4.5/5 stars!

With this installment,(because it looks like it's going to be a series), Silver Shamrock Publishing has cemented their place near the top of current horror and dark fiction publishers. In this volume, all the stories are joined by a demonic thread and for horror lovers, it doesn't get much better than this!

In MIDNIGHT IN THE PENTAGRAM, we are presented with many new authors to discover and some professionals who have been at the top of the business for some time now. Clocking in at over 550 pages I can't go into every story, but I will briefly touch on a few that stood out to me:

THE CORN MAIDEN by Brian Moreland. Many times in this volume my heart has gone out to the young female lead, but it started with this story which is also the first in the book.

FATHER MACLEOD by Tony Tremblay. I'll just say the priest discovered his real name.

THE OTHER by Laurel Hightower. All I'm saying is that this author is one to watch!

LEGION CAST FORTH by Robert Ford put me off of bacon for a while. And church. (Just joking, I don't go to church.)

WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE by Chad Lutze. I've been a fan of Chad Lutzke for a few years now and up to this point, nothing that he has written made me laugh my butt off. This story cracked me up.

HELLSEED by Tim Curran makes me want to blow off all of my review obligations and make my way back to all the Curran books I have on my Kindle right now. I will get there eventually, this story guaranteed it.

BABY TEETH by Azzurra Nox. Who is this person? Because this story was AWESOME. It's hard not to be engaged when the first sentence is "I had to do it."

DOG EAT GOD by Kenneth W. Cain. I seem to remember another story about a dog in MIDNIGHT IN THE GRAVEYARD as well. It's working for him!

DISCOVERING MR. JONES by Cameron Ulam. This could be my favorite story of the collection. It was off the wall, gross and scary too. Bravo!

THE GODS OF OUR FATHERS by Todd Keisling. I felt so much empathy for this female character, I wanted to reach into the words that created her and hug them tight. This could be my favorite story too. I can't really decide.

I KNOW HE LOVES ME (HE JUST HAS A FUNNY WAY OF SHOWING IT) by James Newman. Like many other authors in this book, I've been following James Newman's work for awhile now. It never fails to move my heart and this story is no exception.

SECOND SIGHT by Allan Leverone. This one left me with such imagery and it comes back to me at the weirdest of times. This one shook me up, folks!

A NIGHT ABOVE by John Quick. This author is new to me and this story made me want to immediately go out and buy everything he's written. Don't people get that you can never make a deal with a demon or devil?

COMPLEX by Jason Parent helped to get my cult fix.

THE BLACK-JAR MAN by Mark Steensland. A fast story that punches you right in the stomach. Oof!

EXPRESS by Edward M. Erdelac. I currently have situations in my life that I feel powerless over and because of that, I really identified with the man is this story who had finally had enough. He took that express elevator right to the top so he would BE HEARD by those in charge.

There are many other stories within and many of them just as good as the ones I've highlighted above. As such I have to give kudos to the editors that chose to include these tales and chose to present them in the order they did. My only complaint is that this volume is a bit long. However, if I had had to choose which of these stories I would cut, I couldn't do it, so I understand how we got here.

I highly recommend this anthology to those horror and dark fiction lovers that prefer their stories to include demons, possessions, evil and other fun devilry!

Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3neTnJL

*Thank you to Silver Shamrock for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it! ( )