REVIEW: We All Scream for Ice Cream by Lou Yardley

A short story to give you brain-freeze!From indie horror author Lou Yardley comes a new deliciously weird story that can be devoured in sitting. Summer's here and the usually quiet and studious Katelyn is letting her rebellious steak out. At eleven-years-old and with the world's coolest bike, there's no stopping her. Especially now that she's got new friends...But a day at the park takes a bizarre and horrific turn when an ice cream van shows up. All at once, Katelyn learns about friendship, fitting in and the lengths she will go to survive. "We All Scream for Ice Cream" combines monsters, gore and dessert in one tasty little package.File under: Horror, Dark Fantasy, Weird.

If you are planning on grabbing some Ice Cream to eat during this recent pleasant weather…maybe think twice. Lou Yardley is known for bringing the gore to her stories and We All Scream for Ice Cream is no different. I love ice cream of all different flavours, strawberry, raspberry, salted caramel, I love them all. I, however, do not like Ice cream cones that attack children and tear them limb from limb. It’s a story that will have me side-eyeing Ice cream vans from now until eternity. It’s a fine line between an innocent ice cream seller to psychopathic octopus like monster that wants to end you.

Katelyn and her friends are on the cusp of their teenage years. They want to start hanging out further from their homes, they don’t want to listen to the stupid rules that their parents set – after all, isn’t rules just made to be broken? I mean what’s the worst that could happen? Ah the innocence of youth, I mean the worst that could happen is just the end of your existence but okay. Haven’t we all been there? We want to spread our wings, take chances and just live. Our parents don’t understand, it’s been years since they felt this way, can’t say that I’ve ever encountered a blood thirsty Ice cream van before!

Yardley has once again created a story that Is unique, weird, and bizarre all-in equal measure. She is queen of the visual imagery. Never is a word wasted, the reader is given exactly what they need in terms of storytelling. She cooks the perfect recipe of horror – gore, imagery and emotion wrenching talent. We also get a harsh setting one which could easily fall into the genre of cosmic horror (a firm favourite of mine).

This novella is fantastic, feels like call back to Christopher Pike and R.L Stine, but don’t be fooled this is not a story for children. This would steal their sleep for sure. The dark elements Is what I have come to expect and enjoy from Lou’s work. It is a compliment to how she brings it all together. At a short story length sometimes, you feel that you are missing something, or you are longing for more, but this was the perfect length and that ending…. *chef’s kiss*

We All Scream for Ice Cream gives a lot of bang for your buck. Lou Yardley has a magnificent imagination and is a significant contributor in the genre of the horror.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lou is an author. And a weirdo. She’s sorta part Deadite and part Hobbit. Sometimes she feels like she’s four goblins in a trench-coat masquerading as a human.

Up until recently, Lou Yardley has lurked mainly in the horror realms, but now she’s taking her first gore-coated steps into the world of dark fantasy. Rather than just write one fantasy book, she’s creating a whole world… and a dragon’s horde’s worth of books.

“Banished” was released in 2020 and was her first adventure in the monstrous world of Venari. In 2021, it was joined by “Creep” (a novella) and “Everfrost” (a werewolf flavoured novel).

Now that those are out in the wild, Lou is busy typing away at new Venari stories. We can’t share too much about them yet, but we can promise they will be filled with monsters, magic, and mayhem.

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