Old Monsters Never Die by Tim Waggoner
Winding Road Stories (May 2024)
Reviewed by Chandra Claypool (Instagram) (TikTok)
“18 provocative tales of terror that explore the darkest corners of the human mind.. concluding with an unforgettable metafictional story on what it takes to be a horror writer.” Yes, please!
As someone who has had a love/hate relationship with short story collections and anthologies, I’ve come to really appreciate them. With an author I’ve never read before, a collection like this gives insight to the author’s flexibility and writing style — sometimes determining if it’s an author I will continue to read. (Though I never judge an author solely on one book alone.)
Like with most collections/anthologies, I tend to rate down the middle as some stories work more than others. There were quite a few stories I enjoyed in this collection and they are as follows: “A Touch of Madness,” “The Girl Who Bled in the Tree,” “The White Road,” “The Gray Room,” “Voices Like Barbed Wire,” “Cast Offs,” and the metafictional story, “How to Be a Horror Writer.”
Let’s talk about my top three. “Cast Offs” is easily my favorite. We are introduced to Valerie who is taking out junk to the curbside, assorted “cast off” items that no longer serve their purpose. This was such a fun read and I absolutely love the concept of it in its entirety. In “The White Road” we meet Phillip who remembers everything, always, and how it affects his many journeys into the shadows. This one gave me Twilight Zone vibes. And then there’s the first story of the bunch, “A Touch of Madness,” where Kristina awaits us at a café. A statue she encountered when she was a kid continues to haunt her and her therapist is trying to help her but has no real understanding of what happened in the past and what’s coming to the present. A great start to this very fun collection of stories.
One thing is for sure, “no matter how much we try, in our deepest subconscious, Old Monsters Never Die.” Go snag yourself a copy and enjoy a story at a time and sparse them out or devour them in one sitting like I did.
