Dark Stars
New Tales of Darkest Horror
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Dark Stars, edited by John F.D. Taff, is a tribute to horror’s longstanding short fiction legacy, featuring 12 terrifying original stories from today's most noteworthy authors.
Within these pages you’ll find tales of dead men walking, an insidious secret summer fling, an island harboring unspeakable power, and a dark hallway that beckons. You’ll encounter terrible monsters—both human and supernatural—and be forever changed. The stories in Dark Stars run the gamut from traditional to modern, from dark fantasy to neo-noir, from explorations of beloved horror tropes to the unknown—possibly unknowable—threats.
It’s all in here because it’s all out there, now, in horror.
Dark Stars features all-new stories from the following award-winning authors and up-and-coming voices: Chesya Burke, Ramsey Campbell, Gemma Files, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, Caroline Kepnes, John Langan, Livia Llewellyn, Josh Malerman, Usman T. Malik, Priya Sharma, and John F.D. Taff. Created as an homage to the 1980 classic horror anthology Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley, Dark Stars features an afterword from original contributor Ramsey Campbell—a poignant finale to this bone-chilling collection.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The 12 horror shorts in Taff's latest anthology (after Diabolica Americana: A Dark States Horror Compendium) meld the modern and the mythic, but most never quite rise from the realm of creepy to be truly terrifying. Among the best are "Papa Eye" by Priya Sharma, in which a remote island holds its residents enthralled for hundreds of years; "Trinity River's Blues" by Chesya Burke, about a young woman whose longing for talent leads her to inadvertently invite a malicious spirit to possess her body; and "The Sanguintalist" by Gemma Files, centered on a "forensic necromancer" who seeks justice using blood to astral project into the past. Taff's own "Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream" presents an unconventional joint custody agreement as a mother's fierce love defies death itself. Less successful pieces, like "Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate" by John Langan, overly rely on telling over showing, resulting in very few scares. Horror fans will be pleased with the all-star lineup—which also includes Stephen Graham Jones and Josh Malerman—but shouldn't expect anything too hair-raising.
