When author Mark Onspaugh says he loves monsters, he’s not kidding. Being a child of the ‘50s and ‘60s, he experienced firsthand the “evilution” of monster mania. From drive-in creature features to explicit slasher movies on Shudder, his love of monsters knows no bounds. 

There’s one particular story in this wicked collection that cements Onspaugh’s life-long monster cred. Featuring a riot of godless creatures, “Gray Skies and Stilled Clocks” is about a mother’s journey to see her dead child during Allhallowtide. 

The amount of unhuman cameos in this story is amazing. It’s filled with ghouls, redteeth (vampires), man-spiders, black dogs, werewolves, burnt men, weeping women, crab monsters, snake women, elementals, sprites and boogeymen. In a word: Whew! “All the things that haunt the dreams of children and adults,” says Onspaugh. “All the wretched terrible things we pray are only nightmares, but suspect are not.”

Some of the best stories in A Mayhem of Monsters successfully mimic the unexpected twists of mid-century EC Comics—“Still one of the benchmarks for grisly creatures and the most horrific forms of poetic justice.” 

If you’re unfamiliar with classic EC horror titles like Haunt of Fear and Crypt of Terror, the comics often ended with a gasp—a kicker featuring a last-panel reveal or surprise. Over the years, it’s become a beloved storytelling trick in horror, crime and suspense genre fiction. 

Onspaugh’s stories provide plenty of ghastly twists to titillate readers. “The Broken Hand Mirror of Venus,” for example, is a love story (?) in a post-War of the Worlds cacotopia, “Grim and Grimmer” turns a well-known fairytale into The Naked Prey and “Let That Be a Lesson to You” proves that demonic binding spells can work both ways. 

Possibly my favorite of these EC-like stories is called “A Lullaby for Caliban.” Two wannabe teenage hoodlums (and an innocent sidekick) attempt to steal a pickled punk from a traveling carnival. 

If you aren’t a carny, you might not know that “pickled punk” is slang for a deformed fetus kept in a jar filled with formaldehyde. Incredibly, such things were once popular as grind show attractions. 

The heist quickly goes sideways. Lucien, the Devil’s Baby, is ultimately rescued but the teenagerates are never heard from again. That doesn’t mean, however, that the story ends without a twist and a satisfying comeuppance. 

[ A Mayhem of Monsters / By Mark Onspaugh / First Printing: March 2024 / ISBN: 9798873646845 ]