For more purchase options, visit the Black Beacon Books shop.
Don't forget to add this book to your Goodreads bookshelf and leave a rating and review.
Publication details: Black Beacon Books, 2020
Genres: suspense, horror, erotic horror, dark literary
Length: 13 stories / 200 pages / 57,000 words
Cover: Michelle Walls
The Animal Inside is a collection of thirteen strange and twisted stories that will take you for a walk along the fine line between insanity and reason, the peculiar and the prosaic, and the animal kingdom and human society, then leave you wondering where one ends and the other begins. These tales will confuse, amuse, shock, and intrigue, but they will also cause you to contemplate your very own animal inside.
The Tales:
Cleopatra’s Mystery Box
The Church of Asag
Old Mabel’s Stray Cat
Veronica’s Dogs
The Crows of Eildon Hill
Lauren
Milk
Horror at Hollow Head
Declan’s Fantasy
Forgotten Falls
Animal
Like Sisters
It Starts with Insects
"The thirteen stories included in the book will be ones you remember, and that, friends, is a sign of a good short story collection...If this is your first taste of Cameron Trost, you've come to the right place. I will remember the name."
Bruce Blanchard, Goodreads (five-star rating)
"Tight, well written, and suspenseful. Some might find some of the stories a little edgy as they stray into species dysphoria, but there was nothing too explicit or disgusting. All in all, a very good read. Recommended reading for those into animalistic horror."
Matthew King, Amazon (five-star rating)
"This collection opens with “Cleopatra’s Mystery Box,” in which Cleopatra asks her lover to reach into her mystery box and tell her what he feels. She will reward him if he guesses correctly. The story is sexy, creepy and enthralling. And that’s just the beginning. This is a fascinating collection of creepy tales, sometimes dealing with animals like cats, crows or dogs, and sometimes dealing with the human animals. All the stories have an eerie touch and some have bizarre premises that Mr. Trost makes entirely believable. Some leave the reader with disturbing questions about life...it’s tough to choose a favorite, but I would go with “It Starts with Insects,” which open with a young boy from a violent home analyzing the behavior of ants and beetles. Creepy."
Robert Petyo, Amazon (five-star rating)
Hoffman's Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales
Publication details: Black Beacon Books, third edition, 2014
Genres: suspense, mystery, horror, adventure, dark literary
Length: 23 stories / 332 pages / 94,000 words
A businessman staying in a Scottish manor makes the mistake of deciding to spend the evening in the library. A group of unpopular teenage girls uses witchcraft to pursue their aims. A rich banking tycoon has forgotten his university days when he and his friends dared to imagine a world ruled by social justice and working class ideals. The estranged family of a deceased aristocrat bicker over their inheritance. A botanist’s love for his plants is unnaturally deep-rooted.
“Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales” is the first short story collection from Cameron Trost. It plunges the reader into a world of mystery, suspense, obsession and greed. From the Scottish highlands and the jagged peaks of the Pyrénées to the streets of Brisbane and the Australian countryside, Cameron Trost provokes the reader by ensnaring recognisable characters in disturbingly plausible situations. His writing seeks to entertain while exploring the absurdities and peculiarities of society and the human mind.
The Disturbing Tales:
Not to be Read
Lightning
The Ritual
The Butcher’s Window
Kangaroo Point
Patrick O’Malley
Beneath the Flowers
Toy Truck
Hardwicke’s Fair Share
A Blizzard in the Pyrénées
The Legend of Redback Jack
The Lakeside Disappearance
Party Trick
Jenny’s Dream
Noisy Neighbours
Cockatoo Cabin
A Well-Informed Corpse
Ambulance in Eden
The Mortenson Estate
Let Darkness Take Hold
The Stench
Cathedral Man and the Rare Twelve Inch
Hoffman's Creeper
What reviewers say about Hoffman's Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales:
"Cameron Trost employs a kind of failsafe twist designed to rock readers perceptions of what came before. It’s a token technique, one that other writers aspire to but which he seems to have diligently mastered."
Matthew Tait, dark fiction writer and reviewer for Hellnotes
"Cameron Trost understands the most important thing about writing, something that is often forgotten by rising authors as they struggle to perfect technique and style. The bottom line is: A story should make the reader want to keep reading. It should entice them. The ending should be a tasty morsel of meat dangled before a hungry predator who wants nothing more than to devour it... Rarely do I read a collection of shorts and come away saying that I enjoyed every single story. Hoffman's Creeper is most definitely worth your while!"
Lindsey Beth Goddard, dark fiction writer and reviewer
"Each tale is written with a clear purpose, to pull you in, tell you a story, then leave you with your thoughts about it after it has finished. If you are a lover of short stories with a bit of a twist then this collection is definitely worth checking out."
Sharon Syleste, fiction reviewer
"Trost's tale will leave you feeling dirty!" (The Ritual)
Shane Jiraiya Cummings, dark fiction writer and publisher
"Trost is an emerging talent from Australia, and if this short story is anything to go by he will have a lot to offer the dark fiction genre in years to come. “Hoffman’s Creeper” is reminiscent in many ways of vintage Lovecraft and is written in such a way as to keep you hooked right to the end. This could be a name to watch in the future." (Hoffman's Creeper)
C.M. Saunders, author and journalist. Review from Morpheus Tales
Available in print and for Kindle (including Kindle Unlimited) from Amazon (Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, Amazon.ca) or Bookshop.org and most other online retailers.
For more purchase options, visit the Black Beacon Books shop.
Don't forget to add this book to your Goodreads bookshelf and leave a rating and review.
Genres: suspense, mystery, horror, adventure, dark literary
Length: 23 stories / 332 pages / 94,000 words
A businessman staying in a Scottish manor makes the mistake of deciding to spend the evening in the library. A group of unpopular teenage girls uses witchcraft to pursue their aims. A rich banking tycoon has forgotten his university days when he and his friends dared to imagine a world ruled by social justice and working class ideals. The estranged family of a deceased aristocrat bicker over their inheritance. A botanist’s love for his plants is unnaturally deep-rooted.
“Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales” is the first short story collection from Cameron Trost. It plunges the reader into a world of mystery, suspense, obsession and greed. From the Scottish highlands and the jagged peaks of the Pyrénées to the streets of Brisbane and the Australian countryside, Cameron Trost provokes the reader by ensnaring recognisable characters in disturbingly plausible situations. His writing seeks to entertain while exploring the absurdities and peculiarities of society and the human mind.
The Disturbing Tales:
Not to be Read
Lightning
The Ritual
The Butcher’s Window
Kangaroo Point
Patrick O’Malley
Beneath the Flowers
Toy Truck
Hardwicke’s Fair Share
A Blizzard in the Pyrénées
The Legend of Redback Jack
The
Party Trick
Jenny’s Dream
Noisy Neighbours
Cockatoo Cabin
A Well-Informed Corpse
Ambulance in
The Mortenson Estate
Let Darkness Take Hold
The Stench
Cathedral Man and the Rare Twelve Inch
Hoffman's Creeper
What reviewers say about Hoffman's Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales:
"Cameron Trost employs a kind of failsafe twist designed to rock readers perceptions of what came before. It’s a token technique, one that other writers aspire to but which he seems to have diligently mastered."
Matthew Tait, dark fiction writer and reviewer for Hellnotes
"Cameron Trost understands the most important thing about writing, something that is often forgotten by rising authors as they struggle to perfect technique and style. The bottom line is: A story should make the reader want to keep reading. It should entice them. The ending should be a tasty morsel of meat dangled before a hungry predator who wants nothing more than to devour it... Rarely do I read a collection of shorts and come away saying that I enjoyed every single story. Hoffman's Creeper is most definitely worth your while!"
Lindsey Beth Goddard, dark fiction writer and reviewer
"Each tale is written with a clear purpose, to pull you in, tell you a story, then leave you with your thoughts about it after it has finished. If you are a lover of short stories with a bit of a twist then this collection is definitely worth checking out."
Sharon Syleste, fiction reviewer
"Trost's tale will leave you feeling dirty!" (The Ritual)
Shane Jiraiya Cummings, dark fiction writer and publisher
"Trost is an emerging talent from Australia, and if this short story is anything to go by he will have a lot to offer the dark fiction genre in years to come. “Hoffman’s Creeper” is reminiscent in many ways of vintage Lovecraft and is written in such a way as to keep you hooked right to the end. This could be a name to watch in the future." (Hoffman's Creeper)
C.M. Saunders, author and journalist. Review from Morpheus Tales
