Midnight somewhere A short-story collection

Johnny Compton

Book - 2025

Characters encounter horrors that range from mysterious to murderous in this frightening debut collection of short stories.

Saved in:
1 copy ordered
Subjects
Genres
short stories
Short stories
Horror fiction
Nouvelles
Published
Ashland, Oregon : [New York] : Blackstone Publishing 2025.
Language
English
Main Author
Johnny Compton (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
271 pages ; 24 cm
ISBN
9798228364790
  • Ffuns
  • The death/grip challenge
  • Safety in numbers
  • Monster bites
  • A story overheard in a room
  • A devil we used to know
  • No hungry generations
  • The genie and the inquisitor
  • Every time you look away
  • When you put it that way
  • The ref
  • Doctor Bad Eyes is at the top of the stairs again
  • Everywherever
  • Charakakon
  • The one
  • The merge monster incident : one year later
  • I caught a ghost in my eye
  • He used to scare me by accident
  • Whatever happened to Crash Test Chris?
  • The happy people
  • Dead bastard revival services.
Review by Booklist Review

In this short-story collection, Compton (Devils Kill Devils, 2024) uses unsettling prose and well-timed gore to add an extra twist to almost every tale. "Ffuns" opens the collection, immediately demonstrating that readers shouldn't trust their expectations. Is it a story of the abusive class divide? Is it an exploration of how far grief can push the bereaved? The shocking final page will make readers close the book for a moment so they can ground themselves before diving back in. Monkey's paw--esque scenarios arise in "The Genie and the Inquisitor" and "Charakakon," pitting the dark urges of confident men against supernatural creatures, showing that the worst horrors are human. If the collection has a central theme, it's that unresolved emotion is dangerous. But the stories aren't one-note, as "I Caught a Ghost in My Eye" summons the humor of Carissa Orlando's September House (2023) to an ocular haunting and "Doctor Bad Eyes is at the Top of the Stairs Again" is truly hilarious as the "creepy child who sees ghosts" trope collides with a mother's need for a good neighborhood. Good, creepy fun.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.