Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror

With his third addiction horror anthology (after Lullabies for Suffering and Garden of Fiends), Matthews offers 10 original stories with a breadth of terror as wide and as personal as the monster of addiction that seethes at the center of each. Cassandra Khaw writes a haunting tale of the isolation experienced by the child of a parent with addiction; S. A. Cosby takes a more literal approach, bringing meth addicts back from the dead, looking for one more hit; John FD Taff uses a strong narration from an unhinged hoarder to draw readers into a nightmare. But it is Christa Carmen’s heartbreakingly honest look at “recovery” that is the star here, a story that is sure to end up on many speculative fiction year-end award lists. All 10 are compelling horror stories on their own, but gathered together, they hold a power, one that will break readers, opening their eyes to a truth we are all facing, something the only the very best horror is capable of.