Are the books from the
Scare Street collective to be avoided?
There's one today that is free and sounds promising (
Kurtain Motel by A.I. Nasser). But reading the reviews, I see warning signs. Mainly what felt like it was intended to be a single book was instead stretched out into a series.
I think Scare Street is a good idea. A bunch of smaller authors banding together to support each other and get some attention by having the Scare Street 'brand' tagged as an additional author. They put out anthologies containing work by their own authors.
But then I see things I don't like. Every book published by Scare Street that isn't an anthology seems to be part of a series (for the most part, horror and series go together about as well as fish and bicycles). They do that irritating thing where what should be description is lumped into the title (so the title reads: Kurtain Motel: Scary Horror Story with Supernatural Suspense (Sin Series Book 1)). These things make books published by this group feel less like unique works and more like products to be exploited.
It's enough that a book that sounds good
and is FREE after all is something I don't think I'll pick up, even for free. Or am I being too harsh?
Looking back, the one Scare Street book I read, I gave a middling review to. (
Black Eyed Children: Scary Supernatural Horror with Demons (Black Eyed Children Series Book 1) by Sarah Clancy.) My review is the second one. Three stars. Not enough details.