After Sundown

After Sundown is a collection of twenty horror short stories edited by Mark Morris. The contributors are published authors. BUTTERFLY ISLAND (C.J.Tudor) is set in a post-viral world and features flesh-eating butterflies, a psychotic maniac, mines and some greedy, gun-happy opportunists. 4/5 RESEARCH (Tim Lebbon) an author ends up inside a plot that could easily be his own. 5/5 SWANSKIN (Alison Littlewood) a fishing town with wintering swans, beautiful women and cruel men. 4/5 THAT’S THE SPIRIT (Sarah Lotz) a fraud psychic with an elderly sidekick and electronic aids begins to wonder about the “messages: his assistant denies sending. 5/5 GAVE (Michael Bailey) a regular donor does what he can for a diminishing population 2.5/5 WHEREVER YOU LOOK (Ramsey Campbell) an author of supernatural thrillers finds himself being haunted by a character. 5/5 SAME TIME NEXT YEAR (Angela Slatter) the one light of the year when ghostly Cindy has some weight is not a good night to hang around the cemetery. 5/5 MINE SEVEN (Elana Gomel) when Lena and Bill go on an Arctic winter vacation, the melting ice unleashes a very old curse. 5/5 IT DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT (Michael Marshall Smith) a father discovers that his is not the only child in the neighbourhood whose socks initiate a “doesn’t feel right” tantrum. 5/5 CREEPING IVY (Laura Purcell) a nineteenth Century garden lover’s plants take revenge for her murder. 4/5 LAST RITES FOR THE FOURTH WORLD (Rick Cross) mythical monsters turn up dead in strange places. 3/5 WE ALL COME HOME (Simon Bestwick) a man returns to the site of a childhood trauma to face a repressed memory. 4/5 THE IMPORTANCE OF ORAL HYGIENE (Robert Shearman) a woman writes a letter of warning to her husband’s lover. 5/5 BOKEH (Thana Niveau) Vera’s daughter sees fairies, but no the Tinkerbelle kind. 4/5 MURDER BOARD (Grady Hendrix) a Ouija board session sets off a string of deadly events. 5/5 ALICE’S REBELLION (John Langan) post-Wonderland, Alice finds her battles not yet over. 4/5 THE MIRROR HOUSE (Jonathan Robbins Leon) a wife discovers an alternate reality in the pantry. 4/5 THE NAUGHTY STEP (Stephen Volk) a social worker comes to care for a little boy at a murder scene. 5/5 A HOTEL IN GERMANY (Catriona Ward) a movie star and her personal vampire(?) on location in Germany. 3/5 BRANCH LINE (Paul Finch) at almost sixty, Richard Gates is questioned about the disappearance, over forty years earlier, of his classmate, Brian O’Rourke in the abandoned Branch Line. 4/5 This collection is a mixed bag: some are excellent, and five of the stories, Research, That’s The Spirit, Wherever You Look, It Doesn’t Feel Right, and Murder Board, are quite outstanding. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Flame Tree Press.

'After Sundown,' edited by Mark Morris, is a new horror anthology out on Flame Tree Press. Specifically in the horror field, I've always been a big fan of anthologies. Over the years, I've discovered some of my favorite horror writers this way because they have a limited time to hook me and deliver and I've found if they can do that in this format, it's almost a sure thing in novels later on. Of the 20 original horror stories included, 16 of them were commissioned from some of the top names in the horror genre. The cool thing about this anthology, which will hopefully be an annual non-themed horror anthology release, is 4 of those 20 were selected from 100's of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window. What a great way to discover new talent and see how well they might be received! Some of the short stories, as to be expected, are just slightly unpleasant 'what if' scenarios relating to post-apocalyptic situations, experimentation, or even sort of surreal pandemic settings. All of the stories are at least good.. but there are a few that I feel are exceptional. I have to start with 'Wherever You Look' by Ramsey Campbell because he's just still such a master in the field. I can't even remember how old I was when I first discovered his work.. probably 15 or so.. and it was definitely in one of those old anthologies I was about to learn to love. Campbell obviously loves to play with things that skirt the periphery of our minds. Those tricks our brains play on us when we sometimes think we get a glimpse of something out of the corner of our vision, only to turn and see nothing.. or things that are ever present, that we somehow manage to overlook until it's too late. This story is no different in that regard and it's absolutely one I will carry forward with me. Even now the concept lingers at the back of my mind. I know the experience would be terrifying and love the slow, subtle approach he uses to torment both the character and the reader. 'Mine Seven' by Elana Gomel is a special story, as it takes place near the Arctic Circle and explores concepts of Chukchi folklore, an indigenous people who live within the Russian Federation. Leveraging shamanic themes and a more existential horror style, though the mythos itself is far different.. it carries an almost Lovecraftian feel in the tale's atmosphere. I loved this, as I don't feel we see nearly enough diversity in the industry as a rule, and in the US at least.. we so lack exposure to the eastern storytelling styles that readers often don't even know how to process the differences. 'That's the Spirit' by Sarah Lotz is another really disarming story. It's incredibly well delivered with such a delicate touch of foreshadowing it's actually difficult to see. While I thought I knew what was up, I was completely wrong. She took a classic theme and still managed to surprise me with its use. 'It Doesn't Feel Right' by Michael Marshall Smith is a fantastically creepy read. Smith writes with such an easy humor in the initial pages that I almost forgot that I was reading horror and so with the first glimpse of something really off.. I was so alarmed by it he had me thinking of some of my favorite classic horror films. I won't name them here, because I'd hate to ruin the experience for anyone.. but it was definitely chilling. Though I'm hard pressed to pick just only one more, 'Alice's Rebellion' by John Langan must be it. I love stories born of Wonderland and it intrigues me that as dark as the original tale is, new perspectives are often even darker. This story is lovingly rendered in a style suitable to follow Lewis Carroll's, though it's less whimsical, it's just as wild. Yet, at the same time, one can't help but see the presentation of our modern world often in very literal, specific ways, throughout. It's a favorite, for certain. If you like horror and anthologies at all.. do yourself a favor and pick this book up-- (More reviews like this at Betwixt The Sheets.) (I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)

Do this has "Read Aloud" function / mode? *Not a true rating. I don't own it (yet). It wouldn't let me post my question without rating it.