I have recently gotten very into horror, so I was super excited to read this and find some new horror authors! This also featured a couple of my favorites like Caroline Kepnes and Stephen Graham Jones!
I enjoyed most of the stories. They were gripping and the twists were surprising. I especially liked the ones by Jonh F.D. Taff and the last story! I love the subtle horror, where it starts like a 'normal' book and the creep factors come in slow.
There was one story I just could not follow, even after re-reading it. Other than that, this was a great anthology and I look forward to reading more from these authors!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

#DarkStars:

Thank you @tornightfire for my gifted copy.

Well, I’ll be honest. I didn’t know if I would pick this up. But then I saw Stephen Graham Jones and Caroline Kepnes, so I had to, right? Right? What I love about short stories or anthologies is that I get to fall back in love with some of my autobuy authors, and get a wonderful introduction to a new (to me) author.

I, of course, loved The Attentionist, Mrs. Addison’s Nest and All the Things He Called Memories, but stories like Trinity River’s Blues really got me. Very different and really set this creepy horrific vibe I felt almost lyrical. It was like a sadness tinged in horror.

I’ve found new authors: (Hello Chesya Burke and Gemma Files) and we’re throughly entertained by some of my favorites. Absolutely perfect for spooky season or any season, another great anthology to add to your growing TBR.

Out now.

This was such an odd collection of stories. And after thinking on it, I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Some stories were beyond confusing and I even debated DNF’ing at one point. In the end, I would say this is a great collection of stories to gauge what you do and don’t like within the horror genre. There is a little something for everyone in this collection, but the entirety of the collection won’t necessarily be for everyone.

"Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror," edited by John F.D. Taff, offers a collection of horror stories from a range of talented authors, including Caroline Kepnes and Ramsey Campbell. While the anthology presents a variety of dark and unsettling tales, it exhibits both strengths and weaknesses that influence the overall reading experience.

Thanks for the arc!

Short stories always end up being a bit of a mixed bag. Some definitely fell flat for me. But I appreciated the mix of slow and fast paced stories.

While this wasn't something I'd rave about, I hope there are more horror anthogies in the future for more voices.

This was a superb complication of creepy stories. While not all of them were my cup of horror, a majority of them contained just enough of a sinister vibe to keep me going. My favorites were the first and third stories.
This would be a perfect addition to any horror fan's library.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book to review in exchange for an open and honest review.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

What a fantastic anthology! Each tale offered something completely different. Caroline Kepnes kicked it off with a wonderfully quirky little story. Ramsey Campbell creeped me out with his offering. Papa Eye by Priya Sharma was otherworldly. The Sanguinalist by Gemma Files had so many themes and ideas I believe it is worthy of a novel length work. My 2 favorite stories were Challawa by Usman Malik & John Langan's Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate. Usman's story reminded of The Wicker Man while John's story had a Wendigo. Highly recommended anthology.

A banger story to start with. The story is a scary story that we worry for al l our kids.. but the feeling of wanting to be wanted is so human.
Volcano had an interesting lead up, but the ending fell a bit flat for me.

"It is my right to reside in my own mind. It is my right," I said. "It is my right to be unsociable and it is my right to be unpleasant to be around. Do you ever listen to yourself? This is crazy, that is crazy, everything is crazy to you. By whose measure? Well, it is my right to be crazy, as you love to say so much. I have no shame. I have felt many things in my life, but shame is not among them."

Liked Trinity River's Blues with the mythology added in.

All in all, a good book of short stories with not too much spook.

A stunning collection of short fiction from some of the most talented authors in the business. A truly outstanding read. I also recommend the audiobook as it has some great narration.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2023 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2023/01/2023-reading-list-announced-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

Anthologies are a great way to showcase the abundance of talent within circles of fiction. When you give someone like John F.D. Taft the opportunity to compile some of the best in the game, you’re likely to treat yourself and others so a wonderful reading experience.

I did not finish this book. The stories were not of interest to me. I had a hard time connecting with the characters.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

The Attentionist by Caroline Kepnes: This is such a weird story to open a collection of horror stories. Maeve and Reg are sisters, both obnoxiously boy crazy to varying degrees. One summer, a guy who they both initially believe is a boy they know calls their house. He eventually reveals to Maeve that he's not the boy she has a crush on, and instead just says really gross shit to her on the phone. Because Maeve is a dumb kid, she keeps accepting these calls and letting her family believe that she has a boyfriend. The situation is creepy and unsettling, but I wouldn't classify this as horror. 2 stars

A Life in Nightmares by Ramsey Campbell: Been awhile since I read any Ramsey Campbell. He can be very scary, but also a bit opaque. I think I like this one. It's the story of a man's life from boyhood to adulthood, but the whole thing is told through nightmares. The nightmares run together, and I can't actually tell if anything that happens is "real." But it captures the nonsense and terror of nightmares, where the world doesn't work the way it should and normal things become horrifying. 4 stars

Papa Eye by Priya Sharma: Here's another story that doesn't belong in a horror anthology. Ravi is a doctor dealing with depression and apathy. He's recently divorced and seeing a therapist about his fear of death. She recommends a job that might help, as a doctor on a small island called Papa Eye. This is obviously the setup to a folk horror story, about the primitive rituals the islanders use to appease their dread god. Except it's not. Ravi eventually learns that the founders of the island were granted immortality by some mystical force. That's it. No human sacrifice, no eldritch horrors. Just a handful of immortals that like Ravi and think hanging out with them will be good for his depression. Not actually a bad story, but it's not horror. 3 stars

Volcano by Livia Llewellyn: I usually like Livia Llewellyn, but this doesn't quite work for me. A young woman, recently fired from a gig sewing costumes for her college's theater department, is looking for an on campus job. She gets a job with another guy sewing curtains and doing upholstery work for the school. Their main workroom is in a basement with a dark hallway that they're never supposed to go down. The main character seems pretty unstable, continuously blowing her life up and having to rebuild it. I'm not completely sure what's happening to her and her coworker, whether she is channeling some burning force from the hidden rooms in the basement, or if it comes from inside of her. 3 stars

All the Things He Called Memories by Stephen Graham Jones: Bo and his wife Marcy are in quarantine. (I'm expecting a lot of stories set during the pandemic in the near future.) Bo is out of work, but Marcy is still getting paid, so she spends her time doing research to design psychological experiments. To this end, she and Bo discuss the weird things that scared them as kids. Bo thinks that's the end of it, but then his old fears of being watched when he thinks he's alone start to return, and he wonders if Marcy is experimenting on him. This is a great little claustrophobic story that really manifests some of the horrors of the pandemic. 4 stars

Trinity River's Blues by Chesya Burke: There's some good stuff in this one, but it didn't gel for me. Trinity River sees ghosts. This isn't really a problem, as the ghosts are usually pretty chill. One, the ghost of her grandmother's favorite blues musician, T-Bone Walker, even acts as a protector and father figure. Then one day, Trinity meets the ghost of Charlie Parker, another dead blues musician. Except Parker is actually an evil spirit that wants to take over Trinity's body. This one was a little heavy on the telling instead of the showing, and all of the characters feel very undeveloped. Also, it's apparently Trinity's fault that she's attacked by Parker, because she had the temerity to want to be a great saxophone player. Feels kinds victim blamey. 2 stars

The Familiar's Assistant by Alma Katsu: Finally, some good creepy shit. A young man trying to escape his debts has heard tell of a vampire, and he's desperate to meet him. But first he has to deal with the vampire's familiar. This is not a glamorous vampire; he "lives" in a filthy, abandoned house, and his familiar is basically a junkie. She also thinks she's in charge of this new arrival, which is not at all what he wants. The vampire is scary, but people are just as good at being monsters. 4 stars

Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream by John F.D. Taff: When your wife dies, you'd think the last thing you'd need to worry about is co-parenting, but that's not the case for the narrator of this story. On the way back from dropping his in-laws at the airport after his wife's funeral, a man stops at a rest stop so his son can use the bathroom. While they're there a freak snow storm strands them, and then the narrator's wife comes back for their son. This is not a happy reunion, and the narrator is terrified of his wife and afraid for their son, but he also can't bear to keep his son from his mother. Just chilling. 5 stars

The Sanguintalist by Gemma Files: Here we have Gemma Files's take on the paranormal detective story. Lala Mirwani is a trans Pakistani necromancer, specializing in blood magic. She gets called out by the police to help identify a murder victim and see if she saw her killer. When Mirwani realizes one of the police officers she's working with has been magically forced to commit the murder, Lala has to use a power only her family has to catch the killer. Gemma Files continues to be amazing. 5 stars

Mrs. Addison's Nest by Josh Malerman: I had begun to worry about Josh Malerman. I found Bird Box to be a very effective horror novel, but his book of connected stories Goblin was hot garbage. Fortunately, this is one of the best stories in the collection. Four men come back together years after a terrifying encounter with the titular Mrs. Addison. They've surrounded a hole in the woods that they believe is her "nest," but Mrs. Addison has terrible powers of confusion, and they're constantly fighting to remember where and when they are. 5 stars

Challawa by Usman T. Malik: A Pakistani woman in a marriage to a white man tries to save their relationship by taking a trip back home. They take a day trip to see a cremation ground that was later the sight of a matchstick factory, and her husband is a dick because he didn't want to go. So he leaves her there, and she and the guide walk around telling each other ghost stories, most of which feature burning in some fashion. As the tour goes on, she's unable to get in touch with her husband, and realizes she's stumbled into a folk horror story. This might be the first folk horror story I've read that doesn't take place in the west, and features a majority of non-white characters. 5 stars

Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate by John Langan: John Langan has done for upstate New York what Stephen King did for Maine; make it seem like the place is just chock full of evil forces. In this one, Michelle Word goes to a frozen lake in the Catskills to confront the man she's sure killed her brother. His name is Walt Ivorsson, and Michelle knows he also killed his ex-wife, who her brother was dating. The police refuse to help her, and Michelle has good reason to believe that Walt isn't completely human anymore. Langan gives us a lot of time in Walt's point of view, and we really get the sense of how pathetic he is, and how easily he surrendered his humanity. 5 stars

Despite being front loaded with its weakest entries, this is a pretty good little anthology, with some high caliber work from some of the best current horror writers.

An homage to basically Ramsey Campbell and his style of horror. More supernatural than not and on average a 3 star collection for me.

I wanted more variety and should have read the full description before reading this. Alas, it might work for you if you're looking for older feeling horror that's all killer no filler

I was not a fan of this horror anthology. I was very close to DNF'ing it a few times but I kept hoping that the next story would be better. I didn't feel the stories were well executed. Some were not easy to follow and didn't make a lot of sense. Most barely kept my attention. I couldn't wait for it to end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this DRC

Reviews per story!

1. The Attentionist- 5 stars (a favorite author to me)
2. A Life in Nightmares-3 stars (new to me author)
3. Papa Eye- 4 stars (I love small town settings with secrets)
4. Volcano- 5 stars (great plot!!!)
5. All Things He Called Memories-4 stars (pandemic story done right)
6. Trinity River’s Blues- 3 stars(interesting premise)
7. The Familiar’s Assistant- 4 stars(I love vampire stories)
8. Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream- 4 stars (immersive story)
9. The Sanguintalist- 3 stars (necromancy stories are fascinating)
10. Mrs. Addison’s Nest- 4 stars(Josh Mallerman always gives you a story you won’t forget)
11. Challawa- 2 stars(This one wasn’t for me but I can see it’s appeal)
12. Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate- 5 stars (My favorite kind of horror)

Average rating: 4

3 for neutral, was unable to access my netgalley account for months, until today. Because of this, I was unable to see which books I needed to read. I apologize for the inconvenience and hopefully will not have any more issues in future.

Unfortunately, I found this collection tedious. A couple of stories I could not get through at all. A few favorite authors were featured here, but their stories did not hold up to their normal standards.

what a great collection of triller novelettes … John F.D. Taff is a new-to-me author, but has grabbed my attention with “Dark Stars”