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That Feeling When You Know You're Doomed: Horror Stories
Fans� praise for James G. Boswell:
“Amazing Horror Author and very creepy…�
“Great author and interesting story teller.�
“…his enthusiasm for the genre makes me want to read more.�
"If you love good horror and great storytelling, look no further!"
Read "That Feeling When You Know You're Doomed" to feel the existential dread of being at the mercy of forces beyond comprehension or control.
A woman confesses to killing several people, but no one can see the bodies. An expedition through the jungle to find a lost indigenous tribe leads to a terrifying trial by ordeal. A woman becomes trapped in a wilderness cabin as a flesh-eating mold erodes her sanity. A missile silo launch team receives a dire warning from an alternate reality as they're about to fire their payload. A hiker discovers the source of the terrifying rumors surrounding a mysterious mountain. These stories and more await you in this collection of existential horror by James G. Boswell
Stories include:
Why Can’t You See Them?
Worse than War
The Black House
The Tree of Death
In a Secluded Corner of the Earth
Chaos
At the Haunted Mountain
Plague Doctor
A Bad Reputation
The Practical Joker
The Woman in the Rain
The Lying Darkness
What’s She Building in There?
Wild About Jangkem
Welcome to Scarlet City
“Amazing Horror Author and very creepy…�
“Great author and interesting story teller.�
“…his enthusiasm for the genre makes me want to read more.�
"If you love good horror and great storytelling, look no further!"
Read "That Feeling When You Know You're Doomed" to feel the existential dread of being at the mercy of forces beyond comprehension or control.
A woman confesses to killing several people, but no one can see the bodies. An expedition through the jungle to find a lost indigenous tribe leads to a terrifying trial by ordeal. A woman becomes trapped in a wilderness cabin as a flesh-eating mold erodes her sanity. A missile silo launch team receives a dire warning from an alternate reality as they're about to fire their payload. A hiker discovers the source of the terrifying rumors surrounding a mysterious mountain. These stories and more await you in this collection of existential horror by James G. Boswell
Stories include:
Why Can’t You See Them?
Worse than War
The Black House
The Tree of Death
In a Secluded Corner of the Earth
Chaos
At the Haunted Mountain
Plague Doctor
A Bad Reputation
The Practical Joker
The Woman in the Rain
The Lying Darkness
What’s She Building in There?
Wild About Jangkem
Welcome to Scarlet City
- GenresHorror
165 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 20, 2019
8 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
James G. Boswell
9books17followersJames G. Boswell writes weird, dread-inducing, cosmic horror fiction because it's fun. His short story collection, "That Feeling When You Know You're Doomed" debuted at number 23 on Amazon's Best Sellers list for Horror Short Stories and remained in the top 100 for more than two weeks. He lives in Kansas City with his wife.
James G. Boswell
Horror Author
[email protected]
James G. Boswell
Horror Author
[email protected]
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 16, 2019
Originally I was drawn to this book because the cover art is fantastic. As for the content - the stories were a great variety. My favorite story by far was about a haunted apartment that seemed hell-bent on gathering bodies. Another about a hidden tribe in a strange jungle was also a favorite. I enjoyed the many twists and turns but sometimes the writing seemed too rigid or they were often too short and it left me craving more.
October 24, 2019
Varied and intriguing horror tales that definitely stray from the usual offerings ...
Though a few stories slightly overlap into sci-fi and the paranormal, they never stray too far from good, solid, horror. The quality of writing was consistently first-class, with varied and intriguing scenarios throughout. The author does an excellent job of setting the scene in each case, everything from an imminent apocalypse, supernatural jungles, and the very oddest of murder scenes where you can’t see the bodies, well, until it’s too late. Likewise with any dialogue and the narratives - both were mostly crisp and authentic, always moving the story forward. I also particularly liked that, with a few exceptions, the author mostly and ably creates a sense of tension or horror without the slightest need for any over the top graphic description or slasher-type blood and gore (nothing wrong with the latter, but it is ‘over-relied� on for effect with some authors); speaking of blood and gore, there’s a fair smattering of that in the final story here (I think my favourite too), which ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger for a future story - nice touch that)
Why four instead of five stars then? Well, some of these stories certainly warrant five stars, but I did feel a tad frustrated at times that others fell short of a satisfying conclusion, i.e. where the ending was just a little too open-ended (for me). A couple of stories too felt more like a snapshot of what should have been a longer or more ‘complete� story. Nonetheless, despite a few reservations, the quality and style of James G. Boswell’s writing and ability to spin a damned good horror tale were more than good enough to tempt me into downloading the author’s ‘Burn� and ‘Deprived� collections. Overall, a good, solid four stars, and well worth a look if you enjoy short original horror tales.
Though a few stories slightly overlap into sci-fi and the paranormal, they never stray too far from good, solid, horror. The quality of writing was consistently first-class, with varied and intriguing scenarios throughout. The author does an excellent job of setting the scene in each case, everything from an imminent apocalypse, supernatural jungles, and the very oddest of murder scenes where you can’t see the bodies, well, until it’s too late. Likewise with any dialogue and the narratives - both were mostly crisp and authentic, always moving the story forward. I also particularly liked that, with a few exceptions, the author mostly and ably creates a sense of tension or horror without the slightest need for any over the top graphic description or slasher-type blood and gore (nothing wrong with the latter, but it is ‘over-relied� on for effect with some authors); speaking of blood and gore, there’s a fair smattering of that in the final story here (I think my favourite too), which ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger for a future story - nice touch that)
Why four instead of five stars then? Well, some of these stories certainly warrant five stars, but I did feel a tad frustrated at times that others fell short of a satisfying conclusion, i.e. where the ending was just a little too open-ended (for me). A couple of stories too felt more like a snapshot of what should have been a longer or more ‘complete� story. Nonetheless, despite a few reservations, the quality and style of James G. Boswell’s writing and ability to spin a damned good horror tale were more than good enough to tempt me into downloading the author’s ‘Burn� and ‘Deprived� collections. Overall, a good, solid four stars, and well worth a look if you enjoy short original horror tales.
November 23, 2021
This is a wild book of really short horror stories. The works in this book are different enough to almost represent a new form of short story, one that deserves its own name. Each is stripped down to be as lean and effective as possible, and usually consists of just enough plot to deliver one horror idea � or one string of horror ideas. All the entries in the collection do this very well.
Interestingly, when stories are so short, and deliver horror that pulls no punches, you do run the risk of having stories that end similarly. That does happen for a stretch here, but the stories are so refreshingly inventive, that it’s a very small price to pay. Plenty of these stories, short as they are, could easily expand into larger works (I’m thinking film). For some, the opposite is true, they are just manic little snips of horror, best served by being just that.
I enjoyed this book and I recommend it to any fan of horror stories, filmed, or otherwise. I can’t cop out and NOT tell you which story was my favorite, and I guess I’d go with the opener, a trail of horror where the victims of murders are only visible to the next person set to rampage. The book is FULL of similarly original and fresh ideas, told with great economy. What Junji Ito is doing with horror in comics, Boswell is doing with horror in prose. Check it out! And hats off to the amazing cover artist as well!
Interestingly, when stories are so short, and deliver horror that pulls no punches, you do run the risk of having stories that end similarly. That does happen for a stretch here, but the stories are so refreshingly inventive, that it’s a very small price to pay. Plenty of these stories, short as they are, could easily expand into larger works (I’m thinking film). For some, the opposite is true, they are just manic little snips of horror, best served by being just that.
I enjoyed this book and I recommend it to any fan of horror stories, filmed, or otherwise. I can’t cop out and NOT tell you which story was my favorite, and I guess I’d go with the opener, a trail of horror where the victims of murders are only visible to the next person set to rampage. The book is FULL of similarly original and fresh ideas, told with great economy. What Junji Ito is doing with horror in comics, Boswell is doing with horror in prose. Check it out! And hats off to the amazing cover artist as well!
January 10, 2020
I’ll start with the positive. I enjoyed the variety of stories. I enjoyed the brevity of the stories. James Boswell can write. However, there is a downside. When I was a middle schooler, I lived at the library in my small little town. One of the books I all but stole was an anthology of horror/thriller/Twilight Zone-y stories edited by the late great Alfred Hitchcock. It was called Ghostly Gallery. There were thrills, chills, all kinds of cool stories. But they were written for my age group (at the time. I’m 48 now.) Now I come across James Boswell’s collection touting itself as cosmic horror, so I dive right in. I was excited to start this book. However, the more I read, the more frustrated I became. For not only are these stories short, but the twists are not very well executed, and the stories themselves seem like they were written for kids or at best young adults. Not to say they are not good stories, or not worth reading. I just expected them to be more fleshed out for a deeper read.
June 5, 2019
This is a nice collection and the authors imagination really shines through on some of the stories.
However most of them are interesting rather then scary although a few were genuinely unsettling. I particularly liked one featuring manchineel trees as the deadly qualities of the tree are actually true.
Still even if many weren’t particularly terrifying I still enjoyed reading this as well as seeing how the concept was executed in each short story.
However most of them are interesting rather then scary although a few were genuinely unsettling. I particularly liked one featuring manchineel trees as the deadly qualities of the tree are actually true.
Still even if many weren’t particularly terrifying I still enjoyed reading this as well as seeing how the concept was executed in each short story.
November 6, 2019
Not good
The first two stories were entertaining, if a bit cringy on the narrative, but after that the stories went downhill. The endings to the rest of the ones I read were just dumb and felt rushed and the author would, a lot of times, have the characters talk in order to describe something that should have been put in a regular description. I don't recommend.
The first two stories were entertaining, if a bit cringy on the narrative, but after that the stories went downhill. The endings to the rest of the ones I read were just dumb and felt rushed and the author would, a lot of times, have the characters talk in order to describe something that should have been put in a regular description. I don't recommend.
November 18, 2019
More Shorties
These were good, I really enjoyed these short stories, they make you think, I enjoy books like these alot. I'm always looking for more.
These were good, I really enjoyed these short stories, they make you think, I enjoy books like these alot. I'm always looking for more.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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