I’ve been reading a lot of really great short horror recently. A lot of that has been courtesy of [Shadows & Tall Trees], which is a great collection of low-key horror stories.

I highly recommend catching up on the back issues, but in case you’re hesitant, you can read one of the stories from Volume 4 to help convince you.

Check out [Robert Shearman’s “Bedtime Stories for Yasmin”] on his blog. It apparently had a different name (just “Yasmin Timothy”), but the story is still awesomely creepy and just fantastically well-written. The writing and tone is just so spot on that there were parts I actually read out loud just to hear them flow. There’s a fantastic sense of build-up and even some really funny turns of phrase that are delightfully restrained (but obviously intentional).

Its one of the real stand-outs of Vol. 4 of Shadows & Tall Trees, but not at all an anomaly in terms of quality. Again, I whole-heartedly recommend this journal (and Shearman, too!).

[Robert Shearman’s “Bedtime Stories for Yasmin”]: http://justsosospecial.com/2012/10/29/yasmin-timothy/

[Shadows & Tall Trees]: http://www.undertowbooks.com