One of the best parts of being a writer is that I have gotten to meet and make friends out of many of my colleagues. For some of them, I’ve even been able to see them early in their careers and watch them grow and get their early successes. Ann O’Mara Heyward is one of those authors. Since the moment she joined HWA Ohio (which I run), I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her break out into the horror scene and even read early drafts of her stories.
Earlier this year, Ann published her first collection, No One Heard Her Screams, a collection of eighteen tales she’s published. And because I read some of the stories in the earlier drafts, Ann sent me a free, signed copy. Earlier this month, I finally got around to reading it. And what did I think?
To say the least, this is an excellent collection.
Ann has a strong voice and an excellent handling on what’s scary. Not to mention, she often knows how to tell a story in under seven-thousand words, or even five-thousands, and still give it a good beginning, middle, and payoff. I am in awe of authors who manage to consistently keep their stories that short!
My personal favorite was “Gehenna,” a story about a woman in a small town who chronicles the horrors that occurred in her community during a tent revival. Even with the supernatural elements, the events of the story felt very believable. Other highlights of the anthology, which kept me reading through to the end of each story despite my lunch break ending, included “The Monster Maker,” about a mortician who gets a rather unusual client; “The Rookery,” about a local swamp monster living near a condo community in Florida (sounds more interesting than my condo community); and “Zeke Street,” about what happens when you try to monetize the zombie apocalypse.
Actually, that last one would make a great movie. Zombies may have been used back to death, but it’s always great to see a new take on the trope. And “Zeke Street” is definitely a different take.
Now, not all of the stories worked for me. “The Waiting Room” and “The Dog” both felt like they had letdowns for endings.
But the rest were very good and had interesting concepts. “Missing Lula” involved a real life serial killer, and was fairly spooky; “Consignment” executed its concept with a lot of fun; and stories like “Cleveland,” “The Kitchen Window,” and “The Guests” were wonderfully nihilistic.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I am giving No One Heard Her Screams by Ann O’Mara Heyward a 4.8 out of 5. Full of creepy and perfectly dark stories. If you’re in the mood for something to spooky to read in short bursts this Halloween season, this is a good collection to go with it.
Rami Ungar The Writer 