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Book Review: Christmas and Other Horrors: A Winter Solstice Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow

Cover art for Christmas and Other Stories: An Anthology of Solstice Horror

 

Christmas and Other Horrors:: An Anthology of Solstice Horror edited by Ellen Datlow

Titan Books, 2023

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1803363264

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:    Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

 

Many people think of the Christmas season as a cheerful time of year, but it’s always been a time where sprits, gods, and terrifying creatures roam. Ghost stories set at Christmas abound: Charles Dickens and M.R James both published them every year. Coinciding with the winter solstice, it’s also a time of sacrifice. Christmas and Other Horrors draws on this tradition, with a wide variety of stories, ranging from folk horror to apocalyptic clifi.

 

There are several stories I found especially enjoyable.

In “The Importance of a Tidy Home,” ,by Christopher Golden, grotesque creatures local to Salzburg, Austria murder residents of homes that haven’t been tidied for the new year;

“The Ghost of Christmases Past”, by Richard Kadrey, describes Christmas Eve with Laura, who boards herself into her house every year to prevent the return of a cannibalistic witch who ate her brother in front of her, to her husband’s disbelief;

“All The Pretty People” by Nadia Bulkin, describes a Festivus party reuniting college friends, who are surprised when their friend Sam, who ghosted them months ago, arrives

“Cold”, by Cassandra Khaw, is an apocalyptic clifi story in which a saint, Brede, arrives every year on the winter solstice, asking if she can stay and sleep until spring… but what happens when spring doesn”t come? The figurative language and world-building in this story were fantastic.

In “Löyly Sow-na”,by Josh Malerman, Russell visits his Finnish girlfriend Hannele’s family, where he is trapped in a sauna with her father. I had no idea how this story was going to play out!

“Grave of Small Birds”, by Kaaron Warren, is a folk horror tale in which a bad-tempered reality show chef specializing in medieval cookery takes a job on a small British island with strange Christmas traditions. While it was fairly predictable, the setting was well-done. The main character was unlikable, so I found the ending very satisfying. This was a very atmospheric story, and descriptions of the island and its unusual traditions were excellent..

 

While the winter solstice and the Christmas season have passed, I can recommend this book for any time of year.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Book Review: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror volume 4 edited by Paula Guran

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, vol. 4 edited by Paula Guran

PYR 2023

ISBN:  978-1645060673

Available : Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:   Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

 

Editor Paula Guran is one of the two American women (the other one being Ellen Datlow) who keep providing every year the best short fiction that appeared in print the year before in the area of horror and dark fantasy.

 

The present, hefty volume includes twenty-one “best” tales. Frankly. to me 2022 doesn’t appear to have been such a great year for horror and dark fantasy, at least in the short form, because only a few among the selected stories were able to impress me and entertain me.

 

“Red Wet Grin” by Gemma Files, is a very dark, unsettling story where a nurse working in a care home witnesses a series of weird events.

 

Stephen Graham Jones contributes “Men, Women and Chainsaws” an engrossing, although a bit puzzling story, revolving around an old Camaro endowed with dangerous properties.

 

“The Voice of a Thousand Years” by Fawaz Al-Matrouk is a dark fable about an old man endeavoring to give life to an  automaton, while “ How Selkies are Made” by Cassandra Khaw is a splendid fairy tale featuring a beautiful, unhappy bride.

 

“Challawa” by Usman T. Malik  is a powerful, outstanding piece with a distinctive exotic taste, in which ancient gods take possession of an American tourist.

 

“The Long Way Up” by Alix E. Harrow is a disturbing allegory where a woman retrieves her dead husband in a deep chamber, and convinces him to return to the world of the living.

 

AC Wise provides “Sharp Things, Killing Things”, an obscure but intriguing story in which a group of youngsters have to deal with some unexpected deaths.

 

These are my favorite stories. Other readers could make a different selection, but these are the rules of the game and such a huge volume has plenty of material to offer.

 

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

Book Review: Double Barrel Horror, Volume 3 edited by Matthew Weber

cover image for Double Barrel Horror Volume 3

Double Barrel Horror, Volume 3 edited by Matthew Weber (  Amazon.com  )

Pint Bottle Press, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-945005-01-5

Availability: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Double Barrel Horror, Volume 3 is a 182 page collection of horror shorts by six different authors, two stories by each one.  Most of the stories clock in at around the 10-15 page mark, and the quality is all over the map.  There are some good ones, but some clunkers as well.   Or, in keeping with the “shotgun” theme of the book title, there are some good rounds of double-aught buck in here, but there is also a fair amount of birdshot and blanks mixed in.

 

Calvin Demmer is the most consistent author out of the six; his “Highway Hell” and “Motel Madness” are entertaining romps, concerning how roadkill is really removed from the highways, and what happens to a bad, but not truly evil, person when they are tossed into purgatory.  Robert Essig’s “From Unclean Spells” is a decent story of necromancy gone wrong.   If nothing else, the belch-and-barf-fest (literally) in the story is quite amusing.  Essig comes up big with “Fuel for the King of Death”, which scores high both in terms of originality and excitement.  How does a freaky little Museum of Death keep getting new video footage for the museum?  Read on and find out.  Mark Matthews adds “Goodwin”, which is an entertaining take on the joys of necrophilia, from a corpse’s point of view.  The most chilling story in the book certainly comes Glenn Rolfe.  His “The House on Mayflower Street” is a terrifying look at what happens when nosy neighborhood brats start investigating the classic “abandoned house” in a suburban neighborhood.  As the kids find out, curiosity is not only painful, it’s a lot worse than death.  This one would make a good movie; it alone is almost worth the price of admission.

 

As for the rest of the stories…meh.  They aren’t necessarily bad, but they aren’t that interesting either.  The writing quality for all of them is fine, there just really isn’t anything in the stories to capture and hold the reader.  They are okay for a quick moment, but there is nothing that will make the stories truly memorable for the reader.  If you have the money to spare, you may want to consider picking this up for the good stories it does contain.  Anyone on a limited budget, though, would be better off investing in The Third Corona Book of Horror Stories or Lost Highways: Dark Fiction From the Road.

 

 

Contains: violence, profanity, gore

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson