Cursed: 18 HORROR STORIES (Nights of Madness Book 3) by Kevin Bachar
Cursed: 18 HORROR STORIES (Nights of Madness Book 3) by Kevin Bachar is a short horror collection. It weighs in at 221 pages and was published by Pangolin Pictures on April 26, 2024.
Cursed is the third book in the Nights of Madness trilogy, and I’m excited to have completed the entire series. As in the prior two, I enjoyed Bachar’s natural storyteller voice. It dragged me down into the darkness of his stories and held my attention captive. Just like the previous books, I was totally sucked in as I read this one.
There are eighteen short horror stories in the collection that will take readers along for a thrilling ride as the characters within are pushed to the brink of madness. Are they cursed? That’s up to the reader to decide.
Streamlining with the first two books in the trilogy, Cursed previews each story with a succinct snippet, or maybe a warning, of what you’re about to experience. These macabre morsels don’t give the story away, and I enjoyed going back and reading those telling lines once more after I finished each piece, giving a satisfying feeling of closure to each tale.
The stories are varying lengths. The first is very quick, getting you lured in, then bam! The second story hits you and keeps you turning the pages. There’s a good variety, too.
One of my favorite parts of reading Bachar’s work is how he sprinkles some of his real life experiences into his fiction. Bachar is an EMMY-winning producer, director, WGA writer, and cinematographer. Of course, my favorite bio tidbit is that he’s worked on Shark Week, so that’s an instant win for me! That being said, he’s had life experiences some of us can only dream of, and having those adrenaline-inducing moments in some of his stories truly brings them to life. I caught myself wondering how much of the stories were truth and how much were fiction, which is a fantastic experience when reading horror. That being said, “The Presence” fits the bill nicely as an example.
Another thing I enjoyed about Cursed is how Bachar transforms the mundane into something absolutely terrifying in each situation. The routine events in these stories could be everyday lives unfolding, but Bachar takes it up a notch and sends the characters’ lives onto new and horrifying paths. It makes you stop and wonder what could happen in your day when you least expect it.
It’s not all dread and gloom, though. A few stories offer a little hope in the darkness. Not to mention, “Perchance to Dream” gave me an emotional gut punch. You’ll run the gamut of feels in this collection.
Cursed was another win for me. I’ve enjoyed all three of Bachar’s Nights of Madness short horror collections. Each can be read as a stand-alone book, and they can be read in any order. If I had to choose a favorite collection, I’d pick Dread—not for any particular reason other than I just really loved those stories and it was my first experience with Bachar’s work.
I hope you enjoy Cursed as much as I did. Just keep a close watch over your shoulder. You never know what might be waiting to curse you.
My Top 6 Stories in Cursed:
I had to stop myself from listing more! These are the stories that stuck with me the most. (Listed in order of appearance in the collection.)
The Junkyard
Circling
Yard Sale
Perchance to Dream
Gutenberg’s Ghost
Yuletide Gifts
Need more Kevin Bachar?
Get to know Kevin Bachar:
Kevin Bachar is an EMMY winning documentary director and WGA screenwriter. The horror film he wrote - The Inhabitant - was released through Lionsgate and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Hulu and Apple+. The film – El Monstruo – from his screenplay, is in pre-production with MarVista and Marginal MediaWorks.
His documentary experience gives his writing an authenticity that can only come from being on the front lines of war zones or on ride-alongs with cops. Kevin’s also one of the premier natural history filmmakers in the world. If you watch Shark Week, National Geographic or PBS you’ve seen his work. He’s the idiot in the water with sharks, or crawling in caves filming vampire bats.
Complimenting his filmmaking, Kevin has lectured and given presentations at prestigious institutions such as Rutgers University, American University and the Rubin Museum of Art.
Clients include Lionsgate, Highland Films, MarVista, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, TLC, A&E, Bio, Speed, Fuel TV, FOX, Travel Channel, History Channel, PBS, WE and HGTV.
Kevin is also a member of the Horror Writer's Association.
***Taken from Kevin Bachar’s website
