Maybe it's just me--likely is, considering the overwhelmingly positive reviews for this collection--but I really wasn't impressed by it. And Ellen Datlow is likely the closest thing to royalty when it comes to editors. I have nothing but the utmost respect for her. And the authors are a stellar group, overall.

Perhaps it was the unthemed theme of this collection. Perhaps it was my state of mind. Who the hell knows? All I know is, I started the first story, got halfway, and gave up. Moved to the second story, loved the first three-quarters, hated the ending. Kept going, finding little things here and there that I loved, but found none of the stories satisfying. Which is shocking, because I've read--and enjoyed--many of the authors before.

This is why I'm wondering if it's my state of mind. I don't know, but all I can say is, at this point, I didn't enjoy this at all. Which is sad, because I'd really looked forward to it. ( )

Available on KU Aug 2021

Read:
-- Wendigo Nights • short story by Siobhan Carroll - 2* story told in an odd format "day 11", "day 9", "day 12", "day 9". I didn't do well with that. Add the written ambiguity and I found the story unsatisfying overall.

-- Power • short story by Michael Marshall Smith - DNF A guy invented a machine to help out in the pool and each version was more and more advanced until you couldn't put the paste back in the tube.

-- The Witch Moth • short story by Bruce McAllister - DNF I decided to let it go after a bit. I'm not a fan of unreliable narrators. And the death of a dog in an awful way was included. Who wants to read that shit?

-- Bridge of Sighs • short story by Kaaron Warren - 3* Very unique. A ghost hunter uses his skills, offering a service to grieving families and by the end I'm not feeling too bad for what he gets. // Will see if I can find anything else by this offer to read. I've never come across her before and she seems rather prolific.

-- Mount Chary Galore • novelette by Jeffrey Ford - 1.5* I started skimming near the end. I found it all a bit pointless. Young "wounded" MCs, a "witch" with a personified smoking pig... it just became ridiculous with all the stuff happening.

-- The Attic • short story by Catherine MacLeod - 1.5* It seems well liked in the reviews but I started skimming at maybe 75%. I think too much was left out while other stuff was included that took away from the story. Also, the MC acted like she was a force but then for a year she was very passive. She murdered a guy and chucked him in a dumpster!! This is the same person passively living in the farm house with the "in-laws". Skimmed to the end. meh.

Skipping the rest

"A Wish From a Bone" by Gemma Files
4 stars for a story that didn't do a lot of original things, but did what it did with good visuals and language. It's a little bit Lora Croft meets Hellraiser… which isn't easy to dismiss as a bad idea. Well done.

"The Atlas of Hell" by Nathan Ballingrud
4 stars for some good imagery, but I don't know how many John Constantine, Titus Crow, Sandman Slim characters the world has room for. The likable occult anti-hero who stumbles into world-threatening trouble a few times a week is less fresh than it was. Hellboy seemed to have signaled that the age to parody the form had arrived… but no - on it goes. Hey, if the stories are good - I'll give them some time, but I'm eager to see what follows this increasingly loaded cliche. I get it - we all liked this stuff when we were young, and now the geeks are ascendent.

"The Witch Moth" by Bruce McAllister
2.5 stars - there's some "who's who, and what's reality" play going on, but not enough time, space, or interest for me to put in the effort to track it cleanly. The opening pages seemed like they were written by a different writer - one with less skill with words (maybe this was to represent the protagonist's younger age?), and some elements were asides more interesting than the main story - but it all get's pretty brown and mushy rather than resolved and satisfying. Meh.

"Kaiju" by Gary McMahon
2 stars - Pretty weak, although it did something enjoyable by saying the protagonist couldn't remember why they'd liked giant monster stories when they were young, after being faced with the reality of one in their adulthood. That sentiment sunk in, rather than feeling like cheesy sentiment. There's a Twilight Zone twist tossed in for 3 paragraphs that feels half-baked and uninteresting.

"In the year of omens: only annoying 1 star

The four darks: occult gumshoe. The pretentiousness of this one is off the chart, and not in a good way. My trust in the Shirley Jackson award, and the taste of Ellen Datlow, is low right now. To the point of considering bailing on the anthology." 2 stars

The Spindly Man - 5 stars, now that's what I'm talking about. Reread this story immediately. So many good elements. Would make a killer one act play or low budget film.

Mount Chary Galore - 5 stars - comes across like it was written for a "re-envisioned fairy tales" anthology. In a very good way. Really well written.

The Window - 3 stars, not a bad effort, contemporary Lovecraftian

Ballad of an Echo Whisperer - 2 stars

Suffer Little Children - 3 stars

Power - 3 stars

Bridge of Sighs - 3 stars

The Worms Crawl In - 2 stars

The Attic - 2 stars

Wendigo Nights - 3 stars

Episode Three: On the Greeat Plains, In the Snow - 2 stars - urgh, please only include supernatural detectives if the story is half decent. 1 star if not for the T Rex.

Catching Flies - 2 stars - plots are useful in stories

Shay Corsham Worsted - 4 stars - a sci fi story tucked in at the end. Pretty strong finish. Well written - good idea. Very Warren Ellis/comic bookish

54.5 divided by 20 = 2.7 Stars overall

As anthologies go, I can't say whether or not this is typical, but it falls short of 3 stars.
Save yourself some time with this one - just read A Wish From A Bone, Atlas of Hell, The Spindly Man, Mount Chary Galore, and Shay Corsham Worsted.
Especially The Spindly Man, and Mount Chary Galore

Many of the other offerings were ponderously poor choices, and I would definitely hesitate to read another Datlow anthology. Maybe it's because I bought the book for horror - and the premise isn't *quite* horror. Maybe one of her "Year's Best Horror" anthologies would suit me better.

For now, I'll be reading more from Stephen Graham Jones, and Jeffrey Ford thanks to this book - so it's a net gain. ( )

Ellen Datlow can always be counted on to select some good writing. This collection simply further cements her already-stellar reputation. These are all strong stories, and all appear here for the first time. A must-read for any horror fan - or indeed, any fan of dark, weird fiction.

The editor's guidelines for submission to this anthology: "This is a non-theme, all original anthology of about 125,000 words of terror and supernatural horror. I’m looking for all kinds of horror, but if you’re going to use a well worn trope, try to do something fresh with it. If you’ve read any volumes of The Best Horror of the Year, you’ll know that my taste is pretty eclectic, that I like variety, and that while I don’t mind violence, I don’t think it should be the point of a story. I don’t want vignettes but fully formed stories that are about something. I want to be creeped out."

“A Wish From a Bone” by Gemma Files
A fine entry into the 'cursed tomb' subgenre. A TV show crew gets more than they bargained for when they enter an ancient Middle Eastern crypt in search of some good documentary fodder.

“The Atlas of Hell” by Nathan Ballingrud
A mafia boss sends his minions out into the bayou in search of a man who's been holding out on him; selling occult artifacts. But even experts in the arcane may get more than they bargained for.

“The Witch Moth” by Bruce McAllister
A young boy believes that he lives in a beautiful home with his family. But his mother may be a witch whose emotional instability will tear away all that he holds dear. Or is the witch someone else altogether? Or is there a witch at all? Layers of ambiguity are wrapped around this tale.

“Kaiju” by Gary McMahon
Probably the best take on a Godzilla-type scenario that I've read. In the aftermath of a monster's passing, survivors wander through the flattened ruins left by the devastating footsteps of its trail. And there's a nice bit of a twist...

“Will The Real Psycho In This Story Please Stand Up?” by Pat Cadigan
A high school girl's best friend (a bit belatedly) goes out of her way to befriend the one guy who's been bullied and picked on throughout their years at the school. She asks him out to prom, on a double-date. They're nervous that the bullies will ruin the dance - but when disaster strikes, it's not from the expected quarter.

“In the Year of Omens” by Helen Marshall
A weird and disturbing story. Strange omens presaging death have begun appearing to many, many people. A teenage girl, in her self-involved world-view, strangely envies those who have received a 'special' omen.

“The Four Darks” by Terry Dowling
An old-fashioned-feeling tale which weaves together a man with strange dreams, a declining mental health facility, and an investigation into a 19th-century theory about the nature of the universe involving the 'Fuligin Braid.'

“The Spindly Man” by Stephen Graham Jones
Meta-horror: a book club meets to discuss a Stephen King short story. They're joined by the uninvited 'spindly man,' who brings up uncomfortable and eerie experiences from the members' pasts.

“The Window” by Brian Evenson
Classic ghost-story lovers should appreciate this one. A man is woken by a strange noise in the night. Intruder? Or something less tangible and more terrifying?

“Mount Chary Galore” by Jeffrey Ford
Kids from a broken family spy on the old woman who's locally rumored to be a witch. She invites them in - and they get more than they bargained for. Southern gothic, with a hint of the classic tall-tale, and some extreme weirdness that's all Jeffrey Ford.

“Ballad of an Echo Whisperer” by Caitlín R. Kiernan
A writer and a photographer, on a cross-country train journey to New Orleans. Gradually, perspective and personality fragment, mixing past, present, and might-have-been. Vividly written and richly evocative.

“Suffer Little Children” by Robert Shearman
After a scandal, a young governess is dismissed from her position. Her prospect of gaining a new job seem dim - but then, a remote school offers her a teaching position, sight unseen. Since this is a horror anthology, creepy events are bound to ensue... and creepy they are.

“Power” by Michael Marshall Smith
A tech geek who's also an abusive husband and all-around jerk is obsessed with building successively bigger and better robotic pool cleaners. Naturally, he tests them out at his home. And all does not end well.

“Bridge of Sighs” by Kaaron Warren
Post-mortem photography is a bit of a curiously morbid thing all on its own - but when mixed with ghost-hunting, by a practitioner who's a bit of a devious pervert? Super-creepy.

“The Worms Crawl In,” by Laird Barron
A jealous man's (literally) monstrous nature is revealed. For me, a bit over-the-top, but I'm sure fans of Barron will be pleased.

“The Attic” by Catherine MacLeod
This might be my favorite in this collection. A young woman has escaped the clutches of her Mafia boss, for whom she did enforced work as a thief/locksmith. Seeking a totally different life, she's happy to marry a rural man and join his family - following a simple, traditional lifestyle in his isolated village. However, her instincts start telling her something is being kept from her... perhaps the practices of a religious cult? She slowly begins to feel like Bluebeard's wife.
The story is nicely thought-provoking, with commentary of responsibility, demands, and what is properly owed...

“Wendigo Nights” by Siobhan Carroll
Arctic research team goes crazy. This reminded me quite a lot of a less-fleshed-out version of something else I've read... but I can't quite place it. Later update to come? I did like it, though.

“Episode Three: On the Great Plains, In the Snow” by John Langan
Ghosts versus Dinosaurs! A spirit is thrust into a violent afterlife, his regular landscape populated by warring cowboys and Indians, bloody accident scenes, and yes, a rampaging T-Rex. It seems a bit silly - but the possible explanation offered at the end gives the piece an unexpected pathos.

“Catching Flies” by Carole Johnstone
Emergency workers grab a young girl and her baby brother from their home, rescuing them from a horrible scene. They're unwilling to talk to the girl about what happened to her mother. But the girl knows more about the horror than any of them. Really effective; well-done.

“Shay Corsham Worsted” by Garth Nix
Garth Nix is always excellent; and this tale closes the collection on a strong note. A retired secret service agent has been watching a certain house for thirty years. But when the threat that's been feared for all these decades erupts, the weapon has been forgotten, and bureaucracy gets in the way. ( )

What strange things these monsters be

Fearful Symmetries: An Anthology of Horror, edited by Ellen Datlow (ChiZine Publications, $16.99).

Not every monster in this collection is of the traditional type; in fact, many of the stories leave us wondering if perhaps the humans aren’t the real monsters. But with topnotch writers like Garth Nix, Laird Barron, Brian Evenson and Kaaron Warren, it’s really another winner for editor Ellen Datlow.

The opening story leads off with a sort of revenge-of-the-mummy vibe. ”A Wish From a Bone” by Gemma Files has the production crew on an archaeological film for the History Channel shooting in a war-torn area when the temple they are examining turns out to house the Terrible Seven—and you don’t want to mess with these dudes.

In Gary McMahon’s “Kaiju,” the monster Godzilla inadvertantly helps out a very human monster by covering up evidence of his crime, while Pat McMahon’s ”Will the Real Psycho in This Story Please Stand Up?” looks at the difference between cruelty and psychopathy. What if the psychopath is a religious maniac who believes his own suffering is so important that he prefers being tortured to torturing? And what if God’s the psychopath for allowing it?

And “In the Year of Omens” by Helen Marshall ultimately leaves us with a completely normal girl who is, perhaps, monstrous because she’s normal:

There had always been signs in the world. Every action left its trace somewhere. There were clues. There were giveaways. The future whispered to you before you even got there, and the past, well, the past was a chatterbox, it would tell you everything if you let it.

Stephen Graham Jones’ story “The Spindly Man” is a sort of meta-fiction, set in a reading group—part of the main character’s self-imposed reparations program—that is studying Stephen King’s “The Man in the Black Suit.” In that story, the Devil in the form of a man puts the fear of God into a small boy.

Then, to the reading group’s surprise, a man shows up, looking every inch the incarnation of the man in the story. What happens next is really frightening.

In “Suffer Little Children” by Robert Shearman, we get a strange turn on Henry James. Susan Cowley is a governess—was born to be a governess—in Exley Hall. She fails, and returns home in disgrace. Then an advertisement for H__ Hall arrives, and she goes to teach in that faraway and very odd place. In flashback, we learn that she was dismissed from her last position after the 8-year-old boy accused her of terrible acts, but he’d been reading about “old gods.” His final missive to her said, “Something’s coming.” And it does.

There’s a Twilight Zone-like twist in Michael Marshall Smith’s ”Power,” about a man who builds ever-increasingly complex pool tools, including one that can save a child from drowning, and sets it to specifically protect one child via pheromones. Rod Serling would love this ending.

Also just in just the right way is “Bridge of Sighs” by Kaaron Warren, in which a photographer finds a way to collect the life-force of suicides, and injects them into dead bodies which then are briefly revitalized so that their loved ones can say goodbye. This is a haunting story. He’s not a terribly nice guy, and he takes advantage of women. Then the grieving mother of a dead baby turns the tables on him.

In general, these are creative turns on horror tropes, which makes the question of monsters far more relevant to us than we might otherwise expect.

Reviewed on Lit/Rant: www.litrant.tumblr.com ( )