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michely66's review
5.0
Great horrific stories!
These were some horrific great stories. Some of them had some very chilling scenery. Loved it! Each one was so written well. Glad I read these! Perfect for the spooky season.
These were some horrific great stories. Some of them had some very chilling scenery. Loved it! Each one was so written well. Glad I read these! Perfect for the spooky season.
whitneydonna's review against another edition
4.0
A page turner that will leave you wanting more. Thought provoking stories that are more than just horror.
jdkauthor's review
4.0
Originally posted over at my personal blog site, Night Terror Novels
"The pupils were the abyss. Looking into them was to fall into an endless twilight, time suspending, a desire to scream welling up to never be heard. Their irises stared up into the night sky, with the same scary emptiness, depth, and beauty."
– Samuel Smith, The Breathing Wall
Horror anthologies, particularly those featuring stories from a varied line-up of authors, have always been a solid cornerstone of my reading habits. There is something very exciting about picking up a collection and not knowing what you’re going to get; a sort of pick-and-mix bag containing lots of different flavours, if you will. It’s even more enticing when the collection features fresh writers such as this, offering a chance to discover newcomers to the field, and to experience new voices in the genre.
Often, they’re not all going to be to your individual taste. But every now and again an anthology comes along that provides many more hits than misses, and for me, Collective Darkness: A Horror Anthology (2020), from Editing Mee, certainly fits that description.
As John M. Olsen aptly describes in the foreword, “In this case, the theme was ‘darkness’. This gives you a view into the mind of each author, and a little insight into the form of their personal demons, the things that make them jump and check over their shoulder when the shadows grow long”. This pretty accurately sums up the stories in Collective Darkness, being that they concern the theme of darkness itself, and how that idea is interpreted by all of the authors.
The quote also highlights the anthology’s greatest strength: every writer was given the freedom to depict the theme as they saw fit, making the stories feel personal to each author. Sometimes the darkness is figurative – such as in Becca Rose’s Brisket, Please or Elizabeth Suggs’ Into the Dark – the sort that lurks within the mind or heart, that grows and gnaws internally at the characters. Other stories offer a much more literal darkness – like that shown in B. Todd Orgill’s The Last Light or Chris Jorgensen’s The Fallout – the absence or distortion of light concealing monstrous horrors and beastly creatures.
This collection was actually brought onto my radar by several of the authors themselves, namely Elizabeth Suggs and Jonathan Reddoch, whose work ethic in promoting this project on social media platforms such as Instagram, hosting readings on Facebook, and all manner of things in between, has been truly admirable. It takes an awful lot of work to stand out from the crowd, particularly within the horror genre, so kudos to those two, and indeed the rest of the team, for their respectable effort in getting their work out and into the world. As mentioned earlier, I’ve always been a fan of the anthology format, so reading this was really a no-brainer for me.
Moving on to the stories themselves, I’ll start with the few little issues I had, and get those out of the way first. There were – as ever with anthologies – some minor niggles. There is quite a significant variance in story length, which I found somewhat disorienting. I’m not sure how word counts for each individual tale was approached, but certain stories felt like they could have benefited from more fleshing out, a bit more of the old ‘meat on the bones’ so to speak, as some of the longer ones almost eclipse them in the collection. Obviously given the nature of the anthology, not every story clicked with me, though that is more attributable to individual taste than anything else.
With that being said, a large portion of the stories on offer here did resonate with me, and many were original and very enjoyable as a result. If I were to select three personal highlights they would be – in no particular order – Red Flag, The Fallout, and The Breathing Wall. Written by K. R. Patterson, Red Flag details a mother’s growing concern with her emotionally detached son, weaving a compelling psychological tale about the relationship between a mother and her child to chilling effect. Chris Jorgensen’s The Fallout is an engrossing story of psychological breakdown, and of creatures lurking in a mysterious fog, in many ways evoking the excellent Stephen King novella The Mist (1980). Finally, The Breathing Wall from Samuel Smith is a hypnotic tale of scientific experimentation and the eldritch horrors it creates, set against the backdrop of an intriguing fantasy world, conjuring up wild images of godlike entities and unknowable monstrosities à la H. P. Lovecraft.
These are just a few of the twelve stories compiled together and on offer in Collective Darkness. There are many more besides, and they all have their own draws and individual character (special mention to Jonathan Reddoch’s unique vampiric tale, Padua’s Eyes), and make this an easy recommendation from me to all fans of the mysterious and the macabre. Delve into the darkness yourself, if you dare.
VERDICT: An anthology featuring a wide variety of horror stories from fresh faces in the genre, many of whom I’ll be keeping a keen eye on, Collective Darkness is sure to offer a little something for everybody. Overall, this is a strong collection of intriguing and thoroughly inventive tales, and I am personally looking forward to the future projects from Editing Mee and Collective Tales Publishing.
A solid ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from this reviewer.
Book Information
Title(s): Collective Darkness: A Horror Anthology, Collective Darkness
Author(s): Elizabeth Suggs, Edward Suggs, Jonathan Reddoch, K. R. Patterson, Becca Rose, Jen Ellwyn, Samuel Smith, Brandon Prows, B. Todd Orgill, Chris Jorgensen, Austin Slade Perry and Alex Child
Publisher(s): Editing Mee
Original Publication Date: 2nd September, 2020
Page Count: 167 pages
Format Read: Digital
Advance Review Copy (Y/N): N
Website(s): https://www.collectivedarkness.com/
https://www.editingmee.com/
"The pupils were the abyss. Looking into them was to fall into an endless twilight, time suspending, a desire to scream welling up to never be heard. Their irises stared up into the night sky, with the same scary emptiness, depth, and beauty."
– Samuel Smith, The Breathing Wall
Horror anthologies, particularly those featuring stories from a varied line-up of authors, have always been a solid cornerstone of my reading habits. There is something very exciting about picking up a collection and not knowing what you’re going to get; a sort of pick-and-mix bag containing lots of different flavours, if you will. It’s even more enticing when the collection features fresh writers such as this, offering a chance to discover newcomers to the field, and to experience new voices in the genre.
Often, they’re not all going to be to your individual taste. But every now and again an anthology comes along that provides many more hits than misses, and for me, Collective Darkness: A Horror Anthology (2020), from Editing Mee, certainly fits that description.
As John M. Olsen aptly describes in the foreword, “In this case, the theme was ‘darkness’. This gives you a view into the mind of each author, and a little insight into the form of their personal demons, the things that make them jump and check over their shoulder when the shadows grow long”. This pretty accurately sums up the stories in Collective Darkness, being that they concern the theme of darkness itself, and how that idea is interpreted by all of the authors.
The quote also highlights the anthology’s greatest strength: every writer was given the freedom to depict the theme as they saw fit, making the stories feel personal to each author. Sometimes the darkness is figurative – such as in Becca Rose’s Brisket, Please or Elizabeth Suggs’ Into the Dark – the sort that lurks within the mind or heart, that grows and gnaws internally at the characters. Other stories offer a much more literal darkness – like that shown in B. Todd Orgill’s The Last Light or Chris Jorgensen’s The Fallout – the absence or distortion of light concealing monstrous horrors and beastly creatures.
This collection was actually brought onto my radar by several of the authors themselves, namely Elizabeth Suggs and Jonathan Reddoch, whose work ethic in promoting this project on social media platforms such as Instagram, hosting readings on Facebook, and all manner of things in between, has been truly admirable. It takes an awful lot of work to stand out from the crowd, particularly within the horror genre, so kudos to those two, and indeed the rest of the team, for their respectable effort in getting their work out and into the world. As mentioned earlier, I’ve always been a fan of the anthology format, so reading this was really a no-brainer for me.
Moving on to the stories themselves, I’ll start with the few little issues I had, and get those out of the way first. There were – as ever with anthologies – some minor niggles. There is quite a significant variance in story length, which I found somewhat disorienting. I’m not sure how word counts for each individual tale was approached, but certain stories felt like they could have benefited from more fleshing out, a bit more of the old ‘meat on the bones’ so to speak, as some of the longer ones almost eclipse them in the collection. Obviously given the nature of the anthology, not every story clicked with me, though that is more attributable to individual taste than anything else.
With that being said, a large portion of the stories on offer here did resonate with me, and many were original and very enjoyable as a result. If I were to select three personal highlights they would be – in no particular order – Red Flag, The Fallout, and The Breathing Wall. Written by K. R. Patterson, Red Flag details a mother’s growing concern with her emotionally detached son, weaving a compelling psychological tale about the relationship between a mother and her child to chilling effect. Chris Jorgensen’s The Fallout is an engrossing story of psychological breakdown, and of creatures lurking in a mysterious fog, in many ways evoking the excellent Stephen King novella The Mist (1980). Finally, The Breathing Wall from Samuel Smith is a hypnotic tale of scientific experimentation and the eldritch horrors it creates, set against the backdrop of an intriguing fantasy world, conjuring up wild images of godlike entities and unknowable monstrosities à la H. P. Lovecraft.
These are just a few of the twelve stories compiled together and on offer in Collective Darkness. There are many more besides, and they all have their own draws and individual character (special mention to Jonathan Reddoch’s unique vampiric tale, Padua’s Eyes), and make this an easy recommendation from me to all fans of the mysterious and the macabre. Delve into the darkness yourself, if you dare.
VERDICT: An anthology featuring a wide variety of horror stories from fresh faces in the genre, many of whom I’ll be keeping a keen eye on, Collective Darkness is sure to offer a little something for everybody. Overall, this is a strong collection of intriguing and thoroughly inventive tales, and I am personally looking forward to the future projects from Editing Mee and Collective Tales Publishing.
A solid ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from this reviewer.
Book Information
Title(s): Collective Darkness: A Horror Anthology, Collective Darkness
Author(s): Elizabeth Suggs, Edward Suggs, Jonathan Reddoch, K. R. Patterson, Becca Rose, Jen Ellwyn, Samuel Smith, Brandon Prows, B. Todd Orgill, Chris Jorgensen, Austin Slade Perry and Alex Child
Publisher(s): Editing Mee
Original Publication Date: 2nd September, 2020
Page Count: 167 pages
Format Read: Digital
Advance Review Copy (Y/N): N
Website(s): https://www.collectivedarkness.com/
https://www.editingmee.com/
wolfshine's review
5.0
So, I always love a good horror anthology. This is the best time of year to read them, and this was not a disappointment. I loved the variation of stories and levels of darkness. There were a few that were chilling, but some that made me completely creeped out like I get from reading a good Creepypasta.
Going into this collection, I hadn’t read any of the authors before, but now I’ve got them on my list of authors to check out. If you’re looking for something to get you in the mood for Halloween, pick up this collection. You won’t be disappointed!
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.
Going into this collection, I hadn’t read any of the authors before, but now I’ve got them on my list of authors to check out. If you’re looking for something to get you in the mood for Halloween, pick up this collection. You won’t be disappointed!
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.
sweetpea77's review
4.0
This is a collection of stories by authors that were all new to me. These stories range from spooky to spine chilling. There is plenty of variety for everyone. Anyone who enjoys reading paranormal will enjoy these stories. They are all short but they tell a complete story.
*
Overall, it was entertaining and enjoyable and would recommend to others looking for some scary tales to read.
*
Overall, it was entertaining and enjoyable and would recommend to others looking for some scary tales to read.
biblioleviosa's review
4.0
This is such an awesome anthology with 12 enjoyable and spine-chilling stories. It is suitable for someone who looking for a quick read and short stories. This is so relaxing. I think this is another collection that would be especially great for readers that are just getting into this genre, this has a nice variety with different levels of intensity, but nothing too dark.
I was given a free copy of this book from the editor in exchange for an honest review.
I was given a free copy of this book from the editor in exchange for an honest review.
positivelyhorror's review
5.0
I recently listened to the audiobook of Collective Darkness: a horror anthology, and it has something for every horror fan in there. The stories are varied, yet cohesive and the performances of the narrators are engaging. I enjoyed every story in here, which as anyone knows, isn't always the case when reading an anthology.
booklovingcatmom's review
2.0
This anthology has a lot of potential!
That being said, however, many of these stories felt unfinished to me. I think they'd benefit from more editing and more story development, but they're great starts.
I particularly liked the opening to Brisket Please and the premise of the final story in the collection. The story Red Flag had a great twist to it, as well.
I'm grateful to have been granted an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
That being said, however, many of these stories felt unfinished to me. I think they'd benefit from more editing and more story development, but they're great starts.
I particularly liked the opening to Brisket Please and the premise of the final story in the collection. The story Red Flag had a great twist to it, as well.
I'm grateful to have been granted an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
ericarobyn's review
4.0
Collective Darkness: A Horror Anthology is a collection of stories that range from the mildly spooky to the ones that will give you full body chills. These stories are just screaming to be read out loud to your friends or family to share in the creepiness!
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the editor in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way. I also purchased a copy.
Let’s dive in!
My Thoughts on Collective Darkness: A Horror Anthology Edited by Elizabeth Suggs, Brandon Prows, and Jonathan Reddoch
Okay, first things first… the disclaimer that “Some stories contain descriptive violence” right at the beginning?! Wonderful! I would love to see more people adding notes like this!
Per usual with anthologies, I’ll add my notes about each section and story below.
Foreword, Introduction & Editor’s Summation
I enjoyed that the forward gives a bit of insight into how this anthology came together while the introduction explained more about the group of authors. The Editor’s Summation is an element that I don’t think I have seen before but I liked that the readers are introduced to the tales quickly here.
Feast by Edward Suggs – 3/5
This tale is about a mother daughter duo that are at work, just trying to get by when they have a visitor pay them a visit.
This one started out slow but WOW, it certainly took a bizarre and brutal turn! This story was written by a 17 year old and I would love to see how his writing career progresses. The action scenes were really powerful.
Polter Geist by Jen Ellwyn – 3/5
A quick tale about a boy determined to get into the shop, take and item, and get out. But can he do it without being caught? This one was pretty suspenseful!
Padua’s Eyes by Jonathan Reddoch – 4/5
When a girl witnesses her father and prized pony attacked by a vampire, she is absolutely heartbroken. Soon afterward, her father rises a changed man and the townsfolk take him down. When they see that the pony, Padua isn’t just an albino, it’s also been bitten and has risen again, the girl doesn’t hesitate to free her horse and flee the area. She then sets off on a quest to take down the vampire that killed her father.
I love a good vampire tale! This one was super fun.
Brisket, Please by Becca Rose – 5/5
This tale is about an actress who finishes up a scene and heads to her trailer to prepare for a date. However, when she wakes up, something is very wrong on set…
WOAH! This one was so intense; I absolutely loved this one. It started with a bang that quickly takes a hard turn before things take yet another turn. I loved the two little hints that pop up as the main character wakes up from a nightmare that, once you’ve finished the story, will realize were great foreshadowing! I would love to see this one on Creepshow or something like that series!
Crimson Snow by Austin Slade Perry – 5/5
The story is about four people that head to the summer home of one of the group. As the snow falls, the main character quickly realizes that there was a reason why his family didn’t spend their winters there.
I LOVE stories that focus on tales from books as well as stories about people trapped in a cabin. This story had both and it was wonderfully spooky!
Pond Scum by Alex Child – 4/5
When two boys are out exploring, they come across a strange pond. One boy doesn’t hesitate to get into the water but the other doesn’t like the look of the pond scum. There’s something very odd about this pond…
I love stories like this that start out innocent and then suddenly goes sideways.
The Fallout by Chris Jorgensen – 4/5
In this story, a bar is suddenly in the middle of a raid. Bombs are dropped and the sirens wail. The bar is still standing but there’s an odd fog outside that seems to be calling to them. One man, Oliver, struggles with the situation, thinking that everything seems so familiar…
What an eerie tale! Just the element of a fog that you can’t see through totally weirds me out!
The Last Light by B. Todd Orgill – 3/5
The darkness is creepy enough, but add to it creatures that are made of darkness that can consume humans, and you’ve go this tale! A group of people are traveling in the darkness, struggling to keep lamps lit to keep the darkness at bay. But can they make it to their destination safely?
The Figure in the Mirror by Brandon Prows – 5/5
In this tale, a man goes back to his family home after his grandfather had passed away. Immediately after crossing into town, his scar stars bleeding which he thinks is odd, but soon forgets it while he’s occupied with other things. Then at night when he is resting, he is haunted by terrible nightmares! One nightmare leads him to investigate something in the real world, but what he finds is much more than the terror he found in the nightmare.
This one was SO creepy! I loved every second of this. It was eerie from the start with the missing boy and just got more and more suspenseful as it went on. I would love to check out more work from this author!
The Breathing Wall by Samuel Smith – 3/5
In this story, our main character hears a ruckus and when they go to investigate, they see a man who has been attacked. As them man dies, the main character takes a book from his satchel. After months spent decoding the book, it’s realized that it’s a formula to create a creature…
This one certainly got out of hand quickly! Definitely a tale that can caution readers about their curiosity!
Red Flag by K.R. Patterson – 4/5
Oh my gosh, this one was heartbreaking. This was a tale about a mother and a son, but I’ll leave the rest of this one up to you to discover.
Into the Dark by Elizabeth Suggs – 5/5
In this tale, a man kills his wife in a drunken stupor and then runs. He find a door unlocked and enters. The man inside is willing to hide him from the police if he helps with chores. But there’s a darkness that is also present, and this man is about to learn that he chose the wrong door…
I loved this story! The setup was awesome and I loved that it centered around tea. I also loved the ending and how it lets the reader think about what happens next!
My Final Thoughts
An all around awesome anthology! This is another collection that would be especially great for readers that are just dipping their toes into the genre as this has a nice variety with different levels of intensity, but nothing too dark.
I can’t wait to read more from many of the authors included here!
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the editor in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way. I also purchased a copy.
Let’s dive in!
My Thoughts on Collective Darkness: A Horror Anthology Edited by Elizabeth Suggs, Brandon Prows, and Jonathan Reddoch
Okay, first things first… the disclaimer that “Some stories contain descriptive violence” right at the beginning?! Wonderful! I would love to see more people adding notes like this!
Per usual with anthologies, I’ll add my notes about each section and story below.
Foreword, Introduction & Editor’s Summation
I enjoyed that the forward gives a bit of insight into how this anthology came together while the introduction explained more about the group of authors. The Editor’s Summation is an element that I don’t think I have seen before but I liked that the readers are introduced to the tales quickly here.
Feast by Edward Suggs – 3/5
This tale is about a mother daughter duo that are at work, just trying to get by when they have a visitor pay them a visit.
This one started out slow but WOW, it certainly took a bizarre and brutal turn! This story was written by a 17 year old and I would love to see how his writing career progresses. The action scenes were really powerful.
Polter Geist by Jen Ellwyn – 3/5
A quick tale about a boy determined to get into the shop, take and item, and get out. But can he do it without being caught? This one was pretty suspenseful!
Padua’s Eyes by Jonathan Reddoch – 4/5
When a girl witnesses her father and prized pony attacked by a vampire, she is absolutely heartbroken. Soon afterward, her father rises a changed man and the townsfolk take him down. When they see that the pony, Padua isn’t just an albino, it’s also been bitten and has risen again, the girl doesn’t hesitate to free her horse and flee the area. She then sets off on a quest to take down the vampire that killed her father.
I love a good vampire tale! This one was super fun.
Brisket, Please by Becca Rose – 5/5
This tale is about an actress who finishes up a scene and heads to her trailer to prepare for a date. However, when she wakes up, something is very wrong on set…
WOAH! This one was so intense; I absolutely loved this one. It started with a bang that quickly takes a hard turn before things take yet another turn. I loved the two little hints that pop up as the main character wakes up from a nightmare that, once you’ve finished the story, will realize were great foreshadowing! I would love to see this one on Creepshow or something like that series!
Crimson Snow by Austin Slade Perry – 5/5
The story is about four people that head to the summer home of one of the group. As the snow falls, the main character quickly realizes that there was a reason why his family didn’t spend their winters there.
I LOVE stories that focus on tales from books as well as stories about people trapped in a cabin. This story had both and it was wonderfully spooky!
Pond Scum by Alex Child – 4/5
When two boys are out exploring, they come across a strange pond. One boy doesn’t hesitate to get into the water but the other doesn’t like the look of the pond scum. There’s something very odd about this pond…
I love stories like this that start out innocent and then suddenly goes sideways.
The Fallout by Chris Jorgensen – 4/5
In this story, a bar is suddenly in the middle of a raid. Bombs are dropped and the sirens wail. The bar is still standing but there’s an odd fog outside that seems to be calling to them. One man, Oliver, struggles with the situation, thinking that everything seems so familiar…
What an eerie tale! Just the element of a fog that you can’t see through totally weirds me out!
The Last Light by B. Todd Orgill – 3/5
The darkness is creepy enough, but add to it creatures that are made of darkness that can consume humans, and you’ve go this tale! A group of people are traveling in the darkness, struggling to keep lamps lit to keep the darkness at bay. But can they make it to their destination safely?
The Figure in the Mirror by Brandon Prows – 5/5
In this tale, a man goes back to his family home after his grandfather had passed away. Immediately after crossing into town, his scar stars bleeding which he thinks is odd, but soon forgets it while he’s occupied with other things. Then at night when he is resting, he is haunted by terrible nightmares! One nightmare leads him to investigate something in the real world, but what he finds is much more than the terror he found in the nightmare.
This one was SO creepy! I loved every second of this. It was eerie from the start with the missing boy and just got more and more suspenseful as it went on. I would love to check out more work from this author!
The Breathing Wall by Samuel Smith – 3/5
In this story, our main character hears a ruckus and when they go to investigate, they see a man who has been attacked. As them man dies, the main character takes a book from his satchel. After months spent decoding the book, it’s realized that it’s a formula to create a creature…
This one certainly got out of hand quickly! Definitely a tale that can caution readers about their curiosity!
Red Flag by K.R. Patterson – 4/5
Oh my gosh, this one was heartbreaking. This was a tale about a mother and a son, but I’ll leave the rest of this one up to you to discover.
Into the Dark by Elizabeth Suggs – 5/5
In this tale, a man kills his wife in a drunken stupor and then runs. He find a door unlocked and enters. The man inside is willing to hide him from the police if he helps with chores. But there’s a darkness that is also present, and this man is about to learn that he chose the wrong door…
I loved this story! The setup was awesome and I loved that it centered around tea. I also loved the ending and how it lets the reader think about what happens next!
My Final Thoughts
An all around awesome anthology! This is another collection that would be especially great for readers that are just dipping their toes into the genre as this has a nice variety with different levels of intensity, but nothing too dark.
I can’t wait to read more from many of the authors included here!
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