I love short story collections, experiencing what’s been written over time. Seeing what’s hiding in the shadows of the writers mind. When I started Black Bubbles by Kelli Owen I read the introduction and discovered this was a set of her earlier work. For me, it was like finding hidden treasure. Black Bubbles has more stories than I can cove. So, I’m hitting on the ones that stuck out, hit a nerve, or just made me say wow.[...]If you’re like me and missed this collection in its first printing, go and grab a copy of this recently released book. If you’re a fan of Kelli Owen, or a horror fan of any kind, Black Bubbles is worth a read. There is a bit of something for everyone here, and it’s good, damn good.

Black Bubbles is a large and varied collection, tackling many different subjects and narrative types, but all with Owen’s tremendous storytelling style. There are great visuals when called upon, and excellent character development, wonderful emotional range and an unbridled sense of creativity. Also, looking at the physical book, the inclusion of story notes to give some background to the creation of each story is a nice touch. We certainly appreciate seeing them in short story collections. It also gave us the origin behind each of the fun little doodles included after each story, which also helped Owen develop the story “Black Bubbles”. Talk about art imitating art imitating life! It seems that, much like many of the best creators out there, Kelli Owen takes inspiration from everywhere, leading to some excellent short stories.