Title: Serotonin
Author: Joshua Scribner
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: March 2, 2019
Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary
Length: 15 pages
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 5 Stars
Blurb:
A vampire story with historical references and a strong science fiction component.
Review:
Content Warning: Stalking, imprisonment, a discussion about why one character is a cannibal (but no actual cannibalism happens in this tale), and a vampire’s finger being cut off. I won’t discuss any of this in my review.
Sometimes there are no good guys.
I almost stopped reading halfway through this short story due to how violent certain passages were, but the two charismatic antagonists made me curious to see which one of these bad guys might win. Neither of them was someone I’d ever want to meet in a dark alley, but I couldn’t deny that they were both intelligent and quick-witted. It was amusing to see how their ominous energies interacted with each other.
What ultimately convinced me to go for a five star rating was how terrifying vampires are in this world. I’ll leave it up to other readers to learn for themselves why this is the case, but it was refreshing to see an author take a more traditional approach to this lore and make the main character someone who truly feels like a menace to human society. This is a great option for readers who like being scared and who would rather have their vampires without a single ounce of romance or sentimentality.
The world building was fantastic. Given how short this was, I don’t want to share too many details about how vampires or their abilities work in this universe. All you need to know is that they choose their victims carefully and that there are things humans can do to increase and decrease the odds of being selected as someone’s dinner option. There doesn’t seem to be such a thing as a random vampire attack here. That made me want to learn more about how it all worked.
Serotonin was an excellent example of what horror should be.
This is probably not for me, but I know a friend who would enjoy it.
That’s totally understandable. Not everyone likes horror by any means, but I hope you friend does if they read it.
Vampire stuff done well can be some of the creepiest horror out there. I’m glad you enjoyed this one so much!
Thank you. Yeah, vampires can be terrifying if they’re written in the right way!