When I asked indie horror publisher Dreadstone Press for a review copy of their debut title, Field Notes from a Nightmare, I thought I had some idea of what I was in for. I’d read prior work by several of the collected authors, so I knew to prepare myself to be unsettled. Half a story in, I discovered that I was not anywhere near braced for the impact of this devastating anthology.

Field Notes from a Nightmare’s 18 stories of ecological horror compose a symphony of tragedy and terror. There is little more frightening on scales either local or global than climate catastrophe and environmental degradation. These stories showcase the sheer innumerability of ways in which our environment could—and, if we do not change our ways, probably will—go wrong. Equally frightening is their focus on the manners in which we humans, faced with environmental collapse, could (and do) go wrong. There are so many possibilities, so few of them bearable.

As in any short story collection, particularly a multiply-authored anthology, some of these stories worked better for me than others (though I found none of them bad or bland and all of them scary). The collection is bookended by what, for me, were two of its highest notes, beginning with the atmospheric menace of Sara Tantlinger’s “As Humans Burn Beneath Us” and ending with Tom Jolly’s gripping survival epic “When the Rains Come.” Other standout stories included Gordon B. White’s truly disturbing “Dandelion Six”, Joanna Koch’s upsetting (and wonderfully titled) “We Have Always Lived in the Soil”, Jonathan Louis Duckworth’s note-perfect Thoreau pastiche “Considering a Pond in Massachusetts”, and Alex Woodroe’s horrifyingly funny academic satire “The Huitlacoche is Doing Fine”. And also: if you, like me, like to read while you cook, I implore you not to read Tim Hoelscher’s “The MeatTM” while you cook meat. I promise that you will regret it and the regret will linger.

This collection’s indelible creepiness is enhanced through interior illustrations by cover artist David Bowman, whose shadowy ink drawings—a little reminiscent of shadow master Mervyn Peake, though Bowman’s style is ultimately his own—highlight memorable details from the texts. The illustrations’ tone is well matched to stories and helps sustain a sense of overall coherence.

Field Notes from a Nightmare is an unforgettable book. Though the disturbing nature of its themes result in an emotionally and intellectually challenging experience, the overall quality of its stories’ writing and editor Alex Ebenstein’s well-considered sequencing of stories result in a propulsive, even compulsive, read. I would recommend this anthology to anyone looking for high-quality modern horror, particularly readers who turn to horror for help in processing pressing and distressing issues such as climate change. ( )