Title: The Horrors of Rejection

Author: Radar DeBoard

Release date: June 9th, 2026

*Huge thanks to Radar for a digital ARC of this one!*

I connected with Radar a number of years back and have always enjoyed the content he’s been releasing on various social media platforms, as well as his support to many authors. A few years back, I had the pleasure of reading his book ‘Drowning in the Drink’ and really enjoyed it, but I haven’t managed to read anything else from him. Recently, I saw him post a Tik Tok looking for reviewers for his upcoming release ‘The Horrors of Rejection.’ A short story collection compiling all of the stories he’s submitted over the years that were rejected for one reason or another, I reached out to see about a review copy. Radar kindly emailed one over and while I was wrapping up ‘The Dorians,’ I dove into this between chapters, flying through it.

What I liked: Every author out there has tens, if not hundreds of short stories that they’ve submitted over the years that for some reason, were not accepted for publication. It’s the nature of the game and a cold reality you need to accept if you want to try your hand at having work accepted and published outside of the DIY/Indie route. Radar lays this out in the introduction before we dive into the stories that comprise the collection.

The stories ranged in length, from poetry, to a page, to novelette length, but each one was a lot of fun and though the stories were written with the purpose of submitting to various open calls, it was interesting to see a bit of a few themes emerge when all was said and done. We had a number of stories set in/around the water and similar with the woods.

The stand out stories for me were a trio that hit hard and were very snappy.

First was ‘Show Some Teeth.’ This story followed an employee, struggling to deal with a horrendous boss at work, while realizing the crows outside are acting strangely. The story was a lot of fun and went from brooding to dark very quickly. My favorite story within.

Next was ‘From a Bathtub to the Ocean.’ This story throws us into the middle of an extreme situation where a man has abandoned ship after a fire started and he’s coming to grips with what happened, his role in it and what that means for his life. Really engaging.

And the third was ‘Immurement.’ If not for ‘Show Some Teeth’ this would’ve been my favorite of the collection. This one picks up with Thomas, trapped in something and trying to fight his way out. The story begins as a very claustrophobic tale, before we learn the ‘why’ of his predicament and we realize just how awfully dark this story really is.

What I didn’t like: While it might’ve been an almost impossible task, I would’ve loved to have seen a brief note prior to each story mentioning what the open call was. Not so much to whom the story was being submitted, but what was the theme or submission requests. IE – 1,500 word limit for grief horror. Or, 3,000 word limit for nautical survival. I think that would’ve helped a few of the stories have a bit more context and work better as to why Radar did what he did in the chosen word count, otherwise some of the stories you’ll be wondering why things were rushed or felt unanswered. Often in submissions, you’ll have a specific constraint that will always make you decide on doing something (either limit characters or details etc.) and I think knowing some of that would’ve allowed some of the stories that didn’t hit as much with me make a bit more sense.

Why you should buy this: Radar’s a very talented writer and a number of these stories are superb. I’m actually a bit surprised a few of these haven’t been picked up somewhere, but that’s the frustrating reality of the anthology world. This was a short story collection that’ll have something for every reader and is a fantastic way to introduce yourself to his writing if you’ve not read anything of his yet.