Feeding the Void Morgan K. Tanner

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Feeding the Void by Morgan K. Tanner
Published by Self Published on 30 October 2023
Genres: Horror, Metaphysical, Occult & Supernatural
Pages: 149
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Author
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The void is hungry. It must be satiated. With flesh.

The pulsating abyss in Jeffrey's basement has been offered sacrifices for generations. The responsibility of being its loyal servant is precious. Or is it a curse?

As a child all Jeffrey wanted was his father's love. But the rumbling, ravenous void was always the most important thing.

Jeffrey eventually learns the truth of this magical and malevolent force beneath the floorboards of his family home. When the power is passed down to him he struggles with the burden of this monumental undertaking.

Is he willing to continue the family tradition, or will his new-found responsibility be his undoing?

Feeding the Void is bracingly original. An unsettling story with an ending that genuinely had me shocked and chucking in equal measures.

      Feeding the Void…what are the first images to pop into your head when you say those words? For me personally, I imagine a depressed soul trying to find something, anything to fill the emptiness that they feel, whether that be with food, addiction, or adrenaline. Do they bungee jump, take chances? That’s where my mind instantly goes, I didn’t suggest for a moment that it was a happy go lucky vista.

I am a sucker for a horror that examines the blurring lines between the occult and the worst horror of all – humanity. BUT…

Feeding the Void is different from a lot of those kind of horrors.

Feeding the Void builds its own path.

Feeding the Void is a creature that seeps into everything you do.

Can you tell that I enjoyed this one?

Morgan K. Tanner is one of those authors that go that bit deeper. A story about a black void hidden in a kid’s basement…sure. A void that feeds on the bodies supplied to it by the father…well now you’re talking. The author slips into your mind, holds your brain in the palm of his hand and squeezes, he doesn’t stop until you acquiesce to the images he’s so painstakingly created. The plot is good, but Tanner’s superlative skillset make the story so much more.

How much do we know about people we pass in the street? Virtually nothing, I know the idea that we could be sharing buses, bathrooms, and taxis with a potential murderer but that’s just it- we don’t anyone, not truly…I mean they could be hiding a bloodthirsty void in their basement.

Feeding the Void is very cosmic horror-y. It reminds us that power corrupts. Jeffrey watched his father become consumed by the void and in turn so does he. He lost his mother to it and now he has lost all sense of self. He is drunk on the knowledge that he is now the protector of the void. Nothing will stop him – not even the pesky relationship with his wife and unborn son. As long as the void is still hungry, he will keep providing bodies. None of the characters were even remotely likeable but that’s exactly why I liked this story so much.