Twisted Reveries Kindle Edition

4.5 stars, actually.This is pleasant surprise of a book. Horror-tinged short stories isn't my usual go-to genre, but I picked up this after seeing the author at a panel here in Minnesota. Very glad I did. I love characters and emotional conflict. Many short stories having trouble packing enough emotional development into their form to satisfy me, and often horror focus more on the gory details than the psychological angst.I love me the angst.Hafdahl manages for many of the stories to do both. Take "Guts" for example. The main character is at a hospital getting her infusion (quite realistically, I might add. I'm a breast cancer survivor and this story has all the lingo down such as picc lines and the snack tray guy in the infusion suite) who has Crohn's disease (affecting bowels). People begin dying around her, but it's the parallel story of her anger/fear of disease that kept me reading as well as the horror situation of being trapped in a hospital with something evil.At times, a couple of the stories fall into oft-used horror trope of the main character having mental issues that shields the reader from important knowledge, but there are quite a few stories where I felt Hafdahl managed to hit some emotional button while being creeptastic at the same time.Not for the faint of heart. I hope the author writes a full length novel as I would love to see what she does angst-wise with characters when she has more time for them to develop.

I’m not normally a fan of the macabre, but a friend of mine recommended this book. Well, after reading Twisted Reveries; Thirteen (of course) Tales of the Macabre by Meg Hafdahl, I still can’t say I’m a fan of stories about gruesome death, ghastly monsters and blood everywhere.But man, am I ever a fan of Meg Hafdahl.This young woman has an outsized imagination, and she has supreme writing skills that enable her to make good use of that fertile brain of hers. Every one of these 13 stories knocked me for a loop. I read them aloud to my wife. At the end of each story, we sat for a few moments in silence, then uttered, in unison, “wow.”A word of warning: if you decide to read this book, read it in the morning, preferably on a sunshiny day. Make sure all the doors are locked. Keep your phone handy in case you have to dial 911. And keep your pit bull at your side. Because you are going to be taken on a wild, furious and ultimately enjoyable ride.

EXCELLENT! Very well written short stories. All are of different style and view. All thrill in a way many short horrors do not. Does not use graphic gore or sex which is refreshing as so many modern male writers do this and it is so unnecessary. This woman can write and it was so enjoyable to read this book. Super talented writer! Great at twisting a plot. THE PIT was BY FAR my favorite!

Phenomenal Book-agree with others that each story had a very distinct feel. A Flash of Orange was my favorite; it was riveting! Also, Everly was very touching, especially for anyone with children.

This is the perfect collection of spooky short stories for anyone! It was so refreshing to see such complex female characters in these stories! I couldn't put it down! A+++

Great horror stories!! Once I started a story I had to finish it. The descriptions the author uses is spot-on. I don't usually read stories about macabre, but these were fun and so well written! Makes me want to read more horror stories, especially from this author!

A vibrant collection of short stories by an exciting debut female writer! The stories are gripping, with each of the 13 ranging from the pleasantly macabre ("There's something about birds") to the deliciously wicked ("The Pit") to the downright horrifying ("Flatlands). What about zombies, you say? Step right up to "Dust"! Meg Hafdahl's mastery of craft, which allows her to place her many, creatively developed characters into such diverse and wonderfully memorable settings so enticingly , is a hallmark of each and every page of this collection.So Reader, the question remains...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? YOU need to read TWISTED REVERIES NOW while WE excitedly anticipate reading much more from this 'take no prisoners' Minnesota author...and, we hope, SOON!.

I LOVED this anthology. Short, easily digestible stories with strong women as the protagonist in each. Strong, but not necessarily moral. Hafdahl does a masterful job of representing a host of characters working through truly horrific circumstances, either supernatural monsters or human monsters or their own inner monsters. If you like stories that keep you guessing until the end, this is the collection for you.