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Rayne Hall

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Thirty Scary Tales: Creepy Horror Stories Kindle Edition

by Rayne Hall (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.8 506 ratings

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Thirty creepy stories by Rayne Hall. This is subtle horror, atmospheric and unsettling rather than violent and gory. Some stories explore the paranormal, others probe into the dark corners of the human psyche. The frights may creep up on you and linger for a long time.

This book is a compilation of volumes 1-5 of the Six Scary Tales books. It includes the acclaimed stories Burning and The Bridge Chamber.

All stories have been previously published in magazines, ezines, collections and anthologies. Not suitable for young readers without parental guidance. British English.

Stories in collection include:
The Devil You Know, Greywalker, Prophetess, Each Stone A Life, By Your Own Free Will, The Bridge Chamber, Only A Fool, Four Bony Hands, The Black Boar, Double Rainbows, Druid Stones, Burning, Scruples, Seagulls, Night Train, Through the Tunnel, Black Karma, Take Me To St. Roch's, Turkish Night, Never Leave Me, The Colour of Dishonour, Beltane, The Painted Staircase, I Dived The Pandora, Terre Vert and Payne's Grey, They Say, Tuppence Special, Disturbed Sleep, Normal Considering the Weather, Arete.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00EGFCS32
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rayne Hall (December 16, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 16, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6056 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 262 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,207,872 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2,272 in Fantasy Anthologies & Short Stories (Kindle Store)
- #2,443 in Horror Anthologies (Books)
- #3,720 in Fantasy Anthologies

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3.8 506 ratings

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Rayne Hall

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Rayne Hall MA is the author of over 100 books, mostly Dark Fantasy and Gothic Horror, e.g. The Bride’s Curse: Bulgarian Gothic Ghost and Horror Stories. She is also the acclaimed editor of Gothic, Fantasy and Horror anthologies (e.g. Among the Headstones: Creepy Tales from the Graveyard) and author of the bestselling Writer’s Craft series for advanced-level writers, including and the bestselling Writer’s Craft series e.g. Writing Gothic Fiction Writing Scary Scenes, Writing Vivid Settings, Writing Vivid Dialogue, Writing Vivid Characters, Writing Deep Point of View.

Born and raised in Germany, Rayne Hall has lived in China, Mongolia, Nepal and Britain. Now she resides in a village in Bulgaria, where men perform the annual demon dance, ghosts and sirens beckon, and abandoned decaying houses hold memories of a glorious past.

Her lucky black rescue cat Sulu often accompanies her when she explores spooky derelict buildings. He delights in walking across shattered roof tiles, scratching charred timbers and sniffing at long-abandoned hearths. He even senses the presence of ghosts… but that’s another story.

Rayne has worked as an investigative journalist, development aid worker, museum guide, apple picker, tarot reader, adult education teacher, belly dancer, magazine editor, publishing manager and more, and now writes full time.

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3.8 out of 5

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Frances Hampton

Loved It

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2016

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I chose to read this book a tale a night for the month. There were times that I wanted to read another but I kept to my idea. I'm happy that I did so. The author knows how to tell a good story! Each tale was eagerly anticipated. I wondered about it during the day. I thought about the previous story. There were days when I couldn't imagine the nights tale would be better than one I just read. I was proved wrong repeatedly. It was deliciously delightful! I felt like a child again, eager for the next tale, yet shivering from the last, my imagination in overdrive. At the end of the book there is a note from the author. She asks which tale was your favorite. That is a question I truly cannot answer. I sit here and think oh! It was this one. But then rapidly comes to mind another favorite. I cannot choose. I do believe the author saved her best for last. She did an amazing job tackling a tough subject. It is a subject that has held a firm grip from the beginning of man. Through the years, the faces have changed but sadly the story hasn't. If she had asked which tale do you think is most important, hands down it would be this final tale. There isn't really gore and extreme violence to be found in this book. The terror comes more from our own imagination. The author is a truly talented writer who presents us with creepy stories that stoke our imagination. She dances in our nightmares. I plan to read this book again, the same way, in October. Well, perhaps I'll put the titles in a plastic pumpkin and draw a story slip each night just to keep the anticipation going. I recommend this to readers that enjoy mixing creepy tales with their own imagination.

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nonersays

Good Reads for a Light Thrill

Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2014

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I am a fan of horror fiction. So, when I saw a chance to read and review a collection of short stories called "Thirty Scary Tales" by Rayne Hall then I had to give it a try.

Now, while the title of the book is Thirty Scary Tales, they are not scary in the way that you might think.

There are not a lot of horrible monsters or an abundance of gore in these stories, which the writer warns you of in her introduction. In fact, a lot of the fear is subliminal, playing on the phobias that people might have. If you're afraid of birds, dogs, drowning, being stuck in tight places, or even plain old fashioned racism, then there is probably a story in here for you. (But there's no clowns, so if you have coulrophobia you're safe to read it too)

The lack of gore and sex makes "Thirty Scary Tales" by Rayne Hall a suitable read for adults, but also for (mature) young teens who might like a good scare.

One of my favorite tales in this collection was "Greywalker." When I first saw the title I thought, "This one has GOT to be about zombies," and I was not disappointed. I was also not disappointed that it was not your traditional zombie tale.

My ABSOLUTE favorite story in this collection was "By Your Own Free Will." In it a very brilliant young woman very much wants the man of her dreams to fall in love with her. She is will to give ANYTHING to become the beauty queen she thinks he wants, even if that means giving away some of her brilliance. While not exactly scary to me, it did strike a chord. The theme of being less of yourself to please someone else, and the lengths women will go to to be "beautiful" is all around us in the world today. Maybe we should be MORE frighted of it.

"Burning" was another tale that is scary simply because it hits VERY close to home. It is a stark reminder that times where people are in danger just for being different (different skin, different religion) are not behind us.

Something else I loved about Thirty Scary Tales was that at the end of each story, Ms. Hall shares a personal tidbit about how that story came to be, what inspired her to write it. As someone who enjoys writing myself I love it when other authors share where their ideas come from.

Now that I've raved about what I loved I feel like I have to mention the couple of things that I didn't like.

Most of the stories had very predictable endings. It might just be because I'm such a fan of the horror genre, but nothing came as a surprise to me at the end of the stories. Most of the twists I saw coming from the beginning.

Also some of the stories seemed a little repetitive. Not in content but in theme. The stories "The Painted Staircase," "I Dived the Pandora," and "Terre Verte And Payne's Grey" are three that felt VERY similar to me in feel by the end of them.

However, those two cons are not enough to keep me from recommending this book who might want a light thrill read. Out of Thirty Scary Tales, at least one of them is SURE to send a shiver down your spine.

DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of this book. All the thoughts and comments are 100% my own.

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Mali

30 Tragic Fables ReImagined Instead of 30 Scary Tales- 2.5 stars

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2015

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I was looking forward to reading this collection of thirty scary horror tales because the description promises true scares instead of gory or grotesque horror. I am not a fan of gory horror. I prefer scary psychological horror scares.
However, there was a story or two in here that definitely qualified as gory complete with blood and guts.
The majority of stories are more harsh tales of lessons learned, than anything scary.
I had some difficulty downloading it to my Mac Kindle, and then I had some difficulty getting through the stories. The first 8 I disliked. They ranged in tales of women who learned not to trust the wrong person, go with their gut, the man who should have appreciated what he had, and so on.
It reminded me of the short tales you would read as a child, aesop's fables, etc. that always had a somber or tragic lesson.
The first story seemed to lack that and just seemed tragic and misplaced.
The stories improve with Night Train, a story of a traveler who didn't trust the wrong person and it still ended in tragedy. The end of the story did give me a slight chill. Through the Tunnel feels familiar in that I have heard very similar stories, and it tells the story of a foolish girl and a guardian ghost on a mission to protect people from the same fate he had. Black Karma has a similar theme.
I did not enjoy Turkish Night, which is a bizarre nightmare come true with a twist, but it picks back up with another familiar theme of a murdered wife that leaves her mark. The Painted Staircase gives a deserving end with a fantasy twist to a very unlikable man, and the Color of Dishonor has a familiar theme that brings to mind Poe's Telltale Heart, with a crooked slaughtering warlord instead. They Say is not a story. Tuppence Special feels like it lost the point of the story or a real conclusion. The next two also failed to capture me, and Arete picks back up with a story of freedom and revenge based on mythology.
I enjoyed the interesting and unexpected twist of Only A Fool, it was a unique exploration of a bad situation completely reversed.
Four Bony Hands I felt nothing but annoyance towards, a story that was supposed to be a what if, but only made me annoyed with the lead character's complete disregard for common sense that resulted in tragedy in the form of a twisted fairy tail.
Druid Stone, which I disliked the end of, had a chilling lesson of be careful how you act towards helping others, because you never know who it may affect or if you may end up in that position
Double Rainbows was the last story I enjoyed the ending message and theme of, where a truly bad person meets their end after underestimating those they have abused.
Overall, I again felt that these were a collection of grim Aesop's Fables, and that several of them felt familiar in that I had heard a similar story before, but some of them were clever twists I did not expect as in the case of Only A Fool. Some of them fall into the category of horror where you feel truly unsettled with how the story had ended, and you feel that deep in the pit of your stomach. This is the case in Druid Stone, where you want to go back to the beginning to shout at the character to make a new decision to change the outcome that causes so much tragedy at the end. It's a form of horror not commonly utilized, but one I remember reading a book of horror stories for kids on as a child. One that comes to mind was the story of The Yellow Ribbon, where the main focus is a ribbon worn around a girl's neck that must never be removed. At the end of the story, it is removed and her head falls off because the ribbon was holding her together.
The thing about fables and mythology, and even fairy tales, is that they have been told and retold so many times over centuries that each version and each retelling is just an update to the story, a different version to go into history.
I just don't particularly enjoy the kind of horror that leaves that bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, and some of these did that.
Some of them also lead to nowhere or were very neutral, while others caught me by surprise.
I received this product free from Rayne Hall through the BuView review program in exchange for an honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Best: Night Train, Through The Tunnel (although familiar), Black Karma (also familiar), Never Leave Me(familiar), The Painted Staircase's end, The Colour of Dishonor (familiar), Only A Fool, Double Rainbows
Worst: The Devil You Know, Greywalker, Prophetess, Seagulls, Turkish Night, Normal Considering The Weather, The Black Boar
Tuppence Special, Four Bony Hands, Burning
Many many of these have sad or tragic endings, and a few have fitting endings that cap a bad end on to a deserving person.
I am in conclusion, caught in the middle hating some stories and liking others. The reason that it was so hard to finish this collection was that most of the stories I disliked were the first batch of stories, which made it hard to go on and read another.
I am sure that any reader will find stories they they both liked and strongly did not like, but for me, the dislikes outnumbered the likes.

I received this product rom Rayne Hall through the BuView review program in exchange for an honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. That said, my copy was received on Kindle and although the cost of the book was covered, tax was not, so I cannot say I received it for free.

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Dani Apples

And the write up she does after every story was just kinda boring: / sorry

Reviewed in Canada on November 29, 2016

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Just couldn't get into these stories. And the write up she does after every story was just kinda boring :/ sorry, Rayne - she can write, I just didn't like this book much at all.

Vanessa Navarro Reverte

Well-written Spooky Stories

Reviewed in Spain on March 30, 2016

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On the one hand, I am quite fond of horror and dark fantasy; on the other hand, I really like short stories. So, this book seemed a win-win for me right from the start. Anyway, it had to live up to expectations, and it mostly did.
I found Ms Hall's writing style neat and compelling. I also liked the wide range of themes dealt with throughout the different stories, and the unique light on familiar tropes shown in some of the tales. This is maybe the reason why my favourite tales are ·"Greywalker", "Night Train", "By your Own Free Will", "Arete" and "Four Bony Hands". The latest is also one of the few tales that gave me the creeps, together with "Druid Stones".
Personally, I did not find the stories scary, but for the two I've mentioned before, and just mildly. Maybe this is because I cut my teeth on horror fiction at age 13 many years ago, so it's not the author's fault. However, they are spooky enough to appeal to most readers' horror threshold.
Finally, there are a few tales that bored me because I found them too predictable ("The Devil you Know", "Double Rainbows", "Seagulls" "Through the Tunnel"). Anyway, this is my opinion - others could find them enjoyable.
In short, this is a well-written and interesting compilation that can be enjoyed one piece at a time.

Dodo

Scary Tales, not Horror Tales

Reviewed in Germany on July 26, 2015

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Rayne Hall weist schon in ihrem Vorwort darauf hin, dass ihre Geschichten keine Horrorgeschichten, sondern "uncanny stories", also "unheimliche Geschichten" sind, wobei das Unheimliche in der Regel leise daherkommt.
Weniger gefallen haben mir die Geschichten, die in Raynes eigener Fantasy-Welt spielen, über die sie auch Romane geschrieben hat. In solch einer Anthologie fand ich die Stories eher unpassend, hier hätte sich ein seperater Sammelband besser angeboten.
Die "Stand alone"-Stories dagegen fand ich sehr gelungen, da mir auch Raynes athmosphärischer Stil gut gefällt, sie ist eine dieser Autorinnen, die man schon gern liest, weil die Schreibe überzeugt.
Ein nettes Schnäppchen wohlig unheimlicher Gute-Nacht-Geschichten, die auch genau die richtige Länge für die Abendlektüre haben.

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JJ Adams

Brilliant collection

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 17, 2014

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I love short story collections and this is one of the best I have found on Amazon. As other reviewers have pointed out (and as the author herself indicates) this isn't gory, obvious horror but is more unsettling and disturbing than scary.

I really enjoyed the variety in this collection and I had to double check that they were actually written by one author. Some of the stories were set in the modern day, some in older times, and some in a fantasy world that I understand the author created for a full length novel. Some of them involve the supernatural and others involve horrors from the real world.

In the afterword, the author said she'd like to hear which stories we enjoyed the most and which we weren't so thrilled with, so here's my top:

By Your Own Free Will - A high-flying career woman and MENSA member visits a modern day witch for a love potion, and ends up giving away a crucial part of herself in the quest for love. Although there is very little 'horror' in it, it is one of the most disturbing short stories I've read. It reminded me strongly of another short story, Mr. Pull-Ups by Jack Kilborn, which is far more extreme and gruesome but sticks with me in just the same way.

The Bridge Chamber - A little girl tries to earn the respect of her bullies by taking them to a secret place she has discovered, but things don't quite go to plan. This is one of those stories that drops you right into the scene and has you thinking "good god, what if that was me?".

Seagulls - A young woman moves to the seaside and is constantly aware of a menacing trio of seagulls watching her every move through the window. The author achieved a disturbing feeling of claustrophobia and imprisonment in the very place we should feel safe - home - and it was very effective.

Take Me To St. Roch's - A lone driver picks up a hitchhiker who is stragely uncommunicative and sulky, and the night turns into a nightmare. I loved the black humour in this one.

The Colour of Dishonour - This was set in the author's fantasy world creation and it transported my right there - not easy to do in a short story.

Four Bony Hands - A modern twist on a well-known fairytale. Even though we all know how the story ends, this was very well done and kept me interested.

Double Rainbows - An ill-treated lover gets her revenge in a very clever way.

Which ones didn't I like so much?

Arete and Night Train. They were still well written, it's just that vampires and werewolves don't interest me.

Burning - One of the most disturbing books in the collection, about racism and hatred. Very effectively told through the voice of an innocent, unprejudiced child.

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Miff

The sample stories she supplied made me keen to check this book out and I'm so glad I did

Reviewed in Australia on April 10, 2015

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I've only recently discovered Rayne Hall through her books for writers. The sample stories she supplied made me keen to check this book out and I'm so glad I did. Rayne is brilliant at writing those, 'woman alone and stranded' stories. I could feel the character's tension and unease. Any writer that can put me in the shoes of the character and make me feel their terror has definitely done their job well and I can honestly say Rayne does this in her stories. The thing I love about short stories is that if one story doesn't rock your boat you don't have wait long to read one that makes up for it. None of Rayne's stories disappoint, they all affected me on some level. I highly recommend this as a great read to enjoy on the couch with a cuppa as I did.

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