A great collection of short stories.

Invitation To The Game - Kelley Armstrong : Enjoyed this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

The Dead Years - Taylor Grant : Really liked this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Blackout - Jonathan Moore : Could have been a bit longer. I wanted more. I was just getting into it and it and the characters and it ended ⭐️⭐️

Variations On A Theme From Seinfeld - Peter Straub : Ok ⭐️⭐️

Torn - Lee Thomas : Seemed longer than the others. Lots of detail, great story ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another killer anthology! The standouts for me were Torn by Lee Thomas and The Blackout by Jonathan Moore. The Blackout had an interesting premise and a good ending. I was enthralled with Torn from beginning to end. A fantastic take on an underutilized movie monster. Highly recommended anthology.

I love horror but for some reason I don’t usually have a lot of luck where horror anthologies are concerned. Thankfully this was one of the better ones I’ve read.

My favourite story was by Kelley Armstrong. As has been the case with this series, one story takes up about half of the book; this time it’s Lee Thomas’ Torn.

Invitation to the Game by Kelley Armstrong - 4 stars

When you’re offered a promotion at this company you receive an invitation to the Game. Only no one knows what the Game entails until it’s their turn to play.

“It’s an honour, right? We have to remember that.

Summer of ‘77 by Stewart O’Nan - 4 stars

There’s more than fun in the sun at the lake this summer. This peek into the world of a predator could make you second guess helping anyone again.

“I didn’t really need the mask; it was more for them.”

The Dead Years by Taylor Grant - 3 stars

Emma’s been gone for years. Now he’s found Emma’s doppelgänger. But Margot’s definitely not Emma.

“Today’s monstrosity is tomorrow’s masterpiece.”

The Blackout by Jonathan Moore - 3 stars

A body goes missing from the morgue during a storm.

“Before the lights went out, everything in there was fine.”

Variations on a Theme from Seinfeld by Peter Straub - 3 stars

Clyde’s reflection has gone missing. Again.

“The image before him in the mirror’s rectangular surface depicted an unusually ordered bathroom empty of humanity, especially as represented by himself.”

Torn by Lee Thomas - 4 stars

The search for a missing child is only the beginning of this story.

“How do you go on when something like that happens to your child?”

Content warnings include addiction, death by suicide, sexual assault and suicidal ideation.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hydra, an imprint of Random House Publishing Group, for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 3.5 stars.

A terrific short story collection of amazing horror tales. I particularly liked the Straub story. I can’t wait to read future installments. Highly recommended.

A compendium of good horror stories. For fans of varied horror, including psychological horror, this is the book to read.

I LOVE THESE COLLECTIONS! The best of the best all in place with no commitment of a novel. Please keep these going. Awaiting #10.

Creepy stories, perfect for curling up on the sofa on an October evening. Recommended to fans of horror and short stories.

I was provided a review copy by Netgalley.

This one was unfortunately not a winner for me. I have come to realize that I like the horror genre but I am not a fan of anthologies. There was a good mix of stories I enjoyed and some that I was less of a fan of. Some I felt were far too short and didn't have enough explanation for how complex they seemed to be. Others felt a bit longer than was necessary. I really enjoyed a couple of the stories but not enough for me to say I enjoyed the book overall. Like I said I have realized that anthologies just don't really work for me. I still appreciate being provided the book to read but I will stay away from most anthologies from now on.

My thanks to Random House Publishing and Netgalley.
This was probably my least favorite of all the Dark Screams anthologies. I really loved the one by Kelly Armstrong though. The rest ranged from bad to not very good!

A great compilation of spine-tingling suspense and horror from some great writers, both famous and up-coming. There's something in here for all tastes, and you won't be disappointed. Highly recommended!

*Sincere thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me the honor of reading this book at no charge in return for my honest review."

I read the short stories of authors I like such as Kelley Armstrong. This was a fun anthology! Kelley is a very strong story-teller and I always enjoy her stories.

Leaving reviews on amazon and goodreads.

Kelley Armstrong starts things off with “Invitation to the Game.” Vivienne once dreamed of moving up the corporate ladder and becoming an executive at the company, but after the death of her infant daughter she and her husband are thinking of leaving. That’s when she gets the letter—the invitation to the Game. All the company asks is that she play this simple, silly game, some kind of computer game puzzle where she and other executive candidates do a team-building exercise. So why does she have such a bad feeling about the Game, why does she feel like she should get out while she can? I loved this story’s concept, and was drawn into it from the beginning; it’s not much of a scary story, more of a thriller with horrific elements, but I found it very enjoyable nonetheless.

Next up is “Summer of ’77” by Stewart Nan, a short and shockingly beautiful portrait of a serial killer who preys on the teens spending their days at the beach. It’s a downright chilling tale, which has its own great atmosphere and gets you right into the diseased head of a creepy predator. While it’s not very long or substantive, it hits all the right notes, and succeeds from its style and atmosphere.

Taylor Grant’s “The Dead Years” is one of the volume’s highlights, quite possibly my favorite story in the collection. The protagonist, spending an evening at an art gallery, is shocked to see a face he never expected to see again—Emma Grace, his teenage sweetheart who ran away at the end of high school. Presumed dead for 15 years. This woman is not Emma, but, why does she look so much alike? That brilliant and unique idea starts unsettling and creepy, and takes a very dark (but somewhat natural) turn along the way. I give it bonus points for having such a cool concept that it executes almost flawlessly, up until it ends on a grim and possibly unending conclusion.

Unsettling tale “The Blackout” by Johnathan Moore starts off in a morgue, where Detective Nakahara is called in to investigate a body. Or in this case, a lack of body, as a mangled victim has somehow escaped the locked morgue and fled into a Hawaii currently getting savaged by a tropical storm. Hunting down this missing body will involve Nakahara digging down the island’s dark secrets, including a few of his own. This is a suspenseful but easy read, and I found myself pulled along up until the tale’s abrupt ending. The great atmosphere and chilling unease made it a winner despite the abruptness of its ending, but I do feel it could have had a little more closure at the end.

Peter Straub is one of the true horror grand-masters, and his contribution here is the bizzarro short “Variations on a theme from Seinfield.” As a child, Clyde started to notice when his reflection didn’t appear in the mirror. When that happens, he found it necessary to go through the mirror and retrieve it… but the trick is making it back out. In this one, we see some of Straub’s tendencies towards literary excess on display: run-on sentences, a narrative so layered and inexplicable as to become obtuse, parenthetical sentences nested within other parenthetical asides. The story is as blessedly short as it is surreal, so while it didn’t do much for me, well, at least there’s not enough of it to spend much time on.

“Torn” by Lee Thomas is the longest story in the collection, and in a way it feels like everything has been leading up to this. When eleven-year-old Maggie goes missing, the sheriff of Luther’s Bend sets out into the woods to find her. What he and the other searchers find is… well, a damn good series of twists I’m not willing to spoil. Suffice to say that it starts off as an unnerving search through the woods and ends with an epic showdown that’s a gruesome, action-packed romp. It’s also got realistic characters with believable personal conflicts, some nefarious secrets, pressing time constraints, and works as a surprisingly apt metaphor. While the story drags in places, Thomas does a superb job at building suspense, and it foreshadows several secrets that were still unexpected twists. It adds up as a solid tale of small-town horror, and is one of the volume’s highlights.

The Dark Screams series has a reputation as good bang-for-your-buck horror e-anthologies, cheap impulse buys in the $3-4 range that offer a fistful of stories by well-known authors. Some past installments (notably volumes 2 and 8) have staggered a bit, but even at their “worst” the series has delivered on its premise of being affordable entertainment from some of the genre’s greatest writers. And when a volume succeeds as well as Dark Screams 9 does, it’s just about perfection. If you are a fan of short horror and have an e-reader or tablet of some kind, and haven’t started picking up Dark Screams, this is a perfect volume to dive into.

This is a short story collection and I don't normally read short story collections but it was a challenge in one of the readathons I took part of on booktube, so I gave it a go.

Invitation to the Game by Kelley Armstrong

A woman working at a business is slipped an invitation to "the game" and her husband wants her to not accept. He isn't sure what they are up to when they do this but he doesn't think they need to her to take the higher paying job for it.

It was interesting and had one of those endings where you are like oh no, cause you know something the character doesn't. :)

3 stars

Summer of 1977 by Stewart O'Nan

This was rather confusing and really short about a guy who uses the fact his arm is in a sling to grab a couple girls. The writing was really choppy and the who story just made no sense not even the ending.

1 star

The Dead Years by Taylor Grant

A man thinks he sees a woman that looks like the girl who disappeared on her eighteenth birthday never to be seen again. Things are not as they seem.

Well, that was just weird and not at all creepy or scary. Not impressed.

2 stars

The Blackout by Jonathan Moore

A dead body vanishes from the morgue during a storm and detectives try and find out what happened. Did she have help or just walk out on her own?

This one was okay up until the end and then I thought it fell a bit flat. I am not a fan of open endings or not having an explanation for what is going on.

2.75 stars

VARIATIONS ON A THEME FROM SEINFELD by Peter Straub

Not a clue what it was about cause it was so boring I DNFed it! :(

Torn by Lee Thomas

A Sheriff gets in over his head when a child goes missing and they find her but they also find a man like creature ripping into a man and eating him. He was kind of grey and muscular but his face had features of a wolf like creature, but he was slick haired. When they capture another guy they think had something to do with the kidnapping the Sheriff finds out something interesting about him but it's also not good for his town.

So this was the longest story as it took up more than half the book collection and so it's a good thing I found it interesting! I thought it was a different take on a werewolf type story with creatures that look somewhat like the jackal like creature from myths, not sure which, kind of want to say Egyptian but not sure. 

Anyway it was enjoyable.

3.5

Overall, I would say the collection as a whole was kind of a dud.

Kelley Armstrong, Stewart O’Nan, Taylor Grant, Jonathan Moore, Peter Straub, and Lee Thomas weave six hair-raising yarns proving that appearances can be deceiving—and deadly—in this horror anthology assembled by Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar.

INVITATION TO THE GAME by Kelley Armstrong
Vivienne dreams of moving up in the company, and now she’s got her chance. All the company asks in return is that she prove her absolute devotion by playing a simple, silly little game.

SUMMER OF ’77 by Stewart O’Nan
Suntanned and bleached blond, the boys and girls of summer never expect anything to interrupt their carefree days. They never see me coming until it’s too late.

THE DEAD YEARS by Taylor Grant
Emma was the great love of his life, even after she vanished. So when she reappears at a cocktail party fifteen years later, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her from slipping away again.

THE BLACKOUT by Jonathan Moore
When a body goes missing from the morgue, Detective Nakahara is called in to investigate. Despite the storm, it should be a simple case. After all, a dead body can’t just walk out on its own . . . right?

VARIATIONS ON A THEME FROM SEINFELD by Peter Straub
At six years old, Clyde noticed that his reflection decided not to show up in the mirror. Whenever it happens, he just needs to go through the mirror and fetch him. The trick is making it back.

TORN by Lee Thomas
Luther’s Bend is the kind of place where bad things just aren’t supposed to happen, but even the sleepiest towns have secrets . . . and the full moon can bring retribution for all manners of sins.

All well done stories.

These books are always rife with top-notch horror and this ninth volume is no exception. One of the best of the series so far.

INVITATION TO THE GAME by Kelley Armstrong
OK for starters, I enjoyed the different, more sci-fi than horror approach to this one. ***

SUMMER OF ’77 by Stewart O’Nan
Very individual writing style, but didn't do much for me. **

THE DEAD YEARS by Taylor Grant
This one also had a touch of sci-fi. A fascinating and very frightening glimpse into a possible future. ***

THE BLACKOUT by Jonathan Moore
Subtle and very creepy, though not really suspenseful as it was clear from the beginning what was going on here. ****

VARIATIONS ON A THEME FROM SEINFELD by Peter Straub
Nice try, but I'd rather watch the Seinfeld episode. **

TORN by Lee Thomas
Wow! I love it when an anthology ends with its best story, meaning it was worth reading to the end and also improving my opinion of the book as a whole. *****

As always, this anthology provided another enjoyable mix of good and great stories.

If you enjoy good scary little reads then this collection will not disappoint they were well written with good storylines and may just scare your pants off.I really enjoyed then and while it's not my favorite collection from the series they were still good.

Another solid anthology! Review for Monster Librarian Forthcoming.

This volume was not as strong as the previous ones I read. There definitely seemed to be a lot of fantasy type stories, and I was really hoping for more straight horror. Oh well, there were still some good stories in this volume and I still enjoy the Dark Screams franchise enough that I’ll continue to read these as they come out. Each volume generally has only 6 stories, and are less than 200 pages long, so I find them to be great pallet cleansers (yes, I read horror as my pallet cleanser). The couple stories that really stood out to me were:

Invitation to the Game by Kelley Armstrong: About a wife and mother being offered an executive position at her company. In order to apply for and get the position, you must play a game. Let’s just say this company does not take to losing, and has stacked the cards in their favor.

Summer of ’77 by Stewart O’Nan: A short story from the POV of a serial killer, and how he catches his prizes.

Torn by Lee Thomas: A different kind of werewolf story, and one in which I really enjoyed. I’m not usually a fan of shifters, but I really liked the concept of this one. The old “stories” about werewolves aren’t true, but a handful of those turned are hoping that by killing the one that changed them, they can stop the curse. These shifters are ready to pull out all the stops to rid themselves of the need to hunt.

I definitely recommend the Dark Screams anthologies for horror fans, but also for fans of horror fantasy/sci-fi, as there’s always an eclectic mix.

Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

These stories are all chilling, but the one that still sticks with me is "Invitation to the Game." It has multiple layers of awfulness, and is scarily believable. I hope to read more stories by that author!