Brace yourself, because it’s going to be a very bloody Valentine’s Day Most people associate the occassion with cards, candies, gifts, teddy bears, romantic dinners, and other such things. In “Love Kills: My Bloody Valentine” an anthology put out by Pill Hill Press a year ago, things are a little bit different. Cinnamon hearts and love notes are replaced by serial killers, ghosts, the Devil, vengeful maniacs, and much more.

Love Kills: My Bloody Valentine
Edited by Jessie Marie Roberts
Pill Hill Press
Price: $5.00 (Kindle Edition)

The first story, “Cupid’s Maze,” comes from Mark Souza, and involves a couple, Sean and Janet, are on their way to her parents’ house for Valentine’s Day. They end up lost on the way and find corpses wrapped in coccoons. Where there are webs and coccoons, there are usually spiders. And boy, are these ones freaky :-S Happy Valentine’s Day indeed. Ouch :-S

In “A Devilish Incantation,” we see the Devil. I love stories about The Devil, and never get sick of exploring a new one. That said, I’m particularly picky about the kinds of depictions that I like, and they usually take a lot to impress me. Lily Harlem’s definitely grabbed my attention at first.

Her descriptions are vivid and jump off the page. Just look at this sentence in which she describes Lucifer’s eyes:

…his ethereal eyes, which smoldered scarlet and black like the hot glowing embers at the base of a volcano.

This story explores the all too familiar and painful theme of a mother who has lost her child in a tragic accident. The Devil offers him back to her. Though she has refused in the past, this time she says yes to his deal. But as with all deals, the Devil doesn’t work for free. In exchange, the mother, Meredith, has to get Lucifer another male soul. And the Devil isn’t stupid, either. He’s a master manipulator who knows exactly what to say to make people bow to his will, and he didn’t get his legion of souls by playing Mr. Nice Guy. He’ll give Meredith her son back….after she delivers a male soul.

Meredith is repulsed by her attraction to the Devil, but I’m thinking if he looks anything like the Bowie-esque version of the Sandman graphic novels, I don’t blame her And despite her strong attraction to him, she’s also scared to death of him, which she should be. He’s already gotten away with murder in her town according to a local newspaper, and he definitely shows stalkerish tendencies.

True to his nature, the man knows how to make an introduction However, despite some of the great descriptions, the story could have done with a better copy-edit, as some homonyms were misspelled, and periods missing. As well, the Devil’s constant allusions to hating God and his master plan, when revealed, are a bit over the top. He outright lied to Meredith about her son, a predictable trait of “Deal with the Devil” stories, but when he reveals that he has waited two thousand years for her to bear him a son just so that he can prove to God that he, too, can have a kid who is, of course, the Antichrist, it felt pretty hackneyed, because we’ve seen this premise thousands of times before, although this time, he wants to make her his Queen. Still, if you’re a fan of erotica, you’ll enjoy this one.

Next up is Phyllis Humphrey’s “The Gift.” I never thought a parrot of all things could be so useful as a plot device. In “The Gift,” it is. In this tale, a woman, Jennifer, moves to Hawaii to start a new life where she meets a handsome widower who carries with him the mysterious circumstances of his wife, Mona’s, death. The conclusion is shocking in a very good way; you’ll definitely want to read this one, but you’ll never look at a bird the same

Michael R. Colangelo’s “Portrait of a Young Alchemist” is also an impressive tale. I’m a fan of Michael’s work, having read stories in his other anthologies, so I had high expectations for this one. A smart high school kid, Jasper, is forced by the male bullies in his grade to create a potion that will induce lust in anyone who drinks it. Naturally, the guys want to spike the fruit punch with it at the school dance. One of the bullies, Billy Hayes, is, well, a particularly vicious and homophobic jerk. Needless to say, his plans don’t exactly unfold as he expected when the school blows up in a freak accident. Undeterred, Billy forces Jasper to pick up female body parts at the morgue so they can make a female Frankenstein that will be his love slave. But Jasper isn’t the typical school nerd who can’t stand up for himself and just takes beatings. He definitely has a backbone, and he knows how to get results. The ending, although expected, is still creepy.

In D.B. Reddick’s “The Intruder,” we see that Peeping Toms never change Guys who peer into the windows of women who are taking their clothes off will eventually begin to assume that the woman is doing it for them and “putting on a show,” which is really the furthest thing from the truth. But guys like this are usually delusional to begin with, and Reddick’s protagonist is no different. The ending is creatively done, and the twist is unexpected. Turns out our little miss Jillian, the woman giving the “strip show,” isn’t so innocent after all

Jessica A. Weiss has fashioned the flipside of the previous story in “Hug Me, Kiss Me, Bleed for Me.” Instead of a male stalker, the lead character is a woman who is obsessed with a married man that she can’t have. And she’s dangerous. Man, if you thought Glenn Close was a psycho, she’s got absolutely nothing on this woman, Bess. But the wife is even sicker than the killer, which was a nice twist :-S

Jeffrey C. Pettengill’s “A Valentine’s Day Never To Be Forgotten” is another notable tale. Despite some copy-editing errors in this one, it’s an engaging story about a man, Jerry, who you’ll truly feel sorry for. He’s madly in love with a woman to whom he’s going to propose, and although she was previously married and has two kids that he’s taken care of and spent time with, all of a sudden the first husband comes back into the picture. Breaking up over the phone is still one the most callous things a person can do. Not as bad as breaking up with someone over Facebook by changing status, or by announcing it on national television (*coughs* Matt Damon *coughs*), but still pretty rotten. You literally feel this guy’s world crash. This story also has an unexpected twist ending, but didn’t shock me as much as some of the other tales so far.

We have the only story in the anthology set in the past with J. Troy Seate’s “The Red Satin Ribbon,” which takes place in 1910. It begins with a woman toasting a corpse (her husband’s, to be precise) with a glass of champagne in her hand. She reveals that she arranged to have him killed so that she could run off with the man she really loves. And if you think Ebenezer Scrooge was a greedy old miser, you haven’t met the protagonist of this story, Charlotte. Let’s just say I didn’t feel too bad about what befell her in the end

John Pennington’s “Room Service” concerns a husband who discovers that his wife is cheating on him takes brutal and swift revenge, catching her when she doesn’t expect it. Only things get much more complicated when her lover shows up. Add a hit man to the mix and you’ve got one disturbing but ultimately entertaining story.

“Grace” is one of the more disturbing but enjoyable tales of the anthology. Walter, the serial killer of this story, admits right off the bat what he is and he’s quick to assert that he’s not like other serial killers in that he was never abused as a child, never tortured the family pet, never tried to burn anything down. According to him, he kills because he can create something beautiful out of death. He picks Oklahoma City as his territory, and as it turns out, he’s looking for a woman who shares his love of murder. Each killing that he commits is, to him, a statement of art, like the anorexic college girl that he disembowels to “symbolize the hatred she felt for eating.” But of course, other people don’t recognize his “brilliance” or his “art,” which frustrates him. Big time. But he starts tracking the patterns of another serial killer in town who he’s convinced is a woman, and he names her Grace.

Each time he kills, she kills in response to one of his murders — or at least that’s what he thinks. He sees the killings as a courtship ritual and convinces himself that she’s flirting with him and acknowledging that he’s good at what he does.

What’s truly sick is that he feels he’s actually bonding with this woman who is committing her own murders. He feels such a strong bond toward her that he seeks out a young couple to murder in order to “prove” his devotion to Grace and to show the “ultimate sign” of his “love” for her. This story has a great ending — truly resonant.

Matthew S. Dent’s “P.S. I Need You” makes the case that it’s not always the ladies who are needy and clingy. Although in this case, the guy in question, Jerry, is, well, a bit more complicated This is another good one to check out.

And Ruth Barrett gives us an interesting offering in “Emotional Vampire,” which isn’t what it sounds like. I thought it would be the story of a misguided teenage Twihard who becomes a goth and seeks other like-minded people only to be tricked by a guy she falls for and then, inevitably, killed. This tale is completely different. It’s about a clingy, emotionally needy girl, Janine, who is in love with a guy, Richard, who couldn’t really care less about her. She keeps calling him and hounding him until he meets her on Valentine’s Day — and completely turns the tables on her. This story was a particularly good read.

Rich Sampson’s “Losing It” teaches us that you have to be careful what you wish for, because it might not be how you expect it to be when it comes true. A “goody two shoes” mathlete, Tim, finds that out the hard way as he works some kind of mojo on a girl he likes and her prime directive becomes to get into his pants. He gets a lot more than he bargained for, and he’s another character who transforms, sickeningly, into someone who is definitely not as innocent as he first comes off as.

Overall, it’s a strong anthology as a whole, and like the rest of Pill Hill Press’ offerings, it has great storytelling standards and engaging tales that will leave you wanting more

A nice design feature of the anthology is that at the end of each story, there’s an icon of Cupid with a bow and arrow. I think it adds a creepy but elegant touch.

So if you’re looking for a different way to spend your Valentine’s Day, grab a flashlight, buy this anthology and download it to your e-reader, and give your heart a mighty good scare