Jars in the Cellar by Lee Clark Zumpe

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

Jars in the Cellar by Lee Clark Zumpe

Damnation Books, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-61572-047-7

Available: Digital

If Lovecraft lived in the Deep South he might have come up with something like Jars in the Cellar. This short tale (about 30 pages) has a familiar beginning. A high powered, rich city guy is trapped in hillbilly country by car troubles is at the mercy of a backwoods witch, a mysterious man with a huge secret and their genetic monster of a child. But the outcome isn’t what one might expect.

While this is an enjoyable read through and through, and even plays on readers’ own preconceived expectations from previous pop culture exposures to this particular setup, it’s a very short, very fast read- just the kind of thing to make a doctor’s office wait or even a boring movie more enjoyable. For the purposes of this site, though, its value to a public collection is questionable, unless the library is actively acquiring and lending in digital form.