The latest in Kevin J. Kennedy’s drabble series of horror, Part 3 does not disappoint with bringing another group of horror writers together in one volume!

A little different from previous anthologies, Kennedy states in his opening words that he opened this volume to the public and received a massive response. Of course this means that the drabbles collected here are his personal favorites out of the pleathora of submissions.

Having already gone through two of these previously, I didn’t find all that many variations on theme or story all in all. Drabbles either land or they don’t with the reader, though most should at least tease the mind a bit. I found a mix of these within Part 3, but I found the consistency of them a bit uneven compared to previous parts. This might be the mix of public call or a mix of having already read a couple hundred horror drabbles, but I was surprised that I wasn’t as deeply marveled or disturbed by them as I had been in the past.

The first one that makes a note, is Steve Stred’s “Cursed,” which riffs on vampires, tells a complete tale without leaving a dangling ending. It’s a rather satisfying climax to an age old sibling feud.

Another one drabble that tells a whole tale is Stuart Conover’s “Be Careful What You Wish For.” Here is a riff on zombies, but it parallels themes of addiction and the self-destruction that clings to it like a shadow. It’s actually quite impressive.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Chad Lutzke featured in here, especially since I very much enjoyed his recent anthology, so reading his “Nothing” wasn’t exactly the opposite of its title, it was everything.

And to close this one out, I appreciated Kennedy’s own “The Apocalypse Bar” which had shout-outs to his recent novella, SCREECHERS, with Christina Bergling.

All in all, another satisfying anthology with some new and welcome voices, alongside the tried and true hits.