The Red Room and Other Stories Brazilian author Bruno Carlos Santos’s Horror Short Stories bills itself as an “anthology of short horror stories.” This difficult sub-genre of horror fiction can make or break an author. Unfortunately, 99% of Santos’s work is the latter. This anthology is a technical and narrative mess. Filled with clichés, poor editing, meaningless adverbs, and over-the-top tough-guy characters, The Red Room and Other Stories It reads like an amateur attempt at “writing”.
Descriptions need to be thoughtful. Writers must establish their style with metaphorical subtext and fresh descriptive words, not the following: “really nice,” “bare trees,” “acidic sense of humor.” By the way, it should be “acidic,” not “acid.”
Santos also suffers from severe adverb diarrhea—he sometimes uses three adverbs to describe a simple verb. Additionally, Santos uses the dreaded “passive voice” throughout the anthology, which practically ruins the reading process forever. It’s laborious, slow, and horrible.
I honestly have no idea how Santos managed to get this book published. This is one of the worst anthologies I have ever read, bar none. What’s worse is that Santos switches POVs (points of view) at random with no rhyme or reason.
I’m not sure if this anthology was written in Santos’ native Portuguese and then translated into English and it was poorly translated. Or am I just guessing? I can live with faulty narratives and crude characterization. Hell, I can even live with amateur editing! But I can’t stand terrible horror cliches and overly wordy descriptions.
The final blow is sickening, from a novel by H. G. Wells titled The Red Room and Other Stories.
What. That. Fudge.
Why didn’t he research the title first?
I wish I could offer Santos some constructive criticism, but I can’t. His anthology needs a complete overhaul, rigorous editing, and at least five more drafts before it can be considered a work of literature. For now, though, TThe Red Room and Other Stories A cautionary example Terror goes wrong.
WARNING: DO NOT Rush to publish a book. Once it is published, it cannot be taken back. How I wish Santos would take this book back…long, long ago. Forever.
Rating: 0.5/5
Reviewed by Renier Palland
