Really enjoyed this anthology! Found some new authors whose works I want to seek out immediately after reading this

This anthology, brimming with diversity, unveils the unsettling potency of voices and narratives often overlooked. Every story within is a distinct, bone-chilling masterpiece that deepens our contemplation of the concept of “otherness.”

Out of the collection, I discovered three stories that shone brilliantly, leaving an indelible mark. However, the remainder, while still engaging, could be deemed as slightly above average at best. Nonetheless, the overall experience offered a tantalizing array of enigmatic tales that I relished.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, this wasn't the worse anthology I've read, but I really expected more from it. There were a handful of really solid stories in here, but I felt let down as a whole because the whole thing didn't hold up for me.

I absolutely love a short story collection and I think in horror, short fiction is such a great medium. This one had such a great table of contents and I was very excited to dive in. Oftentimes with anthologies like this, they hit the middle of the road because some stories work and some don't, but I do think that the overall majority of the stories worked for me and the theme felt cohesive and all of the stories belonged. Great editing, I enjoyed this collection a good deal!

Full Review Coming to Cemetery Dance Magazine. Excellent collection with a wide variety of horror tropes and interpretations. Readers will appreciate the classic callling cards of horror explored in these tales, as well as the totally original, and downright terrifying, modern oddities.

Good anthology but expected a little better. was an easy read butsome stories took me anger to finish than others simply because they werent all as intriguing.

As with most anthologies, some stories are better than others, but there are really no duds in this one! Amazing tales from names I already knew and some bew faves.

In this case, the anthology bag was more mixed than most for me. Some stories were outright uncomfortable, penned by authors who did not share identities with their characters (and it showed in the telling). Others were excellent, and I hate that their contributions are being downrated here by other authors' pieces. But I'm giving the anthology a three overall since I don't really know how to rate it for this reason.

Good collection of tales sure to reach a wide variety of readers. Some favorites: stories from Tananarive Due, S. A. Cosby, Annie Neugebauer, Gabino Iglesias, Hailey Piper, and Stephen Graham Jones

4.5. Nearly every story in this collection was a winner! Especially loved the last two by S.A. Cosby and Tananarive Due, and of course Stephen Graham Jones' story - it reminded me a lot of Night of the Mannequins. If you're a horror fan, you can't go wrong with picking this one up.

It’s rare that I read an entire anthology cover to cover. So often the stories are uneven which causes my enthusiasm to dwindle. Not with this one! These are all excellent, twisty tales. I was thrilled to be able to interview the authors on my podcast, the Book Cougars. I'll add the episode link below.

A delightful, introspective anthology of horror short stories. As with any anthology, there were some hits and misses as to what I liked but overall, I loved the theme of inclusive horror, and this was a great read during spooky season! There was an interesting blend of stories where the inclusivity was very obvious/explicitly emphasized and stories where the diversity was more natural and seamlessly included. I also appreciated that there was a mix of horror subgenres, as it kept the book interesting and varied. A personal favorite subgenre is creature features, and I especially loved the pieces that introduced fantastical and gruesome monsters. I think that horror/thriller fans both old and new will find multiple narratives within this anthology to be compelling.

What a fantastically creepy anthology of horror stories. A combination of writing from established authors and new voices, Other Terrors is everything I want from an anthology. "There's Always Something in the Woods" by Gabino Iglesias, "The Turning" by Hailey Pipe, and Tiddlywinks by Stephen Graham Jones were particular favorites of mine though each story in this book is horrifyingly wrought gem. A book I will recommend to fans of horror, and also those who are horror adjacent.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love short story anthologies and this is one of the best. The authors in this collection include populations who are underrepresented and/or disenfranchised. This is a great introduction to these authors for the average reader. The horror is the fantastic but also elements of real life.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley, and was so psyched that I did because it was AMAZING.

Modern horror anthologies are fast becoming one of my favorite horror subgenres, and it has only become strengthened by Other Terrors! Other Terrors is an inclusive anthology that so many people can relate to. Whether you have differences based upon sexuality, gender identity, nationality- at one point in your life, you have felt different, and can relate to this theme of being “Other”. This theme has been an undercurrent within horror ever since it was born into the world, and you can see exactly why within these tales.

Filled with 24 of some of the best short fiction horror I have read in some time, Other Terrors has a bit of something for everyone. Here are some of my favorites from the collection.

Idiot Girls by Jennifer McMahon- I read McMahon’s novel The Invited when it came out, and it, like this story, was an entirely new and fresh take on a common trope. The story Idiot Girls is a fresh take on a classic monster tale. Two young lovers who meet secretly in their apartment building are discovered by a sketchy maintenance man who is also a tenant in their building. Children are going missing in their city, and the teens investigate whether the man is involved. The story is dark, yet rich with both its descriptions of immigrants who are unlike one another, and the suspicions one may find themselves under when you are unlike your neighbors. A twisty surprising ending I truly enjoyed!

Waste Not by Alma Katsu- Katsu is currently blowing up in the horror genre right now, and for good reason, as displayed in this story. Jane is a police officer whose husband has passed away, leaving her the burden of helping her mother in law clear out her hoarded home when she refuses to be put in a retirement community. Nestled in the hoard are secrets that should’ve stayed buried, and Jane is forced to decide what to do with the unearthed truths of her late husband’s family. The story itself was eerie and satisfying and I know all too well the plight of spouses who are disliked by their in-laws, so this was a fun read!

Churn the Unturning Tide by Annie Neugebauer-Wow, this story took me off guard in the best of ways lol! A wholly original spin of witchcraft and magick in the modern age, it was both hilarious and terrifying and impressed the hell out of me.

There’s Always Something in the Woods by Gabino Iglesias- There’s something about Iglesias’s short horror that simultaneously excites and evokes dread within me. I know whatever I am about to read is going to be excellent, but chances are it’s going to be dark and might not always end well for our characters lol! In this tale, a trio of immigrants are attempting to make a quick buck when a large drug deal goes terribly wrong, thanks to that which resides in the woods. Because, in horror, There’s Always Something in the Woods!

The Turning by Hailey Piper- Man, this story got to me in a myriad of ways. A strange pandemic amongst teens is causing familial upheaval as it begins to affect 14 year old Krissy. The story mirrors a couple things for me- the inability to relate to your child after they’ve begun puberty. Or the inability to be accepted by your parents after becoming true to ones self, regardless of what that truth may be. Sometimes you cannot rely on family and must create a family of your own! The story was written beautifully, a creeping dread crawling over my skin in anticipation of the final stages of Krissy’s transformation and how her parents would deal with that. A beautifully scary metaphor for what many teens go through when coming out to their unaccepting families.

Miss Infection USA by Shaunna Heath- After the heavy tone of many of the prior tales, Miss Infection USA was a MUCH needed respite.Giving hardcore Palahniuk vibes, this story was grotesquely funny. Sisters prepare for a one of a kind beauty pageant in a world fraught by a type of zombie apocalypse. The winner gets an all inclusive trip to Revival with Doctor Gross, a once in a lifetime chance to reverse the symptoms of this zombie plague. Martha and Miriam are prepared to do whatever it takes to win, and I loved this story!

The Asylum by Holly Ann Walrath- This tale is a grim reminder that not many years ago, women could be institutionalized for any number of things- something as simple as being gay, or even unwed and outspoken, could land you labeled as “hysterical” and locked in a psych ward on the list for lobotomy. Told in a cheeky, clever format, we get a glimpse into such an institution, as if on a tour of depravity throughout the various rooms of the asylum.

I was thoroughly impressed by the collection of stories in this anthology, and highly recommend it!

A quick and fun anthology of horror stories written by people who aren't represented in horror or about characters who aren't represented in horror. Some of the standouts included stories by Jennifer McMahon, Stephen Graham Jones, S.A. Cosby, Larissa Glasser, Alma Katsu, Shanna Heath, Hailey Piper and Tananarive Due. Even the stories that didn't work for me weren't bad by any means. I really enjoyed this anthology and recommend it to any horror fan this Halloween!

An excellent collection of creepy and twisted horror stories that actually have diversity and include readers who are often ignored!

4.25 stars

[This book was provided by Netgalley.]

Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology is a collection of original short stories and the occasional piece of poetry. The title of the collection is what it is: it's an anthology which focuses on featuring marginalized authors writing stories which revolve around the theme of the Other.

The concept is a fair bit more complex than the very basics of what I'm about to summarize, but I don't think a complex understanding of it is needed to enjoy the collection, just a basic understanding of what it means. The Other is a theory I was already familiar with, as much of my undergraduate work focused on horror, the gothic, and monstrocity. It's also a theory I find extremely interesting. For context, the Other is a philosophical theory which posits that the Self, Us, or who/what counts as human is measured by and defined by what is Othered. As a result, the Othered is pushed into the margins, villanized, or regarded as sub-human, among other things. It's a theory used in literary criticism, as well as colonial/post-colonial studies, gender studies, and queer studies, among many others. It's also often something I think is important to consider when writing and reading horror, as horror is a genre with a long history of not only crossing boundaries but also reinforcing them. (For example, think Dracula, which does some very interesting boundary-crossing and such with gender while reinforcing the Othering of non-Western people, especially in its treatment of Romani.)

The anthology itself, I think, handles these themes fairly well. It approaches the idea of the Other, the action of Othering, and the experience of being Othered from several different angles, meaning it engages really well with the complexity of the theory. The collection itself does start off fairly weak--I can't say I particularly enjoyed the first few stories/poems--but as the collection continued the prose, concepts, and execution improved vastly. My favorite pieces were "Churn the Unturning Tide" by Annie Neugebauer, "The Turning" by Hailey Piper, "Miss Infection USA" by Shanna Heath, and "Where the Lovelight Gleams" by Michael Thomas Ford. My standout favorite, however, was "The Voices of Nightingales" by M.E. Bronstein (likely due to its inspiration it takes from Medieval Studies, which I dabbled in and loved in undergrad).

For any reader of horror interested in fresh voices, diverse authors, and stories which are new and interesting, Other Terrors is a fantastic anthology. I would also suggest it to diverse readers interested in inclusive stories but are somewhat wary of horror novels due to being easily frightened or grossed out. While Other Terrors is indeed a horror anthology and does include relevant themes, I would not personally classify it as extremely horrifying or intense, so I think it is approachable even by non-horror readers.

This was so good! Of course some of the stories were stronger than others (the poetry ones didn't work for me) but as a whole, so well done and unsettling. The main issue I had was that at the end of the story, I wanted more! So many of these would make fantastic full length novels.

Our full podcast review can be found on our show, Genre Junkies, on Apple and Spotify.

This collection made me proud to be a honor fan. The editors collected works from icons of the genre and exciting newcomers to give us a lush, and interesting read. The only way we can hope to change the world is to cultivate compassion. By bringing us a horror anthology driven by “otherness” the scary story world is helping to do it’s part. Now that mysterious “other” is the hero, not the villain. Horror fans like myself have often found ourselves identifying with the strange and complicated monster hated by society.
It seems a natural progression to have us who were so vilified and cast-aside now be the one’s writing the stories and inviting the alleged “monsters” in for company.

Short stories resonate with different people for different reasons. Usually a reader finds a couple of stand-out favorites. I had at 4 favorites in this collection! I hope even non-horror fans take a chance on this incredible work as the messages and themes are so important for everyone to hear.