Pop the champagne! Run wild through the streets with hardly any clothes on! Propitiate the horror gods with sacrifices, lest you be eaten by monsters! Hannah and Other Stories is a year old today!
So, if you were unaware, Hannah and Other Stories is my second collection and my fifth book overall. The collection contains seven short stories, among which are tales of ghosts, budding serial killers, and carnivorous horses, among other things. Yes, you read that right. Carnivorous horses! They’re horrifying and will get you when you least expect them!
Honestly, it’s hard to believe that this collection has been out a year. I started collecting the stories and then shopping them around to publishers in 2021, at the height of the pandemic. In October of that year, while I was on vacation, BSC Publishing Group told me they wanted to publish them and sent me a contract! Over the next year and a half, we worked to get the stories up to scratch, finally releasing them on September 23, 2023. And here we are today, at the one-year anniversary of the release!
And I’ve been doing a lot for this anniversary. In addition to the usual posting to social media, I created a book trailer, which you can watch below.
Pretty cool, huh? Personally, I think it’s my best work yet! And hopefully it conveys the terror within Hannah.
But this isn’t the only thing I’ve been doing for Hannah and Other Stories. I also did a radio interview recently that should air soon. Yes, you read that right as well. A real radio interview, for a show about artists and writers’ techniques and processes for creating their work called The Craft. I’ll post more details when I can, so you can listen to it live with me.
But more than that, I have a big announcement to make: the title story of the collection, Hannah, is going to be adapted into an audio play!
You see, the guy who produces The Craft, Doug Dangler, does a yearly show where short stories are adapted into audio plays for Halloween, and Hannah is going to be one of those stories! For those of you who don’t know, Hannah follows some ghost hunters who sneak into an abandoned school to ghost hunt, and find more than they expected. Anyway, the story will be adapted and acted out by local high school students, and I can’t wait to see what these kids are able to do. I’ll be sure to let you know when the show airs, but it should be around late October.
With all this going on, I hope this leads to a lot of people checking out Hannah and Other Stories, as well as leaving reviews. The reviews I’ve gotten so far have been rather positive. Take a look:
I just finished Hannah and Other Stories by Rami Ungar. This is a great little collection. Stories range from ghost hunting to the dangers of social media to diabolical new friends and Lovecraftian horrors and more. Had this on my TBR for a while and finally pulled the trigger to finish (the adhd is strong). Very fun collection and I would recommend it and am excited to see his future work. I give it a 4/5.
Dustin Allen, Amazon
This collection of seven stories had me hooked from the get-go. Each story has a little bit of everything: horror, occult, revenge, betrayal, ghosts, and so much more. Every story is solid and unique. Expertly crafted and well told. If you are a fan of horror anthologies, this is an absolute must-read. I’m still thinking about some of the stories. Good stuff. Check it out!
5 severed fingers out of 5
Yeti Reads and Reviews, Goodreads
There are horror stories set in houses across the street and in apartments next door. There are also horror stories set in exotic locations like the Catacombs of Paris. There are even horror stories set in imaginary worlds of cosmic horror and monstrous gods. And then there is Rami Ungar’s collection which manages to be all those things at once. This is what makes these stories so special: a combination of exotic and familiar; Ohioan farmlands and Romantic paintings; Lovecraftian gods and suburban ennui. The stories in this collection range from a traditional haunting with a strange twist at the end (“Hannah”) to a postapocalyptic small-town horror reminiscent of Stephen King’s Cell (“The Red Bursts”); from an unfortunate encounter on a Parisian rooftop (“The Autopsy Kid and Doctor Sarah””) to a rather more optimistic, though equally bizarre, Beauty-and-the-Beast meeting in the Catacombs (“Poor Unfortunate Souls”); from a creepypasta (“Queen Alice”) to a Renaissance poem coming to life on social media and in the Midwest (“What Errour Awoke”). My own favorite story is “Fuseli’s Horses,” which seamlessly blends the famous Romantic painting of The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli with the realities of farmwork and growing up in rural America. It is not the combination I would ever think of, but the story is flawlessly plotted and executed. The stories in this collection combine moments of visionary beauty and visceral horror, perfect for the genre’s afficionados. Rami Ungar is a writer to watch!
Elana, Goodreads
Along with the titular story, “Hannah”, this collection from the Master of Fear comprises 5 other short stories and a novelette.
There is a certain level of intense imagination, dread-filled atmosphere, and relatable characters that I’ve come to expect from Ungar’s short stories. The last three stories in this collection certainly delivered all these qualities and more.
This is an enjoyable anthology, with solid stories. At times, the political message in some of the stories detracted from the characters and plot. It worked best in “The Red Bursts”, where it layered seamlessly with other thematic elements without distracting from the story.
“Hannah and Other Stories” is a worthy addition to the bookshelves of the Followers of Fear.
Iseult Murphy, author of “Gone But Not Forgotten,” Amazon
Sorry, I couldn’t help but want to post some of these reviews. They’ve all been overwhelmingly positive! And if more people read the book and leave reviews, with any luck we’ll get a paperback edition soon. Yeah, BSC Publishing is waiting until we’ve reached a certain threshold in sales and reviews before giving the okay on a paperback. I’ve been working since well before the book came out for this, and I’m hopeful the first anniversary will bring it about.
Anyway, if you would like to read Hannah and Other Stories, I’ll post links below. And if you like what you read, please leave a review somewhere so that I, as well as other readers, know what you thought. Plus, reviews help me out so much in the long run.
Thank you, my Followers of Fear. I’m so grateful for all the support you give me everyday, and especially over the last year. I hope the next year brings plenty of amazing things for my career, as well as Hannah.
One more thing, Followers of Fear: I know I’ve already said this, but this Saturday, September 28th, is the Hidden Marietta Paranormal Expo! If you’re in or around Marietta, Ohio this weekend, stop by the Washington County Fairgrounds. There will be psychics, ghost hunters, and me, doing Tarot readings and selling books. More information can be found on the website here.
Hope to see you there. Until next time, good night (or morning) and pleasant nightmares, my Followers of Fear!
Rami Ungar The Writer 