Stomping Grounds: Short Sharp Shocks Volume 2
Edited by Neil Baker
April Moon Books
December 24th, 2014
Reviewed by Stuart Conover
In the second volume of Short Sharp Shocks we have Neil Baker giving us the ‘Stomping Grounds’ of giant monsters! If you grew up loving giant creature features as much as I did than you’re probably gobbling up as much as you can these days with how much new blood Pacific Rim and Godzilla tossed into the literary realm. With the Kaiju flooding the markets you might be wondering if it is too much but each of the new tales and collections have been a pleasure to read – Stomping Grounds is no different.
A truly fun collection of seventeen stories that range from demons to Lovecraftian influences to giant monsters, Baker has been able to run the gambit with the variety of tales found within.
You’ll find work from CJ Henderson, Aaron Smith, Patrick Loveland, Christine Morgan, Konstantine Paradias, Doug Blakeslee, David Bernard, Edward Martin III, Martha Bacon, R. Allen Leider, Amy Braun, DJ Tyrer, Kerry G.S. Lipp, Michael Thomas-Knight, D.G. Sutter, Pete Mesling, and David Longshore.
While none of the tales in the anthology were bad, the following six are the ones I felt truly stood out in the terms of both quality and creativity. If you enjoy a fun take on a classic giant creature feature these are the ones which will most likely grab your attention.
Personally I feel that this anthology starts off with a bang as CJ Henderson’s “Juggernaut” is a special kind of Lovecraftian inspired piece that I found to be highly entertaining.
Smith’s tale about a frog from Hell didn’t quite live up to it but was still quite a bit of fun.
The next real stand out for me was Morgan’s “The Humming.” I think just the idea of a giant hummingbird is both awesome and terrifying all at the same time.
Braun’s “Bring Back the Hound” is up there with “Juggernaut” as one of my favorites as we see as an escaped Cerberus being returned to Hades.
DJ Tyler’s “Avanc” deals with the classic monsters brought up in the traditional sense that Godzilla was created – nuclear power! This one was a fun one as well.
Now I’ll preface Kerry Lipp’s tale of “Blood Run” by saying that he’s a strange guy so it should be no surprise that he’s including a tale about giant giraffes of all things.
As someone who greatly welcomes the return of behemoths who dwarf mankind I say that if you share the love of giant monsters that you’ll want to grab up a copy of this one!
Disclaimers: One of my short stories will be in the third Short Sharp Shocks volume and I have co-written a piece with one of the authors in this anthology previously.
