Kindle Edition Amazon Crystal Lake Publishing Category:  Horror Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing ISBN-10:  0994662610 Type: Fiction Pages: 226 Copyright: April, 2015 ISBN-13: 9780994662613 Price: $3.99 (eBook) THE OUTSIDERS is a shared-world Suspense Thriller / Horror featuring the gated community of Priory, with its religious leader Charles Erich and his cult followers: those who’ll do anything for him, and those who are waiting to overthrow him. Is that which slithers below true evil, or does evil reside in Priory? THE OUTSIDERS is a Suspense Thriller / Horror featuring the gated community of Priory, with its cult leader Charles Erich and his followers, including those who want to overthrow him, and those who’ll do anything for him. Is that which they worship the true evil, or does evil reside in them? Inside Priory awaits a lot more than meets the eye. The people might seem friendly, but only because their enigmatic leader Charles Erich accepts nothing less. The cottages within this gated community seem simple enough, and even though what lurks beneath them is more ancient than mankind itself, can anything be more evil than the people worshipping it? If you dare follow this UK invasion of five prime authors as they each tell their own story of the people living behind Priory's steel gates and high walls, you'll quickly find yourself an outsider, as well. Featuring stories by Stephen Bacon, James Everington, Gary Fry, V.H. Leslie, and Rosanne Rabinowitz. Introduction by Kevin Lucia.   The Priory. A community of one mind and purpose. A place of order, commitment, peace, and service. A perfect world, building on mind shattering secrets from beyond the pale. Enter…if you dare.

CHILLS, THRILLS, AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
To me, reading The Outsiders, was a unique experience as I've never read a collection of short stories all set in the same universe with the same characters yet written by different authors. A gated community, believed to be a religious cult, strange disappearances and people with unusual behaviour, as well as something monstrous lurking deep below the foundations of said gated community certainly could make imaginations run wild.

In the first story The Subprime, we are introduced to Lee, a man who realizes that his boss is not exactly a highly moral man. His effort to quit his job leads to a dinner with the potential to go horribly wrong. As Lee enters Priory and proceeds to the dinner party, the reader experiences firsthand his apprehension which later becomes paranoia.

In the second tale, Michala, a police woman from the nearby town of Exham, investigates a suicide which leads her to the mysterious Priory. While Ryan tries to escape his religious fanatic wife, Caitlin, elderly Petra is concerned for her husband's wellbeing and sanity.

In the final story, Meat, Motion, and Light, a young woman, whose mother is at the heart of the secret that lives below Priory, returns to lay to rest that which still haunts her from her years growing up there, and, maybe, to resolve more than just her past.

The people who appear in all the stories or in more than one of the stories, are kept in character by all the different authors. I was most impressed by the extremely well portrayed religious leader, Charles Erich, as well as by the deceptively sophisticated Mr. Philips. The reappearance of a grown up Claudia in the last story was an unexpected bonus. In that final tale she stands out as one of the more fleshed out characters in the book.

I highly recommend The Outsiders as a suspenseful, sometimes downright scary and very well compiled collection of stories to everybody who loves a steadily unfolding horror with an excellent, but unexpected, end. (Ellen Fritz)

Extraordinary, seamless--Lovecraftian and Beyond
An extraordinary, seamless, collection with a shared-theme, shared-world--a wonderfully Lovecraftian world, a theme unafraid to reveal the very dark underside of the Lovecraftian Mythos. Five great authors--Gary Fry, James Everington, Stephen Bacon, V.H. Leslie, Rosanne Rabinowitz--collude to provide an incredible story set about one rural English gated community, Priory, a community unlike any other, a community with one focus and one purpose. THE OUTSIDERS is Lovecraftian, yes; but the stories also manage to tell a lot about human nature and interaction, about human fear of the unknown and the perceived "different," about self-loathing turned inside out and projected against "the other." This book deserves a wide and encompassing readership.

Ignore that slithering sound,,,,,
Inside Priory awaits a lot more than meets the eye. The people might seem friendly, but only because their enigmatic leader Charles Erich doesn't give them much of a choice.

The cottages inside this gated community seem simple enough, and even though what lurks beneath them is more ancient than mankind itself, can anything be more evil than the people worshipping it?

If you dare follow this UK invasion of five prime authors as they each tell their own story of the people living behind Priory's steel gates and high walls, you'll quickly find yourself an outsider, as well.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This is in no way reflected in my opinion of this book.

The outsiders is a collection of tales centered around The Priory. A gated community that has a secret,,, The people there worship one of the Old Gods. As a fan of the Cthulhu mythos and Lovecraftian horror, I couldn't wait to read these stories! The stories you'll find here are filled with a sense of creeping dread and claustrophobic paranoia that grabs you and won't let go. All of the stories here are good but two of them really stood out for me. The first was Precious Things, where a woman learns that her true worth is priceless. The second was Meat, Motion, And Light, which gives us a glimpse into the mating rituals of an Old One. Both really great stories! Now,,, Ignore that slithering sound coming from the pipes and curl up with this 4 star read.