When Things Get Dark is an anthology of short stories written as a tribute to Shirley Jackson.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Titan Books and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis and Opinions:
As I always do with anthologies, each short story will have it's own rating.  These stories are a tribute to Shirley Jackson, by some of the best horror writers of today.  Jackson's stories are a world-wide legacy, and have inspired many.  Her stories are usually quite dark.

So, here we go....

Funeral Birds by M. Rickert ... A home care worker attends the funeral of an unlikeable  patient.  It was just ok (not sure I would have led with this short story. 3 stars

For Sale By Owner by Elizabeth Hand ...  Three 60-something women camp out in an abandoned house.  Very entertaining.  5 stars

In the Deep Woods; The Light is Different There  by Seanan McGuire ... A woman inherits a lakehouse, while dealing with her divorce.  This one dragged.  1 star

A Hundred Miles and a Mile by Carmen Maria Machado ...  A woman has had strange visions since her childhood.  This one seemed incomplete...I was lost.  1 star

Quiet Dead Things by Cassandra Khaw ... A town decides to isolate themselves after a recent death.  Disquieting, but a little confusing.  3 stars

Something Like Living Creatures by John Langan ... A girl reads from a strange bible, another reads tarot cards, a third has a vision...and then their mother arrives.  Loved it!  5 stars

Money of the Dead by Karen Heuler ... Four elderly neighbours are gifted with money to bring back the dead, with unexpected results.  Interesting.  4 stars

Hag by Benjamin Percy ... An island with a Hag that needs to be fed.  Great story!  5 stars

Take Me, I Am Free by Joyce Carol Oates ... A woman who is not prepared for motherhood.  Disturbing, but good. 5 stars

A Trip to Paris by Richard Kadrey ... A woman got away with murder, but now it looks like mold might do her in.  Really good.  5 stars

The Party by Paul Tremblay ... A woman and her girlfriend attend a work party with an End of the World theme.  I must have missed something, as there didn't seem to be a point. 1 star

Refinery Road by Stephen Graham Jones ... The man remembers a night out with his friends many years ago.  This was a little confusing.  1 star

The Door in the Fence by Jeffrey Ford ... The neighbour behind them seems to have found the fountain of youth, with repercussions.  Really good. 5 stars

Pear of Anguish by Gemma Files ... A young woman remembers her childhood, and the aches and pains of growing up, perhaps a little mentally unstable.  Loved it! 5 stars

Special Meal by Josh Malerman ... A time when knowing math could be the worst thing to know. Great, innovative story.  5 stars

Sooner or Later, Your Wife Will Drive Home by Genevieve Valentine ... The perils of being a woman driver.  Interesting, but disturbing.  4 stars

Tiptoe by Laird Barron ... A family's rather strange game may not be as innocent as originally thought.  Interesting, but it dragged a little.  3.5 stars

Skinder’s Veil by Kelly Link ... While trying to finish his dissertation, a man takes a job housesitting in Vermont.  He get some strange visitors.  This was quite good. 4 stars.


So, overall, an interesting collection.  Yes, some were strange, some disturbing, and some just confusing.  I didn't find any true horror in this collection.  However, it was one of the better anthologies that I have read.  Some of the authors were known to me, and others new.  I did not expect to love every story, so I was not really disappointed.  I guess I was just more surprised at the number of really good ones!

A Shirley Jackson inspired collection of stories from the who's who of horror? Sign me UP!

This collection is so perfectly curated. Each story brings a sliver of Jackson while remaining unique and scary in its own right. Middle-aged women creeping on their neighbors, poisoning their families, and attending odd parties - it's all here, and it's all so well done.

A few of my favorite stories, in order of appearance:
- <i>For Sale By Owner</i> by Elizabeth Hand
- <i>Quiet Dead Things</i> by Cassandra Khaw
- <i>Hag</i> by Benjamin Percy
- <i>A Trip To Paris</i> by Richard Kadrey
- <i>The Door in the Fence</i> by Jeffrey Ford
- <i>Special Meal</i> by Josh Malerman
- <i>Tiptoe</i> by Laird Barron

And the best story of all is the last one in the collection <i>Skinder's Veil</i> by Kelly Link. What an incredible story to end the collection. You can be sure I'm going to be seeking out Link's other work!

Highly recommend this collection if you love Shirley's quiet, dark horror.

This is a delicious collection of horror stories deliberately evoking the work of Shirley Jackson. I love almost all of the tales herein, and the authors do a great job channeling Jackson's blend of the domestic, the everyday, and the dark and awful. For the most part, the writing is solid and smart. I'd love to read this for a book club of readers knowledgable about Jackson's work so that we can suss out all of the details that pay homage to her here.

My thanks to Titan Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘When Things Get Dark: Stories inspired by Shirley Jackson’. I complemented my reading with its unabridged audiobook edition for an immersive experience.

It is introduced and edited by Ellen Datlow, whose position as editor on an anthology is always a draw for me. It features eighteen chilling short stories written especially for the anthology in tribute to the legacy of Shirley Jackson. Like many readers of literary horror I greatly admire Shirley Jackson, so this was a must read.

Ellen Datlow writes in her Introduction about what she had sought from her contributors: “For this anthology, I did not want stories riffing on Jackson’s own. I did not want stories about her or her life. What I wanted was for the contributors to distill the essence of Jackson’s work into their work, to reflect her sensibility. To embrace the strange and the dark underneath placid exteriors.”

In most short story collections there are usually a few tales that I find fall a bit flat but these were brilliant and certainly met the brief.

Some of the contributing authors were known to me, including Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen Graham Jones, and Seanan McGuire; while others were new. In addition to a cracking good read a collection like this can serve as a taster. As such, I appreciated the short pieces about each of the contributing authors that followed the main section as it will allow me to follow up on those that I was especially drawn to.

I rather wish that there had been a short introduction or afterword for the individual stories to provide a little context. However, I can appreciate leaving them to speak for themselves.

So, an excellent and enjoyable collection of strange and chilling tales. Perfect for autumn and Halloween reading.

This is a very good anthology: pleasantly eerie throughout, and tonally and thematically consistent. The stories all obviously owe an enormous debt to Shirley Jackson, not only for the dread-filled vibe but for the fact that many of them star older women trapped in unpleasant family dynamics or in their own heads. That said, after reading the full anthology, I've concluded that at the end of the day, only Shirley Jackson could really write a Shirley Jackson story. There's a fine line between a story that ultimately conveys the impression that some unknown haunting is still floating just around the corner, and a story that just feels unfinished.

Highlights included Elizabeth Hand's "For Sale by Owner," about an unusual house that's perpetually for sale; Karen Heuler's "Money of the Dead," about an elderly woman who misses her son; Jeffrey Ford's "The Door in the Fence," about a person who changes dramatically over time; Genevieve Valentine's "Sooner or Later, Your Wife Will Drive Home," about a woman, or women, driving alone; Laird Barron's "Tiptoe," about a young man's relationship with his father; and my personal favorite, Kelly Link's "Skinder's Veil," one of the longer stories in this collection, about a PhD candidate who house-sits for a stranger in Vermont.

I received an e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Start reading "When Things Get Dark" and the air chills with the same unsettling feeling a seance might evoke.  This anthology is challenged with conjuring the spirit of Shirley Jackson's work and the best of these stories dissolve the security of what you rely on. Fear quickens your pulse as the atmosphere shifts away from the safety of "normal".

Horror can easily resort to the gross-out, the blatant scare, the knife-in-the-eyeball shocker. Shirley Jackson was better than that. For the most part, the stories in this collection dip into a dark pool of growing uneasiness. A few fall short, more sketches than fleshed out pieces, but even those hold true to the tone set.

My favorite is "For Sale by Owner" by Elizabeth Hand. A trio of women decide to camp out in a beautiful deserted house. It turns out much more complex than just the obligatory haunted house tale. Stephen Graham Jones, the author of "My Heart is a Chainsaw" and "The Only Good Indians," is also well represented here with "Refinery Road," a night ride where reality seems to bend.  "Quiet Dead Things" by Cassandra Khan touches on the theme of the evil possible by a community consciousness that Ms. Jackson illustrated. "In the Deep Woods; The Light is Different There" by Seanan McGuire tapped into the eeriness felt as terror approaches someone placed out of their element. The closing knockout in this book is "Skindler’s Veil" by Kelly Link, also about a character trying to get his bearings in an environment demanding blind faith despite some unbelievable twists.

I had planned on mentioning a few more pieces--suffice it to say this deserves 5 stars. Ellen Datlow has put together a potent collection of pieces that will usher you into the world Shirley Jackson defined.

Thank you to Ellen Datlow, Titan Books, and NetGalley for providing the Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. #WhenThingsGetDark #NetGalley

“Am I walking toward something I should be running away from?” ― Shirley Jackson

"When Things Get Dark" will be published on September 28, 2021 and this review will be posted on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookBub, Facebook and Twitter on that day.

I love Shirley Jackson so a collection of stories inspired by her twisted style sounded right up my street. I’ve also read a lot of anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow. So When Things Get Dark was a must-read for me. I loved this anthology. Every story was different and no two were alike. I liked the fact none of the writers tried to write stories that were homage to Shirley Jackson or very clearly inspired by a particular work. There are some stand-out stories on offer. I couldn’t recommend this enough.

I’ve long been a fan of Ellen Datlow’s work. Her anthologies are usually fantastic, bringing together an excellent range of authors under pretty interesting themes. Hearing she was putting together an anthology in tribute to Shirley Jackson, I was super excited. Admittedly, I have only had the pleasure of reading The Haunting of Hill House and “The Lottery”, but both show how Jackson earned her place among the top horror writers.

I think reaction to this anthology is going to depend, largely, on how you view Jackson herself and her works, and perhaps how much you’ve read. To me, Hill House and “The Lottery” excel because they take the domestic and tease out the horror in them. They push characters to the extreme within societal norms, and force them through and to the other side, portraying what might happen when those ‘norms’ are broken.

With the authors involved in this, I was expecting something much stronger. There are some really solid stories here, and the ones which capture Jackson’s essence but create something new are effective enough to make up for those which either fail in the essence aspect but are still decent stories, or which are not-great stories but fit in with the theme.

There are too many to go through them all individually, but I do want to highlight the stronger ones and maybe mention a few of the weaker ones. Elizabeth Hand’s “For Sale By Owner” is the second story, and it nicely reflects a boredom with the domestic, but an inability to let it fully go. I enjoyed this one but found the ending to be a bit of a let-down. The atmosphere and tension are really built up well, but ultimately the key events happen off-page, and the ending feels weak compared to the rest of the story.

“Quiet Dead Things” by Cassandra Khaw is a standout for me. This one shows paranoia controlling a town, when a murder pushes them to close their borders. Xenophobia takes root, and the darkest elements are hinted at as things escalate. Richard Kadrey’s “A Trip to Paris” is a good story that uses escalation well, as the character’s mind seems to unravel, until she realises others can see the faces in the mould, too.

“The Party” by Paul Tremblay felt like one of the weakest stories. I usually love Tremblay, but I’ve only read a couple of his novel length works. This story felt a bit wishy washy, like it didn’t quite know what it was going for. Stephen Graham Jones, another writer I like, gives us “Refinery Road”. While a good story, it just felt out of place in the collection. Still, it was written well and definitely intriguing, but maybe belongs somewhere else.

“Pear of Anguish” is creepy as hell, and Gemma Files’ writing is really excellent. It has a good balance to it, as a new girl finds herself caught up with another misfit. “Special Meal” by Josh Malerman felt like it was trying too hard to be “The Lottery” without understanding what makes that particular story so powerful. Malerman’s story just feels a bit too abstract, too removed, whereas “The Lottery” – like Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale – touches on ideas that feel almost too real.

The last two stories really prevented me rating this anthology lower. “Tiptoe” by Laird Barron keeps us uncertain and on edge, like Jackson’s own writing, keeping most things implied and using the protagonist’s point of view to shield us from what happens. And finally, “Skindler’s Veil” by Kelly Link. This is the longest story in the anthology, but manages to avoid overstaying its welcome. It’s imaginative, creepy, with a strange Wonderland-like balance between whimsey and darkness. It feels like it could be lifted out of my current favourite TV show The Magicians, as a PhD student ends up housesitting and is confronted with some unusual rules. In Horror we expect characters to break the rules, and Link really keeps us on edge about what this character is going to do.

This is a good anthology, and like many everyone is going to have their own favourites. Still, some of the stories felt a touch disappointing, with their inclusion seeming to be due to the author’s name more than anything else. Yet overall it’s still an excellent tribute to Shirley Jackson, and the good outweighs the bad.

This is a brilliantly spooky collection perfect for this time of year!

Ellen Datlow is well-known for being a fantastic curator of fiction and her film-inspired collection Final Cuts is on my shelf ready for spooky season. As soon as I heard about this collection, inspired by the works of Shirley Jackson, I was desperate to get hold of it.

Like so many others, Shirley Jackson’s short stories are my favourites of her writing. Of course I love The Lottery, but my favourite is Like Mother Used to Make which is one of those stories which has never left me.

This collection features some of my favourite writers from Paul Tremblay to Joyce Carol Oates, to one of my absolute favourite writers, Carmen Maria Machado..

As with any short story collection, I love some stories more than others. My favourites were Special Meal by Josh Malerman, Skinder’s Veil by Kelly Link, Funeral Birds by M Rickert, Money For the Dead by Karen Heuler, For Sale by Owner by Elizabeth Hand and A Hundred Miles and a Mile by Carmen Maria Machado.

The Shirley Jackson theme is subtle in some and louder in others, but the whole collection is strange and dark and a bit supernatural. Perfect for an autumn evening!

I'm not normally a big fan of short stories, but I've had great experience with collections curated by Ellen Datlow in the past and Shirley Jackson is one of my all-time favorite authors, so I was drawn to this one. Unfortunately, I found a lot of the stories to be lacking that element of Jackson-esque atmosphere and ambiguity, and to leave me shaking my head in confusion rather than in amazement at the oddities of the tales...

A story that ends abruptly or that lays out questions without any answers is not ambiguous, it's unfinished. The subtlety of being able to write ambiguity that leaves the reader curious and questing to decide for themselves what they think happenedrequires s a delicate deft touch that not many authors have. Jackson managed it with aplomb, but most of the stories in this collection seemed to be questing for that Grail but never quite finding it...

There were a few notable exceptions, and they saved the collection for me. Tiptoe was one of the creepiest stories I've read in a long time, and masterfully plotted and presented. A Special Meal and A Trip to Paris also found the perfect balance between revelation and uncertainty, and delivered that eerie sensibility that I associate with Jackson's best work. It is possible that if I went into the collection with less expectations, I might have felt differently about the stories. Still, when you're paying homage to one of the greats you have to realize that you are inevitably going to be held to that standard, and for me a number of these stories - even by authors that I normally like quite a lot, just didn't quite hit the mark...

I didn’t read a lot of Shirley Jackson’s works, surely The Lottery, but I know she’s a writer who influenced contemporary horror and dark fantasy.
The stories are quite good and, even if it’s a mixed bag, I found it a fascinating and terrifying read.
I started the book at the end of a very stressful day and it was an excellent way to forget the stress as the creepy level made me jump and feel better.
My favorite is Elizabeth Hand’s “For Sale by Owner”, a psychological horror story. You don’t see the monster but you know that the monster is there even if it exists only in your mind.
Ellen Datlow is a well known editor, winner of a Hugo, and this collection is chilling and enthralling at the same time.
There’re different type of horror and not all the stories involve paranormal because the horrors in human minds are scary enough.
Amongst the author are some of my favorite like : Joyce Carrol Oates, Seanan McGuire, and Stephen Graham Jones
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Titan Books and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Somehow, in my literary journey into horror, I haven't read any anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow OR read any Shirley Jackson yet - though I'm familiar with the type of fiction she wrote. WHEN THINGS GET DARK isn't written by Jackson herself but her spirit is in these stories. Just under the surface there's a darkness, a weirdness and sometimes something else. In these tales, you don't always know the "something else" or why it's here or happening, but somehow it feels like things are playing out the way they always had to. There's a murky magic here I was completely captivated by.

Did I love every one of the stories? No- though I trust Ellen Datlow has better taste than I do, so the stories I didn't get probably went over my head. The ones I did connect with pushed this anthology directly to a five-star read.

For Sale By Owner by Elizabeth Hand: This story creeped me out and I don't get creeped out. Might be my favorite.

In the Deep Woods; The Light is Different There by Seanan McGuire: A woman inherits a lake house she's never been to before.

Money of the Dead by Karen Heuler: Mystery money shows up on doorsteps in an apartment building.

Hag by Benjamin Percy: A woman and her daughter visit a small town the woman hasn't been back to in a long time.

The Door in the Fence by Jeffrey Ford: A man catches up with a neighbor.

Pear of Anguish: Power has a price.

Special Meal by Josh Malerman: Math is the worst.

Tiptoe by Laird Baron: A man remembers a game he used to play with his father.

Skinder's Veil by Kelly Link: A man housesits a strange house.

Really, I loved almost all the stories, but I have to stop somewhere. I've gone out of my way to make these descriptions as mundane as possible, but while the setups might sound normal, the situations are not. This anthology is truly something special and if you like subtle creepiness, you MUST check this out.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the ebook ARC

Authors Joyce Carol Oates, Josh Malerman, Carmen Maria Machado, Paul Tremblay, Richard Kadrey, Stephen Graham Jones, Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link, Cassandra Khaw, Karen Heuler, Benjamin Percy, John Langan, Laird Barron, Jeffrey Ford, M. Rickert, Seanan McGuire, Gemma Files, and Genevieve Valentine have all contributed to this collection inspired by Shirley Jackson. She is known best for her poignant stories, which fall under spooky or horror genres. Her stories have all involved strong emotions, dysfunctional families, and hauntings. The pain in her stories, even if they're caused by the supernatural, still rings true for the reader.

We open with M. Rickert's "Funeral Birds," where a home health care aide attends the funeral of one of the women she cared for. It isn't exactly what we think had happened, and every little detail makes Lenore and Delores really feel real over the course of the story. In a similar vein, the next few stories pair the everyday domesticity of homes with a spark of the supernatural, whether an empty house forever for sale or a lake house that hadn't been visited for years. Their oddness isn't seen, only implied; as with many cases where the supernatural could be involved, it's the eerie sensation of something's off that implies their presence. Even in stories that don't have a distinct sense of the supernatural, like Joyce Carol Oates' "Take Me, I Am Free" or Josh Malerman's "Special Meal," the dysfunction between people is painful and utterly heartbreaking, just as some of Shirley Jackson's stories had been.

What strikes me as a commonality, aside from the supernatural and relationship elements in each story, is the use of liminal spaces. Much of the creepy and weird feelings hover at the edges of the stories, what the characters don't question, or what feels just out of sync with their usual reality. That makes some of these stories really linger in the back of my mind - like they're creating a space of their own in my memory. For stories inspired by Shirley Jackson's style, this is a high compliment indeed.

As a Shirley Jackson fan, I really enjoyed these stories. The stories manage to be creepy without being disgusting. An art that seems to be lost on many writers now. For Sale by Owner and Tiptoe were my faves but all the stories were fun to read.

This is perfect for the upcoming Halloween season. Horror/Thriller fans should enjoy these stories.

Ellen Datlow can't miss. Each story is written with inspiration, and there's not a single miss among them. From Paul Tremblay to Stephen Graham Jones to Gemma Files, you'll feel the spirit of Shirley Jackson in each story. Elizabeth Hand's FOR SALE BY OWNER is a particular stand out, and amongst this murderers row of authors, that's saying something.

Shirley Jackson is one of the those names in literature where even if you've never read one of her works you'll have heard of her, or you'll have had one of her books recommended to you. She's written some amazing things, and she's inspired great work in others. This collection of short stories, edited by Ellen Datlow, brings together eighteen pieces that have been inspired by Shirley Jackson.

The collection brings together some great writers, some that I'd read before, others who I'd heard of but had yet to experience, and others who were completely new to me. The stories include 'Funeral Birds' by M. Rickert, 'For Sale by Owner' by Elizabeth Hand, 'In the Deep Woods; The Light is Different There' by Seanan McGuire, 'A Hundred Miles and A Mile' by Carmen Maria Machado, 'Quiet Dead Things' by Cassandra Khaw, 'Something Like Living Creatures' by John Langan, 'Money of the Dead' by Karen Heuler, 'Hag' by Benjamin Percy, 'Take Me, I Am Free' by Joyce Carol Oates, 'A Trip to Paris' by Richard Kadrey, 'The Party' by Paul Tremblay, 'Refinery Road' by Stephen Graham Jones, 'The Door in the Fence' by Jeffery Ford, 'Pear of Anguish' by Gemma Files, 'Special Meal' by Josh Malerman, 'Sooner or Later, Your Wife Will Drive Home' by Genevieve Valentine, 'Tiptoe' by Laird Barron, and 'Skinder's Veil' by Kelly Link.

Normally when writing about anthology collections I try to write a little about each story, if not going in depth into each one at least giving a sentence or two to show what it's about; but I found that this wasn't something I was going to be able to do with When Things Get Dark, as so many of the stories would be ruined by talking about what they're about, whilst others see so open to interpretation that even if I described it fully I'm not sure for certain that I could tell you what happened, or what was going to happen next. This was a theme I found across several of the stories, and it often left me wanting more from them so that I could try to figure out what was happening, and that I could find out what comes next.

'For Sale By Owner' by Elizabeth Hand is one of these kinds of stories. It follows a trip of friends who discover that they enjoy walking through people's holiday homes when they're left unlocked. Not there to steal anything or cause any harm, they simply get a strange kind of pleasure finding out what lies on the other side of doors they're not supposed to enter. When the three of them come across a huge old home up for sale by the owner they try the door and find it open. Coming up with a plan to stay there overnight in this wonderful house they'd all love to live in, the three of them sneak back after dark. Some unsettling things happen over the course of the night, but nothing majorly odd, until one of them sees something that seems to shatter her mind. I was so intrigued by this story, so drawn in by the mystery of what was going to happen and the slow unfolding of the plot that I was let down when it ended. I wanted to see more, I wanted to find out what this woman saw, what strange forces were at work in that house; but sadly that was not to be.

'Hag' by Benjamin Percy was very different from this, and very much told a complete story; even if it didn't feel the need to answer every question the reader might of had. It's centred around an investigative crime reporter who attends a crime scene with a body washed up on the beach, a body holding a small wooden seagull that she recognises. Travelling to a small island, with her young daughter who's stowed away in the back of her car, she tries to look into where the body might have come from, as well as having to confront a dark memory from her childhood. This story is incredibly creepy, and the remote island population doing odd things in the depth of winter is a great story element, especially when we begin to suspect there's dark, cult shenanigans going on. Whilst I wasn't disappointed by this particular story coming to an end I'd have loved to have seen it expanded upon; and it could have been the basis for an entire novel in itself.

'Money of the Dead' by Karen Heuler is very similar in some regards, in that it felt like a complete story, though one that I'd have loved to spend more time with. The story focuses on the elderly residents of an apartment building who wake up one morning to discover strange packages of money wrapped in red paper on their doorsteps. After discussions amongst themselves they come to the conclusion that the money is meant for the dead, and that perhaps they can buy something with it. Leaving the money out one night, with a note asking for a lost person to return, the residents are shocked when the dead return; especially when this miracle starts to take on a darker turn. This story feels like a monkey's paw kind of tale, one that's teaching people to be careful what they're wishing for, because sometimes the things that haunt our past can haunt us in the present too.

'Special Meal' by Josh Malerman is one of the most unusual stories in the book, less focused on ghosts and haunting themes as most of the others are, and instead imagines a world where maths is illegal. Set over the course of a family meal, we learn that this new world doesn't allow anyone to know maths or numbers, and that if they do they can be taken away. It's an incredibly interesting concept, and one that's brilliant to see Malerman try to convey, using language without any sense of numbers, and how hard it is to do so and how much it can slip through even when you're not talking about maths. It's definitely the most unique story in the collection.

There is so much to When Things Get Dark to like, so many stories with so many different themes and styles that it's hard to really pin the book down to one particular thing. Which I believe speaks to the versatility and skill of Shirley Jackson, about the type of fiction she wrote, and how how much her work has gone on to inspire others; making this a perfect celebration of her.

I'm a fan of Shirley Jackson so I was really looking forward to this book. I wasn't disappointed! The stories are nice and creepy without relying on blood and gore. Reading them gives that goosebumps on the back of the neck feeling (yeah, I shouldn't have been reading them right before bedtime). The only problem with short stories is that they end too soon!! I want to know what happened next!! Like - in my favorite story, "For Sale by Owner', I groaned aloud when I realized the story was over. I wanted to know what happened to Rose! What happens next?!!

I definitely recommend this book to all mystery-lovers!

When Things Get Dark is a psychologically complex and deliciously horrifying collection of horror short stories each in the vein of the inimitable Shirley Jackson. Drawing on inspiration from Jackson's oeuvre, the superb multi-award-winning author Datlow, as editor, brings together eighteen fantastic, atmospheric horror shorts from some of the most prominent names in the genre including Carmen Maria Machado, Stephen Graham Jones and Joyce Carol Oates. Surprisingly for an anthology, I found not a single dud amongst them and discovered that all of them had inexplicably managed to master that underlying feeling of dread creeping through the pages as you turn them, just like Jackson's original works. The eighteen featured shorts are as follows:

Funeral Birds – M Rickert
For Sale by Owner – Elizabeth Hand
In the Deep Woods; The Light is Different There - Seanan McGuire
A Hundred Miles and a Mile – Carmen Maria Machado
Quiet Dead things – Cassandra Khan
Something Like Living Creatures – John Langan
Money of the Dead – Karen Heuler
Hag – Benjamin Percy
Take Me, I am Free – Joyce Carol Oates
A Trip to Paris – Richard Kadrey
The Party – Paul Trembley
Refinery Road – Stephen Graham Jones
The Door in the Fence – Jeffrey Ford
Pear of Anguish – Gemma Files
Special Meal – Josh Malerman
Sooner or Later, Your Wife Will Drive You Home – Genevieve Valentine
Tiptoe – Laird Barron
Skindler’s Veil – Kelly Link

Evoking such feelings as horror, terror, dread and claustrophobic oppressiveness, these tales of differing lengths invite you to immerse yourself in their sinister, creepy and disturbing narratives. What I love the most is that most are subtle and full of nuance, instead of the usual cheap thrills with which the genre is often pervaded, meaning the feeling of sheer panic creeps up on you when you least expect, and you come to the sudden realisation that the story has managed to get under your skin, into your psyche and even, in some instances, into your dreams (or should that be nightmares?) Published at a time when the nights are closing in and the light diminishes ever more rapidly, not to mention with Halloween around the corner, this is the perfect autumnal read for the spooky season full of both supernatural and real-world horrors. Some begin on a bleak and frightening note while others seem innocuous enough at the beginning lulling you into a false sense of security before descending into dreadful, nightmare-inducing territory.

In For Sale by Owner, a trio of older women in their sixties explore and sleep over in an abandoned haunted house situated in dense woodland which hides a strange secret. Quiet Dead Things invites us to visit the small community of Cedarville, a sleepy township in which the sins of the community rise to the fore culminating in a spate of unexplainable deaths. In Money of the Dead, four grief-stricken neighbours discover a way to bring back their loved ones from the dead. But little do they realise, the spirit they are buying back from the afterlife will be wholly unrecognisable to them. And Special Meal, one of my favourites, is set against the backdrop of a dystopian world in which maths is strictly forbidden. It is a tale of oppression and vengeance with a fascinating folkloric sting in the tale.

So take a leaf out of Shirley Jackson’s book and pick up this chilling and unsettling selection in order to delight in what you fear.

Publisher's blurb:
A collection of new and exclusive short stories inspired by, and in tribute to, Shirley Jackson.
Shirley Jackson is a seminal writer of horror and mystery fiction, whose legacy resonates globally today. Chilling, human, poignant, and strange, her stories have inspired a generation of writers and readers.
This anthology, edited by legendary horror editor Ellen Datlow, will bring together today’s leading horror writers to offer their own personal tribute to the work of Shirley Jackson.
Featuring Joyce Carol Oates, Josh Malerman, Carmen Maria Machado, Paul Tremblay, Richard Kadrey, Stephen Graham Jones, Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link, Cassandra Khaw, Karen Heuler, Benjamin Percy, John Langan, Laird Barron, Jeffrey Ford, M. Rickert, Seanan McGuire, Gemma Files, and Genevieve Valentine.

I love Shirley Jackson! Let's just get that out of the way right now. I think she may have been one of my first "favorite authors". I found her works long before that fateful day I was bought Salem's Lot. The Lottery and The Haunting of Hell House still rank as one of the very best horror stories written.
What made Jackson unique, in my humble opinion, is the fact that she didn't just reach the guaranteed scares. Not a lot of blood and gore, no flashing knives, no splatterpunk full of blood thrown in your face for her! She used words, descriptions so complete you could see whatever she was describing as if in front of you. And once those words were strung together in an unforgettable tale, you were scared witless. A talent very few then, and now, can achieve.
I wanted this simply because it was high time Shirley Jackson was properly hailed for her genius.
I was also afraid I would end up angry and disappointed in other author's attempts to capture the spirit of Jackson.
There were one or two that did disappoint, but oh...oh the rest were dead on! Josh Malerman, Carmen Mria Machado, even Stephen Graham Jones, who I have often given mediocre reviews to, shined like stars in the dark velvet sky!
Hats off to Ellen Datlow for compiling these 18 stories in the perfect spooky collection.
I think Ms. Jackson would have been proud of the stories they produced. Now I want to go back and read my collection of Shirley Jackson books all over again, and maybe a few from the authors whose tributes were done so well.
Thanks to @Netgalley, Titan Books, and Ellen Datlow for this arc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

It's an unpopular opinion, but I didn't really enjoy this book and I am so disappointed. I requested this mainly because it's a collection of spooky tales inspired by Shirley Jackson stories but I couldn't spot the glimpse of Jackson. The writing is neat and the language is fine but I couldn't connect with the storytelling. I didn't find it spooky. Sometimes I didn't know what was going on.

It was not for me.