Dark Stars is a fantastic literary horror anthology, one of the best I’ve read recently.  

Dark Stars themeless but the stories do share a few traits in common: they’re quiet, they’re on the longer side, they’re full of rising dread, gorgeous prose, and characters that feel real.  Each story (even the ones I didn’t love) is confident, deliberate, and extremely well-written.  The anthology is a mix of styles and themes, human monsters and literal monsters.

My personal favourite stories were:

The Attentionist by Caroline Kepnes. I hadn’t read Kepnes’s work before but the first page of this story was so confident and fascinating that I added her to my must-read list immediately. The Attentionist is about two girls, two sisters, who desperately want attention from boys.  The tension in this one had me almost unable to finish reading.  Yikes, in the best way.

A Life in Nightmares by Ramsey Campbell. At first I thought I wasn’t going to like this story.  Three pages in, I was thinking about moving on to the next one. The language was odd and I wasn’t sure it was deliberate.  But something kept me reading.  It got stranger, and stranger.  What an odd, dreamlike, nightmarish tale.
Papa Eye by Priya Sharma. I really like the way Sharma writes — she evokes a sense of place so well. This was a quiet, thoughtful story, with a wonderful wit to the character interactions. And as someone who often resents the pace of our world, I really want to live on Papa Eye. This story had the most relatable, fun characters of the anthology for me.

All the Things He Called Memories by Stephen Graham Jones. Yiiiikes that was terrifying.  A look at childhood fears, a marriage during the pandemic, and the cyclical nature of time.  I read this one at midnight with the lights off which was a very poor idea. This is the story that gave me the biggest scare in the anthology, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

Mrs. Addison’s Nest by Josh Malerman.  I loved the characters in this story, four teen boys who discover something is wrong in their small town.  It brought me back to the best of Stephen King’s coming of age stories.  And it was creepy as heck.  I loved the structure of this story, the way it played with memory and time.

Challawa by Usman T. Malik. This story hit a sweet spot for me, where horror, history, and culture meet.  Malik filled his writing with a perfect combination of dread and fascination. Malik left me horrified by his imagery and also eager to research the history of matchstick girls and phosphorus.  Malik is a new-to-me author and I’m excited to read more of his work.

Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate by John Langan.  This is a creepy folk horror story with some brutal imagery.  I love Langan’s writing, the way he takes his time, he infuses his horror with history, keeps the pacing slow and lets the terror build.

If you love well-written horror that’s heavy on theme, atmosphere, and character, Dark Stars is an absolute must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for a review copy of this anthology.

Fast pace book, I finished it in no time! Highly recommended. Make sure you look for this book next time you decide to pick up a good horror book

I'm torn how to review this. Sadly, the majority of these stories did nothing for me. They were more dread filled than anything, some of them more drama than anything horror.
However, there in the center of the anthology is a core of 3 stories that are unique and tasty that make the whole book worth the read.
The Familiar's Assistant by Alma Katsu is an offbeat vampire story that gives me Hellraiser feels (the play on pain/pleasure and addiction particularly). I love the feral vampire who is never really described. Its almost Eldritch!
Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream by John F.D. Taff was unnerving. As a mom of a young boy, I was freaked, to say the least. Thanks for the scare!
The Sanguintalist by Gemma Files was inspired! I love a good necromancer tale anyways but this one was quite the journey and I wish we had more.
For these three tales, I can say this book is worth it.

I loved the diversity in this book! Some of the authors I was familiar with, but others I was not so I’m glad I was introduced to new ones to check out!

As with other genres, the horror genre covers a broad scope: paranormal, psychological, mythical, and so much more. This collection of 12 short stories offers a glimpse into a variety of sun-genres of the horror cats gory. I’d absolutely recommend this to anyone wanting to dip their toe into horror!

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for an advanced copy!

After taking a quick peek at the contributor list, I made some popcorn and was ready to stay up all night. It actually took me several days to finish and after devouring the pages I was surprised at how much creep-fest fun was packed into this one book!

With such a talented array of writers in this collection of spooky tales . . . this anthology is a must-read for anyone who enjoys this genre.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for an advanced copy of Dark Stars for my unbiased evaluation.  4 stars

After the first short story I didn’t enjoy the book. The concept was a great idea. But it’s truly did not enjoy this one at all. Thank you for the book.

It's too bad this book didn't come out in November because it is the perfect Christmas gift for any horror lover in your life! In this collection are stories from some of the leading horror authors today including Josh Malerman, Alma Katsu, and Stephen Graham Jones. The stories are novella length and perfect for sinking into for an afternoon or evening of terror. I really enjoyed the variety here and it is the type of work that I'd like to have a beautiful hardcover copy of to leaf through on dreary days. As with any anthology, there are stories that didn't work for me and ones that really did, but overall, this is an excellent collection filled with work from some of the brightest stars of the dark and creepy. Go get your hands on a copy!!

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire, NetGalley, and the authors for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Loved it. Full of creepy, atmospheric dark tales by the best in the horror business. Diverse and dark in storytelling. Something for everyone within these pages.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

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.

Hits and misses, as to be expected with an anthology. Some of the authors I was excited to read from turned out to be lesser favorites but I'd still reccomend it to horror fans.

Thank you TorNightfire and NetGalley for this gifted e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Super creepy and horrific anthology! I couldn't put some of these stories down because they were so twisty and good. They really played with your mind. Vampires, serial killers, and pandemic horror -- oh my! I loved the originality of the stories and the variety of authors.

Highly recommend to all horror lovers out there!

Here is the link to my review on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca8FEk5rt9x/?utm_medium=copy_link

This anthology just didn’t work for me. The only stories I kind of liked were Stephen Gram Jones’ and John Taff’s. The rest I were not remotely interested in and they were hard to get through. A few weren’t remotely horrific at all. To be fair I usually don’t like ghost stories or vampires and there was a lot of that in here.

I loved this! There are so many wonderfully written short stories packed in this novel. Trinity River’s Blues was definitely one of my favorites. The characters, the atmosphere, and the writing. I was hooked all the way through the book. If you read horror/thrillers, you need to read this.

Thank you Netgalley for this incredible arc!

Dark Stars edited by John F.D. Taff is a great anthology of horror short stories which is perfect for this time period bc horror is in.

The main thing that stuck with me about all these stories was not only how unique they each are but how easily they each slide into strange and horrific ideals. So many different types of disgusting to terrifying scenarios that really made me think of not just that specific story and it's characters but the big picture as well. Looking at life through a haunting lens which brought out many different feelings for me.

I definitely recommend this as an entrancing horror read. I personally love short stories of the horror genre. It seems to make the point of each story even more powerful.

Lots of trigger warnings here. Sexual, emotional and physical harm. Prepare yourself.

Out on March 22nd!

I did not care for or understand the majority of the stories in this collection. There were ultimately maybe 3 that interested me which made reading the whole collection difficult and taxing. Between them all they confused me, disturbed me, hurt my head to read and just made difficult to finish.

Some of the reviews for this book said it was too long. Yes it is long. But I think that is GOOD when the stories are excellent, shocking, thrilling, and horrifying and incredibly fresh. My favorites were as follows:

John Taff's "Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream" -- A father and his 5year old son are on their way to their new house, months after the mother has succumbed to cancer. A blizzard from out of nowhere traps them in a travel stop in the middle of the night, along with a big fat man who can't stop vomiting and a sketchy woman wearing a hoodie who proclaims that "Death is a kind of a divorce." Is it? If so, how to divvy up the custody? In this unlikely pergatory situation, Mom reappears...and she wants her son back.

Livia Llewellyn's "Volcano" -- This was the scariest book in the collection, the scariest thing I've read in years.. Never will you look at industrial sewing machines the same way again.

Stephen Graham Jones's "All the Things He Called memories" -- Addresses the loneliness and isolation within a couple, during the COVID pandemic. You can never really know someone. Also involves industrial sewing machines. No kidding!

Usman Malik's "Challawah" -- American husband gets his comeuppance while on a business trip to Pakistan with his wife, who is Pakistani herself. His intention to build a crematory on holy ground does not go over well with the locals. A colonialism revenge myth comes to life.

Mrs. Addison's Next by Josh Malerman -- what a creeper! A witch lives in a hole in the woods, and keeps four boys/men captive psychologically for over thirty years. Even as they go about their lives, they are stuck in the woods in a different "frequency" -- knowing the witch will return and waiting for their confrontation with evil.

Those were my favorites. But this was a wholly fresh take on horror with so much originality bursting from the seams. I adored all the stories and have a couple new authors I can't wait to look for more work by. Another very cool thing about this anthology is that it ends with each author discussing briefly their inspiration for their story.

Thank you VERY much, this will be a hit with my horror readers!

As far as anthologies go, I have a tenuous relationship with short story collections no matter the genre. As of late I've had pretty okay luck, though in the past there have been plenty of times where short stories haven't gelled with me. DARK STARS kind of fell in the middle, as it didn't blow me away, but it didn't turn me off. There were some stories that I really loved, like Caroline Kepnes's THE ATTENTIONIST, Stephen Graham Jones's ALL THE THINGS HE CALLED MEMORIES, and Usman T. Malik's CHALLAWA. With THE ATTENTIONIST I thought that Kepnes (as always) conveyed toxic sisterly interactions with misogynistic expectations of society really well, and threw in some BLACK CHRISTMAS-esque stalking for good measure that freaked me out. For THINGS HE CALLED MEMORIES Jones brings out the unknown horrors of isolation during a pandemic, and how it can mess with your head and make it hard to know what is real and what isn't. And with CHALLAWA (my favorite in the collection), Malik explores the very real horrors of the effects of racism and colonialism in a small community in India through folklore and myth. There were other stories that I liked well enough (special shout out to Alma Katsu's THE FAMILIAR'S ASSISTANT), but there were others that just didn't work for me at all. This was either because of writing style, confusing narratives, or flat out appropriation.

All in all, DARK STARS had some really strong stories, and others that didn't work. THe nice thing about anthologies, however, is that your mileage may vary depending on taste! So horror fans really should seek this out regardless.

I really enjoyed that this anthology is one that expands on the idea of what horror truly is. There is so much more depth to many of these stories and the collection really shows the reader all that horror can entail. No, I am not a diehard horror fan, but I do love the genre so a few of these stories didn't quite work for me but they were enough to show me that horror can come in many forms. Most of the stories I didn't find scary but there was a spooky vibe to them all if that makes sense. I did gain smoe new to me authors from this anthology and I really enjoyed many of the stories. The writing is wonderful and engaging, and the selection is wide and varied. The authors did a fantastic job, and the editor did an amazing job of creating a very inclusive and spooky vibe with the diversity of this collection.

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

This collection of dark horror tales has no particular theme [other than horror], so authors are free to write their stories unencumbered by pre-established requirements. Twelve authors write tales of dark hallways, monsters, tales of summer flings, dead men walking, and an island harboring unimaginable power. Each is, in its own way, creepy and chilling. It’s a treasure trove for readers who enjoy horror tales.

Novellas included here are “The Attentionist,” by Caroline Kepnes; A Life in Nightmares,” by Ramsey Campbell; “Papa Eye,” by Priya Sharma; “Volcano,” by Livia Llewellyn; All the Things He Called Memories,” by Stephen Graham Jones; “Trinity River’s Blues” by Chesya Burke; “The Familiar’s Assistant,” by Alma Katsu; “Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream,” by John F.D. Taff; “The Sanguintalist,” by Gemma Files; “Mrs. Addison’s Nest,” by Josh Malerman; “Challawa,” by Usman T. Malik; and “Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate,” by John Langhan.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire and NetGalley
#DarkStars #NetGalley

How could I not adore this book? Short stories written by some of the heavy hitters in the horror world, my favorite being Stephen Graham Jones. I could not put this anthology down and felt there was not a bad story in the bunch. 5 horrifically wonderful stars!