The Truest Sense

A Collection of Horrors

by Laura Keating

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Pub Date 11 Jun 2024 | Archive Date 7 Jul 2024

Cemetery Gates Media

General Fiction (Adult) | Horror | Novellas & Short Stories

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Description

For fans of Stephen King's "Night Shift," Ray Bradbury's "The October Country," and Joyce Carol Oates' "Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque."

"The Truest Sense is a masterfully executed collection that cuts to the quick. Keating proves two things with her latest book: she's a must-read name in the genre and she's absolutely here to stay." -- Caitlin Marceau, award-winning author of This is Where we Talk Things Out

From Laura Keating, author of Agony’s Lodestone, come fifteen new tales of terror to torment the senses. In this collection, Horror is…

    * The last moments of a team of doomed archeologists, lost in a cave that defies time, trapped with unspeakable, moving images, and a strange, grinning presence…
    * The white-eyed children gathered behind an abandoned kissing gate, and the ragged-toothed queen no one believes is real…
    * The celebrity demonologists, confident in their abilities and faith – until they meet a grotesque new Adversary…
    * The odd little girl of many skills who is followed by four yellow birds – and a gruesome secret…
    * The mysterious person atop an old lighthouse, searching for salvation and caught in a desperate race from the law – and themself…
    * The town trapped in the thrall of a shadowy, alien force; compelled to forget and to build – by whatever means and material available…

Horror is…

THE TRUEST SENSE

For fans of Stephen King's "Night Shift," Ray Bradbury's "The October Country," and Joyce Carol Oates' "Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque."

"The Truest Sense is a masterfully executed collection that...

Advance Praise

"Atmospheric, gorgeously written and imaginative as hell. What a basket full of treats this collection is." -- Gemma Amor, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Dear Laura

"Laura Keating's exploration of her horror roots finds transcendence in The Truest Sense. From gleeful genre romps and frightening fabulism to sublime excursions along the borderlands of the weird, Keating carves a path to horror's hidden heart." -- Gordon B. White, Bram Stoker award finalist

"“…wives normally happy at home would walk out into the trees, cradling the still warm spine of their husband, never to be seen again.” - "Yellow Birds," The Truest Sense
What is horror in The Truest Sense? A setting, a creature, a phobia, guilt, or sorrow can all lead to a sense of horror with the important factor being in the delivery. This is where Keating excels. Her style grips you by the hair and drags you into the story, depositing you there bleeding and helpless as you witness the grim spectacle as she paints it.

"She pulls off the melancholy as well as the humorous, the feelings of dread and the lighthearted, the ambiguous ending and the perfectly wrapped up story. Some of these stories felt like they were episodes from the Twilight Zone or Ray Bradbury Presents, leaving me with a feeling like I just watched the story in black and white while others were so vivid they felt like recent memories. [Laura] also proves that you don’t need blood and gore all the time. It is definitely provided in some stories but in others it is just hinted at and left to your imagination.These tales and their settings were just fascinating to behold. The problem I had is that being an adventurous person I wanted to go and experience the awe for myself… well, right up until the deaths and disappearances start to happen I guess." -- Paul Preston, Goodreads Reviewer, 5 Star Review

"The Truest Sense is a masterfully executed collection that cuts to the quick. Keating proves two things with her latest book: she's a must-read name in the genre and she's absolutely here to stay." -- Caitlin Marceau, award-winning author of This is Where we Talk Things Out

"Atmospheric, gorgeously written and imaginative as hell. What a basket full of treats this collection is." -- Gemma Amor, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Dear Laura

"Laura Keating's exploration...