Tag: Short stories

Serena’s Review: “Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic, and Betrayal”

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Book: “Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic, and Betrayal” by Olivie Blake

Publishing Info: Tordotcom, October 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Once upon a time in a land far, far away, the tutelary spirit to a magical bridge rapidly approaches burnout. Meanwhile, congress enacts a complex auditing system designed to un-waste your youth, a banished fairy answers a Craigslist ad, a Victorian orphan gains literacy for her occult situationship, and a multiverse assassin contemplates the one who got away. Escape the slow trudge of mortality with these magical ruminations on life, death, and the love (or revenge) that outlasts both, featuring modified fairytales, contemporary heists, absurdist poetry, and at least one set of actual wedding vows.

Review: As promised, we’re back with round two of my foray into short story collections this week! My first few experiences with this author were incredibly positive, but as I’ve read more and more, I’ve found myself struggling to connect with her writing style and becoming frustrated with what feels like a lack of substance in service of style. That being the case, I was curious to see what a short story collection by this author would look like. Would be more of the former or the latter?

Unfortunately, I have to report that this one fell largely in the latter category. However, one of the benefits of short story collections is that there are multiple options of stories with which to connect. So while the novel as a whole fell flat, I did have a few favorites that I’d like to dive into before getting into the rest of it. One of my favorite stories was one that showed up early in the collection. It told of a magical bridge and its watcher who was obligated to offer and grant certain types of wishes to any who found it. Over the course of the story, we see the young woman who is this guardian slowly become disillusioned to the sorts of wishes many people are asking for (there’s a recurring group of people who get into a lot of trouble with contradictory wishes). She also slowly begins to fall in love with a young man who, against all odds, continues to find the bridge over and over again, even though it always changes locations. It’s a sweet story and it played well with the tried and true fairytale concept of “wishes gone bad.”

However, even here, this story illustrated one of my recurring frustrations with this collection. By the end, it just sort of…well…ends. More over, the way the ending for this one is written, it comes across as ambiguous with the intent to be “deep,” which, instead, just leaves it actually feeling frustrating and pretentious. Over and over, throughout this book, there were stories that had interesting worlds and characters, but there was something about either A.) the style of writing or B.) the way the themes were presented (often in this ambiguous, quasi-intellectual manner) that made them read as, again, pretentious. And too often, the stories would end abruptly, and I was left wondering what the point of it all was.

Writing short stories is incredibly hard. Not only is it such a short length within which to work, but I do think there is this false idea floating around out there that these sorts of tales must be “artsy” and “deep” and “say things.” Here, we see this author fall into this trap. Instead of simply telling good stories, she seems to get bogged down in these secondary concerns. There would be small nuggets within most of the stories, but too often these were lost in the mess of everything else. There was another interesting one early in the book that dealt with a character essentially getting paid their entire life’s earnings early in life, and then be obligated to “work it off” from age 30 on. This was such an interesting concept, especially as it played out by increasing the main character’s anxiety rather than offering the promised freedom. But then, again, there were a bunch of other themes jammed in there, added characters who felt like they should be more important than they were, and an ending where it felt like the entire exercise was rather meaningless and a waste of a good concept. It’s hard to really describe, but these were the sorts of problems that plagued most of the book.

Overall, I think this collection was solidly just ok. None of the stories were outright bad, and a few of them I enjoyed for the most part. However, I think the author’s writing and approach to story-telling left something to be desired, with “vibes” and “style” too often taking precedent over simply writing a good story. If you’re a big fan of this author’s work, this still might be worth checking out. But if you’re only mildly interested in short story collections (like me), than this one may end up feeling lackluster.

Rating 7: Too heavy on the quasi-intellectual vibes to be a truly enjoyable read. Though there were still a few gems hidden away within.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic, and Betrayal” can be found on this Goodreads list: 52 Book Club 2024: Summer Mini Challenge – 100m Sprint: A Short Story Collection

Serena’s Review: “Buried Deep and Other Stories”

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Book: “Buried Deep and Other Stories” by Naomi Novik

Publishing Info: Del Rey, September 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: From the dragon-filled Temeraire series and the gothic, magical halls of the Scholomance trilogy to the fairy tale worlds of Spinning Silver and Uprooted, this stunning collection takes us from fairy tale to fantasy, myth to history, and mystery to science fiction as we travel through Naomi Novik’s most beloved stories.

In Buried Deep, we move from ancient Greece and Rome, through the Middle Ages and the Black Death, and into the modern era. We meet Mark Antony, Sherlock Holmes, and Elizabeth Bennet, in ways we have never seen them before. We visit exotic fantasy cities and alien civilizations among the stars.

Though the stories are vastly different, there is a unifying theme: the act of finding and seizing one’s destiny, and the lengths one will go to achieve that—be it turning pirate, captaining a fighting dragon, or shifting from marriage to seek your destiny with a sword.

And in the two tales original to this collection, we first reenter the remade Scholomance in the wake of El’s revolution and see what life is like for the new crop of students. Then, we get a glimpse at the world of Novik’s upcoming series, a deserted land, populated only by silent and enigmatic architectural behemoths whose secrets are yet to be unlocked.

Review: I don’t typically read short story collections because, with all honesty, I very rarely enjoy them. I’m the sort of reader who really wants to sink into a world and (ideally) follow a single POV character who I become wholly invested in over the course of the story. It’s all quite focused in to detailed character work and epic storytelling and worldbuilding, all of which are difficult to convey in the much smaller wordcount allowed to short stories. Beyond this, most of the collections I’ve read in the past were assortments of authors all contributing to one work, which left a lot of variability in quality throughout the entire read. All of this long winded intro to say, this week I’ll be reviewing not only one short story collection, but two! And they are each wildly different experiences.

Today, we’re going to start on the high note! It probably shouldn’t have been so surprising that I ended up loving this book, given the fact that I don’t think I’ve ever rated a Naomi Novik below an 8 (the vast majority of them have been 9s and 10s, even!). But as we’ve just discussed, I struggle with these sorts of collections. But, if anything, with this book Novik has convinced me that in the right hands, I can enjoy a short story collection just as much as the next person!

In fact, in many ways, it felt like this collection of stories was written just for me. Not only was I rewarded for being a reader of all of Novik’s previous series (we have two Temeraire stories, a “Spinning Silver” story, and a “Scholomance” story), but the other tales she tackled were also of peak interest for me. It was almost freakish! There was a Greek re-telling, a “Pride and Prejudice” re-telling, and a “Sherlock Homes” story that focused on Irene Adler! Can it get more perfect than that? Honestly, if I had sat down and picked out series/stories that I would have wanted to read short stories of, these would have been at the top of my list! And they were all done so well!

I don’t want to cover every single story in this collection (though I enjoyed them all, even if I had favorites), but I’ll talk about a few of my favorites. I really loved the aforementioned “Pride and Prejudice” story. Novik managed to not only re-tell the entire novel in an impressively thorough manner, but also adjusted it to fit within her Temeraire world. This version’s Elisabeth Bennet was a dragon rider and much of the tension with Mr. Darcy was derived from the fact that she’s a military member. It was both incredibly unique but also fit perfectly within the boundaries of the original story.

I also really loved returning to the “Scholomance” world. This story takes place after the events of the trilogy, giving readers a look into how the school operates now that El and Orion have done their work. Of course, it was great seeing some familiar faces (though, sadly, not El herself), but the new character to this story was also fantastic! Through her eyes, we see how other magical communities have dealt with the dangers of this world. There was also an added twist to certain aspects of the magic itself, which I felt was both very creative but also felt natural to this pre-existing world.

I also really enjoyed the Greek re-telling of the story of the Minotaur. Told from the perspective of the Minotaur’s sister, Novik infused the story with a whole new level of tragedy, but also beauty. The Irene Adler story was also good, though here I did feel that by the end of the story, I had been hoping for a bit more…I don’t know, point to it all. So, too, the “Spinning Silver” story was also good. It was a shortened version (I believe this was the first attempt at the story that was later expanded into the full length novel), but essentially hit the same beats, though had a different ending. While I enjoyed reading this one, it did hit home how much I loved the novel version. This one just didn’t pack the same punch, and I enjoyed the ending of the original novel better.

While none of the stories were misses, I did want a bit more from a few of them. The collection begins with a pirate story which I think is the weakest of the bunch (a bit unfortunate that it’s first). There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but it also didn’t seem to have a lot new to say or offer. Likewise, there’s a story about fairy wishes gone wrong which I really liked, but then it felt like it ended abruptly, almost feeling as if it was the first chapter to an entire book. I was mostly just mad that I couldn’t keep reading it! And lastly, I also enjoyed the look into the new world that her next series will take place within, but this story itself also felt a bit listless. I wasn’t clear whether these were the characters we would be following in the next book or not, but as it stands, by the time the story ends, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it as a story on its own.

Overall, this was an excellent collection! I think I can even say that it’s my favorite short story collection of all time (take from that what you will, given my general lack of interest/familiarity with the genre). I think most any fantasy fan would find something to like from this book. Though I will say that it’s one of those collections that greatly rewards readers familiar with Novik’s entire catalogue of work; it’s practically a must for fans of her books!

Rating 9: Absolutely fantastic, introducing readers to entire new worlds while also re-warding fans with a return to beloved worlds and characters.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Buried Deep and Other Stories” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Collections of Short Stories and Books I’m Dying to Get My Hands On.

Book Club Review: “Summer Days and Summer Nights”

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We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. This June we celebrated our 10 year anniversary of book club. So in celebration of that milestone, we are re-visiting authors we read way back in those first few years of our book club. For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

Book: “Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories” by Stephanie Perkins (Ed.)

Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Griffin, May 2016

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Repeat Author: Stephanie Perkins

Book Description: Maybe it’s the long, lazy days, or maybe it’s the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Kate’s Thoughts

WAAAAY back during our first cycle of Book Club get togethers one of our members chose the anthology “My True Love Gave To Me”, which had a bunch of then in demand YA authors writing holiday themed romance short stories. We all generally enjoyed it, with some authors standing out quite a bit. So it was fun when one of our other members picked the summertime follow up “Summer Days and Summer Nights”, harkening not only to a repeat author, but also continuing into the quasi-sequel. And much like the previous book in the series, I had some authors who really stood out this time, while others kind of fell back to the wayside.

Unsurprisingly it was the works by Leigh Bardugo, Libba Bray, and Brandy Colbert that I enjoyed most, as I do like those authors in general and I liked their own interpretations of a summer romance short story prompt. You have some fantasy bittersweetness from Bardugo’s “Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail”, you had some horror humor from Bray’s “Last Stand at the Cinegore”, and you had some genuine teenage love story and ache from Colbert’s “Good Luck and Farewell”, and they ran such tonal gamuts and yet completely fit into the prompt it was charming as hell to see. That said, many of the other stories in this anthology were hit or miss for me, some being enjoyable, others just falling flat. Which is probably just due to the fact that romance isn’t really my thing unless it meets certain parameters. Also something to note is this book came out in 2016, and it’s kind of a fun snapshot into which YA authors were being approached with these kinds of ‘let’s cover a broad range of in demand voices’ anthologies.

Overall, it was a perfectly fine summer read for our Book Club, with some strong stand outs from authors who have maintained their popularity over the years. If you want to cling to summer for one last hurrah, this could be a good fit!

Serena’s Thoughts

As readers of this blog know, neither Kate or I read tons of short story collections. I’m perhaps more on the record for usually actively avoiding them. And yet, somehow this is the first of THREE short story collections that I am reading and reviewing this month! You’ll see two back-to-back short story reviews coming from me next week. I had some control obviously over those, but it’s just fate that the bookclub book also fell in this rare category!

And I agree with much of what Kate said. For me, this collection really lived and died on the strength of the individual authors of each story. And, like Kate, I found myself naturally gravitating towards the authors I enjoyed outside of short story collections. I, too, very much enjoyed the Leigh Bardugo story, as it neatly highlighted so many of the strengths of her writing: bittersweet fantasy stories, complex characters, and beautiful turns of phrase.

I also really enjoyed Veronica Roth’s entry. Like so many of her books, her story was incredibly unique, pushing the boundaries of fantasy and science fiction in new and fresh ways. My one critique of this story is that as much as I love a happy ending, I do think this is a case where Roth was held back by the prompt of a love story collection which required happy-ever-after endings. From my experience, Roth has zero qualms about ending her books in tears, and I think this short story would have actually been stronger had it been allowed to be a bit darker towards the end.

There were also a number of authors who had fallen completely off my radar! Libba Bray being one of them! I read and reviewed her YA fantasy trilogy on the blog years ago, but as I hated (HATED) the way that trilogy ended, she’d fallen completely off my list of authors to follow. I did enjoy this story from her, however.

All this said, as a whole, I did struggle with this book. Other than the few stories I’ve mentioned here, I didn’t connect with many of the tales in this book. I’m not really the target audience for many of them, and obviously, I have my own personal hang-ups with short story collections. When your go-to read is epic fantasies that often come in around 55o pages, you really do struggle with the entire concept of a short story. But even putting that aside, I do think that a large chunk of these stories fell solidly in the “just ok” category. Many of them weren’t offering much new to readers and some of them employed “neat little stylistic tricks” that were frankly just annoying. If you’re a love of short stories and romance (and maybe check out the author list ahead of time to see how many of them you already enjoy), you may like this one.

Kate’s Rating 6: The stories I liked I REALLY liked, the others were pretty hit or miss bordering on meh.

Serena’s Rating 6: A few stands outs weren’t enough to save this reading experience for me, unfortunately. But fans of the individual authors involved may want to page through it and selectively read those stories!

Book Club Questions

  1. Did you have a story in this collection that you connected with the most? What about the least?
  2. Were there any authors in this collection that you were unfamiliar with before you picked it up? If so, did you discover any new authors you definitely want to read more from?
  3. In terms of authors you did know from this collection, did any of them surprise you with what they put forth as their story?
  4. Were there any stories in this collection that you would like to read more of, perhaps in a series of short stories or in novel form?
  5. This collection came out in 2016 with popular YA authors from that period making up the story set. If they were going to do another collection like this with present day popular Young Adult authors, who do you think would be part of that collection?

Reader’s Advisory

“Summer Days and Summer Nights” is included on the Goodreads lists “Summer Themed YA”, and “YA Anthologies”.

Next Book Club Pick: “Attachments” by Rainbow Rowell

Kate’s Review: “Beyond the Bounds of Infinity”

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Book: “Beyond the Bounds of Infinity: An Anthology of Diverse Horror” by Vaughn A. Jackson (Ed.) & Stephanie Pearre (Ed.)

Publishing Info: Raw Dog Screaming Press, July 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the editor.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Welcome to a world of horror viewed through a kaleidoscope lens. Embark on a journey to untangle the writhing tendrils of human terror in a dimension where the possible and impossible blend-an unstable realm where comfort can be found in the coldest pits, and dark gods feast upon the sweetest suffering-where infernal sounds birth silent letters that drift along midnight shores and the unexplained lurks beneath crumbling urban structures. Step over the edge of what you think you know, and find yourself…Beyond the Bounds of Infinity!

Featuring stories by L. Marie Wood, S.A. Cosby, Jessica McHugh, and Mary SanGiovanni-alongside newer voices like Cassius Kilroy, Jessica L. Sparrow, and Vicky Velvet-Beyond the Bounds of Infinity offers a collection of weird fiction and cosmic horror stories that are diverse down to the cellular level. From Taíno folk horror to the horror of identity in a world that just doesn’t understand, from cozy to apocalyptic, and everything in between, let these authors show you what fear really is, and what it means to them.

Review: Thank you to Stephanie Pearre for sending me an eARC of this collection!

I don’t really collection many things, but one thing that I DO collect is hardcover annotated classic novels. I have about seven as of now, from “Dracula” to “Anne of Green Gables” to “The Hobbit” and more. One that I have that is a bit of an outlier is “The Annotated Lovecraft”, as I haven’t actually READ anything by H.P. Lovecraft, but wanted yet another Annotated tome for my shelves. One of the reasons I haven’t checked it out, in spite of his works being SO formative for horror, especially Cosmic horror, is because of what a bigot he was. Because of this, I’ve stayed away and relied on the cultural zeitgeist to be informed about Cthulhu and the Old Ones and all that. So when I was approached by Stephanie Pearre to read “Beyond the Bounds of Infinity: An Anthology of Diverse Horror”, I thought this was the perfect chance to finally dive into a bunch of Cosmic horror tales, written specifically by Own Voices authors whose works reclaim a sub-genre jump started by a bigot.

As I always do with short stories collections, I will review my three favorite stories, and then review the collection as a whole.

“Effigies of Monstrous Things” by Pedro Iniguez: While there are PLENTY of horrifying stories in this collection, I think this was the one that really cut to the bone for me. A single father living in poverty is working on trying to solve the mold problem in his apartment complex in a neighborhood where children are going missing. When he stumbles into a crawlspace and finds a terrible effigy, he realizes that mold may be the least of his problems. This one was not only a deeply upsetting tale involving decay and death, it was also an insightful take on poverty, microaggressions, racism, and how some populations are easier targets for violence or inaction because of their marginalized status. This one really made me shudder.

“A Dampened Embrace” by Christopher Hann: If any of the stories had a hook right from the jump in this collection, it was this one, as it describes a mother dying, then her body being dug up under mysterious circumstances. A son is mourning his mother’s death, while also grappling with a family legacy of worshiping a deity at the cost of so much. Now he tries to figure out what is next, when inevitability may be the only outcome. This one was an interesting blend of generational trauma, family loyalty, and the way that children can suffer at the hands of well meaning parents, and it had moments of beauty as well as moments of despair.

“24 Points” by S.A. Cosby: This is honestly just a good reminder that I need to read S.A. Cosby’s novels, as I have been meaning to but haven’t done so yet. Because wow, this one was so, so utterly unnerving! Three hunters, a boy and his father and his uncle, go into the woods looking for a deer, and see the biggest deer that they have ever seen. But when the uncle shoots it, it becomes quite clear that they should have left it well enough alone. I felt that ultimately this story was more of a folk horror tale than cosmic, but there were definitely things that overlapped between sub-genres that worked well. And that ending! DANG. I won’t spoil anything, but DANG. I think this one may have been my favorite.

As a whole collection, “Beyond the Bounds of Infinity” has some real stand outs, and some stories that didn’t connect as well for me. But I did really appreciate the wide swath of topics, perspectives, and levels of horror that were within its pages. As I mentioned above I am not someone who is super versed in Cosmic horror, but I really got a good sense of the sub-genre and its beats from this book. And what a great way to reclaim a sub-genre that was in many ways created by and still defined by a bigoted creep like Lovecraft. I love seeing people that he would have looked down upon (to say the least) saying that they have every right to have their place at the Cosmic horror table, and how it shows that horror, be it this sub-genre or ANY sub-genre, has room for everyone.

“Beyond the Bounds of Infinity” is a must for Cosmic horror fans, old and new alike. I feel like I got a crash course in a sub-genre I’m not as familiar with, and I enjoyed the ride.

Rating 8: A compelling collection of Cosmic horror from many different perspectives, “Beyond the Bounds of Infinity” is a good intro to a sub-genre that has lots of room for new voices.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Beyond the Bounds of Infinity” is included on the Goodreads list “Cosmic Horror That’s Not Lovecraft”.

Kate’s Review: “Ghost Camera”

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Book: “Ghost Camera” by Darcy Coates

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, July 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher as well as an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: When Jenine finds an abandoned polaroid camera, she playfully snaps a photo without a second thought. But there’s something wrong with the a ghostly figure stands in the background, watching her. Fixated on her. Moving one step closer with every picture she takes.

Desperate, Jenine shares her secret with her best friend, Bree. Together they realize the camera captures unsettling impressions of the dead. But now the ghosts seem to be following the two friends. And with each new photo taken, a terrible danger grows ever clearer…

DISCOVER CHILLING NEW BONUS STORIES:

A woman survives a plane crash in a remote arctic tundra, accompanied only by a stranger who seems fixated on something moving through the blinding snow. A house stands empty. Hungry. Waiting for the children drawn to it like moths to a flame. A woman finds a shoebox filled with old VHS tapes. They have a note “Don’t watch. You’ll regret it.” And more!

Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for sending me an ARC and an eARC of this novel!

While I have no doubt been enjoying Darcy Coates more ‘horror lite’ titles in “The Gravekeeper” Series recently, I am also always amped when she has some more intense horror stuff coming out. Because of this I was VERY excited to see the book “Ghost Camera” fall across my path. What I didn’t realize at first was that this book is actually a re-release of her novella “Ghost Camera” AND a collection of other short/shorter stories on top of it. Which was a-okay by me, because that means its’ just more Darcy Coates tales of terror to read through and be totally freaked out by. All of this sounds great. And man, it was really fun getting back into her freakier work.

As usual, I’m going to highlight my three favorite stories from the collection, and then review it as a whole.

“Ghost Camera”: This is the titular story in the collection, and one of the longest ones as well (and had previously been published on its own as a novella). Jenine finds a retro Polaroid camera in an old lighthouse, and decides that she is going to play with it a bit. But when she looks at the pictures, she sees what appear to be ghosts coming closer and closer to her. She reaches out to her friend Bree for help in investigating, but they soon realize that she’s in grave danger. I love how this one builds up, with creeping ghosts getting more and more hungry and desperate with every photo taken. Coates really shows off her descriptive skills in this one, as the ghosts are SO goddamn scary in my minds eye.

“The Run to Broken House Ridge Lighthouse”: I love an urban legend that has a ghoulish twist, and this story is very much like one you’d tell around a campfire. A group of young adults are hanging out on a beach, and decide to test a local ghost story about racing a ghost to the lighthouse. This one is quick and pretty unrelenting in its building dread, and I really liked the urban legend of Cami Alan and what happens if you lose the race to the top of the lighthouse. It feels like the kind of local haunting tale you would find in any community with a dark history, and it made for an effective horror story. And once again, man, that imagery. I feel like Cami Alan is another spectre that is going to stick with me long after the read is over. I think this was quite possibly my favorite in the collection.

“Untamed Things”: I gotta say, I’m glad I wasn’t reading this one while on my flight to San Diego, because, spoiler alert kinda, it starts with a pretty gnarly plane crash. But Coates does something I didn’t expect here, and instead of a straight up horror tale I found this one to be more dark fantasy with a lot of hope sprinkled into it. When the plane she is on crashes, leaving her stranded on a desolate mountain, Ana is terrified and completely alone. When another passenger named Chloe suddenly appears and says that they are going to get out of this together, Ana is surprised but relieved. But as they try to traverse across the mountain to the front of the plane, Chloe lets Ana know that they are being followed. And what’s following them isn’t of this world. This one had a really high tension almost from the jump, and as Ana and Chloe were trying to escape whatever it was that was chasing them, I was on edge not only because of the obvious danger, but also because of how Coates slowly reveals some tricks and twists. It’s an interesting take on certain phenomena experienced by survivors in highly dangerous situations. I really, really loved it.

As a whole this is a stellar collection that has a lot of variety in length, theme and fright levels. While some of the stories didn’t connect as much to me, overall I really thought that they show a huge range, and also really show that Coates has no interest in pulling punches when it comes to nightmare fuel she wants to heap onto her readers. Coates is consistently scary for me when she writes stories like this. The woman has range!

“Ghost Camera” is a fun collection of horror tales. I recommend it to anyone who likes a good scare, but also keep it in mind for any scary reading you want to do for the ever creeping towards us Halloween Season! There’s something for everyone in this book!

Rating 8: Another triumphant work by Darcy Coates, this time gathering some spooky and truly scary stories in a horror collection that kept me on edge.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Ghost Camera” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but it would fit in on “Spooky Short Story Collections”.

Kate’s Review: “You Like It Darker”

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Book: “You Like It Darker” by Stephen King

Publishing Info: Scribner, May 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: “You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,” and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.

“Two Talented Bastids” explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. In “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance—with major strings attached. In “The Dreamers,” a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. “The Answer Man” asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.

King’s ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace remains unsurpassed. Each of these stories holds its own thrills, joys, and mysteries; each feels iconic. You like it darker? You got it.

Review: Stephen King is a favorite of mine as we all know, and I’m just happy getting even one story out of him a year. But this year along with “Holly” (which I loved), we also get a new short story collection! “You Like It Darker” is that collection, and I absolutely pre-ordered it in high anticipation. While some of these stories have been published in other capacities before, it was my first experience with all of them, and I was very excited to read it. And no surprises here, I was very satisfied with it.

As I always do with a short story collection, I’m going to review my favorite three stories in full, and then review the collection as a whole.

“The Fifth Step”: This story was, to me, the most ‘classic King’ in tone and storytelling. A man sitting in a park is approached by a stranger who asks if he can try and complete his Fifth Step for his AA program with him, as he feels more comfortable approaching a stranger to express ‘the exact nature of his wrongs’ as opposed to someone he knows, as suggested by his sponsor. As he confesses for his program, things take a very personal turn. I loved the build of this one, as the intensity ratchets up and the story starts to twist the reader in the wind. As I said, Classic King right here, with a folksy twang and a creepy air about it.

“Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”: Sometimes the scariest things are rooted in a very dark reality, and “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream” was very much that. It was also my favorite story in the collection because of how goddamn scary it was. Danny Coughlin is an average working man who is just trying to live his life. But when he has a vivid psychic vision about finding a dead body in an abandoned lot, he is afraid to say anything due to the nature of his knowledge. but does the right thing…. only for the police to decide that HE is the perpetrator, and will stop at nothing to put him behind bars. This one really, really freaked me out because it’s a damning indictment of the corruptions and rot in law enforcement circles, and how some investigators are less interested in making a suspect fit evidence and more interested in making evidence fit a suspect. It was definitely the most suspenseful of the collection.

“Laurie”: This story is one of the more poignant and quieter tales in the book, and while it has some creepy aspects, there is such a tenderness about it. A widower living in Florida has become depressed and listless after losing his wife of decades, and is gifted a puppy that he doesn’t really want from his sister, who thinks he could use the company. While he’s reluctant at first, he starts to take a liking to Laurie the puppy. As he starts to shift his life to fit his new puppy, he starts to build a bond with her, and to find a purpose again. I loved thi story because of how it so compassionately examines grief and loss and how important reconnecting to your life can be. But don’t worry, there are still some scary and nasty King things to be found here.

But there were lots of great stories in this book. King has become such a chameleon with his stories, I wouldn’t classify any of the ones in this collection PURE horror, because even the ones that were definitely horror stories had so many moments of grounded humanity and emotion and literary exploration that it just felt like that much more. They also felt generally introspective in many ways, with lots of meditations on life and death and destiny and the human condition. It’s so frustrating that there are still people that kind of dismiss King because he is such a prolific and talented genre author (but that’s just the reflection of people looking down on genre fiction as a whole, which is another thing that grinds my gears), because man, he is so talented and shows no signs of stopping.

I thoroughly enjoyed “You Like It Darker”. There’s a story for everyone in here, with so many themes and tones and moods that they run a whole gamut. Highly recommended.

Rating 8: A solid, at times unsettling, and bittersweet collection of short stories from my favorite author, “You Like It Darker” is a King that feels introspective and melancholy, but also tentatively hopeful.

Reader’s Advisory:

“You Like It Darker” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”.

Kate’s Review: “The Black Girl Survives In This One”

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Book: “The Black Girl Survives in This One” by Desiree S. Evans (Ed.) & Saraciea J. Fennell (Ed.)

Publishing Info: Flatiron Books, April 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Be warned, dear reader: The Black girls survive in this one.

Celebrating a new generation of bestselling and acclaimed Black writers, The Black Girl Survives in This One makes space for Black girls in horror. Fifteen chilling and thought-provoking stories place Black girls front and center as heroes and survivors who slay monsters, battle spirits, and face down death. Prepare to be terrified and left breathless by the pieces in this anthology.

The bestselling and acclaimed authors include Erin E. Adams, Monica Brashears, Charlotte Nicole Davis, Desiree S. Evans, Saraciea J. Fennell, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Daka Hermon, Justina Ireland, L. L. McKinney, Brittney Morris, Maritza & Maika Moulite, Eden Royce, and Vincent Tirado, with a foreword by Tananarive Due.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this short stories collection!

2023 was the year of the Short Stories collection for me, as I tackled so many anthologies and had a pretty good time doing so. I think I can safely retire my previous disclaimers about me not being super into short story collections, as lately they have been working pretty well for me. Because of this, I had no hesitation when requesting “The Black Girl Survives in This One”, a YA horror anthology edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell. I’m always looking for more diverse voices in my genres, and seeing a collection that showcases some well known Black YA horror authors was pretty neat. I was lucky enough to have my request granted, and once I dove in I found a pretty fun horror anthology.

As I am wont to do for short stories collections, I will pick my favorite three stories to spotlight, and then I will talk about the collection as a whole.

“Ghost Light” by Erin E. Adams: As a former theater kid who did both acting AND tech work (Saturday mornings were usually spent at the auditorium building and painting sets in high school), I knew that “Ghost Light” was going to be a favorite from the jump. Janine, a stage manager with ambitions and drive is running a show of “Macbeth”, and after a performance she is left behind to tend to the theater. While working, she meets up with the resident ghost. And that ghost is up to no good. This one was probably one of the less traditionally scary stories in the collection, as Janine is dealing more with a poltergeist and having to duke it out with her, but I really loved the action, and I really loved the way that Adams worked theater superstitions regarding ghost lights and The Scottish Play into this story. It made me all nostalgic for my theater days as a teenager.

“The Brides of Devil’s Bayou” by Desiree S. Evans: This was one of the stories that wove in dark historical themes with the horror elements, and it was my favorite to do so. Aja is a college freshman who has returned to her childhood home in the Louisiana Bayous, who has been haunted by a supposed family curse that takes the eldest daughters down the family line on their nineteenth birthdays. With her birthday approaching, Aja wants to confront her fears and prove to herself once and for all that it’s not real. But then she starts seeing visions of the ancestors who were lost, and wonders if the demon is coming for her after all. I am always a huge sucker for family curse and prophecy stories, but what I really enjoyed about this one is that Evans creates the lore around a female ancestor who was so desperate to escape slavery she makes a pact to sacrifice people down the family line. It makes for an added layer of tragedy and injustice, as well as a really solid metaphor for the familial and generational trauma Aja’s family has suffered because of slavery in America. It’s powerful (and scary) stuff.

“The Skittering Thing” by Monica Brashears: I think this was my favorite story in the collection, and for me it was definitely the scariest. Friends Sunny and Charlotte accept the invitation of their new classmate Ray to sleepover at her house. When the family brings up playing a game they call “Skitter”, which is a blackout version of hide and seek, Sunny and Charlotte find themselves in a dark house playing a weird game. And it may not be one of the new family members that is on the hunt in the dark. This was was so uneasy and so unsettling, the tension building higher and higher until it reaches a weird and disturbing conclusion. I really loved this one.

As a full collection, it was a bit more of a hit or miss endeavor for me. I think that part of this is that this is, at its heart, a YA collection, and while the authors are all talented story tellers and are really hitting the nail on the head when it comes to audience and message, young adult horror and I have a complicated relationship due to the fact I’m not the target audience. What I mean by that is that it always feels like YA has a tendency to feel a need to really spell things out for their readers, and it can sometimes feel hamfisted for me. But as noted, I’m not the target audience, and this kind of writing choice could very well go over better with a teenage reader than it does me.

“The Black Girl Lives in This One” is a fun collection that showcases some great authors. If you have teenage horror fans in your life, especially Black girls who may be sick of a lack of representation in the genre, this is the book to check out!

Rating 7: A solid horror collection written by and about Black women who will not be stopped, “The Black Girls Survives in This One” is scary and empowering.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Black Girl Survives in This One” is included on the Goodreads lists “2024 Books by Black Authors”, and “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”.

Kate’s Review: “The End”

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Book: “The End” (Black Shuck Shadows) by Kayleigh Dobbs

Publishing Info: Black Shuck Books, November 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a print copy from the author.

Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A series of micro-collections featuring a selection of peculiar tales from the best in horror and speculative fiction.

From Black Shuck Books and Kayleigh Dobbs comes The End, the thirty-fifth in the Black Shuck SHADOWS series.

Review: Thank you to Kayleigh Dobbs for sending me a print copy of this collection (and for the adorable holiday card!)!

I have warmed up to the concept of short story collections in the past few years, as while I used to be skeptical, I’ve had a pretty good streak of entertaining ones that have come across my reading pile. But I had never heard of the concept of a ‘micro-collection’, until Kayleigh Dobbs sent me an email talking about her newest work “The End”. This newest book is part of a larger series, in which there are a small number of stories in each short story collection, which is, apparently, a micro-collection. Love learning new things! And I loved the idea of “The End”, which has six stories about various ways that the world could come to an end, all of which are supernatural. I was definitely intrigued, and I happily accepting the invite to read and review. And it was not only a new experience, reading format wise, it was also a fun time!

I’m going to do this a little different this time around, as while I usually pick three stories to showcase in a short stories collection, this is a micro-colection, which means there are only six stories total. So I’m going to review each of them, as highlighting half but not the other half feels strange to me. So on we go!

“The Claim They Stake”: A conspiracy theorist discovers that the unassuming elderly neighbor down the street is actually a lizard person. But when he tries to convince people of the truth, he’s met with derision because of his conspiracy theorist ways. Okay, full honesty time here, and it’s more about me than the story itself. Given all the stuff that has gone on in the past eight years, I no longer can stomach conspiracy theory stuff so well, even if it’s used in a satirical way. So while this one was admittedly a fun twist on the idea of conspiracy theorists being seen as crazy when, in this case, he was ACTUALLY CORRECT, it didn’t really click for me. The good news is that after this tale they all got much more palatable to me, so let’s move on.

“Just Like Baking”: Four witches are performing a ritual that has a lot of precise and intricate parts. So when one of them has to bring their little sister along, things start to get a little… muddled. This one was my favorite in the collection because 1) I love witches and anything to do with them, 2) it had serious “The Craft” and “American Horror Story: Coven” vibes, and 3) it was both hilarious at times and scary as hell at others. And the very idea of a witch being forced to bring a younger sibling along against her will is a hoot. Also, I think I MAY have spotted a Dark Willow from “Buffy” reference, and that is ALWAYS going to be a key to my heart.

(source)

“Catch Fire”: A married couple goes to the house of the wife’s sister, who has always been toxic but has always been given second chances by the wife. When they arrive at the dinner party, general toxic familial tension starts to turn into something far more sinister. This one had a dread that eased into building itself up, and I was on the edge of my seat basically the entire time. Watching poor Emily try to make excuses for her awful sister Jen, only to be let down again after so many betrayals was one thing. But the added twist of the story was the perfect metaphor for horribly family dynamics really coming back to bite you in the ass if boundaries aren’t set before it’s too late. Kind of like a Reddit “Just No Family” post to the extreme.

“Dead”: A woman wakes up realizing she is dead, and can see her shambling corpse as it starts to wreak havoc. This was another one of the more amusing stories in the collection, as poor Grace finds herself powerless to be of any help as her zombie self tears through the house and the neighborhood. I absolutely loved how hapless Grace was, as well as the references to the life she was leading up until her death, and how fun to combine ghosts AND zombies into something of a screwball comedy if a screwball comedy involved a zombie apocalypse.

“Omega”: A devout and zealous Evangelical congregation follows their leader Pastor Bob as he performs miracles, whips up devotion, and preaches of salvation. But one last gathering of his flock for what he calls The Reaping promises an eternity of peace in the afterlife, those who follow him find themselves face to face with a more horrible truth. This one was absolutely the scariest story in the collection for me, as it takes the idea of a fundamentalist sect with utmost devotion to its leader, and turns it into something else altogether. It’s religious horror, it’s the horrors of faith, it’s just so damn upsetting and really got under my skin.

“The End”: A meditation on what awaits humans once they reach death goes from philosophical musings to something a bit more jarring and horrifying. This was the last story in the collection, and it was probably the most outside of the box entry as well, with a somewhat second person narrative and an escalation from something theoretical to something cruel, taunting, and steeped in malice. It’s a solid closer to a collection that feels cohesive and bold.

So as a whole, I thought that “The End” was a fun and freaky collection that speaks of the end of the world, however that may look. It’s a quick read and one that I recommend for horror fans who want something breezy and spooky, while also being quite humorous.

Rating 8: An unsettling and at times quite funny micro-collection of stories about, well, The End, “The End” is charming and eerie and a lot of fun!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The End” isn’t included on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “This Is The End…” .

Kate’s Review: “Christmas and Other Horrors”

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Book: “Christmas and Other Horrors: An Anthology of Solstice Horror” by Ellen Datlow (Ed.)

Publishing Info: Titan Books, October 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Hugo Award winning editor, and horror legend, Ellen Datlow presents a terrifying and chilling horror anthology of original short stories exploring the endless terrors of winter solstice traditions across the globe, featuring chillers by Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu and many more.

The winter solstice is celebrated as a time of joy around the world—yet the long nights also conjure a darker tradition of ghouls, hauntings, and visitations. This anthology of all-new stories invites you to huddle around the fire and revel in the unholy, the dangerous, the horrific aspects of a time when families and friends come together—for better and for worse.

From the eerie Austrian Schnabelperchten to the skeletal Welsh Mari Lwyd, by way of ravenous golems, uncanny neighbors, and unwelcome visitors, Christmas and Other Horrors captures the heart and horror of the festive season.

Because the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is hungry…

Review: We are approaching the end of 2023, and with Hanukkah behind me, Christmas next week, and today being the Winter Solstice, my celebrations are in full swing and about halfway through. I honestly love the Solstice, as I love the darkness that comes with it and the promises of slowly unveiling light as Winter moves through. And given that it’s the holiday season of MANY holidays, I thought that showcasing “Christmas and Other Horrors: An Anthology of Solstice Horror”, Ellen Datlow’s newest edited collection, would be the perfect flair for this festive time. So no matter what you are celebrating this time of year, there is probably a horror tale in here for you to be a sinister holiday treat!

Consider it a Solstice season literary tip! (source)

As usual, I will focus on my three favorite stories, and then I will review the entire collection as a whole.

“His Castle” by Alma Katsu: I have always loved seeing videos of the Welsh tradition of the Mari Lwyd, where wassailers go door to door with a ghostly set up of a horse skull, sheet, and hobby horse to see if they will be invited in for drinks and food in exchange for good luck on whom they visit. Therefore I loved that we got a story centered around that tradition, and that it was written by Alma Katsu, who knows how to bring the creepiness factor up to eleven to whatever she thinks up. Trevor an Cate are spending their holiday in an Air BnB in a small town in Wales, when they get locals at their door doing the Mari Lwyd tradition. They invite the men inside, but tensions start to rise as they converse, as Cate believes they may be targets of the men. But Trevor and Cate have secrets of their own. I loved the building suspense of this story, as you get the sense that Katsu is hiding something from the reader, but I also loved the commentary about the way that land has always been used by the wealthy to their own ends, even if it hurts more working class folk, whether it’s through old aristocratic systems, or properties being bought up by corporations to be turned into luxury vacation homes while locals lose out of owning their own land. I also liked the historical twist in this, but that’s all I will say about it.

“Return to Bear Creek Lodge” by Tananarive Due: I have a note to myself that I need to read more Tananarive Due (side note: I have her newest novel “The Reformatory” on my stack, so look for a review for that in January!), and “Return to Bear Creek Lodge” just continues to emphasize that goal while helping meet it. Her writing style is so evocative and really brings out all the emotional punches as you read. Johnny and his Mom are going to Bear Creek Lodge to see his dying Grandmother for one last Christmas, though Johnny’s last interaction with his Grandmother left him scarred and traumatized. As Johnny comes to terms with the impending loss and what it means, he also starts seeing a creature that seems otherworldly and dangerous, and finds out that he’s not the only one who has encountered this weird beast. This story is weird and alarming, while also having a lot of pathos and insight into generational trauma, the complexities of family dynamics, and the way that racism can damage a person and how that damage transfers down the line. Due mentioned in her author’s note that this story may be expanded upon by her later, and I would absolutely love to read more about Bear Creek Lodge and the monster that seems to live nearby.

“Gravé of Small Bird” by Kaaron Warren: I think this was my favorite story in the collection, as it was so strange and so eerie and felt like “The Wicker Man” meets “The Menu”. Because what a combination! Jackie is a former reality TV cooking show competitor, who made the final two but lost the competition, which led to an outburst that solidified her reputation for being an asshole. When she’s invited to cook for a Twelve Feast Days of Christmas Festival on a remote island steeped in old Christmas and Pagan traditions, she accepts. There she finds out about an ancient tomb that lines up with the solstice sunrise, a tradition involving birds and bones, and a contest in which a woman is chosen to be the Beauty who is supposed to lead the island to a light filled future. Jackie wants to be the Beauty, no matter what, and will do anything to win. This story is so creepy and strange, but I loved the use of vague Pagan rituals, appropriated rites taken by Christians, and all of the descriptions of the amazing and decadent foods, with a menu tradition that possibly inspired “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.

As a whole, this collection was a mixed bag, at least in terms of my thoughts about it. Beyond the three I highlighted there were a couple other strong stories (“Our Recent Unpleasantness” by Stephen Graham Jones and “The Lord of Misrule” by M. Rickert were also very well done), a few that were pretty okay, and a few that just didn’t work for me. I really enjoyed how this collection does touch on SO MANY holidays that occur around the end of the year, or focused on some of the Pagan origins and folklore behind modern traditions, but there were also some stories that felt like they had greater themes in mind and just tacked on the Solstice and holiday aspects in ways that didn’t quite fit. The good news is that it is varied enough as a collection and a fun enough hook that it’s going to be a timely seasonal read regardless.

“Christmas and Other Horrors” is a fun horror anthology to read during this Solstice and holiday season. Cuddle up after your holiday gatherings with this book, horror fans. It’s bound to be a seasonal classic.

Rating 7: There were some that really stood out, some that were fine, and others that didn’t quite click for me, but “Christmas and Other Horrors” is a great seasonal read for the Winter Solstice and all the holidays that occur in its periphery.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Christmas and Other Horrors” isn’t included on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would certainly fit in on “Holiday Horror Books”.

Kate’s Review: “Out There Screaming”

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Book: “Out There Screaming: A New Anthology of Black Horror” by Jordan Peele (Ed.)

Publishing Info: Random House, October 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: The visionary writer and director of Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation.

A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele’s anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and—like his spine-chilling films—its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world . . . and redefine what it means to be afraid.

Featuring stories by: Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel!

There is no disputing that Jordan Peele is a super important and super talented voice in horror as a whole right now. Whether it’s his films that are making waves, or his dabbling in TV, or his work in podcasts, Peele is very much a huge influence, and rightfully so. And now horror literature is being brought into that, as Peele is the editor for “Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror”, in which he picked authors and stories to bring together for a short stories collection. I was pretty thrilled to see that this was available on NetGalley, and I added it to the slew of short stories collections I read for th past year (it really was a short story collection heavy year for me!). And once I started, it was hard to stop.

“Eye & Tooth” by Rebecca Roanhorse: Serena has reveiwed some of Rebecca Roanhorse’s fantasy titles on here (though we both did “Black Sun” for Book Club), but hey look she does horror too! I actually knew this because she also had a story in “Never Whistle At Night”, but “Eye & Tooth” really stood out to me. Atticus and Zelda are siblings who work as ghost hunters/busters/cleaners of bad energies, and are called to a remote house in Texas by an elderly woman. She says she has a monster problem in her fields. Zelda and Atticus think they can help, but the woman is keeping something from them. I really liked this creature feature story, whether it was the creepiness of the cornfields, the sibling relationship between a psychic brother and a not as clearly gifted sister, or the big twist that was surprising but also a little heartfelt in a way? It was just a really fun tale.

“The Rider” by Tananarive Due: I am ashamed to say that I hadn’t read anything by Tananarive Due until I read this short story, and boy oh boy am I going to rectify that post haste because I think this was my favorite in the collection. During Freedom Summer two sisters are traveling as Freedom Riders to help fight for voting rights and against the Jim Crow South. While traveling on a bus in a remote area, they and the driver are waylaid by a mysterious entity in the middle of the road. Due builds the tension in this perfectly, not just of the thing in the road that upturns the bus ride, but also the tension of being two Black Freedom Riders in the Deep South, as it was a very dangerous position to be in. I was on the edge of my seat until I turned the last page. Just fantastic.

“Dark Home” by Nnedi Okorafor: I’ve read some Okorafor in the past and enjoyed her work immensely, so I was very excited to see what she was going to bring to this anthology and was not disappointed. A Nigerian-American woman returns to her hometown after her father, a beloved member of the community, passes away. During a traditional ritual, she decides to pocket an item to remember him by, which is against tradition. When she returns home, strange things start happening. I really loved this one as it combines dark fantasy and horror elements with aspects of Igbo culture, and creates an unsettling story about traditions, grief, and things that haunt us.

And honestly, the collection as a whole was pretty good! I really loved these three stories, and there were a few that very well could have been in my top three as well (special shout out to “Lasirèn”; I love a scary siren story) because they were so good. There were a few that didn’t work for me as well, whether because of pacing issues or the fact that they veered more towards Science Fiction themes, which only works for me in VERY specific settings. But there are so many voices here with so many perspectives, and so many sub genres to choose from, that any horror fan will probably be right at home while also exploring voices they haven’t had as much experience with. And as mentioned above, the scary things in this collection are not limited to the supernatural; there are lots of real life horrors like racism, classism, misogyny, and the realities of living in the United States as a Black person, both past and present.

It’s really been a year of short stories collections for me, and “Out There Screaming” is one of the last ones of 2023 and it was a great one to almost end on! I hope that Jordan Peele keeps curating anthologies like this, because he has a knack for it. And I hope that we get to see more from some of these authors very soon.

Rating 8: A varied and well rounded collection of horror stories from Black voices and perspectives, “Out There Screaming” is a must read for horror fans.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Out There Screaming” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward to in 2023”.