Tales From the Lake Vol. 5

My story “In the Family” is in the new Crystal Lake Publishing anthology Tales from the Lake Vol. 5 (edited by Kenneth W. Cain). The book also features stories by Allison Pang, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Samuel Marzioli, Robert Stahl, Paul Michael Anderson, Michelle Ann King, Lucy Taylor, Laura Blackwell, Cory Cone, Lane Waldman, Jonah Buck, Joanna Parypinski, Jason Sizemore, Gemma Files, Craig Wallwork, and Tim Waggoner.

In my story, a former child actress reveals dark family secrets to her long-lost niece. My tale received a positive review from A.E. Siraki:

“One of my other favourite stories was ‘In the Family’ by Lucy A. Snyder, which is told with an interesting narrative technique–it’s a character talking at the outset but without any quoted dialogue, and they’re talking so fast that I pictured it in my head like someone on fast-forward. As the story goes on and we learn more details, things become profoundly disturbing and the climax continues to build, revealing a Whatever Happened to Baby Jane type of scenario at the outset with a rivalry between twin sisters. The main character definitely takes the reader on a ride and just when you think it can’t possibly get more disturbing, the gut punches land hard and fast making this one of the most memorable stories of this anthology.”

And Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Reviews had this to say: “Another highlight of the anthology is ‘In The Family’ from author Lucy A. Snyder. The first-person narrator can be difficult to pull off at times, but done right it can pay dividends, as it does here. Snyder uses the point of view to deliver a story that initially appears to be aiming for the very personal, quiet horror of helping someone reconnect with a loved one they’d never really known; but just when you think you have a handle on the story’s direction, Snyder absolutely flattens you with a series of deeply intimate and shocking twists that genuinely shocked me. Then there’s an absolute sucker-punch that comes out of nowhere in the last few pages, escalating the horror still further and providing the perfect ending to such a fantastic short story. ‘In The Family’ is one of those stories that justifies the purchase of an entire anthology on its own, and absolutely deserves to be in the ‘Best of Horror’ collections when they’re created for 2018.”