To be quite honest I don’t even know how to start this review, there are so many wonderful things I’d like to point out that it’s been hard to organize them into coherent sentences.

Well, let’s start with the cover and the overall aesthetic of the book, shall we? Maia Weir did an absolutely banging job with this cover, and I adored its color scheme. Preceding the stories, we have a memo from the Director of the HOWLS Bureau of Investigation (the wonderful Christopher O’Halloran) addressed to us, the recruits (aka the readers). This reminded me of the SCP Foundation and immediately had me at the edge of my seat, ready to immerse myself in the ‘case files’ contained in this anthology.

If you know me then and know that I LOVE it when books have illustrations and this baby is FULL of them. Each story is accompanied by a handful of illustrations interspersed with the text and depicting an element from the tale. Furthermore, this anthology amps its immersive quality even more by having an agent ID (complete with an agent headshot) for the writer at the end of each story. It’s clear that the aesthetic aspect of this book was treated with as much care and dedication as the stories themselves. If you can, I’d strongly suggest you get the physical copy of this baby, I can only imagine how much cooler all those elements are when printed on paper.

Now, onto the stories. Having only lived in Brasil, I’ve never had to worry about natural disasters such as tornados, tsunamis, or earthquakes and I’m terrified of them happening whenever I leave my country. Granted, I’ve also never worried about kaijus, huge mechanical spiders, monsters that erupt from the sea, ominous crickets, aliens, or any of the other terrifying disasters that are depicted in this anthology. You’ll find every type of calamity within the pages of this book, some will leave you heartbroken, others will make you afraid of turning the lights off, but all of them are remarkable.

I’ve never struggled more choosing which stories to highlight, I genuinely loved so many of them that I could probably write a two-page review just gushing about them (but don’t worry, I won’t). As usual, before I tell you a bit more about my favorite stories, I’d like to reiterate that all tales featured here are top-notch. The ones below just happened to touch on subjects and characters that cater to my personal taste but in no way does it mean the other stories are lesser.

Don’t Play in the Closet by David Worn - This gave me intense creepypasta vibes and I mean that as one of the highest compliments ever. I am a sucker for supernatural stories, especially those that involve what hides in the darkness. The action starts right from the bat, grabs you and doesn’t let you go. I’m not joking when I say that I gasped several times whilst reading it.

(>EXECUTERELEASE_) by P. L. McMillan - Look, spiders and artificial intelligence are already two things that terrify me. Huge mechanical spiders with AI? No, thank you. The protagonist of this story is far braver than me and all I say is that if I was in her position, humanity would be doomed. Also, P.L. has made me deathly afraid to have food delivered to me ever again.

Son of Yokozuro by Caleb Stephens - Caleb is an expert at grabbing readers’ hearts right out of their chests and then breaking them into tiny pieces. It’s beautifully written and one of the sweetest stories in the collection but also one of the saddest.

Crickets by Solomon Forse - This was written as Reddit entries and so, once again, I was immediately won over by the immersive story format. It would’ve fit right in with another of my favorite anthologies, AHH! That’s What I Call Horror, due to its 90s vibes. Imagine that a possessed Furby had a baby with a Tamagotchi: that baby would be the cricket toy featured in this story.

Unzipped by Bridget D. Brave - All I have to say is that I already had no interest in going caving before reading this story. Now, there is no way in hell I am ever stepping foot inside a cave. This story will have you tense from start to finish, I actually caught myself holding my breath several times as I read it and had to remind myself to unclench my jaw.

Forever Home by Chelsea Pumpkins - After I finished reading this story I was sobbing on my couch, clutching my Kindle to my chest as I waited for my crying to subside. This will absolutely destroy you, to be honest, I haven’t emotionally recovered from this yet and it’s been days. One of the most touching and emotional stories I’ve ever read.

The Children of the Event by Carson Winter - Listen, the second I see that a story has footnotes it wins me over immediately. I love the format and style in which this was written just as much as I loved the plot. It left me wondering what happened to those characters after the story was finished, craving to know what would happen next.

I was drawn to this book originally because of the list of authors. I immediately recognized Cassandra Khaw. When I started reading the stories, at first I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy them. The first had a bit of an abrupt ending, and I wanted to know more about that particular story. However, as I kept on with the book, I picked up on the theme of “disaster” horror. The stories are perspective of horror or strange happenings that could happen in a natural disaster or even the end of the world. While they all may not have the best writing they do all entertain or make you think. My particular favorites were, Crickets, Casualties of a Predictable Apocalypse, and Unzipped. I would definitely give this on a chance!

Just a fantastic anthology of stories. Usually in a themed collection like this, there’s a few stories I don’t really enjoy, but in this case, each entry was fantastic!

Some of the stories were so morbid and horrifying, but all of them were shocking! Definitely a lot of apocalyptic and dystopian tales which I loved. I’d have to say my favourite story was “Crickets”.

It was unique to format this as a series of case files for the HBI trainees! Having the authors and editors and what not with their agent picture and credentials was fun.

Thank you to NetGalley, the editor and authors and HOWL Society Press for a copy!

Howls From the Wreckage is a collection of short stories based on disasters. Tsunamis are used a couple of times; as is a dust bowl family who gets a surprise in the high winds; disappearances that have strange outcomes. AI spiders, ewwww. There are rats, and strange disgusting objects fall from the sky. I believe there is something everyone would like, and some that will not be as popular. I think I will remember more than one, for some very different reasons. I will not taint your opinion with which they are.
The stories were very well-written. Each author gave their characters flaws, where under stress, they were magnified to scary levels. Whether it be fear, revenge, jealousy or just a hidden level of crazy.

As with all short story collections, you’re going to get a variety of those you consider good and bad. This is no different. They are said to be horror, but most of them don’t feel like they are truly horror. if I had to classify them, I’d say they lean more toward sci fi. As easy as it has become to compare, many of them feel as if they’d be on an episode of Black Mirror. With that being said, it is a bit horrific, but definitely not close to extreme horror, or gore. I did quite like a few of the stories/themes, and even though they aren’t the best written, it was still an entertaining collection as a whole.

It is a collection of horror stories. Some stories are based on inner fears while some are twisted and weird. Some stories are unpredictable while some stories felt like there was something disconnecting in them. Some stories were of courage and bravery. While some stories were about family and husband and wife grudges. Some stories has a promising beginning and some stories had an impactful ending. Each author has done a great job by crafting such an intriguing and imaginative stories. Some of my favourites are You shall return, Heavy rain, Fleshies, & A thing of habit.

Thank you Netgalley, authors and publisher.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

There was a decent number of stories in this anthology that felt more science fiction less than horror. I’m not saying that it is a bad thing but if you are looking for a pure horror anthology, I would look elsewhere. My two favorite stories were Don’t Play in the Closet by David Worn and Crickets by Solomon Forse. If you are a fan of survival science fiction, you might like this better than I did. I want to thank Netgalley for the ARC. 3 out of 5 stars.

ARC received via Netgalley

Howls From the Wreckage bills itself as an anthology of disaster horror, but in all honesty this feels a little bit of a misnomer. As with most such anthologies, there is a range of quality on offer here. But without wanting to be too critical, many feel like the leftover scripts from Black Mirror, addressing themes such as human/tech interactions, how tech amplifies our human attributes such that they become out of our control.

But the paranoia feels surface level. I didn't ever really feel engaged throughout the reading of this book. The horror was a little too contrived; the disaster either cliched or sometimes largely absent.

It's hard to recommend this release in all honesty.

This is an incredibly indifferent collection of not-horror. Many of the stories are more focused on surviving trauma, which is no criticism, but none contain any tension or can create any sense of dread.

Some hits, some misses, as it often is with anthologies. I liked the theme of disasters and appreciated getting to know so many different voices.

What seemed like a good concept for a short story collection ended up only having one or two shorts that held my interest and wasn't really enough for me to recommend the book as a whole.