Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror

 

Dark Stars, edited by John F.D. Taff, is a tribute to horror’s longstanding short fiction legacy, featuring 12 terrifying original stories from today's most noteworthy authors, with an introduction by bestselling author Josh Malerman and an afterword by Ramsey Campbell.

Created as an homage to the 1980 classic horror anthology, Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley, this collection contains 12 original novelettes showcasing today’s top horror talent. Dark Stars features all-new stories from award-winning authors and up-and-coming voices like Stephen Graham Jones, Priya Sharma, Usman T. Malik, Caroline Kepnes, and Alma Katsu, with seasoned author John F.D. Taff at the helm. An afterword from original Dark Forces contributor Ramsey Campbell is a poignant finale to this bone-chilling collection.
Within these pages you’ll find tales of dead men walking, an insidious secret summer fling, an island harboring unspeakable power, and a dark hallway that beckons. You’ll encounter terrible monsters—both human and supernatural—and be forever changed. The stories in Dark Stars run the gamut from traditional to modern, from dark fantasy to neo-noir, from explorations of beloved horror tropes to the unknown—possibly unknowable—threats.

It’s all in here because it’s all out there, now, in horror.

Dark Stars is an eclectic mix of slower paced thrills with quick bursts of chills. There's more meat on it's bones than I expected, as the tales are more fully fleshed out than typical short stories.

I was hooked from the opening lines of Caroline Kepnes The Attentionist, a chilling psychological thriller about two sisters, that pulled me in with it's leisurely start before hitting like a freight train at the end. Another of my favorites was A Life In Nightmares by Ramsey Campbell in which it's hard to tell where reality begins and dreams end with one young man's fear of not being able to understand others, or of not being understood.

Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream by John F.D. Taff encompasses so many things that I love in a good story. Grief, a road trip, weird weather, supernatural events. I won't say more so as not to spoil it for you I will only say...WOW!

Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate by John Langan was another favorite even though I could not quite figure out at first why a woman would have such a strange way of approaching someone she believes has murdered her brother. But oh my goodness the beginning makes perfect sense at the end.

I enjoyed all of the stories but these were my favorites.

Recommended for all who love dark fiction whether you are looking for anything from vampires to ghosts to psychological thrillers there is something in here for you.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy.

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The Eater of Gods by Dan Franklin

 

Nothing really dies if it's remembered, his wife had told him.

In the dying village of Al Tarfuk, lost among the war-stained dunes of eastern Libya, professor Norman Haas learns the location of the tomb that had been his wife's life pursuit. The final resting place of Kiya, the lost queen of Akhenaten, whose history had been etched from the stone analogues of history for her heresies against the long absent pantheon of Egyptian gods.

He never expected to discover that the tomb was the final resting place to more than the dead. And as his team of researchers find themselves trapped inside the ancient tomb, Norman realizes all too soon that his wife was right-

Nothing really dies if it's remembered...

But some things are best forgotten.

Dan Franklin's debut supernatural thriller is a tale of grief, of loneliness, and of an ageless, hungry fury that waits with ready tooth and claw beneath the sand.

This is a fairly quick read at just 150 pages.

Norman was never that interested in expeditions half a world away. But it was his wife's dream to find and enter the tomb of Kiya, queen of Akhenaten. Sadly, the cancer took her before she could accomplish this, and it is out of respect for her wishes and grief at her passing that Norman now finds himself in this dangerous desert land, seeking out the man who wouldn't help his wife find the tomb.

Norman and his small team have more luck than his deceased wife in locating the tomb, but is that good luck or bad? Should they really enter this sacred space that is said to be cursed and best left forgotten?

The Eater of Gods is a story that is ripe with grief and heavy with longing for things that could have been, and should never be. At the start it feels more like a thriller than a horror, but that will change when our team finds the tomb as their excitement turns to fear.

There is a bit of gore but not what I would consider overly graphic, still I think it's only fair to warn you. 

My thanks to Cemetery Dance for the advance copy.

About the author

Dan Franklin wrote his first attempt at a horror novel when he was seven. It was terrible. He has, since, improved. The winner of several local awards for short stories and an occasional poem, Dan Franklin lives in Maryland with his extremely understanding wife, his cosmically radiant daughter, and a socially crippling obsession with things that creep. The Eater of Gods is his first published novel. He can be contacted at DanFranklinAuthor.com

Limbs by Tim Meyer

 I am not a monster.

Ray Bridges, a professional electronics salesman, is looking for love in all the strange places. He spends most nights sneaking into support group meetings for the disabled in order to satisfy his deepest, darkest desires—to hook up with unfortunate, down-on-their-luck women who’ve recently lost a limb. There's a name for Ray’s preference; it’s called acrotomophilia, a paraphilia involving amputees.

Conflicted, Ray wishes he could change. But he can’t. His body won’t let him. Nor will his mind. He’s destined to live this life, forever. That is . . . until he meets the perfect girl. Falls in love with her. Only problem: her arms and legs are attached.

Unable to find her attractive, Ray embarks on a dark, twisted journey of self-discovery, one that will force him to make an impossible choice: abandon his pursuit of true love or find a way to make it work, even if that means getting the girl of his dreams to shed an appendage.

Ray has never told anyone about his weird kink (or is it a fetish?) of only being attracted to amputees, or the sleazy way he goes about finding women to satisfy his odd desires. After his best friend and co worker tells him about the Hacketstown Hacker, the name given to an unknown perpetrator of brutal assaults on women, he discovers his latest conquest was a victim, and he considers finding the hacker, not to bring him to justice but to have him hack a limb off the new girl at work who he has fallen for. Kayla feels the same way about Ray, but would she accept the truth about him? Can Ray find a way to overlook that she's not missing any body parts or will it take the Hacker to help them live happily ever after?

The cover describes this novella as weird, comedic, and raunchy.  I would tend to agree. I'd also like to add suspenseful, entertaining, well written, and downright crazy. If you normally stay away from conventional romance you may delight in this kooky love story.

4 out of 5 stars

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About the author

Tim Meyer dwells in a dark cave near the Jersey Shore. He's an author, husband, father, podcast host, blogger, coffee connoisseur, beer enthusiast, and explorer of worlds. He writes horror, mysteries, science fiction, and thrillers, although he prefers to blur genres and let the story fall where it may.

You can follow Tim at https://timmeyerwrites.com

Identicals by William Brennan Knight

 

In the year and a half since Jack Clausen lost his five-year-old daughter, RosaMarie, his life has fallen apart. Depressed and despondent, he steps off a platform into an oncoming train. Just before impact, a strong hand pulls him away. A strange, small person offers Jack a way to bring his daughter back, but there is a high price to pay. After Jacks’ child is returned to him, he refuses to pay his debt, and events spiral out of control. Revisiting multiple past realities, Jack searches for a solution to a problem that only worsens as he confronts his inner demons and the deep issues that destroyed his family.

Sometimes a loss brings families closer together. In the Clausen family, it has torn them apart. The loss of his five year old daughter has Jack Clausen wallowing in a year and a half of despair. He spends more time in a bottle than with his remaining children. He has lost his job, ruined his marriage, neglected his sons and contemplated suicide.

It is on one of his lowest days, as he is about to step in front of a train, that he first makes contact with an Identical. A strange little being who promises to return his daughter. There is a steep price to pay but Jack is not told what this will be, until it's much too late.

It's much more complicated than a deal with the devil, where you could live happily every after until an agreed upon time when you relinquish your soul. The terms of this deal are less clear and the consequences are more immediate. The harder Jack tries to set things right, the worse off he and his family become.

This is a dark and disturbing story that straddles the line between horror and fantasy. I cared about the family and wanted things to work out for them.

The Identicals. What are they? Where do they come from? Why do they promise to save some people in return for murdering others?  How do they choose their victims? These are things I wish I knew, and which were not answered for me in this book.

3.5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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