Fears: Tales of Psychological Horror
First published August 9, 2024 (Booklist Online).
Datlow’s latest themed anthology gathers 21 stories, all reprints that previously appeared across the publishing landscape since 2000 (except for one, the penultimate story by the late Charles Birkin originally published in1964). Together these tales illustrate the evolution of the Psychological Horror subgenre, moving these stories out of the hands of narrators with severe mental illness and into spaces where the fear can seep in from anywhere and anyone (a dinner party, your own family, random encounters, vacation), things are clearly not as they seem, and the monsters are more human than anyone wants to admit. The anthology has plenty of big names to draw readers in from Josh Malerman to Joyce Carol Oates to Stephen Graham Jones (who's previously out of print story “Teeth,” which closes the volume is a worthy draw here in and of itself), but like in previous books, Datlow has racked up the awards because she is able to identify and include excellent stories from authors that readers may be less familiar with; for example, the intense, atmospheric unease of an overburdened caregiver in Priya Sharma’s “My Mother’s Ghost” or the reality of a young girl’s father terrifyingly unveiled by Hailey Piper in “Unkindly Girls” and the existentially unsettling “Cavity” by Theresa DeLucci which lists the 32 times the main character has met a murderer, including her own. Clearly not for the faint of heart, but the legions of fans for both Psychological Suspense and Horror, mean that there is a built-in audience who will be eager to get their hands around this book. It also pairs well with the Bram Stoker Award nominated Dark Matter Presents Human Monsters edited by Sadie Hartmann and Ashley Sawyers, in which the Malerman story first appeared.
Three Words That Describe This Book: wide range of scares, reprints, “fear as precursor to terror”
Further Appeal: Before I mention the appeal of the content, can we talk about the cover?!?!?! This book will sell itself anytime you put it face out.
A Datlow anthology is appealing to many readers in and of itself. This one's focus on monsters that may or may not be real will open it up to more readers. And of course, the TOC itself is a huge draw. From the publisher's description:
In this uniquely unsettling anthology, editor Ellen Datlow has unearthed twenty-one exemplary tales of what humanity fears most: People.
“Bait” by Simon Bestwick
“The Pelt” by Annie Neugebauer
“A Sunny Disposition” by Josh Malerman
“The Donner Party” by Dale Bailey
“White Noise in a White Room” by Steve Duffy
“Singing My Sister Down” by Margo Lanagan
“Back Seat” by Bracken MacLeod
“England and Nowhere” by Tim Nickels
“Endless Summer” by Stewart O’Nan
“My Mother’s Ghosts” by Priya Sharma
“The Wink and the Gun” by John Patrick Higgins
“One of These Nights” by Livia Llewellyn
“LD50” by Laird Barron
“Cavity” by Theresa DeLucci
“Souvenirs” by Sharon Gosling
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates
“The Wrong Shark” by Ray Cluley
“21 Brooklands: next to Old Western, opposite the burnt out Red Lion” by Carole Johnstone
“Unkindly Girls” by Hailey Piper
“A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” by Charles Birkin
“Teeth” by Stephen Graham Jones
This all leads to....
Readalikes: The anthology with the Malerman story listed above is a perfect pairing. As is the Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors edited by Doug Murano which the Annie Neugebauer story comes from and I reviewed (STAR in LJ) the book and singled out that excellent story, here. Fun fact both of those anthologies were nominated for the Stoker but lost to a Datlow edited anthology. And the Murano anthology won the Shirley Jackson Award.
Also anything by any author who appears in this anthology or any Datlow edited anthology are all readalikes here.
No comments:
Post a Comment