This was a creepy little horror anthology! Worth picking up for anyone who enjoys extreme and/or short horror stories. Sometimes I think short horror is the best, although it is difficult not to love it all. 

Storyslave is 3 short stories and an autobiographical short story. In one, a serial killer at large uses the blood of children that he will imminently kill to create paintings. Our protagonist forms a bond, if you will, with one of these paintings and uses it to locate the killer, and ultimately, her own artistic inspiration. In another, a meth-fueled family feud turns into something even more intense, if you can believe it. In the third, a little girl and her mother go to great lengths to hide from the police after our young protagonist takes out her real-life boogeyman. The kindness of a stranger, and strange he is indeed, helps her to move on. In the final story, we get a glimpse into the youth of author Brian Bowyer's own life, and it informs the stories that came before.

Honestly, on reading the first 3 stories, I had a hard time following the motivations of the main characters. At times their actions, and reactions seemed extreme, or permissive, or unusual. That was the biggest hang up for me here. I still think that my opinion holds, although I do believe that Brian's own experience sheds light on a very different upbringing and background, one in which people are subjected to circumstances in which they might act in extreme ways, from an outsider's perspective. 

These stories stuck with me. It's been 10 days and one will surface in my mind from time to time. Thank you for sharing a little bit of your world with us Brian. It was very cool to put together that you grew up not too far from where I'm living now, in Huntington. I'm glad to read that you found a place that you like much better and that you are creating these stories to share with us.

Thank you to Brian, NetGalley, and RDS Publishing for the eARC!