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odessa_read's review
2.0
Not without its high points, but I felt like several stories deserved more polish and the collection as a whole could have benefited from another round of copy editing. Collections are a bit difficult to judge, since the the variety means you'll find some stories, authors, themes, and styles that you'll like, and probably just as many that you won't care for. Even authors I usually like have compiled and edited collections of stories I haven't taken to, so it's definitely a matter of taste. Personally, was glad to see Gemma Files among these authors, as I loved her novel Experimental Film.
I especially like tightly written, well-crafted short horror fiction, but I didn't find enough of it here. There are a few stories in Looming Low in which the emotional lines are drawn well enough that the weirdness makes them vibrate even stronger, so a good four or even five stars for those. Others seem to be getting there, but lose the way a bit, and there are a couple of one-star stories for me. Probably one or two too many disappointing stories for me to give the collection three stars, but if I had the choice of half stars, it would be between a two and a three.
It's worth noting that this volume and the anthology Nightscript Vol. 1 (edited by C.M. Muller) have an overlap of a few authors on their lists. Overall I think I found the stories in Nightscript Vol. 1 to be thematically richer, where the weird or supernatural elements strengthen the story or contribute to the emotions in play, rather than sometimes seeming like happenstance.
I especially like tightly written, well-crafted short horror fiction, but I didn't find enough of it here. There are a few stories in Looming Low in which the emotional lines are drawn well enough that the weirdness makes them vibrate even stronger, so a good four or even five stars for those. Others seem to be getting there, but lose the way a bit, and there are a couple of one-star stories for me. Probably one or two too many disappointing stories for me to give the collection three stars, but if I had the choice of half stars, it would be between a two and a three.
It's worth noting that this volume and the anthology Nightscript Vol. 1 (edited by C.M. Muller) have an overlap of a few authors on their lists. Overall I think I found the stories in Nightscript Vol. 1 to be thematically richer, where the weird or supernatural elements strengthen the story or contribute to the emotions in play, rather than sometimes seeming like happenstance.
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