Christopher C Teague Nasty Snips

Published back in 1999 by MT Publishing, ' Nasty Snips 'was dreamt up, edited and finally realised by one man; Christopher C Teague. Originating from a posting on the internet mailing list operated by the small press magazine ' Peeping Tom ' , Teague ' s idea of a collection of horror short stories soon became more of a reality when the US based newsletter ' Scavengers ' began advertising for contributions.

An Inbox and PO Box crammed with contributions later, Teague set about the task of choosing, editing and solely financing the project. Success or not, ' Nasty Snips 'was realised and unleashed onto the unsuspecting world.

Comprising of a total of thirty-six gruesome short stories as well as a loose final scattering of grisly poems, ' Nasty Snips 'takes the reader through a minefield of often surreal snippets of horrific short tales. With the inclusion of some reasonably well known names in the dark fiction world, ' Nasty Snips 'is a little known gem for readers of the genre.

Not every contribution in the collection is a success, with a large expanse of varied writing styles, the collection feels too loose to be read from cover to cover. A vast multitude of sinful spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and editing faux pars litter the collection from start to finish.

Topped of with a poorly executed electronic image of some gory illustration by a Charles S Fallis, there is a definite amateurish feel to the book that cannot be ignored. This said, the collection contains a number of well written and thoroughly enjoyable contributions including pieces by reasonably well known authors such as Tim Lebbon, Mark McLaughlin, John Everson and Simon Clark.

As long as you don ' t expect too much and keep at the back of your mind that this was the first attempt at putting together and publishing a collection of shorts, you will probably find yourself enjoying a lot of what ' Nasty Snips 'has to offer.

The collection has a total of 158 pages and contains the following shorts:

- Bagged (David M Simon)

- The Child Catcher (Darren Floyd)

- Angel of the Agony (D F Lewis)

- I ' ll Always Be With You (Shawn James)

- And To All A Good Night (Mike Watt)

- In Her Own Way (Stuart Hughes)

- Kidnap Cantata with Accompanying Dialtone (Shikhar Dixit)

- This Masquerade (Steve Lockley)

- Spider (Jack Fisher)

- Mirror Image (John Everson)

- The Beach (Tim Lebbon)

- Impaled (Craig Sernotti and D F Lewis)

- The Dark (Trevor Mendham)

- In the Garden of Flesh (Cathy Buburuz)

- #Chat Room (J Newman)

- Choice (Marice Lynn Tentchoff)

- Event Horizon (Trevor Denyer)

- The Eternal Idol (Kristopher Reisz)

- Boxes and Bags (Gerald Daniel Houarner)

- Homework (Ken Goldman)

- My Smile (Kaaron Warren)

- Pride (Paul Lockey)

- Waiting For Him (Gene-Michael Higney)

- Amen (Simon Clark)

- Witch Obsession (John R Platt)

- Need (Scott Nicholson)

- Exploding Heads (Paul Bradshaw)

- Making Music (Edo van Belkom)

- A Splash of Crimson (Amy Grech)

- Urcheida (James S Dorr)

- Persuasion (Doug Hewitt)

- Drool Tool: The Meltdown Mix (Mark McLaughlin)

- The Maiden Sings (Staci Layne Wilson)

- All I Want For Christmas (Bill Francis)

- 15 Inches (Jason Andrew)

- Poetry (Tony Mileman)