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Wednesday, July 26, 2023

What I'm Reading: This World Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Horror Stories About Bugs

Because Booklist Magazine's mission is to provide "prepub" reviews for libraries so they can get orders in before a book comes out, there are often many small press Horror titles that would be perfect for inclusion in the magazine, that I just cannot get my hands on in enough time for that to be possible.

However, because the editors realize that there are excellent indie press titles that would be great in libraries and because they know it is often hard for them to get us review copies far enough in advance for inclusion in the print magazine, they are willing to include these books as e-only reviews. 

This summer I have had some time to review of few of these titles for Booklist Online. 

Recently, the first of these went live on Booklist Online. As usual with my Booklist reviews, I am posing the draft language with extra appeal info here.

Please consider adding this book to your collections. Now that it has a review in a trusted source, maybe you will be allowed to go outside of your normal channels to procure it. Also, this one, an anthology, has big name authors in it, authors your patrons will be clamoring to read new stories by. One, V. Castro is a LibraryReads author and her story is one of the best in the volume. 

Enough preamble, here is the review.

This World Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Horror Stories About Bugs
Edited by Michael W. Phillips Jr. May 2023. 208p. From Beyond, $17.99 (9798987574317); paper, $13.9 (9798987574300)First published July 14, 2023 (Booklist Online).

Most humans are afraid of bugs at some level and editor Phillips is banking on that as he boldly and ambitiously launches a new micropress with a crowd pleasing volume of 19 original stories featuring well known, critically acclaimed horror authors like V. Castro, Cynthia Pelayo, and Kealan Patrick Burke. As one would expect, the tales induce terror through a variety of insects, from earwigs to worms to ladybugs and butterflies, but the stories also take on a wide range of tropes and frames as well from space horror to dark academia to fairy tales, cli-fi and body horror. Castro’s “Monarchs in Flight,” is the perfect example. A space explorer comes upon a new planet where enormous butterfly-like creatures live at the top of the food chain. Also of note “A Confession of Earwigs,” by Paula D. Ashe, a chilling, dark academia tale of love, revenge, and, of course, earwigs, told through emails and “The Seventh Instar” by Kay Vaindal a hilarious and disgusting satire of capitalism and global warming narrated by brainworms. Readers will immerse themselves in the full swarm of stories as they alternate between awe and disgust, always enjoying how it makes them squirm. Suggest with confidence to fans of the contributing authors and pair with other nature based horror anthologies like Fungi edited by Sivlia Morerno Garcia and Orrin Grey or the novels of Jeff VanderMeer.

Further Appeal: First, the TOC has names your patrons want to read more so they will be drawn to this anthology to read more by authors they know and like. Add to this, one of my favorite stories was by Paula D. Ashe, who in the time between me writing this review and it publishing, won the Shirley Jackson Award for her story collection. Now there would be even more interest in this anthology. 

This all is being said before I remind you....it's Bug Horror. Sells itself really. You can booktalk this one anytime of year to anyone who wants scary stories and isn't sure where to begin. All you have to say is, "It's a Horror anthology of stories by different authors and all of them feature bugs!" You will have many takers.

I like using anthologies for readers who want to give Horror a try because they will be exposed to more authors and more types of writing in one volume. I remind people that not all anthologies are meant to be read cover to cover by every reader. But when you are trying something out, having different voices will help you figure out what you like and don't like, and have examples to articulate why.

In this case, while I really enjoyed all of the stories, but it does need to be said that the level of violence ranges widely. Pelayo's story is extremely unsettling and more haunted and psychological, while Ashe's is in your face, violent, and even accusatory (which I loved), and Vaindal's is dark, dark humor and satire, sustained throughout as it grows more and more ridiculous but also more scary and satirical as well. Those are 3 very different stories in terms of the emotions they elicit.

But I also know there are readers who love Bug Horror, or even any Nature Gone Wild Horror, and this will satisfy that itch (pun intended) for those readers.

This is a brand new micro press, the editor, Phillips runs the press and is in my Chicagoland Chapter of the HWA. I know him personally. He is committed to producing a well edited product that will stand up to multiple checkouts. 

I asked him to provide me a copy to read with no promises of ever covering it. After reading the book, I was so excited to share it with as many people as possible, I worked to figure out how to get a review into Booklist (described above) so that as many of you as possible would hear about it.

Three Words That Describe This Book: unsettling, multiple frames, immersive

Readalikes: I listed a few that you probably have on the shelf in the review, but really, other works by the authors in this table of contents are a great place to find matches for your readers. 

And if you have NoveList search the "Nature Gone Wild" theme. Or click here for a list I have on the Horror blog.

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