A review by emperorcupcake
Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror by John F.D. Taff
I think I might prefer single-author short story books, like Autumncrow or Ghost Lake or Stephen King's collections, to this more potluck style. As such I'm not rating this, because how can you give a rating if some stories are 5 stars and some are 3 and some are DNFs? So, I'm gonna focus on the ones I really liked.
The first and last stories, "The Attentionist" by Caroline Kepnes and "Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate" by John Langan are not only 5 stars, but two of my favourite short stories I've ever read. It's difficult to create a whole world in 30-50 pages like one would in a novel, or in an anthology like Ghost Lake. These stories both achieved that. They felt complete. That's what's often lacking in short stories for me, there's usually that "yeah, and?" But the worlds that both Kepnes and Langan painted in these short pages felt vibrant and whole. The characters felt real and fleshed out, even in these snapshots of their lives. I haven't read Kepnes before, but I think fans of The Fisherman will really enjoy Langan's story (especially if you liked the storyteling-within-a-story part, which I really did!) Will definitely seek out more from these authors.
"Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream" by the book's editor, John F.D. Taff, is a 4.5. Take No Exit and add in the custody battle from Hell and you've got a unique and super creepy story. Another author I will check out more from.
"Trinity River's Blues" by Chesya Burke is 4 stars. I liked this a lot, but this is one I'd love to read a whole novel of, or at least something longer by this author. The hoodoo, smoky jazz club, southern gothic vibe is something I'm definitely here for and this was such an intriguing world. I'd read a whole book about just the grandmother!
3.5 each for the two other authors I've read before (besides John Langan), Josh Malerman and Stephen Graham Jones. I picked this up primarily to read Jones' story for the Indigenous readathon I'm participating in, and while it was good it was not my favourite from him. I really liked Malerman's story but I thought it ended kind of abruptly. Still, always great writing from both of these authors.
3 stars for "Volcano" and "Familiar's Assistant." These were pretty good, just not anything I'll remember for too long. I especially liked the basement-door-cosmic-horror of Volcano - who hasn't passed by a creepy ass basement and wondered if it might be a portal to some hell realm?? - but I guess it didn't fully hit for me in execution.
The remaining stories were either skims or DNFs, I just didn't find myself interested in them.
All in all, I'm glad I picked this up for the standout stories that will always stay with me. I guess that's par for the course with collections like these!
The first and last stories, "The Attentionist" by Caroline Kepnes and "Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate" by John Langan are not only 5 stars, but two of my favourite short stories I've ever read. It's difficult to create a whole world in 30-50 pages like one would in a novel, or in an anthology like Ghost Lake. These stories both achieved that. They felt complete. That's what's often lacking in short stories for me, there's usually that "yeah, and?" But the worlds that both Kepnes and Langan painted in these short pages felt vibrant and whole. The characters felt real and fleshed out, even in these snapshots of their lives. I haven't read Kepnes before, but I think fans of The Fisherman will really enjoy Langan's story (especially if you liked the storyteling-within-a-story part, which I really did!) Will definitely seek out more from these authors.
"Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream" by the book's editor, John F.D. Taff, is a 4.5. Take No Exit and add in the custody battle from Hell and you've got a unique and super creepy story. Another author I will check out more from.
"Trinity River's Blues" by Chesya Burke is 4 stars. I liked this a lot, but this is one I'd love to read a whole novel of, or at least something longer by this author. The hoodoo, smoky jazz club, southern gothic vibe is something I'm definitely here for and this was such an intriguing world. I'd read a whole book about just the grandmother!
3.5 each for the two other authors I've read before (besides John Langan), Josh Malerman and Stephen Graham Jones. I picked this up primarily to read Jones' story for the Indigenous readathon I'm participating in, and while it was good it was not my favourite from him. I really liked Malerman's story but I thought it ended kind of abruptly. Still, always great writing from both of these authors.
3 stars for "Volcano" and "Familiar's Assistant." These were pretty good, just not anything I'll remember for too long. I especially liked the basement-door-cosmic-horror of Volcano - who hasn't passed by a creepy ass basement and wondered if it might be a portal to some hell realm?? - but I guess it didn't fully hit for me in execution.
The remaining stories were either skims or DNFs, I just didn't find myself interested in them.
All in all, I'm glad I picked this up for the standout stories that will always stay with me. I guess that's par for the course with collections like these!