{"id":18458,"date":"2023-12-04T07:00:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=18458"},"modified":"2023-12-03T18:49:40","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T23:49:40","slug":"review-split-scream-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-split-scream-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Split Scream Vol. 4 by D. Matthew Urban and Holly Lyn Walrath"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"18459\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-split-scream-4\/split-scream\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/split-scream.jpg?fit=182%2C277&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"182,277\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"split-scream\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/split-scream.jpg?fit=182%2C277&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-18459\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/split-scream.jpg?resize=182%2C277&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"cover of Split Scream\" width=\"182\" height=\"277\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Split-Scream-Four-Matthew-Urban\/dp\/1959790129\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=PDFC78CQUIDG&amp;keywords=Split+Scream+Vol.+4+by+D.+Matthew+Urban+and+Holly+Lyn+Walrath&amp;qid=1701646952&amp;sprefix=on+the+subject+of+blackberries+by+stephanie+m.+wytovich%2Caps%2C884&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>Split Scream Vol. 4 <\/i><\/b><\/a><b>by D. Matthew Urban and Holly Lyn Walrath<br \/>\n<\/b><b>Tenebrous Press <\/b><b>(October 2023)<br \/>\n<\/b><b>152 pages; $13 paperback; $3.99 e-book<br \/>\n<\/b><b>Reviewed by Joshua Gage<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This book begins with an introduction by the series editor Alex Ebenstein regarding the novelette. He describes it as \u201clonger than a short story and shorter than a novella,\u201d or between ten to twenty thousand words. As such, the book is presented as a \u201cdouble feature\u201d of sorts, pairing \u201cNonsense Words\u201d by D. Matthew Urban with \u201cBone Light\u201d by Holly Lyn Walrath. The stories have nothing to do with each other beyond being well written and scary, and the whole concept of this book is really quite clever and appealing.\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cNonsense Words\u201d by D. Matthew Urban is the story of Dr. Paul Duncan, a Pre-Classical Studies scholar. Readers are introduced to him through his former colleague, who first sees Dr. Duncan at a lecture where he\u2019s discussing the linguistic possibilities of what seems to be a pre-Latin fragment. She builds a relationship with him, even meeting his family and attending a wine-soaked dinner party where the guests deciphered a Lemnian phrase from the Etruscan. One day, she reads that twenty bodies were discovered at Dr. Duncan\u2019s house, which he claims were part of a ritual. After that, things get weird. Urban\u2019s story provides just enough detail for the horror to be evident, but is vague and mysterious enough for the tale to work. The whole point is that the words that are being used are supposedly nonsense or playground rhymes or similar, but possibly not, and the ambiguity is where the horror lies. This is a Weird tale in the classic sense, well written and well told.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBone Light\u201d by Holly Lyn Walrath is a historical ghost story about a 19<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">-century lighthouse being tended by an injured Civil War veteran and his wife. The story itself is told in epistolary style as the lighthouse keeper\u2019s log. Initially, the log goes back and forth between veteran John Long and wife Mary Long, until John passes away, and Mary is left by herself. Only, the island is haunted by ghosts. Then, her childhood friend, Ida Boyle, is also alone, and joins Mary at the lighthouse. Together, they explore their family histories with witchcraft and build a relationship between themselves and the ghosts that haunt the lighthouse and its island. This is a cozy horror story, one that is sad and haunting, but also loving and tender. Furthermore, the creative narrative and the elegant language couched snugly in history makes for a wonderful tale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The two tales in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Split Scream Vol. 4<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> could not be more different if they tried, which is exactly what makes this book so clever. At less than $15, readers are paying the price of one story, but actually getting two. For fans of Weird fiction and serial killer horror, D. Matthew Urban\u2019s \u201cNonsense Words\u201d is a haunting nightmare of a story. For fans of more Gothic horror, Holly Lyn Walrath\u2019s historical ghost story \u201cBone Light\u201d is beautifully written and stunningly told. And for those lucky fans of horror fiction no matter what the subgenre, this is a two-for-the-price-of-one treat that they will absolutely enjoy. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Split Scream Vol. 4 by D. Matthew Urban and Holly Lyn Walrath Tenebrous Press (October 2023) 152 pages; $13 paperback; $3.99 e-book Reviewed by Joshua Gage This book begins with an introduction by the series editor Alex Ebenstein regarding the novelette. He describes it as \u201clonger than a short story and shorter than a novella,\u201d &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-split-scream-4\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: Split Scream Vol. 4 by D. Matthew Urban and Holly Lyn Walrath&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[3056,2876,506,79,3055],"class_list":["post-18458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-d-matthew-urban","tag-holly-lyn-walrath","tag-joshua-gage","tag-reviews","tag-split-scream"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Split Scream Vol. 4 by D. 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