’ll be leaving behind when you die (although just to be clear, I’m not implying I have a box full of VHS tapes containing homemade snuff). A bloody brilliant read.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 13’ (2022).
I Shoulda Stayed Home – Rayne Havok – 13 Pages
It wasn’t that he enjoyed his job or anything, but spending another night away from his overweight wife was nothing short of a godsend. Besides, it wasn’t like nightshift security work for the Hospice Centre was a particularly difficult task. He’d churn through his book and relax in his chair. Well, that had been the plan before he came across a woman who was clearly engaging in oral sex with a comatose patient. Sucking on him like there’s no tomorrow…
You’ve gotta love a bit of erotic horror. The sort of stuff that gets your blood pumping and pulse going just that little faster, for all the best reasons. With this hot-under-the-collar offering, US author Rayne Havok absolutely delivers the goods with both the raunchiness and then the blood splatter. Furthermore, the way the short jumps from the perspective of our hapless security guard to that of the woman who’s ‘caught in the act’, works an absolute treat. You just can’t take anything for granted in the story. Completely unpredictable and ingeniously constructed, slamming down twist after twist. It’s brutal, gory and fucking entertaining.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 12’ (2022).
One In The Hand – Janine Pipe – 9 Pages
From early on he discovered his sexual attraction to blood and gore. A happy accident in the shower eventually led him to embracing his full-blown fetish. He couldn’t help it. But now, as a young adult, only the sight, smell and taste of blood could finish him off. Often this ended up being with the carcass of some dead animal. Or roadkill. That was until the day of his big discovery. The day all his wildest fantasies came true…
Jeez are these stories getting warped as fuck! He we have this charming ode to haematophilia. Well, I say that, but UK author Janine Pipe has gone a tad further than a quick stiffy at the drop of the red stuff. If you’re imaging a reworking of Romero’s ‘Martin’ (1977), then you’re about a thousand miles away from destination fucked-up-ville where this story resides. This after all, is a submission to ‘Splatterpunk Zine’. So, expect the absolute worst (obviously in a good way). Damn, does this short deliver the goods.
As a final point, considering the author is of the opposite sex to the anti-hero of the piece, damn has she written the lad’s wild passage to becoming sexually active well! She nails the vibe, the thoughts, the exploration, and the general coming-of-age to an absolute tee. Even with his pathway veering insanely off the normal route, it’s still spoken with an entirely believable voice. Hats off to you on that one.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 11’ (2021).
Balance – J.F. Gonzalez – 21 Pages
The last thing Doug Thompson remembered was going to sleep whilst his wife, Andrea, continued to work in their home office. However, when he woke up he found that he was no longer in his house with his wife and kids. Instead he’d woken up in bed with his ex-girlfriend, Lucy Murphy, who he’d broken up with some fifteen years ago and he hadn’t seen since. Doug remembered that Lucy hadn’t taken their break-up very well. But what the hell was he doing here with her now? What the hell was going on? How could this have happened? And more importantly, how was he going to get his old life back?...
I’m an absolute sucker for a tale that’s bursting with originality. And J.F. Gonzalez’s contribution has got that in bucket loads. The story starts off in a thick fog of confusion as our protagonist gradually piece-by-piece works out what’s going on. It’s a wacky ‘Twilight Zone’ meets ‘Tales From The Crypt’ type of premise. And Gonzalez has nailed its delivery perfectly. Of course there’s a reason for what’s happened. But what’s most effective about the short tale, what really lingers on afterwards, is the way Gonzalez eventually finishes the tale. It’s grim but ingeniously thought-provoking. Superb stuff.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 3’ (2013).
Down By The Ocean – John Boden – 4 Pages
The thing had washed ashore during the night. At daybreak the villagers of Crilly gathered around the washed up form, pondering what the colossal beast could have been. Some spoke of a whale carcass, deformed and corrupted by the sea itself. Others a giant squid. But they all agreed on one thing – none had ever seen such a vast beast as this before. And none of them would again…
At just four pages in length, this is a practically short burst of washed-up deep sea creature horror, with one hell of an explosive sting in its tail. US author John Boden sets the scene with a swift and straight-to-the-point style, efficiently laying down the backdrop and focal point for the horror to come, whilst building the tension with a seemingly effortless ease. The atmosphere is unnervingly calm. Purposefully done, as if we’re witnessing something from after the event. And that’s his trick. You’re off guard. Defences are down. And the sudden attack hits you like a boulder to the face. Short, sharp and delivers one fucker of a shock with absolute perfect execution.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 5’ (2014).
The Screaming Tree – Patrick C. Harrison III – 28 Pages
It was late July in Twin Oaks, Texas when Hank Waters took his good friend, Santiago Diaz, out to the Rolling Woods, to show him something important. A small clearing in the woods, where blood red roots littered the ground, converging upon a small red tree which sprouted upwards out of the mass of red tendrils. This was what Hank needed to show Santiago. This was the screaming tree. A tree which Hank had discovered back when he was a fifteen-year-old lad. At a time when death had become a common occurrence in Twin Oaks. Some sort of mass paranoia or hysteria which had befallen the once sleepy, peaceful town. Normal, peace-loving folk, driven to murder. Each one saying the same thing… “the tree made me do it”…
Goddamn is this a good read. US author Patrick C. Harrison III delivers an evocative story of eerie horror, provoking an air thick with unease which escalates to a thunderous and haunting finale. The story reads almost like a classic Stephen King offering, only with the harrowing horror cranked up to eleven. I wouldn’t necessarily put the short into either the extreme horror or splatterpunk buckets. Nevertheless, it certainly packs a powerful punch. And god is it addictive reading! The sort of story that just swallows you up from the outset. The narrative so intoxicatingly creepy that everything else disappears, but you and the story being spun before you. An outstanding read.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 12’ (2022).
Of The Worm – Ryan Harding – 17 Pages
Natasha had gone through the three-month initiation process to become one of them. To become a follower. One of the Worm Cult – a child of the Descent. So far, her plan seemed to have worked out. They’d brought her to their sacred place where she’d participate in the Sacrament of Consecration. The ritual of the worm. There were ten new followers in total. Five women and five men, each flown in from different states. Natasha hoped they’d not realised her real reason for being there. To save her brother, Joel, from this madness. She just had to play along for a short while, then when the time was right, she’d get him away from here. That was the plan at least…
You’ve gotta love a batshit crazy cult! And for his offering, US author Ryan Harding delivers the absolute epitome of weird cultist insanity. These crazy-ass nutters are worm obsessed. Their rituals all involve doing vile things with worms. We start off with having a follower chow down huge mouthfuls of the squirming, slithering things. Then Harding moves onto a fucked-up colonic irrigation using masses of the writhing worms. Yep, this short is one messed up opening tale. However, after the gag-inducing vileness of the opening pages, what gradually unfolds is a story which veers away from such nauseating antics, and instead evolves into a strangely hallucinogenic nightmare, almost Lovercraftian with the underlying cosmic horror. It’s a decent and downright gruesome story, with moments of black comedy coupled with scenes of mind-boggling chaos. Altogether a strong opening story for the zine.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 13’ (2022).
Dermatobia Hominis – Gabino Iglesias – 12 Pages
Tommy woke to find he’d been drugged and tied to a chair in someone’s basement. It didn’t take long before his tormentor revealed himself to Tommy. It was Kevin, the fat science geek who’d been seeing Melissa before Tommy convinced her to leave the nerd for him. Tommy knew he was in some pretty serious shit here. Kevin was clearly off his rocker. Drunk with the desire for revenge. But what Kevin had in store for Tommy was far worse than what Tommy could ever have dreamt up. Kevin had learnt a lot about the larvae of human botflies. In particular, the nasty burrowing habit of the Dermatobia Hominis. Things were about to get decidedly grim for Tommy…
The final short in the zine is US author Gabino Iglesias’ imaginatively gut-churning offering of unashamed torture porn. Oh yes my gore-hungry friends, this is that classic torture porn premise of waking up disorientated and bound and about to be tortured to fuck, ala ‘Hostel’ (2005) and ‘Saw’ (2004) and all those twisted films that followed. Indeed, the influence of ‘Hostel’ (2005) in particular comes out in the resulting torture sequence, with our hapless victim having his Achilles tendons severed (which kick started Josh’s ordeal in the film). To be honest, other than a lengthy sequence of vile torture involving the aforementioned botfly larvae, there’s really little else in the story. It’s really just torture porn, rather than Splatterpunk. That said, as the two literary subgenres are so inherently tied to each other, its place in the zine doesn’t feel misplaced at all. Nasty, sick and brutal. Yeah, you know the score.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 8’ (2017).
Scratch That Itch – Daniel Eaves – 11 Pages
At the office he’s that passive, congenial guy. The one who sits there quietly, not bothering anyone, just getting on with the menial tasks set to him. He’s been with the company eight years. Eight long years of complying, of doing as he’s told and following orders. But today was different. Today, as he’d climbed out of the shower, he’d noticed a blotch of rude pink skin around his sternum. A rash which the minute he noticed it had started to itch. An itch that intensified as each hour passed. An itch that travelled across his body. An itch that had to be scratched. And today he’d finally be scratching that long overdue itch…
You’ve gotta love a good ‘going postal’ story. And fuck me if this one isn’t a beauty. Here the short is written from the first-person-perspective of our unnamed antihero. An office worker who just flips out one day. And we’re not talking a ‘Falling Down’ (1993) flip out. Nah, this one’s a complete mental explosion of lunatic proportions. It starts with a sort of gradual build-up that’s symbolised by ‘an itch that just needs to be scratched’. And when our antihero starts scratching, man does he claw away at that bloody wound. The end result, the mental breakdown, is monumentally compulsive reading. And man is it well written. Utterly engaging. Utterly traumatic. Proper unnerving anti-corporate splatterpunk. It’s always the quiet ones, they say.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 9’ (2020).
Like A Hole In The Head – Christine Morgan – 20 Pages
Doctor Miles Rutherford wasn’t expecting Greyholme Asylum to be quite the modern state-of-the-art facility that it was. Neither did he expect Doctor Sophia Harlowe to be the attractive, well-kept, professional that she clearly was. The asylum was perhaps the most advanced, well-presented, and well-run facility the good doctor had visited in all his time as a medical professional. Which was why it was such a shock to hear about an ice-pick lobotomy having been recently performed there on one of the young patients. The practice was so out-dated and considered barbaric by all practitioners. Furthermore, the recent procedure had been a complete failure. It’d only made the patient more volatile, violent, psychotic, and dangerous. Which was why they’d called upon Dr Rutherford for help. Although also completed outdated, Rutherford was one of the few remaining doctors to gave experience with the potential next course of treatment. The only option they saw left…trephination. They wanted the good doctor to saw a hole into the patient’s skull…
US author Christine Morgan’s short story is a wicked slab of grisly body horror, landing somewhere between the infamous birth and lobotomy scenes from within ‘Alien’ (1979) and ‘Re-Animator’ (1985) respectively. Outside of the explosive, splatter-shock ending, the rest of the short is nothing short of a truly captivating read. The prose and dialogue are so wonderfully written, they just draw you in. Honestly, it’s only a short, but even within the minimal page count, Morgan successfully establishes vivid portrayals of her two main characters – the Dr Rutherford and then the violent, psychotic patient himself. Indeed, in the build up to the explosively gory finale I’ve alluded to, the short flitters back and forth between the perspectives of these two principal characters, with the prose altering significantly to reflect the staggering, stuttering, struggling, thought pattern of the inflicted patient. And this works so, so well. Ingeniously conceived and expertly delivered. Altogether, just a damn good story.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 10’ (2021).
Performance Art – Patrick Lacey – 19 Pages
Jack was tired of all this supposedly “controversial” performance art. He’d sat through more than enough of this shit to last a lifetime. Jack had to get out of there. Luckily Higgins was on the same page. Without trying to hide their contempt for those on the stage, the two exited the gallery-cum-performance art theatre and were out in the darkened streets of Boston. It was here and then that they were presented with a flyer for the Onyx: a performance art theatre located at the back of an all-night deli. Neither had heard of it before. But after the crap they’d just sat through, it was surely worth a shot. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?...
US author Patrick Lacey opens up the fiction with a decidedly weird and downright unnerving offering, balancing a platter of contemporary art with a fucked-up Cronenberg sense of horror. Yeah, it’s a headfuck of weirdness, scattering breadcrumbs of reality upon a slippery pathway of nightmarishly strange horror. However, it’s with the sense of unreality that seeps through the story, where its true strength lies. It reads like a messed-up dream sequence. A bad trip, skirting sanity’s cliff edge, but for some reason, deciding against plummeting off the edge.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 9’ (2020).
Write What You Know – Bracken MacLeod – 15 Pages
Devin Brandner had gone too far this time. With three simple words scribbled on the whiteboard, his intention was clear. Those three words were clearly designed to provoke them. “Rape Is Boring”. Brandner was a bully and a pig. To be honest, Jenna didn’t know why they all put up with it. His writing classes weren’t anything special. But today’s performance was the last straw. So, she’d walked. Goodbye Devin Brandner. Goodbye writing class. She’d washed her hands of the whole thing, once and for all. Or so she’d thought, until Grant Foster turned up at her door with a bottle of chardonnay and some juicy gossip about Brandner’s latest assignment. An assignment to push the boundaries even further…
Boorish bullies are always a good resource for a gritty splatter story. Here we have a writer’s class, where the teacher is breathtakingly misogynistic and appalling brutish. A particularly fertile ground for some splatter deviance. For the tale’s opening, MacLeod paints the scene of this chauvinistic standing to absolute perfection. Purposefully provoking you. Angering you. Steering something deep in your gut. With teeth clenched, the tale then carries you along to another deeply saddening view of male behaviour. The result of laying down all this emotional kindling, something somewhere between ‘Fight Club’ (1996) and ‘I Spit On Your Grave’ (1978). A fucking angry, but damn rewarding read.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 10’ (2021).
Awakening – Jeff Strand – 7 Pages
He’d clearly had a blackout. Now that he’d come round, he’d had to face some darn serious facts. Before him was some pretty damming evidence that he might well be the Downtown Dixonville Dismemberer. The guy he found still alive in his shed with his legs hacked off was perhaps the most damming. Immediately this legless fella said he was responsible. That he was the sicko who cut off his legs with a hacksaw. It was a lot to take in at once. How could he trust this guy? He could be delusional from blood loss. There was certainly a hell of a lot to consider…
Man, this is some dark comedy right here. A serial killer with some major issues of denial, comes wound from a supposed black out to be confronted with the gory results of his handiwork. It’s a pretty grim scenario for what is in essence, one fucked-up dark comedy. The comedy comes almost entirely from the dialogue of our unnamed narrator – the Downtown Dixonville Dismemberer – whose blasé approach to the horrific scene before him, and subsequent conversation with the victim, is as humorous as it is outright surreal. The comedy continues as the gravity of the matter escalates further. This story is dark, in fact it’s so damn dark, the humour becomes just that little bit uncomfortable. But that’s the idea. And it works monstrously well.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 7’ (2016).
The anthology runs for a total of 241 pages.
As with the previous Splatterpunk Zine anthology ‘Past Indiscretions: The Very Best Of Splatterpunk Zine’ (2019), all of the short stories contained within this collection previously appeared in issues of the zine.
She Dotted Her i’s With Little Hearts – Chandler Morrison – 11 Pages
About a year ago the planet had devolved into a hellscape of zombie-apocalypse proportions. Ever since the dead became undead, the lives of the man and his small family unit had been pretty uneventful. When things started to go bad, they’d relocated to his summer house in Northern California. Just him, his wife and their daughter, living in relative seclusion and thankful safety. Mere survival had kept his mind occupied the majority of the time. But when his daughter got her stupid millennial-ass killed, he saw an opportunity he just couldn’t pass up on. Seeing her reanimated corpse in just her bra and panties got him thinking. Oh yes, he was finally gonna do what he’d been wanting to do for so, so long…
Hoooolllly shit!!! This one’s an insane read alright. Absolutely time to separate the weak from the chaff, I guess. You’ve probably read that synopsis and gone “is he talking about…you know…?”. Well, yes, my deviant little friends, that’s exactly what the plot of this delightful little romantic romp is all about. And just to put to bed any further thoughts of surely not?!...I give you the opening line to the short story: “I’ve always wanted to fuck my daughter.” Happy?! So, what of the story though?! Well, it’s quite simply an incredibly compelling short. The first-person narration from the father is hilarious. The self-admissions. The brutal redneck honesty. Man, it’s insane!
Unsurprisingly, the whole thing has a Richard Laymon vibe to the unpretentious, unpadded, tell-it-as-it-is delivery. The language is colourful but hilariously rich with banter throughout. Honestly, despite the draw-dropping plot (yep, that one about banging yer undead daughter), and despite the outrageously grisly scenes (if oculophilia’s your thing, then strap yourself in because this one’s about to get your rocks off), the rest of the short might otherwise have been classed as a black comedy. Although it would be the blackest of black. Even though the short had me instantly squirming in my seat, and constantly looking over my shoulder, damn is it an engaging and hilarious read. In fact, probably one of the best shorts I’ve read all year!
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 11’ (2021).
Big Girls Help Their Mommy – James Newman – 5 Pages
These days her Mommy was always sad. Whenever her Mommy spoke to her Daddy on the phone, she’d start getting angry and then she’d end up crying. She cried a lot these days. Cried about money. Cried that no one helped. Cried that she was alone. Daddy had gone off with some skank with a lazy eye, leaving her, her Mommy, and her baby brother. But she was a Big Girl now. She was four-and-a-half. She’d help her Mommy. She’d make it all better again…
Grim, dark, grim and fucking dark. Yeah, I said grim and dark twice there. James Newman’s story deserves that. You see, it’s only very short at just five pages. But in those five pages, Newman delivers one bastard of a gut-punch, with his all-too-real vision of a modern day broken family. It’s simple, but fuck me is it effective with its stark brutality. Here you’re not dunked into a vat of blood and guts, but rather shown how cruel and uncaring real life horror can be. It’ll leave you cold. Bastard cold.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 6’ (2014).
A Subservient Breed – Tom Over – 16 Pages
It all happened so fast. The baboon population had been a feature of this mountainous region of Cape Town for as long as the locals could remember, although they’d never experienced a problem with them. Then all of a sudden, the baboon’s turned on the people of Tokai. A savage onslaught unleashed upon everyone in the vicinity. As the security guard for the Flora-Nova Foundation, Jared reacted fast to the explosive situation, dragging everyone into the foyer of the nearby laboratories. There the seven survivors from the nearby vicinity cowered from the ferocious baboons. But what had turned the primates upon them? After all these years, why would they suddenly attack the people of Tokai?...
Every good horror reader loves a ‘Creatures vs Mankind’ story. Here we have a brutal sci-fi horror, somewhere between Iain Rob Wright’s ‘Animal Kingdom’ (2011) and Pierre Boulle’s ‘Planet Of The Apes’ (1963). There’s a lot that happens within the short story, in a fast and furious motion of frenzied action. A ‘Jurassic Park’ (1990) style setting, replacing velociraptors with baboons, stalking the hapless survivors. The ending is about as far removed from what I was expecting as they come. A wildly over-the-top sci-fi finale, that brings it all to a head-scratchingly sudden conclusion. A damn entertaining story though!
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 11’ (2021).
Squash – Nathan Robinson & Jack Bantry – 12 Pages
Whilst his best bud, Jesse, went to pick up their girlfriends ahead of the party, Clark had to drive out into the boonies to do a quick drug run. It was a long way to go for some weed, but he didn’t know any dealers in town. And the drive wasn’t too bad. Although the sheer volume of toads along the quiet country road was freaking him out a bit. Their bodies popping under his tyres as he drove out to Gravy’s rundown farmhouse. However, upon arriving he found that it wasn’t just weed that Gravy had to offer Clark. When the transaction was complete, the dealer offered Clark a free trip. All he had to do was lick the back of a toad and then sit back and let the hallucinations take effect. How could he say no to that? Free drugs! What’s the worst that could happen?...
Knowing that Bantry was on board with the writing of this story, I have to confess that I was somewhat surprised by the lack of ‘splatter’ it had to offer. That’s not to say it’s not entertaining. The colourful characterisation and jovial momentum keeps the reader sucked into the short tale. Laced with black comedy from head to toe, it’s an entertaining read, even before anything much has happened. However, it’s one of the tale’s that’s all about the ending. That inevitable last second thump in the chest that it’s been building up to. You know it’s coming – and the anticipation, along with that cheeky grin you have on your face as you draw closer and closer to the end, is as good (if not better) than the final blow that the story eventually delivers.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 3’ (2013) and then later reprinted within the ‘Atrocious Madness’ (2015) chapbook.
Things Remembered – Brian Keene – 21 Pages
The four of them had been the closest of friends as well as fellow horror authors. When Fernando died of cancer, it hit them hard. Now with the cancer having taken Dean as well, the once tight group of friends was down to just the two of them. Wayne and himself. However, before either of them could try to move on, Dean’s vast collection of books and comics had to be sold off so his widowed wife, Donna, could have enough to live off. A task which meant going down into Dean’s musty old basement where he used to write. It’d been his private space. Somewhere Donna never ventured into. A year ago, there’d been a flood in the basement. However, with Dean’s health deteriorating, no one had been down there since. No one had viewed the damage caused to Dean’s books by the flooding. There were other pieces from Dean’s past down there too. A past which he’d kept secret. A side to the author which painted a very different picture to the much-loved and trusted friend they thought they knew…
This is one of those plots which has been done a few times over the years, although it’s always interesting to see where the author goes with it. For Keene’s tale, he spends a good chunk of the story setting-the-scene and establishing-the-characters – both those alive and recently deceased. This is purposefully done to lull us into a false sense of security about the characters. How they’re perceived versus their hidden side. When the shit starts to get fucked up, Keene handles the dark revelations well, keeping the story character-driven after shovelling a page full of horrific torture down are throats. Honestly, the whole tale is incredibly well written. I could understand that some might think it’s perhaps too padded with bibliophile geekery (although as an avid horror book collector, I loved this aspect), the story is nevertheless an absolute triumph at depicting emotional carnage. The sort of tale that has you pondering what you’ll be leaving behind when you die (although just to be clear, I’m not implying I have a box full of VHS tapes containing homemade snuff). A bloody brilliant read.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 13’ (2022).
I Shoulda Stayed Home – Rayne Havok – 13 Pages
It wasn’t that he enjoyed his job or anything, but spending another night away from his overweight wife was nothing short of a godsend. Besides, it wasn’t like nightshift security work for the Hospice Centre was a particularly difficult task. He’d churn through his book and relax in his chair. Well, that had been the plan before he came across a woman who was clearly engaging in oral sex with a comatose patient. Sucking on him like there’s no tomorrow…
You’ve gotta love a bit of erotic horror. The sort of stuff that gets your blood pumping and pulse going just that little faster, for all the best reasons. With this hot-under-the-collar offering, US author Rayne Havok absolutely delivers the goods with both the raunchiness and then the blood splatter. Furthermore, the way the short jumps from the perspective of our hapless security guard to that of the woman who’s ‘caught in the act’, works an absolute treat. You just can’t take anything for granted in the story. Completely unpredictable and ingeniously constructed, slamming down twist after twist. It’s brutal, gory and fucking entertaining.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 12’ (2022).
One In The Hand – Janine Pipe – 9 Pages
From early on he discovered his sexual attraction to blood and gore. A happy accident in the shower eventually led him to embracing his full-blown fetish. He couldn’t help it. But now, as a young adult, only the sight, smell and taste of blood could finish him off. Often this ended up being with the carcass of some dead animal. Or roadkill. That was until the day of his big discovery. The day all his wildest fantasies came true…
Jeez are these stories getting warped as fuck! He we have this charming ode to haematophilia. Well, I say that, but UK author Janine Pipe has gone a tad further than a quick stiffy at the drop of the red stuff. If you’re imaging a reworking of Romero’s ‘Martin’ (1977), then you’re about a thousand miles away from destination fucked-up-ville where this story resides. This after all, is a submission to ‘Splatterpunk Zine’. So, expect the absolute worst (obviously in a good way). Damn, does this short deliver the goods.
As a final point, considering the author is of the opposite sex to the anti-hero of the piece, damn has she written the lad’s wild passage to becoming sexually active well! She nails the vibe, the thoughts, the exploration, and the general coming-of-age to an absolute tee. Even with his pathway veering insanely off the normal route, it’s still spoken with an entirely believable voice. Hats off to you on that one.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 11’ (2021).
Balance – J.F. Gonzalez – 21 Pages
The last thing Doug Thompson remembered was going to sleep whilst his wife, Andrea, continued to work in their home office. However, when he woke up he found that he was no longer in his house with his wife and kids. Instead he’d woken up in bed with his ex-girlfriend, Lucy Murphy, who he’d broken up with some fifteen years ago and he hadn’t seen since. Doug remembered that Lucy hadn’t taken their break-up very well. But what the hell was he doing here with her now? What the hell was going on? How could this have happened? And more importantly, how was he going to get his old life back?...
I’m an absolute sucker for a tale that’s bursting with originality. And J.F. Gonzalez’s contribution has got that in bucket loads. The story starts off in a thick fog of confusion as our protagonist gradually piece-by-piece works out what’s going on. It’s a wacky ‘Twilight Zone’ meets ‘Tales From The Crypt’ type of premise. And Gonzalez has nailed its delivery perfectly. Of course there’s a reason for what’s happened. But what’s most effective about the short tale, what really lingers on afterwards, is the way Gonzalez eventually finishes the tale. It’s grim but ingeniously thought-provoking. Superb stuff.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 3’ (2013).
Down By The Ocean – John Boden – 4 Pages
The thing had washed ashore during the night. At daybreak the villagers of Crilly gathered around the washed up form, pondering what the colossal beast could have been. Some spoke of a whale carcass, deformed and corrupted by the sea itself. Others a giant squid. But they all agreed on one thing – none had ever seen such a vast beast as this before. And none of them would again…
At just four pages in length, this is a practically short burst of washed-up deep sea creature horror, with one hell of an explosive sting in its tail. US author John Boden sets the scene with a swift and straight-to-the-point style, efficiently laying down the backdrop and focal point for the horror to come, whilst building the tension with a seemingly effortless ease. The atmosphere is unnervingly calm. Purposefully done, as if we’re witnessing something from after the event. And that’s his trick. You’re off guard. Defences are down. And the sudden attack hits you like a boulder to the face. Short, sharp and delivers one fucker of a shock with absolute perfect execution.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 5’ (2014).
The Screaming Tree – Patrick C. Harrison III – 28 Pages
It was late July in Twin Oaks, Texas when Hank Waters took his good friend, Santiago Diaz, out to the Rolling Woods, to show him something important. A small clearing in the woods, where blood red roots littered the ground, converging upon a small red tree which sprouted upwards out of the mass of red tendrils. This was what Hank needed to show Santiago. This was the screaming tree. A tree which Hank had discovered back when he was a fifteen-year-old lad. At a time when death had become a common occurrence in Twin Oaks. Some sort of mass paranoia or hysteria which had befallen the once sleepy, peaceful town. Normal, peace-loving folk, driven to murder. Each one saying the same thing… “the tree made me do it”…
Goddamn is this a good read. US author Patrick C. Harrison III delivers an evocative story of eerie horror, provoking an air thick with unease which escalates to a thunderous and haunting finale. The story reads almost like a classic Stephen King offering, only with the harrowing horror cranked up to eleven. I wouldn’t necessarily put the short into either the extreme horror or splatterpunk buckets. Nevertheless, it certainly packs a powerful punch. And god is it addictive reading! The sort of story that just swallows you up from the outset. The narrative so intoxicatingly creepy that everything else disappears, but you and the story being spun before you. An outstanding read.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 12’ (2022).
Of The Worm – Ryan Harding – 17 Pages
Natasha had gone through the three-month initiation process to become one of them. To become a follower. One of the Worm Cult – a child of the Descent. So far, her plan seemed to have worked out. They’d brought her to their sacred place where she’d participate in the Sacrament of Consecration. The ritual of the worm. There were ten new followers in total. Five women and five men, each flown in from different states. Natasha hoped they’d not realised her real reason for being there. To save her brother, Joel, from this madness. She just had to play along for a short while, then when the time was right, she’d get him away from here. That was the plan at least…
You’ve gotta love a batshit crazy cult! And for his offering, US author Ryan Harding delivers the absolute epitome of weird cultist insanity. These crazy-ass nutters are worm obsessed. Their rituals all involve doing vile things with worms. We start off with having a follower chow down huge mouthfuls of the squirming, slithering things. Then Harding moves onto a fucked-up colonic irrigation using masses of the writhing worms. Yep, this short is one messed up opening tale. However, after the gag-inducing vileness of the opening pages, what gradually unfolds is a story which veers away from such nauseating antics, and instead evolves into a strangely hallucinogenic nightmare, almost Lovercraftian with the underlying cosmic horror. It’s a decent and downright gruesome story, with moments of black comedy coupled with scenes of mind-boggling chaos. Altogether a strong opening story for the zine.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 13’ (2022).
Dermatobia Hominis – Gabino Iglesias – 12 Pages
Tommy woke to find he’d been drugged and tied to a chair in someone’s basement. It didn’t take long before his tormentor revealed himself to Tommy. It was Kevin, the fat science geek who’d been seeing Melissa before Tommy convinced her to leave the nerd for him. Tommy knew he was in some pretty serious shit here. Kevin was clearly off his rocker. Drunk with the desire for revenge. But what Kevin had in store for Tommy was far worse than what Tommy could ever have dreamt up. Kevin had learnt a lot about the larvae of human botflies. In particular, the nasty burrowing habit of the Dermatobia Hominis. Things were about to get decidedly grim for Tommy…
The final short in the zine is US author Gabino Iglesias’ imaginatively gut-churning offering of unashamed torture porn. Oh yes my gore-hungry friends, this is that classic torture porn premise of waking up disorientated and bound and about to be tortured to fuck, ala ‘Hostel’ (2005) and ‘Saw’ (2004) and all those twisted films that followed. Indeed, the influence of ‘Hostel’ (2005) in particular comes out in the resulting torture sequence, with our hapless victim having his Achilles tendons severed (which kick started Josh’s ordeal in the film). To be honest, other than a lengthy sequence of vile torture involving the aforementioned botfly larvae, there’s really little else in the story. It’s really just torture porn, rather than Splatterpunk. That said, as the two literary subgenres are so inherently tied to each other, its place in the zine doesn’t feel misplaced at all. Nasty, sick and brutal. Yeah, you know the score.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 8’ (2017).
Scratch That Itch – Daniel Eaves – 11 Pages
At the office he’s that passive, congenial guy. The one who sits there quietly, not bothering anyone, just getting on with the menial tasks set to him. He’s been with the company eight years. Eight long years of complying, of doing as he’s told and following orders. But today was different. Today, as he’d climbed out of the shower, he’d noticed a blotch of rude pink skin around his sternum. A rash which the minute he noticed it had started to itch. An itch that intensified as each hour passed. An itch that travelled across his body. An itch that had to be scratched. And today he’d finally be scratching that long overdue itch…
You’ve gotta love a good ‘going postal’ story. And fuck me if this one isn’t a beauty. Here the short is written from the first-person-perspective of our unnamed antihero. An office worker who just flips out one day. And we’re not talking a ‘Falling Down’ (1993) flip out. Nah, this one’s a complete mental explosion of lunatic proportions. It starts with a sort of gradual build-up that’s symbolised by ‘an itch that just needs to be scratched’. And when our antihero starts scratching, man does he claw away at that bloody wound. The end result, the mental breakdown, is monumentally compulsive reading. And man is it well written. Utterly engaging. Utterly traumatic. Proper unnerving anti-corporate splatterpunk. It’s always the quiet ones, they say.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 9’ (2020).
Like A Hole In The Head – Christine Morgan – 20 Pages
Doctor Miles Rutherford wasn’t expecting Greyholme Asylum to be quite the modern state-of-the-art facility that it was. Neither did he expect Doctor Sophia Harlowe to be the attractive, well-kept, professional that she clearly was. The asylum was perhaps the most advanced, well-presented, and well-run facility the good doctor had visited in all his time as a medical professional. Which was why it was such a shock to hear about an ice-pick lobotomy having been recently performed there on one of the young patients. The practice was so out-dated and considered barbaric by all practitioners. Furthermore, the recent procedure had been a complete failure. It’d only made the patient more volatile, violent, psychotic, and dangerous. Which was why they’d called upon Dr Rutherford for help. Although also completed outdated, Rutherford was one of the few remaining doctors to gave experience with the potential next course of treatment. The only option they saw left…trephination. They wanted the good doctor to saw a hole into the patient’s skull…
US author Christine Morgan’s short story is a wicked slab of grisly body horror, landing somewhere between the infamous birth and lobotomy scenes from within ‘Alien’ (1979) and ‘Re-Animator’ (1985) respectively. Outside of the explosive, splatter-shock ending, the rest of the short is nothing short of a truly captivating read. The prose and dialogue are so wonderfully written, they just draw you in. Honestly, it’s only a short, but even within the minimal page count, Morgan successfully establishes vivid portrayals of her two main characters – the Dr Rutherford and then the violent, psychotic patient himself. Indeed, in the build up to the explosively gory finale I’ve alluded to, the short flitters back and forth between the perspectives of these two principal characters, with the prose altering significantly to reflect the staggering, stuttering, struggling, thought pattern of the inflicted patient. And this works so, so well. Ingeniously conceived and expertly delivered. Altogether, just a damn good story.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 10’ (2021).
Performance Art – Patrick Lacey – 19 Pages
Jack was tired of all this supposedly “controversial” performance art. He’d sat through more than enough of this shit to last a lifetime. Jack had to get out of there. Luckily Higgins was on the same page. Without trying to hide their contempt for those on the stage, the two exited the gallery-cum-performance art theatre and were out in the darkened streets of Boston. It was here and then that they were presented with a flyer for the Onyx: a performance art theatre located at the back of an all-night deli. Neither had heard of it before. But after the crap they’d just sat through, it was surely worth a shot. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?...
US author Patrick Lacey opens up the fiction with a decidedly weird and downright unnerving offering, balancing a platter of contemporary art with a fucked-up Cronenberg sense of horror. Yeah, it’s a headfuck of weirdness, scattering breadcrumbs of reality upon a slippery pathway of nightmarishly strange horror. However, it’s with the sense of unreality that seeps through the story, where its true strength lies. It reads like a messed-up dream sequence. A bad trip, skirting sanity’s cliff edge, but for some reason, deciding against plummeting off the edge.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 9’ (2020).
Write What You Know – Bracken MacLeod – 15 Pages
Devin Brandner had gone too far this time. With three simple words scribbled on the whiteboard, his intention was clear. Those three words were clearly designed to provoke them. “Rape Is Boring”. Brandner was a bully and a pig. To be honest, Jenna didn’t know why they all put up with it. His writing classes weren’t anything special. But today’s performance was the last straw. So, she’d walked. Goodbye Devin Brandner. Goodbye writing class. She’d washed her hands of the whole thing, once and for all. Or so she’d thought, until Grant Foster turned up at her door with a bottle of chardonnay and some juicy gossip about Brandner’s latest assignment. An assignment to push the boundaries even further…
Boorish bullies are always a good resource for a gritty splatter story. Here we have a writer’s class, where the teacher is breathtakingly misogynistic and appalling brutish. A particularly fertile ground for some splatter deviance. For the tale’s opening, MacLeod paints the scene of this chauvinistic standing to absolute perfection. Purposefully provoking you. Angering you. Steering something deep in your gut. With teeth clenched, the tale then carries you along to another deeply saddening view of male behaviour. The result of laying down all this emotional kindling, something somewhere between ‘Fight Club’ (1996) and ‘I Spit On Your Grave’ (1978). A fucking angry, but damn rewarding read.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 10’ (2021).
Awakening – Jeff Strand – 7 Pages
He’d clearly had a blackout. Now that he’d come round, he’d had to face some darn serious facts. Before him was some pretty damming evidence that he might well be the Downtown Dixonville Dismemberer. The guy he found still alive in his shed with his legs hacked off was perhaps the most damming. Immediately this legless fella said he was responsible. That he was the sicko who cut off his legs with a hacksaw. It was a lot to take in at once. How could he trust this guy? He could be delusional from blood loss. There was certainly a hell of a lot to consider…
Man, this is some dark comedy right here. A serial killer with some major issues of denial, comes wound from a supposed black out to be confronted with the gory results of his handiwork. It’s a pretty grim scenario for what is in essence, one fucked-up dark comedy. The comedy comes almost entirely from the dialogue of our unnamed narrator – the Downtown Dixonville Dismemberer – whose blasé approach to the horrific scene before him, and subsequent conversation with the victim, is as humorous as it is outright surreal. The comedy continues as the gravity of the matter escalates further. This story is dark, in fact it’s so damn dark, the humour becomes just that little bit uncomfortable. But that’s the idea. And it works monstrously well.
The short story was first published within ‘Splatterpunk Zine: Issue 7’ (2016).
The anthology runs for a total of 241 pages.
© DLS Reviews
