A review by raforall
Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror by John F.D. Taff
4.0
Review in October 2021 Library Journal: https://www.libraryjournal.com/?reviewDetail=dark-stars-new-tales-of-darkest-horror-1781783
Three Words That Describe This Book: Epic, Genre Expanding, Imaginative
In this genre expanding anthology, featuring a forward by Horror superstar Josh Malerman and a thoughtful afterword by legend Ramsey Campbell, Taff features 12 of the most imaginative authors in Horror today, giving them a long leash to dive into terror. The result, each story is like a mini novel, while taken as a whole, the anthology will be held up as a “snapshot” of this moment in Horror for years to come. A clear choice for fans of the bigger names like Katsu, Kepnes, and Jones, but don’t sleep on the stellar tales by Chesya Burke, Priya Sharma, and Usman Malik. This volume is a beast, the stories take brilliant chances that will be worth the time investment; expect many to be up for major genre awards.
Verdict: While most of your readers will focus on the epic table of contents, ardent Horror fans will appreciate its ode to the seminal (and out of print) Dark Forces anthology, edited by Kirby McCauley which similarly strove to bring Horror to a wider audience in the 1980s and featured both a story by a young Campbell and what many consider Stephen King’s best novella, The Mist.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Epic, Genre Expanding, Imaginative
In this genre expanding anthology, featuring a forward by Horror superstar Josh Malerman and a thoughtful afterword by legend Ramsey Campbell, Taff features 12 of the most imaginative authors in Horror today, giving them a long leash to dive into terror. The result, each story is like a mini novel, while taken as a whole, the anthology will be held up as a “snapshot” of this moment in Horror for years to come. A clear choice for fans of the bigger names like Katsu, Kepnes, and Jones, but don’t sleep on the stellar tales by Chesya Burke, Priya Sharma, and Usman Malik. This volume is a beast, the stories take brilliant chances that will be worth the time investment; expect many to be up for major genre awards.
Verdict: While most of your readers will focus on the epic table of contents, ardent Horror fans will appreciate its ode to the seminal (and out of print) Dark Forces anthology, edited by Kirby McCauley which similarly strove to bring Horror to a wider audience in the 1980s and featured both a story by a young Campbell and what many consider Stephen King’s best novella, The Mist.