Everybody has a phobia, right?
In Counterphbobia you’ll be introduced to some creepy ones.
Seven tales, seven phobias, seven reasons to sleep with the lights on!
My Review
I’ve had the pleasure of reading some of William’s stories and that drew me to read his collection, Counterphobia.
There are seven stories, each with it’s own phobia. I’m choosing to do a short review of each story with an overall rating for the complete book. So here we go.
Welcome Home (Nostophobia)
I like it when I go into a book thinking I’m getting one thing, and I get something totally different. This happened when I began reading Welcome Home. I thought it was going to be a haunted house story.
The story is haunting, but there are no actual ghosts. What’s there is something shadowing John Lester. It’s like when you see something out of the corner of your eye, and when you turn to look, nothing is there. But this isn’t visual so much as it’s memories. They haunt John’s sleep, staying just out of reach of recall.
While this didn’t really scare me, it did surprise me and that’s always a good thing.
A good story for a rainy day.
No One Lives Forever (Thanatophobia)
Jacob thinks he’s being stalked.
He first sees the white haired man in black when he goes to step on the elevator at work. The elevator is already crowded with thirteen people so he waits for the next one.
The next day, while walking to work, he sees the same man again, walking towards him.
Something about the man gives him the chills but he gathers himself and approaches him. The stranger seems to know Jacob but reveals no agenda. Just says, “I’ll be seeing you.”
The next day Jacob catches the news on TV and sees where twelve people died when an elevator crashed. Weren’t there thirteen people on the elevator? Wasn’t the man in black on that elevator?
The next day, the man in black is waiting for him outside his apartment. Jacob has to wonder, who is he, is he alive, what does he want from him?
You’ll be surprised at what he wants from Jacob and who he is.
Great twist.
Chuckles The Clown (Coulrophobia)
Ever since I read Stephen King’s IT, I’ve had a thing about clowns. This only makes that feeling stronger.
Thirteen year old Simon thinks he’s too old for the carnival. His mother, tired of his whining, suggests he go to the arcade and play some games. As Simon walks away she issues a warning, “Watch out for clowns.”
Walking toward the arcade, Simon thinks he catches a glimpse of one, the clown barely discernible as it slips through the crowd, and remembers his mothers warning.
He sees it again, more clearly. It looks like a normal clown, until it smiles, revealing a mouth full of knives, and it’s eyes, yellow and glowing.
Simon’s father sees it too. Good thing he followed Simon to the arcade to watch over him. They arrive safely at home to discover a small clown figure waiting for them. Innocent looking if they hadn’t seen the clown at the carnival.
Is it a warning? Did the carnival clown leave it for them? Will he be coming back?
So creepy.
Porcelain (Pediophobia)
I read and reviewed this earlier this year so I’m adding parts of my review.
I love horror, whether reading it or watching it. There are lots of movies about dolls. Let’s see. There’s all those Puppet Masters movies. How about Chuckie? Now, that’s one messed up doll. I would never have bought that for my kid. And now we have Annabelle. Have you seen The Conjuring? That doll was scary evil and wasn’t even the main plot in the movie.
I can go back much further. Ventriloquists. Their dolls come to life. Seen a few different takes on that idea.
So yes, the whole doll taking on a life of its own has been done before. It’s the author’s ability to take that and hone it to their own tale that reveals their talent and creativity. William didn’t disappoint me.
A weary traveler stops at a bed & breakfast for the night. It’s a rather lovely place with lots of collectibles on display.
The older woman who owns the place explains that each item has a history, it’s own story.
When the woman is pulled away from the conversation by a phone call and the guest kills time looking over the many objects, one in particular catches his eye.
A porcelain doll, quite lovely. His daughter would love it.
When the guest checks out in the morning, the doll travels with him to his condo. There it will wait until he visits his daughter.
But the doll won’t wait for long. It has quite a history and is ready to make a new one.
I thought I saw the end coming. I was so wrong about that. Once the author revealed the dolls history, it went every which way but the way I thought it would.
The suspense was nail biting. If this were a movie, I’d be peeking through my fingers.
Scary good stuff.
The Shape (Sciophobia)
Kyle Morgan has a severe case of insomnia. He hasn’t had more that two hours of sleep over the past three days. He desperately needs to sleep.
After another night of lying in the dark, wishing for sleep, he gets up to go to the bathroom. Staring at his haggard appearance in the mirror, he sees a faint shape, a shadow, behind him. Nothing’s there when he turns around.
He becomes haunted by the shadow. Could it be hallucinations from lack of sleep? They say you can go insane.
What if it’s real? What does it want?
Lying in the dark, tired, your mind can play tricks on you. Your fears can become magnified. What if those fears are justified?
The Lake (Limnophobia)
It’s a beautiful day and Charlie is spending it at the park, watching the families grilling out and the kids swimming in the lake. The only thing that isn’t pleasing about this setting is the strange smell of bleach hovering around the lake.
While watching a child walk through the tall grass by the shore, he sees something strange and gets a sense of danger. The boy makes it through the grass and wades into the lake. Just when Charlie thinks things are okay, something grabs the boy and pulls him under.
Quickly rushing to save the boy, Charlie doesn’t give up on the tug of war and rescues the boy. As the crowd fusses over the child, the smell of bleach returns and something grabs Charlie and pulls him under.
The smell of bleach, something reaching out to pull you into the water. I know what you’re thinking, but this is something else, something dark, cold, maybe ancient.
Disquieting and chilling.
The Sinkhole (Agateophobia)
It’s June in Florida. That saying about being so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk is true. I actually tried it and it worked, though I didn’t eat the egg.
The man catches a ride to the store with his friend Mark, who repairs sinkholes. Mark invites him to come along when he gets a call to inspect a new sinkhole.
When the men arrive they discover the mother of all sinkholes. A huge hole has appeared in the people yard, fifteen feet wide, at least a hundred feet deep, and filled with black water that reeks of sulfur.
As the man gazes into the hole, mesmerized by the inky blackness, he hears a whisper, a voice but not a voice, words but not words. Feeling ill, he snaps himself out of it and gets Mark to drop him off at home.
Later, waking in the dark, the man feels a need to return to the sinkhole, to hear the whispers, the words, to peer into the black water, and find out what lurks there.
He should have stayed in bed.
So there you have it. Seven phobias that will keep you up at night. While not all of these would get a 5 star rating from me, enough of them did to give this collection an over all rating of:
5 Stars
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Synopsis
COUNTERPHOBIA: The pursuit of situations and instances in direct relation to an individual’s fear for the purpose of overcoming this fear, or to find pleasure or excitement in it. Symptoms of counterphobia while subjecting oneself to these fears can include trembling or shaking, shortness of breath, and even panic attacks. You were warned.
WELCOME HOME tells the tale of John Lester, a man who inherits his old family home – and with it a dark secret.
CHUCKLES THE CLOWN delves into Jake’s fear of clowns and gives him even more reason to be afraid of them.
NO ONE LIVES FOREVER follows Jacob as he narrowly avoids a fatal accident though finds out there’s more to it than he thought.
Face your fears as you read through these stories and more in this menagerie of works that includes a little something for all kinds of horror fans.
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Author William Hage
William has recently self-published two stories on Amazon. Welcome Home: A Short Story & Porcelain: A Novelette. He also has 3 stories published in the magazine Sanitarium.
When he isn’t writing, William has a deep love for technology and bides his time researching the latest things and has spent years working with computers.
William also appeared in a few bands writing songs and playing guitar, having recorded two albums with his former band ESM.
Author Links
Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Website ~ Twitter
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Do these sound scary enough for you? Read them, I dare ya!
And thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!
