These Lonely Places: A Collection of Bad Dreams

Whispers from the Abyss

By: R.k. Kombrinck, Velox Books

Narrated by: Geoff Sturtevant

R.k. Kombrinck, co-host of Night of the Living Podcast, delivers a collection of short stories to make you dread the empty house across the street; to make you wonder what lurks in the woods behind the park and question the smile of your kind, elderly neighbor.

A new employee uncovers his workplace’s top-secret supernatural history. A little girl unknowingly invites a sinister creature into her family’s home through conversations with her “imaginary” friend. A hellish virus brings a cursed town’s populace back from the dead. A boy discovers something far more dangerous than Saint Nick coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve. The disappearance of a couple spurs an investigation into the dark history of monster sightings in that area.

In these stories and many others, These Lonely Places takes the world you know, the world of the familiar and mundane, and turns it into a playground of ghosts, demons, harpies, and murderers.

©2024 R.k. Kombrinck (P)2025 Velox Books

Critic reviews

“Stories that are guaranteed to entertain.”—Doubleshot Reviews

“A great collection if you are a fan of horror stories with some twists in the tail.”—Annette Gisby, author of The Chosen

Creepy

I enjoyed all the stories. They went from nerve racking to check under the bed scary. I love horror stories and this one is special.

Not for me.

There is always something for everyone in these short story collections. Unfortunately, there was nothing for me in this one. The narrator was good though.

Of Gems and Junk

I made it past the third story, Mrs. Lumley's Masks, which was just really predictable gross torture crap and gave up. The first two stories were boring cliches (the first one about the motel was at least worth a listen), but the second one was just poorly thought out to the point where this feels like a self-published work. Seriously, a couple is trying to figure out if their friends are home without getting out of the car because something is stalking them ...oooh noooo what can they do-oh wait you could just uh trying honking the horn? No? Just lay on the horn, if they're home and not dead, they'll hear it. The characters all act so irrationally that it stops being scary. So after the first one was meh, the second was bad, and the third was just lasy torture crap...I quit. If you've ever listened to good horror writers like Stephen King, Josh Malerman, or Darcy Coates (now hers are some quick fun horror stories)... definitely give this compilation a pass.

EDIT: Ok I gave it another chance. Some of these stories are actually very good. Ironically, the shorter they were, the better and smarter. There is a weird number of rape themed ones, which just feels kinda "edgelord" rather than scary. The one called Celaeno ended up being just a gross-out fest which is a shame because it started strong. So it's an ok book. For every stinker story, there's a good one.

Great collection of short stories.

Title says it all! Really enjoyed the majority of these. Several of them legitimately creeped me out.

A Hellish Anthology

A tastefully written anthology and the more stories the better it gets. I have to admit I wasn't wowed by the first 2 stories but after that I was sad to hear it come to an end. It gets weird, creepy and most of all disturbing. I'm ready for another book from this author.

Also the narrator KILLED IT. When I say this man was not only talented but dedicated to all the roles! Primo!!!