Review: Beautifully evocative descriptions, wonderfully written array of short stories
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 30, 2011
"Ashes" is an anthology of short stories written by Scott Nicholson, defined in the introduction as "true horror" as opposed to the slasher, serial killer and "torture porn" that is mistakenly described as horror today.  Personally, I didn't really consider the stories to be horror, more a sort of macabre, but I have to admit they were all well-written.Most of the stories dealt with ghosts, of course, but there were a couple that were a little different - one about a Nazi troop "cleaning" a village of Jews, for instance, and a couple about prisoners in a prisoner camp during the Civil War that were very interesting because they were "mirror" stories - the same story, more or less, told from different points of view.I think fans of the macabre, thrillers, and psychological suspense will enjoy this, as will fans of Scott Nicholson's and horror fans, as long as they aren't expecting really hard-core horror.  The stories are beautifully written with very evocative descriptions and unique voices and I think you will be happy that you picked it up.