Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates

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✦ BLURB ✦

When Jenine finds an abandoned polaroid camera in a tower, she takes a photo just for fun. But there’s something wrong with the image: a ghostly figure stands in the background, watching her.

Jenine and her best friend, Bree, soon realize the camera is capable of capturing the dead. But the ghosts seem to be following the friends. And with each new photo taken, the specters become clearer and closer…

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✶ PRE-READING ✶

I've read a couple of Darcy Coates novels before, and her ability to create atmosphere is amazing. I was interested in how well that would carry over to short stories, with less time to build up the creepy feelings. Plus, haunted camera? Yes please!

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✶ POST-READING ✶

As I thought... Darcy is just as skilled in short story form - although a few of these are pushing that definition, and at least two are officially novellas. They're all scary in different ways, and one reminded me of a Stephen King short story. I'm still deciding which one is going to stick with me the longest - it might be A Box of Tapes, it might be Death Birds, but it could also be Untamed Things (or really any of the others!)

It surprised me by... …how much variety there was in the fear. Some stories were classic jump-scare horror, with sudden reveals and haunting imagery; others leaned into the psychological, the melancholic, even the bittersweet. And just when you think it's all doom and gloom, there's a glimmer of something brighter - hope, or at least understanding.

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✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall (for found footage vibes and ghostly horrors)

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (but grown up and seriously sinister)

TV: Channel Zero, especially Candle Cove (surreal, analogue fear and cursed media)

✦ MUSIC PAIRING ✦

Because sometimes, the heart of a story plays out like a song.

🎵 Featured Song: “Haunted” – Beyoncé (for that rich, echoing sense of inevitability)
🎶 Vibe Album: Lingua Ignota – CALIGULA (operatic, terrifying, and oddly beautiful)
🎧 Artist Recommendation: Chelsea Wolfe – especially Abyss or Birth of Violence, for their hauntingly cinematic edge

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✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

🎨 Colour Palette: Sepia, smoke grey, flashes of blood red

🎬 Soundtrack: A mix of analog camera clicks, whispering static, and heartbeats too loud in your ears

🍂 Season: Late autumn, just as the clocks go back

💭 Mood: Claustrophobic curiosity - you have to know what’s in the next photo, even if it kills you

🕯️ Scent: Dust, developer fluid, and something sour you can't quite place

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★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

The Moon – from the Dark Wood Tarot Mini
This card speaks to illusions, buried fears, and half-glimpsed truths. Perfect for a collection where perception can’t be trusted, and the truth is as obscured as a long-forgotten negative. The Moon’s energy drips from every page: beguiling, dangerous, and pulling you toward something you might regret discovering.

Ghost Camera is available now. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.