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Book: “Shadow Lab, Volume Two” by Brendan Deneen (Ed.)
Publishing Info: Blackstone Publishing Inc., September 2025
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the publisher
Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: Just in time for Halloween 2025, it’s Shadow Lab, Volume Two!
In Gibbett Hill by Faith Merino, Virginia has moved with her husband to the town of Gibbet Hill, where they plan to raise their three-month-old daughter. But as a Gold Rush reenactment festival begins to blur the line between real and imaginary, Virginia finds herself the target of the town’s strange hanging ritual.
In Forty Weeks by Adam Godfrey, Sarah is transformed into a vampire after her husband’s research team finds a dormant virus buried in the arctic permafrost. When her husband is killed by his employers, Sarah flees in search of someone else who’s infected, operating on the rumor that their death would trigger an antibody surge that could save not only her, but her unborn child …
In The Retreat by Gemma Amor, a troubled military veteran tries to get her life back in order by taking an office job, and soon finds herself on the fast track to success. But when she’s invited to a corporate retreat in the middle of the wilderness, she encounters dark and mysterious forces at work, and she must use all of her skills to survive.
Find these and more horrifying tales in the second Shadow Lab anthology from Blackstone Publishing.
Review: Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an eARC of this anthology!
I was looking back at my reviews this past year as I start thinking about what titles are going to make my Top 10 of the year (look for that reveal in December!), I noticed that I reviewed and read almost all of my short stories collections reads of 2025 in the last two months. Clearly I’ve been following a bit of a theme these past couple of months. And let’s just add another title to the mix! I was asked to check out “Shadow Lab, Volume Two”, a collection of horror stories from Blackstone Publishing that was edited by Brendan Deneen. It sounded intriguing enough, so I decided to give it a go!
Like I always do, I will first talk about my favorite three stories in the collection and then talk about the collection as a whole.
“Insatiable” by Diana Olney: This was one of the earlier stories in the collection and it helped set the stage, and really stood out. A girl has perhaps inherited something strange from her long absent mother, and as she finds more and more disconcerting changes in and behaviors in her day to day life, she has to learn to control it. Or.. not. I love a story about a girl coming into her own power, just as I like a story about not only women’s rights but also women’s wrongs, and this one was deeply satisfying.
“Hachishakusama” by Kylee Shimomura: If you throw me a horror story based on an urban legend or a creepypasta I’m almost assuredly going to want to get my hands on it, and it’s not shocking that “Hachishakusama” is probably my favorite story in this collection. A woman has to return to Japan after being away for a long time after her mother has died. But everywhere she goes she sees an impossibly tall woman with sharp teeth, getting closer and closer, until people around her start being torn to shreds. This one freaked me out but left me wanting more, and it was definitely the scariest.
“The Retreat” by Gemma Amor: This seems to be a favorite for a lot of people, at least in the reviews I found after I had finished, and I definitely see why being a solid scary story along with some fun corporate satire. A veteran is trying to fit back into everyday life, and is trying to get used to her new seemingly boring corporate job. When she stops a gunman in the office, her boss invites her on a highly coveted company retreat reserved only for the most elite, which can set its most promising attendees on a higher rung of the corporate ladder. But at what price? I liked the wild places this one went to, as well as the biting send up of toxic work environments that try to play up a familial vibe while actually exploiting its workers.
As a collection, I thought that it was a pretty strong one. All of these authors were new to me, and outside of a couple of exceptions I felt like I enjoyed at least something about almost all of them. It’s especially cool because none of these stories have any themed connections, it’s just a group to show off their ideas of horror and it really runs a gamut.
“Shadow Lab, Volume 2” was an enjoyable horror short story collection with some promising rising voices in the genre. If you like horror short stories, give it a go!
Rating 7: A solid collection of horror short stories that had mostly well done tales of terror.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Shadow Lab, Volume Two” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Best Horror Anthologies”.
The Library Ladies 